Happy New Year..

Not much going on as far as knitting... there is very little progress on my striped noro scarf.. I'm over the half way mark and I've been working on it forever.. I've been squeezing in a row here and there..hopefully it will be done some time in the next year which is tomorrow hahah..
In the mean time.. Have a Happy New years celebration.. drive safely.. (^_^)

boy beanie!!

Just finished this boy beanie that will be an after Christmas present for my nephew. I used lion brand cotton ease again.. and again I really like how this yarn crochets..its soft and has some memory and just a nice feel about it... I like how this beanie turned out and now I might make a few more for all the guys that have to endure the cold weather this winter.. I mean the guys that I know.. not ALL the guys in the world.. that would take the rest of my life!!

I finished these fluffy mittens.. they were a very last minute gift and were very fast to crochet. The thumb is knit.. I think a knit thumb is softer and more flexible then a crochet thumb.. I also added a little knit ribbing to the bottom edge to keep the cold air out.















Here are some nice yarnie presents I received for Christmas... and ooooo I love bamboo.. there is over 400 yards of bamboo goodness.. I'll be digging through some patterns and checking out ravelry for something nice to knit..
This yarn came as an extra bonus.. not sure what I will make with it.. there is only 50 yards per skein.. It might have to be use as an accent or edging on.. lets see .. maybe a shrug..!!!

mERry ChRisTmas

Scenes of Christmas... beautifully wrapped presents..( mini knitted sweaters)... A Christmas tree .. many presents underneath....oops unfinished Christmas knitting.. I guess that has become a tradition too.. Have a wonderful Christmas day.. everyone.. (^_^)

mini

Such cute tiny sweater ornaments... which I didn't make.. these were made by my daughter Brooke and I thought they were so cute .. I wanted to share them.. she is giving them as gifts and hanging some on the tree..















And.... a mini metroid key chain to match the hat.. that was kind of fun to make..

ginGeR cooKiEs!!

Holiday treats!!! specially made ginger bread people came in the mail yesterday.. so yummy.. thank you so much!!!
















A quicky present.. and I mean quicky...this was a requested hat from the game Metroid. It's crocheted made with lion brand cotton ease. The cotton ease is very nice to crochet with.. I have knit with it before but this was the first time I made a crochet project with it.. I think its my favorite yarn for crochet now..















Here is another view.. (^_^)
And here..... sadly is an unfinished Christmas present that I'm still working on every chance I get. Unfortunately it has to be mailed.. so it wont get there on time for Christmas as like a few other presents.. oh well...














I just wanted to share a few projects real fast before I ran off to work.. (^_^)

sneak a peek @_@

Here is a little sneak peek of my striped noro scarf.. I really like the color way..the person I'm making it for likes dark and understated colors and I think the colors are perfect. (^_^)

The real deal... I started working with the Debbie Mumm yarn the other day and.... well.. the problems that other people were having with the yarn seemed to be my problem too.. no more fooling around ... I had to go for the real deal.. Noro Kureyon ... to make this scarf.. the yarn fades from dark black tones to olive to purple to blue... I can't wait to start!!! (Oh yeah... I purchased this at Sip and Knit in Maitland the other day)
















I also found this in the discount play pen.. I was hoping to use it for the Composed Mitts in the Interweave Knits fall/2007 issue...I didn't have the pattern with me and forgot that I needed 6 colors and not 5 so I'll have to run back there and pick up the aqua..















Progress on my color block cardigans.. I finished the hand knit girls.. and now I'm working on the trim for the machine knit boys version.... I so don't like my hand knit version and if I ever make this again it will definitely be on the machine... It was faster to knit and the texture is nicer..(and of course more even).

More progress on my color block cardigan #1 and #2.. the pink cardigan has taken almost a week to get to that point.. I've been squeezing in knitting time on my breaks at work and here and there when I can.. the blue cardigan has taken one afternoon to get to the same point... how you ask yourself is that possible ... well santa's little helper.. the knitting machine. I worked the garter st. border by hand then transfered the sts. onto the knitting machine and did the rest.. I did notice that the right front is curling a bit.. I hope a little blocking will fix that....I have some plans to embellish these a little.. I'm going to see how much I can get done on them today..and I still have to do the i-cord border on both sweaters...(^_^)

Color block cardigan #1 is moving along rather quickly... I'm using Vanna's choice by lion brand for this project and I went up one needle size to get the gauge. I think this is the fastest sweater ever to knit... I think the i-cord trim will take longer to knit than the entire sweater.. This pattern can be found in oneskein.















The Winter issue of Knitty is up.. and there are some beautiful patterns.. I think my favorite is Ice queen and I really really really love Three tams... I might just have to add these to my already very long list of projects I would like to knit.. I have a day off today.. so of course I need to try to put a dent in my holiday knitting.. go little needles go..!!

smarter

Knitting is good for you!!!....

















woo hooo.. knitting can stimulate brain activity.. (knitting can make you smart)
I'm so glad I know how to knit.. hehe
















I just got a Christmas present already and was allowed to use it.. woo hooo!!!! So fun.. and maybe I'll be smarter too... ... off to work for me...!!!

Remember this from the other day... I thought this was a watermelon.. well... it's not... it's some kind of squash .. I thought maybe spaghetti squash .. but when I looked up spaghetti squash online it was yellow not green.. and then I couldn't find any squash that resemble it at all.. are there any squash experts out there that could identify this squash??..















































This is my attempt at a Christmas wreath.. it's a little unbalanced.. but not too bad.. kind of like me.. hehehe.... and yes I'm working on my highlands zip sweater.. I completed the back and I am casting on the front.. go go little fingers knit ahoy...!!!

sneak a peek @_@

A real fast post before work... I made some progress on the sweater I'm making and almost completed the back yesterday. The pattern is from knitscene magazine and it's the man's Highlands Zip.. I had hoped to complete this in a weeks time.. hahaha .. wishful thinking.. maybe if I could knit while I was sleeping.. 0.0... Getting back to the Debbie Mumm.. Amanda had a hard time with it.. but I'll give it a try.. and as Nicole said .. browns are hard to find and for some reason guys like brown.. and the brown is rather nice.. well off to work for me.. (^_^)

This weekend was so crazy with everyone running around and camping out the big shopping deals... me?... I was on the other side of the register checking out customers.. and I have to say.. people were pretty nice.. there are always a few of course (the few unhappy customers were the ones that didn't take time to read the coupons and had higher expectations on the discount they were getting) but on the whole everyone just looked like they were having a fun time running from store to store buying up all the goodies. I had a few coupons myself and ran to Joanns after work to pick up this yarn I've had my eye one for awhile. It's similar to noro although it doesn't have as many color changes... It's more monochromatic and is it's an acryilic wool blend. (It's half the price too)I have a few projects in mind already.. I can't wait to start one.


















This was a good buy also.. so I couldn't pass it up especially with my minuscule yarn budget. It's a felted purse kit.. with 4 balls of wool yarn and everything u need to make it including both crochet hook and needles.. and the thread !!!.. I don't think I'm going to make the purse though.. I just liked the yarn and for $7.97 I had to buy it or kick myself all the way home.

















Two-tone shrug #2 is finished and I started the next project on my list of holiday knitting already... I also squeezed in some dish cloths for my Mom's good friend.. I like the zig-zag pattern that the cone yarn is making.. compared to the kind of stripy pattern of the ball yarn.. Well I'm off to do some visiting and will show you my next project sometime soon.. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.. (^_^)

YaRn BoY

Someone just loves yarn..besides me... meet "Yarn boy".. hehe.. mmmm yarn is tasty too!!

is it a wEED.......

What could that big weed be on the side of my house.. I've been looking at it everyday for a few months when I walk the dog.. humm..



OMG...what is that!!...It seems that all those watermelon seeds we spit into bushes grew.. and now the "weed" looking plant that is enormous .. is full just full of beautiful watermelons at all different stages of growth..The plant has taken over and wrapped itself around all the surrounding bushes and tree. yummm..
































Here is the two-tone shrug that I finished a week or so ago.. I'm pleased with how it came out.. it looked really small when it was finished but it has a lot of stretch and actually fit it's comfy too...I like it so much I'm making another one in King Tut 100% cotton. I bought the yarn on sale a while back at AC Moore.. had I known that it knit up so silky and soft I would have stocked up.








Another buddy bag in the works.. I'm going to make the little beary one this time..I cheated again and did the bag on the knitting machine. I timed it and it took an hour and 10 minutes to complete the bag and i-cord. I just have to sew them together and knit the little bear and sail boat. I love these bags.. did I tell you that??!!

I completed my ducky buddy bag.. the beak and wings of the ducky are crochet and the pool pocket ( I hope it looks like water) was made with a tunisian crochet wave stitch...I haven't done tunisian crochet in years and I never really liked it.. but that little pocket was fun to make.. I'll have to look into some more tunisian crochet projects for the future... anyway I'm pleased with how the bag turned out...this bag is for a little girl..(Abby likes duckys) I was thinking of a little frog for a little boy too.. these bags are so fun to make.. the basic pattern is from annypurls.


















More little people socks.. these will be my carry-a-round projects for awhile. They fit very nice and will keep little toes warm this winter..it's been chilly in the evenings here.
















This is the beginning of my second two-ton shrug from fitted knits. I'm using King Tut 100% cotton yarn. I like the way it's knitting up... soft.. stretchy.. smooth.. shinny.. hehe

How to have a HeNrY of your own.. (^_^)

Matierial:
Henry's body-Lion brand wool-ease , Natural, Blue Heather (scraps of any worsted yarn)
Red Heart super saver light blue.
Henry's hat- caron simply soft.. MC- red, CC- white
Needles size US 6 and US 7
size 6 DPNs
yarn needle
2 buttons for eyes, one for the nose, 3 buttons for the front of his shirt.
2 smaller pipe cleaners.
sewing needle and thread
Poly-fill beads

The body of the snowman is knit in garter stitch and the hat is knit in the round

The basic ball pattern is from the lion brand free pattern listing.. under knitting. It's called the Christmas Ornament Catnip Pet Toy. To view this pattern you will need to set up a screen name and password ... but all is free. I followed this pattern to knit each of the balls using size 6 needles and wool-ease . I knit the bottom ball with red heart super saver and size 7 needles.
Sew up the side of the ball leaving a hole at the top for filling.
*Before closing up each ball I cut a small piece of nylon panthose , pushed this into the opening of each ball and filled with poly-fill beads. Use a needles and sewing thread to close up the nylon stocking. Push the rest of the stocking into the ball and finish sewing it up.* I filled the balls so that the expanded a little.

Next using a yarn needle and some yarn I sewed all three balls together starting at the bottom.. going up through the center of each ball and then back down to the bottom again making sure that they are secure and not wobbly.

Sew on buttons for eyes and nose.. buttons for his body. ( these can also be glued on)

With a pipe cleaner pick up 2 stitches on the side of the body where u want his arm to be. Pull the pipe cleaner so that the stitches are at the center. Pinch the 2 ends together and twist them so they are smoothly twisted until there is about 1/2" left open for his fingers. Repeat for the other arm.

Henry's Hat.
With red MC(or the color of your choice)and size 6 DPNs cast on 36 stitchs and place and equal amount on 3 needles. PM(place marker)
Work K2, P2 ribbing for 4 rows.
Change to CC(white) knit 4 rows.
Change to MC, knit 1 row,
Next row-* Knit 4, k 2tog, * rep around (30sts)
Knit 2 rows,
Change to CC-*Knit 3, k 2tog* around.(24sts)
knit 1 row.
Next row-*Knit 2, k 2 tog* around.(18sts)
knit 1 row.
Change to MC-* Knit 2, k 2 tog* around.(12sts)
Knit 1 row.
*Knit 1, Knit 2 tog* around(6sts)
Next row-* Knit 2 tog* around(3sts)
Last row.. knit 1, knit 2tog pass 1st stitch over the k2tog. 1 st remains end and weave in ends.

YOur very own HeNrY..!!
Happy Holidays!!