On ChriStMaS DaY

I didn't have time to re-cap the wonderful Christmas day that my family and I had.. so here it is.... there were presents under the tree.... and lots of good food and drinks... good company... many knitted Christmas gifts.. and lots torn wrapping paper...(little Jayden under the tree experiencing his first Christmas)... and little dogs too dressed in Christmas finery..!!!...yes.. and there was WoW and friends playing Wow.. and delicious home made pies.. more knitting and more wine... all in all a wonderful day of just hanging out with family and good friends..(^_^)

hAvE u HaD yOuR FiBeR toDaY... ?

Over the last few weeks.. I've been collecting some fiber with the thought in mind of doing some soothing spinning after the Christmas knitting gift crunch..
Fibers from left to right... 16oz. bamboo fiber... silver shetland wool roving...and the last was a surprise bag of charcoal gray super-wash merino wool fiber.. I bought all the fiber on ebay and am pleased with all of it..
















I squeezed in a few moments to spin up some of the super-wash.. it's so soft and fluffy.. I think I'm just going to make singles with this... I'm trying for a worsted weight yarn to knit up maybe a nice guy hat and scarf.. (more guy stuff).. so far so good..














my progress has been slow on my caplet.. and... the weather in Florida has been a little cooler the last few days so I'm trying to finish this today so I can wear it while it's still cold out.. (^_^)

lil abby was dressed so pretty for Christmas.. checking out her new toys... mean while...

















more presents are being finished..0.0.. I didn't make my dead line.. but all will be done today and in the mail hopefully.. 2 crochet boy beanies.. and my first crochet mitten ever!!.. I've never crocheted a mitten before... I guess because I can knit...I have always made knitted mittens. This mitten was crocheted back and forth... but if I ever crochet mittens again I'll crochet in the round.. seems so much easier and prettier without a seem.
















These are the projects of the new knitters in the house..pretty good I would say.. (^_^)

gigantic circular needles..!!.. I didn't get to work in my capelet very much...due to the fact that I have family visiting and we were sight seeing Christmas displays at disney all day yesterday... but i did work on it a little.. today I have to work on some last minute presents and make my pies for tomorrow's dinner... one apple and one pumpkin.





















some presents were wrapped and put under the tree...
















this is a modified lap blanket from the book.. weekend knitting by Melanie Falick.. the yarn is idena mohair flux.. as u can see it's a scarf using one yarn instead of 2 different types... It's really coming out beautiful... and.. I'm not the one knitting it..!!!.. (another guy knit project) it's so nice I might have to make one now.. This is only the second project he has knit and it's fantastic...
well time to set up santa's little helper and get to work.. Happy Christmas eve..!!

woo hooo..!!! finished gloves.. unfortunately these will not arrive on time for Christmas..but will arrive sometime soon after..

















0.0... I've already started another project.. the fair isle hooded capelet from loop-d-loop.. this is knit on size 35 needles.. hopefully it wont take me that long.. this is the hood and I have about 4 more rows before I start the body and will have to change circular needles.. these circulars are gigantic..and a little heavy but I'm excited about starting the fair isle design part..

















I had to wind off yarn from one of my spools so I could ply my current spinning project. The yarn I had to wind off is 100% alpaca that is was spinning kind of thin.. It's a bit delicate.. not sure if I'm going to use it for anything.. but its nice.. I will show u my pretty skein of newly plied yarn tomorrow.. (^_^)
















Happy holiday greetings..(a mini view of my tree)

Can u believe I want to make this!?.. It hasn't even been cold enough to wear it.. but I want to make it anyway... I'm going to use the less expensive lion brand wool-ease thick and quick in black with cream and gray fluffy yarn for the designs... what?.. u asked when am I going to make this... hum I don't know.. but sometime soon.. I have to finish the last of my Christmas knitting first..
















In the mean time... I'm crocheting dish cloths for presents.. I started the hot green one while waiting online at the post office yesterday... I noticed that no one else was knitting or crocheting in line and they were all looking pretty bored.. a few ladys were checking out my little dish cloth with the look of .. " man I wish I had my crochet with me too.. !!".. I kind of wanted to make a fast apron to go with these..hummm.. if I have time..
















I ran into Micheal's craft store yesterday for some more crochet cotton and a few odd balls of yarn and came across this magazine... back in the day... cough..cough.. crochet magazines were hard to find .. so when I see one.. (although there are a ton of them now to choose from) out of habit I have to look at it.. well this one has some interesting projects .. including crochet cables and socks.. plus lots of instructions on reading patterns and charts.. If u only buy one crochet magazine.. this might be the one to get.. I couldn't pass it up.. check it out if u see it..

















my Christmas knitting progress.. well it's progressing... I'm thinking that I'm going to make more of these fingerless gloves.. but I think I'm going to leave off the finger bits.. and make them totally fingerless.. except for the thumb.. maybe shorten up the cuff and add a ruffle of some kind..
















Santa's little helper is getting set up today again.... company is coming and santa's little helper takes up lots of room in the family room.. I hope to knit up a couple of presents really fast today..then lug it out of the family room and put it away..
Marly asked "I have never used a Knitting Machine...is it tough?".. well.. at first it might be.. just like anything new .. u have to learn the techniques.. casting on and off .. getting your tension.. and so on.. but once u learn it's pretty easy.. and very fast for bulk knitting.. I usually add some kind of hand work to my machine knitted items.. like a knit or crochet edging.. I prefer hand knitting any day.. machine knitting is kind of loud and not at all relaxing.. but it does get some projects finished a whole lot faster..!!!

Here is a quick picture of the finished afghan.. it's a big wrinkly.. but all will be fixed before I put it in the box and mail it out today.. I'm kind of rushing around so this was a last minute picture.. this is the last day to mail stuff out for delivery before Christmas..

















this is the tuck and nip part.. heheh.. the part everyone hates to do... I watched harry potter again and the whole process went pretty fast..
















evidence of time spent tucking and nipping the ends.. after I finished I threw them all outside in the trees .. the birds will use it to make nests.. they like it.. I bet that makes a warm little nest for cool winter nights.. (^_^)
...... back to knitting some gloves and more stuff..

` 0.0`

Omy.. this scarf is a very first completed knitted item by a very new knitter..( I wish my first project had looked so good.. well I was 8 yrs old when I learned to knit and my mom lost patience picking up all my dropped stitches... and told me just to keep knitting.. so.. there were many holes.. )

















guys knit pretty fast I think.. 0.0... my little dog doesn't like sitting in your lap when u knit.. she just pleads with her eyes for u to stop so she can jump up and take a snooze there..
















this is an almost completed.. fingerless glove.. I still have to complete the second one..!!!


















and.. this is how my afghan is looking at this point.. also not completed.. I have about 2 rows of the outside boarder left to crochet.. the strips are all crocheted together.. time to put on some movies and get to work.. maybe I need more coffee.. >.<

ruNniNg ouT oF TiMe!!!

Baby's first bath.. he seemed to like it..
















Shhhhhh.. it's Santa's little helper...
















Santa's little helper has been working hard.. 2 panels out of the 3 are done ... that will make up the afghan.. I blocked them lightly with steam to stop them from rolling up ( there are few dribbles of water on them).. but so far I like it..hopefully today I will start the assembly... when I'm all done I will give u the pattern.. This can be knit by hand as well as on the knitting machine... and gauge is not crucial for this project as long as you are some what close to gauge.
















Last minute gifts.. I also hope to finish a small stack of crocheted dish cloths...this is one of my favorite dish cloth patterns because there is a loop to hang them with worked in and not just added on at the end..
















I've been hunting for quick last minute gifts that can be knit in less than day.. (hehehe wishful thinking) but I found quite a few here.. take a look.. u might have to search around a bit.. there are more patterns not just that one page.. (^_^)

I decided I wanted new stitch markers..and I had bought these beads awhile ago.. I use markers all the time ... both for knitting and crochet.. these I made with the kind of earing findings that open up so I can move them around on my project where ever needed.. I also made a few others for little Christmas gifts for friends.

















shhhhhh... don't tell... it's santa's little helper.. !!!.. at this point I need a little help getting through that pile of yarn...hopefully this will be an afghan for my dad sometime before Christmas.. I plan to knit long strips of different colors and then crochet them together with fluffy thicker yarn.. it's kind of hard to see the colors in this picture.. they are beige.. lavender... and gray... the fluffy yarn is a tweedy type of gray..















This is the hat I worked on last night at NYGK.. I was going to add ear flaps but I'm not sure if I will add them.. I'm still thinking on that one... yes... there is that scarf again.. the hat will be the mate to the scarf.. with the blue gloves.. with or without ear flaps.. so much to do .. so little time.. I still haven't put my Christmas tree up..hopefully that will be up sometime this week too.. hard to get stuff done when there is a cute little baby to look at.. (^_^)

How could I resist!!!.. alpaca on sale... and I really like the colors.. yes this is the same yarn I'm using for socks #3... its so soft to knit with..I just had to get more and who knew there was a sale going on.. (^_^)

















and... another harlot scarf finished..I just have to weave in my ends..this scarf was knit with patons SWS just like that other 2 harlot scarfs I made..

















OOOO my.. the head looks so warm today.. all bundled up in manly knits in manly colors.. it even looks like it has a beard today.. a dark gray beard.. right next to the head and scarf are socks # 2 .. these will be for my bf.. every Christmas he gets a pair of hand knit socks...he accused me of making the toes pointy on purpose... 0.0.. I think its just his feet..!!

















right now I'm casting on another Christmas present... time is running out.. yikes!!

jUsT JaYdEn..(^_^)

I couldn't resist...brrr it was cold here last night and one little boy is wrapped up like a burrito
.. he is patiently waiting for mom to eat .. just staring at his teddy bear.. (^_^)

I've been so quiet for 3 days!!... quiet and boring ... as u can see from the pictures .. I'm making very slow progress on my christmas knitting.. these pictures look about the same as the pictures I posted 3 days ago.. but my socks are almost finished.. 2 more inches to go and then I can start the toe decreases. My scarf hasn't grown at all.. and I have picked it up a few times and worked on it.. but I'm not liking it.. I might have to go back to the original yarn I chose for this project and use this yarn for socks or something.. and my pretty purply socks actually got smaller!!!... thats because my gauge was a little off so I ripped it out and went down a needles size... which is just right..
All this and my fridg decided it wanted a rest from keeping our food cold.. It has been repaired at the low price of $200.... goodbye Christmas presents.. >.<.. or extra presents.. maybe I'll have to teach everyone to knit and give them yarn.. 0.0































And a little break from knitting... I want to spin up the rest of my llama fleece.. I finished this spool and have to make another just like it.. then I'll ply them.. and hopefully have enough for a little cable scarf.. (this fleece I bought last year from The Bellwether.. its very silky and super soft)...
















The Jayden report.... baby and mom are doing really well and he has adjusted wonderfully to being home... is eating well and seems like an all around happy little guy..
pictures soon to follow.. .(^_^)

fReNzy kNitTiNg..!!

well.. I'm playing round robin with my projects... trying to get some Christmas presents done before Christmas.. I'm in a knitting frenzy.!!!.. my hope of finishing everything I planned to make is dim..
















my halley's comet is finished.!!..this one is man size ( everything is man size lately).. I changed it up a bit and just made a 1x1 rib edging instead of the rolled edging.. and of course when u finish one project u must cast on another..

















I've casted on another yarn harlot scarf.. this time in soft tones of gray to black.. and I'm shaping the toe of sock#1 of my second pair of knitty Thuja...and the next pair of socks is also from the same pattern.. so boring.. but.. it's an easy and fast sock.. that has a nice fit.. so it works .. closer to the dreaded Christmas deadline.. the yarn will get thicker and needles and hooks get bigger.. and I'll probably start crocheting some quick projects..















The Jayden report.... there is hope that he will come home today!!!!