Sunday... time to blog!

  

Lots of finished projects this past week.(Well two.. that's a lot) Above is the finished painting. This was painted from a photo I took of my sister in the Cayman Islands. I was afraid of ruining the painting because it was hard to paint that tiny little head with a face and not make it look like a blob. It's not perfect but its visually ok.

Below is my almost finished scarf neck sweater. At the neck edge I picked up the stitches and just kept knitting back and forth adding decreases on each end as needed to taper the scarf down to almost a point. . The original pattern is called Idlewood and can be found on Ravelry.

 Finally finished and I love it. I did a few mods besides the neck like the ribbing at the bottom and knitting the sleeves long and adding a thumb hole. This ended up being a warm cozy sweater.

 Yes... I started another sweater... and got some nice warm new boots on sale at work. These boot are so comfy and warm too!

 This little sweater is already coming along. This has been on my knitting queue for awhile and I really have been wanting to make it. I just didn't want to use this yarn. Things are tight this year so rather than not knit the sweater I bought Lion Brand wool-ease in a pleasing soft grey. Maybe some day in the near future I will knit another in some pretty cotton yarn. This pattern is called Miette and can also be found on Ravelry. What attracted me to this sweater are the darts and I already like the fit and I'm excited about the outcome. I guess this year will be the year of knitting sweaters!

almost there...

 A happy boy and girl. It always makes me feel good to see the people I knit for wearing and liking what I knit for them.

 This sweater is progressing little by little. It has become my travel knitting project even though it has gotten a little too big for my back pack. I have been knitting on the bus to and from work and in the break room. I'm working on the neck now and plan to do something weird. More to come on that.

 Break room knitting (^_^) I love knitting on my break, it seems to relax me and then I'm ready for the rest of the work day.
My wonderful sister bought us a couch for our new apartment. It took awhile to get here but it was worth the wait. Our apartment now feels like home, plus it is gorgeous. Thank you sis!

 In between knitting and work there has been time for a little painting. I still have to add something to this painting of the ocean. This is from a picture I took when I went to the Cayman islands. My son painted the bottom two in his unique style. They look pretty awesome hanging in the living room.  He actually paints them in little color series.

A new year...

 Here are the last of our Christmas presents that arrived in the mail. My grandkids picked out all my presents this year and they were so thoughtful. I got a necklace the color of the ocean and some warm fleece pj's to keep me warm. My daughter canned some yummy pear and apple sauce. There were some canned pears but they broke. :(

 Progress on my sweater.. The length is perfect and all that is left are five rows of garter stitch. Today I hope to start the sleeves or the cowl neck. I'm using three different colors of Lion Brand Amazing yarn starting with the lightest color at the top to the darkest color at the bottom. I will do the same with the sleeves and the cowl. I want to make the sleeves long enough to make thumb holes so that they will be like fingerless gloves. This sweater will be my at home cozy warm sweater.

 A picture of my beautiful granddaughter. She is getting so big and lovely. <3

This little fox is something I whipped up as a present for my niece for Christmas. The pattern for this will be available soon. I will let you know when I publish it.

Last knitting of the year!!

Today is the last day of 2013 and these are the two projects I will be knitting today. This  year has been very full. I visited 3 different beach locations this year. Florida, Cayman Islands and Washington state. I have moved across the country and changed job locations. There was a lot to deal with. I'm looking forward to the new year and new beginnings.

Wishing you all a wonderful new year filled with health, love and success. Thank you for visiting my blog and your interest in my knitting. May this be a year filled with lots of beautiful knits too!!

Christmas knitting

 Yes I have been AFK so to speak.... between Christmas knitting and working retail... I have been busy.
 Top picture is of a potato chip scarf I knit out of some handspun that has been hanging around in the stash for many years. I think this was the perfect project for it. This is a present for my daughter. I'm also behind on getting my presents mailed but this will go out tomorrow.

 And there was snow! I woke up to go to work and saw this. I have to say it felt very cold and my feet got numb. Some people are saying we are going to have snow in January and others are saying no. If we do get snow I will have to invest in some snow boots. I don't like frozen feet... I was very beautiful though.

 I started this scarf back  in October, but I only work on it traveling on the bus and at work on my breaks. It ended up being 6"X66" long. My son really likes the pattern.. yay.

 Some good friends couldn't use their Christmas tree this year and let us borrow it. My first Christmas in Washington. We spent a quiet day watching every Christmas movie there is and some other popular movies. We had our Christmas Breakfast and my son baked a chicken for dinner and we sat around and chatted.

 My daughter and grandsons.. <3

 Walking to work on Saturday I came across a whole row of mossy trees. They are awesome. I could only get a good picture of one with my phone. 

Another cowl for my daughter. This one is crochet. At first I didn't like how it turned out. I had to go down a needle size because that is all I had here. When I finished it, the cowl was stiff so I added a tie. After I washed it, it became very soft and drapes nicely now.

 This is a Hounds tooth hat for my son that didn't quite make it for Christmas day. I'm still working on it and hopefully will finish it this week. The weather warmed up here so I guess he doesn't mind.
Below is a sweater I started for myself on Christmas day. I really dislike the pink color that is right next to the yellow and I think I'm going to rip back to the pink and cut it out. I think I will be happier with the color. The other pink on the needles is a softer color although it doesn't look like it in the picture. More on this sweater next time. I plan on making a few changes to the pattern.
 Hopefully now that the holidays are over I can blog a little more regularly. Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

 

in the works.. hooks and needles

 Just a little catching up.... two of my favorite little boys had a birthday..Jayden is 7 and Micah is 3! They are growing so fast! November also brought a new member to the family. Little Caleb. He looks cozy in his owlie sleep sack.

 The weather has indeed turned colder here in Washington state. My sister was kind enough to send me two coats she no longer uses. Both are very warm and I'm grateful for both of them. Thanks sis. Yesterday it actually went down into the teens here and it felt very bitter outside. So glad I took the time to knit myself some hats, scarves and gloves.

 I had this yarn in my stash and just purchased a pretty off white sweater with a little glitter in it. This yarn matches perfectly and I wanted to make it to wear to work. This was obviously a second. There was a knot in one end and the these holes in the other. The ruffles hide the holes and I don't think it will get worse, but still!!! It did end up looking really nice with my sweater. Everyone at work liked it and are now trying to get me to make them all one as Christmas presents... hummm.

 This scarf is creeping along. Every day I shove this in my backpack and knit on the way to work, except for the last two days. The temps are in the teens and it was too cold to knit. My hands were frozen.

 Just having moved, I have no Christmas decor except a few strings of lights that my son purchased at Walgreens the other day. I saw a beautiful felted garland on Anthropoloie.com and fell in love with it but not the price. So as you can see I'm trying to make my own version. I'm using a pattern that is on raverly for a Christmas wreath for  the leaves and acorns. I'll have to figure something out for the little owls. My goal it to make at least one leaf and acorn a day.

 This is just a plain boy beanie with earflaps for my son. I have made him a lot of wool hats but he says the wool has started to itch so this one is in cotton. To me it doesn't feel warm at all, but that is what he wants so I'm making it for him.

 A quickie cowl for my daughter. I'm not sure I like it. I used some of my handspun in the middle and I know it is warm, but I had to use one hook size smaller because that is all I have right now until someday I ship the rest of my stuff from Florida. That made it feel a little stiff to me. I think it would have been nicer is it was  a little softer. Oh well...

Knitting continued....

I started the second ball of yarn and there was a break in the pattern for about and inch. I ripped back and had to cut off about 3 1/2 yards of yarn. I spit joined the ends and it seems like it is ok. I'll have to knit a few more inches to see if it worked. This part will be at the back of the neck and not so noticeable but I still want it look continuous.  (this picture is upside down btw)

Here is the finished hat and scarf. I think Abby will look so cute in this.

The other day we went to the beach just to collect some shells to display on the little black IKEA table we have in the living room. We were successful. I think if we had gotten there earlier we could have gotten some larger ones. I saw some people walking by with beautiful large shells. Oh well next time.
  I think even with wet suits on they were cold. The icy water is still touching their hands and faces. My face and fingers were cold from the air.

Lately I have been obsessed with beaches. I love all the mysterious plants and creatures that live in the ocean. I think it all so beautiful.

So many pretty ocean rocks.. all rounded and smooth.