Slippers

Here are the slippers pre-felting

They are rather loose and not sturdy at all.

Here they are post-felting.  

Now they are a dense sturdy fabric.

I sewed bottoms on to make them less slippery and to help them last longer.

Of course I got them done as the weather turns summer, but they are will be nice if it turns cold again, or in the fall.

.

Sweater accomplished

Here I have a lovely finished sweater.  It has been knit, and seamed, and washed, and blocked.  

....and now it has buttons!

It's all done and growed up!

Sweater barter

My friend who fixed up and painted our upstairs to make it a bedroom earned herself a barter for three projects. One was the fingerless mitts, the second is this sweater, only with long sleeves.

So we start with a pile of yarn:


and this is where it was about a week ago:


a little bit better visual of the pattern:


Just wait for the update, this project is going pretty fast! (That is, fast for an adult sweater of course)

Swapy Birthday Fun

Ok, so my birthday was the beginning of April, but I've been a lazy blogger (well, a busy mommy) so here's my Birthday Post:

After taking a year off from swaps, I decided to participate (again) in the Ravelry Birthday Swap group. I was partnered up with someone else who had my same birthday and we sent nifty little packages to each other. She had mentioned that a mustard colored yarn would be cool - and look what I found on etsy:



So I spun it into a true 3-ply (haven't done many of those - usually a navajo ply it) and came up with this:


(the big skein is the 3-ply, the small skein is navajo plied of the extra singles)

Pretty yarn :)

I was pretty pleased with how it came out - didn't get a completely accurate yardage measurement, but it came out I think close to a DK (If I remember correctly?)

I then took a fun trip to Webs to finish off the package (and get some yarn for a couple other projects and such of course). So here's the complete package I sent to her:




And here was what she sent me for my birthday:


The chocolates and candies disappeared quickly, the kerchief went right on my head, the apron I have been using a lot already, and the sachet I haven't decided yet where to put it. The yarn and ribbons were for a project that she had seen on my favorites page, since the pattern is free she got me the other supplies needed so I could make it. It took me a couple days to cast on, and about a week or so to finish it:




So I had a great birthday! (My sweet husband also took the day off of work and did the homeschooling for me, made me take a bubble bath, took us out to lunch, and bowling, and then someone watched the kids while we ran errands and had a calmer dinner out... and presents spread throughout the day) Oh right, and one of the presents was three months of Yarn Pirate's new fiber club :) ...the first fiber came earlier this week...

Busy busy busy

I got my birthday swap package. (Thank you Eileen!) My package to her can be seen here.

(not pictured here, two chocolate bars that were fairly quickly eaten)


Spring is coming... or maybe even here these days.



I am still knitting a little bit.

This is some mohair I got from a Swap (from Sue) and I found an easy stole/shawl pattern and worked a couple of rows and then brought it with me to the hospital. I actually did work on it some there (when someone else was holding the new one, or when I just needed to do something yarny or go nuts - new babies sleep a lot, me? not so much while in the hospital)


Other than that I've been



Just



...a little...



busy!

(pictures at 3 days, 2 weeks, and 3 weeks respectively, yes that is the baby surprise jacket I made for him. I normally don't post pictures of the kids for their current and future safety and privacy, there will be an exception for a few more months of baby pics I think before he'll go undercover. We're thinking about a blog-name for him. ...leaning towards 'Tomato' due to the glint of his hair - any better ideas?)

X is for...

eXtremely eXciting knitting, mail, and projects!

...remember the SP11 package that disappeared? Well, it showed up yesterday. Look at this beautiful stuff that was sent for me (well, and husband and girls).



The yarn is all just beautiful! I am so excited that this stuff didn't just disappear into the mail-black-hole. The sock yarn is for husband, but I am already thinking of what to do with the rest, as it is lovely! I'm also so happy that the handmade items didn't get lost!

...handmade for the baby of course. Look at the cute stuff! I love it!




Thanks so much Sue! ...the chocolate is already open and half gone.


...and look what else got finished!




The stole hasn't been blocked yet (My mom said I could borrow and use her blocking wires and boards - sometime soon perhaps), but I can't believe I finally finished! Once I started working it didn't actually take too long, it just had to wait its turn to be the priority.


I am now down to two projects (my husband's slippers and the yarn for Heather) that I want to get done before the baby is born. Of course, since they are both spinning I need to have a knit project. I'm currently working on these...





I'm planning to make the same booties (smaller) with the other yarn in the picture. I also am planning to make the blue baby hat that Sue sent the yarn and pattern for. Maybe I'll even start a pair of socks, as long as the spinning continues in the background. I'm down to about 5 and a half weeks before the baby is due, and I'm currently going on schedule to finish all the major things (including taxes - now done. Yay!) so I won't have anything big hanging over me afterwards!


My husband brought home a present yesterday also. Someone he works with sent a nice baby blanket home!




It's very pretty! I love this whole getting handmade gifts thing. Usually I make gifts for other people's babies, and make only one or two small things for mine. This baby is already getting spoiled with yarny goodness and I know there's at least a bit more coming, very exciting! Thank you!

W is for...

Works in Progress





My lace socks in progress.




(and my husband's progress that I had to rip out since I thought I matched the rpi and spi (rows and stitches per inch) but couldn't match the mpi (mistakes per inch). It hurt to rip out, as I knew how much time and energy had gone into it, but he wanted this project done and knew I'd probably have to rip if I took it over. I did it while he wasn't home and kept knitting, and eventually...


...that turn into Finished Objects:




Knitpicks pattern with knitpicks yarn - details on ravelry or upon request! :)




...I know I already showed my finished lace scarf earlier, but I am still very proud of it, especially the fact that I finally finished it!!



W is also for
...Wonderful Mail



My SP11 pal was so kind to send a replacement package when the final packaged never got here (more on that later...) See the wonderful baby hat (including yarn to make a more blue one) and lots of yarn that have many ideas swirling around my head. There was also another card game that the girls were very excited about (we've already played it many different ways). Thanks Sue!

Q is for...

Que Sera Sera.

I just made a couple of people in my life very happy by making it so my blog feed will go to their reader completely instead of making them click over to my site. Such is life. Merry Christmas!




For those of you on Ravelry - I just wanted to mention a cool swap I signed up for (I know, I said no more swaps until after the baby is born and a little grown, but this one sounded so cool). It's a birthday swap - so they are trying to match people share a birthday (or close if it's not exact). It'll be neat to get another birthday present in the mail, and I can hopefully get it ready and sent before the baby is born. Just wanted to get a mention in, as they are closing it in about a week (the 27th I think?).

P is for...

Procrastinate!

Yeah, that's me. I did the whole month of November - posting every day, and then I take half of December off. I was sick, I got better, I packed my husband off to the other side of the world for a week, we welcomed him home and are still readjusting to normal schedule. I finished Christmas-knitting and have everything mailed off (as of today) - even the cards are all out. We've gotten all our shopping done and now just have to wrap and bake. Pictures were taken of a couple of the super-secret Christmas knitting and will be posted after Christmas. I'm still trying to finish a couple of things for my sweet husband, but without a definite deadline.



P is also for Pal

....I found out who my SP11 spoiler is, through a couple sneaky clues. I'm still waiting for my last package (no rush, no problem) and will post links and such after that gets here.



P is also for pregnant

I'm showing enough of a belly that people are now asking when I'm due (end of March), do I know what I'm having (no, we don't find out, never have - the results of the ultrasound said healthy), do we have names picked out yet (nope, not enough a blog name picked yet, definitely not a real name yet). Yes, the girls are excited; no, I'm not knitting for it yet.



P is also for (knitting in) Public

I think we finally have a local S&B. I've gone 3 or 4 times now and I've missed a couple times that others showed up. Unfortunately the place we've been meeting at is closing, so... next Wednesday we won't be meeting (day after christmas), the week after is the first Wednesday of the month and so will be at a nearby LYS, so hopefully by January 9th we'll have a new place to meet at! It's been fun getting out of the house for just a couple hours (thanks to my husband for enabling) and just knit and drink some hot chocolate and chat.

November 21

I managed to work about half of the gusset increase rows in my husband's second sock today. This daily blogging doesn't give me much time to make progress in between posts. I'm looking forward to doing the heel and hoping that they match this time.

I also made a cheesecake today. That is our contribution to the meal tomorrow (and serves as one of my husband's birthday cakes.. the other one I believe is a carrot cake on his actual birthday - correct me if I'm wrong sweetie?)

The other thing I did today (in a crafty way) is to finish (with Lily's help) a secret birthday gift (Curly helped the other day). Pictures in about a week and a half.

In the mail today I got some superwash merino laps from Flawful Fibers. She was destashing a bit so I got a bit over a pound of white. I look forward to using that sometime.

...and finally, yesterday my SP11 spoilee received her final package. Hi Casey! It's nice to have that reveal done. Now I am done with swaps until after the baby grows a bit - probably... you never know.

November 14

Today was at least slightly more interesting than yesterday. I'm still sniffling (I feel like a broken record, always barely sick, never really ill, but just annoying). I pulled together the rest of the stuff for my last swap package. It'll be ready to ship within the next couple of days. I managed to work a pattern or two on the lace scarf - some of that was done tonight at the first real meeting for the pioneer valley s&b. It was fun to meet Deb and the place is nice enough (and I had a great hot chocolate), so I look forward to doing that again!


I stopped at the store on the way home and grabbed some vicks and other safe sick stuff, and some snacks, so now I get to go feel better and knit while watching Life.


Tomorrow night is a church craft night at my house - we're planning to cut out some patterns for nativity costumes, and then divvy them up to be sewn. So probably not much knitting tomorrow - much cleaning and then socializing and cutting.


I think there's a good chance that SP11 will be my last swap for a while - I've had great swap partners in the past, and I LOVE the people and stuff this time around too, but with the pregnancy revving up and the holidays to take care of, I shouldn't plan on being dependable until summer at least. I've realized this over the past couple of days and that makes the end of this current swap somewhat bittersweet. I want to know who's been spoiling me, and I want to ship off my own reveal package, but I don't really want it to be over. I'll look forward to when I feel up to swapping again.

M is for...

Mail!

My second package from my SP11 pal came in the mail today. There were things for the girls

The girls have already poured over the royalty pictures, and we played the game tonight (Curly came in first, then Lily, then husband, then me)


somethings for me...

The wire knitting book looks pretty cool, and the bright wire is awesome! She also included a package of cool sheepy tissues which I don't see in the picture.

somethings for hubby

He was so excited to have a little yarny goody. Amusingly enough, he is allergic to mint, so although he appreciates the thought, he handed them over to me (the yarn he kept though... hmmm...).


and some things for all of us:


The book contains both recipes and knitting patterns, and some pictures of the knitted gingerbread house made in England, on display summer of 2007. It was knitted by over 00 knitters across the world to raise funds for a couple of charities in England.


Very cool looking pictures in the book.
Thank you to my SP11 Pal - The package was great - it really brightened up the day (and the gingerbread men are for tomorrow's snack)!


M is also for Memories.

My report on Rhinebeck is old news now. If you want to know what we did, go here for my husband's take on the day. I really had a great day and weekend (I had a 5 hour nap on that Sunday). The trees were gorgeous on the drive to and from the fair grounds (2.5 hour drive each way). The girls had a blast doing the fun kid things, and there were tons of things for all of us to look at.

One of our favorites of the day was the act put on by Matt Jergens. During one of his shows he juggled a chain saw. He also juggled fire torches while on a 6 ft tall unicycle.


During a different show he balanced a basket of eggs on a long pole, balancing the end of the pole on his chin. I managed to catch this photo right before he umm... dropped the eggs.


We went through each of the vender areas (well, most of them) and then I went back for two things. One of the things I went back for was this gray superwash.

I bought them from Abi's Web and they are SOOO soft. I'm not quite sure what they will turn in to, but I got a couple so I would have options.


I also went back to Stony Mountain Fibers to pick up these.



I thought I had picked random colors that struck me that would maybe look well together (if I wanted to do some colorwork) I noticed while photographing them, that I picked up a rainbow.


(Red, Merino70/Tencel30; Hollyberry, Merino; Daffodil, Merino; Sage, Merino; Blue, Colonial Wool; Northern Lights, Colonial Wool; Dk Green, Colonial Wool)

My husband also picked up a set of stitch markers from them, and a Nostepinne.

My girls each chose something - Lily chose a little doll that looks like she's knitting and has a baby wrapped up on her back, and Curly chose three little finger puppets - a camel, a zebra, and a monkey.


M is also for Maternity, which is the type of clothes I am wearing now. Our third child, gender unknown, will be here sometime at the end of March. This is probably one of the reasons I knit less during the late summer/early fall this year. I've been too busy sleeping and eating and feeling awful.


...now back to knitting, hopefully something finished to show soon!

Package arrived!

So yesterday, as I was trying to recover from a massive headache I saw that there was a package in my door...



A package from SP11!

I opened it right away and got these for me:


...and these for the girls:


I love my swap pal! I delayed eating the chocolate until I thanked her (I figured that was only fair), but it is going to be eaten as soon as this gets posted. I'm already trying to figure out what I want to do with the wool (what weight to spin it... what project to knit it into...) that yarn there is her handspun - which is awesome, and definitely enough to do something with. The girls broke right into the cookies and are trying to talk me into a stamping afternoon (they have some other stamps and are very excited about adding the new ones and making some 'projects'). Thank you so much!


...and just as a side note, I was looking at my stats the other day, and if the person from Tennessee who clicked over here from a google search of 'super pig cape picture' - I would love to know what it was you were looking for, and if you enjoyed the adventures of our super pig.