Pay it forward Progress

I'm trying to wrap up my last two Pay it Forward gifts.... hopefully by the beginning of March I will be done and good!

We're watching a lot of Olympics... including doing our homeschooling around that theme. I'm knitting and spinning and such, but not all the time as I'm slowly recovering from a cold.

What are you up to?

The end of 2009

OK, before I can start fresh, I need to finish wrapping up 2009. From mid-October until now I did finish several items.

One item I am still trying to get a picture of is a poncho I made for one of my friends. She painted my kids' room in exchange for the knitting. Beautiful simple alpaca silk.... yum. Hopefully I'll at least post pics of it on ravelry sometime. It's my own fault - I was so excited to finish it that I handed it over to her without remembering to snap a couple pictures.



I did, however, finally take some pictures of my green shawl

It's alpaca tencel yarn and is warm, and drapey, and easy to throw on around the house.




I gifted a blanket and bear set in mid-December to a beautiful new baby girl. Aren't they sweet?




I was given some yarn so that I could make scarves for the homeless (for an Eagle Scout Project). Since I know the guy doing the project, was given yarn, and wasn't planning to do any Christmas Knitting anyway, I whipped out 7 of them while watching tv and supervising schoolwork. It helped that all of them were worsted weight held double, knit on either 11 or 13s.




Back in October I joined with a ravelry group called Ply By Night. They order the same fiber and then spin it different ways to see how it looks as yarn and then knit one of two projects. Of course, I haven't spun mine yet, but I've enjoyed watching some other projects get spun and knit in that group. This might be next on the spinning wheel. (After I finish the current green I'm spinning)



I also joined a fiber club. I've admired the colors and beautiful fiber whenever I've seen David's work, so I was on the waiting list for the Southern Cross Fibre Club. When my name came up on the list I jumped in. He is in Australia, and so my December shipment came a couple days after Christmas.



Speaking of Christmas... when I was ordering some items for some other members of my family, this ended up in my Knitpicks cart.

I love the look of this kit. I now however, have two different steeked vests to make, hopefully this year.


My husband gave me these beautiful braids of fiber...






So now I have a queue for the wheel (or spindle) and plenty to keep me busy this year...

I have already made some resolutions for myself, none of them are fibery though this year. This year I guess my simple fiber goals would be to enjoy my stash and to relax and enjoy my projects. I'm not going to say not buy anything, and knit and spin only from stash, but my goodness, I do have a lot of pretty things that I should use. The relax and enjoy is to remind myself that I should be using this as my downtime and hobby, not as another stress.

The Present is Good Enough

I recently read this blog post which prompted me to look back and find the quote and original post she was talking about:

“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” - Voltaire

...and then I've stumbled across these two quotes that go so nicely with that concept...


“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things only hoped for.”
--Epicurus

"We don't have to be perfect today. We don't have to be better than someone else. All we have to do is to be the very best we can."
--Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, "One Step after Another,", Nov. Ensign 2001 pg. 25


I'll be back to update the past two months of my crafts soon, but I thought that in the stress of the holidays it would be good to share these.

Gifts and Weaving

My newest niece received a bright teddy bear that arrived in her home just a little while before she did.



I also worked on a gift for my neighbor's new baby - she or he hasn't arrived yet, but a new bear and blanket are waiting for him/her.





I recently finished weaving something. It was my first weaving project and it was very exciting to have it come off the loom. I still need to finish hemming and weaving in the ends of all the color changes.


I can't wait to have all five cloths done and wash them and have them done... I just had these random other things to finish first.

...like these:



My three kids now have new slippers (or will as of tomorrow when I felt the last pair and stretch out the smallest pair a bit)

More things for the Kiddies

I'm getting ready to mail off (or send with my mother when she goes to visit) a package to my sister's house. The brown pocket hoodie is for one of the kids... The newest little kid will be getting a teddy bear (yet to be made) and a blanket



It's a nice snuggly cotton blanket... I used up all my scraps and bought a couple of new skeins to make sure it would be nice and big.


I think I reached my goal. The only problem right now is it is shedding a bit as I discovered when my little tomato insisted that he sit on my lap and wiggle as I worked on the last little bit (I think he might be getting a complex - I keep crafting and he loves each item a tiny bit as I work on it, and then I give them away - I'll have to make something soft for him soon). It's just leaving little cotton threads behind - I think a couple good washings and it will be fine.

Of course, I'm ruining all of the surprises for my sister, but since I won't be there to see her face anyway (and it's up to her whether she wants to show the pics to the kids or safe the surprises for them), eh.





I then wanted to try a new technique for spinning. These samples were core spun over some crochet cotton. One of them (the red) I spun a bunch first, and then let it untwist a bit as I corespun it. The other one is definitely more rough and twine-like since I didn't twist first. - so it's a little tight.

I felt I had played enough with the technique (I'll try it again sometime with different fiber) so I just spun normally the other fiber in that packet and started a little doll blanket.



This will be for my 5 year old niece in that family. As I finished it up I added some pink merino with some glitz in it, I think my girls are a little jealous. I might have to make them something small with glitz in it soon!



I'm still working on socks for my husband, a vest and a shawl for me, and of course, the teddy bear with sweater to finish up this package so I can get it ready to send!