Catching Up

I started knitting right before Thanksgiving and that is almost all that I have done since. I knitted for almost all my gifts this year. I have loved it, but I am definitely starting earlier this next year. I went to work, made dinner, did the shopping and knitted.

I made up my own shorter version of the "8 Knitted Days of Christmas"

8 handmade hats,

7 handmade scarves,

6 baby booties,

5 ideas for the new year

4 mailed packages (almost)

3 kids sweaters

2 new books

1 scrapbooked picture

I did stocking/watch caps for my DH, boys, nephew, DD boyfriend and brothers. My DD saw them and wanted one too, so I made her one. Here is a picture of a couple of them. We went and hiked in Zion's Canyon the Monday after Christmas and they really came in handy. All the guys said they were really warm. I did them double stranded. The one on the bottom right corner is DD's. She only wanted single, but it was a marble looking yarn, and so it still kind of looks doubled.

DD's boyfriend is really into hunting and fishing. Even though it is still in the 70's down in Phoenix when you hunt you are up in the mountains. I made his hat and scarf set double stranded and in camouflage. He seemed to really like it.

I asked DD if she was a scarf kind of girl. It is to warm down there for winter scarfs, but I thought a dress scarf was a maybe. She said yes, that they go well with office casual. I asked her what color and she said that she wanted something metallic, either silver or gold. I scratched my head over that one for a while, and then came up with this. I bought gold, silver and black crochet thread and combined them into one strand. I did the new drop stitch pattern and this is how it looked. She really liked it and I was really pleased with how it came out. I am thinking of doing one for me in black, silver and maybe red.

Cool Batik Scarfs

Back in April, when I went to a local quilt show there was a lady at one of the booths knitting. Of course, my friend and I being knitters had to know what she was doing. It was a really cool looking scarf. She wasn't knitting it out of yarn, it was out of batik quilting fabric. She told us how to do it, and I really wanted to try it. I decided to make them for the ladies at work and for the knitting group gift.

This is the one that I did first. I cut the strips and 1" wide and it was too much. It still came out okay. I loved the colors. It was really ironic that the one that I could picture these colors on was the one that one it. Everyone liked it.

That gave me a little more courage to do them for the ladies I work with. I made the strips on these only 1/2" wide on the same size needles. It was a little more flexible. I also made them a little more narrow. I forgot to take pictures before I gave them away, but they brought them back and I got 2 out of the 3. This one is black with pinpoint red polka dots on it.

This one is shades of purple. The one I don't have a picture of was ocean colors. Aqua, blue, purple and spots of yellow and orange. I would like to make one for me out of a soft chambray. We shall see. I had to borrow a rotary cutter to do these. I couldn't find mine. Maybe I will find it when I finish my knitting/sewing room????

My First Boutique

We went back east to visit my DH's family for Thanksgiving. 2 hours in the airport and a 6 hour flight both ways. I worked on items for my first boutique. We have one at work that part of the benefits go to a charity. I didn't do a whole lot. I kind of wanted to see how it would go. I think I did pretty well for the first time. I sold almost half of what I brought. I did pot holder and dish cloth sets, baby booties and some santa hat holiday pins. I'm not sure if I will do it next year, but it was fun.

Out of Africa sweater

Life thas been so crazy lately. Most of my spare time I have spent on the computer working on Christmas or spent knitting for Christmas. I finally finished my nephew's sweater. His church pants are black.

I have never done a yoke on a sweater, and so I thought that I would try it. In fact when I started it, I had every intention of making it a crewneck. Sometimes projects have a life of their own. I also had originally planned on having the gray as the bottom of the sweater, and the yoke varigated. When I grabbed the yarn in the store I was in a hurry and grabbed the wrong amounts of each one. Oh well! The yarn definately pooled, but I kind of like the effect. Although the white one the one sleeve stands out. The basic sweater is stockinette. When I got to the yoke I did it in a seed stitch. I like the texture. I think it adds a bit of something special. I hope he likes it.
In the meantime I am working on his sister's sweater. I am going to call it Little Butterflies. I have the back and part of one front done. I would have two fronts done, but realized last night that I had forgotten to change to the larger needles after the ribbing, and so I had to take it all the way down. What a newbie mistake! It is what you get when you knit and watch good TV shows I guess. LOL I am also going to put a collar on hers. I think I will do a round. Depends on the knitting muse I guess.

Daisy Stitch

I just have to say I love YouTube. I had instructions for the knitted Daisy stitch that I want to put into a sweater eventually. I read over the instructions several times, and just didn't get what they wanted me to do. I googled it and found a YouTube video. How easy. Now I know exactly how to do it. I can't wait to put it into a sweater. Maybe with a butterfly...

Moving Day

I skipped knitting group tonight to begin moving into my craft room. I am on a deadline to get my stuff in here so I can use my guest room for my mom Wed. I took some pictures of all four walls so that you can get a panoramic view. Keep in mind that I have done all the work myself and on a very small shoestring budget. I would like some nicer furniture, but this will do, and it is my own space. That is the part that I am really excited about.
From left to right in the room, here is a tour. These are the two dressers that I found at the yard sale. I am going to use them for storing yarn and projects. They were $10 a piece plus the paint.

The bookcase was my daughters, repainted of course, and my computer area. I have all ready started filling the bookcase with my knitting pattern books. A new chair is also on the list of things to get!

You can see the corner shelves that my DH suggested and put up for me. I think that I will use them for decorations and pictures. Just to the left of the box is where my sewing machine is going to go. I will put a cork board up on the wall for patterns when I am sewing, and peg board on both sides. I will use that for scissors, rulers, seam rippers, thread and bobbins, etc. To the right, at the end of the desk I have about 30" of blank wall. That is where the wrapping center is going to go.

These are my cubicles, that I have had for several years. As you can see they are really full. That is were I have our scrapbooks, photos, and magazines for ideas. I have quite a few boxes of sewing stuff to put away. Now I just have to figure out how to fit everything in here. That will take a little bit of time. LOL!!

An Accidental Trick

I was determined that I was going to get my desk done today so that I could start moving in. My mom is coming to visit Wed and the guest room has been taken over with my stuff! Imagine that!!

I went down this morning to put the varnish finish on my desk. That is the last thing to do for the desk. I started and within about 10 minutes the guys were really complaining. I must have bought varnish instead of polyurethane. The difference in smell was amazing! It was really bad. No one was very happy with me. The treat part of this whole situation is that I can start moving everything into the room. It isn't done, but it is to the point that I can start moving in.

The piece in the middle of the room is going to be my cutting table extension. It was the piece that was leftover after the cutting accident ;p I figured I should use it. I have hardware to attatch it to the desk when I want it. On the other end I will put hinged legs. When I want to cut something out I will just take it out and attatch it to the desk, with the legs down. When it is not in use it will tuck under the desk.

Over on the left side you can see that part of the desk is sticking up. That actually was done on purpose. I had to put a bookcase right in front of the plug for my computer. I cut the desk so that I would be able to get rid of the cords, and get to the plugs if I need to. The desk under it supports it, and it matches the other side will so there is no gap.

I am still going to put up the pegboard for the wrapping center and a peg board and cork board on the wall for the sewing area. I also want to do a fabric window treatment. That can be done later though.