Gnomes!

I just finished knitting another gnome!

So, now I have two!

I love these little guys!  Aren't they adorable?!

They're made from the "Yuletide Gmome" pattern I found on Ravelry.  The pattern is written to knit them on straight needles and sew each section closed.  Way too much work, too much purling, and too much time. Luckily, other Ravelers have posted directions for knitting them in the round.  That's a lot more fun and I think they look a lot better that way.

Sorry for so few posts lately.  Life has been crazy busy.  That seems to be the norm lately.  Whew!  But, I'm still working on trying to post more.

Here's a little of what's been going on....

My husband's grandfather had just passed away on my most recent life update.  Since then, we've all helped grandma go through things and get grandpa's things out.  She wanted to do that quickly as she felt it would help her.  She has tough days and that's so understandable since they were together for 75 years.  But, she's so incredibly strong too.  She's been keeping busy and moving forward.  She's an amazing woman that I find myself becoming more and more impressed with and inspired by everyday.  I love her so much!

My parents came to the funeral and my mom was doing really well that day.  She was a LOT less negative and repetitive that day and very pleasant to be with.  I really cherished time with her that day.  It gave me hope.  However, she has a lot of bad days.  My dad says that she can change like the flip of a switch.  It's becoming increasingly difficult for him and we are all trying to figure out the best way to handle it all.  When we go over, it upsets her.  And, when we stay away, it upsets her.  She usually doesn't show that anger and upset when we are there but after we leave and every day in between.  My dad says she just goes on and on with negativity of things that aren't true.  She thinks my brother and I hate her.  SO not true!!! She goes on and on that I don't call her.  But, when I do, she doesn't answer her phone.  When I do talk to her on the phone by calling my dad, she doesn't remember.

She passed the driving test but wasn't able to get a doctor to sign off for her to drive.  So, she lost her license.  That has upset her a lot.  But, it's given her a reason to go to the doctor...something we were having a very hard time getting her to do.  She's had one gerontology appointment so far and a brain scan.  She still needs to go see a psychiatrist and go back to the gerontologist for results on everything.  To get her license back, she'll need to get approval from the doctor and start the license process from the beginning...driving test, written test, etc.

I feel for her.  I understand that this must be SO frustrating and difficult.  But, she just won't let us support her and love her through it.  That's what we SO want to do.  Shes pushes us away, leaves when we go over so she won't have to see us, and won't allow us to go to the doctor with her.

She's angry that my brother and his wife keep bringing food over too.  But, she doesn't cook and they need to eat!  My dad is getting stronger and doing better and better (except this stress which isn't good for him) but my mom continues to lose weight.  She's so tiny now and it has us worried.  She's lost close to 50 pounds since last summer.  I hope the doctor can get to the bottom of everything that's been going on.

After the funeral, my husband and I went on a trip to Utah for a week.  He did a mountain bike race, we did a little shopping and exploring, we ate great food, we did a little hiking, and we relaxed.  We really needed a little get-away!  I'll try to post about that soon.

Have a great weekend!  :-)

I Did It!

I finished my gnome today!

I think it turned out great!  He's adorable!

This is the first knit project like this that I've ever done.  It was a bit scary and challenging at times but fun to make.  I learned a few new knitting skills along the way too.

I couldn't wait to show him off!  Now, I'd better head on over to my Ravelry project page to make more notes about it in case I make another one.

Big Time De-Stashing

There's some big time de-stashing going on around here!  I went through my yarn bins a couple weeks ago and pulled out a lot of leftover yarn and full skeins that I've had for a while and didn't think I would use.  There was a big bag full when I was done.  Instead of letting it sit and later putting it back in the stash (like I did a few months ago), I took it to my stitch group meeting and gave it away.  Everyone seemed excited to get new-to-them yarns and it felt so good to lighten my load.  It was like taking things off my to-do list.  No longer are those yarns sitting in bins causing me to try to figure out good uses for them.  Now, I have a lot less yarn and only yarn I really love.

I've been doing quite a bit of yarn de-stashing over this past year by using it for projects.  I just finished up another one last week.  I had a skein of Wool Ease Thick and Quick left over from a scarf I made for my daughter a couple of years ago.  One skein is all I needed to make a matching hat.  I found a pattern on Ravelry that went well with the scarf.  It's a pay pattern but lots of Ravelers have put such detailed notes that I didn't even need to buy it.  I felt kind of bad but it was super easy and the directions were right there.  So, I used notes from several and made one.  It was easy and quick.

I sent off to my daughter last week and she loves it.  I knew she'd like it a little slouchy and it turned out to be just the right amount of slouch.  When she received it, it just happened to be cold enough to wear it that day.  She got lots of compliments.  That makes me really happy.

Have you been doing any de-stashing lately?  What have you made?  Or...have you done some drastic de-stashing like I have and gotten rid of lots of yarn all at once?

FO Friday - The Secrets Revealed!

I can now post about some projects that were a secret until yesterday!

I made a Sockhead Hat for me about a year or so ago (it has a fun story...you can read about that HERE and HERE).  My hubby loved it so much that I made one for him earlier this year.  And, my daughter loved it so much that I made one for her and gave it to her for Christmas yesterday.  

I need to get some pics of her wearing it but here are some I took before I wrapped it up...

My friend at Inner Yarn Zen dyed this yarn and it was love at first sight.  It turned out that it was love at first sight for my daughter too.  I quickly decided to use it to knit a hat for her.

It's interesting how the color spiraled up the hat.  Then, when I started to decrease for the top, the spiral reversed.  Pretty cool!

This is a free pattern on Ravelry and we all love how it fits and feels.  It calls for sock yarn which turns out to be perfect for a hat.  It's warm but not thick.  The wide band at the bottom allows to double it up for extra warmth and style or to wear it as a single layer if it's not quite so cold.  We also love that it fits nice without being too snug.  That makes it extra comfy and nice to wear.  The slouchy part is cute too.  For my hubby, I gave his hat just a touch of slouch.

I love the creamy white and the little bits of Fall color in the stripes.

I made a dream catcher for my daughter too.  I used a metal ring that I had and some left over yarn.  I think it could use a little something extra but haven't figured out exactly what or how I want to go about it though.  Probably some beads and feathers.  But, it's kind of cute the way it is too.

It's leftover Pagewood Farm yarn in the "Army Girl" colorway.  I absolutely love the colors in this yarn.  I originally used it to crochet a lace shawl.

I used a doily pattern and just crocheted part of the center.  I like the little picots.  They're kind of like little flower buds.

My daughter hung it up right away and it matches her room!

I'm happy to announce that she loved both gifts!  And, I did a little de-stashing too! ;-)

My First Toe-Up Socks!

My knit group planned an extra outing this week at Tom's Farms.

It's a nice little place with shops selling produce, candies, jams, fresh baked breads, etc. along with a couple different restaurants, a pond, attractions for kids and more.  We sat in a shady spot by the pond and the weather was perfect.  We stitched and chatted for hours.  Some of us even grabbed a bite to eat.  One of the knitters in the group tried to teach me how to knit toe-up socks.

I just wasn't getting it though and eventually ripped it out and moved on to something else.

When I got home, I looked up some how-to help on YouTube and found THIS video.

It made all the difference and LOOK!  I'm doing it!...

I'm so excited!  I've got a good start on the toe and should be up to the foot part in a few more rows.

Hopefully, I'll be able to find a video on how to knit the heel parts that makes as much sense.

It will be so wonderful to not have to do kitchener stitch anymore.  And, to be able to utilize more of the yarn and not worry about running out.

After our stitch gathering, we all headed over to the market there and bought some fresh fruit and veggies.  Of course, I had to stroll through the candy area to see what they had!

I spotted the peanut brittle and couldn't resist buying a box of it.  It's SOOOOO yummy!

I think I could eat the whole box!  I'm trying hard to restrain myself.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Finley is Finished!

I finished another Sockhead Hat!  It's a free pattern on Ravelry and the second one I've made.

I love it!  It's comfortable, easy, looks great on, and it's a great pattern for multi-colored sock yarn.

You can see my first one HERE and HERE.  

This one is made from yarn that was dyed by a friend of mine at Inner Yarn Zen.  This colorway is called, "Finley".  I love the browns and blues (more turquoise in person).  Hubby loved the colors too and was excited when I started knitting a hat for him with it.  It was fun to watch the turquoise spiral up as I knitted it.  Then, it started to pool in these really cool shapes.  It's looks a little like tie-dye.

This pattern has a wide four inch band of ribbing that folds over nicely.

It works great to keep ears warm.  The sock yarn makes the hat comfortable and not bulky.

I used a size two, circular needle and a set of double points to knit it.

The pattern creates a slouchy hat.  I made this one a little less slouchy for hubby.

When it's on him, it doesn't have much slouch.  He's at work right now though.

So, I used my handy dandy glass head for a model.

I weighed the hat and the leftover yarn and I was excited to see that the hat took exactly half.

That means I have plenty to make another hat for me or something else in these pretty colors.

Cozy Red Cowl

I finished up a cowl this last week with some cozy, squishy, soft, red yarn.

Just in time for Valentine's Day!

It's made with two skeins of Lion Brand Tweed Stripes yarn and size 13 needles.

The pattern was a freebie from the yarn shop I got the yarn from.

I cast on 145 stitches in the round and it's basically random width sections of purl or knit.

Simple and fun!

I absolutely love it doubled up.

Gorgeous!

And, oh so soft and warm!

The colors are close to accurate in the photos...reds, pinks, oranges.  Pretty!

I'll definitely be wearing it on Valentine's Day, if it's chilly enough.

It'll work great for chilly Fridays for R.E.D. (Remember Everyone Deployed).

And, any other chilly days that I want a pop of red and squishy softness around my neck.

Stash to Style

While clothes shopping a couple of weeks ago, I ran across a Tommy Hilfiger outlet store.

They had a sale on some long sleeve, v-neck T's.  They were nice...not that tissue thin kind I normally see in stores.  The sleeves and body were plenty long.  And, they had some shaping instead of being baggy and boxy.  I was thrilled.  I tried some on to figure out my size and I was ready to buy a few in various colors.  Unfortunately, they only had my size in one of the colors I liked, pink.

As I was driving home, I realized that a ball of yarn in my stash might go with it perfectly.

It did!  Yay!  I love the color in this "Cottontots" yarn and have been waiting for just the right thing to use it for.  I finally found it!  So, I cast 105 stitches onto size 7, 16" circular needles and got started.

I knit 10 rows, *purled one row, knit one row (*three times), continued knitting 

and repeated it in reverse on the other side and loosely bound off.  

I love the colors in this yarn!

I have one big problem!  I washed the shirt in cold water, dried it on low and it shrunk at least 3 inches!  ARGH!  I can't believe that!  It's a name brand too!  So frustrating.  I didn't even get to wear it with my new cowl yet.  I'm going to wash it again and try the trick I've used on some shrunken sweaters...hold the top of the sleeve in one hand, the bottom in the other and S-T-R-E-T-C-H!

I'll do the same with the body.  Wish me luck!  I really want to be able to wear this shirt!

I'd take it back to see if I could exchange it but the store is about 45 minutes away.

And, since it's holiday shopping time, there probably aren't many left.

Knitted Necklace

I was inspired earlier this year by some I-cord scarves on display at a yarn shop.  I found some beautiful brown, cotton yarn at the same shop and immediately had an idea for knitted jewelry.

My idea had a western look with brown I-cord, silver beads, turquouise beads and red coral beads.

I searched for months to find silver beads with holes large enough for one strand of the yarn so I could knit them into the necklace.  I had no luck.  I gave up for a bit and started looking again about a week ago.  I found some with holes even bigger than that.  They fit over the entire I-cord!

Once I had the I-cords made and started to put it all together, the turquoise and coral

didn't look right.  So, I decided to make it with just the I-cords and silver beads.

I think it turned out pretty nice.  I'm excited to wear it.

I found these little silver cones to cover the ends.  It works nice to conceal the not-so-pretty

bind-off I-cords and give it a polished look.  The design on them looks a little like knit stitches.

I used jump rings and a simple lobster clasp on the back to open and close it.

Here's the yarn I used, Rowan Cotton Glace...

I have some more ideas swimming around in my head to try

to incorporate the turquoise and coral beads.  And, to use some silver beads

I found with even larger holes.  I can't wait to see how they turn out.

Finally Finished

I've been working on and off on this pair of socks for a long time.

I was surprised at how long when I updated my project notes on Ravelry.

It turns out that I started these in July of 2011!  Sheesh!  It's about time I finished them!

They're just a basic pair of socks knitted with size two double point needles.  Nothing fancy.

I originally bought the yarn for a crochet shawl but the colors pooled in ways that didn't look good.

Knitting seems to be a much better match for this colorway of Zitron Trekking XXL yarn.

I love the colors and I finished them just in time for the wintery weather we're having this week.

I think this yarn would look great as a Sockhead Hat like the one I made HERE.

I have almost half a skein left.  Time to weigh it and the hat I made before and see if it's possible!

Maybe a less slouchy version.  :-)

Yarn Therapy

Playing with yarn can be like therapy.  It can calm my mind and nerves, switch my mind

to a better direction, and just make me feel good.  It's often what I think about when I'm in a stressful situation or pushing my boundaries (like when I rappelled into those canyons a couple weeks ago).  

Knitting, crocheting and playing with yarn is a cozy, happy, feel-good place for me.

Yarn therapy is exactly what I've needed lately with some of the stress of my life and the intense activities of our vacation.  I had the perfect yarn for that sort of thing...a skein of Aslan Trends Lecco.

It's fun, funky and made with one of my favorite fibers, cotton.  I used it to create the perfect yarn

therapy type of project too.  I made a no rules, no pattern, fat needles, just knitting project.

Here it is...my fun and fringy cowl...

I used size 13 needles and cast on 22 stitches.  Why 22?  Because it seemed like the perfect width

and it's the age of my daughter (I like picking numbers that mean something).  Then, I enjoyed 

every simple knit stitch and not a single purl.  I knitted until I was getting close to the end.

Then, I roughly measured from the end what I thought I'd need for fringe.  I knitted close to that and bound off.  I gave it one twist to create a mobious, stitched it together and added some fringe.

It was quick and fun and I love the result.  It's a little artsy, I think.

I love the look of the yarn and the results but I'm not sure I'll buy this yarn again.

The unspun parts of the yarn tend to get fuzzy very easily.  So, I'm not quite sure how

well it will hold up with wear.  But, I'll enjoy it as long as I can!

World Wide Knit in Public Week

I took a break yesterday from most of my projects.

It was the first day of World Wide Knit in Public Week 2013 and I just had to join in on the fun!

I put a couple of projects into my bike basket and headed out

early in the morning to meet a friend at the Marketplace.

We locked up our bikes and grabbed our things...

...and went into the Breakfast Club.

The weather was beautiful and we were lucky to get a table outside.

Of course, I had to get a yummy soy vanilla latte to enjoy with my "California Omelet"

that had tomatoes, avocado, bacon and artichokes hearts in it and some fresh salsa on top

(I had them leave off the cheese).  It also came with a bowl of delicious fresh fruit.  Yum!

After breakfast, we moved our bikes to another area of the Marketplace and sat at an

outside table with an umbrella to do a little stitching.  My friend worked on crocheting

a cute and handy basket.  I worked on my new crochet shawl with some of my new yarn.

I later pulled out a knitting project and worked on that for a while.

Hubby surprised us when he biked up on his cruiser and sat with us for a while.  

We popped into Starbucks to get some chilly drinks, visited a while longer, 

and then we all hopped on our bikes to ride home. What fun!  

Are you participating in World Wide Knit in Public Week?

Wash 'n Dry

I knitted up some small projects over the past few weeks...

I made a couple of hand/dish cloths to send to my blog give-away prize winner, Roxie.

She wanted me to choose a multi color yarn.  So, I picked one of my favorites, Countryside Ombre.

I love the lavender/purple and green hues.  So pretty!  I hope she likes them too.

I also knitted another Basket Rib Hand Towel.  I've knitted a few of these and love them.

This one is knitted with a ball of Sugar N Cream yarn that I bought just because the colors were pretty.  Actually, that's my main reason for every ball of Sugar N Cream that I buy.

The color name on this one is "Emerald Isle".   I have to admit that I don't like it as well knitted up as I did when it was a ball of yarn.  I'll enjoy using it though.

I just love cotton and making things with it.

I'm currently in the middle of making a giant doily/table cloth with some natural color

Handicrafter Cotton.  I hope to have it finished soon.  I'll post pictures when I do. 

Woodland Lace

My Spring cleaning this year has started with my craft studio and finishing up projects that have been WIPs for way too long.  I finished the Bora Bora shawl a few weeks ago.  This last week, I finished a lace scarf that I started almost a year ago.  I blocked it yesterday and just finished pulling out all the pins and taking pictures.  

Here it is...

The pattern is "Strangling Vine Lace Scarf".  It's a free pattern that I found on Ravelry.

It's well written and very easy to knit.

I just noticed that I didn't mark a needle size in my Ravelry notes.  Ooops!

But, I'm pretty sure I used the recommended size four that's listed on the pattern.
The finished size is about 7" x 76".

I used a skein of "Hazel Knits Piquant Lite" yarn in the 252 Woodland colorway (400 yards).

I love all the different shades of green.  It's rich and beautiful. 

The bits of light in it remind me of being in the woods with bits of sunshine streaming through.

Because of that, and all the shades of green you'd see in a forest, I decided to name my scarf "Woodland Lace".   I like that name much better than "strangling" lace.

The scalloped ends are a nice touch.

The overall pattern looks like vines and also like pine trees.

 Blocking is always like magic to me.

And, if I didn't know that blocking could turn this...

Into this...

I might not have continued after the first couple of inches.

I'm glad I did.  And, I'm so happy to have picked it up a few weeks ago and finally finished it.

It turned out beautiful and the timing is perfect for Saint Patrick's Day this weekend!