While the dust settles...

Projects have been finished...

New projects have been started...

Sweet tooths have been satisfied...

After Christmas sales were purchased...

The calendar's been turned...

Happy New Year one and all!

We have 5 more days of nothingness...

5 more days till we re-enter our usual day-to-day schedules.

And we intend to enjoy every bit of it doing absolutely nothing.

And all the while, we'll be wishing you a Wondrous New Year...

Wrapping up before the Big Day

Good Morning Dear Friends!  I got up this morning and got cracking on the last two gifts.  This one just needed all the ends woven in and a ribbon tied 'round...

And just needed to knit the toe of sock #2...

And that concludes the 2010 edition of the Handmade Holiday Gift List!  Hurrah!

I received some wonderful gifts in the mail yesterday from some really wonderful friends.

Dear Julianne sent me two ornaments, one for last year and one for this year...how incredibly sweet is that?  Thank you so much Julianne, you are so kind and thoughtful and I just absolutely adore them!

And thoughtful and talented Harmien sent me this clever ornament.  I just love it!  Thank you Harmien for being such a dear friend!

And then this pretty card with some equally pretty red thread came from sweet Michele W.  Thank you so much Michele for thinking of me, you always make me smile and it seems we're often on the "same wavelength"!

I feel so lucky to have made some really wonderful friendships through blogging.

Thank you everyone.

And a BIG HEARTFELT THANK YOU to each of you who stop by and visit me here.

Wishing each and every one of you a Very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!

I hope this holiday season finds you surrounded by peace and love.

See you all in the new year!

Hugs, Staci

This...

is where those 9 buttons went!

And it's nothing short of a miracle to find enough matching ones in my button jar(s)!

Super Fast and Easy Knit.

Wore it for the first time yesterday while finishing up my Christmas shopping.

Without a coat but with a lovely scarf.

While the lightly falling snow swirled around but didn't accumulate.

And while the sun shone off and on  :)

Finally, some festive holiday weather!

Garter Yoke Cardi

Knit 1, fall/winter 2008

size:  medium

yarn:  Patons Classic Wool, color #77307 Plum Heather

(the color is a little deeper than my pictures show)

4 skeins:  100g/223yds each

needles:  size 8, 32" circular and size 8 dpn's

One more week 'till Christmas, can you believe it???

A small sampling...

of some of the gifts that are arriving at their destinations...

Youngest's teacher had eye surgery on the 8th and will return after Christmas Break.  Everything went well and she is home recovering.  But we felt that she needed a Christmas gift that was just a little bit more special...

Only a couple more gifts to finish and 9 days left...plenty of time, lol!

Ornaments and a Winner!

Hello, Hello!  The R#G picked Faye/Carolina Stitcher as the winner of my final giveaway for 2010!  Congrats Faye and thank you everyone for visiting me and commenting...I wish I could send each of you a heart!

And lo and behold, we have some stitching content today...and will wonders never cease, they are actual Finishes!  I better come clean because if you look closely enough, there's a little "09" in the corners.  That doesn't seem so bad, except that they were stitched in JANUARY of '09, like, 23 months ago.  Pitiful.  But part of the reason they sat in the drawer so long is that I didn't leave quite enough fabric border around (you can tell in the pic here.)  And I've been in a quandry ever since about the best way to finish~finish them.

I've been wanting to copy Lynn B's felt ornament finish for a long time, and it turned out to be a perfect solution to my 'not-enough-border' problem :)  The kiddos' 2009 ornaments are finally hanging on our 2010 tree.

Quaker Scissors Pinkeep by

With My Needle

JCS Ornaments 2006

fabric:  32ct cream belfast linen

fibers:  DMC 115

kiddos' first name initial in Carrie's Creation Gator Green

Thanks for stopping by my neck of the woods and for your sweet comments.  I'll be back soon to show you some really lovely birthday gifts I've received and to show you more finishes (of the knitty kind.)  Have a Happy Holiday Weekend!

It's Time...

For my final giveaway of the year!

It's become a sort of tradition for me. 

There was one my first year of blogging in 2008 and last year's was a little late but it still happened.

So here's this year's giveaway:

One of my handknit and felted heart ornaments,

rusty bells and safety pins I made this past fall,

and an assortment of red ribbons :)

All you have to do is leave a comment on

This Post Only,

AND

Please Include Your Email Address.

That's it.

This Giveaway is open to EVERYONE!

A winner will be randomly drawn on Thursday, December 9th.

Sending you all a little Christmas Cheer!!!

Two to give and One to finish

Oh, woe is me! 
My coffee maker died last night...RIP my faithful servant.
A replacement will be acquired once the kiddos are taken to school.
Now, on to 2 more for the HHGL*:
A couple of pairs of simple, but cozy gift socks...

56 stitch basic stockinette

size:  women's med

yarn:  Patons Kroy Socks Stripes, color #55301 Sultana Stripes

2 skeins:  50g/166yds

needles:  size 3.25mm dpn's

48 stitch stockinette socks with a twisted rib cuff

size:  women's sm/med

yarn:  Patons Kroy Socks FX, color #57242 Clover Colors

2 skeins:  50g/166yds

needles:  size 3.25mm dpn's

Found 9 matching buttons in my stash...to sew in the project from last week.

Hopefully I get around to it today :)

After coffee...

HHGL*:  Handmade Holiday Gift List

Happy Thanksgiving Week :)

Another one crossed off the HHGL*.

The perfect beginning to the day;

coffee and (selfish) knitting

...and a bit of quiet...

The kiddos have the entire week off from school.

And Hubby took the week off from work.

I am woefully behind in visiting everyone's blogs, again.

But I am keeping you all in my thoughts

and wishing each of you a Wonderful Thanksgiving Week!

HHGL*...Handmade Holiday Gift List

I may have...

Finished an ornament...

And sent it off to a friend...

Added delicious organic French soap to spa cloths

and crossed three more names of the HHGL*...

Finally finished a sweater that was begun last summer...

Done some happy dancing...

*HHGL: Handmade Holiday Gift List

Two to give and One to keep

I really think a simple ribbon is all the wrapping a small handknit gift needs.  It lets the focus be on the Handknit :)  A couple of gifts off the handmade list for two very special friends whose birthdays are at the end of the month...

For Shelley:  a long, squishy scarf in greens and blues...

For Kathy:  a soft, drapey plum-colored cowl (sorry it looks more grape in the pic, but it really is plum)...

And for me:  the softest cloud of a shawl, that can be worn bunched and wrapped as a big, cozy scarf...

Or as an airy shawl...

Because I knit these all a while ago, I got careless and threw away the yarn labels and put the needles away (there's already enough clutter with current and wanna-be wip's that I hate to leave stuff lying around from the finished ones.)

But the patterns are all freebies, so here ya go:

Zig Zag Scarf

Ridged Lace Cowl

Stolen Moments Wrap

Happy Knitting and Gifting!!!

In through the front door,

Run around the back,

Out through the window,

And off jumps Jack.

Youngest (8yrs) has been wanting to learn to "knit for real" for a while...no more spool knitting.  And his face lit up when I told him I'd teach him.  Within 30 minutes he was reciting a shortened version of the poem ("in the front, around back, out the window, off jumps Jack") in his head while working very seriously on his stitches. 

And he was Q-U-I-E-T!  Which is saying something because he's a top-volume motor-mouth, lol!

I broke my own personal rule for buying knitting books by getting this one...as it doesn't contain very many projects that I want to make.  My saving grace is that I had a 33% off coupon. 

And that cute yellow cup?  I've liked them for a veeery long time and they're now 75% off at Borders!

BUT, those little hearts on the cover had me!

And I just knew they'd make cute Christmas ornaments!

The 2010-handmade-holiday-gift-production-line has officially begun.

And those little hearts are just rolling off the line!

They are so fun and sweet...

and they make the book purchase totally worth it!

I'm doing mine with worsted weight wool and size 9 needles.

Finished size after felting; approx 3"x3"

Happy Weekend!!!

Happy Wednesday!

Hello everyone!  Yes, the "clever title gods" have abandoned me.  It's late start day, so I'm just popping on here to show you one of my knitty finishes before I take the kids to school and do my volunteer stint with one of the boys' reading groups :)

One of the first additions I like to make to my fall wardrobe is a new scarf (or two, or three...)  And this one is a really fun, easy and quick knit.  I used 2 full skeins of yarn and wish I'd had about half a skein more...it's an "ok" length, I just like mine a little bit longer.

Cable and Lace Scarf by Kimberly Powell

from the 2010 Knitting Calendar

yarn:  Country by Caron, color #0017 claret

2 skeins:  185yds/85g

needles:  sz 8

I've been doing the Sock-A-Month Knit-A-Long this year.  The only rule is to knit a pair of socks every month.  Joining has really boosted my sock production.  That and my desire to have a drawer like this.  I've knit a total of 30 pairs so far this year.  5 pairs are covering other people's feet, which means I've kept 25 pairs.  I'm totally obsessed and don't see myself stopping anytime soon, LOL!!!  (Maybe I'll never have to wear store-bought socks again?!?)

That's about it for my neck of the woods today.  I still have a couple more knitty finishes to share, but gotta get some pics first. 

We've been having the most wonderful fall weather!  The boys have been wearing shorts the last couple of days and there were a lot of people handing out candy on Halloween in shorts too...amazing!  I think I always had to wear a coat over/under the costume as a kid!!!  Hoping you're having a fantastic fall too!!!