FO Friday 78

Hi everyone! I hope you're looking forward to this weekend and fun St Patty's Day celebrations. We usually don't do anything, but stay home, since people are usually a little crazy, especially since this year it falls on a Saturday and it's supposed to rain here. Have a fun day, but stay safe!

I do have a small...very small FO. Easter is fast approaching. I decided I wanted to knit little animals for my nieces and put them in the plastic eggs they sell for Easter egg hunts. The most logical place to start is with a few bunnies! I made my first one yesterday from a free pattern shared on the Mochimochi website. In fact, she's even doing a contest giveaway involving these little guys where you can win baskets of Koigu yarn! How fun, right?

It was a very simple pattern, even if you're new to knitting. As long as you know how to knit in the round (she recommends using DPNs, but I used magic loop), kf&b and icord, you can knit this pattern in less than an hour! I used 1 cotton ball for stuffing, which fives you an idea just how little this bunny is!





I really like how it turned out, except for the eyes. I might pull them out and try to make them smaller, but it is kind of yarn. Maybe thread instead of yarn will help. We'll see. I might make the ears a titch longer as well. I'll be making many more!

That's it for me today. I hope you all have a great weekend.

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FO Friday 52

Happy Friday and happy one year of FOs!!!!!!!!!! I'm super excited for this weekend as it's my husband's birthday tomorrow! We're headed to Disneyland (we used to go ALL the time because we had year passes, but don't anymore so it's a real treat. We're considering them again, but that's another story) for his birthday and the new tiki bar at Downtown Disney afterward called Trader Sam's. I can't wait!

Beyond that, I've been dyeing my little heart out lately. I can't wait to show you the piles and piles of yarn I've dyed, balled and re-skeined in the past week. It's insanity. This weekend (or at least Saturday) will be a nice break. :)


I actually have a FO to share with you! I know, you're shocked, right? So am I! It's nothing too major, but I'm still really proud of it because it's insanely small. Remember me mentioning in WIPW last week that I got the Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi book and started the elephant? Well, I fnished him!! WOOT! Here he is:

Materials Used:
Size US 1 needles
Knit Picks Stroll Tonal (Thunderhead)
Pattern: Tiny Elephant
Beads for eyes
3 cotton balls

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Work-in-Progress Wednesday 57

Wow is it hot! It was in the 100s in LA this weekend, and we get home to rain and 102. I don't have AC at home (because honestly, you only need it like 2 weeks out of the year in San Dieg0), but with the humidity being so high, it's not pleasant, that's for sure. We had an amazing time in LA, visiting with family and friends. We even got to help a friend work on his production line of tiki mugs he's making for an upcoming event! Another great thing we did, Monday we went to LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and went to the Tim Burton exhibit they had going on. We'd been really wanting to go, and were so glad to have not missed it. YAY for us! It was amazing, as it took 1 1/2 hours to walk through it all. Unfortunately, cameras weren't allowed in the exhibit.

All of the fun means I didn't really knit/crochet. Before I left for vacation, I was busy dyeing yarn, so that stopped me from getting anything done beforehand. I was hoping to get SOMETHING done over the weekend, but alas, did not. Well, that's kind of lying actually. My husband bought me Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi while we were there and I started a little elephant.



As you can see, I'm about to pick up stitches for the ears, but the little guy is SO small, it's a little hard to. I was also trying to do it in poor lighting, so hopefully I can get it started up again later. It measures only about an inch big (yes, an inch...). All the patterns are amazing in the book, but I decided on the elephant first because I had gray yarn for my skirt with me! That being said, I fudged the truck. It was supposed to be an i-cord, but I didn't have double pointed needles with me, and all the LYS were closed Monday for the holiday (I knit the little guy with magic loop), so I just k2tog until I had two stitches on each needle, then knit the trunk and cast off. It's not as clean as an i-cord, but not too shabby. I will say, I can't wait to make another one with less splitty yarn!

That's it for me. Again, I still have the skirt, socks and shawl going, but didn't even touch them this last week. What are you working on?

For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!

FO Friday 26

Happy Friday everyone! I'm super excited because my in-laws are coming to town and I haven't seen them in quite some time. We're hoping the weatherman is wrong, as they are predicting rain almost the whole time they're supposed to be here, which is a huge bummer since they love coming to San Diego and eating outside since to them that's rare coming from the snowy Midwest. Keep your fingers cross for us.

Today I don't have anything new to show you, but I do have a few things to share. You may remember I made two dogs for my mother-in-law for Christmas, a corgi and a wiener dog to represent the two she lost this past year. She loved them dearly and I thought it would be awesome to have something to remember them by. I never sent them to her, as I found out they would be visiting us and thought these were presents that were better given in person than by mail. I recently put the final touches on them, with collars, name tags and a little sweater for Otto, as he always wore one when it was cold. They never bought an official sweater for him, but always just cut sweatshirt sleeves. I tried to go with that ragged look with mine to match. Each tag has the name of the dog it represents, and on back each say Love, Kurt and Tami. It's hard to get a pic of Otto's tag, as he is so short. LOL I hope she loves them as much as I do.




Also I promised a picture of the pillow in "action". Weirdly, the pictures I took earlier in the week with daylight were way too dark, so this is last night with the lights on. All of the walls of the room are the light color, and the dark color you see to the right is our long accent wall in the room. I figured this corner got it all kind of in one pic.

FO Friday 20

It's Friday again! Thank god, I think I'm ready for some time hanging out with my husband. I love days we can spend together, even if we just sit at home and play video games. This weekend should be beautiful here in San Diego, getting into the 70's on Sunday. Sorry to all of you who are stuck inside and surrounded by snow. I don't mean to brag. LOL

I had a fun week of packages arriving at my door! I ordered several knitting books from bookcloseouts.com, a knitting book from Barnes and Noble and tons of fingering weight sock yarn to dye. All of it came within two days of each other. So awesome. Here are the books that I got. I can't tell you how excited I was to find the Charmed Knits book for super cheap. I've been dying to get this book! The Big Book of Knitted Monsters was the one I got from B&N (obviously since it just came out).

Have any of you knitted any patterns from these books, or read the Yarn Harlot's books? I'm excited to dive in to all of them. What are your favorite patterns from these books if you own them?


Anyway, back to FO Friday. I have a few projects to share, and one that you've seen before but I thought I would show it to you completely finished.

You may remember the purse I made for my sister in law that I shared in FO Friday 18 and how I debated on a ribbon or not. Well, I found one that worked pretty well, so I went ahead and bought it. Here is the purse completely finished with the ribbon. Do you like the new addition?





I finished the heart washcloth, and also pretty much finished off that skein of yarn, so I marked it off of my yarn diet skein count. I had fun knitting this because it was easy, especially since it's hearts so that it was symmetrical. Once I read the first part of a row, I knew how to finish the row off without looking at the pattern. It made it an easy tv watching knit. Also, I loved how the yarn pooled when knitted.

Materials used:

US 6 needles
Bernat Handicraft cotton
Yarn needle





This has been a long time coming. I'm not sure why it took me so long, but I think it might have been the annoyingness (I know, it's not a word but just go with it. LOL) of the color change on such a small ami, BUT I finished the corgi!!! Planet June's pattern was great, and once I stopped complaining about all of the color changes, I finished it quickly. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The only thing that annoys me a little is that it turned out SMALLER than the wiener dog, which doesn't make sense, but oh well. I just need to do a collar and get a name tag before shipping it to my mother in law, along with the other dog I made for her.

Materials used:

5.00 mm (H) hook
Red Heart Super Saver (body- white)
Vanna's Choice
Caron Simply Soft (nose- black)
Poly Fluff Stuffing
Safety eyes- 9mm
Yarn needle

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Work-in-Progress Wednesday 24

Good news, I'm healthy! Bad news, I have WAY too many WIPs. As I mentioned in my post earlier this week, I keep starting projects. I think part of it is because I was sick so I kept starting new stuff since I didn't feel like working on something I already had started. Also, I want to get through some of my yarn for the yarn diet. Obviously, I realize I need to finish projects to do that, instead of starting them, but for some reason that's not hitting home. LOL

Here's a few of the WIPs (a few didn't really visually change so no point in posting them):




I am FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY getting to this purse. It is (was) for Christmas, for my sister-in-law in Chicago. I decided to use Buff, an oatmeal color, and then will be putting a darker lining in it. This is the 3rd time I've made this purse, and I will say, I think this is my best. For some reason, it's coming out a little bigger than my last one (or maybe not as big as it seems since the last one was in black). Anyway, I'll be happy when it's finished. I've only been working on it one evening, and hope to actually have the crochet part finished when you read this. I have a crochet meet up Tuesday night (or last night I guess, since you're reading this Wednesday), so I hope to finish it then.




This doesn't look like anything, I know, but I thought I would include it anyway because I'm using my first hand dyed yarn I did several months ago. It's Fisherman's wool. Since it's a partial skein I didn't want to choose a big project for it and run out of yarn, so I chose this pattern. Since I now sew, and don't have a pincushion I thought it would be perfect. I'm excited to finish this. I haven't decided if I'm going to felt it when I'm done or not. I've never felted anything before!


And the hat. Since I'm working on tons of stuff, I haven't done too much more, but since it now lays flat because it's long enough, I thought I would share. I'm really happy with how even the stitches came out, even if the ribbing is messy. It does get a little boring since it's just knit stitch though.

That's it for me this week. What are you working on?

For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 22

My life is passing me by. How is it another Wednesday? How is it 2011? Scary, isn't it? I don't have a ton of WIPs to show you (okay, I actually have 3, so that's something, right?) because I've been busy completing projects, which is a good thing I guess. I still have Christmas presents to finish and ship off. My sickness and vacation sure turned that upside down. I feel bad, but then again, we never seem to send gifts to my in-laws on time for some reason. It's so much easier when family lives close and you have the stress of having to give their gifts in person. In the end, it's the thought that counts, right? Who cares if it's a little late. Let's hope they don't. LOL

Another piece of news that I wanted to share. I got a message on Ravelry the other day, Lion Brand wanted to use my reindeer I made last year as one of the pictures on the pattern page for Ravelry! I was SOOOO excited (and still am), maybe a little more excited than that warranted, but LOOK! They used my picture as the second one, right below THEIRS! Cool, right? I always wondered how they picked the pictures for the front pages of patterns. Now I know!

Now on to WIPW 22:



First off, sorry for the crappy picture, but I worked a little on it at my crochet meetup, so I couldn't take the pic until tonight with no lighting! Yep, here's the corgi (even though it doesn't look like one yet)! I haven't done much to it, but still wanted to add it to my WIPs since I'm still working on it. It's coming along good, though not fast since I have to keep changing colors. Normally that doesn't slow me down as much, but it's so small, that it's hard to get my fingers in there to swap the yarn, etc. I hope to have this finished by the weekend so that we can package them up and send them off with the other gifts going to my in-laws in Illinois.



After I finished the first fingerless glove, I didn't work on the second right away because I had all of the Christmas gifts to worry about. Now, I still have Christmas gifts to worry about but the stress has been taken away with them, so I thought it would be nice to have a mate for the first one. I decided to go up a needle size as the first one is a little snug at the finger area where I casted off and in the squishy part of my thumb. I can already see the difference in size, so that's a good thing! I think this one will fit perfect. At least one of my hands will be happy when wearing them. I'm still in love with this yarn color. I wish I could duplicate it again exactly, but unfortunately, with hand-dyed, that's not really possible. That's the blessing and the curse of it, right?



In last week's WIPW, I said I'd hoped to have both dishcloths finished by that post. I didn't get as much knitting done as I thought or wanted to on the trip, so I didn't finish this guy (pattern here). I hope to finish it this week, but we'll see. I don't have THAT much more to go, so if I just sit and concentrate on it, I can probably finish in an afternoon or evening.


For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!

FO Friday 15

Happy Christmas Eve!!! Soo excited! I hope you all finished the gifts that were last minute. I LOVE Christmas, and love giving presents. I think that's the best part, to watch people open things that I've bought/made for them. It's so rewarding. This year it will be even more so, because of all the hard work I put into each gift, though that makes me a little more nervous!

Next week, I will have WIPW posted, as well as FO Friday, but will only be participating in WIPW. I will be traveling and hope to have a chance to stop at a few yarn stores and have a little time to knit/crochet while I'm away. I will also have a post scheduled with the details of the yarn diet I will partaking in starting January 1st. I will have a follow up post on January 2nd or 3rd with pictures to show my stash as a way to document it at the start. Hope you have a chance to stop by and check it out!

Now onto FO Friday.

I have quite a few projects to share, thankfully! I wasn't able to finish everything of course, due to being sick, but at least everyone who needed a gift on Christmas, had one.


This is the love bug/lady bug I mentioned on Wednesday. I made it for my little niece. My sister loves ladybugs so I think it will be a hit, though I hope they will let her play with it a little. It took me no time at all, as I made it in a few hours. I think the best way to go was I assembled as I went instead of making all the pieces and then having to put it together. I hate that part!

The pattern was this, but instead of the whole kit and kaboodle, I decided to just make one of the bugs. Because of that, I increased the size of the hook to make it a little larger.

Materials used:

5.00 mm (H) hook
Red Heart Super Saver (body- Black)
Red Heart Super Saver (wings- Red)
White felt
Poly Fluff Stuffing
Safety eyes- Brown 9mm
Embroidery floss- Pink
Yarn needle





I've been working on this way too long, but I like how it turned out, despite my little mistake in the stem of the glass. It's funny how this turned out compared to the dragonfly. It's knitted a little looser, so it doesn't curl as much as the dragonfly. On the other than, this pattern, along with the colorway doesn't lend itself to it being very double-sided. Here's a link to the pattern.

Materials used:

Size 7 needles (Knit Picks Harmony interchangeable)
Lily Sugar'n Cream (Potpourri Ombre)
Yarn needle

Last week

Finished. There is a weird bump in it because I have had to fold it up to hide it from my husband!

Last you saw this purse, it was almost finished but needed the final touches, the lining and the ribbon. I wanted to finish it for last FO Friday, but unfortunately with being sick, I just got around to it on Wednesday of this week. I'm pretty happy with it. If I had time, I think I would make the lining inside a little smaller so that there isn't any wrinkling at the top where it's sewn in. I hope my sister likes it, because I worked hard on it and like it myself. I have one more of these purses to make soon, a present for my sister-in-law.

Materials used:
5.00 mm (H) hook
6.00 mm (J) hook
6.50 mm (K) hook
Red Heart Super Saver (purse- Black)
Wooden Bamboo handles- Black
Pink flower fabric (lining)
Sewing Machine
Black thread
Yarn needle
Ribbon (for decoration)

Last week

And finished! The lining looks really saggy in the pic due to the way I had to prop it open to take a picture of the inside.

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FO Friday 10

Wowzers, we're already in double digits for FO Friday. I feel like we just started!

This time, I actually have my FO finished on time. YAY, me! Also a side note, I might not be able to finish an FO Friday project by next Friday due to being out of town for the holiday (Thanksgiving). Either way, I will be scheduling a post so those who would like to participate can post their FOs. Just a heads up. :)

Now on to FO Friday 10!

You may remember the start of my amigurumi dog, pattern by Lion Brand. Here are pictures of it in progress:





Not much, right? Now on to what he finished off like. I think he's adorable and I can't wait to give him to my mother in law. I decided to change it up a little, making the nose flat instead of a ball on the end like the pattern called for, and also changed the tail to make it more like her dog.

I'm calling it done right now, but I want to make it a little sweater out of fabric, as her dog, Otto, always had to wear a little sweatshirt because he could never get warm. I thought it would be fun to also get a little name tag for him, too.


Materials used:

4.00 mm (G) hook
Red Heart Super Saver (body- Coffee), nose- Black)
Yarn needle
9mm safety eyes
Poly Fluff stuffing

And the finished product (sorry for the bad pics but it's 10:30 at night):

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Work-in-Progress Wednesday 14

November is kicking my butt. There is no better way to say it. I was so happy to finish the owl bag, but that was only one present out of many that I have to make by Christmas. I still have faith in myself that I can do it, but haven't crocheted much since finishing the bag.

I did however, have time to learn the knit and purl stitch over the weekend. I posted about it yesterday here.

Here's what I've worked on:



You may remember from last week's WIPW that I started a dog for my mother-in-law. I was hoping to have it finished by now, but unfortunately, I don't. This is where it's at now. I'm going to try and finish by Friday for FO Friday. Keep your fingers crossed for me!



I thought I should probably have two Christmas presents being made at a time if they are small (the bag was way too much to work on two at a time, so this is my first time trying it). I started this hat yesterday for my brother-in-law. I'm using Caron Simply Soft, which I'm not a HUGE fan of when making the items, but love the way it feels once it's done and also Wool-Ease in blue. I didn't know what I wanted to use, other than the Caron Simply Soft. I dug through the stash and found the Wool-Ease. I love when I get to use some stash that I bought awhile ago and had no clue what I was going to use it for. Total win situation! It's the Animator's Hat pattern that I made for myself awhile ago, which you can see here.


For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 13

Hope everyone is having a great week so far. It's been a little crazy, and will be for the rest of the month as I'm doing NaNoWrimo as well as all of the Christmas presents I plan to make. Sorry for the quick post, but I'm writing this at 11:30pm on Tuesday. Oh right, did I mention how crazy my life is right now?

And, I need to mention to you all, I am going over to the dark side, at least going to try it. I bought my first knitting needles today at Michaels and will be watching youtube videos to learn. As if I needed anything else in my life right now.

So, I'm just going to get to the chase, I didn't finish the owl bag. Oy! It's not that I didn't work hard on it, or that I didn't try but things have been crazy. That being said, I'm VERY close to finishing. As you can see in the picture, all I have left to do are the eyes, assembly and lining which I hope to finish today. So am I the only one that thinks the wing pockets look like a bikini top?





I started this last night at my crochet meetup. It is going to be a Wiener Dog for my mother-in-law. Her's passed away this year and I thought it would be awesome to make one for her with a collar that has his name on it (Otto). Also this year, her Corgi passed away (both lived long, healthy lives), so I'll be making one of those as well. I'm so happy to see this coming along quickly. That's huge for me at this point.

For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!