Almost all of the rest of the gifts

OK, so I have one more hat I'd like to do - for my nephew I won't see until the 10th... although, in all honesty - the red hat was intended for him, only I was wanting to see what that pattern would do with mittens - aren't they cute??? and - oops, the mittens are too small. So, instead, those will go to the now one-month old grand-niece for next winter (since they'll be too small for everyone else). sigh.

The green is from the same skein as "a"s gift; the red is from left-over pound of red yarn (Super Saver) I bought two years ago and made a sweater for "a" last year. The orange is a plush super-soft boucle that was on sale for 99 cents a couple of summers ago... only enough to make one hat, but perfect for my little grand-niece.

X-mas gifts

My little guy posing with his home-made gifts from me for Christmas. ... Can you tell how exhausting a job modeling is?

The green yarn is from a 25 cent skein bought at Goodwill. Used the pattern for the hat (with a little customizing) from a baby pattern I bought at Walmart YEARS ago. Yes, he's five; and yes, the hat fits... I did customize it after all. It's acrylic yarn that can be a little itchy; but it's nice & warm and very durable as well as washable & dryable... important for kids items. The white is left-over from a pound of yarn I bought from Ebay - it's from Caron, yarn ends (not correct-weight for sale through traditional methods; bundled up & sold in bulk) - the pound of yarn was about $5.50 including postage; I barely used any for this.


I used a free pattern for simple mittens online at Knitting Pattern Central; always my first stop for looking for patterns... only I adapted them & used the 2-at-a-time Sock method from Melissa's book. Gotta love doing 2-at-a-time. If I could manage it; I'd do a dozen at a time. It really isn't any faster; after all a stitch is still a stitch; but if you didn't have to work from start to finish on one just to do it all over again on a second? It's a GODSEND, seriously!

Then, the scarf. Well, not exactly. I loved how the yarn was working up; and at this point I hadn't thought to do a scarf; after all "a" had a scarf made for him last year... so instead I made up a second hat in the same yarn for a nephew.

Then, I realized that I really did want to make a "matching set". silly me. So, being as I decided I wanted a matching set; and being that if you knit a scarf from one end to the other; and being that the hat & mittens feature a "v" in contrasting color - in the scarf, knit traditionally - one side would have "v" and the other would have an upside-down "v". So, being still quite silly; I decide to work both ends at the same time and work my way toward the middle; I could call it similar to the 2-at-a-time method; but it's just barely similar. Actually, all told? it's probably a good way to learn the 2-at-a-time method since it's very simple in comparison, but takes the work a row on one item; work a row on the other item; turn the needles, repeat. And, the original plan was that when the two halves were long enough, I'd simply graft them together in the middle (a way of "joining" that looks just like another row of stitches).

Only, of course, being thrift-shop yarn that was probably originally sold in a store some 30-odd years ago - it was the only skein I had; and I had been silly enough to go and knit a hat for my nephew. As if he needs a hat in this soft, thick & warm (albeit cheap) yarn. I ran out of yarn about eight inches short of my goal. Go figure.

Would you believe I ALMOST went to the effort of ripping out a fully-completed, perfectly good, Christmas-Gift-intended.... hat so that I could use the yarn for the scarf? I did. I thought about it for a good two hours.

Instead... I decided that "a" would not care one little bit if his scarf had a different color in the middle. And, honestly? It's a good thing it's in the middle. I know it looks a little "off" - but it's warm & cushy & at least I still had more than enough of the white left-over. Actually - all of the white is left-over small balls of yarn that I'd used for one project or another, and had about 100 yards or so left, so they were in a basket with other yarn scraps... ready for "accent color".

So what if there's white in the middle? I could always claim I did it on purpose, that it's part of the character of the item.... lol. Good thing I'm not a type-A personality. I'd have been up all night knitting another hat, scarf & mittens that did match from another skein.

More Christmas gift knitting

So, went on to make a winter scarf for my sister - same type of yarn as the shawl for her daughter, different color:



And, the more I thought about it, the more I hated the shawl I had done. So I ripped it out with the intention of re-knitting it into a "lazy lace" rectangular shawl. Lazy lace is knitting with over-sized needles to make it look like lace; when it isn't. But, it is fast - so I would have time to finish it before Wednesday (when my sister drives to see her daughter for the holidays -- and I call that, free shipping).

But, I still hated it. Even more... so I pulled out some other yarn from my stash & lazy-lace knit this one instead.



It's a little hard to see the colors - but they are a 'heather-ish" rainbow boucle... I think she'll like it a lot.

Chloe's mommy's gift

Struggled... what to make for new mom in warm weather... when I have existing yarn, needles, time & no money?

Per her mom's suggestion, I settled on a shawl to keep her shoulders warm while she's nursing the new baby. I was going to make a standard triangle shawl without any lace "detailing" (for speed). I loved the way the purple & white self-striping turned out for the scarf, hat & mittens I made; and I had other colors... so settled on orange & white. I do like how it turned out (sort-of). But have to admit, orange is not my color of choice... the yarn was on discount, and it's super soft... so if orange-y sherbet-y color is something you like (?)... it turned out ok.

I didn't stick with the triangle shape in the end... as I double-stranded it to make it nice & warm... and it got too big for my knitting needles. I started at the back point & just kept increasing stitches. When I reached the point of too many stitches, I altered the pattern. I ended up doing short-rows & worked one side at a time... and then (don't ask me why, it was close to midnight & I was doing weird stuff)... I ended up (after increasing for another ten rows) - started decreasing, to a triangle point on each end. So, the shape? Well, hard to describe really. Photos are a must. Notice that the stripes change direction by the time you drape over your shoulders. So, only pictures on a person will work to show it off.

<<>>



See? Started from the bottom up in the back - here it still looks like a triangle.




Front? Not looking like a triangle any more.... ?

Charity Knitting

We found a young mother via the Angel tree opportunities at a nearby hospital. Her wish was for a winter hat & gloves. I've made a matching set with winter scarf... they are nice & warm... not terribly sure how long-enduring they are... (eek); nor if they will fit. The mittens fit me, so it's a guess if they'll fit her as well... they do have some stretch, so I'm hoping.



The mittens are "convertable" - either gloves or mittens... I was just curious if I could do them. So, had to try. I had a few bad starts on the mittens, but I think they turned out just fine. I adapted the two-at-a-time sock method up until I hit the fingers. It worked out great. I did the fingers & the thumbs with double-points. And then I needed to do the "cup" that covers the fingers when you're in mitten mode... and although I should have been able to go back to the two-at-a-time method to join them back together & finish them, I struggled with figuring it out; caved and just finished them with the double-points.

Little Chloe's Christmas Gift

Little Chloe was born three weeks ago and is living with her parents, a brother, and a sister in Texas. Didn't want to make uber-warm items for her (like stocking hat & mittens; although those might come in handy someday). Nor did I think she would appreciate the hooded towels I'm making for her brother & sister. So, instead I whipped up a baby blanket. This one turned out much better than my first trial. First, I knitted everything except the border (I knit better than I crochet). So, it's at least a rectangle (lol)! And then I crocheted on some trim, to "pretty it up". I also found some perfect white that is super-uber-duber soft; which matches the extremely soft color yarn. It's machine washable & dryable; and so soft, it's almost silky.

Christmas Charity Knitting

Using up more of my almost-free yarn (bought for about 25 cents a skein)....

I knitted up a Scarf & Winter hat in green for some young woman. I love this minty-green color. The scarf curls up a little, which is kind of a bummer, as I specifically stitched the edges to try to prevent curling.



and a Winter hat & mittens for some young child (guess it could be boy or girl). Sorry for the awful quality of picture, but alas, I'm still taking all my pictures with my camera phone (which isn't the best quality). And it took me almost ten minutes just to get these pictures taken... between "a" climbing up & piling on with Kyra & trying to get in the way... I gave up & figured this was close-enough ... lol. (Notice the cord for the mittens? to run through the coat so you don't lose the mittens? That's EXACTLY what all of my mittens had until I was probably seven or eight. My aunt made mittens for over 30 kinds every year & all the young ones got cords so we couldn't lose them!!!).

Another one done

OK - so I promised myself to "finish" some not-quite-done projects before starting another (I sort-of cheated)... I finished my scarf I knitted for WWII veterans last night by adding the fringe...

again - apologies for the blurred image - need to put new camera on my list for Xmas.

Finally a finished object!

I've been knitting a lot - have four projects 'almost' done... and one not nearly close to being done... (and wanting to start another project - LOL)... so before starting another project, I swore to myself I'd finish up the last steps of a few things.

Last night I finished Kyra's sweater... doesn't she look sweet?



She doesn't "LOVE" it, but then again, she doesn't love being cold either - so while she doesn't understand why I'm putting a sweater on her - I figure she's getting a good deal out of it anyway.

Next, figure out how to "crop" out the disaster zone of the house that's developed while I'm not feeling well and knitting instead of cleaning.

Wrapped in Comfort

I did a very simple garter stitch shawl for donating to Wrapped in Comfort ( a charity that provides these shawls for mothers who have lost a child ). It's knit with an easy-care boucle that I love the colors in. I did something unusual in that I intentionally chose to use bits & pieces so that the color transitions weren't as smooth to add a little interest. I have made similar shawls before - but I always allowed the color to work as designed before - and I did "wraps" to add a little lace here & there. This time, I skipped the wraps (wanted to see what it looked like without) and played around a little with stopping & starting different colors. It turned out "ok" - I think that I'm ready for trying more complicated stitches. I really only picked the garter stitch (easiest thing in the world) because with the move & stress I wanted something mind-less to work on. And the boucle (which is SO soft & I love) looks better with simple stitching and would not show off the other stitches as well. I'm dying to try several new things (but have SO many unfinished projects as it is) and can't afford to go yarn shopping ... so, this is what it is because I was using yarn up from my stash, and I was too stressed to focus on much of anything.

You can see that Kyra thought it was quite lovely!

Doesn't feel like there's any progress

First, I wasn't doing a lot of dedicated knitting as I was busy with the move... a little here, a little there. Then, I wasn't "focused" enough to handle anything challenging, so I worked on a simple, easy, brainless shawl -for the charity Wrapped in Care (it's almost done).

But honestly? I've got a few too many unfinished projects that are unfinished for more than one reason. I'm not happy with the baby sweater (80% done)... and as much as I'd like to rip it out, I'm actually partially got the idea I might just toss it in the garbage as is instead of trying to save the yarn (which is really a shame). Can't quite bring myself to be that wasteful - if I'm not going to save the time I spent knitting it, the least I can do is make something else with the yarn. We'll see.

I'm almost done with the second panel of the afghan - and have decided instead to turn it into a lap afghan for Vets... so I'll rip back both panels to a smaller length - and then work on the third/fourth panel.

My spring sweater is still only about 50% done... and in two days it'll be the first day of fall. The good part of that is I can dig out the sweater I knit for "a" - still too small. But it makes him happy. When money starts flowing a little easier, I'm going to go pick up a half dozen bright colors of $2/skein yarn... I've been wanting to make him a winter cap that I saw when I was on the ski slopes last winter.... my version will be brightly colored - with primary colors knit into "braids" that all pop out from any direction. Looks kind of funky & fun and I think he'll love it.

Not much progress to Post

My sweater has been put to the side for a while (new puppy tends to try to chew everything visible); and have been working on an afghan. Puppy still trying to chew, but the yarn being a boucle has a little bit of "give" and won't look like it's been tore up! And she's learning that mommy's yarn is a no-no and I can still work on something. But it's going to take forever, as big projects tend to do.

I do love the yarn & the colors -- will try to snag a picture and edit this. It's got self-striping built-in with a neutral color running along with it. I've got a couple of different kinds - but love the colors anyway... so I've got a second neutral that I'm using to separate out sections instead of linking two similar (but not quite the same) skeins to each other. I'm making it in panels; and am planning on putting thin vertical stripes in with the second neutral color when I piece it together. Only issue is that it looks like with the yarn I have, I only have enough right now for two panels. So, when I get a little further, I'm going to have to go back to the yarn shop and either pick up the first neutral color to do a couple of panels of that color - or a mixture of the other colors and use them to make a couple of panels that have different colors from one "section" to another. Guess now, I'll have to post a pic of the first panel I've completed so this wandering verbose explanation makes even the slightest sense.

No pattern. Just working with a loom knitter in a ribbed knitting. The yarn is yummy soft and I'm hoping my sister will like it (as it's for her Christmas gift). Issue is that if it's for this year's Christmas present, I really should be looking at completing THREE more afghans... so my brothers and their wives/significant others can also get one. I'm thinking that's maybe a little overly optimistic. We'll see!

OH, my goodness!

I don't check this blog too terribly often, as I was certain my only reader was Phil and I knew that while she's a wonderful and supportive friend, going on about knitting projects and lovely yarn - is probably pretty boring to a non-knitter.

Lo & behold, I have a comment... and NOT just from any commenter! The author of the book I used to knit my socks (even though I totally messed up the name of her book)... posted a comment - on my socks... I feel so excited! AND she had just posted about going to a Yarn Harlot event - which I had wanted to go to so badly! One day, I'll get to see her - I swear! Anyway - here I am feeling quite excited by getting a comment from someone who is out-and-about in the knitting world!

Here's a link to her blog..... 2-at-a-Time-Socks

Pair-at-a-time Socks

OK, I have NEVER knitted socks before. There was just this negative idea about spending hours and hours and hours to knit a pair of socks, when you can buy a pair for a couple of dollars that just kept me from even considering it.

But, a co-worker has been doing them, and having tremendous fun... and it's gotten my curiosity up. But, knowing that it takes about 12 hours to knit one sock, and knowing that once your done, having to turn around and start over on sock number two? Well, that's just kind of depressing concept.

So, I went out and bought a book, called pair-at-a-time knitting. The idea is that you knit both socks simultaneously on the same needles. Still takes the same amount of time, but you avoid that whole depressing condition that's got an official nickname "second sock syndrome". Which means that there are LOTS of knitters out there who make a sock, but never quite end up making it's pair - which how depressing is that? All this singular socks who never even get to the point of getting worn, to getting washed to losing their match! Their match never gets made!

Knowing that I'm a prime candidate for second sock syndrome. I figured that if I was going to learn how to knit socks, I was darn well going to do it two at a time and try to avoid that second sock syndrome.

HA! I failed miserably. Not in making the socks, if I do say so, I think they're quite cute. I failed to avoid second sock syndrome? Why? Because in the book, the first time you do this, it's QUITE CHALLENGING.... and they strongly recommend that you use two different colored yarns one for each sock so that you can tell them apart and not mess up. SO, I ended up with two different socks. If I want to make 2-pairs, I can, but that would involve making a second set of mis-matched pair-at-a-time socks. Guess what? I'm not going to bother! Totally have second sock syndrome. These two lonely socks will never meet their sole-mate (sorry, couldn't talk myself out of that pun!).

Half-done with sweater

It is definitely taking forever to do! I got a lot of work done on it while I was laid up... but then there was a damaged knitting needle issue that I had to get new ones. Didn't trust "A" to run to a knitting store to pick up the needles for me... so I got them online.

Here's the back piece:

Promised slideshow of a trying on his sweater

"A" is off of his computer this morning - means I have time to sneak on and make my slide show. "a" was playing superman the day we tried this on - so there was no 'holding still' and making nice for the camera. What was I thinking even trying? LOL

So here is my Super-a doing his best Super-a poses!

Afghan pieces

I've mostly been working on dishclothes - and I know those are probably pretty boring to view, so I haven't been posting them. I've worked on my sweater a LOT - only then I had a small issue with the plastic knitting needles I'm using.... I got a slit in the needle itself and it would keep 'catching' the yarn. So, I tried filing it a bit/cutting it a bit... and it only got worse. I ordered new knitting needles to replace them via eBay - so once those arrive, I can go back to work on it again.

I also finished my ski cap/scarf the night before my first trip to the Mountain to go skiing... one of these days, I'll snap a picture of it & my progress on my sweater.... I swiped my camera back from "A" so I could get pictures taken - right around the surgery; and he managed to sneak it back before I got anything done.

So - these pictures, I had to snap before I shipped them off.... so sorry for the quality - this is off my cell phone.... These are donated pieces of an afghan I'm donating to a project that an online group has put together to provide 'comfort' to a mother who recently lost her child. Not much 'comfort' I think - but it's something that several of us at least can do something.... and hopefully the message still comes across that there are those who care and wish they could do more.

Basically these are adaptations of washclothes - so ... sorry, you're still getting more poor 'washclothes' only - I get to lay the name on as if it is something different - LOL!

A little bizarre - this is called scales.... and is about a 1/2 inch thick --- very 3-dimensional!



Bobbles - again, bizarre, but not as bizarre as the scales... this has little 'bobbles'... that are basically balls that stick out of the pattern. I'd never done them before, and even reading the instructions two or three times didn't quite give me what I needed to know to figure it out. I had to search online & watch a video... that helped a lot. I think that the instructions just were a little too 'unclear' if you'd never done one before. Now that I've seen it done, it was pretty easy.



Heart Cables on Stockinette panels - I love to do cables even though they can be quite time consuming. I think they add a nice touch. This has simple enough cables on it.... the stockinette panels - are basically the sides that are 'smooth'.




Adagio Ensemble - I don't know if I like this one very much... it's just kind of 'odd'.... different, so I guess that's cool. But still kind of weird.

More washclothes & an attempt at a bath poof

I didn't follow directions well on the bath poof - love the colors & look, but I should have used a larger needle as it doesn't soap up very well. I hope the bigger needle makes it easier to suds up!



Monthly KAL

Hard to see, but there's a heart-shape with ribbon-ish shape across & top to bottom, supposed to look like a bow tied in the middle.



Weekly Cloth KAL...

This took FOREVER it seemed, Round Yonder... "a" hoped desperately that this one was for him! So, it now resides in his bathroom for him to wash his face and get cleaned up.

Picture promised of Sweater

OK, here goes... just shy of 4 1/2 inches of the bottom of the back of my sweater. I've been working on it for two weeks, although probably only about four-five hours a week or so. So I can see an improvement I'm using a measuring tape!



Here's the width... it's about 23-24 inches wide.. it's hard to measure while it's on the needles, but good news is that it should fit, I'll just keep measuring as I go so I don't make the same kind of mistake as I did with "a"s sweater.

And more washclothes

This first one is Lacy Hearts Ensemble from Cloth of the Week. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ClothOfTheWeek/ If I'd known how much I would like the pattern I would have made it larger. I still may make another one...

I tried taking a close-up of the heart, not sure how clear it is... but I tried.


This one is Slip Stitch 2 Ensemble (me thinks they like the word 'ensemble') also from Cloth of the Week. I've done something similar for a baby hat... the bubble one, they're very fun to knit.

Sweater progress

I'm making a short-sleeved sweater for myself, although I can't imagine that I'll have it done by spring. It's a slo-go project as I'm using thin yarn (very soft & shimmery) and tiny needles.... so I can do about three - four rows in an hour... and I'm going to add more rows at the bottom than the pattern calls for as I want it extra long (to cover my bulges from too-low jeans). I figure I should be able to post some progress pics to prove I am actually working on it... LOL

More washclothes (I know, boring)

Ok, two more washclothes... I'm thinking I might start making some bigger, then I might donate some to the Humane Society for the animals.... but I'm still needing a few more for my sink shining... so soon, but not yet. Sorry, that means your still stuck with pictures of washclothes....


2 Hip 2 B Square -- courtesy of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ClothOfTheWeek/


Diamond on Lace -- courtesy of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MonthlyDishcloths



I'm going to have to work on contrast to help show off the patterns... My next one I just finished is Lace Hearts Ensemble, and it's pretty and I want to show off the pattern.

I picked up some "Peaches and Creme" yarn which is incredibly soft and pretty... only $1.29 at Walmart and enough to complete a couple of cloths each. My hearts that was my first project on it is going to be my washcloth for face washing, and I can't wait to do more. PLUS I'm going to start doing some bath puffs - this is too fun (although I'm sure it's driving you nuts).

Washcloths

So, because the sweater has taken so long, and I'm about to start another long project, I decided I needed to tackle some smaller projects to get some little "hits" of something done. Plus, it'll help me with my flylady routine of washing my dishes... so, here goes, my first one. (I was supposed to make it in brown, but I had lots of green and figured it would be ok). Good way to use up my cheap-ie (nearly free) skeins of yarn from Goodwill! (Too itchy for clothing).

I've got two yahoo groups I've joined with KAL's - Knit-a-longs. Sometimes you know what it's going to look like, other times, you don't. I'll have a couple of more to post within the week, as I'm going back and doing the patterns since the beginning of the year.

Finished the sweater

OK, about half-way done with the finishing steps on the sweater, I realized I'd made a mistake on the second sleeve (the one I didn't rip out and re-do the second half. At this point, I had a decision. If I kept going and ignored the problem, there was a 50-50 chance that not very many people would even see the problem... and I still only had an hour or so of work to finish it. Or, I could rip out the sweater sleeve, and start a new one (faster than ripping out and fixing the old one since the mistake is in the beginning). This would take approximately another week or two to finish the sleeve (again) and another two hours to get it back to the point where I was when I caught my mistake. Could my mistake had been caught earlier - oh, yeah! So, lesson learned - pay attention to the details.

Now, as you well know, I'm not the perfectionist type... I like it done right, but then again, it's like... hmmm... which is the "right" thing to do right now given that I only have x many hours in the day, it's a children's sweater he'll only wear about a half dozen times before he outgrows it.... etc. I figured out that my biggest concern is that I would probably want to "FINISH" it right primarily so as to not have anyone realize that I screwed up. Well, I've decided I can handle that. So, LOL, it's done!

Even though it's still too big (but looks like it'll fit perfectly next fall), I did try to get "a" to model it for you. So, the good "shot" is of it on the hanger, and hopefully next week I can post the pics I tried to get while it was "on" the consstantly moving target. I'm going to have to use "A"s computer to set up the comedy slide-show. Impossible to hit a moving target!

Sweater Progress

Still not finished, but I thought I'd show the progress. This is "a"s sweater. He turns five this summer (what the heck?!) and it should fit him next fall (if a little on the big side). The pattern is for raglan sleeves... so the front looks a little like a tank top - and I'm worried about how it'll all fit together, but so far, it's looking ok.

I've finished the front and back.




And a picture of the stitch pattern close up. I think it adds a nice touch.



Issues so far... I'd already knitted the front to look exactly like the back, had it nearly to the end when I realized I messed up. So had to rip out about thirty rows back to where you have to shape it for the sleeves and neckline. Only took an hour or so to re-knit that area, so not the end of the world.

Finished one sleeve, and it wasn't until I was working on the second that I realized I had mis-read the pattern a little bit (me being cheap, I didn't make a copy of the pattern that I could write on, which would have prevented this issue)... and it's about two centimeters shorter than it's supposed to be.. ugh! So I'm going to have to rip out about seventy rows (All the way down to where it's at it's widest!), good news is the sleeves knit up pretty fast, so it should only take two hours to re-knit the sleeve. I'm waiting until I finish the second sleeve and pin the pieces together to see how it looks before I do it in case I want to make other alterations. Bad enough doing it twice, I don't really want to do it three times.



About two-thirds of the way done with the second sleeve (I do think it'll fit together much better!), and I've caught a couple of mistakes I made in the knit pattern last night when I was working on it when I laid it out for this photo. So, good news is I don't rip anything out but the couple of stitches I messed up, down a couple of rows, and then I can fix them. Problem is I think one of the issues is about ten rows down.



Oh, well, live & learn.

Baby blanket

The Aunt (bless her) that taught me to knit, had far, far more nieces and nephews than I do... with 9 sisters and 1 brother, and an average family size of 4.5 kids each! She was one of the few Aunts who took time and effort and made sure that we ALL got Christmas gifts while growing up, Wedding, Graduation, Baby shower gifts. They were all hand-knit by her! Stockings and scarves, gloves and mittens, afghans, baby blankets and baby outfits.

In honor of her memory, I'm going to try to start commemorating special events in the family with some hand-crafted items. My first attempt to a baby blanket turned out pretty adorable I think. Now, if just another niece or nephew's wife were to turn out to be expecting!!! LOL

My only complaint about it is that I found the most awesomely soft, silky baby soft yarn for the colors in the blanket. I spent quite a bit extra to purchase the "baby-soft" white yarn in bulk, because I couldn't find white in the same yarn that the stripes are made out of. It's soft, it is.... but next to the extremely soft & silky yarn? eh, not so much. It's a bit of a dissapointment for me. So, since no one's expecting, and this didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, I think I'll donate it, and try to find better yarn for when I do have a family member to knit one for.

For my grand-niece and grand-nephew, and "a" I'm probably going to try to find a "FUN" child's blanket to make for them. I've seen one where you basically use color to design trucks or dinasours... I'm sure I can find another one that's "girly" pretty easy for my niece. But, I've got other projects in the works first, so we'll see how they turn out. Maybe tomorrow I'll post my progress with the sweater I'm making for "a".

My new favorite scarf

I picked out the yarn and project to make this for "A"s last girlfriend. BOY, am I glad they broke up (for more than one reason)... AND I got to keep it! YEAH!

Purses

This last spring, as I spent too much time at a local hospital... I picked up my knitting & crocheting again for stress reduction. My two pre-teen nieces had gotten a learn to crochet kit from my sister for Christmas and were struggling... so I tried to teach them to crochet. They were like me at that age, it was possible but didn't seem like it was worth the time it would take. So, I doubt they finished their projects....

One night as I was trying to figure out what color scarves to make for them for Christmas I thought up these cute little purses... Not sure if I really have a good eye for design as they are kind of silly, but I really wanted to make the contrasting section and needle-point their initials in them... Thinking back now, I really wish I had made that as an outside pocket and added more around the edge of it to help it stand out, oh, well... maybe another project in the future. I figured they'd love the fun fur, but maybe it's over-kill? Hopefully, they'll like them anyway. Funny thing is that after I'm finished I can knit-pick myself out of liking all of my projects. But, that said, if I was eight and someone gave me one of these, I would have loved it. So, I'm hoping they aren't nearly as critical as I am.

Collection of Hats & Scarves

Yes, I did brave the mittens, though I don't know how many more I will do, they were fun, but took a LONG time!!! and are too small for my little guy!

This is my little guy's scarf "made just for him" he reminds me each time he puts it on.

Scrap yarn I didn't like, but couldn't throw away...

This one is my absolute favorite, but it's too small for my year-old niece :-(

These next two were made with knitting looms, I'd never tried them before, they are quick and easy and a ton of fun, but I'm still exploring what they "can do" and the knittings a LOT looser than I like to do for some projects...


This one is a bit "itchy" because of the older style of yarn.... but get this, the yarn was only 25 cents for the whole skein; and I still have half a skein left... just not sure what I'll do with it because it really is kind of itchy! ugh!

Now, I loved how this turned out... it was self-striping yarn; although for some silly reason I thought I had to work in extra wide blue bands, not through the whole thing, but just at the ends! I'm still not sure why, but eh, it's different. Only issue was that it was truly intended as a gift for my nephew, but the hints of white in the blue area is actually almost silver and a little too girl-y for a farm boy! Next trip in to the store though and they had all this type of yarn on sale at 75% off! So now I've got purple, pink and orange besides the blue.... haven't decided on a project yet as I don't tend to wear stripes, but it's just too pretty! Maybe a small child's afghan for my niece?

Now, the purple hat is because after making the pink one (near the top), I just had to make a larger one that would fit my niece, and unfortunately I didn't have enough of the pink yarn left after the first hat. AND the store was out of pink. It is SOOO soft! Only thing is I wish I'd used more of the white "fur" around the rim as it turned out a little skimpy when it was all said and done. The second hat was a WAY too fun project to make the "bubbles" I'm trying to figure out how to use that style of knitting in a "boyish" set of colors and still have it look grown up... am guessing that it's going to be too baby-ish for my guys, but it was tremendous fun to work it up. In fact, I ended up working on this one until the late hours each time I turned around because it was just fun to do and I never wanted to put it down. It doesn't look nearly as nice on the reverse-side, so I couldn't figure out how to make a scarf to match it.


This was supposed to be a gift for my sister, but she "REALLY" doesn't look good with stocking hats! She put it on and I took mercy on her and told her to swap it out for one of my shawls I'd made. The yarn was originally bought for a lap afghan I was going to make for myself... until my brothers said it looked like something a cat coughed up .... DO NOT TELL MY SISTER THAT! Anyway, I pulled out the start of the afghan as I completely lost interest in ever making it and thought a nice scarf and hat would be complimentary to my sister's white winter coat. The pattern for the scarf is a lot like the multi-hued blue one above, and is designed to "curl" around itself. I just love the way it turned out, but - LOL still hate the color now.... darn it anyway... as I still have two large balls of this yarn left and can't think of anything to do with it!

Made to replace the blue & white self-striping scarf for my nephew... just love how this turned out, although the scarf isn't a tube scarf, it's all rolled up on itself. But it should still be enough to help keep my 3-yr old nephew warm. And the white "V's" are too easy to add and really help make it more attractive than simply red.

This was an experiment - just love the fun fur yarn colors....! I'm not much for wearing fur except perhaps with the mittens, hats and scarves, but if someone could carry it off on the neckline to a sweater in this gorgeous blue, I think it would be really something. Not something I could pull off, but it would be stunning on the right woman.