Gifts & gifts

Here are a bunch of scarves I made for my coworkers and our student workers. I think I actually have another one to do, but since they only take about 2 hours to do on size 15 needles, I'm sure I can find time to finish just one more. I hadn't planned on making gifts for my work friends, but this Wool Ease Thick & Quick yarn was on sale and the colors were so pretty, I caved in.


And here are the two-circular socks - not much progress! I've already had to scrap 2 other gift projects due to an overly ambitious knitting program...it's down to these socks and a mystery project (hmmm...), and I'm hoping to mail them both out early next week so I have to pick up my pace!

Something for Myself

As a small bonus for semi-finishing my final project in school, I thought I'd make a little something:

I made a little needle holder for all my double pointed needles. They were getting out of control at the bottom of my knitting bag. I had originally envisioned a large needle holder for all my needles, but I have way too many to do that and still make the holder a reasonable size. This way I can make three different holders. I got the idea from the Multicrafty: Knitting Needle Case tutorial, which I found via the Sew, Mama, Sew blog. I think it'll really help, but I wish I would have made the pockets a little more custom for each needle set. Some of the smaller needles move around a bit.

And I love the inside fabric!

Guess the insanity!

Here's a picture of what I've been slowly working on this week:


Yes, I am hand felting! It is quite the chore but it's actually working. I couldn't do it all in one shot; my arms got a little tired (eep!). This is another Christmas present and I needed it felted and dried before then but I don't have easy access to a top-loading washer so I'm resorting to this old-fashioned work. Where's the Wonder Washer when I need it? I will most likely have another post when it's all finished so I'll save the details for then.

I'm about to do something really irresponsible

It's the one year anniversary of our blog! I should have knit a little cupcake to celebrate, but is it really that big of a deal? I had to mark the milestone though.

On to projects:

I made myself a Christmas tree this year because my little tree I usually have is located at my parent's house and I won't be making a trip there until after Christmas. I found these wonderful little softy trees from little birds handmade and decided to expand on that idea.


I sewed little circles of Christmas fabric on it for bulbs. I still have to put lights up and the star on top but kitty is having some issues with it right now so I'm waiting for her to settle down a bit. Apparently it's a giant toy!

Good Grief!

I had high hopes of posting something every day of December this year. I seem to have plenty of projects, but not enough time I guess. To kind of catch up, here are three recently finished projects:


First, I made another green A-line skirt. This time, I added pockets, which was fun to think about and plan for. I didn't use a pattern again and I still like the skirt, but I think it flares out a little more than I wanted but I can never tell what it'll look like until I have it all sewed up and by then I'm not tearing it out again. Also, I added a liner but didn't take a picture of it.






Next, I had a request from a friend to knit a Charlie Brown sweater. I didn't think I had to time or desire to knit a whole yellow and black sweater so I compromised and knit a hat instead. I made the pattern all by myself (not too hard, thankfully!) I used my favorite Cascade 220 yarn and followed the Hats that Fit by Nancy Lindberg pattern.




And finally I started my holiday crafting. I feel fairly safe posting what I've worked on so far. I'm making bags for both my grandmas and here's one bag all finished up. I used the Curved Gusset Bag from U-handblog. It sewed up really fast and it was easy even for me. It turned out really well and it's huge! I think it's almost too big.




More tomorrow!