Fall Purse Swap

I just saw on Crochetville that my Fall Purse Swap partner got the purse and goodies I sent her! YAY!

And you, lovely readers, know what that means!

I get to show you all what I made and sent her!


Ok first off... the bag.

I couldn't find a crochet pattern that I really really liked so I knitted this purse for her. It's kind of like the knitted felted purse I did a few weeks ago, but this time instead of making up i-cord for handles, I used two 3" hematite bracelet rings I had.















I bought some really soft flannel in a white and light light cream marble to line it with. My sister-in-law was kind enough to help me make that since I haven't got a sewing machine or the rudimentary knowledge in order to run one.

Well, I do now, as she made me sit and practice, but that's a story for another day. (Sewing was SO fun!)

I then added a magnetic closure into the lining to give it a more finished feel. Plus I really really like these. (In fact, I bought two and put one in my felted purse.) And then on to hand sewing the lining into the bag. That was actually fun!

And now for the goodies!!













Here's a rectangle granny ... thing. I'm not sure what it is ... maybe a hot pad to put underneath a casserole dish or something?

__














I made her this little Breast Cancer Ribbon pin.

__



And here's a little sachet and a bookmark.

The sachet was a lot of fun to make and I really liked the pattern stitch. I stuffed it with polyfil and a small amount of pumpkin and cinnamon spice potpourri. It smells heavenly!

I then topped it off with white satin ribbon and a ribbon rose.

For the bookmark, I made one change. Instead of leaving the tassel as strands of yarn to hang, I brushed them so they'd fan out. Why? Beats me.

I also included a set of Jasmine and Pear votive candles, a jar of Freesia bath gel, a box of Stash tea in chocolate and hazelnut, two skeins of Bernat Softee Chunky (cocoa brown and variegated brown, blue, and cream), two Lion Brand pattern leaflets (one for purses and one for accessories), a wooden Asian Fan, and two CDs full of relaxing music.

She left me a message on Crochetville saying that she loved everything. Whew!

Handmade Needles

Look! I was Miss DIY Girl yesterday. I made my own double pointed needles (dpns.) These are size 7.

Go me!

Sock Prognosis

Well, the ripping has gone well. The sock is in stable condition now, but it could slip to critical at any time.

Will it be ok?

It's too early to tell. It's still pretty touch and go.

We're doing everything we can to save it.

Sock Woes

Sock progress was going great. Had done the heel flap, successfully turned the heel, and even started the endless rounds of stockinette on the foot. But there was one major problem.

When I put the sock on my foot to try it, the heel is way too big. I knitted about 4 rows too many on the heel flap. *sob*

So now, after all that careful and beautiful hard work, I will have to frog back down and turn the heel all over again.













Why don't I just leave it this way? Because it will bug the sh*t out of me. I'm too much of an anal retentive perfectionist to just leave it alone and chalk it up to a lesson well learned.

So off to ripping I go.

*sigh*

Needle Felting is FUN!

Look at this teeny little guy! Isn't he cute? He's my very first needle felting project.

A while back on Marie's blog "A Knit's Tale", I saw that she has done some needle felting. After some research (to find out what it was) I knew it was something I wanted to do.

It was FUN! It took just 20 mintues to make this little guy. Talk about instant gratification! And I only stuck myself once! Well, er, twice ... but that's it I swear!

Fine. It was five times. Rub it in.

Anyway, needle felting is a lot easier than I thought it would be. This little guy isn't a masterpiece or anything, but I think he's just adorable. But he needs a name!

Speaking of that, I still need a name for this little Ducky, too!













You can see that he's reeeeeeeally tiny. He's only about 3/4 of an inch tall. I definitely got the smaller bear that I wanted!

Here's a picture of him sitting with Owen and Olivia:













They look like giants next to him! And they only measure in at 3" and 4" respectively (when they're standing.)

Ok, now that I've got one project out of the way for today, I've got two more ahead of me.

1. Start the heel portion of my sock. I'm a bit nervous about this and would be perfectly content to keep stockinette knitting in the round, but then I fear I'd have a sock for a leg that was about 10 feet long.

2. Get supplies to make my own knitting and cable needles. Yup, that's right. I want to make my own. It's not hard (I already did a small cable needle this morning, but it was done out of pretty crude supplies - ahem - a chopstick.)













In the above photo, you can see the part of the chopstick I didn't use, the one I made, and the awful metal cable needle I bought.

I absolutely can't stand the metal cable needle. It's too slippery, I hate the little dip in the middle and it's too small in diameter. But the larger diameter ones were all WAY too long.

At KnittingHelp.com, Amy has a video on how to make your own knitting needles, which is where I learned how, and she shares what kind of supplies work best.

So hopefully sometime later today I'll be back to show you the fruits of at least one of these labors.

I'm Not Ignoring You!

I promise!

Beta Blogger is giving me fits as far as commenting. Since I've switched, I've had SO much trouble leaving comments on some of the blogs I read.

Basically what it comes down to is this:

I'm now part of the Beta Blogger Evil Empire.

If your blog is still with the warm, cozy, and innocent Classic Blogger, I can't leave a comment on it unless you allow anonymous or "other" comments.

In short, the Blogger login area on the Classic Blogger comment window doesn't recognize login IDs and passwords for those of us who've switched.

This is extremely annoying because there are so many blogs that I read that I can't comment on right now simply because I switched to Beta. And I've got no idea when it will be fixed.

I'm not asking you to change your comment preferences. You've got them set that way and I totally respect that. Why should you have to change because Google/Blogger can't get this fixed?

That's right, you shouldn't.

But in the meantime please don't think I'm ignoring you or not reading your blog. Because I am.

Help!

I can't decide. My head hurts from trying to make up my mind.

A couple of posts ago, I talked about buying some beautiful wool called Patons SWS. Yesterday I started a drawstring purse (.pdf file) out of one of the skeins and got about 20 rounds into it before I sat back and thought, "Huh."

The colors are gorgeous. The striping is fantastic.

So what's bothering me then? I just don't think I'm digging the pattern. See, it's huge. You cast on 100 stitches, and with this yarn it's just ginormous. If I were going to felt it, then yea, that would be perfect. But I don't want to felt it.

Take a minute to let that sink in.

I don't want to felt it.

I, who recently made a beautiful little felted bag, who desperately wants to felt something else, just don't want to felt this yarn. Why you ask? Because it's SO pretty. Unfelted and knitted up, it's just beautiful. Don't believe me? Wait, I've got pics. I'll prove it.


See? I told you! Look at those delicious stripes! And see see see?? The eyelet round? I did that.

What? Stop looking at me like that! I know what you're thinking. In your head is a big fat, "Er, so what?" Well, to my ultra beginner knitting status, an eyelet round is HUGE. An accomplishment of monstrous proportions.

But I digress. The issue in hand here is that though this is beautiful, it will be very large. I wanted something a bit ... smaller.

Which brings us to my dilemma.

The second skein of this striped goodness has gone into a humble start of a sock.

Yes, a sock! I found on line yesterday a pattern called Easy Worsted Weight Socks. (.pdf file.) I got out my brand spanking new dpns and cast on. And began. And hey, knitting on dpns is kind of fun!

And after several rounds of ribbing, began the stockinette stitch. Which is where I currently am now. ... What's that? Oh, right. Pic.


Now this, I'm liking. A lot. BUT.

Wow, that's an awful big "but." But a but it is. I'm worried about laundering these. The yarn calls for cold water hand wash. Fine, that's do-able. A pain in the ass, but do-able. But heaven forbid they get accidentally thrown in with towels, which are they ONLY things we wash in hot water here, where they'll felt up and shrink down. Of course, one of my sons would probably like them...

HAH. I'm so lying to myself on that one. They so would not.

Another thing: stretch. There does seem to be a nice amount of give to this wool. And that's fine for some things, but I'm not really into the baggy sock thing anymore. I grew up past 1988.

But they'd be so pretty!

So now you see. I've got this beautiful yummy wool and I honestly can't find THE pattern with which it can live in symbiotic harmony.

---

But enough of that.

I'll write about some other things I bought the other day to take my mind off of the Patons for a while.













Aren't these gorgeous? They're Classic Elite Renaissance in Valencia Orange and Celery. I'm not sure what I'll do with these yet, but I just loved the colors. Besides, I have a fairly large stash of acrylic, it's about time I build up my wool stash. *evil grin*

I also got some needle felting supplies. I bought some needles and some roving wool. I still need the little foam pad, but the associate at the store was less than enthusiastic about the idea that I only wanted a little 5x7 patch of it. She said they usually sell that stuff by the foot and it's like 5.70 per foot. Yea. Right. Chickie, I don't need that much and there ain't no way you'll get me to buy it. I've got to have something around here that I can make do with.

I want to make an itty bitty teddy bear. Hee hee, because apparently my crocheted Tiny Bears just aren't tiny enough for me anymore. I've got to have a smaller bear. It's an addiction. They were the gateway bears and now I've simply got to have a smaller one.

But, without of course, actually having to crochet with hair-thin thread and a crochet hook no bigger than a bent sliver. Obviously that would be a choice to a normal person, but yea... I'm just not into that.

I've got a couple of those hooks. I've got some of that thread. I've tried to work with them. But I think they've formed a union against me. Because they revolt every time I try.

So a needle felted bear it is. I'll let you know how it goes. Hopefully I won't accidentally shish kebab my fingers.

Swap Goodies!

Dao, OMG you were SO generous!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I love the tote!

Ya'll, she totally spoiled me!

She made me a beautiful tote in a rich chocolate brown finished off with an orange ribbon tied at both sides. There are beads in the handles and a cute little charm hanging on one of them that says, "Make A Wish."

Dao made me a beautiful pair of earrings and a matching necklace to go with them -- they're gorgeous! I love them!

There's a pumpkin spice candle that smells SO yummy. I can't wait to light that on a crisp fall night and wrap up in a cozy afghan.

She sent a magazine called Your Health - what a great idea. There's always new stuff to learn about ourselves.

I'm going to SO enjoy the Strawberry Cheesecake Muffin Mix - I. Love. Cheesecake.

There's a bunch of hot chocolate mix which is wonderful because I just love hot cocoa. A mug filled with that rich chocolate-y goodness is heaven.

She also sent a box of green tea, which my husband already told me he wants to share - he loves that kind!

I love the magnetic notepad - those come in so handy!

And lastly, she sent a set of Halloween stencils that my 4 year old son absolutely squealed in delight over. Those will be SO fun to use for decorating this year!

Dao, thank you again from the bottom of my heart. You did a beautiful job on the tote and I truly love it. And all the goodies are perfect. I am so lucky to have had you for a partner!

First Day of School! And A Ducky

Here's a shot of my boys on their way to the bus stop through the fog this morning. It was the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL today.

T, my 7 year old, started 2nd grade today and had a great day. He came home with tales of how much fun it was, who was in his class from last year, and how nice his teacher is.

C, my 4 year old, started his very first day of school ever today with the 4K program, which is essentially an introduction to Kindergarten. Wisconsin is pretty progressive to have such a program, and I love it. When I met C at the bus stop at noon, he came running out of the bus to give me a hug and to tell me how much he loved school and all about what they did there. It warms my heart to think that he loved it and wants to go back. I was afraid he might not want to return. He can be a little shy sometimes and tends to want to stay with either myself or my hubby. I'm glad school is everything he hoped it would be.

Not to mention the free time I get to have every morning of the week! WOW! It was SO NICE! I came home after seeing them on the bus and just enjoyed the pure silence. It was spectacular. I decided today that I would hold off on household chores and do those tomorrow. I wanted today just to be "ME TIME."

And with that, comes the Ducky part. A few days ago I bought this pattern book called Just Ducky Baby Afghans. I like the afghans, but actually I bought it specifically for the pattern for the duck. It's SO CUTE! I started one last Thursday and finished it up today while the boys were both at school.

I just love saying that: The. Boys. Were. Both. At. School.

Anyway, I digress. So here's the little ducky I finished today:













Isn't he sweet? I made a few changes to the pattern. I didn't quite like how long and straight the original pattern made the duck look, so I left a round off the head and three rounds off the neck. This made it a bit more squatty. I also added a tail - it just didn't seem right without one!













This little guy is pretty tiny. The pattern calls for it to be made with worsted weight yarn, but I really enjoy doing these little stuffies with the fingering weight yarn and a 1 steel hook, so that's what I used for this guy. He stands at just under 3" tall.


For the beak and feet I used Red Heart Soft Baby in Powder yellow. The body, wings, and tail were made with Bernat Baby Fingering Weight yarn in White.

The book shows all the little ducks with a wide ribbon tied around their necks in a bow. I keep debating on whether or not I want to put a bow on him or not. Any ideas?


---

By the way, a couple of my readers have complained that they're having trouble commenting on my blog. I was invited to switch to the new Beta Blogger a couple of weeks ago, and though it's cool and has some definite potential, there are some bugs and trouble spots.

One of them is this little tidbit I saw on the "Known Issues for Blogger in Beta" page: 'Users who have not switched to Blogger in beta will not be able to login to comment on blogs that have been switched. Commenting using the “anonymous” or “other” options will still work.'

So if you're having trouble and still want to comment, try one of those options. But you know, only if you want to.

OR! I've added a new comment system. This should work.

I hope.

---

To close, I want to reiterate the fact that I LOVE SCHOOL.

Carry on.

A Meetup! And Goodies!

As I'm sure some of you know, Brandy, Mary, and I met on Saturday! We had SO much fun! We've talked almost every day for several weeks and decided we'd get together one of these days and go yarn shopping! After all, what would three people who love to crochet (and knit) want to do when they meet up? Right!

Since we've talked so much, it was like meeting up with someone I've already known. It wasn't awkward or anything. (At least I thought so.) The first thing we did was exchange goodies. I had a bag for both of them, and Brandy had a bag for me. I'm sure she'll tell you all about what I gave them, so I'll let her do that.

But I WILL show you what she gave me! Brandy, you were too kind! Here's a picture of all of it together:













Wasn't she sweet to me?? She gave me a jar filled with Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Mix and topped with one of the beautiful jar toppers she showed on her blog last week.


Just look at all those yummy layers!!















She also gave me that gorgeous candle that she showed on her blog, too! When she first bought it I told her how beautiful I thought it was and when she got another one for her Secret Swap Partner, she decided to give this one to me!






And she made me the neatest basket out of fabric! She said what you do is cut the fabric into strips and secure them together and then you crochet with it. How cool is that? Isn't it beautiful?













Last but certainly not least, she gave me the most beautiful wool goodness. She met this lady in her town that hand dyes and hand spins her own fibers (lucky!) and Brandy bought this beautiful blend of Alpaca and we think Llama wool. I just love it! I'm going to be picky and find just THE perfect pattern to make with it.













After squealing and hugging over our goodies, we went on our journey to find fiber goodness in any and all open stores. Our first stop was JoAnn's Fabrics. We wandered around there for a while and then went on to Michael's.

Let me tell you, it's been a long time since I've been yarn shopping in my home town. Not since I was little and my mother and I would go when she bought yarn for her crochet projects. Michael's was, in a word, fabulous. They had SO MUCH to choose from! Some that I'd only just heard about. Fabulous.

One new kind of yarn they did have there was the Patons SWS (which stands for "Soy Wool Stripes".) This yarn is just spectacular. It's a self-striping fiber made up of 70% wool and 30% soy. I bought three skeins of the Natural Earth and I think I'm going to knit up a little drawstring clutch with it. We'll see. I want to just stare at it for a while -- it's so pretty!













After Michael's we went on to Hancocks, but after the glorious splendor that were the aisles of Michael's, Hancocks just couldn't compare. So we decided it was time for lunch. Mary wanted to go to Panera Bread, but Brandy wanted to try someplace new. I suggested Cheddar's Bar and Grill as it's one of my favorite restaurants. I had a great meal and I think they did, too. We had a nice lunch and sat and talked and talked about all kinds of things.

After lunch, we went over to Barnes & Noble where Brandy and I parked ourselves right on the floor in the craft book section and drooled over beautiful books with lovely patterns and gorgeous photographs. I can't even remember how long we sat there - Mary was with us intermittently. She wandered back and forth between the pattern books and the art books. A young artist is in the midst there! I hope she shows some of her work sometime.

From there, we went to Wally World, but their yarn selection was PATHETIC, especially since it was a Super W-M. Oh well. The day was winding down and it was getting late, so we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

I gotta say, though, I really had a wonderful time and I'm hoping to get together with them again soon. It was just so much fun! Thanks girls, for the lovely day!!

A Triceratops & A Turtle Walked Into A Jar

Look! A baby Triceratops. I started this a while back for my nephew and I just finished it yesterday. I think he turned out pretty well. I did have to change the horns though... the way the pattern reads just didn't work out for me.

I also added dimpling in the fan/hood on his head. My nephew is VERY into dinosaurs and can name off everyone of them in his sleep. I wanted it to look as close as possible to a real one.

I used Red Heart Symphony in gray and black size 10 thread doubled together for him. It looks a little like tweed but it's soft and that's what I wanted.

This little guy came out to be about 8 inches from nose to tail. I hope my nephew likes him!

Also, as far as little stuffed toy goodness, there's this turtle that I finished for my 7 year old earlier this summer. I don't know why I never blogged about it. Anyway, here's a couple of pics:













And here's a shot of the underside:













For him I used Homespun in Williamsburg for the shell, Rococo for the head, legs, and tail, and Sierra for the under-belly. T loves him! He's about 5 inches long from head to tail.

And finally, it seems that Brandy and I like to crochet together. ;) We did these jar toppers and she showed hers yesterday so I can show you mine today. (hee hee, Brandy!)


I did mine in pink thread. I haven't got any jars to put mine on, so I found a candle jar that it fit on. Whatever works, eh?











This went pretty quickly so I'd definitely like to make more. I want to find some Christmas colored thread and do some up for gifts. Not sure what I'll stuff in the jars. That dried cookie recipe will probably go in there, though!







I want so badly to show you pics of the purse I made for my Fall Purse Swap partner, but I haven't sent it off yet. I'm hoping to get it out in the mail tomorrow morning. I can't wait until she gets it!

Oh, and to those of you who are still waiting to hear all about my big news... Hold on to your hats! I'll be able to spill all sometime early next week.

Look! Pretties!

Aren't these colors yummy?

They are Joann Sensations Bellezza Collection Dolcetto Yarn in peach, yellow, lime, and blue.

I think I'm going to make the Booga Bag with them but I'm not quite sure yet. Either that, or a scarf in blocks of four. What do you think?

They're a wool blend, so I'm not sure how well they'll felt, if they'll felt at all. There's a reviewer on the Jo-Ann's link that said they felted, though thinly, so we'll see when I make a test swatch with them.

*** Update: here's the test swatch, which is being whipped and beaten in my washer by a couple of towels to really rough it up. And maybe b*tch slap it a few times or whatever it is they do in there to each other.

Pre-felting the swatch measured 2"w x 1 1/2" h.













And post-felting, it measured 1 3/4" w x 1" h.













***

I've been wanting to try this yarn for ages! I like the soft color palette and feel. Oh, did I mention that? They are super soft.

Other than that, not a whole lot going on here today. I'm almost ready to send out my Fall Purse Swap package. Just need to get two more things done and then that fat lady can sing her heart out.

Oh, By The Way

Just so you know...

Anniversary Operation: Paint the Town Red?

Success.

Little Devil? Me?

Tabitha said...

Embarrassed of what? You are soo cute there. You were suppose to pick an awkward stage, LOL. I'm sure you were far from a real devil, you look so sweet & innocent. Adorable! :o)

Thanks, Tabby!

I only have a few pictures of me from childhood scanned on my computer... and since then said scanner has bit the dust (ever so conveniently and promptly after the 1 year warranty expired.)

I'll see what I can dig up. Oh, and I was a little devil. My brother, who was older than me, was the prince - the perfect angel. He never did anything wrong, never stayed out later than what his curfew was, never sassed back, never yada yada yada. Perfect.

Me on the other hand, wow. I loved my mother dearly and miss her every day, but man when I was little I questioned her EVERY WORD. I wanted to please her and I did, but I had my own way of doing things. She always told me I was too smart for my own good and could exhaust someone with my incessant questions.

Oh. My. God. That's exactly what my 7 year old is like.
I'm DOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!

Doomed.

Anyway, the teen years were especially trying: I remember screaming matches between her and I over some trivial little thing I thought I was being denied (like going camping for a week with a friend and her parents or staying out a half hour later with a boyfriend when the movie ran later than we'd expected.) Though I was younger, I was the ground breaker in my family because my brother was insistent in his journey to be The. Light. Of. My. Mother's. Eyes.

Hmmmph.

I look back and laugh at it all now. My brother and I, despite the fact that I wanted to end him back then, are now the best of friends.

And I have daily conversations with my mother, though she's passed on, to tell her that her "curse" is working.

You know that curse. The Mother's Curse. Yes, that one. The one they say to you when you're younger and it goes like this:

"I hope when you grow up, you have a child that acts just like you do."

Thanks, Mom.

AJ Needs....

I saw this little meme over on Rebecca of Ewe Devil's blog. It's funny!

Go to Google and enter "(your name here) needs" and then list the top ten or so queries that come up on your blog.

Here are mine: (I used my real name for the search, but used my nickname here.)

AJ needs: help!

AJ needs: to know. (like inquiring minds?)

AJ needs: a psychiatric evaluation. (hmmmph.)

AJ needs: a crew of volunteers every day for a 3 hour time period. (Oh, Glorious! Will send off for that straight away!)

AJ needs: to find her way to the gate. (Off they run, whee!)

AJ needs: a rosette reality check. (bring it on, Brandy!!)

AJ needs: to establish herself as a hero in the eyes of the world. (like Spider-Man? Ok - I want to wear the new black suit.)

AJ needs: therapy! (ok, ok, I get it - enough already with the outside help suggestions! Geeesh!)

AJ needs: more bite if she's to play alongside the big boys. (WTF? I hold my own just fine thank you very much!)

AJ needs: to go. (*door slam*)

Happy Anniversary!

To me! Hubby and I celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary today!

What a lovely three years it's been, too. He's wonderful.

We're going out on a real date tonight sans boys to have a good time painting the town red.

Hmmm... how does one paint the town red, exactly? When I was little I used to imagine people going out with huge paint brushes slopping red paint over everything in creation to make one big drippy, sticky mess. I quite doubt we'll be doing that.

Surely it wouldn't hurt to wear a red dress, though?

I'm very excited: a proper date! We haven't had one of those in ages.

School is COMING!

Thank goodness!

We had school registration today for both the boys. Let me just tell you this:

I. Can. Not. Wait. Until. School. Starts.

Let me also say, I love both of my sons. They're good kids. But school is a blessing. My 7-soon-to-be-8 year old is starting 2nd grade and is very excited to go back. My 4 and a half year old will be starting school for the very first time in the 4K program. He'll go for half a day in the mornings and ride the bus in the morning with Big Brother and come home before noon.

So that means I'll have a half a day 5 days a week all to myself.

MYSELF.

Me. By myself. Alone. With no screaming children. No fighting, no running, no little boy noises, no constant asking for things they just asked for two minutes ago. No complaining about whose turn it is to pick something to watch on TV, no asking to play video games when they know it's not time for that.

Just me. *sigh*

Tagged Again!

This time by Lucy over at Folk-N-Fancy!

Six Weird Things/Habits About ME!

I. I prefer Roman Numerals to English.

II. I am absolutely terrified of food poisoning by eating bad food. I'm constantly checking dates.

III. I HATE bugs with more than 8 legs. If I see one of those suckers coming for me, I scream and run like a little girl. Yuck.

IV. I have a coat obsession. Seriously. It ain't pretty.

V. I HAVE to have a fan blowing on me when I sleep at night. Even in the dead of winter when we're bundled up under a pile of wonderfully soft and warm comforters. If that fan isn't blowing, I'm not sleeping.

VI. I like to do things in even numbers.

And a bonus one: I like to photograph eggs.

Another bonus: If given the choice, I will almost always pick watching SportsCenter over regular TV.

Ohhh, Brandy! You've got another one! And Yoooohoooooo! Courtney! You, too!

Tagged by Sue!!

I've been tagged! I haven't done a meme in a while so it's a welcome change!

Finish these 5 sentences:

1. The one household chore I don’t mind doing is - cleaning the living room/rearranging furniture.

2. The last person that made a surprise visit to my home was - goodness I don't know. No one ever makes a surprise visit here. We're so far out in the country that when we have visitors, they call first to make sure we're home.

3. I cannot comprehend - people who insist on putting someone else down to try and make themselves feel better. What a downer!

4. At this moment I wish - I was out on a cozy dinner-and-a-movie-date with my husband.

5. The last serious discussion I had was with - my husband on some changes that might be happening in our lives.

I'm going to tag:

Brandy!

Of course, if you'd like to join in and do this one, go for it!

Face Lift

I know, not the most interesting post, but I think it's neat.

I acquired this chest of drawers from my grandmother a couple of weeks ago when she moved out of her apartment. This bureau has been around since my mother was a girl. I remember when I was little and I'd stay the night at my grandparents; I always loved the bureau but hated the drawer pulls.

So when hubby and I brought it home I told him I wanted to go get new pulls for it right away. I mean, come ON, wouldn't you? Those gaudy white ceramic knobs coupled with those ugly used-on-everything-from-the-50s-to-the-80s pulls HAD to go.

We went to Home Depot tonight to go look at pulls and we found these. It's hard to describe the color... It's like a dark copper covered with very dark warm smokey gray. And they're brushed metal, too! I liked them in the store, but once I put them on, I REALLY liked them.

Amazing what a new set of hardware can do to really bring new life to something!

Addiction

(in the style of Bridget Jones's Diary)
2:25 pm. I need help. I'm addicted to Oceangram. Surely it's not normal to have a flash animation bring your emotions to sky high or down low?

But it IS addicting. I've sent oodles of messages and received oodles in return. Some are side splitting funny, some are lame, some are inspirational, and some are just ... well, you know.

I discovered this last week sometime and I've wasted away many hours of my days since. I've come to the realization that I simply must stop. I have to walk away.

2:28 pm. I wonder if I've got another message? Can't hurt to have just a little peek, right?

2:29 pm. No. Must have self control.

2:30 pm. Oh sod it. I'm going to have a look.

2:31 pm. Hurrah! I've got a message!

2:33 pm. Sent.

Score!

Well, my first experience with wool and felting was a success!!

Whenever I've gotten the chance over the last three days I've been knitting to try and finish this little beauty -- I so badly wanted to see how it would turn out!

Here's a picture of it before felting:

I crocheted the little flower to go on it for decoration but didn't sew it on before felting. I wanted them to felt separately in case it didn't turn out well. I'm glad I did it that way, because the flower didn't felt at ALL. The same thing happened to the sample swatch I made to felt first. I crocheted that and was terribly worried when I pulled it out of the washer and it looked the same and measured the same size.

But knitting with this wool felted beautifully. I mean, first try and I'm in love with it.

The bag before felting measured 11" wide x 13" high. The bag after felting measured 6 1/2" wide x 7 1/2" high. I think that's perfect!

Here's a pic of it after felting:

Isn't it cute? It wasn't fully dry when I shot this (and probably won't be dry until tomorrow) and when I put it down on my table, the bottom sides pooched out a little bit.

I just love how it looks. The idea of felting scared me a little bit - so many variables and wool is expensive! If it didn't turn out that's a lot of money gone.

But now that I've done it once, I want to do it AGAIN!

One of the biggest things I worried about was the red wool. I thought for sure in that hot water that those reds would bleed all over the place and that beautiful autumn leaves variegated wool would be ruined. But no bleeding whatsoever! YAY!

And here's a close up shot of the handle:

For the handles, I used a Knitting Knobby made by Susan Bates. That was so easy to do and I think the handles worked out great.

Speaking of cool handles, take a look at Brandy's bag!! Isn't hers gorgeous! I just love it. We should definitely "team up" on another one!





And finally because I'm weird and enjoy looking at pics of things from start to finish, here's a recap:

Wool!

Mmmmm look at the yummy fall colors.

Brandy's been knitting a gorgeous little purse with Homespun and I thought I'd try my hand at making one, too. But I wanted to make mine with wool and then felt it. It will be smaller, but I think it will be SO cute for a small bag. I can't wait to get started. It was ALL I could do last night when I got home NOT to start. I wanted to take pretty pictures of the beautiful fibre goodness before mussing them with knitting.

OOOoh! And I got some bamboo circs, too! I'm really excited about working with those.

So for the details :)

The red (which is a little more of a burnt red than the photo shows) is by Classic Elite and it's called Montera Llama Wool. It's so so soft. The variegated is also by Classic Elite called Paintbox and it's merino wool. Another soft soft fibre.

I've never felted anything before.. if anyone has any tips, I'm all ears!

Knitted Goodness

Look! *smile* I'm so excited to have gotten this far on my knitted basketweave pattern. I frogged the other one I'd started last week due to a mistake I couldn't fix and a border I was very unhappy with and started this one Friday. I'm about 35 rows into it and I'm much happier!

It's going smoothly now: knitting is getting faster and I feel good that I've accomplished learning how to do the basic stitches. My next project when I get this one done will be to learn some more difficult things. (eek!)

Here's a pic of the whole thing so far:

Caps Caps & More Caps!

I just love making these little hats! I'm up to 17 now.

The white one and the one on top I made on our road trip in the middle of the week and the purple/green one in the bottom right hand corner I did just last night.

They're so fun!

Doing a Little Redecorating

There's a new look to my blog! I've been doing a little work on getting things more the way *I* want them to be. A lot of the credit can go to Tara over at Tara's Doodles. She's got a great tutorial on how to change the spacers between posts. From there I figured out how to FINALLY change the title area of my blog so I could put in an image of my own.

The one I've got up there right now has some little pictures I got off the internet. I set up and shot something of my own this morning, but I didn't quite like it for a title pic. I expect I'll keep trying until I get something I love. For now, this will work. :)

Hear Ye!

Behold!

The Powers of the Knitting Gods have been good and kind and hath bestowed on me THE KNOWLEDGE.

I shall henceforth be known as One Who Can Knit.

Cap Goodness

Look at all the little baby caps! I've done 14 of them so far, 6 of them are new within the last couple of days. I'm still having fun coming up with different edgings and what not, though the front three in this photo *look* pretty similar.

Here's a shot of the most recent 6:













These were all done with Bernat Softee Baby in various colors except the greenish blue one in the lower left hand corner and the purple, pink, green, and blue one on the left hand side of the 2nd row. The greenish blue one was with Bernat Baby Fingering Weight yarn in green and blue doubled up together and trimmed with Softee Baby in white. The purple, pink, green, and blue one above it was done with a yarn called "Plymouth Yarn Dreambaby" which is D.K. weight and made in Turkey. It's a blend of 50% acrylic microfiber and 50% rayon. So soft. I found it at Ben Franklin the last time I was there. There are lots of other great colors and variegated shades that I'd like to try!

Well I think that's about it for now... nothing too special here. Just a smorgasbord of about a million projects that I'm trying to work on evenly so as not to leave any behind.

Have a great day!