I'm Back!!!!!!

Hi Everyone!!!

I'm back, well rested, and happier than ever. I've got a lot to blog about over the next few weeks. The wedding was wonderful. The reception was great, we even had a fire(I'm refraining from telling until I get the pictures back), and the honeymoon was awesome (Thank you Robin, we are totally hooked on cruising. We didn't want to leave). I even started a new project on the last day of the cruise.

That's right, I got some knitting in!!! Over the weekend in Fort Lauderdale I even found a new knitting magazine. Which I will tell you all about hopefully tomorrow. Anyway here are 2 pictures. This is my handbag I used at the wedding.


I'm not sure if there are pictures of this or my dress that I left in. I changed around 10pm and that's when the photographer left.

Here is the dress that I designed and knitted to leave in. My husband (I love saying that!!) loved it, and said he thinks it's my best work yet.By the way, excuse the mess, I am moving in. Anyway, gotta go for now. I'll try to post tomorrow with more info. Talk to you later. Oh, and Sheila, I just saw that our birthdays are 3 days apart. Cool!!!

2 Weeks to Go!!

Wow!!! In 2 weeks I am going to be a Mrs. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm nervous. I'm not. They've also asked me if I'm excited. I wasn't before, but I think I am a little now. I'm just trying to figure out where the last 2 weeks went. Last week I had a month to go. Between my shower, getting invitations out, the caterer and the florist, I have managed to get some knitting done.

I finished the back of the minimalist cardigan. It's looking really good. (I need to take a picture of it.) I messed up though. One day I carried my lunch in my knitting bag and it leaked out. The sweater now has a few spots on it. I tried to rinse it out with Dawn, I also used the Tide stick. I'm going to try and dye it now with tea bags. I'm thinking either an Earl Grey or Pekoe. What do you think? The yarn is like a natural color.

I started knitting the Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark from Interweave Knits Fall 2004.
I love the pattern. I mean really love the pattern. I haven't taken a picture yet but hope to soon.

Well, I just wanted to say hello between all my craziness. I have to go and work on the pew decorations.

MagKnits!! No More

So, I found out yesterday that MagKnits is no longer online. There wasn't any warning, only an entry on Kerrie's blog telling everyone that she has decided to shut it down. I not going to go into detail, as I didn't know all that crazy stuff was going on. It's a shame and I did like that online magazine. Kerrie published my first sweater design, and for that I am very grateful. Anyway, right now there isn't a link for my pattern. I will try to work on that as soon as I get a chance and probably put it up as a pdf on my blog.

I hope everyone has a good day!!

Life is Crazy!!

Man, have I been busy!! There is so much to catch up on. I hope all of you are doing well. I'm still here. I've been running around trying to get stuff done. I can't believe that I'm getting married next month. YEAH!!!!! I can't wait. Since I've been away from you guys, I had my final dress fitting. They had to take my dress in, so I was very happy with that. If I could lose 2 to 3 more inches around my waist by the wedding, I'll be even happier. The fi and I picked out the guys tuxes last week.

I started sending out my wedding invitations, and they were a hit. I've been having a problem with getting some of the response cards back. Some of my guests don't want to mess up the invitation, so they've been phoning me with their RSVP. That was funny. I also got 2 requests to help give information on making invitations, and possibly make invites for someone else. I thought that was cool and very nice since half the time I don't know what I'm doing.

I started the Flower Basket Shawl from Interweave Knits Fall 2004. I love it. I'm making it in the yarn that it calls for which is the Misti Lace Baby Alpaca on #7 needles in Black. I wanted the challenge of working from a chart and this pattern so far is living up to my expectations. It's beautiful. I hope to have a picture up soon.

Amanda, I didn't forget about the 6 word post that I have to do. I'm looking for a really good inspirational picture I want to use.

I've been working on a few other things, but I'll give updates later.

What's in a Name

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter!!

Thank you for all of your supportive comments. I'm glad everyone like the handbags so far. I'm pretty proud of them myself. Here is a picture of one of the wraps I made for my flower girls. By the way, these wraps can transform into neck warmers/mini scarves that button as they get older.

I got quite a few invitations done and ready for the post office this weekend. I watched a new movie out on DVD called August Rush. If you haven't seen it, you should. I liked it. It was very cute. I also managed to alter a dress for my next door neighbor, and it turned out really well. It was the first time that I ever altered a dress for someone else, so I'm a little proud. I had to do a fitting on her and everything. She was very happy with it, and that's what counts the most.

The Fi booked our honeymoon last night, and I can't wait. We are going on a cruise to Key West, Cozumel and Belize. I've never cruised before so I'm pretty excited. I have to publicly thank Robin. You are the best girl!!! She was very helpful with all the questions I had, and let me know which cruise lines were really good. Thanks again Robin.

Anyway, I've been seeing this floating around on quite a few blogs and decided to check out what my name meant, and this is what I found out.

What Andrea Means

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You are balanced, orderly, and organized. You like your ducks in a row. You are powerful and competent, especially in the workplace. People can see you as stubborn and headstrong. You definitely have a dominant personality. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Busy as a Beaver!!

I swear I feel like I've been running around like a chicken without my head on. Here are a couple of things that I've been working on.

Clutch purse for mom. I still need to insert the lining, but I like how it turned out so far. The body was crocheted instead of knitted, so it worked up pretty fast.
The sparkles are Swarovski Crystals. I used Cascade 220 with an H hook in half-double crochet. The pattern was one that I made up.

Here are the 6 ruffles for my handbag. I haven't cut out the materials yet for the body of the bag, but plan to in the next couple of weeks.The yarn is Misti Baby Alpaca double stranded. Let me tell you. These babies were a piece of work. They wanted to stay curled up all the time. I guess they were tired. I wet blocked them, and they still curled. In the end, I wet them again and spray starched them. I'm very happy with the outcome and can't wait to see the finished handbag. The pattern is also another one I'm making up as I go along.

I planned on showing you one of the two knitted wraps I made for my flower girls, but I'm saving that for the next post.

On other updates, I just put down again for a little while the shawl collared sweater for my mother. She did try it on, and it fits perfectly. I started sewing it up last week, but with everything else going on, I had to put it down.

I started the armhole shaping on the minimalist cardigan. I like this project because it's mindless. I was hoping to have it done to take with me on the honeymoon, but I'm not sure I'll have time. Crazy me just took on another knitting project for Knit Picks and my deadline to have it done and mailed back is April 25th.

The design I started, is looking fantastic. I can't wait to see it finished. I haven't worked on it in over a week, but hope to get back to it soon.

I started a crochet shawl for my godmother. So far it looks really good. I'm using Noro Taiyo. This yarn is gorgeous, and the color is vibrant. Gotta love Noro. They make me smile all the time. Hopefully I'll have pictures of this in my next post.

In other news, I started writing up my invitations. Let me tell you, it's a task. I designed, printed and assembled them over the past 2 weeks, and now I'm writing up the envelopes. I also started getting those crazy phone calls from you know the ones(friends and relatives) that you haven't heard from in ages, and I'm talking ages(at least 15 years)? Ex: "Hey, how are you. I heard you're getting married. If I can, I'll try to make it." The best one was the woman that invited herself and her estranged husband to my wedding.

Hello people, did I send you an invitation? The last time I checked you weren't on my list. Anyway, I feel better now that I've gotten that out. If I had to do this again, I'd ignore my mother and go and get married on some island like the fi and I wanted to do in the first place. Tuesday night, I worked on pew decorations for the church. They look so good. (The glue gun is my very best friend right now. Best invention ever made.) Anyway, I'm trying them out tonight or tomorrow night if I get a chance after Lenten services.

Well, enough of my babble, what are you guys up to.

These Boots Were Made For Walking!!

And that is exactly what I was doing on Friday after I woke up to this. I want to thank everyone for all the encouragement on the designing. I'm not giving up, and will continue to keep submitting in the future.

In other news, I went to an ear, nose, and throat doctor on Wednesday. He took me off of all my sinus meds and put me on an inhaler, and I have to use my neti pot (Thanks guys for telling me about it. My doctor's a big advocate of the neti). He also told me that I am suffering from strained vocal chords. I never rested my voice after getting that throat infection in December, so now I'm dealing with the aftermath. I have to go back and see him in 3 weeks. Until then, I have to keep the talking to a minimum. I had a singing gig Saturday night, which he aloud me to do, but it had to be the last one for a while. It's actually convenient, as I don't have another gig for a few weeks. I'm learning how to mime pretty well, and having fun with it.

Since I've gotten that bit of news out of the way, on to the good stuff. I've been busy making these. I saw them at JoAnn Fabrics and they only sold 2 in a pack and I needed 60 of them so lets just say I've been busy for the past 2 weeks.

I finished the last Half-Pi Shawl I need for the wedding. I started working on the shawl collar sweater again and got the sleeves done this weekend. I sewed the shoulder seams together and pinned in the sleeves yesterday. This is what it looks like so far. I only have to do the collar now. I can hear that Cece Peniston song Finally, in the distance now that I'm in the home stretch.

I also started a new project Friday night. It's the Minimalist Cardigan from the 2007 Fall Issue of Interweave Knits. The pattern is a moss stitch. I'm using Cestari from Chester Farms (From my stash yah!!!). The yarn is 75% Cotton, 25% Wool. (Yes, I know it's got wool in it. As long as it's a minimal amount, I can wear it.) I'm using #7 needles to knit this baby up. With Spring around the corner, I want something to wear to take the chill off.

In sewing news, I want to cut out the muslin for curtains for my mother's kitchen area. I also need to alter 2 dresses for my neighbor. It's not something that I'd usually do unless it was for myself but she's very nice and looks out for my mom when I'm away.

I was listening to one of my weekly WEBS podcasts a few weeks ago, and they had a woman on by the name of Christy. She's working on a project called The House That Yarn Built. She's asking for donations as little as the cost of a ball or hank of sock yarn. The money in turn will be put toward building a home for someone that is still homeless in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. It's part of the Brad Pitt Project, Make It Right. Please check out the site if you're interested. I think it's a good cause.

Saturday and FO#2

I'm sitting here relaxing and thought I'd blog for a spell. I finished this last night. Pattern:Knitted Lace Wedding Garter
Yarn: Misty Alpaca
Needles: #1


I am very pleased. Thursday night I got home, fed the dogs and got to work. I wet blocked the lace then starched one side. That freaked me out at first because I'd never starched anything I'd knit before. I tested a piece first to make sure it wouldn't ruin the yarn, and it was fine. When I woke up yesterday I checked it out and felt it wasn't starched enough so I flipped it over and starched the other side. That did the trick. On the way home yesterday I forgot to stop at Joann's and pick up some bias tape so I made my own with some muslin that I had on hand. It's pretty easy. All you have to do is cut the material on the bias.

I pulled the sewing machine and iron out and got to work. I have to admit, I love the outcome. It's a beautiful keepsake to remember my day by.

After working on this project, it's really peaked my interest to get back into sewing. I ordered one of the books I told you about the other day from Amazon, Sew Everything Workshop.

I also ordered Doodle Embroidery for Beginners.

I want to make a keepsake quilt for the fi and I, and I'd like to incorporate some embroidery into it. I've also bought a couple of things from the Sublime Stitching website. I think Jenny Hart is awesome, and she does beautiful work. She made embroidery cool.

In knitting updates:

I'm almost finish the half-pi shawl. My newest design is coming along nicely. I don't have any other knitting updates right now, but hopefully I'll have more after the weekend.

Thursday night when I got home, I received my first rejection letter. I submitted a design to Interweave Knits back in August for their Summer '08 issue. I'm not upset about it, and it was a good experience. I will definitely submit again. As they say, if at first you don't succeed, try try again.

Lastly, I received this award from the amazing and very talented Amanda.

Thank you girl, you always make my day!! Amanda and I submitted our first designs almost around the same time, and we support each other through the process of having to wait with baited breathe to see if we got accepted or rejected.

The rules are to give the award to up to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel so happy about Blogland! Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so that they can pass it on. Beware! You may get the award several times!

Here are the 10 people that make my day or inspire me:

Amanda
Robin
Saun
Stefanie
Adrienne
Sheila
Jennifer
Michelle
Courtney
Mariss
Lisa

That's it for today. I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

WIP Sunday!!

Even though I might not have left a message, due to sickness, computer issues, and time constraints, I have been trying to keep up with my blog reading. I know we all love our mindless knitting projects. You know the ones that take no effort and you can actually sit in front of the television and knit without looking. Well, I have noticed another trend too. I am seeing it in the magazines and on some of your blogs. Texture knits, cables, more intricate ribbed patterns and so forth. If you look in the latest issue of Vogue, you will see all of that and even quite an array of lace patterns. I think that we are all striving to better ourselves a little bit and quench our thirst for trying new things, whether it be a new craft or technique/skill. In my search, I started this:That's right, I started a new design this week. It's something that I've had on my mind for a while now, and I had bought the yarn for it some time back. I'm hoping I have enough because I haven't checked to see if the yarn is discontinued. The yarn I'm using is Classic Elite Premiere. The color is Tidal Wave #5226 (by the way, scratch what I said about the discontinued part. I just checked their website and it's listed, so there's hope if I need more.) Let me tell you, cables take a lot of yarn, and I don't know if anyone has had this problem, but as I did my swatch this week, I had a heck of a time figuring out how many stitches I was getting to the inch. I've become a BIG fan of 4 x 4 swatches, especially after this.

In other knitting news, I've been working on my other projects, and they are all coming along. Here is the Pi-shawl that I've been working on.I don't have a picture of the wedding garter as I'm not that much further, but I can tell you that I'm on the 15th repeat, and I have to do the pattern 21 times.

I finally measured what I have done on the sleeves for the shawl collar sweater for my mother. I measured it against her and one of the sweaters that she wears regularly, and it looks like I am up to the sleeve cap part. I hope to have pictures of that later this week.

Here is what I have done so far on the sleeves for the Gedifra sweater that I'm working on for myself.
I want to thanks Amanda for the Noro comment. I hadn't thought of that. I think I saw a couple hanks of Noro Silver Thaw that I like, hmmmmmmm.

In sewing news, I hit a major 50% off sale yesterday at Fabric Warehouse. For around $35 you too can have this:

The red and green material and the red and black material I'm thinking of using for dresses. The brown and teal I think I might use for a top.

The red with white flowers is for a skirt, and the blue material is for a pair of pants.

The material below is all for shirting. The red and white material and the flowers on cream are actually suppose to be curtain material but I want to try it as shirting material.

This last piece of fabric I got at Joann's.

The fi and I went to Borders last night and we did some browsing. I did a major look through of 2 books. The first one is Sew Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp. If you are new to sewing or just want a brush up. This book looks very good. What I like most about it are the step by step photograph pictures of the various techniques covered in the book. The patterns are classic and can be used again and again.

The second book is the New Complete Guide to Sewing put out by Reader's Digest. Anything that you want to know is in this book. There are tons of pictures and diagrams on just about every technique there is. I have put both of these books on my list as a must have.

It's Friday!! Where's the Party!!

Hallelujah!! I'm on a quest to blog at least once a week, and as they say better late than never. I wanted to post earlier this week, but I didn't have any pics so that postponed me a little. I hope everyone is doing well. I want to thank everyone for their well wishes and remedies. You guys are the best. I'm still not 100 percent, but I am feeling a lot better day by day.

Work is a bear and it's consuming a lot of my time. I feel like I'm doing the work of 3 to 4 people. I can't wait for this season to be over. I've also been gigging every weekend this month. I so glad I have off next weekend, and of course the fi wants to go skiing. It's a plan and I know we'll have fun. We went skiing for the first time last year and loved it. By the end of the day we were on the intermediate slope. If you haven't tried it, you should, but please take a class first.

I have managed to get a little knitting done. I even have my first FO. I finished her last Thursday night. It's the Half-Pi Shawl by new momma Courtney Kelley. You can get the pattern at Rosie's Yarn Cellar.

I used Shimmer from Knit Picks on #11 needles. The color is Flower Garden. It's an alpaca silk blend that feels really nice. If anyone is looking for a lace weight yarn like this. Head on over to Knit Picks because it is on clearance for $4.99 a hank. On Monday, I casted on for my last shawl that I will need. I don't have a picture of that yet. I'm hoping to take one tonight. It's coming along nicely, and I like the color. It's a dark purple, close to an eggplant color. I'm using 2 strands together of Misty Alpaca lace weight.

Here is a picture of my garter so far. I am about halfway done. I promise once the wedding is over I will stop talking about it.

Remember in my last post I said I wanted another project to work on other than my lace projects? Well, instead of starting a new project, I decided to go back and finish an old one. Last year I started this:

It from Gedifra Highlight 023. The pattern is 417 I think. (I'm doing this from memory, and I'm at work). I have all the pieces done except for the sleeves which I did cast on for but had never finished. I like the sweater because of the embroidery and it's something that I haven't done on a sweater yet. I'm still looking for the yarn I want to use to do the embroidery. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I'm thinking maybe a thick and thin yarn with dark blues and pinks. The sweater is knit in Debbie Bliss alpaca silk on #8 needles.

I am still working on the sweater for my mother, even though I put it down over a week ago. I got a little bored with it and I need to measure her arms to see how much more I have to knit before the sleeve cap. Let's just say my mother suffers from long arm syndrome (I hope she doesn't read this, she might kill me for saying that. LOL!!).

In other news, I actually sat down and read a book, which is something I haven't done in a long time. Knitting takes up most of my spare, if you can call riding the train, spare time. It was a cheesy chick lit book but highly entertaining. The book was called Something Borrowed and it's by Emily Giffin. I plan on reading the sequel Something Blue soon. I am now reading Vogue Sewing. I just started it, and haven't gotten far, but I'm hoping it helps me with my future sewing projects. The next book on my list that I want to sink myself into is Finishing Techniques by Nancie Wiseman. I purchased the book a while ago, and I've heard nothing but great reviews on it. I've been told that it's a must have for any knitter at every level.

That's all I have for now. Hopefully you'll be hearing from me sometime this weekend. If not,

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Snails Pace

I feel like all my projects are coming along at a very slow pace. Even though I know this already, I still don't listen. Never do intricate lace knitting on the train, especially if you are working from a chart. I did this yesterday, and of course, my stitches are now off. I am in the middle of backing out my 138 stitches on my Spring Shawl Surprise. I have one more row to go, and I already have done 1 1/2 rows. Oh well, live and learn as they say.

The rest of the yarn I needed for the Half-pi shawl I was binding off arrived yesterday, so I'll finished that sometime this week. I'm getting bored with all this intricate stuff, so I need a worsted or bulky yarn project to work on. I think I want something with sleeves. I guess I'll be hitting the books tonight to find something.

I'm messing around with another design project that I haven't submitted so there's no rush on that. I think I like what I'm seeing so far, I'm not sure yet.

In other news, I've had a really bad sinus infection in my throat for the past month now. I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago. He gave me antibiotics, but they didn't work. He upped the dosage, that didn't work. He then changed my medicine on Friday, and added a few more prescriptions. I think it's working , but the process is slow. In an attempt to help myself a little further. I started using an old home remedy. I bought some ginger root. I smash it a little to get the juice out. Boil it and make tea with honey and lemon ( I also add a tea bag too). That seems to be helping a lot. Does anyone else have any other remedies that they know of? Please let me know.

No pictures this time. Hopefully I'll have something soon.

It's a new day, and a new dawn, and a new year!!

Happy New Year to everyone!! It is now 2008. A new year to try something new. As I sit here reflecting on 2007, I think I did pretty well on trying new things. I made homemade gifts again, which is something I started to do December 2006. The gifts were well received. 11 Lestats, 1 Baby Eleanor, and 1 Elmer, and 1 Alma.




I started sewing more. I made 1 pair of pants, 1 dress, 1 top, and 3 pairs of pajama pants. I've listed everything on the side bar except the pajama pants. I hope to have a picture of them soon.

The fi and I learned to ski. We learned to try and take more time for ourselves by starting date night. We've learned that it's a must. If you don't do this already, you have to try it. It does wonders for a relationship.

I joined a few knit-a-longs, and did my first secret pal. I knitted more, used some of my stash, got my first pattern published and started crocheting again. I also met new friends via blogging.
Now, I really haven't set forth any new goals for 2008 yet, but as I sit here a few do come to mind.

1. Get hitched on Memorial Day weekend to a wonderful man whom I love and adore.
2. Knit, Crochet and Sew more.
3. Hang out more with my Girlfriends and my mother.
4. Find time to read more. (This one's hard as I knit in my spare time.)
5. Stay true and in tune to myself and the fi.
6. Continue date night with the fi, even after the wedding.
7. Set up a date night with my mother after the wedding, so she doesn't feel left out of my life.
8. Save more money.
9. Blog more.
10. Get more organized and neat.
11. Curse less.
12. Try to be less stressed out.
13. Workout more.
14. Have fun.
15. Design and publish more patterns

I haven't introduced you to the newest addition to the family yet. Meet Lola!

I received her for Christmas from the fi. Gotta love him. He knows me so well, and likes my craftyness.

I also started my new year off at a nice pace. I relaxed a little, watched movies, started my wedding garter.

I'm using a pattern I found on ravelry. It's by Diane Willet, and can be found here. I joined the Spring Shawl Surprise. I'm knitting it for my godmother. I hope to get that done by the wedding. It's my gift to her. I finished my 2nd bridesmaid shawl. In the middle of binding off, I ran out of yarn which I ordered on Saturday. I also sewed myself a handbag(without a pattern) to carry my knitting in.

I learned how to install snaps for the first time. I broke the first snap, but figured out what I did wrong, and corrected the problem. It was fun.

Before I sign-off for today, I want to thank you all so very much for all your advice and feedback this past year. It's made my blogging experience worthwhile and fun. I can't wait to see what 2008 has in-store for us all. Happy Blogging!!

Happy Holidays!!!

It's Christmas Eve at around 2:00 pm. Yes, I am still at work. We were some of the lucky ones. My boss didn't close the office today. I'm waiting patiently, in the hopes that we can leave early. It's just plain crazy. There is no one left in the building, but our offices. Oh, and did I tell you, my boss is in Cancun with her family vacationing, with all 20 something of them. Anyway, enough of my complaining.

I just wanted to wish everyone a Wonderful Holiday!!

Thank God it's Wednesday!!

I hope everyone is gearing up for a wonderful holiday!!. I'm trying to finish up my holiday knitting and sewing, but I keep getting interrupted (work, life, etc...) I had planned on knitting and felting 4 clutches for my mom's friends. So far, I have 3 knitted up. I don't think it's going to happen. Since I'm running out of time, I decided to try and make knitted ornaments the little sweater ones that are surfing over the net. I've now scratched that idea and decided to crochet neck warmers. I started them yesterday during the second half of my lunch hour. I spent the first half at Rosie's Yarn Cellar picking out yarn. So far I have five of them done. One is totally complete and I have to buy buttons for the rest. Here is the completed one.

Name: Lestat

Yarn: Berroco Comfort
Needle: H8 hook

I'm going to pick out the rest of the jeweled buttons this weekend. I figure I can complete the clutches hopefully in the next month. I still need to sew them together, felt and decorate them.

In sewing news, this past weekend I cut out material for 4 pairs of pajama pants. I sewed 2 of them up. I made the fi try his on and they are a little snug in the hip area. I know I measured him correctly. He's very stocky, and wants his pants very loose, so I'm going to have to cut the hip and butt area a little larger on the next pair. The second pair I made are for my mom. Those turned out perfect (hello, I want to keep them lol). I just need to hem them. I hope I didn't make the waistband to tight.

The remaining items finally arrived in the mail for my secret pal. One item was coming from the UK. I was able to ship my package off to her on Monday. I hope she likes what I got her. I received my package from my secret pal Amy last Thursday. I LOVE EVERYTHING!!! Thank you soooo much!! By the way if you're reading this, I already ate the Swedish Fish. So, this is what Amy sent me.

Louisa Harding's new book Knitting Little Luxuries. It came out in November. Swedish Fish, Good & Plenty, a coin purse with stitch markers and blocking pins, row counter (I can also use these as stitch markers), 3 hanks of mango moon (love it), an ornament for my christmas tree, 3 pot holders and a beautiful mini storage suitcase, which by the way, I stole your idea. I went to Joann's and sent one to my secret pal. It has an autumn theme on it.

In other knitting updates, I started on the sleeves for the shawl collar sweater for my mom. I hope to have pictures up by the weekend.

I want to make/sew myself a dress. I should go through my patterns. Like I really have time ( 3 jobs, a wedding to finishing planning). I need 3 heads and 20 arms. What am I thinking.

In wedding news, after the holidays I definitely need to get back to the wedding knitting. I also need to get busy on the wedding invites as I need to send them out soon. Can anyone give me advice on cutting an invite list from like 138 to 100, especially when I've known these people for practically almost all my life. I don't think it's going to happen. The sad part is the fi only has about 25 people on that list. It's bad... Oh well, enough of my complaining. I'll try to have another post up by the weekend with more pics. Have a good one.

So what did you do Saturday night?

Yarn: Katia Nordic Print
Needle: US #17

I tried my hand at needle felting almost 2 years ago but I've never done a felting project before, so I decided to try my hand at it. Let me tell you, the process in the washing machine is interesting. It's amazing how much lint these things give off, but it's definitely something that I'd do again. I knitted the handbag with Katia Nordic Print on #17 needles. The bag was finally dry on Friday when I came home from work. I proceeded to give it a haircut because it was a little shaggy. Last night I pulled out my needle felting and had a little fun. I'm just waiting on the hardware to come in the mail. I ordered it on Friday.

In other knitting updates: I started working on the front of my mother's shawl collared sweater. I'm about 3 inches away from binding off for the shawl collar area in the center. It's looking good so far. I also started crocheting (because it's faster, and I need them for the holidays) a couple of pieces to make some wristlets in the same fashion as the bag above. My mom saw the bag above and then proceeded to ask me if she was on the list to receive one of the wristlets, and that if she wasn't, she better be. I snickered of course. Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. I hope to have more pictures during the week.

Playing Catchup!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Mine was filled with cooking and family. Everyone enjoyed the meal(that made me happy), and overall the day was nice and quiet. Thursday night, I laid down and thought to myself, for once, I wasn't stressed out. Family can drive you crazy, and there is always going to be something that goes wrong either at work or at home but at the end of the day, I don't know if I would change a thing, except maybe my job. I'm thankful to see another day, and to share it with the people I love, my family, friends, and my new friends that I have found here. Thank you.

Now, to play catchup:
I didn't list any info on the yarns I used because I'm just plain tired, but I think I listed the info on ravelry, and in earlier posts. If you can't find the info, send me a message and I'll do another post or email it to you.

First up is Baby Eleanor

Juliet

Baby Blanket for Courtney

I finally finished my first vogue pattern for pants. The pattern is V8298. The pattern was pretty easy to work with, and I definitely want to make another pair. I only paid $1.00 a yard for this fabric. I was buying fabric at JoAnn's and the sales woman told me that instead of buying muslin to try out a pattern, test it out on some cheap fabric first. That way, you still have a finished project that you can knock around in if the pattern doesn't work out.



The crochet class I taught a couple of weeks ago went over very well. Everyone learned their stitches and even one student already has one fingerless glove made. She plans on giving a pair to her sister.

I casted on for the front of my mother's shawl collared sweater. I hope to have it done before Christmas. I'm also working on a felted handbag for myself. I'm not using a pattern for the bag so I hope it turns out okay. I want to embellish it by doing some needle felting on it and maybe some beading, but I'm not sure yet. That's it for now. I have to go and update my ravelry page, and watch all my television shows' I've missed lately. I love watching my shows on my computer. It beats taping, or tivo.
I

Oh My Goodness, She's Alive!!!!!

Yes, I might have been away for a month, but I have been knitting. I also managed to finish sewing a pair of pants I started a while back. My apologizes for being a bad blogger, but I got caught up in the everyday swing of things. Every time I sat down to blog, something else pulled me away. The season has started on my day job, and is in full swing and very busy. I did try to keep up with my blog reading even though I haven't left any comments. Thank you to all of you that emailed me while I've been away. It was wonderful to know you cared.

Anyway, here's what I've been working on.

1. Baby Eleanor is finished except for blocking.

2. Juliet is about 85 to 90 percent complete.

3. I 've started the red circular blanket now for the 3rd time(I restarted again last Thursday night), and I think I finally got it, and yes, it's a different pattern and yarn. I'm using my own personal pattern so I'm making it up as I go. Because I don't have a lot of time left (the baby is due the end of November), I had to resort to my crochet skills, which I must say, my reading skills are improving daily. Crochet is no joke when it comes to reading patterns.

4. I designed a hat for the fi for Christmas and that's complete. I think it might be a future pattern, but I'm contemplating whether or not to put it on the blog before the holidays. He sometimes likes to read my blog to keep up and be in the know with what I'm doing.

5. I finished the back of my mom's shawl collared sweater and now need to cast on for the front.

In sewing news:

I want to sew a pair of lounge pants for the fi for the holidays. I also bought a few patterns from Joann Fabrics recently (they've been having great sales lately). I'm saving all that info. for another post.

This Sunday I'm teaching my first crochet class at the Knitting Knook in Marlton, NJ It's a 3 hour intensive on the basics. I'm still putting everything together for it. If there's time, I might start a mini project. I'm not sure what the mini project will be, but I'm leaning toward a small purse, that way all the stitches can be incorporated.

I have more updates, but that info will come soon in future posts. I'm hoping to have pictures up in the next couple of days. I hope everyone is doing well.

As Adrienne says,

Toodles!!

SP11 & Sample Knitting

First of all, I want to thank all of you that have left me comments on my blog. They have all been wonderful. If I haven't gotten around to all of you yet, I plan to.

Remember when I showed you this nice little swatch.


Well this is what it really was.



The Off Center Argyle Caplet from Wrap Style that I had to knit for Knit Picks. I thought it turned out rather well. Here it is in their October Catalog.

I also received a nice little package from my Secret Pal yesterday.

I absolutely love everything!!!!! The yarn is Pakucho 100% Organic Cotton. It feels sooooooooo good. I can't wait to work with it. I think it will have to be an original design. I also got Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac (awesome!!), a beautiful handmade card, and 2 CD's of Amy Winehouse music ( love them, I've been playing them all day). Amy is so dirty(nasty girl), but I love her music. I can't wait to find out who my secret pal it. Thank you so so much.