they're back!

the progress trackers, that is. Not precisely what I wanted, but it will do until I can conquer the cute little ones that indigirl used to give out the code for. These are also not the ones that I had originally, but like I said, they'll do.

I've been busy d/l patterns galore. But today (well technically yesterday) I managed to knit the first of 6 cloths for my parents to welcome them into their new apartment next Saturday, where they won't have a dishwasher. So they'll need dishcloths. And what says love more than a handknit one or two, or three...... I give you

Pattern: Slip and Slide cloth by Maile Mauch
Yarn: Lily's Sugar n Cream
Color: Potpourri Ombre
Needle: US7

My idea is to make all 6 cloths from the same yarn (I have a 12 oz ball) and to make 1 a day so that on moving day I can deliver them. They'll need something to make them smile. I wish they had made this move sooner when they could really enjoy all the place has to offer.

Dad's really not doing well. He's in a lot of pain and I can't help but wonder if it's related to the drug therapy he's on for the treatment of his cancer. I was down on Friday to try to help them start to pack up but feel as though I accomplished nothing. Of course, mom sent me home with more stash: 600g of Brunswick Germantown wool in Winterberry Heather and about 200g of the same, I think, in white. As well as 3 containers of sewing notions: buttons, elastic, bias tape, thread, ribbon, needles, etc. and a cute little box to help house some of it. I did manage to find the dishes and glassware that is still boxed that they can start out with so we don't have to scurry to pack the stuff they're using right now up.

I also finished the last cloth for my SIL on Saturday. I'll post a picture of that after I block it. It needs it.

DD went to a sleepover last night. Surprisingly, I was feeling lost without her. I guess my little girl is really growing up. DS1 was so jealous. He claims he wants to go to a sleepover too.

We were at Hershey Park Thursday evening with our friends. The kids had a blast. It wasn't too cold either. But it's a late night until we get home and everyone (asleep) in the house and in bed. We'll see these same folks tonight to ring in the new year.

Santa was good to all of us but he brought me knitting goodness. Lots of tape measures (they always seem to be awol) and WPI tool, an electronic row counter, and a bag that holds 4 skeins of yarn, looks like I'll be liearning intarsia soon. AND a certificate for the Harmony sock needle set. They're out of stock until after the new year. But I want to get in an order before free shipping goes up to $50. DH doesn't know it yet, but I'm ordering a set of blocking wires from Joann.com with a 50%off coupon... I'll need them to block mom's shawl.

OK.. off to knit. Happy new year everyone and happy crafting

the stories

As promised, the thrifting story:
DH and I had a dinner dance to go to a little over a week ago for the college he works for, given by the college for the faculty and staff. He's been there 8 years and we hadn't yet gone so this year we were determined to make it. Of course, this cow had nothing to wear that looked decent enough AND fit. As a last minute event, I decided to look for something. In other words go shopping for myself for clothing. This is an event that RARELY happens. So we went to the closest mall and I had intentions of looking at the BonTon for something. DD went with me (she never misses a chance to go shopping and I promised her a little gift for her outstanding parent/student/teacher conference) Once in the mall (if you can call it that) I told her that I wanted to go to the thrift shop first. This particular one is run by VIA and has only been in this location less than a year. So in we go, and I started to look for something I could wear. I took several dresses in but none of them were the right size. Then we went back out to look at slacks. DD ran off to the front of the store (mind you, the store is the about 15'x30') and I was looking at all the beautiful wool slacks from Talbot's and L.L.Bean that were priced unbelievably low. She comes up and says "mommy, come look at the outfit I think you'll like" So she takes me to the front where the shirts are and pulls out a black cotton knit top with a double knit yoke of white polka dots (the inside is white with black polka dots) and an ugly little white bow attached to the white trim of the yoke... I succumb when she tells me she has the perfect slacks to go with it. As we go back to the slacks and she pulls out these black rayon slacks with tiny white polkadots all over... and really it does go. So off to the dressing room, armed with that outfit and some other slacks of my choosing.
Well nothing that I chose suited me. So I tried on her outfit and voila, it really was comfy and worked. I looked at the bow (which I really hated) and saw that it was just tacked on in 4 spots... so placing my hand over the bow, tried to find some reason to not get it. But I couldn't. Then I looked at the tags. The shirt was $5.99 and the pants were $6.99 Now mind you, the shirt wasn't new, but the pants had the original CAROLE LITTLE tags on them along with the original price of $78.00......
How could I pass this perfect little outfit up? So I bought it and hopefully taught my daughter that we don't have to buy at department stores first. This isn't the best picture, but it gives you an idea of the great little shopper I have!

I also finished another chakalaka. I was at the gyno in June when making them for DD's special area teachers and he claimed... "I want one" (I think he really just wanted the contents) so I promised to make him one for my next visit. Well that visit is tmrw at noon so I thought I betetr get cracking!

Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Buon Natale, Joyeux Noël

In the spirit of being green (I am mother nature, I believe) I wrapped the gifts for our family in Christmas quilting fabrics. I offered if they wanted to keep it (my SIL does quilt( they were welcome to it, but if they had no use for it, please return it so that it could be reused. I think the gifts look lovely and I was happy not to be using any more paper than Santa would need at our house!

It was a great time with the family. Food abounded and I was stuffed when it came time for the evening church service. My folks were happy to be there with all of us and everyone liked their handmade gifts! I don't think my neice got the whole idea of the keyhole scarf... she's a smart young woman though; it'll dawn on her. My brother was thrilled with his completed mitten. Since he has 2 hands though, I worked on the flap of the second during church. Of course.. I knit it too long so now I'll need to frog. Serves me right! My other brother liked his utopia hat and luckiky for me, it fits him... it's snug, but that's good I think. Better than the hat for my neice's husband. Tychus is knit with 2 strands of worsted and it has a tendency to add size along with bulk even though it's on the same size needle as I'd used for one strand. When he rolls it it's fine, just like the picture on knitty.com
Red LOVED her headband and said she'll use it lots for skiing as she doesn't have one that she likes. I didn't even think of it for skiiing. but it's a great idea. I'm happy she likes it cuz she really spoils my kids. She got them a 6.0 Megapixel camera... hello they're little kids. The kids are always bugging me to use my camera. That's a thing of the past, they can point and shoot with this one and it has a nice 2.5" LCD screen for them to see their pics in the back! My nephew, the computer geek doesn't know the binary alphabet so I had to explain the meaning of the stripes on his hat. He did think it was pretty cool though. Dad didn't model his scarf. He wasn't up to it. Mom's shawl... well it's still OTN... and the cloths that were gifted to my dear SIL were well received. :-)

Let it Snow

Pattern: Snowflake by Norah Gaughan for Berroco
Yarn: Lily's Sugar 'n Cream
Color: white (of course)
Needle: US 8

I must finish the convertible mittens before 5... think my family will notice if I ignore them?

Merry Christmas everyone, I'm sure this is the last post before the holiday... I'll try to put pictures up of the recipients modelling their gifts.

here it is

the cabled headband:

Pattern: ChicKnits Cabled Headband
Yarn: Robin Aran
Needle: US8
Amount of yarn: about 40g needed


I cast this on this morning and was finished early afternoon. That was with 3 kids bugging me the whole time... very easy knit. Not wide enough for my liking, but it's OK to cover the ears. I bought this yarn from ebay long ago when I first started knitting. It's pretty soft too. I blocked it using a lanolin wool wash and it smells good enough to eat now :-)

I hope to finish my SIL's cloths tonight... I had a little delay. When I was putting the kids to bed, I laid down to nurse the littlest and fell asleep for a few hours (oops)

I leave you with a little family musical holiday cheer.

FOs and Merry Christmas

well the most important first... merry merry Christmas. Take a moment to reflect on what promises the birth of Jesus holds in store for all of us!


and here are some recently finished gifts!

Pattern: Utopia by smariek
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride worsted
Color: Charcoal grey
Amount used: less than 1 skein
Needles: US 8 16" Addi turbos

I adapted this pattern after reading on ravelry that it ran small... I lenghthened the ribbing at the bottom from 1/2" to 2" If I ever make it again, instead of doing that, I'll add an extra cabeling in both the bottom and top. Other than that it's a quick fun knit... doesn't require too much attention and took me less than 1 day to knit (and that was hardly concentrated knitting) These are to go with the mittens I gave Dave last year at Christmas

Also finished are:

Pattern: Peekaboo mittens by Megan at pensive frog
Yarn: Mauch Chunky by Kraemer yarns
Colors: Main color = Buttercup, cuff handpainted by me
Needles: US7 dpns


These were made to go with a hat I gifted to Andrea last year at Christmas.

I have a cabled headband that is drying in a towel and needs to be seamed together and at least 2 cloths to make, not to mention the Christmas wrapping. Mind you we exchange gifts Christmas Eve... so mom's present will not be complete I'm afraid. I'll wrap it OTN.... sorry mom!

Off to bake some cookies for Santa. Thank goodness it's a full moon tonight. I'll be up all night!

Bags are packed

gift bags that is!

All the teacher bags for DD and DS1's school are wrapped and packed to deliver. Whew!
Now to take care DS2's gifts.

Speaking of, I finished these yesterday afternoon for his pre-school teacher:

I made these for the secretary at my school this past summer so the details are in that post

Still no time to post details on the slotted scarf. I have a slide show to put together for school for the sing-along Friday morning.

Stay warm!

quick post...picture intensive

I took some pictures of the keyhole scarf tonight, but I won't be sharing those with you yet. It will take too long for me to put in the details of the pattern and if you can wait, maybe I'll even post the whole pattern!

But tonight I gave myself a good swift kick in the arse to get the special area teacher gifts commpleted for DD and DS1's school. I ade a set of marble magnets for each of their teachers:
music:

art:

drama:

and 2 PE:


I was going to use old Altoids containers that I had been saving just for this purpose, but DH suggest I "splurge" and buy the tins that they sell to hold gift cards. They work out great, but hve lots of romm.d
Lest you think I've not been knitting, I finished the pair of Warm Fuzzies for DS2's preschool teacher today. I need to weave in the ends yet, and sew on buttons. IT's a quick knit and they're really cozy.

Today I made my squash soup for dinner. I left out too may spices, just in case one of the kids wanted to try it. Of course, DH and I were alone eating it. Should have added what I wanted to in the beginning.

I also cast on for Smariek's Utopia Hat for my brother for Christmas tonight. I've been reading that it runs a bit small... I think I'll add on to the bottom a bit to give i t some extra length and maybe if I loosen my knitting a bit , it will fit him.

I'm really beat and should hit the rack. Today we had off again because of the snow on Sat/Sun or should I say ICE...it was like a rink out there. I'm secretly hoping for a delay tmrw. I could use one.

If you don't read me again before the 25th, have a wonderful Christmas.

I've done it again

screwed up my WIP tracker... I'll fix it after Christmas. I have too much knitting to finish before then to be messing with HTML. If anyone checks it out and has a quick fix... I'd appreciate it ;-)

Last night I worked on the linings of the two teacher gifts and have pictures to show.

First DS's teachers gift:

Pattern: Amanda's Squatty Sidekick from Interweave Knits Knitting Daily
Yarn: Peace Fleece
Color: Blueberry Borscht
Amount: 1 skein
Needle: 10.5



I had to close up the button loop a bit with some yarn because I wanted to use this button. It turned out fine though. Noone would be the wiser.

Then I made a lining from a cute fat quarter print I bought just for this purpose. I chose a solid coordinating fabric for pockets and put some bias tape along the top of the pockets to give a more finished look. There is a pocket on both sides of the interior. Last year when DD had her we gave her a change purse made from the same yarn.


DD's teacher's favorite color is army green. Of course it's probably the only color that I didn't have in the stash, so I had to buy wool for it.
Pattern: Fulled Lopi tote
Yarn: Cascade 220
Color: 2417
Needle: 13
Skeins used : almost exactly 2
I double stranded the yarn to knit this since Cascade 220 is worsted and the Lopi is bulky. So it really only takes about 215 yards of bulky weight yarn. I love this pattern it was a quick knit but a real PAIN to line. I hadn't bought fabric to line this so I was about to search the measly fabric stash I have and found a .....sheet that had the same green in it. The sheet was in the drop cloth pile but most of it was usable, so there you have it. The pink pocket is from the top of the sheet. I cut, folded and sewed it ina way that there is a double pocket. Actually this was the 2nd lining I made. The first just gave me too much trouble. This one isn't perfect either, but it works. Hope you like it Mrs. G!

While waiting for DD at gymnastics yesterday I was merrily knitting the mate to the peekaboo mitten sans instructions and forgot about the peekaboo part! so I had to frog. I didn't have the instructions with me, so I cast on for fingerless mitss for DS2's preschool teacher. Haven't gotten too far on them as the afternoon was spent with DS2 on my lap napping and of course I had to join him ;-)

The scarfs are blocked so I'll soon post pics and details of the keyhole scarf. The shawl is still OTN as is the remaining hunting mitten (haven't touched that pup in a while) have some cloths to do and something for my oldest brother.... have to decide still.

Tonight after the kids are in bed I'll finish the marble magnets. I want them done for Tuesday. Note to self: buy contact paper to cover the tops of the metal boxes (altoids boxes).

OK... off to make breakfast and coffee for me!

I'll tell you my thrifting story in the next post. DD found a gem for me :-)

snow ice day

and what did i do? knit of course! I finished one mitten... maybe I'll get the other done by the end of the weekend.

Well all the work I did for my sub for tmrw was in vain. I couldn't burn a cd with all the songs I recorded for him to use... blehhh! (where is that snoopy picture when I need it?) all that time that I could have been knitting.

my own kids had off today as well.. what a shame, it could have been more peaceful with only one bored child. Instead... ay-yi-yi! Although the other 2 were scheduled for half day anyway. I have off tmrw... parent/teacher/student conferences in the PM.... need to visit Santa in the morning ;-)

the concert's over

and my kids did a great job... yay chorus! I am so proud of you!!!! While I was gone my own children trimmed the tree.... there were only a few casualties.

Part of DH's present was attempted to be delivered yesterday so the kids and I had to go to FedEx and pick it up after school. I was hoping it was my LittleKnits order. But that was waiting for me on the porch when we got home...some Noro for the Lizard Ridge that was on sale, and GGH velour which is like the LionBrand suede yarn.. thought I'd make belts for gifts (and dh and me) and some Queensland Collection Uruguayan DK: a blend merino, alpaca silk that was on sale and I couldn't resist. Pics are up in ravelry (ID = craftycarole)

Tonight I fulled the Lopi tote. It only took 1 time throught the washer and came out beautifully. I also chose some fabric to line it... we had this sheet in the basement that has a green strip that matches perfectly. The sheet we used as a drop cloth, so I can certainly cut out enough to make the lining and really think it will be perfect!


Late last night I cast on for the peekaboo mittens for my bestest friend. This is all I got done before my body gave in to the tiredness.... I'll stay up late and work on them tonight along with my sub plans for Friday. My own kids have their parent student teacher conferences Friday afternoon. Hopefully, I can sneak in a bit of shopping in the AM before they have to be picked up at 11:30. HO HO is pretty slim this year.

Lastly, here's a picture of some wool I reclaimed from a sweater I got at a tag sale that was hand knit in Uruguay. I felt so bad frogging it because of the beautiful two color work in it, but it wouldn't fit anybody in this family. So... the one sleeve gave me 150 yards... the colorwork is white that is duplicate stitched over the blue, so it's time consuming to frog.... but I think it will be worth it

Happy Belated Dad

My pop probably got the best birthday present.. he was released from the hospital on his birthday. We all know how he hates being in there, so I know for a fact he was glad to come home. I didn't blog on Friday, but we talked. Here's to another year dad...and make this one a healthy one!

Thought I'd post some objects that are finished being knitted but still have some work to go on them yet. The Amanda's squatty sidekick is fulled but needs a lining and button and
the fulled lopi tote needs to be fulled and lined yet.

I still need to block the keyhole scarf so after that's blocked it will have it's photo session and I'll post the details. I'd post more now, but we have a birthday party to go to (no it's not my dad's) and I still have some chores to do.

Happy crafting!

Red sky in morning,

sailor take warning. Red sky at night, sailor's delight

Lately, the sunsets have been really beautiful but they usually occur on my drive home and I don't keep the camera in the car. But this morning, I was up and about before the sun came up and when it did, this is what I saw.



I finished the keyhole scarf on Tuesday. Needs to be blocked... stalking the mailman for some yarn I purchased to make gifts. Hope the holiday mail doesn't hold it up too much!

Enjoy your days. It's cold here... snowed all day, but didn't amount to much. Only makes the kids at school absolutely bonkers

snow = baking

DD finished her gingerbreadhouse this morning. Since it had snowed here, we decided to make it snow on her house as well. The snow is strawberry cotton candy... yum! The snowmen, gingerbread people and trees are JustBorn peeps in different shapes. Just Born factory is actually in our town, so we had to use them!

We also made a double batch of peanut butter cookies from the Emeril's cookbook There's a Chef in my Soup. They are very peanut buttery...

I made a spinach quiche as well for lunch and tried to sneak in a few rows of knitting while listening to Brenda Dayne's pocast Cast On. It's my FAVORITE podcast. Love you Brenda!

I was thinking last night that maybe we'd have no school tmrw or a delay, but I'm doubting it more and more.... guess I'll be singing Christmas music all day after all!

Finally a knitted picture

of Jackyll and Hyde.

It took long enough for me to get DS1 to not goof while I was taking his picture. He thinks he's a ninja with this hat on. LOL

Pattern: Jackyll and Hyde from Knitty
Yarn: 1000purewool
Color: Deep Sea (I think it's really azul profundo) discontinued color
Needle: Size 8 DPNs

I really made this for DS2 but he refuses to put it on. Perhaps after he sees his brother wearing it, he'll want to wear it. The second guy is the one who needs it!

It snowed over night. Not a lot, but everything is white and beautiful. I went to Moravian College Vespers last night. It was a whole drama with DD. I invited a friend and she didn't want to stay home with a sitter, so DH got her in without a ticket, since he conducts one of the choirs. After the 3 of us were sitting together she wanted to come home. Go figure. She should be on Broadway.

DS1 took his gingerbread house in to school. I forgot to snap a picture of it :-( It was so cute. DD was supposed to take hers in Friday. I was moving it to the box for transport and the pieces came apart. So she'll take it tmrw. After the repair crew finished it (me). To say she wasn't happy was an understatement I'll post a picture of hers after we complete it.

Have a happy Sunday. We're going out to play in the snow as soon as the bookends wake up. DS1 fell asleep early I suspect, as he was awake at 6 AM.... (never on a school day does that happen LOL)

:-)

Well my rectangles are now cute little icons... just need to find out how to change the background color to match the grey sidebar.

I don't have time to type more right now, but I thought I'd add this:

Your Brain is Purple

Of all the brain types, yours is the most idealistic. You tend to think wild, amazing thoughts. Your dreams and fantasies are intense. Your thoughts are creative, inventive, and without boundaries. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking of fictional people and places - or a very different life for yourself.

What Color Is Your Brain?

and it's one of my 2 favorite colors!

Winging it!

It's the last day of the Thanksgiving holiday vacation and what a rainy one it is!

Yesterday, on the way home from church I stopped to call Marilyn from Rocky Top Farm in Ottsville and we met for me to pick up Shasta's fleece. 7 pounds of white Romney/BFL/BL mix; 7 inch staple and micron count of 31, pretty nice :-) it's washing up nicely, but will take me a while to complete.

I also felted the squatty sidekick. It's really cute. Now to get the lining finished. I'm afraid the button I inteneded for it's use isn't large enough. I'll use one of the plastic funky ones instead.

I made yummo Squash soup for lunch. I devised the recipe as I went.


Peel and dice longneck (butternut) squash meat. Boil until soft. Mash until smooth.
Combine:

• 3 cups of mashed squash
  
• 1 cup vegetarian vegetable broth
  
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
  
• 1 can creamed corn
  
• 1/2 cup thinly diced carrots (I cut baby ones)
  
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
  
• 1 tsp sea salt
  
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  
• dash of cinnamon
  

Stir everything and place over medium heat until carrots are tender and everything is heated through. Serve with crusty bread or pita chips.

You can vary it by adding other veggies or (potatoes would be great) and/or shredded cheese (yum) Have fun making it your own!

I also finally chose a stitch pattern for my neice's keyhole scarf. Appropriately it's Dec 25 from the 365 stitches a year perpetual calendar.... I'll be winging this as well. Could be my motto for the day!

What I've been up to.......

As you can see, I've been editing, pretty unsuccessfully, the sidebar for my WIPs. Please bear with me. I am wanting to use those cute little icons of objects instead of rectangular progress bars. Always have, but this week when adding something to my older progress bars, I inadvertantly changed some of the html. I'd fix it, but I don't know what I deleted... (oops) so, I've spent some time working on it, to no avail. At any rate, if anybody can help me out, I'd appreciate it. I have the little gifs of the cute icons in my photobucket account under the BlogItems folder.

On to other happier events. This afternoon all 5 of us went to see Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium rated G for general audiences and F for my father (meaning it's worthy of him seeing) It's a great movie but hit a little close to home as I'mdealing with my dad's seemingly fleeting time left with us. DS2, much to my husband's chagrin, is still not movie going ready yet... Shame too cuz I'm tired of missing all the fun kid movies. That was the first I had been to since the re-release of the Shaggy D.A. with Tim Allen.

In the morning, DD and I went to Joann's fabrics to search for fabric to reupholster the desk chair to the new to her This End Up bedroom furniture we've acquired from a purchase through craigslist. It's former owner was of the male gender and the upholstery on the seat and back of the chair is blue... won't do for a 7 (almost 8) year old with a soon to be pink room. So we bought these fabrics to cover the chair, make valences and some pillows for her bed.







I also bought some Christmas fabrics to wrap gifts in. I had read about tsutsumi or furoshiki on this great blog tip nut (you can get a daily newsletter if you don't want to miss a tip) I'm going to make my own reversible cloths and hopefully if the recipient won'tpay them ahead, I'll take the wrapping back and reuse it myself!





We also bought these cute buttons. At 50% off, I couldn't resist. I'll find a use for them I'm sure.





On the knitting front, I cast on Amanda's Squatty Sidekick after dinner on Thanksgiving and cast off just a bit ago. Here it is in it's pre-felted state. While at Joann's, I wanted to get fabric to line it. Of course I forgot to pick it out before I had all the previous fabric cut. The line for the cutting table was too long to get in it again, so I looked at the fat quarters and found these. The pattern is for the lining and the solid for a pocket in the lining. While we were looking at buttons, I found these for the purse.I bought some buttons for some fingerless mitts as well, but I'll save those to post with the mitts.

In the mail today came 7 skeins of Peace Fleece in soyuz apollo teal... I got it off ebay (oops.. slid off the wagon, sorry honey). Yesterday my folks decided after much discussion with myself and my siblings that their best choice of living accommodations would be Wood River. I'm very happy about that. I think it's a great choice.

Up for today, decorate the gingerbread houses make the marble magnets for the special area teachers and maybe clean up the yarn and get out the Christmas decorations??? Sound like enough to do? Well the kids are all awake, so I better feed them and get them busy doing something that keeps them away from their father.

Happy Turkey Day

hope they all were able to hide! (being a vegetarian...)

We're off to my Brother and SIL's house who has graciously taken over hosting this year since our dad just got out of the hospital yesterday from his surgery. We were afraid he might still be in and they live about 15 minutes from the hospital as opposed to us (who usually host Thanksgiving) who live about 100 minutes away...at any rate, it will be good to all be together again as I don't know how many more holidays we'll have with the rents.

Just wanted to post a picture of the balaclava that I made for DS2. Of course he refuses to wear it as such (which was the whole point of making it) but DS1 loves it so he is modeling for me. Actually it fits him a bit better than it does his younger brother and he wants it so it shall be his! I'll put more details in later with a better picture.

Here's another DW cloth I finished for the Christmas stack. Won't say who this is for in case they read this blog (doubtful but you never know) If you want the specifics on the DW cloth go to the sidebar and click on the Infamous Darrell Waltrip cloth link under 2007 FOs all the info will be under that picture. I can say that the one in today's photowas knit with Early American Ombre colorway of Sugar and Cream. I love the colors!

I have been spinning VERY sporadically.. perhaps I'll take some along with my knitting today.

have a blessed holiday and happy crafting