Post-Christmas Report

I've had a happy holiday so far, I hope everyone else has too! The Christmas Knitting was finished and just in time! I finished the last hat the day of, here's a picture of all but one of the knitted things I made.

A neck warmer for my dad, and hats for all my brothers.




Here they all are modled by moi. The last hat was made with the same yarn in opposite colors from the one with the small ribbed border. I used this tutorial, knit in the round with size US 8 needles and used Lion Brand Worsted weight Wool Ease. The neck gaiter my Dad asked for was knit flat and seamed. I used double stranded TLC Amore on size US 10.5 needles using my own pattern. They all fit and were a big hit with everyone!

For my mother and sisters I made these sweater bags using this tutorial and since they all sew or quilt I also made them each a pin cushion from a tutorial as well.




I made ribbon candy ornaments for my grandparents and all my Aunts, and here's a picture of all the gifts wrapped up, which I think is half the fun of giving gifts. Whew! Lots to share.



And guess what? The best part is what I got for Christmas! A new sewing machine!

I can't wait to use it, I've opened it, but haven't had a chance to try it out. This is something I really needed... I also got an awesome paper cutter from the oh, so sweet, boyfriend, which will be perfect for my bookbinding, and two new watches. And! My sister is super crafty too and made me this *gorgeous* purse! I absolutely love it, and the little bird is sooo me! I've been using it to carry all my stuff around, because it fits the contents of my purse, plus my knitting! Horray!


And now onto the post-holiday knitting! Which of course is for me, since I'm a pretty selfish knitter, except around holidays/birthdays...

I've started two new projects, Clapotis...

I'm already to the straight section. I'm making it a little smaller than the pattern, more of a scarf than a wrap or shawl, since I don't like too bulky, but the yarn is knitting up beautifully.


And here are the socks I've started too. In some great self-striping yarn. I'm worried they are going to be too big, but I'm knitting them for the practice. I can't wait to move onto the magic-loop method. I think I'll like it much more, but I'll try it the "traditional" way first...

Almost there...

Kind of sad, but this is the extent of the Christmas decorations at my house (other than a Nutcracker on the mantle), but don't feel bad for me, I'll be spending the holidays mostly at my Grandparents house with my parents, so what's the point in decorating? All my roommates are leaving too, so really, no one will be home anyway. But last night I put this little arrangement together. And everything to make it cost under $3! Well, I had the vase already, and I just bought a box of mini glass ornaments for 1.80 and a bag of fake snow for 1.20, and voila! A beautiful, snowy, Christmas arrangement. And it will still be appropriate to leave up until January. I got the idea from something I saw at Pottery Barn. It was hard deciding on colors to use for the ornaments. There were some beautiful purple ones too, but I figured this is definitely more "Christmas-y".

As promised here is a look at the yarn I bought on Sat. *Swoon* I am in love. I just love all the colors, and it's so soft too! I think it will be perfect for Clapotis. And I can't wait to get started, but I think I might need to start the socks first, or I'll keep putting it off. I'm still kind of scared about socks. But Calpotis scares me too, so this will be good. They will both be learning experiences.



I'm a little worried about how bright the yellow is, but we'll see once I swatch it up, it probably won't be as bad as I think, and if it is, I'll find something else to knit in with it. I don't remember exactly what the yarn is, something like Di.ve - Butterfly (don't know colorway), but it's just too pretty! Can you tell I'm excited? I know it's kind of late to jump on the Clapotis bandwagon, but the ones I've seen lately have made me like it even more. I'm still deciding if I want to do the full size version or a smaller scarf size...

If you haven't noticed, check out my progress bar! I'm over half done with the Christmas knitting! 3 down, 2 to go. Actually less than two because I'm almost done with another! Yay! I think everything's going to get done in time. And it's a good thing too because I keep finding new things to make, like these ribbon "candy" ornaments. I have to make some for my mom, she loves ribbon candy, and I have the perfect ribbon left over from this summer!

I also got the two books finished last night, so I'll be putting up pictures tomorrow of that, once they're finished pressing. But what I'm really excited for is wrapping presents! I think this is almost the most fun part of Christmas gift giving! I've bought some awesome wrapping paper, and hopefully they'll look super cute when I'm all done. Of course I'll be posting pictures!

Weekend Knits

Well, two and a half Christmas knits down, two and a half to go. That's right I'm half-way done! Hooray! The fingers will be flying this week to get everything done in time. But I think I'll be good.

I also have some other Crafty-Christmas projects going on. Here are some button magnets I made this weekend as random gifts for friends (so I can post them). Next time I either need smaller magnets or bigger buttons. Maybe I should make a little button cluster? The buttons just barely cover the top of the magnet and I think they look kind of funny from the side. But they'll look cute on a fridge!

As a hint to what some of the other Crafty-Christmas projects might be, I did a little bit of felting this weekend. Which was an interesting experience, since I've never done such a big project before. Why does some wool shed more than others when being felted? Still I think the experiment was a success and just need to find time to finish it up.

I also worked on this and have two more books to make before Wednesday. Whoo! It's going to be a race to this finish for all of this stuff. But isn't that what this time of year is all about? An excuse to fill the cold winters days with something a little fun and distracting? I'm just hoping I don't get sick. It seems everyone around me is sick, my roommate, my co-workers... Away you germs, back you bugs! I have things to do and projects to finish!

It will be nice to get some rest after this week, and to get back to some regularly scheduled knitting. I've decided I'm going to start Clapotis and even bought yarn on Sat. although, I'm going to see how it knits up a bit, to see if I need to mix anything else in, I'm worried about some colors. I'll have to get a picture of the yarn, it's just too pretty. On top of Clappy, I'm going to try my hand at knitting some socks, finishing Tendances and the Winter Capelet (while it's still winter would be nice), and maybe even starting the Somewhat Cowl. This list is ever growing and changing, but I'm excited to see where the new year will take me in my knitting adventures.

One guess...

I'll give you one guess about what this is going to be...



Nope, sorry I'm not telling, you'll just have to wait and see until after Christmas. Yep, that's right, more secret Christmas knitting (Ok, I guess it's not so secret if I'm broadcasting pictures of it across the internet, but I'm not saying who it's for, so there!). The elves are hard at work. But they still have time to get a little of this done too. One book down 2 to go before Christmas, and I'm about 25% done with the knitting too! 12 more days is plenty of time to get all that done, right? (Did anyone else just break out into "The Tweleve Days of 'Knitting'"??) Oh, no, am stressing self out, MUST. GET. KNITTING!!

Ssshhh!!!!

Super Secret Christmas Knitting in Progress!

(ok, maybe not all of it is super secret, but I don't want to spoil any surprises since my family usually reads this...)

You might be able to tell what this is:
Please excuse the crappy camera phone shot (did I mention I now have a camera phone?)...
But what it represents is important! My first time knitting in the round with double pointed needles! So far so good. After the holidays I've decided to tackle some socks. They were having a sale on yarn at the craft store the other day (needles too) so I decided to go for it and buy some self-striping sock yarn and size 3 DPN's. Surprisingly I'm excited to get started on them, but I won't let myself until I finish everything else first! Maybe this will be a motivating factor? I'm not sure, but I'm looking forward to it none-the-less.

Also on my after Christmas knitting list is the "Somewhat Cowl". Sooo cute! I have to make this! I'd love to use the yarn called for, an Alpaca/Silk Blend would feel sooo nice, but we'll see what kind of damage the holiday's do first before buying any yarn. Maybe there's a cheaper sub I can find from Knit Picks or something?

Knit? I knit?

What's knitting, I think I'm starting to forget exactly how to do this thing they call knitting. It seems so long since I've actually done any. I was busy with this last week and then had a wedding to go to all day Saturday. What with Christmas shopping and reading some great books I've been engrossed in I've been slacking in this department. If I want some knitting gifts I'm really going to have to get cracking! Maybe the reason I've laid the needles down this week is because of the frustration the Anthropology shrug is giving me. Somehow I got of on my increases again (you'd think I knew how to do this by now) and had to frog back a couple rows. This took longer than the messed up rows had taken to knit, so I made absolutely no progress during the space of an hour and a half. I think it took it's toll on my knitting confidence. Wendy was just saying that knitting takes courage, and I believe her, let me tell you. I did have the courage to pick up the needles a bit on Sunday and taught myself how to knit the "continental" way. I still throw the yarn for purling (haven't quite mastered that one), but I like how fast continental knitting actually goes. I think I've figured out the secret to those fast knitters who just whip stuff out, like Eunny. Now if I could just make myself find the time, I could have a finished object a week!

Well, since there's no knitting news, I'll share some pictures of the beautiful wedding I attended this weekend. Can you believe the whole thing was planned in just over a month? It was in a beautiful Victorian home, that even had a Cinderella carriage! Very romantic.


A beautiful two-story tree graced the entrance hall.


Walking down the aisle.


Pictures with the Cinderella Carriage. She looked like a Princess too.


A candy bar was at the end of the buffet. Such a good idea!


The Guest Book displayed in the entrance.


The garden outside the house.


There was a statue and a waterfall in the garden as well. This would be beautiful in the summer.

Congratulations to Kirsten and Aaron!

Four Days and no FO's

What a great holiday weekend! I had four wonderful days off from work, where I did basically nothing, but managed to squeeze quite a bit of knitting in. Not that I have anything to show for it. Only one real finished object and about three new projects started, with of course more in the works.

I spent Thanksgiving in Brigham City, UT with my Grandparents, brothers and sisters, Tandy and a few cousins thrown into the mix. And of course cutie-pie Emi. Check out the *sweet* airborne shot I got of Emi outside.



I made three really good pumpkin pies (if I do say so myself!), one which I'm still finishing off. I love Thanksgiving, the food is always sooo good! And it's a blast to spend time with the fam.


This is an arrangement I bought at our ward Service Auction a week ago. I thought the colors were perfect for this time of year. I really need to take a flower arranging class, I love how "Martha Stewart" this looks!

While at my Grandparents I started the Dayflower Lace Scarf, got through two repeats, lost my place, made some mistakes and so had the first frogging party of the holiday season. Next time I start this I'm going to use some wool from my stash because this will need lots of blocking.

On Friday I did just a little yarn shopping (not at a real yarn store, I don't trust myself) and got yarn to start the Anthropology Winter Capelet thing, and some deep red yarn to make a cardigan or scoop neck sweater out of. So I knit up my gauge swatch for the Winter Shrug (what is it anyway?) and finally cast on for it on Sat. The thing is, I was winging it without the pattern Julsey came up with, so it's going to be a little different. Had to frog it once already (2nd frogging party) because I'd placed my markers all wrong, which unfortunately, I didn't notice at first. Whew, making things up can be so confusing sometimes! So after a bumpy start it's finally progressing smoothly and will hopefully be complete in time for the work Holiday Party on the 8th.

On Sunday I decided that I need some slippers, now! And so since I hadn't started the little slipper pattern for real I decided it would be perfect, but I decided to wing this as well. After some stash digging I found some chunky green T&Q left over from something-or-other and decided that I'd just see what I came up with. Well, it's not quite right, but I finished one (the only thing that got finished this weekend). It's a little too small. I think I need to cast on maybe two stitches more and go a row or two longer. At least for this yarn. I might decide to finish the other one, they'd be very comfy, since it's really chunky yarn, but I might start another pair in a worsted weight yarn, who knows?

No progress on Tendances. Everybody else is stalling until after the holidays too, so I'm not feeling any pressure. Is this good or bad? I'm determined to finish my first sweater though!

So we drew names for Christmas presents and I got my sister-in-law, for whom I just finished a hat. So I'm deciding if I want to knit her something or do something else. Either way, I'm not going to tell. It's gotta be a surprise! But I think I'll be able to get some kind of Christmas knitting in, we'll just have to see what that is. I'm thinking a couple hats, and maybe some fingerless gloves/gauntlets but I'm not saying for who!

I can't wait!

Tonight is the night! I am so excited to see the new Harry Potter movie, I stayed up last night weaving in ends on my Harry Potter Scarf just so it would be all ready to go. See?



I used Lion Brand Wool Ease in Red and Gold (Buttercup?) double stranded on size US 13's. I did a garter stitch border on the edges to help with rolling (it's not helping, can you tell?) and although it calls for alternate fringe, I was somehow almost out of red, so did just yellow. I haven't counted the stipes yet, so don't know how many there are, but it's actually quite long. When I blocked it, I had to do one end at a time and the begining wouldn't flatten out as well as the end did, even though I tried twice. Oh, well, it still looks ok, and since it's a scarf I will probably only wear twice a year, I'm happy with it.

I finished my sister-in-law's hat and will take a picture of it tonight when I give it to her. We're all going together to the movie, it's going to be so much fun!

Here's some progress shots on my Phildar Tendances sweater:





I also finished this for a friend this week too, so it's been a busy one!

Do you think it's time for some Christmas knitting??

Knitworthy News

The Harry Potter scarf is finished and will be blocking tonight! I made the pattern up really and just used the first movie as a general reference, which means that it's the big red and gold block stripe. I'm thinking of adding fringe the bottom but can't decide if I should do all yellow, since the first and last block are red, or alternate. I don't think I have enough red though, so we'll see. I can't wait to wear it on Friday night to the movie!

I haven't worked on Tendances at all, since I've been trying to get the scarf and this done this weekend, so maybe this week I'll find some time to devote to it, as well as the hat for my sister-in-law (so I can give it to her on Friday). I also *have* to make this little guy! Too cute! The pattern apparently comes from this book, but I think I'm going to just wing it. I have to have a little white Lola dog, so then I can do some photo ops with her for the blog! You know, "Knit, Lola, Knit!" **Envision here a little white dog with knitting needles in mouth and yarn trailing behind** Too cute!

I blame Jane!

It feel like it's been a while since posting. Sorry about that. I finally got all the photos I'd wanted up in my last post so check it out.

First general news: I got to go to an advance screening of Pride & Prejudice last night! It was a lot of fun, my old roommie Ahslee came with and I was so worried about not getting tickets and seats and all that I arrived early to wait in line. Well, turns out I was the line, so guess who had first pick of seats! It eventually did sell out and I felt it was worth it to get there early. I'm not going to go into a huge review of it. I'll just say despite the things I hated, I really liked it. It's not as good as the A&E version (who can compare to Coliln Firth?) but the kept all the essential plot elements, and in a two hour movie! I was impressed. That said it did jump around a lot, and if you've never seen or read it before (who could that be?) you might feel a little confused. The costuming was attrocious! The hair was HORRID! And I just can't understand why they made the Bennetts look so shabby, but other than that (oh, and Kiera's pouty mouth) I enjoyed it. It was funny and had beautiful music. So go see, especially if you're a Jane fan, you may not love it, but I felt it was still worth my two hours (and more waiting in line).

In knitting news:
I have about 5 inches on my Phildar sweater, I'll take a photo soon. My guage wasn't working plus I didn't like how tight it knit up, so I'm making some mods. Or maybe just using the pattern loosely... Well either way, it's a little different. I also started a Harry Potter scarf becuase I got tickets for next Friday!!! I can't wait!

More updates to come!

Avast me Hearties, it's Halloween picture time!

The party was a sucess and Halloween fun was had by all. Here's some photo recaps of the weekend. Unfortunately I didn't think to take pictures of the decorations or the food table, but that's never as much fun to photograph as people right?

Group shot: Elvis (Tandy), Pirate Wench (Carly), Princess Kelly, Miss America (John), Black Widdow (Sue), Hobo (Shannon), Masqcarde Lady (Kaydi), Cowgirl (Krystal), Jazz Player (Brian), in the front: Denver Nuggets Player (Katie), Pirate (Julie).


Where did Elvis pick up this pirate? (Carly and Tandy)

My roommate Brit in another dress I made three years ago, another group shot, Halloween games in action, and the Jazz and Nuggets facing off.

On Monday night we went down to my sister's party in Provo. She made some amazing food and we watched the Simpsons Tree House of Horor. The candy was plentiful and so were the trick-or-treaters. It was a blast!

Here we are with the Nun-Chucks, Christian and Mary, they won their costume contest! Tandy came as a Swiss Backpacker, again with the Pirate Wench.


Emi was supposed to be a Moose, but she didn't like the antlers.



Kirsten & her "dead husband", Aaron, Mary & a pooped Emi (too much Halloween fun),
Emi, looking cute and Derek, Becky and Little Andy

Circular Goodness

Well, it's finally done! The Craftster Circular shrug is a Finished Object! And I finished it just in time to wear to church, thanks to Daylight Savings! I woke up *late*, or so I thought on Sunday morning, but I had forgotten to turn my clock back so I was actually doing great, so I finished two rows of 2x2 rib and seamed it all up and, Voila! I was good to go! Check it out.





Ok, so it's a little shorter in the chest area than I planned, but it at least can be buttoned! I like how it looks open too. I'm planning on doing another one since it's so great, this time in a smaller gauge with a nice deep red or orange yarn. I'll probably add more of the 2x2 ribbing, maybe about 7 or 8 inches for an extra wide collar.

Here are the specifics of the changes I made:
Yarn: Red Heart Grande in Black
Needles: US 15
Rib: 5.5" of 2x2 ribbing
Body: 18" of 1x1 ribbing (not mock rib)

I added a button to it and even without a buttone hole it works!

Halloween party pictures and updates will be on their way tomorrow. For now I'll say it was a great sucess! Lots of people, all the food got eaten and we partied until about 1am! Kind of hectic trying to get ready for it, but it was worth it becuase it turned out to be a blast!

"Book 'em Dano, I'm 5-0!"

Heh, 50th post, just couldn't resist a little SNL humor there...

I've been busily crafting away this weekend. And so far there's no end in sight! Well, until next week. My sewing machine decided to die on me Friday night right in the middle of the pirate skirt. See, I had a method to the sewing for Halloween. I decided to work from the bottom up, and the easiest to the most difficult, to kind of get the machine (and me) warmed up. So I started with the underdress, with the ruffle. Easy enough, a few seams and some elastic. Unfortunately I forgot that my machine (which was given to me by my mom for *free* - so I'm very thankful for it, except for the fact that it's very, very, old and hates me) doesn't like to have the tension changed. At all. Because it will never go back to how it was after paying $40 dollars to have it fixed and cleaned up last time. No matter what you do. So I eventually had to give up for a bit, until I got down to my sisters to borrow her machine. Which is heaven itself, and of course I never ever want to give it back to her. So on Sunday the sewing commenced again, this time at a ripping pace. My sister has a Baby Lock and let me tell you, I can't get enough of it. It's computerized, makes inserting a bobbin a dream and has so many features and stitches it's a tragedy that I'm not doing more with it while I have it. This week is *crazy* though, so I'll have to just keep borrowing it from her... or something like that. So the pirate costume is almost complete. Just a little tweaking to do with the vest and maybe a bit with the skirt (hem needs to come up) and I'm good to go!

I also made progress on the Crafster Circular Shrug, and since I was babysitting last night for the cousins, am almost done! Just a couple more inches of 2x2 ribbing to go. I'm hoping I didn't fall prey to the "this-doesn't-really-need -*20*-inches-for-the-body-so-I'll-end-here" thinking that many people have run into and then not been too happy with how short their shrug was, but, hey, I'm sick of it and want to wear it already, so I'm ending, alright? We'll see how that turns out. And if it's not so good, I'll just do another one, in a smaller gauge, and a pretty red color. I'm also thinking it's going to need a lot of ironing or something of the sort to flatten it out. It's pretty stretchy right now.

The Halloween party is coming along! That's why this week is so crazy, I have a million things to do to get ready and I still need to finalize what food I'm going to do. I remembered that my mom always used to make us chili on fritos for the night of Halloween which was yummy, so I thought about maybe doing that and having the small bags of fritos that you just add your chili to and eat right out of! Takes care of the paper bowl thing too! Along with some other little "finger food" (no pun intended) and some dessert I think I'll be good to go. I think we're going to have some games going on in the kitchen like "donut on a string" and bobbing for apples. Then in the front room will be scary movies playing (more old than scary) and downstairs some Halloween dance jams going on. I'll be sure to take pictures. The house is looking spook already with cobwebs, blackened wreath, scary pictures, candles, red and black lights and hopefully some tombstones out front by tonight. Still haven't found time to carve a pumpkin! But will have to since roasted pumpkin seeds are a must!

I'm also preparing for church "Enrichment Night", which is this Thursday also at my house. I'm giving the lesson on "Emergency Preparedness" and might even be teaching the demo on jam making. So it's going to be a fun week!

The "I need" Bandwagon

I'm Jumping on. Here goes...

Carly needs:
to get a grip on herself and stop acting like a maniac with everyone else.
to quit screwing up her life.
to be locked up and the key thrown away!
a new man.
to be with a goody two shoes like Molly is.
a gal pal like Lucy had.
to look like she could hold her own.
a place to stay.
your help!
a friend.

So apparently there is some Soap Character with my name! How fun. To join the fun, google "(your name) needs" and see all the crazy stuff that comes up.

In knitting/crafting news, made a little progress on the circular shrug and my neckwarmer while babysitting for my cousins. I'm still feeling sick, and will probably need to go to the doctor tonight to get some meds or my lymph nodes are never going to return to their normal size. Tonight, will be making spooky tombstones out of foam for the halloween party. The rest of this week will be devoted to getting my pirate costume finished, carving pumpkins, and cleaning the house. So knitting might be on hold for just a bit. At least until Halloween stuff gets taken care of. Oh, and Julsey and I are going to start working on the Green Phildar Sweater toghether! I can't wait! My first *real* sweater!

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Mohair.
You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with
others, doing your share without being too
weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely
refuse to change your position once it is set,
but that's okay since you are good at covering
up your mistakes.


What kind of yarn are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Updates

Ok! Finally as promised, pictures!

First here is the progress on my circular shrug:


Now for the cabled wrist warmers (with an action shot)!


And here's the fabric I'm using for my pirate costume:

I guess it's more of a plum color than purple.

I started cutting it out last night, but then started feeling feverish and had to quit for the night. The glands in my neck have now swollen to golf-ball sized proportions. Fun, fun!