Warm Fuzzy Slippers

It's been a bit slow for me in knitting land. I spent a nice relaxing weekend with Kyle. We slept in, started our Christmas shopping, stayed up late, and I made 5 gifts (sorry, no pics). I also made my Christmas cards and I mailed them today whoo-hoo! It was difficult going back to work yesterday. I plan to finish a project tonight but of course with the short days, I won't be able to get a photo until tomorrow. Laura finished her felted slippers which reminded me of my favorite finished object ever (MFFOE), my Squiggle slippers. I used Cascade 220 Tweed and Crystal Palace Squiggle. I wear these slippers every day, I love them.

Ok, the stripy & polka dotty fabric I teased you with last week...um yea...not started yet, unless you count cutting out the pattern. I'll try to work on it this coming weekend. Tomorrow night I meet with my book club at a fun restaurant called Pop! and a little shopping at a friends shop, Dabble. I feel a little stocking stuffer shopping coming on.

Thank you to everyone who gave me Blogger & comment advice.

Anyone?

I know you are out there? What does it take to get comments? Is Blogger not conducive to comments? Would you rather e-mail me?

I need Blogger help. Does anyone know how to get the posts into the archives? My front page has what seeems like 50 posts on it. What I would like them to do is go directly to the archives when the month is over...you know start with a clean slate. Help!

'Tis the Season

We woke up to snow this morning! And it's still coming down. I am officially in the Christmas spirit!! Kyle & I started shopping last night and I've been working on my Christmas cards all day. We don't have many gifts to buy but we made a good dent in the list last night. The stores weren't even busy! I am planning to make a few things this year (I always do) so I just need to set aside some time for that. Maybe I'll do a little cookie baking next weekend??

Casey likes the snow, can you tell?

Wah-lah!

A finished Hayden hat! I have to say again that I had fun knitting this hat, thank you for the knit-along Laura! This one is destined to become a Christmas gift so I'll have to knit another for myself. I took a close up photo of the top of the hat (my favorite part) and posted it a few days ago. I *heart* fun knitting patterns!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have many things to be thankful for this year.
*The 2 visits Kyle had to the ER this year weren't severe and he's recovered from both
*My dog is healthy (he had a little scare earlier this year)
*My family in Hawaii is safe-I miss you guys!
*My entire family is healthy
*I have lots of great, thoughtful & fun friends
*My job finally moved to our VERY nice new office
*I have TiVo!! ;-) Thanks Kyle!
Of course there's much much more but these are the biggies!
This is my favorite Thanksgiving decoration. I think I'll probably be mumbling this phrase later this evening!

My friend Cheryl is having her twin girls on December 17th so I need to get these booties to her by then. I have the 2nd pair to knit yet but they go super fast so I'm sure they'll be delivered on time. Aren't they the cutest? The pattern says they are the "Can't Kick 'em Off" variety. I hope so.

2 Days 'til Turkey!

I finished the Hayden hat! I'll post a full view photo Friday since that's Poor Miss Finch's day to update the Hayden hat-along. I have 3 words for this hat...FUN, FUN, FUN!

Here's a little sneak peak at my current knitting project, the one I have to deliver before December 17th. The pink & purple Koigu is leftover from socks I knit for my niece Megan last Christmas. It's going to become part of this project. I'm still going to hold off showing you this cute little project until it's complete, it won't be long!

Another surprise? Yes I know I do this too much but it's sooo fun. I should be finished with this little number before the weekends over.

Keeping You Guessing

I've been working diligently on this new project because I have a delivery deadline of December 17th. I should have no problem with this since this item knits up fairly quickly and Koigu KPPPM is one of my most favorite yarns to knit with. Can you guess what it is?

I picked this book up last night while out shopping. I love the design of the book and the pattern directions look like they're easy to follow.
Not much to do today except watch football and knit, dinner's already brewing in the crock-pot and the laundry is caught up. I *heart* lazy weekend days.
The book I decided to start reading? Fast Food Nation

Finally Finished

I am finally finished with Four Souls. This was my book clubs most recent selection and not my most favorite. As much as I try to support local writers, I am not a Louise Erdrich fan. I must admit if I didn't have to read this novel for bookclub I would have quit reading it about 15 pages in. I did enjoy the book once I got deeper into it. Next on my to read list is either Fast Food Nation, The Time Traveler's Wife or Ice Bound (the next book club selection). I'll decide sometime before bed tonight.

Small world moment: Tonight Kyle & I went to dinner at TGIFriday's and ended up sitting at the bar. The man on Kyle's side began talking with him about construction equipment (Kyle builds it) and a bunch of other things that I was trying not to listen to. Then, the woman on my side began talking with me about dental work because she works at a dental lab. Our dinner together ended up being not so together...oh well, it was kind of interesting that we each had things in common with total strangers.
I must go...U2 is on SNL...

Pets

Since I have very little knitting to report I thought I'd talk about pets. This is what I see when I round the corner after hearing Casey's bell. He rings it when he wants to be let outside. Very smart dog.

This is my friend Lara's cat Angela. She's a cool kitty. She has one blue eye and one green eye, very pretty. She must have been trying to tell Lara she was thirsty! Isn't that the coolest bathroom counter you've ever seen? Lara is a very talented artist, this is just a tip of the iceberg.

I'll be updating my crafting world later today or tomorrow. I'm heading out to meet a friend soon, we're going to see the new Bridget Jones movie. Then I'm free of plans the rest of the weekend, I'll be working on some gifts.

Anyone up for a Cocktail?

Another one of my most recent projects...cocktail napkins. My mom got these fabrics when we were out shopping last weekend and decided to share. They were already cut to size (5 3/4" x 5 3/4") so I decided to hem them up for cocktail napkins. Now I need to have a wine & chesse party or a martini blast. Yum.

R.I.P. Fiona

I finally succumbed to the wrath of Fiona and tinked her. I will listen to all suggestions of what to do with this yarn. That mess is the equivalent of 4 skeins of Mission Falls 1824 Cotton. Start suggesting...

Giddy Up!

My new pillowcase! It's printed with Buckarettes and trimmed with Montana Bandana. It's folded in quarters so it's a bit bigger than it appears. Getting back in front of my sewing machine was nice since I haven't sewn since I finished a baby quilt in July. I need to make time to sew more often.

Tonight is the season premier of Amazing Race! One of my favorite shows, unfortunately I won't be home to watch it. Ahhh, the power of TiVo.

New Yarn! Etc.

I happened to buy some yarn this weekend, are you surprised? The Plymouth Encore is for another Hayden Hat, the Noro is for a couple more hats and the Koigu KPPPM is for a set of baby booties for my friend Cheryl who's having twins in January! I plan to do a bit of knitting and/or sewing tonight and tomorrow so stay tuned for a few FO's or beginnings of things.

I also increased my fabric stash this weekend too, see...

Most of this is strictly stash building items but there are a few specific projects here. One bunch of fabric is for a new pillow case for moi. Pillowcases are the easiest thing to sew and they make super fun gifts. The bundle of fabric with the ribbon is for a new table runner for my coffee table, it consists of cowboy fabric. I have weak knees for any kind of cowboy fabric. Wait until you see my pillowcase!
Until tomorrow...

Cool stuff today...Check out this cutlery!

Kyle's New Quilt

The neat thing about this quilt is Kyle already has a pillow case made from the same motorcycle fabric that is on the back. Now he has a matching set!

Links Galore

Not much knitting done in the last 24 hours. Last night we went to our friend Joe's surprise b-day party. We saw a really good band called CBO (incidentally my initials). We may try to catch them at another show sometime. We hung out with some really fun people including this up & coming artist. Mike is a really cool guy, very down to earth. Today I did a little quilt shopping and also managed to pick up a few skeins of yarn. I stumbled across a cute little knitting store that is closing. Everything was 30% off! Score! Tonight we went to our local motorcycle racing club banquet. Each year there is a silent auction to raise money for an injured racer fund. We bid on several items and won 2, a race day at Kyle's favorite track and a quilt made by a fellow volunteer. It's made with motorcycle printed fabric and flames. I'll get photos tomorrow in the sunlight.

I'll leave you tonight with a photo of my newest knitting basket given to me from Chris, Paula, Megan & Jessica for my birthday in September. It's nice for those projects that aren't so portable. Thanks for the great gift!! Can you see the start of Hayden poking out the top?

Cool stuff today...I may have to get myself a set of these and this to match!

Knitting News and Other Cool Stuff

My knitting news is pretty grim. I spent a fun Wednesday evening with my friend Lara knitting, eating and talking. I cast-on for my Hayden hat but had to tink because apparently I can't knit and socialize at the same time. I did manage to fix my square topped mitten thanks to Lara's advice. She's knitting an adorable pair of felted mittens. I can't wait to see them when they're finished.

My friend Nikki became an aunt this week! Yay for Auntie Nikki.

Do you remember a while back I mentioned liking to place leftovers in a basket? Here's my leftover basket. Yarn from all sorts of projects. Socks, flower washcloths, dishcloths, baby hats, mittens and felted slippers.

Cool stuff today...retro switchplates. I especially like this one. I may have to get it for my studio because I'm planning to paint the walls pink sometime this winter.

Veteran's Day

To all the men & women who have fought for our freedom and the soldiers who have died defending it, I THANK YOU.

This is the flag which flew over Hickam Field during the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. I was lucky enough to see this while in Hawaii last year visiting my brother who serves in the US Air Force. Thanks for all you do Chris!

Swatchin' Knittin' & Sniffin'

This is my gauge swatch for the Hayden Hat. The colors are supposed to resemble camouflage, and they do in natural sunlight. I tried taking this photo under my Ott lamp and it just isn't the same as sun. Close but not quite. I am really going to like knitting this hat, the stitches are unique and they knit up fast. Great pattern Laura!

My first mitten is a bit square. Not really what I was hoping for but I think I'll get it figured out. I haven't begun the 2nd although I am leaning toward making it striped similar to the 1st. I'm not that picky with socks but since these will be on my hands I'm a bit more obsessed with making them look the same.

Usually half of my photos look like this one:

Casey just can't keep his nose out of my business!

I took a trip over to Barnes & N*ble tonight and saw 2 big displays with knitting books. Yay for knitters! I also found a neat new knitting magazine, Knit.1. It has many knit blog references and ads for things I've seen while surfing the web for knitting goodies. It's also semi-pocketsize which I adore. The downside? ALL of the patterns are knit using Lion Brand yarn. For those of you who don't know me, I am a yarn snob. Don't get me wrong, I do own some Lion Brand yarn since there is a time and place for it. Heck! I just knit a hat using 100% acrylic (non-Lion Brand) yarn and 3 Hallowigs using the same. I just don't like the constant LB yarn reference throughout the entire magazine. Oh well, knit on my friends.

Mitten Poll

I need advice for my 2nd mitten. You can scroll down to check the 1st if you're not familiar. I am about to begin the 2nd mitten and I wondered what everyone else does with self-striping yarn (mittens or socks), do you start the 2nd where you ended up at the end of the 1st OR do you get to the point in the skein where you began the 1st so they match? Please leave me comments so I have an idea of what others do. Thanks! Enjoy your Monday!

What a Relief

We now have a relatively leaf-free yard. I should have taken a before shot to compare to but trust me, it's SO much cleaner than it was before. We have 7 HUGE Oak trees in our yard and that means oodles upon oodles of leaves each Fall & Spring. Kyle did most of the work today while I cleaned up the sidewalk and steps and such. Hopefully it will stay fairly clean until the snow flies.

I also finshed this today:

It's a blaze orange hat for my friend Randall who's been asking me to knit him a beanie hat in "any color". Well, he's getting blaze orange (yarn compliments of Lara aka Dreamsicle) just in time for deer hunting season. I did finish the hat but I grabbed the photo when I still had natural light. Trust me it's not exciting enough to want to see a finished product photo.

Eye Candy

This is my yarn stash. I love it. Come in I'll give you a tour...

As you can see I have a few of my many Longaberger baskets near my yarn stash. The one on the left is my trash can and the one on the right holds some yarn and lots of patterns and knitting magazines. Next to that basket are 2 books: Weekend Knitting and Stitch 'N Bitch. On top of my shelf there are 2 more baskets, the one on the left holds my ripped out Bottom's Up Bucket Hat that I need to reknit (It was way too big) and the basket on the right holds labels from yarns that I'm using currently, a single birch DPN (my father-in-laws dog ate the other 4), a single baby bootie, a sock I knit for Jessica last Christmas that ended up WAY too small and a few little leftover yarn balls. Most of the yarn in my stash was purchased for a reason, a pattern I had in mind, a pattern I purchased with the yarn or maybe something I saw online. Socks, scarves, bags, purses, slippers, sweaters, hats, etc. On the very bottom is my Red Cross Knit Kit...I have an idea who I'll give those socks to. On the top shelf I have another book, Knit Lit too that I purchased as a quick read but of course haven't opened it yet. Can you tell I like color? That's my favorite part of seeing all the yarn each & every day, nice bright colors.

Warm Weekend Fun

Remember I joined a new knit-along: The Hayden Hat-along. I'm making this one for a Christmas gift. The colors are supposed to resemble camouflage. I'm planning on swatching for it tonight while I catch up on my TiVo and possibly watch a movie. Only the kitchener stitch and the thumb remaining to do on my right handed mitten and then it's finished! It's 66º right now in Mounds View...it's downright balmy. Kyle and I have been doing everything today except picking up leaves since it's our least favorite thing to do. It's nice to be outside though since there may only be a few of these days left, if any at all.

And because a while back I promised a photo of the cutest tape measure ever...

The end of the measuring tape is a tooth! You push his nose to retract the tape. Kyle thought I was nuts to spend $6 on a tape measure. $6? I thought that was a steal!!!

**If you want to vote for your favorite Hallowig (hint,hint) click on my Hallowig knit-along button and vote today! Only one more day to vote!