Happy Holidays!

The snow is finally melting here, be that good or bad. We now have flood warnings, but we are up high enough that it shouldn't effect us. The melting also means that the snow is extra heavy and our car now sinks. Yesterday we had quite an adventure. We got out just fine, but on the way home it took us roughly an hour to go the last 50ft of our street to our driveway. It has melted even more today, so we shall see if we can get out.


In much more cheerful news, I got some very pretty things from my family for Christmas. Looks like this year is the year of the sheep! Lots of cute sheepy things that fill my heart with glee! Our big gift this year is actually a brand new couch. We asked for money towards it and that was part of our adventure yesterday. As soon as the weather has completely cleared our street then it will be delivered. This should give us just about enough time to clear out the space and move the old couch up to my studio-in-progress!

Now back to knitting for the last few gifts to wrap up! I hope everyone is staying warm and dry! Also don't forget that this is the last week for free shipping in the shop! January means a new sale thing and my annual blog contest, so please stay tuned!

Boy Scarves

We are still snowed in:


That is 20" of snow. Blair went out and measured. We are still just fine. The freeway between us and Portland has been closed since Saturday night. We have some friends stuck there, but they are staying with family until things are better. The freeway between here and The Dalles is still open, so Blair can still make it into work. In the mean time I am knitting away for Christmas, though not anything I can show at the moment. I did, however, get a couple of scarves blocked for the Christmas box:


The first one is the Toby Scarf. I don't think I have talked about this one too much. The story of this scarf goes back to a kitty. I made a kitty for a friend of our's son. He totally fell in love with this kitty. He is also a big fan of Thomas the Tank Engine, including one of the characters named Toby. So he had to name his kitty Toby Cat. Well, then for Christmas I made him a matching hat, which he named Toby Hat. He then insisted that Toby Cat and Toby Hat become a part of his bedtime stories. So they have adventures like going to the zoo and making hats for all the animals. I just think this is awesome. So, when he specifically requested a Toby Scarf I just couldn't argue. This should hopefully keep him warm in all this snowy weather!

The second scarf, which matches the 2nd hat I made last year, is for the other little boy in our group. The yarn is soft malabrigo. The pattern for both of them is a very simply rib, until I either ran out of yarn or it looked long enough. Both are very cuddly and warm for this winter weather.


Lastly, I will leave you with a picture of Soot. She really likes to get out and run all over the upstairs living room, especially since it is so cold out. She is pretty curious about the Christmas tree, but so far has mainly sniffed the ornaments. Plastic table legs and cardboard boxes aren't so lucky! She tries to nibble on them, but is quickly shooed off towards carrot sticks and celery.

I hope everyone else out there is staying warm and dry!

Sheep Notions Bags

We are still snowed in! This is the longest storm I have seen in this area:

This is also the first day that Blair has been snowed in to the point where he can't make it into work. So he is working from home today. Though, don't worry, if we need to get out my parents have AWD and can come and get us in a pinch.


Thankfully I have plenty to do, so I have kept rather busy. This is the newest addition to the shop. They come in Cream, Black, and Grey. They are made from wool felt in Nepal using Fair Trade. So you know that the wonderful people working on these are paid more than a rice ball for their talents!


I just love them. You just know, though, that if it is wool and cream that I will try to dye it. So, I handpainted Purple Sheep! I might try dyeing some other combinations as the mood strikes me. Each bag has a cotton lining and zipper. There are two different sizes: Mama sheep (7.5" x 6.5" ) and Baby Sheep (4.5" x 3.75"). Both are perfect for carrying around little notions like scissors, stitch markers, darning needles, etc... I also have some project bags (scroll down the page) made up that are perfect for small projects like socks or mitts.

As long as this snow stays around then I should get plenty done on the website. We are going to attempt to go to the grocery store this afternoon to get extra supplies. There is supposed to be another wave of snow coming over the weekend, so we need to be prepared. I hope that everyone is having a great holiday season and getting lots of knitting done!

Norman Rockwell Eat Your Heart out...

Today is a much brighter and sunnier day. The snow still isn't melting, but it sure is beautiful:

winter08

That is a album of some of the photos I took outside. It just is so pretty and picturesque. I just love how very blue the sky and water are right now. It makes me very happy.

Since I have been stuck inside I have finished up a pair of mitts. I have a couple other things all blocked that I'll share next time. These mitts are, of course, GYW Seeded Rib Wristwarmers. They are so nice and fast! I knit them out of Superwash Worsted in experimental color Monet's Garden. I knit them on #8US.

I have also been working on the website. Pretty much every item now has a photo! yay! I am now working on descriptions and getting some new items up. If you see something and want to know more about it feel free to email me. I am happy to help out in any way I can!

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas...

A view from our house:

From December 2008 storm

I think it looks like a good day to stay home and knit!

A Little Holiday Knitting!

I have been working on some other projects, besides the Jayne Hats. All of them are in preparation for the holiday season!


These were super quick to knit up! I just love them! I used my Superwash Worsted Yarn in Color Dark Sugarplum Fairy. The pattern is the always wonderful Seeded Rib Wristwarmers by Chrissy Gardiner. Since the yarn is a little on the light side of worsted I used a #8US instead of the called for #9US. It makes the mitts a little smaller, but they fit a woman's hands just perfectly. I know the person I am knitting them for will just love them! They only used less than 1/2 of a skein of yarn so I can knit another pair for myself!

Next up on the gift knitting is a canning jar cozy. One of our friends that works with Blair loves to carry water or hot tea around in a canning jar. He loves them because they are made from glass so they don't have the potential harm found in plastics. I thought it would be pretty cool to make him a cozy. This should make tea drinking much easier! It should save his hands from being burnt and keep his tea warm much longer. I might even write up the pattern and offer it free! The yarn used is Henry's Attic Inca Organic Cotton.

Pretty much I am just knitting away! I have a few things in progress that I should be able to show you in the next week. I think I am finally down to the last few projects for Christmas!

Christmas Tree Hunting!

This year we ended up just going with my parents. Still an adventure in an of itself!


Here is our tree in the wild! Blair and I are very quick in choosing our tree. In fact if it is bent or leaning all the better. We think it adds character. As long as it can hold up the ornaments that is all we really need. Also, this year was really green. It didn't have anywhere near the snow as last year.


Here is the family trying to put my parent's tree up on their roof. My parents, on the other hand, are very particular about the symmetry and lack of leaning in their tree. They hunt around until they find just the right tree. Oh, and that tarp did not stay on for long! The weather was pretty rainy, which turned into snow. It just wasn't cold enough to stick while we were up there. I was thankful that we found our tree quickly and could sit in the warm car while they continued to hunt. I knit on Jayne hats in warmth and comfort, since it was Sunday when we went out.


Here is our tree all decorated. Blair and I had a blast decorating the tree. It is upstairs this year instead of in our living room. I have turned the upstairs of the house into a dye studio and craft room. Blair has part of it. It isn't entirely finished, but when it is I will make sure to give you guys a tour. I have ideas that will encompass dyeing, knitting, spinning, and sewing. It will be so awesome! I love that our tree can be a part of it. I now need to knit stockings for the mantle piece for us and maybe do a wee bit more decorating. I think it has finally done the trick for making me realize that it actually is the holiday season!

Oh, Jayne!

Apparently this is going to be the year of the hat!


So this last week the official notice went out for the Google Holiday party. I had been planning out my pretty clothes for a good week or two before this, so boy was I surprised when they told us that there it will be a western theme, including mechanical bull and poker tables. I had no idea what I would do. Then an addendum came to the email saying that Firefly counts as western! I was so thrilled. A couple of years ago I saw that Erika of Redshirt Knitting had made a Jayne hat and offered a pattern. (Note: Jayne is a super macho, gun toting guy and this hat was made for him by his mother and he loves it and wore it through the whole episode). So an idea started forming in my head, but I was a little nervous to do it all on my own. I got a hold of my friend Denise (rav link), who is also going to the party, and told her about the hats. She was in the same predicament as I was since she had also already picked out her pretty clothes. So I told her about the Jayne hats and she thought they were totally cool too. So we decided to knit them up and go as "Jayne's Girls". As in his fan club. This way we can still wear our pretty clothes and fit the theme!


Here is a shot of the front. Now the trouble came when the guys in our group found out that we were making Jayne hats. All of them wanted one too! They started quoting lines from the episode and offering me bribes. What could I do, but knit hats for them too? Thankfully they are super fast hats to knit on size 11s or 13s. The first one I did on 11s just fits me. So for the guys I knit them on 13s. I have made 4 hats in total now, all over the weekend, and just in time for the party, which is next weekend. I have all of them posted over on Ravelry. I made mine out of Cascade 220. Denise made hers out of peaches & creme because she is a vegan knitter. Each one that I made is slightly different. I will try and make sure to take my camera to the party to get lots of photos. I think it will be simply hilarious for a whole group of us to wear the Jayne hats to the party. Now I just need to add a little bit of straw or raffia to make them completely authentic!

Happy December!

I have something very special planned for December!

First off: December's Special is FREE SHIPPING! That is anywhere in the world on any number of items! I consider it my little gift to you guys for the holiday season. I understand that times are tough, so why not save a little on shipping?

I am also very happy to announce a Holiday Gift Buying Guide! I scoured the shop for a few of my favorite things and put them all together in one pretty place. There is a little something for everyone! So go take a look or send your loved ones to look, to find that perfect gift for the holiday season!

Thanks and Happy Holidays!