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!

Happy Post Thanksgiving!

Just thought I would jump on here and wish everyone a happy belated Thanksgiving! This week has been a bit busy. I finished dyeing up the last of the skeins for the Knit/Purl Sock Club! Yay! Now all that is left is to rewind and label everything. It will be January's yarn. It is so exciting! I really can't wait to see what everyone thinks of the yarn.

Besides that there were 2 days of cooking for Thanksgiving. The day itself was awesome, even if the turkey took an extra 2 hours to cook properly. Mom cooked the turkey. It turned out to be a much denser bird than last years. Still it was really tasty, so was all of the food. My brother and I had a pumpkin pie cook-off. We decided that my filling was better (made from a real pumpkin), but that his crust was better (made with real butter). So we both have some things to work on. I think next year I am going to grow my own pumpkin vine.

Sorry about the lack of pictures. Everything has been so busy around here I haven't had the chance. However next week should be a tiny bit calmer, so lots of pictures then. I am also verycexcited about what I have come up with for December's special, so stay tuned!

It's Bunnies All the Time Around Here...

That's right! They are even very happy bunnies!

I took my little Soot to the vet yesterday just to get her all checked out since she was more or less a wild bunny. She wasn't so happy about going to the vet, but plenty happy to be home. I forgot to mention that I named her Soot. She is named after the soot sprites from the Miyazaki films, because she is a black fluff ball. The vet also said that she was a girl, but with no guarantees. If boy parts appear then she is a he, but I won't know that for a couple of months. I also found out that she is a very healthy rabbit and the vet gave me lots of tips on how to take care of her and keep her healthy.

Speaking of bunnies, do you remember the bunny hat I made for Mim's baby? She sent me an action shot! Isn't it just the cutest? Mims said that she gets compliments whenever it is worn. So I definitely recommend knitting this hat! The picture was taken by Mims and is used with permission. I love how she matches the bunny in the picture. So cute!

In other news: I have a question for my lovely readers. I have been thinking about taking on some patterns that are paper only. Which do you prefer paper or .pdf for your knitting patterns?

Cirque

I have a brand new colorway!


This color is called Cirque! I actually first dyed it up last spring as a custom order. I just loved it! Apparently the customer did too because she just ordered 4 more skeins of it in Superwash Worsted. So I dyed up an extra skein for the shop. I also added it to the custom order form just in case somebody wants it in another yarn weight.

When I dyed this color up I was instantly reminded of the tents from Cirque du Soleil. That's why I named it Cirque! I also have a couple more colorways up my sleeve that hopefully will appear in the next month or so.

Bunny Love +1

I have adopted a bunny!

Isn't it cute?

I adopted it from my friend Susan. One of her neighbors let loose some domestic rabbits. These rabbits then eat my friend Susan's garden out of hundreds of dollars of plants. So she livetraps them. Her kitty brought in this bitty baby bunny. Her kitty was so proud of her catch. It was still alive so Susan fed it and had it in an outdoor hutch. I heard about the bunny and offered to take it in. It is very skiddish. It is a couple of generations from the original freed rabbits, so it isn't tame. At least not entirely. It is getting there. We have found that it really loves baby carrots. It will hide in the corner of its cage then will run over and grab a carrot and take it back to its corner. I just find this hilarious.

Last night I took it out. It doesn't mind being picked up. It just looks terrified. I let it down on the table, while Blair did some work from home. It tried to hide in the shadow of Blair's laptop, while peeking around the edge. It's so cute! I plan on taking more photos and I am sure there will be lots of updates herein the future.