Green, Green Grass

Happy Holidays Knitters,

I just wanted to show you a little picture of the Grass I knitted from Mochimochi Land for my sister and her boyfriend. They were great stocking stuffers! I thought they were so cute, and the perfect thing to sit on their desks at work to remind them of summer during the cold winter months.

I hope you are all having a lovely break!

Take care

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

I just wanted to write a quick note to say Merry Christmas and I hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating our Saviour's birth with your loved ones! :-) Have a very happy holidays!

Take care!

Finishing Up

Good Morning Knitters,

Are you all feeling the Christmas rush yet? I sure am! I just realized this morning that I have one extra day! See, I thought tomorrow was Christmas Eve, so I'm very excited and relieved that I have one more day to get things done. I'm just waiting for my coffee to finish brewing so that I can get started on my day of baking and finishing up some last minute projects. I've got a busy day, but it should be a fun one. I really enjoy baking, so I'm actually looking forward to spending the day in the kitchen.

Our Lab went in to get leg surgery yesterday so we had a day in the city, which cut into my project time. I did get to bake some when we got home but it wasn't as much as I would have liked. My Mom went to pick the dog up this morning, so we'll see how she's doing. She's a tough girl, but I know she's not going to like having to be in a cage over the next few weeks while she recuperates. She has a lot of energy (that's how she hurt her leg in the first place) so keeping her quiet is going to be quite the chore!



I wanted to show you the finished picture of the hat I knit for my sister's boyfriend. It's the Modern Rib Hat from the Spud and Chloe blog. The yarn I used was Shepherd's Wool Worsted Spun Fine Wool in Royal Blue. I used less than one skein, and it knit up like a dream! the pattern was great, perfect for car knitting, or for knitting while chatting with friends. It looks and feels super warm. I can't wait to see how he likes it.

The picture of the little reversible bluebird at the beginning of the post is now sitting pretty in his little nest which I just finished. I didn't have access to the O-Wool that the pattern called for, so for the nest I used Lion Brand Homespun because I thought it had that nesty feel to it. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, I think it looks very much like a nest!

Well, I should get to those cookies! I hope you all are having a wonderful day and are getting yourselves ready for Christmas! :-) And by the way, here is the Ravelry link to my free Last Minute: Waves of Grace Scarf pattern! I finally got it all set up.

Have a great day!

Last-Minute: Waves of Grace Scarf

Hi Knitters,

I want to give you a little early Christmas present. I made this scarf for my sister's Christmas gift, and since I had so much fun making it, I thought you all might too! It's the perfect thing for that quick last-minute gift you need since it works up fast with bulky yarn on big needles, just what we knitters need this close to Christmas. The name came about because as I was knitting it, I went through some times when I needed waves of grace from Jesus. Now this is my first pattern I've ever written, so I'm sorry if there's any mistakes. I came across a cable pattern in an old book, and I'm not sure if this is exactly the same, but it's close. The instructions were vague, so I just made stuff up as I went along.

Waves of Grace Scarf

This pattern is for personal use only. Do not reproduce this pattern elsewhere.

Finished measurements: 6 inches wide by 54 inches long

Materials

Yarn: Sean Sheep Lilydale (90% Acrylic/10% Nylon; 75 grams/123 yards (or any bulky weight yarn would work) - 2 balls

Needles: US 13 (9mm)

Tools: cable needle, yarn needle, scissors

Abbreviations:

k knit

p purl

sl slip

Pattern

Cast on 26 sts.

*slip the first stitch of every row, this just makes a nice neat edge.

Row 1: knit

Row 2: purl

Row 3: make sure to slip the first stitch of this row also *sl next 3 sts on cable needle and leave at front of work, k3, k3 sts from cable needle, k6* repeat till 1st left, k1

Row 4: purl

Row 5: knit

Row 6: purl

Row 7: make sure to slip the first stitch of this row also *k6, sl next 3 sts on cable needle and leave at back of work, k3, k3 sts from cable needle* repeat till 1st left, k1

Row 8: purl

Row 9: knit

Row 10: purl

Repeat rows 3-10 until the scarf measures 54 inches long, or however long you want to make it. I just kept knitting until I used up most of the yarn. I bound off after row 10 by just turning to the next row and bound off in knit stitch, however, to make it look a bit better I would probably bind off in purl stitch on a row 10.

Well, that's it. I sure hope you all enjoy making this scarf, and please let me know what you think!

Merry Christmas!!

Thrumming Update

Good Morning Knitters,

Here's my progress on the thrummed mitten! It's looking good right? Well, actually, if you didn't notice it right away, I'll point it out to you...after the 5th line of thrums, you'll notice I knitted an extra round (this is because I had worked on it one night, and then came back to it the next night and wasn't paying attention). Then 3 thrummed rows after that, I did it again...that was due to knitting it while listening to a sermon by Gloria Copeland, in which I was trying to pay attention and take notes :-) There's also a place along the side, by the thumb where I knit two thrums beside each other. Good thing I'm not too worried about it! I don't think that my sister's boyfriend is going to care, all they need to be is warm, and that are at that!! I've been taking notes of my mistakes so I can at least make the other mitten match!!

Well, I know this is a short post, but I've gotta be heading out the door for a birthday party. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and I'll be back on Monday hopefully eith a little surprise for you all! :-)

More Snow, and A Snood

Good Afternoon,

This is what I woke up to yesterday morning! We've gotten even more snow since then. It seems as though it snowed non-stop all day yesterday. Today dawned sunny and bright, which was so nice, it made everything look pretty. However, the wind has picked up now, and is doing a pretty good job of blowing everything around. They're calling for more snow in this area tonight, but I don't think it's going to be much. It looks as though the bulk of the snow is over now. Whew!!

I did get a good portion of knitting done yesterday. I sat next to the fireplace and knit with my little Emmie (the yorkie) on my knee. She was enjoying the heat, just not the parts where I would drop my needle on her! I will hopefully be able to share my progress with you all soon, as well as my surprise! ;-) Oh how I love surprises! How about you??

On another note, if you haven't already, you need to pop on over to Susan B. Anderson's blog and check out her giveaway (there's still time to enter, but be quick as it ends tomorrow!) as well as the pictures of her wearing her Snooty Snood by Gina Hills, she's written a great post about it. I just love to see knitters so enthusiastic about a project they've made! To me, that's what knitting is all about! She's seriously convinced me to consider purchasing this pattern and yarn to make one too. It looks like a great project and I'm sure it would come in super handy with all this snow we've gotten! You can purchase both the pattern and the yarn together here from Loops, or download it here from Ravelry. This would also make a great gift for a special someone on your Christmas list, that is, if you can part with it!

Well, I should be getting back to my task at hand, which is making maple caramel popcorn which needs to be done very soon! Have a great day everyone, and keep warm!!

P.S. Check out Susan's fingerless gloves, I can't wait till the pattern for them comes out, they are adorable!!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It SNOW!!!

This is what I woke up to outside this morning. We are supposed to be getting hit by quite the winter storm over the next 24 hours from what I've heard. It's been snowing all day long, and so far we've gotten a good amount, although I'm pretty sure we're in for a lot more! I'm actually enjoying it, and hoping that we do get more because it looks so pretty! However, I'm sure that if we still have to go into the city tomorrow, I'll be singing a different tune! We're preparing for the worst just incase, so we stocked up on supplies yesterday while in the city, and today we're having our gas fireplace hooked up so if the power goes out (which it does frequently and since we live on a back road, it can take a long while for them to get it back on) we'll still be able to keep warm. I'm sure I'll have an update for you tomorrow!

On to some knitting news...I've got a little knitting peek to show you today. This the first of two thrummed mittens I'm making for my sister's boyfriend's Christmas gift. They're turning out pretty good so far, and they're really not as hard as they look, just a bit more time consuming because of adding the bits of roving, but other than that, they are just like any other mitten pattern. I'll have to get back to you about what the yarn and pattern are since I don't have either here with me right now. I'm hoping that all this snow makes me much more productive with my knitting. I'm really lacking in the multitasking department right now...I'm going to have to pray for some super-human knitting speed! I need to be cranking out projects left and right!! Time's-a-wasting!!

My last picture for you is of one of my Christmas trees I've finally got up and decorated. I thought it made a pretty backdrop for the new Christmas header for the blog. The project on the tree in the blog header is a surprise that I'm hoping to be able to tell you a little more about in the coming days...depending on my knitting speed.

Have a great evening everyone and take extra care! Especially those of you who are weathering this huge winter storm too!

P.S. I do have something to confess...I know I told you all that I was going to take part in Susan B. Anderson's knitalong for the Christmas elf on the Spud Says! blog, but I'm just too busy with Christmas preparations and gift knitting to take part this time. I'm very sorry that I've missed out on all the fun, but I'm looking forward to the next one, when things are a bit slower. I hope that everyone else got a chance to take part, and I'd love to see any pictures of your finished elves! You can leave a link to your blog or ravelry page in the comments and I'll be sure to check them out!!

A Christmas Elf

Good Morning!

I'm trying to get an early start on the Christmas crafting today. I usually don't start till around noon, but today I'm going to get right to work.

Last night I did try some knitting, and it went quite well. The thumb doesn't seem to slow me down at all, thankfully! I began working on a pair of thrummed mittens for my sister's boyfriend. I only got a bit of the cuff done, but I'll try and post some pictures once they start looking like something. I also finished all the knitting for Chaeli's hippo, now all I have to do is finish stuffing him and sew him up. I can't wait to see how he looks! I'm really happy with how everything is progressing. Now I just have to find some time to do some Christmas decorating!

Just in case you didn't already know, Susan B. Anderson has another knit-a-long on the Spud Says! blog. This time since it's for the month of December, it's an elf. Now I must say that we don't really celebrate Santa Clause at our house because we're Christians and believe in Christmas being the day of Jesus' birth. We view the whole Santa and elves thing like a fairytale. However, I still think it will be fun to try making this little guy. I didn't get to start him yet, but I think I will try to this afternoon when I can find a break between projects. If you'd like to join, you can find the first post here.

Well, I should be off to work on my gifts. I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!!

Is It December Already?

Hello Knitters,

Well it's December 1st today, who can believe it? I'm finally beginning to get into the Christmas spirit, which is great. I've really been praying that I would get in the Christmas mood, and last night I think the Lord answered my prayers, because we got an unexpected dumping of snow! It must have snowed 3-4 inches in about 1-1 1/2 hours! It looks very Christmasy and pretty out there now. While out on our walk today, Mom and I saw one of our neighbours had built a snowman on their front lawn, and I'm not talking about a little thing, he was full-sized! I was so wishing I had my camera! The whole walk was just beauitful! Like a winter wonderland. The lake looked amazing because it was so calm and reflected the trees in it. I'm going to try to take my camera with me from now on because we always seem to see lots of beautiful things.

I started making gifts today. I cut my thumb pretty good on Sunday so I haven't been knitting at all. That's why today's gift project I'm working on is a snowman tea cozy for my Mom. I've got most of the fabric pieces cut out, and now I'm going to begin sewing right after the post. It's going quite well so far and I can't wait to see it when it's finished.

Tonight I think Mom and I are going to watch some Christmas movies, so I'm going to give some knitting a try and see how it goes. I'm thinking I can hold the needle across my palm so that I don't have to use my thumb, but I haven't tried that yet, so I'm not sure how well it will work.

So I have an apology to make. I was very pressed for time on Saturday and was still finishing up the leg warmers in the morning. Everything around home was quite hectic, and I didn't get to take a final picture before we left for the baby shower. They turned out super cute though. I'm sure they're something I will be making again for the next baby shower gift I need, so I'll definately take a picture then!

Well, have a great day everyone!