A Day Early

The December socks are being started one day early :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

Hello,

I wanted to share a couple of pictures from yesterday.  We had snow squalls all throughout the morning and early afternoon, and I tried to catch a few snowflakes to show you.  It was like a swirling winter wonderland out there.  These are taken from my bedroom window looking out over the lake.

As you can see from this one, the snow is adding up.  Although, I've heard it might rain this weekend and it's going to warm up again, so this all might be gone in a few days.  I was lamenting that fact to Mom last night, and she said, "Don't worry, it will come back."  Which is true, it always does.

And during all this snow storm business, Bingley hunkered down for a nice long nap on my bed.  He really enjoys going outside, but he is not a fan of the snow.  I think he's made a wise choice here.  It's nice to look at through the window, but I don't want to be out in all that blowy weather either.

xoxo

In Just a Few Words...

More snow, but this time at my own house! (this was yesterday, we have more snow today, but I didn't get a picture)

Three Mod Circle Hats for three adorable little girls Christmas gifts.

A little Pre-Christmas candle light before bed.

Nighty night,
xoxo

A Look Out My Window

 Hello again,

I know I rarely post twice in one day, but I wanted to share these pictures with you.  Two days ago it was so warm here it felt like early September and not the end of November, then overnight the temperature dropped and we woke up to snowflakes in the air.  The picture above, and the one below show what it looked like by mid-afternoon yesterday.

And then this is what I woke up to outside by bedroom window this morning.  I am staying at my sister's house in the city right now, and apparently we don't have snow at home.  They always seem to get way more snow than we do.  It really makes me feel "Christmasy"!

 I had to take a photo of these yarns because I thought they mirrored the colours I was seeing out the window!

Here's my progress so far on the Calm Cowl.  I'm using some Knit Picks Comfy Sport in Fedora from my stash.  I don't have quite enough yarn though, so it will be a bit thinner but it still should look nice I think.

Well, I'm off to cuddle up with my puppy, a cup of tea, and my newest Craftsy.com purchase Crafty Crochet Embellishments with Linda Permann!  

xoxo

P.S. Don't forget that Craftsy has all their courses on sale for $19.99 or less right now through Monday at midnight, it's the perfect time to pick up that class you've always been wanting.

A Glitch in the Plan

Hello again,

I know it's been a while since I last posted.  I got busy, then distracted and then I just didn't feel like I had anything of consequence to say.  I finally decided that I would just try and ease back into blogging, so today's post is my first attempt at it.  Please bare with me.

My most recent work-in-progress has been a pair of Jaywalkers that are part of my Mom's Christmas gift.  This is my second time knitting this pattern (which is rare for me!) and I have to say I'm hooked.  It thrills me so much to see each coloured stripe turn into a perky little zigzag; making for quite addictive knitting.  I always want to see what colour is coming next.  

I have a few other Christmas gifts on the go as well: a ribbed hat, and a calm cowl.  There are more on the list, but I haven't got them started yet.  Dad's Sesame Street socks are done, I just haven't photographed them properly, but I think they turned out great.  I should have a post about them up sometime next week.

The gift I'm really stuck on right now is my Mom's birthday present.  Her birthday is December 24th.  I want to make her something really special, but I also want it to be practical, something she can and will use.  First I thought a Zuzu's Petals cowl, so I knitted it up, but it turned out too big (I shouldn't have gone up so much in needle size), so I decided I would knit it again, this time either with smaller needles or a sport-weight yarn.  However, she mentioned to me the other day that she didn't really wear cowls much because she found them too hard to get off when she got too warm, say when driving or while shopping in the mall.  So I crossed that one off the list.  Then I thought I'd make her a nice scarf, that way she could just undo the ends whenever she needed to, but she said she already had so many scarves that she didn't even wear.  Mittens were my next idea, but she said she prefers gloves (the leather kind) and would only use mittens when she walked the dog, so there went my idea of a beautiful pair of colourwork mittens.  She does want a hat, but she already picked out the yarn and pattern for that one, and it's going to be for her Christmas gift anyway.  My next idea was a shawl for her to wear when she has somewhere fancy to go, but in all honesty, I hardly think she would actually wear it.  She never wears fingerless mitts and I'm not knitting her a sweater (which she admitted she wouldn't wear anyway), so now I have no idea.  I have spent days searching for the perfect thing on Ravelry, and still, I've got nothing.  Do you ever have someone difficult to craft for?  What do you do when you're stuck like this?  She honestly is one of my most favourite people to make things for, because she truly appreciates and understands all the work that goes into each gift, so I really do want to make her something.  Plus, I promised I wouldn't buy her anything this year.  We made a decision in our family to not spend much for Christmas (and she included her birthday gift in this), and I have to hold up my end of the deal.  So what's a crafter to do?  Any suggestions?

xoxo

The Past Two Months

Hello,

The last two months were tough ones when it came to my Self-Imposed Sock Club.  I started the September pair in September, I even brought them to England and back - but I didn't work on them even once during that time, which is probably why they didn't get completed until almost the end of October.  This of course put a mad rush on the October socks, which forced me to change plans and do a Plain Vanilla instead of the pattern that came in the bag.  I'm actually very happy with them and I think they still turned out lovely despite this.  Plus, I wanted to be able to enjoy knitting them since they are for a Christmas gift and I believe in happily knitting gift projects so that the happiness is embedded into them, so I thought this was the best call.  I've now decided to do the same for both the November and December pairs since they are for Christmas gifts as well.  I know it's not sticking to the original plan, but I think sometimes you have to deviate in order to get things done.  This time of year is just way to full to add complicated patterns to it.

Project: September Socks
Started: September 1, 2012
Finished: October 23, 2012
Pattern: Simple Skyp Socks by Adrienne Ku
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Hand-Painted in Make Believe - 1 skein
Needles: 2.75 mm DPNs 
Mods: I did a short-row heel and I stopped the patterning on the foot and replaced it with k6, p2 ribbing.

Project: October Gift Socks - made for someone's Christmas gift

Started: October 23, 2012

Finished: October 26, 2012

Pattern: Plain Vanilla Socks with a short-row heel

Yarn: Scarlet Fleece Grassy Wool in Guitar Hero (This was gifted to me by Mary Rose in the Itty-Bitty Secret Santa Swap a couple of years ago.)

Needles: 2.75 mm DPNs

Mods: None.

I will leave you with a picture of the November socks in progress:

These ones are for my Dad's Christmas present.  The colour is called Building Blocks, supposedly based on Lego pieces, but for some reason they remind me more of Sesame Street, what do you think?  They're a little "out there" in colour for my Dad, but since I'm trying to use up my stash and limit my yarn buying till I make a nice dent in it, these are what he gets.  They can be his happy socks.  I think everyone should have a pair of happy socks, don't you?

xoxo