New toy!

Jim got me an iPad for Christmas! I am learning how to use it and so far so good. I am hoping that it will make it easier to stay up with my blog and to upload pics. For instance! Tonight I am on the couch with my cats and my knitting. I am trying to figure out how to add a pic from my iPad to my blog. More later!

This time of year

Please make sure you are well rested before going to the store. Well rested = patience. And the people who are shopping in the store with you are probably not well rested.
Please, if you are in line and there is a person behind you with kids trying to get done and out of the store, let them go ahead of you. They will be forever grateful.

Almost the weekend!

It is almost the weekend. I was just reviewing in my head what I have to get done before Christmas and I think, if my memory is right, I am down to one pair of socks for my mom. I started those yesterday, so that will be my project to get done. I also have another quilt that Chris at the Quilted Moose finished for me and that is draped over a dining room chair and just needs the binding. So I can work on that too. Oh, and we have to wrap some presents and I have to get the Christmas cards ready to go out. So that is my to do list for the weekend:
1 pr of socks
1 quilt that needs binding
Christmas cards
Wrap presents
Not a bad list.
After I get the Christmas knitting done I will be concentrating on knitting mittens for Coats for Christmas. They distribute coats for children and adults in November...my friend in Ohio helps and I offered to knit some mitts to go with the coats. I have a whole tub of yarn I can use for that project. One of these days we will remodel my studio and it would help if it wasn't totally full at that point. But when I get a good deal on yarn, how am I to pass it up?

The new mixer

So we went to Kohl's on black Friday and I got a Kitchenaid mixer. The big kind, that sits on the counter and looks you in the face until you use it. I made bread with it tonight, pull apart garlic bread. It was wonderful...wasn't exactly pull apart, more like fall apart, but it was good. Next I think I will make snickerdoodles, maybe on Tuesday. We both have our colds back so I will be resting alot after work. The homemade chicken soup I made tonight was yummy too.
Lots of Christmas knitting left to do so Diva this weekend will be for knitting and not sewing. Gave the nieces and nephew their quilts, they liked them and made their aunt very happy.

Fnished this weekend:

5 pillowcases, 1 bag and 1 quilt. Although I do have to say I was off for the last 5 days because I don't work my birthday, and we were closed Friday so I took Thursday too, giving me 5 whole days to relax and sew and knit. Although I didn't get any knitting done.

Quilt top done and this weekend's to do list

The quilt top is done! I will try and get a good picture of it tonight. For this weekend I need to sew the quilt top for my nephew's quilt, and I have 6 pillowcases cut out to sew to match the quilt top I just finished. I also need to finish a Christmas baby hat I started. And the binding for the quilt top. I cut that out and it's ready to be made. So there it is:
binding for quilt
6 pillowcases
quilt top for nephew
finish handsewing binding on niece's quilt
finish handsewing binding on throw quilt
It helps to put the list up here, because then I actually do try and get things done!

Diva's this weekend at the Moose!

I am gearing up for diva's this weekend. Lots of projects to finish up, including a quilt for my nephew for Christmas. I have it cut out, just need to sew it. :-)

I had someone comment on my blog that she was new to town and a knitter. I would love to meet up, I'll be at the moose this Saturday, so if you can, stop by and introduce yourself! (I usually leave by 2, and I'll be sitting at the table by the cutting table)
Jill

Ooops

When at work and knitting on a sock, if you happen to mess up and need to rip back, paperclips will work in a pinch to help pick the stitches back up if you don't have smaller needles.

Not sure if I am going to keep knitting this sock or if I am going to rip out and start over, wasn't really keen on this pattern anyway.

Finished this weekend

I did get 2 projects finished and 1 quilt top ready for borders.
Newfie mitts finished:

Baby quilt binding finished:
And Gorby helped with the quilt top,

And even with her help I did get the top ready for the borders

So there are a few things off my to do list.

Weekend get it done list

Well, here is the list, let us see how much I get done on it:
Finish Newfie mitts (I am about 2/3's done with the 1st of the pair)
Handsew binding on Jim's great grandmother's quilt
Handsew binding on quilt for niece for Christmas
Handsew binding on baby quilt
Finish quilt top I started last weekend
Finish spinning brown wool and then next weekend I can ply it all
I think that's it. So now that I have posted this, hopefully that will be pressure to actually get something done!
And I am hoping the fabric gets here to finish the quilt top, I had to order it!

Time flies!

We had another busy weekend, 2 hockey games and I had a quilt class on Saturday. Not my normal colors, more "Jim" colors. Really like the way it is turning out though, and I ordered fabric last night for borders so I can make the quilt large enough for our bed, will be our fall quilt for next year. Eventually we will probably have a quilt for every month of the year! It is nice to change things up though.
Have another project underway. When I went to the quilt show I saw Newfie mittens for sale. I have been doing a little digging, and have found patterns for traditional Maine mittens also, but none for Michigan mittens. I am going to design my own and the pattern will then be available for free, my hope is that people will use the pattern to make mitts for charity, as well as for family. I have certain criteria in mind, at this point I am in the learning stage. I have just cast on a pair of Newfie mitts, I am going to knit a few pair of mitts from existing patterns and figure out what I like. And I do think the mitts will have directions for 2 needle and 4 needle....
But for now it's time to get ready for work.

Finished last weekend

I finished a few things last weekend. This week I finished the vest I was knitting for a commission, and now today I am taking a quilt class with Paige. Should be a great time. Can't believe that time is flying by so fast. Pretty soon it will be Christmas! Woke up thinking about what I needed to get done for Christmas this morning. The weather here has turned cold and we had to turn on the heat. I wanted to make it to October 1, missed it by one day. Maybe next year. Our new back door is on order and then we have to get it painted and then installed before the snow flies. Should help with the heating bill. (The baby hats were for a tiny little guy who needed a hat that fit, and the Halloween pillowcases were for our friends' children)

How cute is this?

The other night these two were snoozing on the couch, and no, I didn't pose them this way. It was adorable.

I guess they do like each other. At least when they are sleeping.
On another note I finished an afghan I was crocheting for a lady. It turned out really well, at first the edges didn't seem to be working out but as the afghan got heavier they evened out.

Misc....

Worked on an afghan this weekend, haven't crocheted this much in quite awhile and it's turning out very nice.
Went to Diva club on Saturday but only stayed a few hours. Sat in computer training all last week and can't wait to get to the chiro tomorrow. I have an office job but am certainly not used to sitting still that long, we are always up and down. Sitting still killed me, my back hurts like never before.
Had a nice long walk today with Jen, 4.2 miles. I google mapped it when I got home. Feels good to get out and stretch my legs and get fresh air. Soon it will be winter and we won't be able to walk like that, we'll have to find somewhere to walk inside. In Ohio people walked inside the mall which was nice. We'll figure something out.
Jim finished the siding on the garage, now he just has to put up a couple pieces of lattice on the front deck. The plants we ordered for the front bed should be shipped tomorrow, then we can get those in the ground before winter.

What a great weekend!

I had a 3 day weekend. Friday was Lakerpalooza and breakfast at the Lockview. Saturday was spent knitting on the deck and Jim worked on the garage, which is almost all done. The new siding looks great and it matches the house. Our plants are on order for the front flower bed and will be here the first part of September in time to be planted for the long winter. We're getting there, slow but sure. Oh, and the new gravel drive is gorgeous when it rains with the river stone they used.

Diva club ugly fabric challenge

So last year for Diva club we had an ugly fabric challenge. We eached rec'd a half yard of this:

I cut mine into strips and made it into a purse and lined it with some pretty peach fabric that showed through to the outside:

Paige, on the other hand, took a totally different route and it was fabulous and totally shocking to me that she did this. Paige is very direction oriented, and she pushed her limits. She saw a picture and was inspired.

Inspired by this picture:

And the best part? Paige's daugther Heather helped. Now that's cool.

The Brown Blob

There it is. In all it's glory. The brown blob of wool I have been spinning on for years. Literally. It moved with us from Ohio. It has sat in the bongo bag here without being touched for years. It's time that it transforms itself from the brown blob that it is into the beautiful yarn it can be. I know it can be beautiful yarn, because I have finished some of it in to a beautiful 2 ply.
I have pulled the brown blob out of the bongo bag. It is now living in a corner of the dining room where I can watch it. I just have this suspicion that left to it's own devices it will keep reproducing so I will never finish spinning it. So now it is being watched, and every day I get up and sit at the wheel and spin for a bit. And slowly, the brown blob will transformed. Just watch.

2 baby sweaters down, 2 to go

I have 2 baby sweaters finished and I have 2 more to go. It is nice to finish up some projects.I also have 2 pair of socks started for me and a sweater. So I need to get moving on those. And I need to work on my writing too, never enough hours in the day!
It's been hot here, but we got the brush cleared out around garage. Now we are waiting on the estimate for the drive (grade it and put in fresh gravel) and put in a front sidewalk (cement),and prep a nice big flower bed. It will be so nice to get this stuff done. We'll get there, one project at a time.

Daniel Silva holds my sock in progress!!!!

Ok, so I had Steve Hamilton, and now Daniel Silva! I find it funny that neither of them even questioned the fact they were holding my sock knitting, they just went with it.


I have to say I highly recommend reading Daniel Silva. And it's not just because he held my knitting. Jim and I drove down to see him at the Traverse City Opera House, and we would definitely do it again. We had a great time, the opera house is beautiful. It was 3 hours one way, and then we had to drive back that same night because I had to work the next day, but totally worth it.
Read his books in order, so you can see the character develop!

Writing

I fully intend to pursue my writing career. And the more I talk about it and the more I tell people, the more excited I get. I know I might fail, but I really don't want to be one of those people who looks back and thinks "What if". I want to surround myself with creative people, people who like to discuss and think and debate. I find myself more and more stuck in a routine which feels like a rut and that has to change. I'll be a happier person for it. I want to be creative and go sit on the beach or at the locks and knit and write. I want to be able to stay home when it's freezing out and curl up with the cats and my laptop. I want to work my ass off for something that will be "mine". And if I fail, I fail. And that will be mine also.