Happy New Year!

It's time for a little update!

Christmas was wonderful. All knitted gifts were graciously adored by all who received them. Even my understanding brother who got one felted clog early on Christmas eve, and wore it all evening on one foot until I got the other one finished during our celebration at our parents' house. (When I finished knitting the second one, he put it on his head and wore it as a hat before it went into the washer for felting) At least he got to take home a finished pair, even though one was still wet :-)

I got some great gifts as well:

A tapestry pillow that says "If I'm Sittin', I'm Knittin' " from my sister. I just love it! She also sent me The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns which indeed, will be very handy. It's been on my Amazon.com wish list since summer, so it was definitely something I wanted. She also sent me a beautifully painted Matrioshka set (Russian Nesting Dolls) from her recent trip to Russia.

I got a gift certificate to Knitpicks.com from my mom and dad, some yarn from my brother and his wife, the book Exquisite Little Knits from an online friend, a Hummel plate with a girl knitting on it, and my dear hubby also bought me the Knitting Lesson Hummel (which arrived broken in the mail --due to the inept packaging of an ebay seller. ) I am just heartsick about it....it's just beautiful He gets me a Hummel every year for Christmas and this one was going to be really special to me. Hopefully it can be replaced at some point.

Those are my knitting gifts, and I got many other wonderful items, including gift certificates for spa treatments, which I am really looking forward to taking advantage of.

I will post some pictures of some of my new goodies soon.

It's really nice to have my Christmas knitting done and now I am ready to get a few things going for ME! (oh yeah, I have some knitting to do for the store too....shop samples for some classes I'll be teaching in the next couple of months). Even though my holiday knitting came right down to the wire, I never felt stressed about it, and thoroughly enjoyed knitting for my loved ones.

I wish all of you a safe and fun filled New Year's Eve, and may 2005 bring good health, happiness, joy (and lots of knitting) to each and every one!

Spent the Gift Certificate!

Thursday I decided that was the day I would go spend my gift certificate. The first thing I got was.............drum roll........... a freakin' speeding ticket on the way there! That's what I get for being so excited about going to spend my money. Grrrr......It was on a road that I have only been on once in my life before. A dirt road at that. On our side of town the dirt roads are 55 mph. This one (on the slow side of town?) happened to be 25 mph. I was on this road for a while, and going about 30 mph. I came to a stop sign and the road I was on crossed over a 4-lane paved road, and there was pavement on the other side for the road I was on. Well, subconsciously my mind said "paved road, higher speed limit". I was going about 40 and I saw a cop coming the other way. The pavement went only as far as a subdivision over a hill and then it turned to dirt road again. Well I was just over the hill and saw that it was dirt up ahead, and was slowing down, and saw the cop coming and then saw him turn around behind me and put on his lights. Grrrrr..... He was very nice about it, and only wrote me up for 5 mph over the limit, but geez.....couldn't he have let it go? I've only gotten one other ticket in my life and that was in Kalamazoo when Kim was at WMU. I had an appt. back here and was running late. Anyway, I guess I'm going to get a court date and hope the cop doesn't happen to show up, so I can hopefully get it waived. That kind of put a damper on my morning, for sure.

Anyway, I got 4 skeins of Noro in some colors that Vicky doesn't carry, and 4 skeins of Cascade 220 because I LOVE the bright colors and Vicky doesn't sell Cascade either. (I chose a lime green, purple, turquoise and fuschia....will be using them for felting. Probably a Sophie bag)I got another skein of the Trekking XXL I had purchased during the Shop Hop. I am going to use it along with a strand of black and knit myself a scarf at some point, using the stitch pattern from the Fluted Bannister Socks. I think it will be quite lovely :-) I got another set of Addi Turbos in size 1 (I never thought I would buy size 1 needles. What's next? Size 0? What is going on here?) and some really cute knitting-themed note cards. I also got (oops, can't tell you, Diane is going to read this and, you know, it would ruin the surprise) I didn't come home with as many things for ME as I hoped. I got too caught up with getting yarn that I couldn't get on my side of town. Oh well.................

I had brought the owner a couple of my beaded pens as a thank you for the gift certificate. One had her name on it, and 2 had the name of the shop. Then I showed her some of my other pens with knitting phrases on them and she agreed to put them in her shop on consignment. Yeah! So hopefully they will sell and she'll want more. Then I will have more money to spend there. That $100 just scratched the surface of all I wanted to buy in that store. Oy!

I've already knit up some of the Noro into mittens for my niece (they will be felted) and another pair of Noro Fuzzy Feet are on the needles right now. (pictures coming in the next day or 2) I'm hoping to get everything knit that I want to for Christmas, but I'm not sure it's actually going to happen. I'd better be getting some packages in the mail soon, ya think? That's it, no more sleeping until everything is done and mailed.

I actually got some Christmas shopping done last night with Kim. I am so far behind in my Christmas shopping and preparations this year. I just don't know what's wrong with me! Anyway, we had fun ....though it was not pleasant going in and out of the stores in pouring rain at about 36 degrees. We had had such a pretty snowfall in the morning....a really moist snow that stuck in every branch and covered every surface in white beauty. Then the rain came. Made the huge snowman fall over. Made us all very sad. I didn't even get a picture of him before he was obliterated by the rain. Overnight all that wet turned to ice. What a mess.

Oh Twinkle Tree, Oh Twinkle Tree.....

Mike and I had decided that this was the last year for our Christmas tree and that we'd be getting a new one for next year. The old one had quite a few broken branches and was just looking very "Charlie Brown"-ish. Well, Target put their trees on sale for 30% off and I happened to have a 10% off Rewards Certificate, so we went to look at what they had left yesterday morning. We ended up coming home with a new tree, because I told Mike it would be silly to buy one at full price next year when we can get such a deal this year. I didn't want to wait until after Christmas, because I know by then there will be very little left to choose from.

Our new tree is soooo much nicer than the old one. It's taller, and MUCH fuller. I can't see through to the middle like on the old one, and this one is prelit with 1000 lights. Some of them twinkle which gives it a magical look. We set it up (which was snap!)just to make sure it wasn't TOO big for our room, and to make sure the lights all worked. Then we decided, what the heck, lets just take the ornaments off the old tree and put them on the new, instead of waiting to use it next year. It really didn't take that long and I'm glad we did it. I was pouting every time I looked at that old decrepit tree with some its branches that were just balancing on top of others because they were broken. This one is just gorgeous! Anyway, Mike hauled the old one out onto the front porch where it will live until after Christmas....It was nice pulling up and seeing it lit up on the porch last night. I thought we would just toss it, but we can get some more use out of it as an outdoor decoration.

OH HAPPY DAY!!

I left for work this morning in rather a foul mood, having to do with the torrential downpour that was happening outside. Isn't this December? Isn't this Michigan? Isn't it supposed to be a lovely, white, winter wonderland out there? UGH I hate when it rains like this in December. It's already so gray and brown out there without the mud that comes along with the rain..... I mean, it rained so long and hard today that when I was on my way home from work I saw someone rowing a boat across their flooded front yard. No lie. Cracked me up!

Anway, I stopped at the mailbox this morning to put something out to be picked up, but the mail had already come. I decided to flip through it quickly to see if there was anything interesting before leaving it in the mailbox for hubby to collect when he got home (before me) this afternoon.

Hmmmmm.....what's this? An envelope from one of the yarn stores that was on the Shop Hop several weeks ago. Ok, I got on their mailing list....this is probably a newsletter or something....

[Remember the drawing being held? It popped into my head, but I thought, no, it couldn't be. It's been nearly a month! I didn't really expect to win in the first place, because all 3 stores were JAMMED with people doing the Shop Hop, (and really, what are the chances) and had all but forgotten about the whole thing.]

Well, I think by now you can see where this is heading....I WON!!!! I got $100 gift certificate to a yarn store!!!! It was the one store out of the three that Donna (my neighbor that I went with) and I liked the best, too. I was whooping it up in my car by the mailbox when I opened it up, had to call my sister right away and tell her, and then called Donna to tell her too.

Vicky was excited for me too. FREE YARN!!!! YIPPEE!!! Tomorrow is the only day this week that it's not supposed to rain, so I may take the opportunity to try to find my way back over to that store (Donna was driving and I have no idea how she got us there, and it's a town I haven't been to more than once or twice in my entire life......but.....I think I can figure it out with $100 free yarn money in my pocket!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Can you believe it? When I went into work and told Vicky, and said how I can get free yarn for more Christmas gifts, she said I should use it to buy things for MYSELF. I suppose she's right...it's a gift from above. I may have to get a thing or two for "someone" else though. I mean, I am a sharing type of gal.



ps....here's a picture of the Noro Fuzzy Feet. I felted them last night. LOVE 'EM! I also felted another pair of clogs, and Jake liked those better than the Fuzzy Feet (which were to be for his teacher) so I guess SIL is getting the Fuzzy Feet and Jake's teacher is getting the clogs. Shhh....don't tell anyone.....I'm a gift switcher.....

A whole lotta knitting going on!

I can't talk about most of it because it's a lot of Christmas gifts! Let's just say I'm cranking out some things to give to some of my favorite people, and will be posting pictures after the holidays.

Mike finally got the old washing machine set up in the basement so I can felt again. My "to be felted" pile had gotten pretty big, so I was happy to start throwing things in and getting them done. I felted a ............, several pairs of........ and still have a pair of............to throw in. To add to it, I'm going to make a pair of Fuzzy Feet for Jake's teacher...hopefully I'll get started tonight. I'm using Noro Kureyon...I haven't seen any FF made up in Noro so I'm hoping they turn out ok. I had a conference with her today and checked out her shoe size (then got confirmation from her hubby, the principal) so I know what size to make them. I'm kind of excited about doing those...it will be my first time knitting with Noro, and my first pair of Fuzzy Feet after MANY MANY pairs of Fiber Trends Felted Clogs.

So that's the knitting news from my little corner of the world today.

Gift idea for your favorite knitter (or YOU!)

Here are some pens I made up to show to the knitting/blogging world.
I need to get them added into my main webpage
Once In A Bloomoon Creations but for now they can be ordered at this temporary page I set up today
Gifts for the Knitter

There are several kinds of letter beads that can be used, the pens themselves are in 3 parts that can be mixed and matched to a combination you like. I can use one of 3 different lengths of rods to put the beads on, depending on the length of the name you want to use, but obviously there is a limit!

Feature your name, your blog name, your favorite knitting phrase, your company name, whatever!

If you find the webpage hard to manage (or if it's totally whacko because I worked on it with a very fuzzy head....yes, I'm still sick....) just email me with what you want and we'll figure it out from there. Thanks for looking!

Blah....

Today is the first time I've been dressed since Tuesday, and out of bed for more than an hour at a time. I'm sick. It started Tuesday and progressed throughout the day. Wednesday I stayed in bed all day. Yesterday too. Yup, missed Thanksgiving festivities with my family. Stayed home in bed all by my lonesome for the entire afternoon and part of the evening. They brought me home some turkey and side dishes, but unfortunately I couldn't taste anything when I ate it. What a waste!

Mike made me get up and out of bed today. I haven't done much of anything...well, I gave Jake a hair cut, used the Dustbuster on the stairs, played a couple games of Cadoo with the kids, and sneezed about 157 times. I sure hope we don't run out of Kleenex cuz I'm not going out to get more. Maybe I'll just hang a bucket around my neck. UGH.

I did manage to get a bit of knitting done yesterday, and hope to do another mitten or 2 today. I've practically memorized the mitten pattern and have a few more on my list. Nothing more to report at this moment.

Ahhhh AHHHH AHHH CHOO!

Socks: Past, Present and Future

Remember my first pair of socks? The ones made out of beautiful Wildfoote yarn in Brown Sugar colorway? The ones that turned out SO honkin' HUGE? Well, that's them. Yup. Those two balls of yarn on the left are those socks. I frogged them the other night. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it might. I decided that even though they were a "lesson learned", I wasn't willing to just look at the awesome colors of that yarn or feel it in my hands. I want SOCKS! So they will be re-knit at some point in the future.

My Sockotta socks are done! I finished them Monday night and am pleased with the results. They are definitely identical as they could be. The color changes came within a couple of stitches of each other as I was knitting them. On my first socks I just was not "getting" the grafting part...but I realized I didn't have good Kitchener directions in front of me. With the help of one of the other knitting teachers at the shop, I was able to use Kitchener on these socks with great success. Whew, I feel better now that I "get it"! BTW, I knit these socks in 10 days, which I think is pretty darned good for my second pair, and considering the fact that much OTHER knitting went on during that 10 days too. It didn't hurt that there were a helluva lot less stitches on the needles than my first mammoth pair LOL.

I started my Trekking socks last night. That's them on the needles. I thought there was a color repeat in this skein, but I'm beginning to think the entire skein is totally random in its blending of colors. These socks will not be identical twins. They will not even be fraternal twins. We're going to call them "Second Cousin Socks". I have not seen one area of color repeat itself on the other sock yet. They are going to be very different, but that's OK! I LOVE this yarn. The way there are 3 colors stranded together and then one of the colors changes, and then another one changes....very cool! I am using the Fluted Banister pattern that is part of the Six-Sock Knitalong. I'm not doing the knitalong, but I did join the yahoo group so I could see pictures and read messages about the sock patterns. Being a new sock knitter, I want all the help I can get! I like how the pattern is turning out so far. I don't think it gets lost too much in the stripes of the yarn, and I really like how these are going to be leg hugging socks. Here is a better picture of my progress so far.


The untouched skein is the Lana Grossa Multieffects that I got on the Shop Hop on Saturday. I can't wait to get started on that skein too. I love watching the patterns emerge in the self patterning yarns. Whoever came up with the concept was a genious!

Yarn Shop Hop

I'm finally getting a chance to sit down and write about the fun time I had with my friend/neighbor Donna on Saturday morning (which ran well into the afternoon)

3 yarns stores were having a Shop Hop and they were all stores I had never been to before. One is sort of close but I could never find it. I guess the entrance used to be in the back off the parking lot even though the store name suggested they were "ON Main!" They have since moved and there is now an entrance in the front and the back. I finally located it one day when they were closed. The other two stores were far enough away that I hadn't made the trek over there yet, so this was a good excuse to check them all out, and spend a fun morning with Donna.

We started out at Heritage Spinning and Weaving in Lake Orion. What a wonderful shop! LOTS of friendly workers bustling around offering help. This store has lots to offer....lots of yarns for knitters, but also a large room devoted to the spinners and weavers. They had a HUGE selection of sock yarns, which was one thing I wanted to look for that morning so I could knit more socks. At this store I chose a beautiful Trekking XXL skein (colorway 100) and can't wait to see how the socks knit up. I wish I had taken a picture of this beautiful skein before winding it into 2 center-pull balls, because now all the colors are hidden on the inside. From what I could tell as I was winding it, it's going to make lovely blended stripes.

If you spent a minimum of $15 at each store, you got your "passport" stamped and at the last store you entered your passport into a drawing for one of 3 $100 gift certificates. I guess I didn't win because I haven't gotten that phone call I was hoping for. Drats! Each store was giving out a little gift or nice discount. At this store I chose a woven zippered bag which will be good for stashing my stitch markers, tapestry needles, etc. inside my project bag.

The next store we went to was Basketful of Yarn in Clarkston. This store was a whirlwind of activity also. Donna has a friend who works at this store, so we had our own personal shopping assistant. I got some beautiful ribbon yarn to make a poncho out of. I don't have a picture of it because I had Donna take the yarn home with her. It was partly to hide it from Mike (SHHHH! DON'T TELL!) and partly as an incentive for us to get together in her sunroom and sit and knit before the weather gets so cold that we can't use that beautiful room. I'm hoping that maybe sometime next week I can get that luscious project started. This shop had some sinfully delectable chocolates put out for the Shop Hoppers, and I couldn't resist trying a truffle that was soooooooooooooo good and I had to have another. And ok, just one more. I decided to leave some for the other shoppers behind me, so I stopped at 3.

Store # 3 was the previously elusive Skeins on Main in Rochester. This store is incredible. The feeling when you walk in the door is like you want grab your entire stash of yarn from home and move right in for a month. Sit and knit all day long. There is a big table in the front of the store, along with a couch, chairs and a table, sitting in front of a fireplace. The decor is dark walls with a very cozy feeling. From what I understand, this store was previously a Thomas Kinkade art gallery before being taken over by Skeins on Main. If you click on the link to the store and scroll down you can see how beautiful it is inside. The store is really deep, and all along the left side are little walk-in cubbies of yarn, and sitting areas with TONS of knitting books. Towards the back is a FULL KITCHEN for Pete's sake! Back in that area are 3 tall tables with bar stools, which were all filled with people sitting and knitting. Every seating spot in the place was filled with knitters. Obviously a place people like to gather and share their love of Sticks and String. A great selection of yarns presented in a very warm, inviting atmosphere. At this store I bought more sock yarn. This time it was Lana Grossa Multieffect in colorway 3020. It's going to make some awesome socks too! This store was giving out lime green calculators with the store name stamped on them. And they had the BEST cookies on the counter in the kitchen area. The shortbread was to die for and the other cookie I tried seemed to be a citrusy flavor with dried cranberries. OH YUM!

What a fun day it was. I got to check out 3 yarn stores that were new to me, and do some stash enhancement. All yarn bought was for ME! I've been knitting a lot of Christmas gifts, so it will be nice to have these yarns to look forward to finally getting some things knitted for myself soon.

Transformation

A week or so ago I bought a sweater at the thrift store for a couple of bucks made out of a double strand of ribbon yarn. Here is the before picture

And here is what I turned it into, in about 5 or 6 hours of knitting between Sunday evening and Monday morning.

It's just a long rectangle in wrap/drop stitch, folded crosswise and sewn up along the long edge from the bottom towards the neck, and makes an asymmetrical poncho. I added fringe on one side only.I used size 17 needles, and 36 stitches across.

I've gotten lots of compliments on this $2 beauty! Quick and easy! (and gotta love the low cost!)

Mr. Picassohead

What fun! I found the link to Mr. Picassohead on another blog and decided to go check it out. I created a masterpiece(?) which can be seen here. Let me know what you think of it....
I really enjoyed some of the other artwork in the gallery. Check it out! Some people are so creative!

I like this quote

I was just browsing through my Weekend Knitting book by Melanie Falick and came across this quote. Figured I'd pop it in my blog before I head up to bed. I've been fighting some bug the last few days and don't want to stay up too late tonight.

Anyway....

He who works with his hands is a laborer.

He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.

He who works with his hands, his head and his heart is an artist.

~~St. Francis of Assissi

That goes for us too, ladies!

Good night my fellow artists!

B4 and After Felted Mittens

Here are the mittens I knit up for shop samples to advertise my upcoming Felted Mittens class. I knit these with Lamb's Pride worsted weight on size 11 needles. I love how they feel after felting. I also knit up a third mitten, and inside the cuff I picked up stitches along the top of the ribbing (not the edge) with a non-felting yarn and knit another ribbing cuff inside the wool one, so when felted, there is a cuff that is tighter to the wrist. The mitten without this inside cuff is kind of loose around the wrist. It has to be or else you couldn't fit your hand inside. I wanted to show this option in case some people wanted to know what it looked like, if they chose to do it. I'm going to have to get a picture of that mitten. I didn't take one before I took it into the shop. Maybe tomorrow when I go in to work I will bring my camera and hopefully remember to do that.