Let It Snow!

It finally got cold enough here in the valley to snow. It started last night and has snowed almost all day today. Unfortunately, it is melting pretty fast, but here is a picture of it this afternoon. I love snow. I really should live somewhere where it snows more often and stays for the winter.

Saturday we went up into the mountains and took the kids sledding. It was alot of fun! The kids wanted to go on Sunday again, but it was blizzarding in the mountains.

Here are pictures of the Christmas gifts that I finished over the weekend.

These are for the Son. He insists on wearing his socks inside and outside--without shoes. As a result, he wears out his socks too fast. I thought that maybe these would be soft like socks, but he could wear them outside too. (I will sew a leather sole onto the bottoms when he opens them). I love this pattern, it is so easy and the boots are warm and wonderful to wear.

TA-DA! I finally got over the SMS and made the other mitten! The thumb on these mittens are THE BIGGEST PAIN! I have to admit it though, the second mitten went REALLY fast. These will be a fun surprise for my friend for Christmas. I made mittens and a hat and some fingerless gloves for her kids and husband as well.

So, now I am off to finish HoneyBunny's socks and hopefully my December Sockamania socks.

Happy Knitting!

The Weekend's Works

Between Friday and today I managed to finish several projects. The first one is this hat that I designed several years ago. I call it a "FunkyChunky Hat" It is made with Brown Sheep Co. superbulky weight yarn (100% wool). It makes up so fast that you can literally have a finished hat in only about 3 or 4 hours (WITH interruptions). The pattern will be available at my etsy store later this week.

Friday I finished the first of my Selbuvotter mittens. It may be a few days before I start number two. I have a touch of SMS (second mitten syndrome) right now after my battle with the thumb. I think I have come up with a better way to put one in and may put a tutorial on here if my idea works out. The mitten is BEAUTIFUL and I love it, I just hate the thumb right now.








And, earlier this morning I finished the ski socks that I will be giving my son for Christmas. The picture doesn't show the Forest Green detail very well, but there is a green stripe between each black stripe and then the trees are forest green as well. I think he will love them!
Stay tuned! Wednesday's post will show what I am working on this week! I may get all of these Christmas projects done yet!

Wednesday's WIP's

With Christmas coming on so quickly I am experiencing a knitting fever. I have cast on four projects just this week.--Now I 'm scaring myself.

First, I got my new Sockamania sock pattern for November. I am loving this pattern! It looks complicated, but it is so easy--easy to knit, easy to memorize the pattern. I am already making plans to cast on another one in some 100% silk yarn that is in the stash. I will have to adjust the pattern a little for it, but I think the Daughter will LOVE them for Christmas (I'll post a pic. when I get it started). For now though. I had some left-over yarn from that sweater that I had finished this summer (the t-shirt). I thought some socks to match would be fun. So, these are being made from "Silky Wool" 65% w00l, 35% silk, on size 2 (US) needles. Fun stuff!!! I wouldn't be able to put it down except for this...........................................

Yes!!!! I FINALLY got a pair of mittens started from the Selbuvotter book. I am loving these!! They are going to be an anonomous Christmas gift for a friend of mine. I am sure she will know who it is when she sees them, but what else would you give someone who loves Norway also? I would love to see her face when she opens them up. I am making them with KnitPicks superwash wool sock weight yarns "Bare" and "EssentialSolid". Is it normal to be in love with a pair of mittens? Don't answer that!

The other projects are the second sock for the Son's Christmas present and a pair of knit pants for the daughter--nothing exciting to take pictures of yet. I have plans to make 5 pairs of socks, a knit pair of pants, a knit hooded vest, and a pair of fingerless gloves for my imediate family for Christmas. Then there is the shawl, mittens, and my super secret project for dear friends for Christmas. Do you think I will get it all done by Christmas? Ya, I doubt it too! Here's hoping!

Happy Knitting!

It's D-O-N-E done!

FINALLY! The Daughter has her afghan! and not a minute too soon. As I worked the last few decrease rows I began to count-down the sts left and giggle histerically. (My children were quite concerned that something was wrong.)
This is the Daughter all wrapped up in it, refusing to let me have it back long enough to tuck in the loose ends.

This is the size it ended up. My daughter and I are both taller than 5 feet 5 inches, so you can see that it is pretty big. She loves it!!

I got the November Sockamania pattern over the weekend and can't wait to get started. The pattern is for a pair of lacey socks and will probably become a Christmas gift since Christmas is now only 50 days away.

OOoOOOooooooOo! That sounds scarey to say! I better get busy if I am going to get all of these gifts done! Now that the afghan is finished I should be able to accomplish a lot more!!! Our family has made a committment to make all Christmas gifts this year. With all of the recalls going on it seems like a good idea! Plus, handmade gifts are so much more fun and meaningful to give. If you are on my gift list you know what's coming!

So, with a sock to cast on, a hat to finish, two pair of socks to finish, a shawl to finish, etc. I am off to start my Selbuvotter mittens!!!!!!!

I love knitting!

Whew!

Sorry for not posting yesterday, but there was a serious knitting frenzy going on. I realized that the end of the month is tomorrow and decided that if I was going to finish my Sockamania socks for the month that I had better do some serious knitting. Not to mention my house is in serious need of cleaning and I was actually in the mood to clean yesterday morning. So as soon as I wore out the cleaning mood--which only took about two hours--I knit until the socks were finished--which took the better part of the rest of the day. Now my house is really clean--in some areas--and my socks are finished!Now, I am going to work on that afghan in earnest for a few days until I get the next Sockamania project. I figure I have about 120 more rows left to knit on that ******* afghan and then it will be done. I feel really sorry for my son because he will be the only one in the family that never got a hand knit afghan from me. In fact, if I EVER get the notion that I am going to make another afghan PLEASE stop me!!!! Do you know how many pairs of socks I could make in the time it has taken to make that afghan!? It would've gone much faster though if I hadn't made it so big. Wait until you see it!! I'm pretty sure it's getting big enough to cover a queen size bed at this point.

In case anyone is interested, The Yarn Harlot is making a pair of mittens from the Selbuvotter book. They are so beautiful!!! (If I could just get this stupid afghan done I would be making a pair too!) I CAN'T WAIT MUCH LONGER TO START MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am almost finished with the next new sock pattern. I will post a picture of the sock on here, but the pattern will be available at my etsy store.

Happy Knitting!

? Rambling on and on and on......

I couldn't think of a title for today's post. I just feel like rambling on about whatever I guess.

The daughter's afghan has definately hit a black hole! I went to work on it last night and the first row I knit I counted 155 sts. Well that is very interesting because the last row I counted when I finished working on it the other day was 134. Somehow in the last several days the number of stitches in the row increased! (I am on the decrease side of the afghan right now). I worked on it for about 4 hours last night and if there hasn't been a serious decrease in the number of stitches it might be time for this afghan to become a UFO for awhile so that I can regain some sanity. HoneyBunny asked if I was knitting the afghan for a giant because it is getting HUGE! That teenage daughter of mine better like it or else.....just or else! and she better act extremely excited when I give it to her! I am going to have to quit making afghans, they are WAY too much work--especially when you are used to making socks all the time. I told myself when I got my "Selbuvotter" book the other day that I could not start any of those mittens until the afghan is done. I may have a melt-down if the afghan doesn't hurry up!!!!

The Sockamania socks are almost finished--which is good because the last day of the month is in 5 days. I would have been done weeks ago if I hadn't been knitting on two other pairs of socks this month and worked on that black hole afghan.

By the way, if you haven't ever tried Haneke Wool's merino/silk blend, sport weight yarn, I highly recommend it. I am designing a pair of "ski" socks right now out of it and it is the BEST merino/silk blend yarn I have ever worked with. I am not just saying that because I sell Haneke yarns either--course the reason I sell Haneke is because of the superior quality. I love this yarn and will be making many more projects out of it! Watch for the patterns and products on my Etsy store.

Isn't this a cool sculpture! HoneyBunny took a picture of it on one of his trips out of town. I wish it was in my front yard. I really like it.

I guess that's all. I need to get busy knitting.

Fun Stuff!

I knew my daughter had it in her to be crafty although she swears she's not! (Teenagers just hate to admit that they are anything like their relatives!) But she made this absolutely adorable tote bag yesterday. I promptly confiscated it for my own. I love it! it is so cute and she did a great job! I didn't know she even knew how to do applique, but there it is, a jack-o-lantern appliqued on the front of this cute bag. I am so proud of her!
This week's WIP's look a lot like the last couple of week's WIP's. The afghan is slowly getting finished. In fact I have a goal to have it done in two weeks--that is if I don't find another project to start instead. The October Sockamania project is half done and I have started the other sock now (the orange yarn project). And, I just couldn't help myself, I cast on for a pair of socks out of my swap yarn from Hege. There are many more WIP's sitting here on my desk, but none that I am working on this week. I took a poll for the Knitting Daily blog to see how many UFO's I had and discovered that I really need to get busy finishing some projects. I am so ashamed that I would even consider casting on another project with that number of unfinished projects laying around.

Finally, my order from KnitPicks got here, after spending all week last week in a "sortation center" in Denver. I am thrilled!!!to have it. The Selbvotter book is everything I every dreamed it could be. I love knitting, I love ethnic knitting, I love historical knitting articles, I love to read about knitting--especially historical, ethnic/cultural, well researched knitting books/articles that end with patterns for what you have been reading about. This is all of that!!!! If you are thinking about getting it, DON'T HESITATE ANY LONGER! It is fantastic and I am sure the afghan can wait until I have a few pairs of mittens and gloves made.

The white yarn in the order is to finish the afghan (someday) and the black is for HoneyBunny's special request hat--which is half done as of this morning.

All the fun I can handle for today!

Happy Knitting!

Now THAT'S Knitting!

As I was reading some of my favorite blogs this morning Hege had a picture of some mittens she had made a few years ago. Not just any mittens, but beautiful mittens. She is incredibly talented! She also had a link to some museum pages--all in Norwegian--but there were some pictures I HAVE to share. All hand knit and all amazing! Now THAT'S knitting!
Isn't this the most beautiful pair of knit mittens you have ever seen!? Don't you wish you had a pair!


My grandfather was Norwegian and Danish and I would love to have been able to sit and visit with his parents (my great grandparents) about Norway and Denmark. We probably wouldn't have been able to understand each other though--they didn't speak english and I don't speak Norwegian (unfortunately).

If you would like to see all of the displays on the museums site it is here.

KnitPicks is selling a book called "Selbuvotter". It is all about the history and tradition of these incredible mittens and gloves that are 150 years old. There are 30+ projects in the book. Yes, I ordered it. I am so weak!

Happy Knitting!