I have very little to report really in this post. It's been snowing for two days now. Mary's husband, Jon, has been riding his snowmobile around my yard. LOL!The snow is beautiful, though got a little slushy as it warmed up this afternoon. Still, I've had a blast shoveling my walkway and jumping around in it in the front yard. :) Gus, on the other hand, has not been impressed by it and he dug a hole under the house so he could get into the basement. I have a very silly cat!
So, here is what I've been working on. I just finished a pair of leg warmers that have cute little Space Invaders on them. After I finished these, I thought, "Hmmm... I should make a hat to go with these. And maybe a hat for Frogger and Pitfall, too! LOL! So those are bashing around my noggin'. Maybe after Christmas is over and I've gotten all my gifts done, I will try to do that.
Space Invaders Leg Warmers
YARN: Jaeger Super Fine Merino
NEEDLES: Size 5, 16" circulars
PATTERN: Adapted from the BMP pattern on Knitty.com
I cast on 80 stitches, hoping they'd be only slightly baggy. Unfortunately they are quite a bit baggy and much shorter than I wanted them to be. I wore them today for church anyway and they kept my ankles quite warm, which is the point of them after all.
I'm also working on a hat that I've adapted from a scarf pattern on Knitty.com. It's black with green binary code. A guy I recently met on Firestream said I should "be uber geeky, learn binary and have it spell out a message." I am giving the hat to my brother... (I don't think he's ever read this blog, so I'm sure it's safe he won't find out about this) who works at Microsoft. I was thinking of putting "Microsoft Sucks!" or "My other computer is an Apple" But after much research for an easy way to convert such slogans to binary, I have settled for a random selection of ones and zeros and hope that if anyone sets about reading it, it doesn't say something like, "My foot wall chicken is." Anyway, here's a pic of the progress of said hat.
Other things I've been doing is enjoying my Christmas tree and seeking out fun decorations. Below is a pic of my tree as I spun my camera around while snapping it. I thought it looked pretty cool and tried moving my camera in different ways to get different light effects. Then, I was at St. Vincent de Paul's to seek out some fun Christmasy things and found these adorably ugly dolls. I'm thinking they're from the fifties or sixties. I totally love them, despite how hideous they are. I've always been against that super giant headed little children image, like precious moments. They always make me wonder if they got stung by a bee and they're having an allergic reaction... Hehehe... The last picture is of the snow falling in my front yard. There's an image just right of the tree that I'm not sure how it got there or even what it is. Might just be glare coming from the porchlight. Or it may be an angel. Who knows? But I like it.
One last note: My dear friend Ace stumbled across a terrific site called,
Antiblog by fallingblox. The site takes knitting into geekdom and makes it even funner and cooler than it already is! His disclaimer and description of an antiblog is hilarious and worth the time to read. Double knitting is something I've always avoided because it involves a tremendous amount of thought. After seeing his Crow II scarf and Dragon Hat, I think I will have to try my hand at it.
These are some curtains that I just bought at St. Vinnies for $15 all together. They're actually green, not silver. But they're quite beautiful. The ornament came from Leavenworth, WA and my mom got it for me. I can't remember if it was last year or the year before! Oh well.
Some fabric I found online. It makes me smile. I'll not ever buy any, though. Not at $35 a yard!
Some mohair locks I got at the recent spin-in during the gift exchange. I can't wait to learn how to spin boucle with it!
More mohair locks that I got at the Spin-In.
This is what Mary T. got during the gift exchange. It's Potluck in Pumpkin Spice. It's gorgeous!
Mary T's scrumptious apple pie, made with Ace's delicious apples. I had quite a large piece.
I've had a slight obsession for fabric lately. This is a stash that I bought this week. I only needed less than 1/4 of a yard of each to make my Christmas gifts, but I got 1/2 yard of each and will make a patchwork tote bag out of the leftovers.
This is the gift I made for Mary T. this year and why I needed the fabrics. It's a portfolio based on the free pattern on Amy Butler's website. Mine doesn't look quite so professional, but a seamstress I am not! LOL!
Inside Mary's portfolio were four pretty journals made from paper from Bohemia and Fancy Pants. Mary loves to journal and keep track of things God tells her. I wish I would be so dedicated! I had several dreams this week that I'm certain were significant, but I was too lazy to get out of bed and write them down. Perhaps I should make one of these for me and keep it by my bed. Then I would have no excuse! Mary gave me a gift also, but my camera's battery died before I could get any pics of it. Parts of it are beautiful and parts are functional and some parts are both!
This is Janelle's box that is part of her Christmas present from me. The box is from the Dollar Tree and was embellished with leftover fabric and stamps. I had great fun making this and filling it with tea necessities and a handmade ornament. I also found a beautiful antique teacup and saucer for her as well. My pal, Wendy received a similar gift in different colors.
My sewing frenzy also resulted in me getting the above fabric, very loud, very retro, so I can make the pattern shown. I making shirt D and using some antique glass buttons I got at the local antique store.
Some very cute ornaments I found at Goodwill. It was $0.99 for a set of 12. I gave one set to Mary and am looking for happy homes for two of the other sets.
This is the roving that Janelle dyed for me for Christmas. It's dark and moody, which is so what I've been looking for and love! She also gave me a tin of Harney & Sons Holiday Tea. I didn't like it the first time I tried some, but now I've had three pots of it and am wondering if it's too late in the evening for maybe another cup. It is so yummy with sugar and cream! I think I was just having a bad day when I tried it the first time! LOL!
I got this prairie dress from the local antique store for $12 a couple of weeks ago. I was shocked that it fit and that it's incredibly comfortable. The dress is a very light green with little brown flowers on it. It's from Recollections and retails for about $199.00.
