Marian Cowl

I am currently knitting the Marian Cowl for my sister. It knits so quickly with the super bulky yarn and large needles. It is my first time knitting with this size yarn and needle, and I l♥ve it.

The seed stitch looks really nice in this yarn. This cowl has a neat twist in it. I can't wait to finish it and post final pics before I mail it off to her.
Back to my knitting :)

Swirl without the Sleeves

The swirl is now almost complete. All that is missing are some sleeves. The only problem.... I don't have enough of any one of the four colors to make two sleeves. I can make two different colored sleeves, and I think that is what I am leaning towards. I also need something to use as a closure, maybe a red button. Anyway, here is a picture of the front. My hubby agreed to help with the photo shoot, but only if our friend Woody was in the pictures too :)

And here is a picture of the back, and the swirl :)

I am really loving this cardigan, and it fits really well. Yay!!

Books I Read in 2011

January

1. Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA by Maryn Mckenna
2. The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

February

1. The Corrections by Johnathan Franzen
2. Bogeyman by Gayle Wilson
3. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

March

1. It was the Best of Sentences, it was the Worst of Sentences by June Casagrande
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larson

May

1. The Giver by Lois Lowry
2. Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes
3. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (Annotated by Martin Gardner)
4. Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

June

1. The Priest by Gerard O’Donovan
2. Year of the Dog by Grace Lin

July

1. The Weird Sisiters by Eleanor Brown
2. Sphere by Michael Crichton
3. Pop Goes the Weasel by James Patterson

September

1. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
2. Always Time to Die

October

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (I want a sequel)
3. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
4. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I spent the last two months of the year plodding my way through The Long Night of the White Chickens, and I still have not finished it. It really hurt my count :) The good news is that I totally enjoyed every book I read this year.

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone! It's time to review my resolutions from last year and make some new/similar ones for this year

Resolutions for 2011
1. Complete a sweater

I have completed all of my swirl sweater except for the sleeves. Post with more details and pictures to follow.
2. Read more than 33 books

I managed to read 22 books. Post with more details to follow.
3. Keep my craft room organized

I actually did this one!!! I organized my craft room this year. It's beautiful :)
4. Get my craft business going

I'm going to try again on this one.
5. Stick with my diet and exercise

This was my biggest failure this year. I ended the year by skipping almost all my yoga classes :(
6. Enjoy life everyday

This was the easy one, but I did not enjoy everyday,not even close :(

Resolutions for 2012

1. Read more than 33 books

2. Start my Etsy shop

3. Finish my novel

4. Complete my sweater (only needs sleeves :) should be easy)

5. Diet and exercise

6. Try new things

7. Start playing the guitar again

8. Blog more frequently

Hopefully I will do better this year. I do like to have goals and projects; I am just not always great at seeing them through :)

Snowflakes

So recently, I have been noticing snowflakes everywhere, and there is not even any snow on the ground :) That's because I am talking about paper snowflakes. I made these 3-D snowflakes with my students.

This picture is from http://www.wikihow.com/images/c/c6/74621550_44bb79776f.jpg where you can also find great instructions on how to create these awesome snowflakes.

If you prefer the 2-D snowflake, you should check out this link where you can find folding and cutting instructions for super detailed snowflakes. Finally, and this may be my absolute favorite, the Star Wars snowflakes. I see some Darth Vader snowflakes in my future. Much better than actual snow :)

Cat Toys!

I made this cat toy for my cat a couple years ago. She was playful today, so I took the toy out to see if she still likes it. It turns out she still loves it! From her immediate reaction, I would guess that the catnip inside still smells fresh and yummy :)

The toy is knit in wool and then felted. The felted wool makes it very durable, although my cat does tend to be gentle on her toys anyway.

Isn't she cute?

Angry Cardinal

My hubby's assistant loves to play the game Angry Birds, so when I saw this pattern I immediately thought of her. He needed an end-of-the-school-year-gift, and I took out my yarn and crochet hook :)

Hook size: F
Yarn: mostly acrylic with some white cotton
Pattern: Angry Cardinal by Itsy Bitsy Spider

Ths pattern was really fun to make. It was easy overall, just a lot of little fiddly bits that had to be sewn on. I used black felt and hot glue for the centers of the eyes.

My hubby's assistant loved it! That's the important thing :)