So Much for Goals....

Back in November, I wrote a post about my new goal of finishing all of my UFOs before starting anything new. Well, I finished my baby gift for Sarah, and I started to finish my granny square purse and stuffed frog, but still working on both projects. Just the fact that I said "started to finish" makes me realize what a lofty goal it is for me to complete all of my UFOs. Anyway, so much for goals. Yesterday, I cast on for a new felted purse. I am creating my own pattern for this one; it has been living in my head for a long time, and I am finally letting it out. I also picked out a sweater pattern, and today I bought some yarn to knit the sweater. Yes, I am officially starting two new projects while at least 4 others sit on the sidelines in various stages of completion :P I will post pictures of all new projects as soon as there is something worth posting :)

Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays. I know I am; I got a Wii for Christmas, and I can barely stop playing long enough to get any knitting done :D Its so much fun!

What a cute face!

My frog finally has a face. The features are all made from i-cord knit in acrylic. I think he looks great :)

Wonderful Knitting Weekend!!

A few weeks ago, my honey asked me if I would knit him some gloves. I answered, "Of course," although I was very nervous about the prospect. I had never knit gloves before. I did knit mittens once. They did not turn out so well. They are so large that they slip off my hands, and one of them is considerably larger than the other. Yeah, you could say I was nervous about knitting gloves....I mean gloves with five whole fingers!!

But, apparently I have gotten better at knitting since I tried those mittens. I mean, these gloves turned out awesome. I used a yarn from JoAnn Fabrics. My sister gave it to me as a gift. Debbie Mumm Traditions yarn in Chocolate Raspberry. The yarn knit up really nicely. It is so soft and the color change is really neat. And, perhaps the most surprising of all.....the gloves are both the same size, and they fit. Success :)


This weekend was also felting weekend. I threw all my felting projects in the washer with some awesome Kookaburra soap and off we went.....Here are all my felting projects drying in the sun. Well, actually there was no sun, but they dried outside.

There's 4 cat toys waiting to be stuffed with stuffing and catnip, a small purse that needs to be shaved a little, a remote control holder pouch thingy of my own design, and a bright green frog waiting to be stuffed.

Hopefully, he will look more like a frog when he is finished. I plan to use some felt to make his bulging eyes look more like eyes. He obviously needs to be stuffed, and I plan to sew his feet and hands so that they look more webbed-like.

Altogether, it was a wonderful knitting weekend :P

The Frog 2

Just a couple of days ago, I finished knitting the frog. I think that the head was the most difficult part to figure out. I could not figure out what shape to use for the head. I settled on a shape with two eyes bulging from the top of his head. I will finish them with white and black circles to make them really look like eyes.













The head, arms and legs were all knit flat and then sewed together. The body I knit in the round on dpns.


Now the whole thing gets felted, then stuffed when he is dry. I am pretty happy with how he looks so far.


Meanwhile I have started a new project. I got a great deal on some ribbon yarn, which I have never knit with before. I found a book at the library all about knitting with ribbon yarn and chose a cute purse pattern. I am modifying the design just a little. The original design calls for beads that are knitted in the purse in a geometric pattern. I have decided to leave those out and add some beaded embellishment after the purse is completed. Here is a picture of how the knitting is progressing. I really like how the colors are coming out in the ribbon yarn. Its actually really fun to knit with.







I am looking forward to the finished purse.

Since the frog is ready for felting, this will be a felting weekend. I have a number of projects just waiting for felting day to arrive. I love felting, and I am excited to see how it all turns out. :)

The Frog

Well, here it is. I took some pictures of the frog in progress.

These are all the parts I have finished. The arms are already attached to the body. One leg is completely finished; the other is still in progress.

I think the body looks kinda fat. It might look better felted. I'm still not sure about that part. I will decide once the whole frog is together.

He still needs a head obviously. That will be the last part.

Here is another shot of the body and arms. You can see how fat it is. It looks like he has a big butt. By the way, I guess I have decided that my frog is a boy frog.

Here is a shot of the finished leg. You can sorta see my attempt at knitting a knee joint.

This frog is a total experiment. Before this I knit two other stuffed animals. One was a cat toy for my cat....pretty easy stuff. The second was a teddy bear, and I used a pattern I found online. It turned out really cute. Somehow I decided that that was enough to qualify me to design my own stuffed frog. I hope it works.