Green Baby Blanket

So, I've been working on this baby blanket since the beginning of summer. I have two pregnant cousins and a pregnant co-worker, so I thought it was time to start knitting baby things.

I have to admit, I almost gave up on this blanket. Some of the stitch transitions are looking a little looser that I would like, but I had already gone so far that I did not want to give up.

Then I spent two nights watching horror movies. This is one of my favorite times to knit as it helps me to not pick at my nails and bite my nails during those tense moments in the movie, so I did a lot of knitting and made a lot of progress. Now, I am on my third ball of Bernat Cottontots yarn and I am happy with my blanket.

One of the movies I saw was "The Ruins." Whether or not you have seen this movie, I must recommend the book first. I read the book before seeing the movie, and it is so much better. In the movie, they switched all the characters around. I can't figure out why, unless the movie makers were sexist and prejudiced......it made me a little crazy. You should really read the book. Great book.

Anyway, this is a close-up of the blanket. I am using knit, purl and seed stitch. The blanket is reversible and is knit in Sweet Green. For some reason, it photographed as a different color in these two pics. The first is a more accurate representation of the color. Hope you like it :)

I <3 Craigslist!

So, my fiance is a little obsessed with Craigslist. Since he knows how much I love to knit and bead and stuff, he always keeps his eyes open for good crafty deals. Recently, he found me this amazing deal.

A bunch of free knitting needles of varying sizes (and some wooden crochet needles, not pictured)....

And a whole box of free needlecraft books and magazines from the 50s through the 90s (2 pictured below).
I am just a little excited about my new stash :) And its even better because my honey found it all for me and encouraged me to get it. If that is not love, I don't know what is.

And the earrings.

Here is a pic of the earrings to match the bridesmaid bracelets. I used the same yellow-green freshwater pearls and the silver seed beads, but I also added these cool, sparkly discoball beads (they don't photograph well apparently). I used silver plated findings. I think they are really fun!

Bridesmaid Jewelry

My sister is getting married this August, and she asked me to make some jewelry for the bridesmaids. She chose beautiful green bridesmaid dresses, and we were lucky enough to find these awesome yellow green freshwater pearls at Fire Mountain Gems. They match the dresses perfectly :). She wanted bracelets and earrings. Here is the first bracelet. It is a simple stringing of the greeen pearls separated by some silver seed beads. We chose silver seed beads because the bridemaids will be wearing silver shoes. I am really happy with the first bracelet. I have also finished all of the earrings, but do not have a picture yet. I will post it as soon as I have a pic. I found some cool silver disco ball beads in my stash that I used with the pearls in the earrings. They look great ;)






The second picture shows the bracelet without the model.

Remote Control Caddy

Here is my remote control caddy. I am not sure what to call it, so I am calling it a caddy. After the felting this past weekend, I sewed the main pouch into three compartments for my three main remote controls.

I just knit an extra wide scarf. I reversed the stockinette stitch for the bottom part, so that the folded pouch would have a right side out also. Then I felted. The other end just folds over the side of the chair and under the seat cushion. And voila!!

I am so happy I did a felted gauge swatch. It worked out perfectly, and my measurements and estimated change in size due to felting were also perfect. It fits all three remotes, and the felting makes it sturdy enough to hold their weight.

You can see my kitty got into the picture, too. She just can't resist a photo opp. :)

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

Felted Cat Toy

This is one of my favorite things to knit. I created the pattern myself. Its super easy, and I can knit a bunch of them in one night. Basically the toy is carrot-shaped. It was originally supposed to look like a mouse, and the first one I knit had an attempt at embroidered eyes and mouth. I even knit little ears. Then I realized that my cat doesn't care if the toy really looks like a mouse or not. She just wants it stuffed with catnip, so I stuff with a mixture of polyfil and really good catnip.



Man, does she love this toy!!!

She prefers natural yarns, and she really likes when I felt the toys, so that's what I do. I knit the toy on straight needles and just sew up the seam before felting, leaving a little spot for stuffing. Then after felting, I stuff with polyfil and catnip, sew it up and leave the ends of the yarn dangling like a tail. Those ends can also be used when playing with the toy, making it much more fun.

Maybe I did use a little too much catnip. Kitty looks wasted!!! :P