Finish or Frog.....

I did it! I finished my pillow in just a few days. That's what a lot of crappy weather will do for me. Icy, snowy on the outside and me happily knitting and warm on the inside. Yay. I am going to post the picture tomorrow or Monday because I am without my camera right now. So, for "Finish or Frog Friday," (See www.majorknitter.typepad for details on this.) I am done.

Now, onto the next project. My basket has quite a few that need finishing. I should finish my little one's alligator mittens I started last year (yes, LAST year!) and just need to sew the pieces together. The pattern is from Stitch and Bitch Nation and was fun to make. I just detest sewing the finished product. You'd never know that I sew my own curtains and actually like to do that. I guess with knitting, I like immediate satisfaction and then off to the next item on my list of "knitting to-dos." Have a good weekend and happy knitting!

Happy Birthday Uncle Fred.......

It's that time of year again. Daddy's birthday. We are not actually loving these birthdays coming as quickly as they do. But, never the less, we celebrated over the weekend and you are looking at our youngest guest at the party. Little Andrew is now 7 months old! He was sitting up and being such a cutie at the party looking at everyone and very happy to talk to the girls when they kissed and hugged him. Uncle Fred was a happy man to have his family and be together for his special day.

Snow day........

It's another snow day, much to the delight of my children. O.k., me too. Not only do I get to have a nice, quiet day to be with my kids, but I can get a couple of rows in and try and finish my newest knitting project. This is one of my many WIPs. It's the "double seed stitch pillow" from the Winter '08/'09 issue of "KnitSimple." I am knitting it with the Lion Brand Wool Ease Chunky I had in the house because I promised myself I would use the TONS of yarn I have in my stash rather than go out and buy more. I wanted to buy some wool/alpaca yarn and thought that since this pillow is going to be placed on our family room chair, and most likely will be tossed around a bit by kids that don't appreciate the many hours of knitting involved in making it, I was better off using my inexpensive yarn than the mucho dolares I would dish out for the alpaca. However, I am really wanting to try one of Twinkles designs that are absolutely scrumptious looking in her books (I borrowed two from the library and have been drooling over them since then.) She has great ideas and approachable since I am far from a sweater knitter. I have one sweater I tried and I am not happy with it. It sits in my UFO basket since I still need to weave in the ends and I am contemplating adding more to the bottom edge of it since it is way too short for me and I don't want it to look like I am trying to be a teenager and show off my tummy. You really don't want to see that!

This is the scene of my backyard today. So pretty and serene. I love to see the snow coming down, but when will it be Spring? It's almost February, so it can't be far off. I just am so done with the snow and would love to see my grass again. I love the fact that you can stay inside and read or knit and feel cozy. That is wonderful. But, it seems to drag on way too long. Someday, I want to live in a warmer climate during the winter months so I can feel my fingers and toes during the months of November through March. One or two pretty snowstorms are plenty for me.

Have a happy day, whatever you are choosing to do with your "cozy day." Or, if you are in a warmer climate and are outside, think of me and send some sunshine my way.

Felted Messenger Bag......

I finally felted my messenger bag and I am very happy with it. It is a "no seam" knitted bag, so in the finishing process, it's very easy. Just weave in the ends and you're good to go. I didn't line it yet, but I knit this bag with double strands of wool, so it is quite dense. I will eventually line it though since I think I will be using this as a gift. If you like this pattern, I got it from http://www.knitty.com under the archives as "Maple" in issue fall/'08. It's an easy pattern to follow and the designer is so nice. I e-mailed her with a question and she was very helpful.

I want to make another one now in a different color scheme. I have a lot of blue and grey wool that I am considering or maybe two tones of brown with a soft purple. My felted bag from last year is in that color palette and looks nice. Decisions, decisions..........

Mom and My girl day.....

Hi! Isn't this beautiful? My baby girl and I had a field trip before Christmas to the Metropolitan Museum in NYC. This is one of the most interesting walls I saw, although I loved the entire museum. I am drawn to alot of color and my chicklet loved all the different patterns. You cannot take flash pictures there, so I took this and got yelled at. The man told me I could keep the picture I took, but not to take anymore with the flash on. So, I took alot more pictures, sans light, but kept this one to show and print for my little one's room. The museum is full of the most interest and beautiful things. There was an exhibit at one time concerning fiber art, but I didn't get a chance to see it. I would love to go again sometime and walk around uptown. There is a yarn store right near the museum "Annie & Co.," if I am not mistaken, that I saw on our way out. My attena went up when we were passing it, of course. I swear, the yarn is calling me.

My BEST friend.......

My bff. The kids talk about their bffs all the time and I think it's cute. Especially since my youngest made a bff list at school one day and I was numero uno. That felt good. My bff has been in my life for 18 years now. It's hard to believe how fast time goes and that it is possible to say I have been with this wonderful man for that long. With the new year here and his birthday happening in a few days, I wanted to say, "Happy birthday, my bff and I love you beyond measure."

Better late than never....

Here is our Christmas tree. Yeah, it's almost February. However, my life in the month of December is so chaotic that I am lucky to even take the time to snap a photo of the tree let alone blog the picture. Therefore, I am sharing my tree picture because I feel the need. I love the picture and I wanted you to see my pretty tree. At least I didn't wait until August to finally show you. The way I blog - a few spurts of postings and then nothing for months - I need to get in as much as I can. Thank you to my friends that tune in and keep the faith.

Our Christmas was nice. The kids get a haul (as you can see.) I feel that sometimes we give way more than they need, but my children ask for so little during the year that we feel like giving them so much for Christmas. You are only little once, right? The BIG gifts were from Santa to our smallest chicklet. She absolutely went bananas at the size of the boxes and was thrilled to see a Hannah Montana beach house when she opened it. That Hannah has a nicer house than most, I'll tell you! It's so fun being a little girl with all these cool toys. I had two Barbies and a Skipper doll. Remember her? Barbie's little sister. No Ken doll though. But, I did play with my friend's G.I. Joe doll when she came over. All brothers in her house.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday this year and the new year is bringing you lots of joy and happy days. Stay warm and look on the bright side of every day. Spring is not too far away, right!

Partially finished Friday.......

I must admit that it is technically not Friday. It is Sunday. However, I was so busy on Friday, that knitting was not in the cards for me. So, now that I am home and not going anywhere, I got to knit and start the second pedicure sock. My first one came out fine, but I was a little disappointed in the size. I made it according to my pattern and shoe size, but I think it's a bit big on me. So, I am knitting the second one in the size smaller to see if I like that one better. It only needed 4 less stitches casted on, so I am interested in seeing the size difference when it is done. Don't mind my leg in the picture. It's not easy taking a picture our your own foot and not showing that I haven't shaved my legs in God knows how long. Winter doesn't motivate me to do that since all I want to do is be in my jammies and cuddle, read or of course KNIT. My poor husband. I really should shave my legs. Such a lazy girl...... Anyway, I am also trying to finish this second sock because I promised myself I wouldn't start new projects until I am done with the one at hand (a.k.a. - on the sticks.) I have THREE purses in a basket upstairs waiting for me to sew handles in and line. They came out so nice and I really do want to finish them, but I get so excited to start a new project and knit. Not sew. Bad me. Finish or frog won't work for these since they are completely knitted and felted. I promised myself I would work on them this week. Let's see what the next few days hold.

Felted bag #101

I finally finished my bag that I was working on. I got inspired since I read my friend Karen's blog to "frog or finish." This concept actually came from major knitter's blog. I would link you to her, but still have no clue how to do that. She is on typepad as "major knitter" so if that helps, check out her cool idea on getting your wips done. This bag was a good project in that there is no seeming to be done. Once you are finished knitting it, just stick it in the washer to felt and you are done. However, I like to line my bags, so I will be doing that soon. But, today is a "clean the house" day. I have to do the dreaded chore of putting away all of my Christmas stuff. That is such a pain. It takes two to three days to decorate the house and more to put it away since I have to clean alot after it's all done. And, what am I doing now?....... Blogging instead. Anything to avoid it. So, have a good day and hopefully I will hear from you. Karen, I am thinking of trying socks on two circulars. I have a book on it from the library and wanted to know your opinion on that technique.