Things I've made since Christmas

Surprisingly enough, I didn't get too burnt out after Christmas. Sometimes I have to take a bit of a break. I think Christmas knitting went a bit smoother this year so I didn't get overwhelmed. Which means I have things to show you.

Actually these first two projects are kind of funny. I suppose they are finished, but not really. Actually I think my belly dance belt is finally complete. I keep adding more jingly things. I have jingle envy of the other girls in class so I keep adding coins. But I took up Belly Dancing. I needed something shiny and loud to wear. But I must have changed the top edge on this like 5 times by now.

I love these slippers. They did have suede soles on the bottom, but they were too heavy and would cause the slipper to come off of my food. And now the foot fits better, but I think the buttons I have on it are too heavy because the top part won't stay up. So I need to change those out. Soon, cause it is getting cold again.

A little custom sewing for Beth and Sam. Beth needed a crochet hook roll and we went shopping to pick out the fabric. Sam found this adorable Winnie the Pooh fabric and wanted a drop spindle bag. I think they both turned out very well. So many girls in my knitting group are carrying my bags. But my current crochet project, it's tucked into walmart plastic bags. :) I am a horrible promoter.

And this acorn bag was a gift for a friend. I had to steal the picture from her because I forgot to take a picture before it got packed up. I do that a lot. I get so excited something is done that I pack it up to leave and I never get a picture. I need to work on that.

Tabby Thursday

I was inspired by a blog I read and my recent aquisition of a Tabby Cat to do a Tabby Thursday post. Christi does a Tabby Tuesday on her blog and I love Calvin and Ripple. Of course, I probably won't be doing too many of these. Itchy likes to hide upstairs, away from the natural light we get downstairs, and my camera takes crappy pictures with the flash. But here is Tabby Thursday

Oh Hai! My name is Itchy.

Iz in new house, but made myself at home.

I iz curious about this thing they let in and out of the house called a "dog"

I also like noms. Do you have any?

Christmas presents

Epic, epic fail on the lateness of this post.

Christmas time is over and presents have been finished and received. Yay! I suppose it is time to get started for next year.

Mom got a felted bag. It is sort of a mashup (yay Glee!) of a few patterns and ideas. She had picked out a basic pattern where she really liked the stripes and colors and I found a pattern that was free and adapted from there. I think it turned out ok. I had to do color work to do the stripes, but the upper edge didn't have the tug of the floating strands on the inside so it ended up kind of floppy. But I think it was cute.
Brian got a hat. He was going to get a fraggle hat similar to the one I made my mom, but just before I started he changed his mind. He saw a picture of him as a kid with a long stocking cap. So I obliged. I just kind of winged this one. I knew my gauge and I knew the size of his head. I think he liked it. My friend Becca is moving north from Florida this winter. So I knew she needed a bit of warming up. So I came to the rescue.

She got Fingerless mitts (a short version of the long ones I made for myself) and

A snuggly cowl. Lion Brand's scalloped cowl pattern. She also got a caloriometry. But I forgot to take a picture. I love that pattern. So easy and fast.

I also made her some soap that looks like plates of E.coli. I might have also given some of these to coworkers who work with E.coli. I couldn't resist. It is Bacterial Soap. ::giggle::
Becca has also aquired a puppy as you saw in my last post. Well I tried to crochet a sweater for her. And I wanted it to look peppermint striped because of my name for her. Well, I tried to kill her dog because it was too small and her head got stuck. So I whipped up a new one. I just hope it made it ok before Mocha got too big for it.

There were actually two sets of these slippers made and given. Tracey and Lauren, I hope you don't mind having matching slippers. The puffy paint design on the bottom is different. I love these slippers. So easy and so warm. The pattern is Babuska Ballerina Slippers.

And of course, Julia had to get pretty things too. Since so much stuff for her birthday was pink and brown, she got pink and brown mittens and a hat. The mittens were just kind of improvised. The first pair I made sucked. These were much better.

This hat is the cutest hat ever. Of course it is on the cutest niece ever. I also might be biased. I kind of want to make myself one though, so it really is a cute pattern. The Aviatrix hat, the pattern is free on Ravelry. I hope you enjoyed my Christmas roundup that is occuring in February. I might have gotten everything made on time, but something had to be late so it was this post.

Holiday Sum Up

No Christmas present post yet. Waiting on Zach before mailing the last present out. Hopefully shortly. So instead I will post about the holidays and how much crazy running around their was.

We spent Christmas weekend with my dad and his family. Christmas eve at their house and present opening. Yay for a Coach Purse and work out accessories. I have new workout pants, sports bras and tennis shoes (aquired with Christmas money). We spent Christmas day hanging out with family. Heidi and Diablo are resting after some good play time. Diablo is my aunt and uncle's dog. We went over there for Christmas dinner. Then we went to my grandma's

Then Becca and Mike came to stay with us for 2 days. Which was great. They brought their new puppy, Mocha. Or as I have dubbed her White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha-Mocha. Because I like Starbucks White Chocolate Peppermint Mochas and because I can't read. Poor thing. I am mostly amused by the fact that they were here for two days and I took about 50 pictures of their dog and about 1/2 of a picture that included Becca. But seriously. I couldn't resist that cute.

So for New Year's weekend, we went to my mom's. Lots more fun presents and some kick ass trips to Goodwill. I am highly jealous of her Goodwills. I got a knee length 100% wool black pea coat for $5. Craziness. But I paid for my good time by being forced into slave labor. I think I need to stop acompanying my mother to craft stores. While at Hobby Lobby she bought the yarn for these slippers,

and she bought a magazine that contained this cowl pattern. She also gave me the yarn that this cowl is made from. And yes I finished both of these projects in two days. I can finally feel my wrists again.

On the way home from my Mom's, we stopped and Zach's brother's house. They were needing to find a new home for their cat. They asked me first, but I am not allowed to answer questions pertaining to the bringing home of animals. Zach said yes though. So we have a kitty!!! Her name is Itchy. After spending the first day worrying about her not eating or drinking or using the litter box, she has settled in. She even slept with us last night.

So that was our Holidays. Lot of animals. But it was fun. I hope everyone else had good ones too.

Being Festive

It is possible we might have a white Christmas this year. I took some really fun pictures of snow flakes on my car. They were perfect little snowflakes.
I also made an early Christmas present for my Dad's girlfriend. She is a nurse, so I made her some Christmas stethascope covers. I hope they get there in time. They are super easy. But I wasn't sure I was going to get to them in time. But I did.

We finally have a tree topper. It is the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I couldn't bring myself to finish what Tiffany had dubbed as the tampon angel. So I went a different route.

Oh and since I am pretending not to be worried about finishing Christmas knitting and crafting, I cast on a shawl. The beads are taking me a while to add. But it is going to be pretty.

Hopefully after Christmas I will have some pictures to share of what I've been working on. But I probably won't be posting much until after the new year. So have a merry Christmas

Christmas is coming

the goose is getting fat. Pleased to put a penny in the old man's hat. Well, actually there isn't a goose. Although that would be tasty. I think we are having ham. mmmm...ham. But no rolls. Stuffing has been banished from the holiday table. I think I underestimated the power rolls have over me and my waistline. So those might be banished. Or find a recipe that won't completely undo my calories.

But how do I know Christmas is coming? The tree has been decorated and presents have begun to grow in the shade of its branches.

Cute ornaments have been made to decorate its branches.

Santa's little helper has come out of hiding to help.

Ornament extravaganza

I tried to think of a way to smoosh those two words together, but it just didn't sound right. But I don't have too much to show you guys so I am doing a blog post about Christmas Ornaments. I don't have my tree up yet, and I would like to add a few new ornaments to it this year. So I've been searching for cute ones. I also am going to a Pre-Christmas party this coming weekend and I need to bring an ornament to exchange. So handmade ornaments it is.

Of course I started on Ravelry with a search for knit and crochet patterns for ornaments. That is where the candy canes from the previous post and these cute dreidels came from. Made these for a few friends.

Then I moved on to the rest of the internet and found this pattern for a felt dove that looks easy, elegant and quick.

This tiny gingerbread house is tre adorable. In the process on this one.

I'm not sure if I have enough buttons to make any of these Button Wreaths. But

my grandma definitely did. Button stash raided. I think mine turned out cute. I didn't have enough time to put on a bow (I suck at tying them so it takes a while).

Illuminated snowflakes. I think I would like these without all the fuss of adding LED's. Just the pretty beads.

The knitter in me loves this one. I am actually thinking of doing a couple for my tree, but using tooth picks and smaller beads.

And an ornament a knitter should never be without. An emergency yarn stash ornament.

This ornament is just cool looking. Although the tutorial seems like it would make something a bit big to be a tree ornament. I might experiment with something smaller. Maybe with fabric. I need some Christmas fabric.

And I'm not the only one who loves making ornaments. I found a great blog with an even better list. It includes a few of the ones I've featured here, and I lot more I haven't. So many ornaments that she had to make a second post.

And while speaking of ornaments, I would be remiss if I didn't mention my friend Haley's Etsy store. She has some of the cutest ornaments ever. Including this one (not technically an ornament, but still). And I have one. And I can attest it is just as cute in person, if not moreso. Just so damn excited to see it snowing.