A Little Knitting...yup.

I don't actually mean that I've only been doing a little bit of knitting....that's actually FAR from the case. I've been knitting my little fingers ragged on various projects. Wanna see??

1. Button-Up Neck Warmer (finished!)



Yarn: My handspun (alpaca/merino/silk blend with green angelina, sportweight, 15 wpi)
Ravelry link to more details and pics HERE.

2. Tiny Shoes (finished!)



Yarn: Ackres Acres Bunny Blend sportweight angora in pale fushia and rose
Ravelry link to more details and pics HERE.

3. Mya's Jacket (finished!)



Yarn: Acker's Acres Bunny Blend sportweight angora in pale fushia and rose
Ravelry link to more details and pics HERE.

4. Baby Bear (finished!)



Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in brown
Ravelry link to more details and pics HERE.

5. Gigi's Socks (in progress)



Yarn: Sereknity Sock Options, one of a kind colorway
Ravelry link to more details and pics HERE.

6. Fudge Swirl Cabled Sweater (in progress)



Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in colorway 6206

7. Baby Yoda Sweater (finally finished!)



Yarn: Rowan All Seasons Cotton
Ravelry link to more details and pictures HERE.

8. Lizard Ridge Afghan (in progress...part of the "A Year in a Blanket" group on Ravelry)



Yarn: Noro Kureyon
Ravelry link to more details and pictures HERE.

9. Grown-Up Booties (finished!)



Yarn: Lopi in fushia
Ravelry link to more details and pictures HERE.

P.S. And, before I forget, some WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL gifts from my other friends that I wasn't able to share before:

- A Namaste Zuma bag in the Eggplant color and a gorgeous cupcake soap from Brittany...and the BEST card ever!! (Wish I'd taken a picture of it!)



- Two skeins of Alpaca Silk and a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy (have NEVER knit with it before...can't wait!) from Caroline...and also another awesome card...with sound!



P.P.S. And, my oldest, Tim....got his license last Friday!!! Yay! Passed both tests on the first try! I'm so proud of him!!

I knew that being patient would come in handy someday....and an FO.

Guess what??



BEN CAN KNIT!!!!



And I didn't help him at all....which I did before...I used to hold his hands while I explained what to do. But, today, as I was finishing up Tim's Felted Clogs - he wanted to do it on his own!!



I can't tell you how excited I am. I've always wanted to be the one to teach my children "crafty" things...like painting, drawing, sewing, knitting, etc. But, so far, Tim has only been interested in drawing and painting. (It also helps that both Ian's mother and sister are professional artists!)

Finally, one of my sons has taken up knitting! (Though, I can only hope that his interest will continue to grow...) Yippppeeeee.......!

And, now for the long awaited FO:

Tim's Felted Clogs

Yarn: Cascade 220 in black and two shades of red (colors #8414, 8895 and 8555), 4 skeins total
Pattern: Fiber Trends' "Felted Clogs"
Size: Men's medium
Needle: US 13 (20 and 32" circ - I used Addi Turbos)
Time: Took about 4.5-5 hours (of actual knitting time) per slipper and I'm not sure if I'll be adding the full suede soles this time because of how irritating it was to sew them on the last time. I'm thinking of trying those suede pieces, instead. Started on 1/20/09 and finished (with knitting, felting and felting more) 1/30/09.
Fun Level: B+ (I liked this pattern very much. It was clearly written, even though it was a bit complicated at parts. Once you make one slipper, the next one is a breeze. I was having trouble knitting the toe/instep part at around row 38/39, but I finally figured out that it's not the pattern that's wrong - it was me thinking that I could talk or listen to someone while doing those short rows. He he)

Slippers Unfelted:


Slippers Felted:


Sooo glad that I'm done with these because I'm about to start a new baby outfit in a beautiful white DK wool for a gift. Once this outfit is done, I can work on finishing GiGi's socks - and then there will be no more knitting for anyone else but MEEEE! (think horrible, horrible cackling here....)

I also wanted to share with you the absolutely COOLEST thing that I bought about a month ago. If you're on Flickr, you might have already seen the MOO printing services. If not, go check them out. I ordered a pack of stickers and a pack of mini cards, which were printed with pictures from my Flickr account. I haven't gotten the mini cards yet, but the stickers came today, and THEY ARE TOO TOO AWESOME AND ADORABLE!!!

Look at this!


And this!


And this!! (a few free ones on the front page)


I have no idea what I'll do with these yet, but my Moleskine journal is begging to be decorated!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Oh, p.s.....I'm up to just about 40 pounds lost in 16 weeks (on Wed) and I'm feeling really great. Will try to get Ian to take a pic of me so I can post it. I've dropped about 20 inches from my thighs, arms, waist and hips and a couple of clothes sizes. I'm doing Wii Fit pretty much every day for at least 30-40 minutes and doing yoga every single day. It's soo exciting and I hope to get to a 50 pound weight loss by my birthday in May. Wish me luck!!

When is it MY turn???

Hi you! I know...I've been pretty lazy about blogging lately.

I feel as if there are these weird excuses priorities for knitting, like:

ONE: Find pattern
TWO: Find yarn
THREE: Knit item
FOUR: Admire/wear/share item
FIVE: Find time to take pictures of item
SIX: Swear profusely when you can't get a good picture of item. (Apologize to children for swearing)
SEVEN: Remember to load pictures of item to computer, once you find your camera AND camera cord (This sometimes takes days)
EIGHT: Post item on Ravelry...after many side-tracked hours of pattern-surfing.
NINE: Go to Blogger and attempt to finally share a new blog post (which is usually at least 1-2 weeks behind), but get side-tracked (AGAIN!) in reading friends blogs.
TEN: After much effort, getting to the "Create New Post" area and listing 10 reasons why you haven't posted until now.

Pretty clever, huh?

So, now that I've done my necessary blabbering, I will show you a new FO (woo-hoo!!) and share some other stuff, too. Most of it is pretty interesting, too! Imagine that!

Ian's Felted Clogs

Yarn: Cascade 220 in a dark gray #8400
Pattern: Fiber Trends' "Felted Clogs"
Needle: US 13 (20 and 32" circ - I used Addi Turbos)
Time: Took about 4.5-5 hours (of actual knitting time) per slipper, not counting the sewing on of the suede sole (which took 1 hour total for both). Started on 1/ 06/09 and finished (with knitting, felting, felting more, and sewing up of both) 1/17/09.
Fun Level: B+ (I liked this pattern very much. It was clearly written, even though it was a bit complicated at parts. Once you make one slipper, the next one is a breeze. The only two things I didn't like were making 2 soles and sewing on of the suede sole - that was a pain in the a**!)

Picture of the slipper in progress:



Picture of the unfelted slipper on my hubby:



Pictures of the slippers on him:



He really loves them and has been wearing them since I finished them. They're a little big in the toe area (a little too wide) but, other than that, perfect!



Now...I'm working on a pair for Tim! (Black with red trim)

I just bought a number of skeins of yarn this week...I know, I know...I don't need them! But, I've had more requests for knitted items and I just can't say "no". (This is a weak point of mine.)

Let me share with you my yummy yarns:

1. 2 Skeins of Malabrigo (for Armando and Amanda Hats!) and 1 skein of Berroco Comfort in red.



2. 1 skein of Berroco Comfort in teal and 1 skein of Jojoland 100% cashmere laceweight in the most beautiful blue in the world!!



The Comfort yarn is for this: Hai-Riyo Dragon! (Rav link) One for each of my boys- and I bought some matching Berroco Lumina (sparkle, sparkle!) yarn for the dragon-y accents.

Since the beginning of December 2008 (so...about a month), I've been working on a number of items of other people:

-The "Branching Out" scarf for my mom's boss
-My dad's crocheted (acrylic!!) blanket
-Felted Tote for Felice
-Knitted Flower washcloth for Tim's piano teacher
-Felted Clogs for Ian and Tim
-Knitted socks using Sereknity yarn for Gigi (in exchange for a gorgeous pink, angora crocheted scarf!)
-Lace sample for the yarn store

And, I'm asking myself...."When is it MY turn???" When will I finally be done knitting things for others so I can knit for me??? I know this sounds horribly selfish, but knitting starts to become more like a chore than fun at some point. I DID get to knit a couple of things that I wanted to since December...like:

-My Mr. Flurry snowman (Rav link)
-A design item that I sent in
-Bella's Mittens (Rav link....oooh, see pics below -these were VERY fun!!)



AND...I have a baby sweater to knit (which I'm actually kinda excited about because it's soo cute!) for my mom's boss' daughter's baby-to-be - which is due late Feb.

Will I finish everything?? Will I end up having a nervous breakdown before then? Stay tuned for the results.... (he he)

P.S. Weight Watchers Update: 37.5 pounds total in 14 weeks!! I'm very excited. I've been doing yoga every day and also working out on the Wii Fit 5-6 times a week for at least 30 minutes. I'm trying not to eat too many snacks in between meals and still following some of the Flat Belly Diet rules along with my WW rules and points. I'm drinking TONS of water and eating TONS of vegetables -which, to me, is hard to do in the winter. Must-keep-gooooooiiiinnnng!!!!!