Boing Boing Boing...Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!

Check out the live pinball action on this video! The fun of this year's winter in the Northwest just keeps on comin'! I've had about all of the ice and snow I can take for a while---I promise, I'll NEVER gripe about the "45 degrees and rainy" again. (Well, at least not for a while.....).


>^..^< >^..^<

Look what I.....uh, WE got!!

Recieved a fun box from my Winter Wonderland Swap pal, Dawn! This was my first knitting swap, so I was excited to receive the box! Look at all the fun stuff she sent...





You can't see them in the picture, but there are some really pretty red opalescent stitch markers on top of the angel cloth in the middle. I also love the SnC yarn colors she sent!

I barely had time to arrange and admire all of my goodies for a nice picture, when THIS arrived....


Yep, that's right, 14+ pounds of minion-y goodness clumped itself right down on top of the carefully arranged scene. The Supervisor had arrived. Very graceful----sort of like Godzilla tromping through Tokyo... After some covert surveillance while I was arranging things, he then proceeded to launch an all-out attack on the poor, unsuspecting contents of my gift box....


Perhaps feeling he could not complete the job alone, he called in reinforcements....


Perhaps the Technocat should join in for a little technical advice and support.....



Finally, The Supervisor surveys the battle scene and admires his handiwork. There were no casualties, but unfortunately, the ballband from the sage green yarn took one for the gift box and was torn. The chocolate espresso beans were quickly reunited with their stocking after the minion retreat.

I am happy report that the ballband has been repaired and is recovering nicely. **No other gift contents were harmed in the launching of this attack.**

In all fairness to the minions, there was, after all, a bottle of "catnip bubbles" amongst the items---so they are claiming they were taunted into an assault....

Thanks, Dawn! I.....um, WE really enjoyed all of the gifts!

>^,,^< >^,,^<

Happy New Year...and more felting!

Happy 2007 to everyone! Hope you all had fun ringing in the New Year in your own way. I spent a quiet evening at home with hubby and the minions on New Year's Eve, which was fine with me!

Had fun working on a few little fun projects between Christmas and New Year. I loved the felted mini-baskets I made a couple of months ago so much, I'm making more in larger sizes to see if they come out as well as the tiny ones. Made this one in "manly" colors for my hubby, which I think came out pretty. He put it on his desk at work with candy in it. I again used the Paton's SWS soy/wool blend, which felts up beautifully and very solid.

For size comparison, this basket is the equivalent of one size larger than the original, business-card-sized basket. In fact, the original mini-basket nests into this slightly larger one perfectly. I'm going to increase the size again on the next one, to see if the walls of the basket hold up in a larger size with the way it is constructed.

I also knitted these hot pads, which are from a free pattern on Knitpicks called "Hot out of the Oven." I used the yarn suggested in the pattern, which is Wool of the Andes Bulky. I also used the color shown in the pattern, called "spumoni." (It really does look like spumoni ice cream...).

These were very quick to knit, but I'm not real pleased with the way this yarn felted up. If you look closely at the square hot pad, you can see the lines where there were decreases on either side. I felted these for about 1-1/2 hours, and this was the tightest it was going to get. It is actually more noticeable in the photos than it looks in person, so no big deal---they are only hot pads, after all! I do think they are cute and funky, though, so I will probably make another set and see if they turn out differently.

I also worked on a moebius bowl that has been lurking as a UFO in my knitting basket since last April. I have finished all but cutting and applying the fringe, and then it will be felted as well. It is knit from some beautiful Fleece Artist yarn in a bright turquoise-blue/green blend, which I'm hoping will retain some of it's vibrant color when felted. Don't have a picture of the basket yet, because right now it looks kind of like a really large, floppy hat with twisted brim---not a very good subject for picture-taking in it's current state!

>^..^< >^..^<

Should I be worried.....?

Here's the fortune cookie I got today......hmmmmm......not sure if I like this! I guess I'll be staying away from the doctor until he gets out of rehab.....

My Fortune Cookie told me: Your doctor is looking unsteady because he has been hitting the gin. Get a cookie from Miss Fortune

>^oo^< >^oo^< meeeee-oooowwwww!

Happy Holidays!

Haven't had much time for posting this week----lots to do to get ready for Christmas! I'm so excited because my Winter Wonderland Swap partner, Jeremy, received her gift box already! I'm amazed at the speed of that delivery to Illinois since I just mailed it on Monday afternoon! She posted on the swap site about her gifts, which was a nice surprise for me when I clicked on to it---The most joy of gift-giving is seeing someone's reaction when they receive a gift!

This was my first secret swap and it was really fun to send a gift to a complete stranger! I'm also anticipating the fun of receiving a gift in the mail from someone I don't know as well. Maybe part of the excitement of the "secret swap" experience is sending a gift to someone about whom you have absolutely no pre-conceived ideas or opinions----there's a sort of freedom in being able to send a gift simply for the experience of giving it, especially when it is hand-crafted, rather than having the pressure of shopping for that "perfect" gift. You do receive some hints to go on for color and scent preferences, etc., but that still leaves lots of room for creativity in putting together the gift. I'm hoping to join some more swaps in the future!

Meanwhile, I'm still plugging away on the felted clog slippers for hubby. They are a sort-of Christmas gift, although he knows about them and has been observing their progression as I have been knitting them. He also knows there is no way they are going to be done in time for Christmas, but he doesn't mind. I think he enjoys seeing the progress as they begin to look more like slippers and knowing they are for him. Besides, I really want him to be there for sizing while felting them, so I don't have to do any guessing about when they are felted to the right size! I have also started a small felted basket for him (in "manly" colors, of course), which I may have finished by Christmas....Oh well, at least my shopping skills are faster than my knitting skills, so I have some other nice gifts for him as well!

I'm planning on meeting who I call "the knitting girls" tomorrow at Village Yarn & Tea for a little R&R, no-holiday-stress knitting, tea sipping and jib-jab :) It just so happens that I need to leave the house for a while so my hubby can wrap my gifts (yeah!), so of course I really need to leave the house to accommodate him for this important task....

Happy Holidays to everyone. I wish you all a joyful and peaceful holiday. Don't forget to give yourself the gift of some relaxing knitting time in a comfy spot.

^,,^< >^,,^<

Do I get credit for UN-knitting my projects?

How is everyone's holiday knitting coming along? I'm in the negative zone at the moment, since I ripped out not one, but two WIP's this past weekend. R.I.P. Frog Tree Alpaca Cape Cod Shells scarf, and Fleece Artist curly mohair/silk triangular shawl.

The alpaca scarf has been asking for it for a while. I started it over twice already, and then it went and hid a stitch from me after I had very nicely completed about 8 inches of it! I first tried to rip back just a little to see if I could find the stitch, or where it dropped, but no luck. So I just kept on rippin' until it was gone. BAD scarf! Actually, that felt kinda good, so.....

In moving on through my bag to find another project to complete, I noticed my slightly-neglected triangular shawl mocking me from the bottom of the bag. I took it out to work on it, but then remembered why I've neglected it for a while. I'm just not liking how the yarn-increases on the edges are looking.....maybe I'll find another way to do it.....and there I went. Before I knew it, the shawl was off the needles and I was ripping out stitches fast and furious, and the shawl was rewound into a nice ball of lovely yarn, with not a hint of it's past as a shawl I was kinda pretending to like.

I gotta say, all of that ripping back of stitches felt kinda good----kinda like I had suddenly gained the ability to knit at mach speed......only backwards. Oh well, I feel better now anyway. Kinda scary though, how easy it was to rip out hours and hours of knitting in what seemed like seconds! I still intend to make a shawl out of the Fleece Artist, but the alpaca will have to moved on to some other deserving project----I don't think I could start that pattern over once again!

There were a couple of projects I was able to complete this past week, though. I was finally able to get a (sorta bad) picture of my poinsettia dishcloth with the bobbles in the center, after about 15 tries. Some things just don't want to photograph, and a bright red dishcloth is one of them, but I think you can see the pattern, anyway...

I also finished gathering up what I want to send to my Winter Wonderland secret swap pal...

The peach-colored lacy cloth in the center is called "crocus buds," and the blue cloth is a snowflake illusion cloth, which is hard to see in this picture. There is also a star Christmas coaster, felted mini-bag, bar of handmade peppermint soap, and a cute kitty cat ornament. And of course, I had to include a Seattle souvenir, since she lives in another state---a little zippered bag to carry a knitting project or whatever. It's all boxed up and ready to go---hope she likes it!
If I had my choice, I would have included some delectable dark chocolate and treats of some kind, but she asked for no food on her profile, so I guess I'll have to keep the chocolate....darn!

>^..^< >^..^<

It's finished felting day!

I've been having fun with felting for the past week, and now I'm finally posting the pictures....

Here is my first booga bag for Norovember. I actually finished in November, but didn't get around to the picture-taking until the weekend.

I really like how the colors turned out, but I'm not so sure I like Kureyon for felting bags of any substance. It is a yarn that has thick and thin areas, and it is not a very "solid" or thick felt. The bottom is a bit too soft to hold up solidly with contents inside, so I bought a piece of plastic cross-stitch-type sheet, cut to fit inside the bottom of the bag, and it's now much sturdier and holds contents without bowing out on the bottom. Normally I would just double the yarn, but with the beautiful striping pattern of the Kureyon, that isn't possible without ruining the effect. I love the color effects, but will probably reserve felting this yarn for smaller bags and other felted projects.

While in Victoria, BC last weekend, I bought a skein of Paton's SWS, which is a wool/soy blend. I saw a felted sample in the shop I visited there, and it looked so lovely felted. The variegated colors blend softly into one another, and it felts up very thick and sturdy, with a nice little "bumpy" textured effect.

I knit two mini-bags from a pattern called "Special Companions," a pattern available for free on KnitKit.com. They are a super-quick knit, so I came home from my weekend away with two bags done and ready for felting!

I made a felted bag previously from this designer (Janet Scanlon) called "My Little Companion," which I absolutely love and use constantly. (If you haven't tried any of Janet's patterns for felted bags, you really should try one----the patterns are well-written and the bags are well-structured and come out beautifully!)

I made these from one skein of the 'geranium' colorway, and had plenty left over for the handles with some extra to spare!

The bag on the right is shown without the handles applied yet. They look cute either way, but I love them with the handles, as they look like an exact miniature of my larger bag. I placed business cards inside so you can see the approximate size scale.

After felting and while still wet, it is easy to slightly change the shape of the bag before drying, so it can be molded into more of a round, basket-type shape as well. The top edge felts with the slight edge-curl of the stockinette stitch still intact, giving it the look of an I-cord rim.

I loved these little bags so much when they were finished, that I bought some more SWS in other colors to make some more. This yarn is less than $6 per skein at Michael's, and easily makes two bags, making the bags a cute and inexpensive project. I think they will make great gifts, or even holders for other gifts. I'm going to try making some in slightly larger sizes to see how they turn out. I would have never known that a wool/soy blend would felt if I hadn't seen the sample in the yarn store!

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