Christmas I can't believe it is almost here

I can't believe how fast this year has gone and that Christmas is less then one week away. I have stuff that still needs to get accomplished and I don't know if it will.




Luckily all my cookie baking and candy making is done.... okay almost done. This year I've made once again probably too many cookies and I even tried my hand at candy making.








The candy making was an adventure: I made toffee which came out really well and was super easy to make. I loved checking the candy in the water and seeing it get to the harder stages it was so fun to break that thread of sugar.


Besides the toffee I also took a stab at making caramels. Once again it was easier then I thought the only bad thing about the caramels was when it came to wrapping all those individual pieces.









One other thing I made this year will probably weird many people out but oh well. It was a little something featured in the holiday edition of Kraft Food Family; they called them "Mint Thins" it is basically chocolate covered Ritz crackers with peppermint. I know it may sound weird or gross but they really weren't that bad.

As for the cookies I made quite a few:

1. Chocolate chips
2. Ginger Krinkles
3. Chocolate Pistachio Twists
4. Latte shortbread sticks
5. Snickerdoodle crescents
6. Mint stripes
7. Frosty chews
8. Sugar cookie cutouts
9. Bocca di Nonnas
10. Mocha Hazelnut Biscotti (they still need to be glazed)

Well I'm off to finish a gift I need to finish knitting by tomorrow so I have time to block it. I'm making the Argosy for my mom's Christmas present. http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTargosy.html I have about 10 more pattern repeats to go and then I need to do section 3. If all goes well hopefully I'll have it done sometime tonight or early tomorrow.

Tempting Sweater Revisited

I am so happy that my sweater is finished. Tempting was a great pattern. Though if I see a pattern that is all ribbing it will be awhile till I attempt that one. If I wouldn't have mastered the 'continental purl technique' I would be working on this sweater for ever. I'm happy with how it came out and even happier that it fits. With the knitting of this sweater I think I found a favorite wool yarn; Cascade 220 http://www.cascadeyarns.com/cascade-220.asp. Knitting a sweater in wool that will felt is something I highly recomend; especially if you despise weaving in the ends like I do. Wool that will felt allows one to do a join of the yarn ends with a mini felting process and that makes finshing that much easier. The only ends I had to weave in was where I started, finished, the sleeves, and the sleeve joins which wasn't so bad. I'm definitely looking forward to making something else with wool that will felt.

One thing I realized since I have made both of the Tempting sweaters offered on http://www.knitty.com/. I've come to realize that the pictures that they show with the pattern seem to be messed up. With the Tempting sweater (the sleeves are off the shoulder); while with Tempting 2 (the sweater appears to have a normal neckline). But when you reach the finished product the reverse seems to be true. Alas that just must be one of those things.

Now that I've finished this sweater for myself... I guess it will be time to make something for someone else... I've got a couple Christmas presents I need to make and then I'll just have to decide what my next project will have to be.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving

Tempting Sweater

My current knitting project is going great; I can't believe I'm as far as I am. I just have to say I think I am able to handle all the k2, p2 ribbing because of knitting 'continental style'. This project has taught me the proper way to purl continental and I couldn't be happier. This new sweater will definitely be added to my wardrobe in the very near future. I still have to decide how long to make the sleeves. I'm not sure if I really want the 4" sleeves called for in the pattern. I'll probably measure a sleeves on some other sweaters and go from there. I have decided though I am going to attempt both sleeves at the same time. "Magic loop" hopefully it will work to my advantage.

Once this is finished it will officially be time to knit some Xmas presents. I still don't know what I'll knit my Dad. What to knit for someone who doesn't wear hats, scarves, gloves... and no way would I attempt a sweater for a guy. Oh well I'll think of something.... I hope.

Ravelry

I'm singing praises to the land of Ravelry. I got my invite on Friday and have since fallen in love with this site. It is a great place to show off what you have made and come up with more ideas of what to make next. The number of groups that are available is just amazing.

Ravelry is one thing that all knitters, crocheters should be apart of; for anyone waiting for their invite to come, or those unsure about signing up? It is well worth the wait.

My most recent Completed Project

Here is my most recent completed knitting project. It was a two part project. A Cabled baby set http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/60604A.html?noImages== and a baby blanket: http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/60160-1.html?noImages==; oh and a pair of knitted baby mitts too. This was yet another one of my favorite projects. Baby items are so fun to knit; they are so small and they go by so quickly. Now all that is left for me to do; is package it up and send it off. Knitting sure is a fun hobby!

A completed Purse

I am so happy that I finished the Brea Bag! I was able to figure out the reverse single crochet (I think) and even tried making the lining on a sewing machine. Let me just say a sewer I am not... but who sees the lining anyway. This project took me a week of on and off knitting. Casted on last week during Survivor and finished the final sewing in of the lining during this weeks Survivor. Here is a little peek at my lining ...

Now that this is finished I need to finish a Baby Blanket and then get started on some items to wish people a Merry Christmas.

I am also anxiously awaiting my ravelry invite only 2909 people are ahead of me on the list. This seems like it is a great knitting community to belong to and I can't wait to be apart of it. More later......

A New Favorite Pattern

I have found myself another pattern that I love, this one differs from others because I can actually see myself making this again. It is the pattern for the Brea Bag; http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/brea/brea.html . In one of my online knitting groups someone decided to do this pattern as a Knit along (KAL). So I thought yeah, I'll join in; of course, it took me awhile to get started, that really didn't surprise me. Last week though I decided I was going to start. So I bought some Cascade 220 yarn during a recent yarn store trip and planned on knitting this ASAP.

On Thursday night, I decided to start; what a surprise by Friday night the back panel was completed. Of course I did run into some problems with the directions. Those dreaded "knit the knits and purl the purls as they face you"; but being the nerd that I am I charted out all those even rows (let me just say that helped 100%). After finishing the back I decided I would work on the boring part of the pattern the dreaded moss stitch gusset which I did in a little over a day of on and off knitting. Then came time for the front piece which was started last night and finished today. But once I had the pieces finished I needed to do some 'reverse single crochet'; I knew how to do single crochet; but had never heard of the reverse type. Though, I found some help on that matter; and who knows if I did it right or not it looks good enough to me. So now all that is left is some blocking (YUCK!) and seaming (UGH!) oh and of course a lining; then I'll be done. But hey I think I can consider this a finished object after all I'm close. So here is a little preview please ignore the yarn holding it together...I really need to invest in some safety pins.

A Trip to my LYS (local yarn store)

Well today was a day I had been looking forward too.. I was going to go to my LYS! I had some volunteering to do at the public library (art show); and since the yarn store is right by the library it looked like it would be the perfect opportunity. I had a gift certificate (thanks to the greatest sister one could ever have) and some ideas of what I may get. Let me just tell you it was a successful trip. The choices were hard to make so many beautiful feeling yarns to choose from.. a true yarngasm experience. I ended up getting supplies for four (4) projects.

• 2 skeins of Cascade 220 (for brea bag)
• purse handles (for brea bag)
• 3 more skeins of Cascade 220 (might be a sweater)
• some size 5 double pointed needles (a scarf I want to make needs these)
• a skein of Tofutsies- the yarn with shrimp and crab shells (i've always wanted to try)
• oh and a scarf kit -couldn't pass on the price or the ease of pattern

The scarf kit contained 2 skeins of metal wink (a true novelty yarn) each priced at 6.75 and a skein of Patons Katrina at 9.00. I got it all for 19.95. Oh and all you need to do is cast on 12 stitches on size 17 needles and just knit away. The novelty yarn is white while the patons yarn is a soft blue.. I can't wait to see how it comes out.

Now all I have to do is finish some other projects and I can start on these. But who knows I might not worry about my WIPs and might just start on one of these; I'll just have to see.

My Felting Experience

Well I've officially felted! What can I say about felting... it has its ups and downs. One thing I did enjoy about this project was the ease of joining in the ends of my yarn.. I was able to do that 'felting join' don't know what you would really call it. Though it's when you wet the two ends of your yarn and then use the friction from your hands to join them together... that was pretty amazing. Oh and I also tried a new bind off that I highly recommend. Learned it from a Knitty Gritty http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/shows_dkng/episode this week. Basically, you knit 2 together and then slip the stitch back to the left needle and knit 2 together again.. and just repeat till the last stitch. Okay enough about that back to my felting experience.

Here it is before any felting what so ever...





Okay so the washing machine that I use is a front-loader so I always thought how would I be able to felt... well in the most recent Knitty http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall07/FEATfeltingoldway.html I found this article on felting before washing machines so I gave it a try...








The article doesn't lie talk about tiring work and messy. So I decided to stop on felting this way and decided to felt in the washing machine. Thank goodness for modern appliances. Thankfully I had found another article on felting in a front load machine http://www.woolcrafting.com/felting-in-a-front-load-washing-machine.html and it worked




All that is left is some drying and then a little icord and a button.

Felting something I'm glad I've learned to do. One more technique tried.... so many more to come.

First Felting Project

Knitting... is something I truely love; and have been doing for a little under 2 years. Well I have decided to enter the world of felting my knitting projects. So I've decided I'll write about my felting experience. I am attempting an "Accesory Bag". As of right know I've done a majority of the knitting only about an inch more to go and will then attempt to "hand felt". This is going to be interesting. I am hopeful that it will work out and can't wait to share my experience.