The Joy of Mail

 The mailman has been paying us lots of visits lately.

 

 

Look what arrived for Amelia yesterday! My good friend Julie told me she was making a stocking, but I had no idea what it would be like. I LOVE it!!! Look at the kitties...and the snowman! Amelia will be able to keep this forever, I'm so excited. Thank you Auntie Julie. :)

 

 

 

 My knitting group is doing a knit along in January and is making the February Lady Sweater. I've never made a sweater for myself so I'm pretty excited (we'll see if I can actually get it done!). My mom got me a KnitPicks gift certificate for Christmas (and permission to use it before Christmas) so here's one of the things I got. I'm going to use this "Wool of the Andes" to knit my sweater. I've already started, but I've only knit about 5 rows...ha, we'll see if that sweater ever gets done.

And in the same order, I got some gorgeous sock yarn and this book.

 

Trisha and I got together last week and we went through the patterns in the book and decided on a scarf for this yarn. I haven't started it yet and might not get to it until next winter. I think it'll be a gorgeous scarf anyway. By the way, Trisha and her family babysat for me so Nick and I could go see the new Harry Potter film...thanks Trisha and co.!!

And for those of you who are interested in baby pictures, here's the latest.

 

Yep, I made the jumper and she does have a great big glob of slobber on her chin. Who wants a picture with a bib? This is Amelia at 11 weeks. I hear all the time in my baby group that things get all magical at 12 weeks, 5 days to go. haha

My First Cables

You know I've been getting into knitting lately, right? Well this weekend I finally tried my first cables! Trisha and I went to a pattern release party at Yarn Stash in Burien and started making these great fingerless gloves. 

 

The pattern is by Jennifer Hagen of Figheadh Yarnworks. Jennifer was there to help us through the pattern and to show us the new patterns she's releasing. I must say, her knitted samples were gorgeous! The Off Kilter Mitts pattern is available as a free download here.

 

This is the yarn I chose to make my mitts. It's a wool from Cascade Yarns called Quattro, the color is Fiji. I like a solid with a little something going on, so this one's perfect for me (and affordable).

I got enough done at the shop to get a little help with the cables. It wasn't too hard and the pattern is really well written & easy to follow. All you have to do is pay attention!

Unbelievably, I finished my first mitt that night!! (I'm sure Trisha will be amazed.) What's great about these is that you just knit two of the same mitt. No left and right. Pretty cool, eh?

I think I did pretty well for my first time cabling. Some of the stitches are a little loose at the edges of the cables, but I don't mind. I used DPN's, and I think that was the wrong choice. I definitely learned a lot from this project and I look forward to making the other mitt.

Sport Weight Disciple

I started a new pair of socks yesterday. This time I'm knitting one at a time, from the toe up from this book with this yarn.

I repeat, I started these yesterday. If I could knit every pair of socks in my future on sport weight yarn, I'd do it. This is one evening of work, not two weeks. Wow!

Wonderful Yarn

You may have noticed that I've become a bit of a knitter lately. Because of this, I will now share with you some delicious treasures I recently acquired from the UK.

I don't know how I found Lilou Colours, but I'm glad I did. She offers several types of hand-dyed yarns.

This was my first purchase, it's called Burst of Sunshine, and it's an "ultimate sock yarn. It's a really soft wool/silk/bamboo combination. I loved it so much  when I got it that I quickly whipped up a little swatch.

Isn't it gorgeous? I might make myself some fingerless gloves, or maybe some socks as a Christmas gift. (I'd rather keep it for myself though, hehe.)

Then I ordered more!

*sigh*

Guimauve, Key Lime Pie and Irish Landscape. (3 points for great names!)

You must check out Lilou Colours, she's new to Etsy and deserves some love.

Since we're on the subject of yarn, here's the update on my crazy clown socks.

I'm so close!!

Shopaholic

I've been doing a little shopping lately.

These two 5x5" photos came from Friendly Made on Etsy. I've had my eye on that dinosaur for months! There's a 3rd print downstairs in our family room.

Another item I've been coveting is this lavender bunny all the way from the UK. Check out Pouch for more cute stuff.

How about a little local handmade goodness? Our farmer's market does one day of crafts and it was yesterday. I couldn't walk away without this cute pincushion! Adorable, no? Unfortunately, I can't send you to a website or anything for this one. :(

I also came home from JoAnn with quite a collection of colorful yarns. My monkeys are going to be so happy, haha. I couldn't resist taking a photo of all these bright colors.

Now, I must get back to work so I can keep shopping. hehe

Yarnilicious

Every now & then I need to update my custom monkey yarn colors. I don't want my monkeys to get boring so I add new ones, stop using certain colors & so on. I've rephotographed my yarns & here's what I came up with...


These yarns make pretty photos, don't they? Perhaps I should print them and hang them in my sewing room for inspiration.

I've added lots of new colors and only discontinued a few. I now have 29 color choices in the shop (the monkey shop, that is)! Oh my gosh. Now I need to come up with a good way to keep them organized.

The New Pink

First off, I want to apologize for not reading your blogs as much as usual. I feel really bad, I'm just a little busy. Sorry! I'd really like to be blogging more too, but the sewing machine is calling me.
Anyway, I thought I'd show you a new color I got for the monkeys. It's pink! I seem to be drawn to pink lately so I couldn't resist this yarn.

Isn't it a lovely, soft color? I'm in love. I made this pencil cup the other night and thought it would be a good time to try the new pink. I love it! This monkey's called Stacey and she was already adopted.

Now I'm going to list Miss Jennifer, she's a Nano Monkey. I got a chance to use a fancy button on her hat, she's a cutie, eh? I got some pretty new yellow too and lots of beige for monkey mouths. I do have 80 or so to make for the wedding. Don't worry, they're in the works, hehe.

Oh! And I finally started to destash. So far I've listed one pattern and some really cute monkey flannel in my iSew shop. More to come.

Now I'm off to make a pink flower girl dress. Wish me luck, I think it can be done today, uh, maybe by Monday. Have a great weekend!

A Happy Day

(sorry in advance, this is a long one)
I'm very excited today because Nick is coming home from his trip to the UK. I haven't seen him in 12 days! That's a record for us since we started living in the same country. haha I can't wait to see him and I know the kitties will be glad too.
The other good news is that I finally found myself a photographer for my wedding. That was a huge unknown up until now. I've been spending a lot of time on the wedding details since I got the bridesmaids dresses taken care of. This is basically what they'll wear.

This past Saturday I went into San Francisco with my friend Amanda to look for fabric for my dress. Unfortunately, I didn't even come close to anything. There was surprisingly little in the way of bridal fabrics, even at Britex. I suppose it's even harder when you know exactly what you want. So far the front runner for the main part of the dress is a special order from JoAnn, that's right, I said JoAnn - Hey! At least there I can use a coupon! I guess, in my head, I had hoped for a more glamorous fabric experience. You know, like I found it in some back alley shop for $3.99 a yard. There was a really great blush colored lace in Orange County, but the design was all over and I think that's just too much. sigh At least I've got the pattern, right?
Anyway, the day was a success and a lot of fun. Amanda and I shopped for about 10 hours, something Nick would never have done, no matter how many stores have a man chair. We went to the Japanese book store I've been wanting to see. There were so many books in the craft section, I was a little overwhelmed. In the end though, I had to get something. This was my choice:

I have no idea what it's called, but it's absolutely filled with amazing patchwork bags. Very inspirational.
Britex was not a complete failure, I did pick up a few buttons. For monkeys, of course. Just a little side note, I've been looking for a lemon button forever! So cool that I found the perfect one.

And last but not least, the yarn shop. No, not for monkeys this time, I can't afford fancy yarn for those guys. Who'd buy a cashmere Gadget Monkey? ImagiKnit was a great store with loads to look at and covet. I ended up with this pretty pink speckled yarn. No idea when or how I'll use it, but it's pretty, no?A lovely day out with lots to share. Can't wait to hear some opinions on that fabric now.

Little Things

I'll just start by saying today was a pretty good day. First, I went to my weekly Weight Watchers meeting and discovered that I am now a lifetime member, I lost 21 pounds! Yay!!! Then, I went to Target for a few things and finally got these. They're still on my feet at this very moment. And then, I found some great yarn for a custom monkey scarf (kinda like the one you see here) I need to make. All is good.
Productivity-wise, it wasn't a fantastic day. I had a few things to make for a friend of mine and that took my whole afternoon. Ah well, it was still a good day. And while I'm on the subject of productivity, I want to mention a couple things. First off, some of you are creating some wonderful things this holiday season. Jenn's sewing kit and ornaments are just too cute, great work Jenn. And Herbst Handmade just added the pattern for her adorable monkey & bear rattles to her shop. I want to make them for myself! Misses Kwitty has some beautiful hand stitched ornaments in her shop, check it out. I'm so impressed with all of you, keep it up.

I've been trying to get a lot made lately, I'm so low on everything for my market booth right now. I picked up one of these new Sidewinders from Wright's. I think it's great little time saver. My machine is supposed to be able to wind a bobbin while the needle is threaded, but it never works for me. This little gadget will wind them anywhere you want. You can plug it in or use batteries, very handy if you're the type who's constantly shuffling things around the work table {raises hand}. It's quick too. I like the idea of keeping a few bobbins wound and ready to go, but it doesn't always work that way for me. All I need is a second spool of thread and my Sidewinder will keep me stitching. Two thumbs up from me. (I got it with a 40% off coupon too - even better)
Happy crafting!