Happy New Year's Eve!

To all of you celebrating this evening.

Just a quick post before I crack open a bottle or two of vino. Tonight I will be ringing in the new year while working on this:




Minnesota Mittens from Folk Mittens by Marcia Lewandowski. They are being knit from left over Patons Shetland Chunky Tweeds (I bought too many balls for the Hugs and Kisses Sweater). For those of you unfamiliar with Minnesota Mitts, they aren't gloves and they aren't mittens, but a happy combination of the two. They look like gloves, but they have a pouch that you can pull over your fingers to make them into really warm mittens!

Well my guests are here, so:
TTFN and KEEP KNITTING!

Hope your holidays were good ones!

I am posting this blog update on the new toy my boyfriend bought me for Christmas: A new laptop! Yea! (although I know that he had ulterior motives in buying it. Now I can blog and surf to my heart's content and not interfere with his World of Warcraft playing!)

I had managed to finish the Flared Lace Smoke Ring for my boyfriend's Mom:

She loved it! I also included a bottle of Eucalan so she can care for it easily.

To recap: This is the Flared Lace Smoke Ring from Heartstrings, and it was knit in Michell & CIA Luxury Collection Alpaca Cashmere. (For those of you not familiar with what a Smoke Ring is, it's like a cowl that can be worn around your neck instead of a scarf, and it can also be pulled up around your head like a hood).

My current WIP on the needles is this:

A pair of mittens to match my Tassled Fez. I am almost done the second one. I am using Patons Classic Wool Merino in Winter White and Blue Storm, and the pattern is an adapted version of the Turkish Mittens from Vogue Knitting Mittens and Gloves.

Well, that's it for now!

TTFN and KEEP KNITTING!

I think I am developing an eye twitch...

...however, there has been progress:

Finishing the Hugs and Kisses sweater for my boyfriend (my own pattern and first attempt at an Aran-style sweater) was courtesy of this last Sunday:

One heck of a snowstorm! We got dumped on, and it isn't even winter yet!

In light of the fact that I have no other finished projects to share with you, (although I only have one more to complete) I have decided to show you the ornaments in all their glory on my tree:




I love these ornaments that I got out of a Christmas craft magazine at the Library: (I can't remember the magazine, but the design is by Kathleen George for the Dow Chemical Co.[they make Styrofoam brand], I just used smaller Styrofoam balls)

Basically you need some leftover yarn, a Styrofoam ball, two bamboo skewers, and two wooden beads. You wrap the yarn around the Styrofoam ball, and secure the end with some glue. You cut the pointy ends off the skewers at the length you want, and then glue the beads to the ends to make knitting needles. Stab the "needles" through the ball of yarn, hang and enjoy!

So, now it's back to knitting...

TTFN and KEEP KNITTING!

Progress on the Festive Front...

Well there has been some progress.

I have completed another Christmas ball:

I now have 8 of these (two of each colour). They have all been made out of leftover yarn from the Summer of Socks.

I finished the embroidery on the Christmas Stockings:

I found a font on the computer called St. Nicholas, which I tried to mimic on the stockings. I think they turned out pretty well!

I made some Crocheted Snowflakes:

I added some Swarovski Crystals to them so they will really sparkle when I hang them in the windows!

I made a wreath to hang on my front door:

But I am afraid to hang it in case it gets pilfered. I suppose I will wait to see if anyone else hangs wreaths and see what happens to them.

I have begun the Flared Lace Smoke Ring by Heartstrings purchased from The Loopy Ewe:

I have changed the wool I was using from the Lane Borgosia Laceweight to Luxury Collection's Alpaca Cashmere. It's a fingering weight and is saving my sanity! (the laceweight kept getting staticky and sticking to my sweaters, then it would tangle...) I think I will use the laceweight for a shawl in the summer.

...and finally my Boyfriend and I put up our tree last night (although we are not decorating it until Saturday). We couldn't wait any longer and we wanted to see it the lights worked, etc...:

They work. They are also really hard to photograph! I had to use the fireworks setting on my digital camera to get a half decent pic.

I'm really proud of our tree topper:

It has crystals on it and really sparkles in the daytime.

Well that's the report from the festive front!

TTFN and KEEP KNITTING!

No pics today...

I'm tearing myself away from holiday knitting long enough to let you all know that I'm still here, but will probably blog even less as Christmas is fast approaching. Projects on the needles include: boyfriend sweater, lace smoke ring, mittens (for me 'cause the white stuff seems to be here to stay). I think that's it. I decided not to be to insane this year, and opt for projects that I have a hope of finishing before Christmas Eve.
So, back to knitting.
Oh and Congrats to Dave for winning my blogoversary contest!
TTFN and KEEP KNITTING! (I know I will!)

It's been a whole year...

...of very inconsistent blogging! However, I have loved what this blog has given me. It's given me an outlet for my frustration (usually with my current WIP), plus it's given me a place where I can show off my finished products to people who understand the effort that they took to complete. I can show my addiction to all things yarn related without having people shake their heads at me and telling me I can purchase socks cheaper in a store (they'll never understand).

Some highlights of the past year:

My first comment: Thursday, November 23, 2006 (I was so excited because it meant other people were actually reading this!)

My first link from someone else's blog: Here (There I am under "Blogs I Read"!)

And a comment from a famous person! Rob Scotton Comment (There it is, the only comment that day!)

Plus I have 7 subscribers to my blog on Bloglines! (People actually want to know when I have something new to show)

I love my readers! To show my appreciation to you guys, the first person to leave a comment on this post will receive a $40 gift certificate to Robyn's Nest! It's a great Canadian online yarn store.

...and now for the really good stuff!

'Tis the season to get festive:

The Argyle Christmas Stockings from this book, hung by the chimney with care! (Okay, I still have to embroider the names, but I hate sewing and the knitting part is finished so they classify as a FO!)

Next to deck the tree:

I have made two of each of these. I used smaller needles (2.5mm) and sock weight yarn in order to make them fit 55mm glass balls. I think they are really cool and I still have six more balls to cover.

By the way, they are photographed hanging on this:

The latest in my purchases for the apartment. (I fell in love with the design of this lamp, and I had to have it).

So, current projects on the needles now are:

My boyfriend's Aran Style Sweater:

Yes, I'm still plugging away at the front of it. I am determined to have it finished by Christmas!

My Fall Turtleneck:

I LOVE this colourway! It's Fall Foliage by Cherry Tree Hill, purchased at The Loopy Ewe. I'm using the DK weight. Both sweaters are my own designs. I can't wait to finish them.

and I'm going to start this as a Christmas present for my boyfriend's mom. I'm using Lane Borgesia Cashwool in Black.

Well that's it for now...and my new blogyear's resolution is to try and post at least once a week.

TTFN and KEEP KNITTING!

Ok...I think I'm back...

...Although, now that Christmas present time is here...I may get distracted by knitting again.

I do have some pics though:

I'm knitting his and her argyle Christmas stockings, and I finished the his:

Here it is displayed in what will become its place on the "chimney". Yesterday I bought these cool stocking holders at Home Sense. I just have to stitch his name on it and it will be completely finished.

In October I went to the Inspirations needlecraft show.

I got this:

(the yarn was selected by my boyfriend for a new pair of socks for him. Go figure)

and this:

The Fleece Artist Garter Stitch Jacket in my favourite colourway...Rainforest! I can't wait to start it! (after I finish the Christmas stuff). I am rather proud that with all the wonderful vendors at the show, I managed to restrain myself and purchased only two items (the sock yarn doesn't count).

I also got my October Sock Club kit from Robyn's Nest, and I'm eagerly awaiting the November one:

I LOVE the colours!

Anyhoo back to Christmas knitting! Stay tuned because my blogoversary is fast approaching and I will come up with a contest!

I'm still here...

Just a quick post today. I'm still here, but I've been helping my Mom relocate to Brockville, so I've been a bit preoccupied. I'll post at length tomorrow afternoon.

Wow!...where did the time go?...

Okay...It's been way too long since I last posted to this blog...Hang on, Postman's here!

Yea! It's my order from The Loopy Ewe. Give me a sec and I'll take some pics!(I achieved Groupie status, and I want to see what my goodies are!)

WOW! My order consisted of 2 skeins of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock DK in the Fall Foliage colourway. I received all this:

If you want to know the details, you're just going to have to become a Loopy Groupie!

My boyfriend and I went shopping on Friday and we hit up Mrs. Tiggy Winkles to buy some Tinker Toys to make me this:

A homemade swift! I got the idea from Crafting Jen and it works pretty well. Plus its a lot less expensive than a real swift!

The yarn being displayed on my "swift" is this:

Miski by Mirasol. It's 100% baby llama and it is SOOOOOOO soft. The colourway is 101, and although it looks really grey in the pic, it's more blue in reality. I bought it at KnitKnackers.

I am attempting to get my knitting patterns in some semblance of order so I bought this at HomeSense:

I'm afraid I might run out of space soon though, the way I hoard patterns.

Speaking of patterns, I finished the Campanulas:

and I received my prize that I won in the 1st Campanula KAL contest:

A skein of merino from Dyed in the Wool (the colourway is Singed Tomato) and a cool stitch marker:

I'm doing the Stitch Marker Exchange again, and I received my first stitch markers from Yosemite Knitting Addiction:

They have cool little flowers on them!

I also joined the September Sock Club at Robyn's Nest, and received my package:

A skein of Superwash Merino from Lotus Yarns in the exclusive colourway "Time to Go!", along with matching stitch markers and a cool sock pattern.

Alas, on the subject of socks...The Summer of Socks has ended. I managed to finish just 4 pairs in the allotted time. However, the SOS wasn't just to get pairs of socks, it was to minimize my sock yarn stash...

The stash before:

The stash after:



Hmmm...maybe it's a good thing I joined Sockknitter's Anonymous on Ravelry!

...And finally I have a little screen-mate. I've named him Socks.

Here he is checking out all the socks Wendy managed to finish during the SOS (all 19 pairs!):



He's an esheep! Isn't he cute? He keeps me company while I'm on the computer.

TTFN and KEEP KNITTING!

A Night At The Opera...

WOW...It was the most amazing night! I finished the stole on Thursday night:



This is a close-up of the knitted part. Note the little seed beads in the middle. I sewed those on by hand...all 111 of them!

And now....


...The fringe...:



I don't even want to contemplate how many little beads went into that fringe. Here's a close up:



What I do know is that a diamond consists of 4 black bicone glass beads, and 40 silver-blue glass seed beads. The long fringe consists of 151 seed beads and 1 black teardrop glass bead. There are 21 fringes on each side, and this stole took me almost 5 months to complete. (For the complete Shawl Saga, go to this blog posting, scroll down to the post labels, and click on The Shawl Saga. It will give you a backwards blogline of the Saga)

But it was so worth it. By the way I changed the name. Snowdrop/Tulip Stole just didn't sound special enough for this project. So I've named it the Midnight Garden Stole.

And so without further ado: The Midnight Garden Stole in action on Phantom night:



(This cropped photo gave the best shot of the fringe).

We left the apartment at 5pm, and arrived at D'arcy McGee's Irish Pub at around 5:30ish and manage to procure a table on the patio.

This was the entertainment that greeted us:



Only in Ottawa can you enjoy authentic Irish Pub food whilst being serenaded by a Scottish Pipe Band! (We got a real kick out of that!)

When we arrived at the NAC, this was the view of the stage from our seats:



I have purposely posted the blurry one so no one can steal the photo and use it to break any copyright laws. (Incidentally the blurry yellow blob that is almost in the centre of the shot is the chandelier. When it was raised it was almost right above us!) We couldn't have dreamed of better seats! There was one part where flames shot up from the front of the stage and we could feel the blast of heat from them! It was incredible. The man who played the Phantom was not the headliner John Cudia (he only played for 4 days or so, then went on vacation), all I can say is Stephen Tewksbury had the most amazing voice! It was so powerful...a number of people who had heard the other guy said this one was by far the better performer, so we missed out on nothing.

All in all it was a fantastic and memorable night.

And what is a memorable night without a few souvenirs?

A Phantom Mask pin:



And I bought two of these mugs:

The mug when cold:



The mug when hot liquid is added (in this case coffee):



Isn't that cool?

Anyhoo now I am going to work on some socks, and the Aran-style sweater for my boyfriend.

TTFN and KEEP KNITTING!