Louie on the catwalk

This is our new dog, Louie. He is a Cavipoo. A real sweet puppy with the kids and shares the same birthday as my daughter. That was our sign that it was meant to be. A different kind of dog to get used to since Golden Retrievers have always been our dog of choice. Unfortunately Lucy didn't work out for us. She was re-homed with a family that had older children. As hard as it was to see her go it was the right decision for all of us. She has been with this new family since January. By May we were getting the itch for another pet and found Louie.

My daughter knit Louie a sweater. It turned out a bit on the smaller side. Fit him like a corset or maybe a Slendertone. We had some good laughs with it on him. Here he is strutting his stuff. I think he was enjoying his showstopping experience or rather was running to me to get it off of him.



As I was saying in the post prior to this I have been cross stitching quite a bit. I'm even working on a few of my own patterns. But I still managed to pick up my knitting needles throughout our summer. July was the month for knitting. Our family took a camping trip to the Black Hills and to make the car ride bearable I started a sweater.



Really, something for me and something to wear! The Candy Stripe sweater by Spud & Chloe is going really slow but by spring I should be able to wear it :)





Tomorrow is back to working mode. We had a great summer together and I'm sad to see it end. I also have one entering kindergarten (boo hoo) but he's excited which puts me a little at ease.




Annie

Cooper's Flock :: Would you like to help?

I learned of this heart breaking story here. I wanted to show my support so I requested the pattern from Lucinda. A few days later Susan had a drawing for some Blue Sky Cotton yarn and she selected my name to receive a skein. My little birdy is done and he's quite sweet. I just need to package him up and send him on his way which may eventually end up in a hospital pediatric intensive care unit bringing comfort to families who are overwhelmed. Lucinda is trying to get 100 birds knit up by May. I hope she receives more than that!

Would you like to help? I have plenty of the Blue Sky Cotton left over and I would love to pass it along to you if you would like to knit a bird. Go to Lucinda's site and request the pattern. She'll email it to you as well as the address of where to send the bird. If I have more than one taker, I'll have a drawing. Let me know by emailing me by the middle of next week. You can find my address over there to the right of the blog. I would love to "pay it forward".

Annie

Sweethearts

Meet Mr. and Mrs. Bear. These two chums brought lots of smiles to our home. I used Jelly Bum's bear pattern but changed it a little bit. I found some strong magnets and glued them to the inside of the embroidered nose so they can nuzzle noses. I put them in my Etsy store as a made-to-order. I still have lots of yarn leftover and wonder how far it will go.

Speaking of how far things will go, another sweetheart, my daughter, has an obsession with wheelchairs. Yes, you read correctly, wheelchairs. She has asked Santa for the last two years to bring one. He did not. One year he did bring her crutches (which weren't needed by the way) but they were on her list. She wanted them so badly. But a wheelchair? I usually have to steer her away from those Little Rascal carts in the stores. "No, Ella, you cannot sit in that chair!" Well, this last Monday and Tuesday she didn't have school and I found her in her room drawing this picture on her easel.

Nine different designs! Do you think she may be destined for a health related career? or rather some type of engineer? This child cracks me up. This is definitely one of those memories I need to document. That's why you are reading about it here.
You should see her notebook from today. She was home recovering from a case of the stomach bug. Her entire day was spent planning, drawing, and coloring her dream room while watching HGTV. I bet she's spent nine hours on this room. I'll share later. I have to sneak the notebook and snap some pictures of it. I guess it's fun dreaming.

May your dreams be sweet tonight!

Oh Pickles!

I had to. This was a gift for my coworker/friend who collects them.
I have to say that it was an interesting knit, the comments I received that is.
As I knitted this in the company of my relatives questions were asked. Quite funny.
"What is that going to be?"
"It looks like a cover for something"

The other entertaining part of knitting this was the "pickle" quotes that surfaced.

Do you know these?
"Oh pickles" (Higgly Town Heros)
"We might be in a little bit of a pickle, Dick" (Fun with Dick and Jane)
"Now that's the best tastin' pickle I've ever hoid" (Vlasic pickles)
"Pickle in the middle" (did you play this game?)
"I'm in a pickle" and "It's dillicious"



Here's the knitty gritty:
I used this pattern found here
Modifications were made. I used 10.5 needles and worsted weight yarn so I could felt it; I added an ornament cap by knitting a rib pattern, seamed it together, felted and sewed it in place. I also needle felted Felting Flash to the cap to make it shimmer (although the photo didn't capture the sparkle). I added a jump ring to the cap so it can be hung on the tree. Before felting the pickle I added french knots for the bumps. Its about 5.5 inches tall.

Maybe you crave them like I do. Whether you like them sweet or sour, sliced or whole, go knit one today because who doesn't love a pickle? Especially a dill dipped in sour cream....yum! (that was a pregnancy thing but I still on occasion do that).

An African Safari

It was quite an adventure a couple of weeks before Christmas. I was knitting away creating these fun little finger puppets for an Etsy customer frantically trying to get them to her in time for Christmas. The pattern is from Raynor at Jellybums or you can find her patterns in her store. What darling little toys she's created and she was so kind to help me out when I needed it. She actually referred the customer to me to knit them and I really didn't think they would take me as long as they did. But lesson learned, now I know.

I'm curious and want to knit up a couple other patterns of Jellybums as a stuffed toy rather than a finger puppet and I have plans to knit the puppy dog to include in a Woolie Wrap quilt I'm making.

I haven't yet talked much of my Etsy store. Since I opened it I've sold almost everything. I was quite shocked at how quickly it went which made for a crazy December. I'm looking forward to adding more goodies and I have a "boy" quilt in the works.

This is a picture of the quilt I made and have sold. I learned that it was going to be a gift to a sister who is having a baby girl. I love to learn about the receiver of the items.
I have to give credit to Betz White whose book Warm Fuzzies got me thrifting for wool sweaters and going head over heels working with this stuff. I love, love, love it. (I contacted her to make sure my ideas were original enough so I wouldn't be infringing upon her designs for those of you wondering. She was cool with it.)

When creating quilts like this you end up with a ton of scraps and I am having a hard time letting go of even the tiniest scraps. They're in a bin for the "just in case" projects. It's been fun to create the "byproducts" of the quilts; felted photo albums, coffee cozies, and right now I'm working on some coasters. I have so many ideas but not enough time to execute. You all know how that is.

Take care

:: 2009 ::

Happy New Year friends! Here's a way to cozy up!

Pattern here : The Beer Sweater

Knit with sport weight Nature Spun

Dylan the Snowman

Another item to check off my list. I finished up another hat. This time it was from Susan's Itty Bitty Hats book. Like the last Snowman hat I made I used button eyes instead of knitting them. This one is a size 6-12 month and it's for a cute little guy named Dylan.

Well that Flickr thing didn't work out so well for me. I wanted to add a couple more pictures of the Elmo hat. One of the lining I worked in and one of just another view.

The holiday spirit is starting early with me. I usually have to get through Thanksgiving first but for some reason this year I'm ready for it. Last night a few of us went to the Minneapolis' Macy's 8th floor holiday display. It used to be Dayton's, then Marshall Field's, and now it's Macy's. I'm so glad they are continuing with this. It was darling. Every year they do a special theme and this year it was "A Day in the Life of an Elf at Macy's Santaland". I've been going to these for as long as I can remember. Go if you can.

Are you ready for Black Friday? I have to figure out my list and then decide whether or not I'm going to venture out with the other crazy people. Sipping mocha's, listening to Christmas music and crafting with the kids in our jammies sounds a little more enticing but there might be some fabulous deal that will have me up before the birds. Not.

Happy Thanksgiving!

La-la-la-la La-la-la-la....

PB254229, originally uploaded by knitted fresh daily.

...Elmo's world.
Sorry if that song gets stuck in your head. Why does that happen?

I knitted this for a friend's grand daughter who adores Elmo. I searched Ravelry for a pattern but didn't see one I liked so I made my own up. He has a felted nose and stuffed eyes with buttons. Since I knitted the red out of Lamb's Pride Bulky wool I added a fleece lining so no itchies will occur. I think the picture would be have been cuter on a cute head. But I didn't have the cute model available to me so the styrofoam ball will have to do.

PS I'm trying out this feature on flickr where you can click on "blog this" on a photo. I need to know if I can add more pictures to a posting but haven't figured that out yet. Anyone do this?

[edited a few minutes later] And it appears that it cuts off the photo

Have you had your Honeycrisp today?

This past weekend we went to our favorite apple orchard in White Bear Lake. The weather was beautiful but it did seem a little strange wearing shorts. The kids had their pony rides, tractor rides, photo opps as well as their share of treats. Apple cinnamon donuts (served thumbs up style), carmel apples and a bag of Harrelson's is what I left with in my shopping bag.

Have you tried a Honeycrisp apple yet? They weren't ready at the orchard but a couple of grocery stores around us are now carrying them. It's my favorite eating apple. They are crisp, juicy and sweet-tart tasting. I guess they come at a premium price though. My MIL said last night that at the orchard they visited near Sioux Falls a bag of Honeycrisp was selling for $30!! Did they receive special sunshine or rain or something??



I paid $2.99 for a pound at my grocery which kind of hurt so I knit a special jacket to protect this piece of work. No, actually I am making these for my little guy's preschool teachers. It's Apple Day next week so they are each going to get one. The pattern is from here.

On another note I have received a couple of awards from some very sweet people that I haven't acknowledged here and I want to make sure that you know they are really appreciated. Life has just been a little overwhelming recently. So thank you, they made me smile and brightened my day.

From : Knitter Sue

From: Denise at The Knitting Den

And I'll get to that meme, Andrea :)

Knitterella Inspiration

The opportunity arose to knit the Lacy Thong for a neighbor/friend who is getting married soon. The first I had heard of this idea was at Knitterella's blog and thought "how fun is that?" I had to knit these twice because the first go-round they would have probably insulted the tiny bride. I went down needles sizes and knitted the smallest size. They turned out much better. She did guess that they were from me but it took her a few seconds longer to realize that I had made them. Not a good picture of them as I was finishing them the second before I left for the shower! Nothing like a good ole last minute project. Seems to be the theme of my life right now. It's been a C R A Z Y August.

Here's one other project I had finished a while back but I had to thrift for awhile until I found the perfect pin to go with my cowl. Again inspired by Knitterella. I started making this cowl from the pattern of Last Minuted Knitted Gifts then began increases using the Dolores Park Cowl pattern. It ended up a little bit too big so I thought it would look nice pinned. I have one other cowl waiting for a button and then I'll post that one.

Did anyone do the Ravelympics? I thought "cool" I can finish a project in a few weeks. I picked an easy one too. Just knit and purl. It's a capelet. Did I finish? No... I was disqualified. I used the wrong size needle and forgot to switch needle sizes when stated in the pattern! DRATS! My hope for the gold will have to wait another four years.

That's all for now. I need to get to bed so that I can function tomorrow at school. Today was a struggle :(

Bear-y Buddy Bag

Just a quick post of a baby shower gift I've giving this weekend. It was created from this pattern. It turned out so cute that I think I might have to make a few more to have on hand for gifts. She is one talented knitter and designer!

This bag is perfect for that little toddler to tuck away a sippee cup and a book or some toys.

The two stripes are knitted from Vanna's Choice Baby for durability and machine-washability. I have to admit that I didn't enjoy working with this yarn but now I know. I'm going to try to find some nice cotton for the next go round.

Hopefully soon I'll be posting another project that I'm giving tomorrow at a bridal shower. It's currently in the blocking stage.

Have a great weekend.

Woolly Cardinal & some cheap thrills

I really thought that my knitting production would increase over the summer while I was off from school but that doesn't seem to be the case here. I've made a list and have well over 15+ projects that I've either started or have purchased to begin and that doesn't even include my notebook that's filled with ideas in which I want to create. I think I have discovered my passion. Wish it was financially sustainable but unfortunately it drains my pocketbook instead :) I'm thinking about an Etsy shop in the near future. If not knitted items I can at least sell my surplus of vintage buttons and wool sweaters. It's been fun thrifting for these items but how much is too much?? Anyone looking for some felted/unfelted wool?

Even though back to school for me isn't until the end of August I volunteered to be part of a grant-funded training class of digital video production. It will take me away from my summer break and kids for seven days but the dangled carrot is perhaps a new sewing machine or a camera upgrade as the result of my attendance. Yahoo!!

Finished up one Woolly Bird. I added an applique to his side and tried the blanket stitch. It would have been much easier to do if I hadn't already stuffed and sewn him shut. (Note to self for next one)

CHEAP THRILLS.... (even for adults) I was blog reading and you know how it goes, you click on one link which leads you to another and another and another (lost in blogosphere) but this was meant to be...somehow I found myself here and ten minutes later we were at Home Depot buying supplies for the marshmallow shooters and having a blast (sorry, no pun intended) It was less than $5 for everything.

I think we have a budding engineer. She worked on redesigning her shooter for over an hour and came up with all sorts of prototypes.

To work the shooter: simply drop in a mini marshmallow and blow real hard. When I tried they actually flew about 20 feet!

Go have some cheap fun!

Win some....Loosen some

I will be loosening this one. Not a winner. Loved the sample in the store, even tried it on but just don't love this one on me. It's cute on her but not so much on me. So there it sat on my closet shelf for the entire winter season. Unworn. Sad. Lonely. Did you hear that noise in the background (ribbit, ribbit) I will be frogging this to make a cabled scarf instead, I think. It's too expensive to just sit on a shelf. Love the yarn: Chunky Misti Alpaca. It's so soft and squishy. Maybe I'll have to buzz over to Ravelry to see what else I might be able to make with this yarn.
I've noticed a theme in bloggyland lately. So many projects and ideas but so little time. I, too, have a list of things to knit, crochet, sew, paint, craft etc. but not enough time to begin or finish. High on my priority list right now is making a reversible purse I saw in the last issue of Sew Simple magazine. Hopefully I find it simple to make. My sewing skills are a bit rusty. I've borrowed a sewing machine from a friend and it's time to make use of it. Here's the scrumptious fabric I'll be using:

I want to bathe in it it's so divine. In fact her whole line is yummy. LOVE pinks and oranges right now. And it has a cute name ;) ha As I said earlier, the pattern is in the magazine and they give you a pattern but say to enlarge it by 400%. So I just measure all sides of the pattern and multiply each by 4 right? to give me the actual dimensions???? TIA

Then there's more sewing to come...have you seen Heather Bailey's new store and more specifically her patterns? Even though I'm way in debt I had to have this and this.
Ok, the last thing I'll mention about projects is that I want to make a recycled sweater blanket. I've been pretty lucky to find lots of woolly goodness at thrift stores and garage sales but I've come across a few cashmere sweaters and so now I'm on the lookout for more. I want a big throw for cuddling so I need a few more. It's going to be so snugly.

Lastly, we returned Monday evening from a mini trip to Duluth. We brought the kids to see an airshow featuring the Blue Angels. But I think the highlight of the trip for them was swimming in the pool at the hotel, and the big inflatable airplane they climbed and slid down (which lasted all of 15 seconds). It's the little things, I guess.