A Few New Changes

A couple weekends ago, my wonderful husband organized 8 of our friends to come over and paint the second bedroom so we can start to convert it into a nursery.


(please excuse the mess; this was only a couple days after painting)

As a bonus (and because we were ready for a change in the living room), they also painted the living room a cheery yellow.  :)  I love how it looks when the sunlight pours in with its bluer light.  The table lamps are a little warmer in color so I've been on the look out for bluer LED bulbs to swap them out.

So far I have a handful of hand-knitted baby items made up (mittens, socks, hats, one blanket and one sweater) but I feel like a slacker that I don't have more sweaters and more longies made up.

A few of the smaller items I have collected for Baby.

These bibs + washcloths are from BeastiesBabies

Lots of knitted socks + mittens

I also keep thinking I need to make a few outfit pieces (sweater dresses/jumpers and sweater vests).

What item(s) would you most recommend I make a priority to knit before baby is here?  Is there something that you are so happy you made and use all the time or highly recommend now that you have a little wisdom under your belt?  Please let me know!  

Another Blanket and a Trip to Bristol, RI

I did it!  I finished an adult lap blanket it ONE WEEK!!


Here I had only just started the pattern the Thursday before July 4.  Aren't the colors fun? :)  

I brought this blanket with me on our mini vacation to Bristol, Rhode Island to visit a former roommate and experience the longest celebration of Independence Day.  During the 4 and a half hour long parade I accomplished an entire segment (yellow, green, variegated, pink, and back to yellow)!  Yes, I did get quite a few "compliments" on my "knitting,"  i.e. "Isn't it a bit too hot to be knitting?" one soldier joked.  Why yes sir, it is merely 88* in the sunshine, but that is why I am not keeping it on my lap, but next to me.  :)  
It was a wonderful day of amazing period costumes and many military veterans along with local business owners and organizations' floats.


I can't believe I get to say it is already complete but I do and what makes it even better is I get to display it for the Toledo Art Walk that I am participating in tomorrow!  If you are in the area, I hope you'll stop by and say hello.  :)

I have a few other new goodies that are awaiting their close-up, like a few braceletes and soap savers, and I hope to post about them soon.

Happy Fourth!

Socks - Completed!

Lynn contacted me at the end of November to knit up some socks for her two grandkids and herself, two pairs each.


Six pairs, that is!

little girl's pair #1

little girl's pair #2

boy's pair #1

boy's pair #2

Lynn's brown & pink stripe pair
Lynn's oatmeal pair


And I'm happy to say I now have my basic sock pattern memorized!  Maybe there will be socks for the shop in the near future...

It's One of Those Days

The ones that are too-few coming in 2012 but have hit me like an Energizer-Bunny tonight :]

The beautiful productivity of constant-motivation (still going strong for over 4 hours!!).  Almost seems like one of those new 5-hour-energy commercials.  Anyway, check out all the progress!

I have photographed & drafted 6+ listings today; including a new cowl with my cousin modeling!



I will be staggering the dishcloth listings over the weekend, but you can enjoy the new cowls tonight!

My Autumn earwarmer was featured in a treasury today!

See it?  Bottom-right corner.

Did I blow up your Newsfeed today?  I apologize; some sort of creative bug grabbed hold of me this afternoon and I couldn't help feeling the need to share those stories with my followers.  Did you find any inspiration?  Or should I stop sharing others' posts/pictures and keep it to just Etsy shop-related stories?

I have more to share but I guess I ought to save some for another post and that energy is finally starting to slow (after 6+ hours!).  Anyone else excited for the new year?

A Red & Blue Hat

I have to say this is one of those I-had-no-idea-what-I-was-making-but-I-was-inspired moments when it came to this cute little beanie.  And even better?  It was a BOYS' hat!!


What's so great about that?  How many boys' beanies do you stop and "awww" over?  ;)  That's what I thought.


His Spider man shirt & pajamas inspired me to use a familiar color palate (he's two) and after digging through my bag...


...I discovered I had JUST the perfect, *primary* colors.

psst - Have you heard about the show this weekend?

*ps - this is my first time using Instagram to edit ON my phone, phone-captured pictures.  Sorry they aren't the best quality but I will be working on their improvement.  Thanks for your patience :)

Sweater - DONE

Yay!  I can finally say, after 3.5 years, that my first sweater is FINISHED!!  It took 3 years just to finish it the first time:

On vacation in Michigan


but when I went to try it on it was too small :(  The waist was too high, the armpits too snug, the sleeves were short but do-able and the neck....  I couldn't even fit my head through it! haha.  I think this is what I get for going with the measurements and NOT checking my gauge. ....

So this time I checked the fit more often as I went along since I didn't write down the other sizes when I copied the pattern those years ago. ... Oops....




After all is said, done, & tried on it still doesn't look or fit like this...


But I guess I'm ok with that.  The only thing I would consider ripping it out a third time would be to elongate the yoke a little for the armpit's sake.  It is a bit of a tight & high-fitting in its placement, but it sure is a lot of work just to unravel all those different colors.  ;)

*PS - Please excuse the lack of posts lately, unfortunately the new Smartphone hasn't been the great blessing I was hoping; it is more like a bigger distraction FROM productivity, :-P  And it doesn't help that it is feeling like spring & the garden has been calling my name.... hehe.  Anyone else feeling the pull from the outdoors?

Custom Cable Red Hat

I love little surprises in my inbox.  Especially when they lead to a sale!  I received a convo on etsy, last Thursday, asking if I could make this cable hat in red.

I originally had a mitten started for this knit along but the yarn & the pattern weren’t lining up the way I would have liked so I ripped it out and started the red hat. 


I was surprised, even for me, with all the ripping out, backtracking, and fixing on Friday & Saturday that I finished it in less than two days – Saturday evening while babysitting!  So I emailed, listed it and had it all squared up to go in the mail Monday morning.  Great weekend! :]


*Don't forget, this is your last week to enter the Ear Warmer Giveaway.

More Earwarmers

How did I find a busy moment to post pictures only 4 days before my wedding? I'm waiting for things to finish digitizing and rendering at work.... hehe. Remember the earwarmers I mentioned that I was so excited to have finished? I found the pictures I promised taken with my fiancé's camera & they never got posted.

Enjoy the pictures; I can't wait to list them so you can enjoy them warming your ears, too!