What new?

I have been trying to think up a new blog topic.  I am drawing a blank.

I can update on my Christmas list.

I am practically finished. Everything is made.  Only a few things are left to do.  The largest task at hand is bottling the wine and designing labels for it!

I cranked out a fleece kitty scarf for R after I took her to school on Friday. I am sure it will be well received and may restore her love for me.  She has firmly decided I am mean.  Not sure why except I make her get out of bed to go to school.  Crying ever morning really grates on my nerves.

Sorry, back to the list. I think I finished sewing on closures to her doll clothing.  Her new Blythe doll is finished.  All she lacks is clothing and her scalp attached.  Sounds gruesome.

Everyone else is finished!

All of my current commissions are finished! Yay! No more guilt for working on my own stuff!

Right now I have several projects going on in the sewing and knitting front.

I am still working on the Red Hood from Jane Austen Knits.

I just finished a Capelet using Universal Yarns Mohair Mountain. Fun yarn, but I suggest not pulling yarn from the center pull.  I had some terrible spots where the yarn stuck together with fuzz.  I splurged and used Jul leather buttons! Completely worth it!

Weekend knitting

In my most recent weekends I have had one that seemed to be "see how many projects you can start" and "finish up" weekends.  This one was "freak out over gauge" weekend.  

Stephanie Dosen, Tiny Owl Knits, published a wonderful pattern that I had to have right then- The Beekeeper's Quilt.  A knitted quilt pattern that is made up of 3-D hexagons or hexipuffs.  It fits prefect in my stash busting mood.  

My gauge freak out began when I started my first puff.  I was knitting away when I realized it was HUGE and not really a hexagon.  Plus, the amount of yarn this thing was eating up was ridiculous.  I fretted over gauge thinking my yarn was all wrong even though it was sock yarn.  I went to my LYS and talked with some people about gauge.  Finally, I pm'd Winterfi, who is head running a KAL on Ravelry, to see what gauge is on her puffs.  I was only 2 stitches off.  Then it hit her, I was doubling the size of my puff.  I was knitting to 40 stitches each needle (I am magic looping) rather than 40 total.  

I felt like a true blonde.  I was fretting over nothing...I just read the pattern wrong!!! 

Now the hexipuffs are well on there way and I am having no trouble at all.  In fact, I am super happy about using up bits of yarn.  

I joined the KAL and my goal is like 400 hexipuffs.  

Another TOK project is the Snake sweater.  It is another stash bust project.  I bought tons of Jeanee worsted weight yarn on clearance for the Op Art Blanket.  Well, I lost momentum.  I tried to find yarn for this project just recently and decided to put it on hold.  Then I pulled out the blanket and thought this is perfect! 

It is going along really well.  I tried it on last night, it fits perfectly.  

R's birthday cardigan is going well too.  I have more than plenty of yarn, in fact, I think there will be leftovers. I was hoping to use all of it up.  I bought cute mother of pearl flower buttons for it on Saturday.  

The three projects listed above are going on a trip with me starting tomorrow afternoon.  So, hopefully I will make good progress!

Knitting Goals

It seems that I have a million things I want to knit and write patterns for, but too little of time to get it done.

I think I am going to write patterns for my old projects which include: the niffler, mandrake, pixie, and ashwinder. If you couldn't tell these are magical creatures from Harry Potter. So far, my issues have been either trying to remember or trying to compensate for my weird way of knitting.  All of my early projects use knit through the back loop (ktlb) as the knit stitch and that stitch shapes completely different from the knit stitch.  In a lot of ways I like it better for toys, it creates an elongated and tight knit.

There are few other items that I have in the planning stage.

Long overdue

I haven't been feeling in the mood to blog.  Don't know why really.  I still don't feel in the mood, but I feel bad seeing a short, old post up.

I am knitting socks.  Yes, socks.  I probably kept my animosity towards socks from my blog.  Well, last week it hit me I want to try them out.  My first pair are finished and my second pair are the the works.  I will see if I can get a photo up of the first sometime today or tomorrow.

This isn't really knitting related but it is fiber!

I rooted mohair! It is so lovely and soft.  I believe this girl's name is Lilith.  I bought her from someone in Australia without her scalp.  I think she turned out really pretty.