Happy Birthday to Me!

It's my 43rd birthday today!  It's been an awesome birthday day/weekend.  My mom was here visiting over the long weekend, and she bought me something that I've been wanting for quite a while now...A SPINNING WHEEL!  I had decided on the Lendrum DT Complete, and mom very unexpectedly ordered it for me!  We ordered it on Friday afternoon, it shipped later on Friday, and it's due to arrive any time now.  This is so exciting!  I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to spinning wheels, so there will be a very steep learning curve.  The website that we ordered the wheel from, ParadiseFibers.net, is sending along a free DVD that shows how to put the Lendrum together, and I've also downloaded a basic how-to-spin video.  I don't know that I will show pictures of my first handspun, but hopefully I will quickly get better with some practice!

I'm still working on my Lexi cardigan, I just finished both of the front button bands and I'm about to start on the sleeves.  Also still on the needles is the Lacy Cocoon Sweater, which is my car knitting, so it's coming along slowly.

Happy crafting, everyone!

February Crafty Fun

It's February already!  Time just seems to go by so quickly.  I went to my first Atlanta Knitting Guild meeting!  Their meetings are generally on the first Thursday of the month, so I went to the February meeting, which was last Thursday, February 2nd.  I met lots of new people, made a new friend (hi Diana!) and just had a really good time.  I plan on going to more meetings as much as I can! 

I got my Ribbed Ribbon Socks finished by the end of January, and they turned out great!  I really like them.  I used Malabrigo Sock Yarn in the Persia colorway, and I like how they striped/pooled.

I've also still been working hard on my Lexi cardigan, and I've made great progress on that.  I made it to the halfway point on February 1st, and my goal is to finish it by the end of March at the very latest.

The other big project on my needles right now is my Lacy Cocoon Sweater. This is the 3rd time I've made this sweater, the 1st one was for my sister and the 2nd one was for my mom.  This one is for me, so it's a little bit larger than the other two, but it's coming along pretty well.  I'm still working the stockinette section, but it's a nice break from the moss stitch of the Lexi cardigan.  I like the fabric of the sweater, it's made by alternating rows of a worsted weight yarn with a lace weight yarn.

 One more thing on the needles is a pair of fingerless gloves for my youngest son.  I'm using Knit Picks Brava yarn, which is 100% acrylic, but it's sooo soft!  I'm really enjoying using it.

I've been a busy crafter!  Lots of in progress pics this week.  I also have spinning!  I've been working on spinning some yarn on my spindle as a gift for a chickie friend of mine.  I'm more than halfway done with the spinning, but then I will need to ply the yarn as well, since this will be my first plied yarn it will be a two-ply.  No pics yet since it's a surprise for her!
Hope everyone is having a productive and crafty month!

Lots of Knitting

It's a Monday evening, and it has been raining here all day, in fact for most of the weekend. So what am I doing? Knitting, of course! I've been working on lots of different projects lately, making progress on each one.

The first thing I knit on today was a pair of Traveling Socks. What's a Traveling Sock? Well, in one of my Ravelry groups, the Knitters Brewing Co. Sock-Aholics, there are two groups of us, an East Coast group and a West Coast group. I'm in the East Coast group, and there are 12 of us total. We each started a sock, just working the toes, and then sent them on along with a journal to the next person in line. The next person works a little bit, writes in your journal, and sends them on to the next person, and so on. So at the end I will have a fabulous pair of socks worked on by 11 other people! It's so much fun working on everyone's socks! I've been pulling out my stitch dictionaries that haven't gotten much use, and going through them to pick out a pattern to use for my portion of the socks. I also pick out a yarn to use, which may or may not depend on what others have used on the socks before me. So this morning I finished up my section of someone's socks, wrote a bit in the journal, and got them in the mail this afternoon. Now I just need to wait for the next pair of socks to arrive!

Speaking of socks, I've also been working on a pair for me. This is my first time using Malabrigo yarn, and I'm using the Persia colorway, which is gorgeous greens, blacks, and greys. I tried a couple of different patterns before I settled on the one that I'm using now, which is a Wendy Johnson pattern called Ribbed Ribbon Socks. I'm done with the feet and the heels, now I'm just working on the legs until they get to the height that I like. Plus they fit perfectly!

Another thing I've worked on today is my Lexi Cardigan. It's a top-down cardigan sweater, and I've gotten the very top portion done, separated some stitches for the arms, and now I'm working the body section. I'm doing this for my Harry Potter group on Ravelry, so I've got a deadline of the end of March to get it done. I've tried working a few rows each day, but I think it's easier for me to set aside a day or two a week to work on it.

One last thing that I'm working on is my spindle spinning. No pictures of that, since the handspun yarn that I'm making is a surprise for a friend! The fibers that I'm using are gorgeous, though, so I know she'll love it.

New Year, New Projects

For 2012, I have some resolutions (yep, I made some!) and some new projects on the knitting needles.

First of all, my resolutions. The usual ones: lose weight; eat better; exercise more. But there are also some new ones: either finish projects that I start or frog them; finish up some old projects; keep practicing spindle spinning; and the big one, open an Etsy store.

Etsy.com is a great site for crafters that sells all sorts of things, everything from photographs to candles to pottery. They sell finished items, vintage items, and supplies for making crafts. I would have my own "store", with a unique website address, and I would be able to list things to sell. The advantage to this is that a lot of the things that I make are unique and one-of-a-kind, so it's kind of hard to stock a traditional store. Etsy would allow me to sell these items. I will have jewelry, maybe some knit or crochet items, stitch markers, and project bags or other sewing items. I've already starting making some things for my inventory! I'll definitely have an announcement on my blog when my store is ready to go.

Over on Ravelry, among the many groups, there is a group for Harry Potter crafters called the Harry Potter Knit & Crochet House Cup (HPKCHC). Students are sorted into one of the 4 houses (a group of students) from the main school (Hogwarts) in the Harry Potter books. They then follow a series of prompts for classes, and turn in their knitting, crocheting, spinning, dyeing, or weaving as homework to earn points for their house.

I'm part of the Hufflepuff House, and I love it there. According to Wikipedia, Hufflepuffs are known to "value hard work, tolerance, loyalty, and fair play". Each term is 3 months long, with one month off in between terms. Homework should generally take one month or less to complete, and following the books, there is a more difficult "test" called an O.W.L. In the Ravelry group, an O.W.L. is a project that takes nearly the whole term to complete. Students turn in a proposal and then are either approved or asked to revise the proposal. Once approved, they can start crafting!

For the Winter 2012 term, my O.W.L. is a project using a pattern that really caught my eye, the Lexi Cardigan by Cheri Christian. Here is my Ravelry project page for the cardigan.


I was able to turn in my proposal and get approval on January 1st, so I cast on and have been working on my cardigan in between other projects. I'm using a darkish brown color, and I think this will be a cardigan that will go with nearly everything. I think it will be great for the mild Georgia winters. Now I just need to complete it on time!

I was also able to get a dishcloth finished yesterday and turned in for homework. It looks like a miniature sweater! Along with the dishcloth, I also finished a pair of socks, which were a test knit for a Ravelry friend. I love her patterns! So it's been a pretty productive first week of 2012. More importantly, I'm enjoying what I'm making.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope this coming year is a good one for everybody. I have lots of plans for 2012, and I would like to see my plans put in to action. For example, I want to finish up some projects that have been sitting around for a while, and I plan on opening my Etsy shop sometime in January.

Also happening in 2012, my oldest, Alex, will be graduating from high school and beginning college, while my youngest, Tyler, will be finishing up middle school and starting high school. Both boys have some pretty big milestones this year! It's an exciting time for both of them.

Pretty Doggies

Pretty doggies, just back from the vet and groomers!

Almost There...

I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping! One or two little things left to buy, mostly for my 17-year-old. I haven't wrapped anything yet though. I'll wait until I have everything and then wrap it all at once.

My mom will be here tomorrow! The boys have school through Thursday, and then have Friday off. The boys are very excited to have their Grandma here for Christmas! Since my dad lives with us, the boys get to have Christmas with both grandparents this year. We usually have a pretty quiet family Christmas, since the boys are usually busy playing with their new toys (hubby included).

Both doggies are at the vet today, Alex and I dropped them off this morning. Lilli and Copper both need a checkup and then they are getting groomed! I don't expect them to be happy about it, but at least they will look and smell good for Christmas. I'm going to try to get some pics of them before they get too messed up!