Finally A New Addition

I finally got to add a new addition to my Etsy shop last night. This is the brown heather wool bag that has taken me a while to finish but Im so glad its done. I hope the photos do it justice. Its not the model in the picture that would bring it down. Thats the lovely Megan, more than happy to be a model for me.



Here is a close up of the cables. This was knit with small needles so the cables sit pretty close together which makes it hard to photograph. It is three lines of a basic cable stitch.


This is the inside of the bag with its tan linen lining and magnetic clasp. I hadnt used a magnetic clasp on my bags before but have always wanted to. They are really easy to put in as well. I will definitely use them again.


I had to scrap the purple hobo bag I was working on. When I got to a certain part I was finding it impossible and not looking the way I wanted it too. Im not sure if it was they yarn or the needles but I will definitely have to figure out some other way to do that bag. So instead I felt the need to pick up the fabulous wool yarn that I got a few weeks ago on my trip to the Falconer Yarn Loft. Now that I started working with it I am wondering what took me so long to pick it up. It is wool that is taken from the closer to the sheeps skin that doesnt get exposed to all the elements so its softer. The colour that I am using is called wedgewood blue. Actually I got so into it I have now knitted and felted the bag and its drying as we speak. It amazing how the colour of the yarn kind of changes when you felt it. The wedgewood blue is now a paler wedgewood and so much prettier than before. Once its all dry I am going to figure out the way I am doing the handles. I am going to play around with it to figure it out. All I know is the handles will be light orange colour. If the yarn which is called Canteloupe gets paler in the felting process its going to look excellent with the blue. Aaaahhh only time will tell. Then comes the dubious task of finding a lining material. I know that that can make or break a bag sometimes.

Today I finished a ribbed slouchy hat in royal blue. It was a quick knit. I am going to wash the hat to soften the yarn up hopefully making it floppier. It needs to sit floppier I think. When Megan comes home tomorrow I will get her to be my model again. I also have some more leaves to embroider to finish the wool wristwarmers to list them. I feel like I have some catching up to do in the listing items department.

A Quick Update

I havent blogged in a couple of weeks. Its always been in the back of my mind and I just never sat down and started. So you may be wondering what Ive been up to all that time. Not really a whole lot hehe.

I managed to get the stuff ready for the coffee shop and gave it to my friend to put on their shelves. I changed my mind a hundred times on what should be sent there. Some of decisions were based on time and some were based on what would be good for that location. I really wanted to take some photos before they got sent out but my rechargeable batteries died and fingers crossed I get some more this weekend. Actually I really need some batteries because I need to add some new stuff to the shop and I cant do that without pictures. What finally got sent off the coffee shop was a pair of wool wristwarmers like the ones in my Etsy shop, a purple slouchy hat, a lamb who is naked because I ran out of time to make a cardigan, a seafoam felted bag that had leaves and a tree knitted into it and a bird ceramic button and three coffee cup sleeves. Two coffee sleeves were knit in black superwash wool, one was a ribbed design and the other was a cable design. The third coffee sleeve was knit in a cream organic, unbleached cotton in a rib design. Those were great because they were quick to make and very relevent to the location. Fingers crossed some items sell. That would be great. I also gave her a pile of business cards.

I finally finished with my 100% peruvian wool brown heather cable bag. It turned out better than I imagined. The inside handles had to be reknit a few times to allow for how much yarn I had left but it worked in the end. I lined the bag with a tan linen material with a magnet clasp. I really like how the bags look when they are lined but oh my gosh are they are a pain for someone who is struggling with her sewing skills hehe. When it works it makes all the difference to the finished product even if I have to redo it a couple of times to get it right. This bag will be listed on Etsy once I have my batteries.

I felted a woolen jumper with an argyle design a couple of weeks ago. A bag has been cut and is in the sewing process. Again I am not liking how it looks right now and will have to undo some parts and redo do them to my liking. Its coming along. From the sleeves I cut the lower section and turned them into wristwarmers. This is the first time I have tried this. I am currently embroidering leaves on them, they will be shaved for fuzziness and ready to list on Etsy.

I hadnt knit anything in about a week because I had been involved in sewing and embroidery. I was itching to start a project. I am now halfway through knitting a purple hobo bag. I havent tried this pattern before but hopefully it will look how I want it to. The yarn I am using is a bit different from what the pattern calls for. We shall see. One of my favourite things about knitting is you can always undo something you don't like and rework it.

The girls got their report cards last week. This was Victoria's first real report card. Apparently we have another super genius on our hands and Victoria acts alot differently at school hehe. They both did really well. It is exciting to see from both of them. It kind of makes me feel like I must be doing something right in all this.

Well we are off to do some shopping today. Its also Valentine's Day today so Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. I hope your day is full of hugs and kisses, oh and chocolate too hehe.

This Could Be A Good Opportunity

Apparently I have to get cracking this week. I just talked to a friend of mine on the phone last night. She has a coffee shop in town that displays art and creations of local people. I had been meaning to go there a hundred times and in the last month I went there twice. I noticed the stuff she had up to sell and asked about displaying my knitted things. She said they display things for a month and people put their names down for each month so they can keep things fressh. She called me up last night to say the guy for February might not be ready in time and I could put some things up this weekend if they find he isnt prepared in time. She will be calling me near the end of the week. I knew that I might get February but wasnt really thinking about how close that is. Now I have to get out of my finishing things off rut and get some items done to give to her just in case. So far I have a hat and some fingerless mittens and thats not enough is it hehe. So that will be my week, I will be the finishing girl.
Oh by the way if you happen to live around this way, you need to stop in at Ryders Cup in Lakewood NY because they have the best coffee and baked yummies EVER!!!!!

Here's hoping this week will be the start of 2009 improving. First I hurt my back and then last week Joe was driving home from work, was going under a bridge and a snow plow was going over the bridge. The snow plow pushed a big, big, big, chunk of ice of the bridge and it smashed the windshield of our pretty new car. That is bad timing and bad luck isnt it. Well apart from being very annoying and very expensive we are just feeling very grateful that Joe is still alive and nothing but the windshield got broken. It got repaired on Friday and looks pretty once again. Needless to say Joe will be very aware of what is going on when going under bridges in winter from now on.

My girls are doing pretty well lately. Megan who never gets sick has a cold which has caused her to lose her voice. She spent the weekend at her friends house which I wasnt sure about because she was sniffly then and came home having to whisper everything. She is off to school today delighting in the fact that because she has to whisper she won't have to do this mini play they have to do in class today. She has apparently employed her friend Maya to be her voice today which should be interesting. You know there was no convincing her to stay home from school.
Victoria has decided that she is sick of it being cold and wants Summer to come. While waiting for the bus today we were talking about all the fun things to do with Summer to keep warm. Just when she was saying she wanted to the bus to come because she didnt want to be outside anymore, it started coming down the street. I didnt have the heart to tell her that the warm weather she is craving is still a while yet to come.

A Little Mouse

Here is the latest thing in my shop. His name is Marcel. Isnt he cute. I hope that someone buys him up quickly before I decide to keep him hehe.



Here is his little tail. Gotta have the butt shot.

Victoria is my little model. She loves to pose with my little guys. She does a good job.

Today is the first time I have really been able to get on the computer. Last week I managed to really hurt my back while shovelling. The next day I could barely walk and was told I look like an old lady by the children. Each day its getting better and better but Im kind of tired of having back pain. I dont know how people deal with it all the time like my husband. I thought it might be kind of nice just having to lay around all day but to tell you the truth I hated it. I felt really lazy and couldnt get anything done. I guess its not as fun as I thought it would be. I will be glad well its all back to normal. I have decided I should go back to doing yoga and tai chi to strengthen my back so that this doesnt happen again.

This past week or so has been so very cold around here. On Friday the high was 4 degrees. Can you imagine that? Thats not even with the wind chill factor. The girls ended up getting a snow day because it was so cold. Its the kind of cold where you can feel your nose hairs freezing when you breath hehe. Needless to stay there was alot of snuggling with blankets, watching movies, playing card games and drinking hot chocolate going on. Hmm I guess it wasnt so bad after all.

Three New Items

I added two new items to my shop yesterday. The chevron cable wool wristwarmers and the very long scarf you see below you. Yes the scarf is model by the wonderful and talented Megan. The scarf was made a while ago and I thought I would add it to my list of items.


The third new item is on the bottom of this blog page. I had to get a new hit counter for my blog. I like to check and see if anyone has maybe checked out my blog and the counter helps me know if Im am typing to myself or if someone other than me has checked in. I think the counter was about 6,000 last time I checked. I log in today to find the counter was gone. I tried a few tricks but it seems to have disappeared. So off I went to find another one. So if your looking its now at 1 which is really weird. Oh well, a new year and a fresh start. Thats always nice.

The wool cable bag that I am working on is almost to the handle part which is exciting. The pattern came from the Knitting Pattern Calendar I got for Christmas. Well what I am making is based off that. I am changing quite a bit of things to make it my own so it should be interesting how it turns out. Im loving the yarn its made from though. Its Cascade 220 100% peruvian wool in a brown heather. Very soft and easy to work with. This yarn was purchased on our little field trip back in November.

I think after the bag is finished I have to knit another lamb to add to my shop seeing how the little guy has been so popular. I am going to make him in different colours which I seem to have done each time and each time he just looks cuter and cuter.

I also found another knitting blog I like today so Im adding to my blogroll. Its called A Mingled Yarn.

Phew That Was A Break Wasnt It

I didnt mean to stay away from my blog for so long. I was just enjoying having my family all home for 2 weeks. Everyone went back to work and school today so its time to get cracking and get some work done.

I got all my knitting done for my orders on time. I wasnt able to give Victoria her socks until a couple of days until after Christmas but she still loves them and wears them alot. She says she wants a hundred more. Megan likes her fluffy cowl and hopefully she will wear it to stay warm.

The pictures you are seeing here today are the rainbow ninja monkey that I made for Megan's friend. Her mum ordered it as a surprise for Christmas. She had asked me for a rainbow monkey and Megan suggested we turn him into a ninja. His little outfit was made from felt and I just kind of winged it. He even has little numchucks (I have no idea how to spell that hehe). I tried to upload a close up shot of them but it kept showing up sideways on here. If you take a look at the first photo you may see them. I dont know why that photo wasnt co-operrating.


Apparently Maya has decided to name him Peter. Im sure there is a story behind the name and Im sure one day I will find out. Megan helped me pick out the yarn for this guy. She wasnt sure about it when she saw it wound in a ball but when she saw it knitted up she said it was perfect. It is cotton so its nice and soft. I just had to make sure I started each piece from the same section of colour to make sure the stripes were all the same.



I am working on some new things for my store which hasnt had anything added to it in quite a while because of all the custom orders I had before Christmas. I have been working on a couple of things and hope to have them up either today or tomorrow. There is a very multicoloured super long scarf and a pair of cabled wristwarmers made from cream wool. The design is different from the other pair I made and the wool is sooo soft on your hands. I am also working on a brown cable bag that is about halfway. I also finally figured out what handles I want to make for the green felted tree bag so I will try and get those done in the next week or so. They shouldnt take too long. I have the fabric to line it with all ready to go.

I did get to get some knitting goodies over the past week. I shouldnt complain about not having any new yarn because I got to get quite alot. I got a voucher from Joe's brother for $20 for Christmas and ended up spending on yarn at Joann Fabrics. Thats when I got the cream wool yarn, some very nice colours of vanna's choice and some brown angel hair yarn which is oh so fluffy and soft. We popped into the Falconer Yarn Loft the other day because we hadnt been there for so long. I got a wonderful surprise when the lady who owns it says she sold a bunch of my stitchmarkers. She said she couldnt find the piece of paper where it was written how much but it was at least $45. When I sell in her store I get store credit. I'm like a kid in a lolly shop when that happens. I always like to take my time and make my selections carefully. I got some brown, cream and purple washable wool to knit toys with, a very pretty blue and an interesting rockmelon colour wool yarn for future bags probably and a set of size 7, 16 inch circular needles which are hard to find. I still have $7 left over which I will have to use another time. I definitely have to sit down and knit some stuff for her store which I havent done for a while.

On the home front we all had a great relaxing holiday. We had a houseful of people Christmas Eve and the girls loved their gifts they got on Christmas Day, Megan especially. She has always been so fun to give presents to. She will love and adore anything you give her even if its the smallest thing. Its fun to watch. Im sure she is showing some of the many clothes she got at school today. I think my favourite gift was my electric griddle. Everyone gets to benefit from it. Joe cooked up his special Joe Burgers last night and was able to cook 6 at a time. I cooked bacon and eggs all at one time. I made 12 pancakes in about 10 minutes which all these things use to be done one at a time and took forever. Yay to griddles and to my husband for getting it for me. Another excellent thing I got for Christmas was being able to talk to everyone in my family on Christmas. I even got to hear my little niece wake up on Christmas morning and see all that Santa had brought. She said Merry Christmas to me and everything. Soooooo cute. I just wanted to give her a big hug. I even got a chance to have a very long chat with a friend of mine in Australia who I havent talked to in about 3 years. We have been friends for 27 years. I think she was surprised to hear from me and couldnt get over my American accent that I have acquired over the last few years. That seemed to be the theme this year. Lets laugh at Nicole's accent. Oh well I cant win with that one because I get it here with people laughing at my Australian accent. I am all over the place hehe.

Well I better go the crazy girls will be coming home from school soon and I will be hearing all about their day.

I Am A Knitting Machine

I have no idea how Im getting it done but its getting done.

I am officially the sock knitting queen. I knitted and shipped off the two pairs of socks for my Knitted For Ewe customer. She got them today and loves them. Yay!
I knitted a pair of sockettes for Megan to take to her sock exchange she had tonight for her basketball team. She picked the colours. Not the colours I would pick, lime green and hunter orange. Apparently everyone wanted them. Go figure.
I am now working on the custom men's sock order that I got through Knitted For Ewe. I thought I might be lucky to post them off on Monday but they are knitting up fast once I got it all set and now I have finished a whole sock and have one to go. I wish I could have these socks because they are made from very soft superwash wool. I may have to treat myself some day. I am hoping to get these socks posted off tomorrow afternoon or Saturday morning.

Tomorrow I have to finish off ninja outfit for a monkey. Its half done already so I dont think the rest will take too long. That has to be done by tomorrow afternoon.

I just logged into my shop and discovered that I made 2 sales today. The lady who bought my first lamb just bought the second lamb and the pair of puppet mittens. Two things are so excellent about this, two sales are great and these items are already knitted and ready to be mailed out.

Once all this is done I can concentrate on the girls handmade Christmas gifts. Unfortunately that is looking like more sock knitting hehe. These are just a couple of pairs for Victoria which are quick and easy. See I told you I am the sock knitting queen hehe.

Other than all the knitting going on I have been getting our Christmas Eve party organized. Everyone I called is coming which means our house will be full on Christmas Eve. I'm saving the cleaning preparations until it gets a little closer otherwise I will have to do it all over again. We are buying our big honey glazed ham this weekend which is the most important part.

The girls did very well in the concerts last week. I was very proud especially of Victoria because this was her first ever concert. She did so great. She was up there singing for all to hear and doing all the actions. It was wonderful to see such progress from the super super shy girl that she was. Little by little that girl is getting better at being around people. At home and with certain others she has no problem but most people she use to barely even acknowledge they were there. Its getting better.

Megan has her last basketball game tomorrow. What will she do with herself once basketball ends? I dont know what sport comes next hehe. It would be nice if she took a break for a while. Good luck convincing her of that though hehe.

Well thats all my updates for now. I better go back and get started on that second sock before going to bed.