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.

It's Going To Be A Musical Week

Here is a photo of my cable fingerless mittens that I made last week. This is my own design which is kind of exciting. I have only done my own hats and bag designs so far so this was a new venture. They came out just the way I wanted them to on the first try.


This was also just added to my shop. I had never made a cowl before but they looked interesting and easy. I kind of just made up this pattern and hoped it would turn out. I had knit it a couple of different ways before settling on the ribbing stitch and it turned out better than I hoped. It must be ok because Megan wants it. I told her she cant have it but I'll make her one of her own. These are quick projects that dont use alot of yarn, good for stash busting. Im trying to ignore the fact that Im in these photos hehe.

The title of this post states that it will be a musical week and so it will. On Tuesday we get to go to Victoria's first school concert. I can not wait to go to this. She has been singing Rudolph and Jingle Bells in this house for about 4 weeks now. I believe they even have actions which is even better. I am loving the "Ho what fun it His to ride on a one Horse open sleigh" part of Jingle Bells. Make sure when you sign the H you really emphasize it too hehe. The big question will be will she freak out on stage because she really is shy or will she shine because she loves attention and all her friends will be with her too. It will be interesting. The other musical event this week is Megan's chorus and band concert on Thursday. These are always entertaining. I have no idea what songs they are playing because that girl has only practiced one time on her flute at home. Im sure she will do fine because they practice at school and she picks up things really easily. Throw in a couple of Megan's basketball games and some Christmas shopping and you have what my week is looking like hehe.

On the Knitted For Ewe front I have orders for 3 pairs of socks. I have nearly finished the first pair. I am waiting on the colour that they person wants for the second pair and I have to special order the yarn for the third pair. I also have an order for a rainbow monkey for one of Megan's friends. Her mum has asked me to make her one. Megan has decided that she wants to turn it into a ninja monkey so we bought some felt to make ninja accessories. This should be interesting hehe. Ive never made ninja accessories before. Believe it or not we had trouble finding good rainbow yarn. We settled for some cotton yarn that we found that Megan says is close enough. These girls are picky.

Oh I also need to get knitting Victoria's christmas presents. She wants a brown kitty. I dont know why and I know she really wants some new socks because her last pair died after being worn so so much. She was crying because they got a hole, this is how much she loved them hehe.

Well I better get going. Lots of knitting to do.

Very Exciting Thing For Knitted For Ewe

I logged into Etsy today to find a message from another store that they had selected my little lamb to put in their treasury.
Here he is

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=24645

A treasury is a group of items selected by a seller on Etsy that they have seen on Etsy and have liked. If enough people view this treasury it could be selected to be put on the front page of Etsy for a while. This would be great exposure for my shop so Im very excited to even be chosen. That would very cool to see something of mine on fhe front page. Keep your fingers crossed and check out the treasury.

WooHoo!

A Little Lamb Who Wants A Home

I listed this little guy in my shop last week. He turned out so cute. Dont you just want to hug him. He really wants a home though. None of this hanging about and not being played with. Victoria has tried to nab him several times.



Here he is all nakey with his tail hanging out. Now you know why he needs the cardigan. He'd get pretty chilly otherwise.


I liked how these photos turned out. I may have finally found the way to take my photos for my shop that will stand out, have good lighting and show the product well.

Today I am hoping to list a couple more things. A monkey that I had made ages ago. He is a blue and brown fluffy monkey I like to call Morris. I am also listing a pair of wristwarmers. Well I think I am. I have gone back and forth whether to list them or keep them for myself and just make another pair for the shop. I think it will be a last minute decision. They just need some ends threaded in and they will be ready for photos. I am pretty proud of these wristwarmers because I designed the pattern myself. Yay for me. They have a cable design on the front of them.

The kiddies and the husband went back to the regular routine today. School and work, work and school. It was nice having everyone home. Megan was even home for most of the holidays. We started decorating for Christmas. This isnt just a one day event in our house. It could take a week or two before its all set up. We live with Christmas Elf Joe if you remember hehe. The tree is up and all decorated. I think Victoria has the Christmas gene from Joe because she just loves to lay next to the tree and look up at it all the time especially when the lights are turned on. We still have to put the tree up that goes on the front porch. Its going to be pretty colourful out there at night. We got some new icicle lights that are multi coloured and you can see them from store up the road hehe. Its all very National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.
For Thanksgiving we went to Joe's dad's house. The food was yummy and we all just hung out. We brought the stuffing which Joe made because I ran out of time. We also brought dessert. Apparently I am becoming famous for making good dessert. The girls helped me make some Boston Cream Pie Minis. They are cupcake sized Boston Cream Pies. They taste just like the big version. We made them at Girl Scouts a while ago and Joe liked them so we thought we'd try it again. They were a big hit.

I just finished finalizing the details on a custom order that I cant wait to get started on. I will be making some men's socks for a guy who has rather large feet. I found a pattern I should be able to use. He has decided that he wants them knitted in the superwash wool which is wool yarn that can be washed without shrinking. I havent used it before but heard alot about it. They should make very nice comfy socks. I'll probably want a pair myself once Im done with them.

A little personal message here to my niece. Happy 3rd Birthday Olivia! I love you. I hope you liked your mermaid cake with the rainbow on it. I meant to call and say Happy Birthday but kept remembering when you guys were probably in snooze land. I promise to call you soon. Fingers crossed we'll see you at Christmas.