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Sorry I have been away so long. I have just been Busy, busy, busy due to my recent outburst of Christmas crafting. Normally I don’t commit to too much in the way of handmade gifts but this year I am on a mission! It mainly has to do with this being the first Christmas where my ability to sew is pretty good so there will be lot of sewn gifts. Anyway, this will be a quick post but here are some sneak peeks on what I haven been working on…
Ummm…what a minute! These are for me!! But lets forget about that for a second. Anyway I started on the Anemoi Mittens and they are fabulous. love the knitting. However, I think I may have got the colors backwards and probably should have switched them since the green seems to overpower the purple. Haven’t decided yet if I will rip or keep going.
In the meantime I have been obsessed with making toys for my younger niece and nephew. I am currently working on Elijah for my nephew.
This is such a wonderful and well written pattern. It was so worth the $4.00 for such an ingenious pattern and construction. So far I have completed the head on one leg since this picture was taken. Can’t wait until he is done!
Last, but definitely not least, are my Wee Wonderfuls!!! OMG I have been obsessed with these. These go fast but I have become obsessed with all the accessories. I want to make all the clothes and backpacks to go with them but I had to stop because I have other Christmas crafting to work on. I did make them for my niece but I want to keep them for myself 
They are so cute it makes me wanna squeal 
and believe me it take quite a lot to make me do that! These definitely deserve a proper daylight post so I will have to leave you with this teaser shot.
I have lots more to tell you but this is all I can muster for now. I hope to have another post this weekend if I have time.
Have a good week all!
Wow! I had a pretty crazy night on Thursday which ended rather well. Me and a friend decided to go to the book signing event for Craft Inc. which was hosted at Reform School in Los Angeles from 6-9pm . We were so jazzed! We even planned to get off work early. Well, little do we know that we should have left at 12 noon because we ended up battling massive traffic on the freeways, and getting lost in Los Angeles for 1.5 hours!!
Yes, we had internet direction.
Yes, we had a map.
Yes, we stopped and ask for direction, which were wrong.
Yes, we are obviously direction deficient.
In the end, we got to the event at 8:15pm and had a wonderful time. We met Meg the author and I got my book sighed.
I also got to see some of the wonderful crafts that I have only seen via the internet, included the wall pockets from Shim and Sons.
The best part of the night was that me and my friend both won prizes in the raffle! She won a necklace from a local artist, whose name escapes me at the moment, and I won a wonderful gift package from Variegated Inc.
Which included a Denim Bag with a silkscreened tree, a drawstring bag, and 3 lavendar pouches.
I also bought this wonderful cup/bowl called a Buddha bowl. It is so perfect! Due to the way it is molded it makes you hold the bowl as shown in the picture above. This is ingenious because it not only serves to secure the vessel but you hands warm from the liquid inside. I loved it and enjoyed my coffee with warm and toasty hands this morning 
My new cup, the raffle win and the endless story telling has made the long night, frustrating moments, and long drive home worth the visit.
Next event…Felt Club XL craft fair which is also in L.A.!! I guess I need to put on my big girl panties for this one so I have the courage to brave the L.A. streets…AGAIN .
Wish me luck!
Like my paparazzi picture?? Hee hee, who said you can’t learn anything from America’s Next Top Model !
Yarn: Knitpicks Palette in Bark and Apricot
Inspiration: Eunny Jang Endpaper Mitts
Size: 8.5″ Hand Circumference
Needles: Size 0 and Size 3
Yardage: 174 yards of Bark (3/4 ball) and 115 yards of Apricot (1/2 ball)
Modifications: None
Enjoyment Factor: 9
Knit Time: One Week!!
The Good:
- Free yarn!! Yup, Free!! I got it from a lovely woman on Destash who wanted to get rid of some unwanted stash. Since I have been itching to learn colorwork, but didn’t want the Anemoi mittens to be my first foray into unknown knitting country, I decided that the endpaper mitts would fit the bill.
- Quick. Very quick. This set of mitts took me exactly one week to complete. Maybe it was because I couldn’t put them down but it was quick nonetheless
- I learned a variety of new techniques – Italian Tubular cast on and bind off, colorwork, and did some knitting continental style.
The Bad:
- Since this was my first colorwork project the second glove came out a bit tighter due to improvements in my technique. I luckily had no problems with terribly uneven fabric.
- I got a little bit presumptuous on the second mitt and mistakenly skipped over a step with the tubular cast off so I had to go back and retie my yarn since I had cut it already. Its not a visible issue for anyone else, but just goes to show how easily the pattern instills you with confidence so that you think you know everything and cut your yarn without referring back to the patter. BAH!!
The Ugly:
- I did make a mistake on the first glove right around the wrist area because I obviously wasn’t paying attention. Therefore, the gloves are no longer interchangeable and the mistake glove will forever be the left glove unless I want to reveal the mistake to others.
Picture of Fetchings from 2006
The chill is in the air and I woke up feeling like it was the lazy week of Christmas. After all the gifting is over and you are allowed to just revel in the thoughts of a new year and the holiday cheer. I thought of Christmas trees, or at least the scent since I have an artificial tree and use the Christmas tree scent air freshner . I also thought of fresh baked bread, hot winter food, and cuddling up at home with some good knitting and quiet time.
Then the thought of decorating popped into my head. But decorating two weeks before Thanksgiving, is that just crazy talk or is bring the cheer a little early acceptable? Please note that I normally decorate either Thanksgiving night or the next morning to get maximum enjoyment.
So I thought I would poll some of my lovely readers and see if anyone else has caught the bug…
Go take the Poll HERE
and see how everyone else feels about the holidays.
The Endpaper mitts are nearing the end. I love how they are so swishy and warm from the stranded knitting. I will probably have them completed by Sunday. The only problem is that instead of wanting to go back to the Cable-Down Raglan, I want to start on the Anemoi mittens next. Needless to say, two color knitting is highly addictive!
Other distractions include tracing my first Burda magazine pattern. It will be making skirt 129 from the August 2007 Burda Magazine ( click on it for bigger view).
I have some left over red plaid from my tailored jacket so I thought I would make a skirt to match. I am normally not a matchy matchy person with my wardrobe but this just might work out. The jacket won’t be done for a while, but when it gets to a presentable point I will post some update pictures.
Another distraction, or inspiration, came in the mail last week. A full size ham, tailor board, and tailor clapper. I won them on e-bay after losing out on all the point pressers. I was so much happier having won this set for $26 bucks!! I am playing in the big leagues now!
Well, I haven’t people. The knitting has been touch and go and the sewing has been a bit of a wreck but I have persevered knowing that I will overcome the crafting slump. I HAVE to because Christmas is around the corner. Of course, I say this as if I do a lot of holiday crafted gifts when really I do not. However, if I want to finish even ONE crafted gift this season, the mojo better make a command appearance and SOON.
On the good side, I started the Cable-Down Raglan with the Calmer I got on sale. Man!! Calmer and Knitpicks Options are like BUTTER! However, I have ripped the top diamond no less than 6 times (don’t ask) and although the loveliness of the butter combo has made the pain a little bit better it is still impeding forward progress. And now I have hit a road block with the pattern which maybe one of my lovely readers can help me with:
When I start the right and left cable section on the sleeves, after the first diamond, my increase stitches started to look a little funky. I followed the errata up to this point (i.e. k1f&b on sleeve increases and knitting the first stitch of the sleeve on work even rows) however, when I got to the sleeve it says change the k1f&b to a M1P on the sleeve increases. I did that and ended up with a big hole and the stitch pattern looking wierd.
- Now the question is. Did anyone else follow the errata, M1P or did you continue to do the k1f&b after the sleeve?
- If you did do the M1P, do you continue to knit the first sleeve stitch after the marker on work even rounds or purl it
So while I wait for either help through the blogisphere or the nerve and desire to figure it out myself, I started a new project. I have never been one to have WIPs hanging around but this mojo thing gives me a true understanding of how people can have so many UFOs. Anyway, I present to you the Endpaper Mitts!
These are pretty spur of the moment, as a wonderful woman on Destash was destashing some Knitpicks Palette for free + shipping and I got it. I think I will call these my chocolate cover apricot gloves because those are the yummy colors. These will be my introduction to two color knitting so that I can get to those Anemoi mittens that tempt me everyday.
Hope to have some good news and more progress on the Cable Raglan next time you hear from me.
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