A fresh start...

It seems I can knit, or I can blog about it, but I have a difficult time managing to do both. I've been knitting up a storm for months now. I knit many Christmas presents and then proceeded to gift them out before snapping any photos of them! I've always been notoriously bad about posting my finished objects to Ravelry.

So here it is the beginning of March and I already have some progress made on my 2013 Christmas gifts. Let me share them now before it's too late.

One pair of socks completely finished~

Another pair with about an evening of knitting to finish them off~

And of course as is my mercurial nature, I couldn't finish those because I "needed" to start this pair~

I'm really enjoying knitting some simple colorwork. I have no desire to knit intricate Fair Isle or Intarsia, but knitting simple stripes or stripes combined with slipped stitches keeps me amused.

I've also been working on a crochet project. I've been longing for a vintage-like granny bedspread for my bed. This was inspired by a beautiful spread made by Sucrette. Read about hers on her blog: Le Monde de Sucrette to see how beautiful the finished product can look.

I'm using up leftover yarn from other projects. I think I need about 100 of these squares to make a queen sized spread. I've got 12 so far.

And then there's this~

I thought that I had already blogged about the Bee Keepers Quilt that I started a long time ago, but I took a  quick look at my past posts and couldn't find anything about it. For my non-knitting followers, The Bee Keepers Quilt is made up of about a bizzillon little stuffed knitted hexagon shaped puffs (called "hexipuffs", although I prefer to call them "Honeycombpuffs".) stitched together.

As of this post, I have 49.5 puffs completed. I love displaying them in the glass bowl on the dining room table and watching the pile grow. I'm making them in neutrals of tans, browns, grays, and black, with an occasional dark ocean blue or deep sea green thrown in.

It reminds me of the rocky New England Coast. I'm naming my quilt the Archipelago Quilt.

It's probably going to take me forever (years) to finish this project, but won't it be awesome when it's done?

A Whimsical Birch Tree

Quite some time ago saw a craft idea on one of the blogs I read. I can't really remember exactly which one it was now. The craft was an arrangement of crochet flowers attached to thin dowels with tiny clothespins. I bought the dowels and clothes pins, but never got around to crocheting the flowers.

Today a new twist on this craft idea came to me. I got out my supplies and created a whimsical birch tree!

I love birch trees and they aren't as common here in the mid-Atlantic states as they are in New England. I love the beautiful yellow color the leaves turn in the fall. Down here the birches are small (scrawny in fact) and seen mostly as ornamental trees in lawns rather than the tall rows of birches that line the highways up north.

So, here is how I created my bit of whimsy:

I crocheted some cute little leaves.

I hot-glued the little clothes pins to the backs.

Since the clothes pins had to clip to the dowel at a right angle...

...I glued the leaves at various angles onto the clothes pins. That way the leaves would "dance" on the branches and not all be sticking out at the same angle.

Then I went looking for a vase or vessel to hold my "branches". I found a mason jar that had a vented lid that once held potpourri. Perfect! The vented lid would hold the dowels in place just right. 

In my travels I also ran across a ball of yarn, white with black flecks, just like birch bark. 

I unwound the ball of yarn into the glass jar.

I arranged my little crocheted leaves onto the branches...

...and added the branches to the jar.

I love the way it turned out. It brings a brightness to my craft room and it makes me smile. 

If the camera should pan out...

I've read at least three different blog posts in the past year by people talking about how their lives might look rather perfect in their blogs, but actually things aren't as "picture perfect" as they seem. Sure, they write about their fun day out at the park, but the reality of it is they return home with the cranky children who missed their nap, to the dirty dishes they left behind, and the laundry they need to do before work on Monday morning. I'm certainly no exception to this. The truth is I (and apparently many others) blog because it makes us happy and we like to share our happy times. It's not much fun to take pictures of the messy house and cranky kids and write about it!


When my sister started reading my blog, she remarked something about the... I hesitate to use the word ~ perfection. I really don't think that's the word she used, but I'm not coming up with anything better right now. Anyway, what she saw was an always neat home, perfectly executed craft projects, and good food always on the table.


Silly sister! She doesn't live close to me, so she doesn't see my day to day life. I explained to her how I take my photos at close range to what I want to show and I make sure the less impressive stuff in the background doesn't show. I described to her what she would see if the camera should pan out.


I went on to tell her about Lucy at Attic24 who is an artist at taking photos that show just what she wants to show. She lives in a warm and cozy house in England and has a love of color that shows in her crochet creations and the decor of her home. (Scroll down in the post to see how she decorates one of her two beautiful fireplaces.) Lovely, right? But if the camera should pan out... you would see her much talked about "Shelves of Doom". (Again, scroll down.) Here Lucy has indulged us with a quick glimpse of her hidden imperfections!


Today it is my turn to show a glimpse of some of my hidden imperfections.


In my blog, I have shared with you some of my knitting or crochet projects. It may seem like I am a very focused crafter. I plan a project, I have a recipient in mind, I knit or crochet the item, I photograph it, I give it away, or I wear it.


But, as you all should know, I am not at all focused. I am in fact very mercurial when it comes to my creative side. Here you see my current projects that I alternate working on:

The Dr. Who Scarf, some bowls to felted, the ill fitting sock I'm deciding what to do with, a bacon purse, my hexipuffs, the Holden Shawl, a little stuffed lamb, and a bit of secret knitting.


However, if the camera should pan out from the few projects I have shared with you, you would see this:

As you can see, I really have much more going on than I would normally let the camera lens capture! I assure you that I begin each and every one of these projects with a strong conviction to make it. Sadly though, my interest in some of these projects has waned as I have worked on them.


I have many projects in different stages all tucked away in bags to protect them until I feel the urge to work on them again.

I also have a couple (okay, eight) projects that are complete except for some finishing details. Sad, I know!

Most of these projects will get finished eventually and I'll share them with you as I go along. But you can be sure that as I finish these, there will be many new projects waxing and waning in the background, out of the camera's view!


So tell us, what would we see if your camera were to pan out? Tell us about some of your hidden imperfections!

My weekend last weekend.

I'm a little late reporting on how I spent my weekend last weekend, but that's just how it goes with me. The hubby and I spent a short but wonderful time "back home" in Connecticut.


We left Saturday morning which was Saint Patrick's Day. All week I had intended to crochet a little garland or bunting of shamrocks to decorate my china cabinet in the dining room, but I never found the time. So, four hours in the car was plenty of time to work on it. Better late than never, don't you think?

It was a really quick project and as I often say, it made me smile. I had plenty of time to make a second one to give to my sister who I would be visiting. She needs a bit of whimsy in her life to make her smile, too.

These little shamrocks were so much fun to make, I just kept making them. I decided I'd be a shamrock fairy all day and secretly leave the single shamrocks laying around for people to find. My own mini yarn bombing project!

It was fun but, unfortunately I didn't get any photos of my secret work. I left one with the tip at the restaurant where we ate dinner. This is the family restaurant my husband and I both went to as children, although we didn't know each other back then.

It was great to eat there again. It brought back so many memories and I felt compelled to ordered what I used to order when I was a kid... Spaghetti and Meatballs. A good meal for Saint Patrick's Day, right? Oh, it was so good.


So, back to the shamrocks... I left one in an elevator, one on a table in the hotel lobby, one at an ATM. The next morning I had three left and I gave two to friends that we met for breakfast and left the last for the waitress with her tip. I hope my little shamrocks brought a bit of luck to those who found them, or at least a smile to their faces!


The main reason for our trip north was to watch a family member perform in the musical Hairspray. He played the part that John Travolta played in the movie. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to make the trip at first, but everything work out and we were able to. I am SO happy I did't miss it!

He looks just like his mom... I'm sure she'd be proud!

As I said, we met friends on Sunday morning for breakfast. These are the friends that I've spoken of before, Chuck and Carol. I don't think I've ever mentioned though, that they relocated to Pennsylvania in the fall and now live only about an hour and a half from us. Funny that we have to travel all the way to Connecticut to have breakfast with them! Actually, they were up there for a visit with friends and since they have not yet sold their Connecticut house, they were there taking care of some business. They just got an offer on it, so fingers crossed that all goes well with their sale!


I hope you're all enjoying the spring weather if you're in the Northern Hemisphere. If you read my last post, you know I am. Today is supposed to be cooler and rainy, a good day to meet with friends to knit, so I'm off to hop in the shower and get going!

Breakfast anyone?

The Bacon and Eggs Pillow is complete and has been gifted. I had a little fun with it before it left the house.

The lucky recipient was very pleased with it! It's a good thing too, because these socks were intended for him, but sadly, they aren't going to fit him.

In fact, this is the second try at making these socks. The first sock was almost complete when I discovered it was too tight for his foot. It was frogged and I adjusted stitch count and needle size... and, it's still too small!

You know how they say sometimes yarn just doesn't want to be what you think it should be? Well, this yarn wants to be these socks, just not for a man size foot. 

I guess I'll have to keep them for myself!

Dr. Who and some whimsy crochet.

I believe the last time I posted about the Dr. Who Scarf that I'm making, it was about a foot long. That was back in January. I haven't really given much attention to the scarf for a while (much to one young man's dismay) and yet as I look at it now, I have made some progress on it. It is now a little bit longer than 3 feet.

The large basket of yarn was temporarily put into hiding- out of the way of the living space. Since things have quieted down around here, it's been brought out again and is residing in the dining room where I will see it everyday and be inspired to knit up a few rows here and there. Let's see if the scarf grows a little faster now.

I must say, I don't really mind having it hang out here... the colors coordinate nicely with my living room/dining room decor! (See the placemats in the next photo.)

Although I've got several projects on the knitting needles right now, I've been distracted lately by a serious crocheting jag. I suddenly had the need to crochet some quick items that would give me some instant gratification and add a bit of whimsy to my life, as well as a smile to my face.

I shared with you the start of the bacon and eggs pillow. It's almost finished:

I just need to attach the eggs and purchase a pillow form or stuffing and stitch up the side. I'm not sure which one of my bacon loving family members I'm going to give it to, but I'm sure that when the others see it there will be some equity issues and I'll have to make a couple more!

Here's a project I've been wanting to do for a long time. They are the mugs that you can get a craft stores with the inserts for kids to color. I made crocheted inserts. I made them to hang from hooks near the water cooler in our house.

This set is crocheted in the colors of our everyday dishes, but I plan to knit or crochet more inserts to coordinate with the various holidays and seasons.

I can't wait to knit some cabled ones in deep red, green, gold, and blue for Christmas time. Now I just need to get the perfect thing to hang them from, I envision a small shelf with hooks beneath it.

As I was slowly packing away the winter decorations over the past few weeks (snowmen get left out long after the Christmas decorations are put away), I was struck with the need to make something in red for the Valentine's Day season. Just a little something to add some red to the table.

I had it on the kitchen table for a few weeks (making me smile) and now it's moved to the coffee table where it has overstayed it's welcome, but I don't have anything in shamrock green to replace it with yet!

That's all the sharing for today. See you soon with some finished knitted projects.