Finally finished and in the mail actually.

So.

Here they are.

Started over a year ago.

Intended for LAST year's Christmas.

I'm sure 2nd DS thought he'd never see them.

But they are done and in the mail.  I checked tracking and they are within a day or two of delivery.  So with a bit of luck he'll have them before Thanksgiving. 

Thank goodness!

And here is the start on the 4th pair of Northman mittens.  This pair is for my sister.  She demanded requested them by LAST January.  Yea.  She didn't get them.  Maybe this January.  If she's lucky.  Or I'm lucky.  One or the other.

Sorry about the horrid picture.  They are charcoal grey and off white.  Not that you can tell by this.

This is what I really want to be knitting on.  Acer is the pattern and Peace Fleece is the yarn.  I don't even have a Ravelry page for it yet. 

It is getting close to the body being finished and then just the sleeves.  And finding buttons that I'm happy with...

And just because, here's Teddy. 

Smile Teddy!  You're on candid camera!

One pair down. Two pairs to go.

 

Christmas mittens finished just today.

 

 

 

They turned out pretty good.

 

 

 

I love the pretty red lining.

 

 

 

I have 2 more pairs to go and I'm afraid my enthusiasm for stranded mittens is already flagging a little.

 

Any cheerleading would be greatly appreciated! 

 

 

Especially since I did this... 

 

Before.

 

 

 

After.

 

I just had to make the wrists longer on 2nd DS's mittens.  And so here I am...almost back to the beginning...

 

/sigh

 

 

Sewing, sewing, sewing

The sewing machine has been humming...

A party dress has been made for 1st DGD's American Girl doll, McKenna.

And what party dress is complete without pretty party shoes too!

And everyone needs to relax in their jeans once in awhile.

And even jeans outfits need a change of pace...so here's a t shirt.

And a pair of sneaks to go with.

It's cold here now, but summer will come again and then you need a sun dress.

2nd DGD has a Bitty Baby American Girl doll and she has lots of clothes already but no party dress and so Gramma had to fix that!

And Bitty Baby also needed some warm clothes for this winter.

Amoungst all this sewing has been a little knitting.  This pair of mittens might get done for 2nd DDIL.

But there isn't a prayer that these for 2nd DS will be done by Christmas Eve.  He's had to wait for gifts before and this probably won't be the last time either...poor guy!

There has been knitting going on...

After approximately a year I finally finished this honking big hat for 1st DS. It was in hibernation for a big chunk of that time tho...  All the details are here on Ravelry.

It's going to be a Christmas gift but before I started this project I asked him if he would like/use it.  Cuz I sure wasn't going to do all this planning and knitting to have it sit on a shelf!

He suggested the 2 different sides so that it could have many different looks.

And I was very happy to have the plain side to knit after the other one was so busy.

But it made for an interesting hat and kept the knitting interesting too. 

I kinda love stranded knitting almost as much as knitting lace.

This got finished too.  Or maybe I've already posted about this.  My memory is "this long" these days.  Anyway, bear with me if you've already heard about it.  It's a Christmas gift for 1st DGD who is 7.

 



 

And here is how far I am on the stranded mittens.  Almost done with the 1st lining.  And that flies along pretty quickly.  Will be starting another pair ASAP!  The grey, tan and blue yarn is washed and waiting. 

 

Just a word of advice...if you do stranded knitting with Blue Sky Alpaca Melange be sure to wash it first.  It bleeds like crazy.  Both colors I've used has LOTS of extra dye.  

 

 

1st mitten of many...

Well...

it's a start at least...

3 pairs of stranded mittens and a hat besides??

I had a phone call over the weekend.  It was my sister.  She was telling  asking me to knit her a pair of stranded mittens like I made myself last winter.

I stuttered and stammered and finally said that I had promised 2 pairs of those mittens and a lined stranded hat, like this one, to sons and DILs. 

She said it'd be ok.  She didn't expect them until January.  What?  What did she say?  What?

Besides that, I've got these beauties I'm working on.  And right now I'm in love and won't be distracted by anything else.

This is Henslowe.  Such simple knitting but the construction is what is blowing me away.

See the bit of yarn by the lace?  That is where the shawl started.  Yup.  With 1 stitch. 

The garter is knit first.  Then it is bound off, all except 1 stitch.  You then turn the piece and pick up stitches along the other edge and proceed to knit the lace.

After that is done there is a knitted on picot edge.  Can't wait to get there.  It's so pretty and I'm thinking of putting beads on the picot.

And also on the needles is this cutie. 

 

It's gonna be for 1st DGD. She's 7 and already a fashion-ista. Pink and purple are her colors. Just like this gramma!

 

I'm gonna knit on it until the yarn is gone.  I hope she loves it.

 

So getting back to the stranded mitten dilemma.  I succumbed and ordered the yarn for my sister's mittens per the colors she requested.

 

Do you think I can get 2 pairs of mittens and lined stranded hat finished by Christmas...whose yarn has to be washed first, BTW, because of bleeding...and then get another pair for my sister done sometime before winter is done? 

 

Because, you know, I'm totally going to ignore her January deadline.  I love her but really, I'll be pickled and never want to touch stranded knitting again.

 

I think I know the answer to my question.  (That I'm oh so very delusional.)  But could you all weigh in too? 

 

 

 



"The Three Little Bears Get Ready For Christmas" Storybook

The 3 bears needed a book to tell their story so I wrote one for them...

























































































































































Each grandkid gets their own book. Each book is sewn together with their bear's yarn and there is also a picture of each grandkid on the back of the book.

I hope they enjoy the book and read it and use it but also keep it as a keepsake from Gramma & Granpa.

Please excuse the problems with tense in the book....I'm new at book publishing. ;)

Tabitha is completed!

The three little bears family is now complete. Tabitha has arrived! George & Alice are very happy.





















Tabitha bravely posed for a picture in the cold winter weather.



















But she decided it was chilly so she put up her hood to keep her ears warm.




















Ah, it's kinda nice in the sunshine. I think I'll like it here.

He's a sweetie!

I wanted to knit something for our youngest grandbaby. I kept thinking cardigan and had the perfect pattern....but she grew too fast and it wasn't a big enough pattern. :(

I don't really know what made me think of a teddy bear. Probably during one of my wanderings through Ravelry's pattern search. I love that thing. Especially since it's been updated. How did we survive without it?? I don't have a project page for him on Ravelry yet but this is the pattern.

Since this fellow knit so quickly and was fairly easy to put together, I'm going to make a bear for each grandkid. This guy is for our grandson.





Isn't he cute?

(Yes, it's snowing here....see it in the background of this picture? It's cold too.)











I can tell he's going to be a "bear" to photograph! ;) It's going to have to be a sunny day when I take pics again...


















This is going to be his bib overalls.
















And this is the other 2 bears in their embryonic stage. :)

Something finished, something started, and a naughty kitty

1st DDIL's scarf is finished. It is a Christmas gift I'm embarrassed to say but I'm doing a Happy Dance that it's finally done! The pattern is Lavender Lace Neckwarmer. I made it scarf length because that is what 1st DDIL wanted. It is from the Knit 'N Style magazine. February 2010. I used size 7 Harmony circular needle.



It is not hot pink. It is dark red. I don't even try for the right color when it's red and the winter weather is set at grey. This was even done under my Ott light. Go figure.





This is the water after I washed it in Soak. Not too bad for fading. Not as much as I expected. And this color is accurate.





This is the 2nd rinse and I only did one more. It seemed good enough. This color is also right.





Here it is blocked and drying. If I get an interesting picture of it after it's dry I'll post again. I'm not holding my breath.


Here's what I think of the yarn. It's 70% mink and 30% cashmere and from Great Northern Yarns. When I got it I was surprised by the feel of it. I expected slippery soft like fur but it had more of a cottony feel. Soft yarn but with a different feel to it than I expected. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't knit like cotton. My hands never ached once while I was working with it. It has a nice fuzz to it and I haven't seen any pilling. As you can see by the pictures it did a bit of bleeding but nothing that was extraordinary. In the 5 skeins of yarn I got there was 1 knot. I don't think this is too bad, although I'd like to buy yarn that never has knots. Unless something shows up with wearing, I like the yarn and it's fun to give a gift that is very different from the average because the yarn is exotic. Or I think so at least! :)




And so I turned right around and started DH's scarf from the same yarn. Just a different color!





And now to show you Teddy. Doesn't he look sweet and innocent? Just sleeping like any normal cat.




Well, I'd be sleeping too if I'd done all this damage in a matter of a few minutes! Yes. He tipped the chair. Yes. He flipped the rug. And yes. He moved the cardboard box off the couch and across the floor in an attempt to get to the tissue paper inside.

Naughty kitty!