ok, so this isn't exactly knitting. but it's killing me to not be able to post pictures on my other blog, and since all i've done the past few days is work on the gift boxes for my family for Christmas, i'm posting some pictures here.


here are the little trees, waiting to be buttoned up...


and all six felted boxes...


and my kitchen table/workspace/disaster area...



this poor cut-up sweater (not one i knitted) is going to become an advent calendar garland of little stockings...


see the big stack of stockings? i'm going to try to get some of these sewn up tonight - december is coming soon!

i've got a few more goodies to pack into the boxes, but for the most part, they're pretty much done.

oh, and the advent calendar? that's not for the boxes - it's for our house. don't know why i threw that in. so sorry for the random scattering of this post - i guess 4:00 coffee wasn't a good idea today.

hey kirstin - any babies yet?

later, ladies.

Well you asked for a picture and here it is! I was actually farther along on the sleeve and alas saw a mistake and had to rip the whole thing out. My hearts were inside out! daah But....I'm back on the right track!
Hate this cheapo yarn. I just know it's going ot fuzz up on me! Oh well live and learn. I am also sending along a picture of Tubs. Kirstin and Jay's dog! Ain't he cute.

No time for an actual update, but this is what I've been working on this month so far. I just finished the trunk of a pair of pants that are supposed to look like Mickey Mouse's shorts and legs. Wish me luck on that one...

for some reason, even though my thanksgiving deadline is only a week away, i have put the boxes to the side and knit a few other little projects.

the cowl: a.k.a. the most ridiculous knitted thing i've ever made. what was i thinking? and why didn't anyone stop me? it looks like a giant turtleneck swallowing my head.
no pictures. no.

this little felted hat for adella:


i used the little turtle knits bucket hat pattern that i've made twice before. this time, instead of cotton, i used wool and felted it in the washer. it came out cute, but a little different than i envisioned.

and today i cast on for a little pair of felted baby booties from the latest interweave issue. they're kinit on size 2's and they seem so tiny! i'm more of a 7's and up kind of knitter, usually.
i'll post pics of those when i finish them. not sure who they're for yet, but i know so many babies right now, they'll find a good home i'm sure.

that's all for now!
what is everyone else up to?

okay, this is the stenciled shirt i made to pair up with amy's super-cute wool longies for the Fiber Arts Avengers charity auction.

it came out pretty darn cute, i think. and while it seemed like an easy quick little projects, it actually took me several tries to get it just right.


that knitting jumble you see is my latest quick-fix project. i reached a point of impasse with my christmas projects, so i started this little number. i'm using a yummy soft cashmere/merino blend and making up my own pattern for a cowl - like a scarfy-tube-thing that i can pull up like a hood too. we'll see how it works out. in my head, the result will be beautiful, soft, and warm, and everyone will see it and want to have one because it will be the perfect combo of hat, scarf, and snuggly warmth. and it's blue, which is always good. i'll keep you posted when i see how it turns out. if it's bad, we'll never speak of it again.

and ann - i don't do as many stencil shirts as i want to. as i mentioned earlier, i am the queen of big ideas that sometimes don't make it into production. i really like making the stencils, but they are very time-consuming and i am a bit of a fussy perfectionist with my crafts, and at times i am very easily frustrated. not always a good combination, i know. so, more to come, yes. but not nearly as many as the ideas in my head. oh, and! the sweater you donated to the auction is SOOO cute! i love all the detail, and it is really warm and soft - good work!!

so my Xmas boxes. no picture, but i have 4.5 of 6 finished, and i ran out of yarn. so while i am xmas box yarnless, i'm working on the cowl thing and making lots of little goodies with adella to go IN the boxes. two weeks until my deadline! gheesh - i just realized how close that seems.
more later. goodnight everyone.

I got the sweater! It is beautiful!




I am not going to mess with the neck/collar at all, as far as snaps or buttons are concerned. I like it as is. I am actually going to point it out as a positive aspect of the sweater because so many kids have huge heads and hate having tight necked things pulled over their heads.

I also made a little drop stitch scarf for Henry's friend Bailey. I think it came out really cute and it was super quick to knit up. I might have to make a few more to list on my HC. With all of that spare time I have, lol.



Oops, I think I posted those first 2 pictures, wrong, but I'm too lazy to fix it.

I finished the first pair of pants for the NYC order, but I'm not going to take pictures until they're all done. Hopefullt by the middle of next week, though that might be a tad optimistic. I have officially closed my customs list. I actually said no to someone, which is a feat of gigantic proportions for me.

I am hoping to get the shirts for the 2 sets I am listing on the Fiber Arts Avengers site tomorrow, so I'll take more pictures then.

Alright. Back to the needles...

OH! I almost forgot. Guess what came in the mail yesterday?



I put them in the mail Priority this morning, mama, so you should have them on Thursday. They are sooooo pretty and soft. Of course, I forgot to write a note until I got to the post office, so pardon the lameness of it. You know I love you! Mwah!

Well! Well! Here in the final picture of the grey sweater that is too small for Henry! After Amy puts a snap on it or something maybe it will be auction material. Personally I would bother for Henry cause ya ain't never gonna use it anyhow but for finishing purposes it might be a good idea. I went to the yarn store yesterday and have started a sweater for myself. Mosy green, all on one needle, bottoms up. We'll see how it goes. The yarn was cheap cheap so if it doesn't come out it won't be a big money lose. It is so soft but I don't know how the yarn will hold up. It might end up to be one of those sweater that fuzzes up. We'll see I'll keep you posted. Anyway here's the sweater!! Sorry I have no models!

OKay, let's try this again.

I just finished this pair of teensy longies for a baby shower I am going to Sunday for our friends Kate and Adam. They are huge Minnesota Twins fans, so I hope they like them. I did have a slight problem that is accentuated by this flash picture. When I changed skeins at the bottom of the bum of the pants, the dye lot of the new skein was different. You can see where it is lighter, and continues to be lighter on one leg. On the other leg, where I changed skeins again (I was trying to get rid of some ha;f skeins of navy I had) it goes back to the darker dye lot. Doh! I am hoping that since they aren't knitters they won't notice it as much. It doesn't look quite as bad in person, the flash really brings it out.



This order went out yesterday. She wanted the dump truck longies in those colors. When it came to the monster she said "Suprize me, but I want boyish colors and no red". I couldn't figure out what other color to use for the mouth since red is my usual color and black would have looked awful. I decided on the blue so that they'd kinda match the other longies without being too matchy matchy.



Finally, I finished these armwarmers and bribed Henry to model them for me. He did, but even the promise of chocolate couldn't make him sit still. I was going to give them to him, but he doesn't seem to really like anything on his hands like that.




In other business news, I heard from Robert from Mahar today. He said that my idea of replacing the hot water bottle cozy idea with smaller "boo boo bags" was "brilliant". Apparently Child Magazine has asked him to submit some "New in 2007" ideas for their February/March issue and he wants to use the boo boo bag idea. I need to get to work on the prototype. He also had two more holiday orders for me.

In OTHER knitting news, I have joined a new knitting for charity group called The Fiber Arts Avengers. They are currently raising money for a 3 year old boy nicknamed "The Professor" who is undergoing some pretty spendy chemo for brain cancer. Our very own Liz has agreed to stencil one of her amazingly cute shirts for a snowflake set for us to auction off, and my current collaboration partner Nickie from Nee Nee Face is also going to donate a "My Mom Rocks" shirt that she designed for our collaboration so we can auction off one of those sets.



This isn't the best picture of the shirt, but you get the idea of how cool it is. I'm going to pair it with either my MOM tattoo longies or the skull and bones.

Alright. I am going to hit publish and if this gets eaten I am going to cry.

Oh man. I just wrote a huge post with pictures and links and then messed up and it got deleted. Pth. I'll try again later.