Well Ian could not be the only kid sporting a new hat. I made these for little A and Madison, they chose the pattern and colors. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

(I never want to make a pom-pom again.)

So much extra time!

Well the one benefit of the economy is increased craft time. I got laid off from my job last week so now I have a bit of free time on my hands. I only worked 10 hours but it still consumed time, if I had a 10am meeting I didn't really have time to do anything in between dropping A off and leaving for the meeting, same deal in the afternoon...so essentially a few hours at the office would take up most my 8-3 time. Any way.....I've been busy trying to put my time to good use. I finally finished the tussah silk I have been spinning since this summer. I must say silk is a joy to spin, I love the way it has such strength and yet seems so delicate. I ended up with 770 yds of lace weight from 4 oz. I am thinking of making a shawl with it, just waiting for the right pattern to pop out at me. A triangle shawl might accent the long color repeats better but rect. shawl is appealing as well. Luckily Christie gave me another escape clause, casting on for this will not be a new project but merely a continuation of the same one. Thanks Christie!
I received a gift card for Joanne's from a friend for Christmas and finally got around to using it this week. I found this sock yarn there that is actually pretty nice, it is 50/25/25 wool, bamboo, nylon blend and was only $4 a skein. (blogger is posting my pics sideways again.)


So if you turn your head you can see I also bought some scrapbooking stuff. I think these will make some lovely cards and am eager to start working on cards and scrapbooks again. Those supplies in my craft room have been quite ignored, yet somehow they have managed to multiply. I also want to use some of my time to get making some more stitch markers and get my business back up and going again, I have kind of ignored it and haven't actively tried to get any new business, so now that I lost my yarn fund, I mean job the extra dough might be nice.

I also bought this at Joanne's. It is super cool and does an awesome job of making i-cord, the only drawback is it doesn't do worsted or heavier weights.

And lastly with my time I have been on another big organizational frenzy. I hit Staples and loaded up on P-touch tape and went hog wild in my closet and craft room. Now all my purses are labeled so I will start using more than just the one I always seem to carry.

And all my boots too. I forgot I had some of them.

And it had been quite a while since the shoes were updated with labels for the newest purchases. No more digging around trying to find the right pair or forgetting about the pair I love but somehow got lost in the masses. Dh drew the line when I went to put the "husband " label on his forehead. Someday me and my p-touch will organize the whole world!!

An escape clause!!!

Indeed I have managed to use my little escape clause to the maximum. Remember how I said I would not start any new projects until I finished my old ones? Well I also said EXCEPT for gifts. So guess who is feeling generous?

This scarf is a gift for my Aunt Maria as a thank you for letting us stay with her during our recent CA visit. This project was fast once the yarn finally decided what it wanted to be.

This was mystery yarn I purchased sometime ago on ebay. I had two skeins of it and wrongfully assumed that both skeins would be the same yardage. With that assumption in mind I knitted my way gleefully through the Hug Me Boucle Shawl. The concept was simple, knit until you finish half your yarn and then start to decrease to knit the other half. Well guess what, the two skeins were indeed not of the same yardage and this is where it ended.
Too bad too, because I really like the pattern. I think I may use it in the future with this boucle in my stash. However next time I will measure it out on my niddy noddy and give myself some room for error.
Frog, Frog, Frog was in my future.

After several different attempts at several different scarves with different needle sizes and gauges, I ended up doubling the yarn and using size 19 needles to whip this out. I sorta was at the end of my rope with this yarn and wanted to get this shipped out sometime this millennium. I kept with the yarn over pattern of the shawl and I think it turned out pretty well.

It isn't super long, but the yarn has a lot of elasticity to it, and besides it is more for accessorizing than utility given CA's mild weather.

The next gift was made at the bequest of my 17 year old son. Now it is a rare day when Ian takes any interest in my hobbies. The beautiful scarf that I so painstakingly made out of my own seat of my pants pattern, in my early knitting days to boot, alas ended up in the corner of his closet to be left behind when we moved. So although I was delighted for the request I also knew that this time I wouldn't be whipping out the luxury alpaca for this project, especially when this was the inspiration I was given directly from him.

He seems to be quite appreciative and happy with the end result. At least that is what I am assuming by the fact that he hasn't stopped wearing it. 17 year old boys aren't ones to gush their gratitude. I used Plymoth Encore and this pattern and heavily modified it, but luckily kept good notes because now both siblings want matching ones.
Btw, I did manage to do a few rounds on the infamous mom sweater, so I'm not slacking too badly.