Long time no post

Okay, it has been over 2 months since I posted. I got busy when I got home from my trip and never did back to it. I'll just leave it at that no need to bore you with the details.

I have been busy and so I have a pictures to share.

I made this shawl for my mother for her birthday. I finished it at the end of May.In June I made a couple of dish clothes and worked on my baby blanket. Here are the two dish clothes I made for a wedding gift for my brother and his beautiful bride. I hope they enjoy them. Here is a doll blanket I made as part of a service project at church. It will go to an orphan some where out there. It is simple but I did use up yarn in my stash! That is always a good thing.

I made some progress on the baby blanket. Here are all of the pieces that I made. Sewing them on is the next step.
In July I finished the blanket. It isn't perfect but I am pleased.

I finished grandma's birthday gift a "thread bowl" vase made from the same yarn I used for her Christmas afgan last year. She loved the colors. I thought it would be great to make a matching vase. She loved it!
I started on Christmas gifts. I figure my family isn't checking this blog (they don't know it exists) so it is okay to show the work in progress. I am making crazy quilt stockings for a few people in my family. This one is for my boyfried Derek. His favorite colors are wine and blue. I decided to make a theme for his stocking. It is still a work in progress. I need to add the decorative stitches, put on the backing and line it. I asked my sister if she wanted one that followed a color theme. She said to make it crazy. I went so crazy with it I can't find the picture to show you.

And then, I made a few more dishclothes. My favorite pattern for the dish cloth is the purple one below. I like how it feels in my hand. I am looking forward to trying out the top one. It was a funny stitch I thought I would try.

I went to the Giant's stitch n' pitch game. It was so much fun. I got to hang out with two of my yarn loving girlfriends, the Giants won and the ladies behind me loved the yarn I was using in one project and my monkey pattern. What more could you ask for at a ball game? The last weekend this month I finally felted the bag I made for my sister's birthday gift. It was exciting to put it out of the washing machine and see how it changed. I might just felt something in the future. I hope she likes the bag.

I have some work in progress. I'll save those for the next post.

5:30AM and all is not well.

I woke up at 5:30 this morning to go on a hike. Something didn’t feel right. I decided to give myself another hour of sleep and something still didn’t feel quite right. I did the same thing twice more. By 8:30 I knew I was coming down with something. I called my hiking date and cancelled. Big bummer!

Part of me wonders if I got sick because I wanted to go for a hike instead of help someone move. Another part of me wonders if I got sick because I purchased yarn last night. I can’t tell you how many skeins I bought. It was three bags full. I bought yarn for the monkey I am making for my brother’s birthday in September, a baby blanket that I want to make for my future baby (or someone else’s baby if I don’t get married), and finish a hobo bag I am making for my sister’s birthday in September.

I finished crocheting the bag this afternoon. I still need to felt it. This is my first felting project. I hope it goes well. I started a dish towel for my future sister-in-law. There will be a shower sometime in the next few months. I started the monkey. I am half way through with the head. I don’t think I will finish the head today. I am ready to conk out. Being sick is the pits.

This week I finished the hobo bag and a hot pad. I started a monkey and dish cloth. My sweater is still in progress. I did do a little work on it this week. Maybe I’ll spend some time on it tomorrow. I would be done with the beret for my mother except I made an error on the last row and that darn yarn is unforgiving and I will have to scrap it all. On the upside this will force me to write down the pattern.

I must note that my hiking date was wonderful. He called me atleast 3 times to check on me and see if he could do anything. He was super sweet and brought me won ton soup for tonight, chicken noodle soup for tomorrow and some otc items to ease the symptoms. What a man!

Raiding my stash!

When I moved 8 months ago I realized just how much yarn, fabric and other crafting supplies I have. I love being creative. It is so much easier to create things if you have everything you need. I might just have too much stuff. My new place is much smaller than the last place and I have fewer places to store it. I recently had a few friends over for brunch and did some major cleaning. The yarn hiding behind my massage chair had to move but where will it go? Sadly, I didn’t find a home for it. There is no nook or cranny to hide it and I don’t want to put it back in behind the chair. It is sitting in a bag in my bedroom hiding behind my bed so that guests won’t spot it. This just won’t do. I have got to do something about it. I have made a list of gifts that I will be making this year. Birthdays, wedding showers, and Christmas (Yes! I am thinking about Christmas already). I have made a list of people and things to make. I will need to get yarn for a number of the projects. I am pleased to announce that I broke into the stash for a few of them! Whew. I don’t want to add one more skein to my stash until I have gotten rid of a few.

My mother’s birthday is coming up and so is mother’s day. For her birthday I made a wrap from a lovely rust colored yarn called Symphony. The earthy color will be nice for mom and it was an interesting pattern. I still need to block it but it looks nice. Ten minutes ago I started a beret (I am making up the pattern) to go with the wrap. Mom will be able to wear them together or separately. I hope she like them.

On Wednesday I started working on a hobo bag for my sister. Her birthday will be in September and she didn’t care what color the bag was so I decided to use a lovely variegated merino wool yarn that Mom gave me a few years ago. I am now taking a break on the bag. I am almost out of yarn. I will have to get a complementary color to finish it off. Fortunately this is a hobo bag so I can do pretty much anything. When I am done crocheting the bag I will felt it. I made this bag out of cotton the last time I made it and I didn’t like how much it stretched. Felting it should solve that problem. I think that the variegated part will look amazing. I won’t be able to post pictures of that project until after her birthday (in September). She is computer savvy and will probably find this blog before then.

I better get back to that hat and shrink that stash!