ups and downs, but mostly ups :)

Goodness gracious! I will try to not go so long without posting!!

Since my last post I have finished two pairs of socks:



Surprise! It's Hermione's Everyday socks (my third pair this year! I never get tired of this pattern) The yarn is Liberty's Yarn Jabbersocky in the colorway Agatha. I purchased it from a friend's Rav destash. I really love the colors and the sort-of-stripes! I found the yarn to be a tad splitty though.




This pair was a sock knitting record for me, I knit them in just five days! They were for a Harry Potter Sock KAL (please join us!!) :) doesn't that sound like the best thing ever? The pattern is Petunia Dursley's Double Eyelet Socks by Erica Lueder. I wanted to knit them after seeing Andi's pair (she is the best enabler!) It is a great pattern and despite the eyelets, very easy to memorize. I wrote about the yarn in the last post; it did not take long for me to cast on :) I loooove this pair of socks ♥ 

Right after finishing I cast on a new pair of Christmas socks, but I wasn't feeling the yarn and pattern together. And since then, I have been working back and forth between Hue Shift Afghan and Pendulum... one day they will both be finished.


I knit this little guy for my book club's holiday party:



what luck that it snowed the day I finished him :) I used Rebecca Danger's basic peanut body and improvised his accessories. It was our second year having a gift swap and it was so fun! We each made a gift and played White Elephant (while eating lots of yummy food). There was some dirty gift stealing but all good fun :)


On another note, I consider myself a very lucky person. I try to be good and do good, and like to think that it always comes back to me. But I know bad things happen all the time, regardless.



I woke up last week to this. It makes me sad because the person didn't leave a note, not even just to say they were sorry. I am so thankful that my car is still safe to drive (I had it looked at), and with my parents' help, I can replace this one at some point.

But you know what? I am just so happy to have my loved ones. I have been missing my grandma so much lately... it just helps put the important things at the top. I have made many wonderful relationships this year and have found some lifelong friends xx


And so, to end on an up, a tree of bunny nuggets:






Merry Christmas, my friends!! ♥ ♥ ♥

later on we'll conspire, as we sit by the fire...

Happy Saturday!! I have been looking forward to this day all week because I decided I will only work on bunny nuggets today :) they are honestly my favorite things to knit. They work up so quickly, look cute in any weight yarn, make such great little gifts, and are perfect to use up yarn ends. Some people hexipuff, I bunny nugget :)

Yes, I am ready for Christmas. Our tree has already gone up. I am not sure what possessed Scott, but last week he asked where the tree was and then set it up. We usually wait until after Thanksgiving, but honestly, I am not complaining! I love the holiday season. I love the Christmas lights and decorations. I love the music (I find myself randomly humming lines from Christmas songs...the title of this post is the one that goes through my head the most often!). I don't love the crowds of hurried, angry and tired people.

And I am more than set to start Christmas socks too:

My first purchase from Handdyed by Allie Cat and I couldn't be more in love!! The skein on the left is colorway Sea Monster and the right skein is Twas the Night of the Zombies Before Christmas (hehe)

and I had to make a new Christmas sock sack

and I might have more holiday yarn on the way... :)
(it's this and this!!)  

knit all the Christmas socks!


But first I must finish this pair:

I am about one inch from starting the toe decreases, yay! They will be my last project for Andi's Fall into Fall KAL.


Last time I posted a half finished Kindle cozy.



Pattern: Cabled Kindling by Rachel Ack
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Tonal in Nevermore (discontinued colorway)
Needles: US 5
Modifications: I like the cables to be the same size, so I repeated the first nine rows throughout instead of knitting extra knit rows between cable crosses (per pattern).

If you knit this cozy, it will seem TEENY and you might think it will in no way fit over your device. But trust me, it will!! (these fit our Touch and Paperwhite). It is nice and snug and doesn't fall off. I knit mine (pink one) last year and it has loosened up a lot but still a cozy fit. I suppose if you blocked the cozy, it would relax also.

One last thing!! 

A new haircut! :) I still haven't adjusted to it! Sometimes in the morning when I'm groggy, I think it's just pulled back into a bun. Haha! I really like it; I was ready for a change!


Ok, have to get back to bunny nuggets. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!! What are you working on?

Eek, sorry for my blogging absence! I am feeling uninspired; the shorter days are hard to adjust to and they make me feel sluggish. I have a few things to share with you, so maybe I will try to take some good photos this weekend of it all. That's another thing, the past few weeks have been cloudy! (grumps face) so hard for me to not just stay curled on the couch knitting when it's gray out.

I will share a recent stash enhancer:



the colorway is Volcano of Love...isn't that the best name ever?! It was hand-dyed by Tanya of A Yarn Loving Mama. Not sure what I'll knit...socks most likely, maybe some Valentine socks?

I have been back and forth on WIPs....for awhile I was going really heavy on my sweater. Then I knit Scott a cozy for his Kindle:




Now I am back on my Hermione's socks:



I had stopped at the legs, so the other day I turned the heels and finished gusset decreases.

Ok! I'll share more next time. Happy Hump Day!

more dyeing

I am quite hooked.

I dyed these skeins this morning. I tried a new method of putting a few drops of food coloring into the pan with a little bit of water, and then placing the skein on top of the dye. The wool really sucks the color up; it's pretty neat to watch!

and these are some skeins from earlier this week:

this behemoth is half a pile of fiber I spun during the summer

I am seriously infatuated with the dyeing process!

Other than dyeing, I also knit this little bunny from handspun:

it was a teeny skein someone gifted me in a swap package, and it made a very sweet bunny nugget! I still have some left, I could probably squeeze a few more out of it.

I also finished Call the Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse by Jennifer Worth. There are three books to the series (I haven't read the first one) and this is the second. It has also been developed into a tv series on PBS. I really enjoyed reading this. I expected it to be more of a memoir, and about halfway through, it did read more like one. The first half tells the stories of three people Jennifer Worth came to know, how they survived life in the workhouse, and their lives after. They are very sad but beautiful and moving stories. The second half shows more of her life as a nurse and her very special friendship she makes with one man. I do recommend this book.

 One last thing to share:

This absolutely yummy fiber is from paperdag of Sheep on a Spring. Gahhh!! I can't wait to spin them up! aren't the colors amazing??

I have a short work week, so today is my Friday, woo hoo!!!!
I hope you all have a wonderful day xx

a new adventure: yarn dyeing

All week long I look forward to the weekend :) I know I'm not the only one!

I tried my hand at Kool-Aid dyeing this week. I covet speckled yarn and found a great stove top tutorial through the super cute Hey Porkchop's blog. I used a partial skein of Paton's Classic Wool in white and micro-leftovers of Berroco Cuzco. Technically, I purchased three flavors of Kool-Aid powder mix, but it really turned out to be just two different colors... Tropical Punch is not blue even though the packet is :)

Patons Classic Wool

Berroco Cuzco

I secured the Berroco hank too tightly, and the dye didn't absorb into the yarn under my ties! (above photo) I realized this after I reskeined the hanks.

It was a very fun morning! Dyeing is something I've wanted to do for awhile. I'm glad I finally tried it and I will definitely dye more yarn. I will have my speckled yarn :)

I finished my Halloween socks! This is my eighth pair this year :) I don't think I will reach my goal of thirteen but that's ok. There was something so satisfying about these plain socks; I wanted to knit on them all the time.

Pattern: just a plain vanilla sock, 64 stitches
Yarn: Patons Socks in Bramble Stripes
Needles: 2.25 mm

I really like this yarn. I know it's not the fanciest or the softest, but it makes very durable socks.

I cast on a pair of Hermione's Everyday Socks. If you know me or read this blog, you know how much I adore this pattern! I have knit three pairs already (one was a gift) and they are my favorite socks! They have such nice texture and are just snuggly enough on my feet without being too tight.

Berny loves knitting time too

One more thing, the lovely Jen of figknits is having a sock pattern sale through October, two patterns for the price of one! Click the link for her blog and additional information. I have two of her gorgeous sock patterns and can't wait to cast on :)

Hope you all have a happy and fun weekend!!

hats, pallets, yetis (actually just one of each!)

I have two finished objects to share. One is mine and one is Scott's (no, he hasn't taken up knitting yet):

Pattern: Whitecaps Hat by Emily Wessel
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers
Needles: US 6 and 7 circulars
Modifications: none

I LOVE this pattern. I made the bulky weight version and loved it, and really wanted to try it in worsted. The pattern is written for three different yarn weights. This hat is for a friend and I am hoping to mail it off very soon with a few added goodies. 

I double dipped into two KALs, my first FOs for both! :)

Knitspiring Odyssey's BAL

My Sister's Knitter KAL/CAL

Scott's FO is a tv stand that he built from a pallet!

I am so proud of him! He started taking apart pallets earlier this summer and since then he's built a coffee table, two little end tables, and now this tv stand. At first he only used hand tools, but for this last project he borrowed a miter saw from his dad. I love to watch his process, from sketching out his ideas, to the deconstruction, to the building :)


Since one of my goals this year is to cook at home more often, I thought I would share a few of our recent meals.

This is my favorite meal, scalloped potatoes with ham. I used my grandma's recipe. She always made it for my birthday :)

Chicken and mushroom casserole (kind of) with biscuits on the top. It was very good, and so simple, but next time I would definitely add more veggies!

This one was also ridiculously simple, but so good. We don't cook seafood at all, but we both like to eat it...go figure!

While I am talking about goals, I am only four books away from reaching my fifty books read goal this year! woot! Most recently, I just finished Agatha Christie's Sleeping Murder, a Miss Marple book. Highly recommended for its eerie scenes.

Happy Wednesday! What have you finished lately?

a little BALWM

Beanie-a-long information here!

I decided to cast on Whitecaps Hat by Emily Wessel in Cascade 220 heathers. I really like this pattern, and think it will be very nice in worsted weight. I will be sending it to a friend who lives up north, because she has been so kind to me.



Today was such a beautiful day! It reached 60 degrees and was very sunny all day. I even hung some socks out to dry :) they didn't fully dry but I savored it because it's most likely one of the last days I'll be able to hang them outside until spring.



It's frosted the past few nights, so we cleaned out the garden. All of the marigolds and cosmos were wilted. The tomatillos did not get very big before the frost either, but I'm hoping Scott will make his tomatillo salsa with the ones we saved :)

I did a little shopping last week:




It's kind of funny that I buy all of this fabric, because I am not very good at sewing! But when I see these cute prints, I can't help myself. The skein on the far right is tweed! I haven't knit with tweed yarn before and am pretty excited about it.

Ok, time to make a pumpkin shake :) if it turns out, I'll let you know!

a good weekend

This weekend I made my grandma's chex mix. It's really amazing how taste can bring memories and feelings to the present. My mix didn't turn out as good as I remember her's being, but it is still good. I am planning to make more batches for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. It was always her tradition to make it during the fall and winter; I can't remember a family gathering that didn't have it.

I also finished my dad's socks! Holy cow. Now, I want to have good thoughts and feelings tied to these socks because they ARE for my dad, but I can't help but feel they've cast bad sock juju on me this year. I know I've mentioned them before, but last year I knit them for my dad's Christmas gift, and I knit knit knit the weeks before, and finished them on Christmas Eve...and then they were too short. It was ridiculously easy to lengthen the toes, but I avoided them like the plague. And every time I started a new project or worked on something else, I felt very guilty for not finishing his socks. With enormous thanks to Andi's Get it Done KAL/CAL, I found the push to finish them. And guess what? THEY FIT!

I have also finished two critters from Rebecca Danger's new book 50 Yards of Fun:

These little guys are so much fun to knit! So far I have knit the Itty-Bitty Bat and the Half-Sized Hippo :) I think the fox is next. They are quick since they only use about fifty yards of yarn. I put all my worsted weight odds and ends in a basket so I know what I have. I would love to knit it all down!

I hope everyone has a great week, stay warm!