Naughty Puppy!!

Our Puppy Buddy was a badddd dog this afternoon. He was bored, and decided to "play'' with some of my knitting. He pulled a couple skeins of yarn out of my knitting basket and ran all over the house. Easily picked up. No worries.

BUT.....he also found my completed first fingerless glove (just finished it last week and haven't made the mate yet. Photos of the glove in progress are in an earlier post.), and proceeded to chew on it. I was rolling up the yarn he had pulled all over the house when I found it.

YIKES!!! I panicked at first......surely it was ruined. But after a close inspection he only damaged the top of the thumb and one of the fingers. Buddy puppy was unceremoniously banished to the backyard so that I could fix the damage.



This is the first time I've ever had to repair anything like this. I got two stitch holders and picked up the red stitches right at the color change line...half on one holder and half on another. Then I picked out the gray stitches. I knitted up a gray replacement finger quickly, and joined it to the red stitches with a yarn needle. Simple. And, while I was at it, I used a bit of red yarn and pulled the gap at the thumb gusset closed.

Good as new!! And my yarn basket now has a lid on the top. Puppy proofed!! I hope!



So, crisis averted! And I think I'll start on the 2nd glove tonight. :) No SGS to go with my SSS. :)

TTFN!!

Scrap Afghan

I've had a scrap afghan sitting around in a big plastic bag for more than 4 years. It's one of my oldest UFO projects. The pattern is pretty, but I got tired of weaving in all the ends. Then I made a 1200 mile move, got remarried, had a baby -- you get the picture. :)

Last week, I spent 2 days moving my yarn stash, craft books and all of my craft supplies from a back bedroom that was my craft room for 2-years to our front room. And I made the former craft room into a bedroom for our 2-year old. It was time for him to have a "big boy'' bedroom of his own. That accomplished, I got a good up close and personal look at my yarn stash, and all of my unfinished work. The afghan really caught my eye. So, yesterday I pulled it out, gathered up all of my scrap yarn into a big plastic storage container, and warmed up my crochet hook. :)



I've added 11 new rows. Still a long way to go until it's finished up, but the pattern is super easy and I like how it looks. Here's a close up of the pattern:



I found the pattern online several years ago. It's a great way to use up odds and ends of scrap yarn. I'm glad to report that the pattern is still available for anyone who is interested:

http://www.knitting-crochet.com/crochet/scrofbea.html

TTFN!!!!

One Down, One to Go!

I finished my first knitted glove! :) I'm knitting the fingerless gloves from "Knitter's Bible:Knitted Accessories". :) I bought the pattern book because of this pattern, which is also pictured on the book's cover.

The pattern was fun to knit! And, it gave me some good practice in M1's and cable cast ons. I had always imagined knitting gloves would be really difficult because of the fingers, but really, this pattern wasn't difficult at all.

The only problem I had was a little gap at the thumb gusset join that I also get when I'm knitting the heel gusset on socks. I figured out how to close it with an extra stitch on socks....I'll have to try that on the 2nd glove. On the first one, I'll just turn it inside out and pull the gap shut with matching yarn. Problem solved.

My husband was kind enough to be a hand model for me this morning. :) Here is the finished glove:



The mitten flap is attached by picking up stitches along the top of the glove. I still need to attach the button at the bottom of the flap to keep it secure when it's not being used. Here's what the glove looks like when you use the flap:



Isn't that nifty? I just think it came out so cute! I thought the spot where the flap joined would end up bulky, but it lays totally flat. :) I just love this pattern! I'm already planning to make a 2nd pair in brighter colors.

Here's the palm side where you can see my *gasp* thumb gap.



When I wear the glove, you really can't see it. My husband's hands are twice the size of mine, so the extra stretch makes it look like the Grand Canyon of gusset gaps, but it's really not all that bad. I'm going to weave through some red yarn and pull it closed. Hopefully on the 2nd glove, I can figure out how to solve that little problem. I might have to pick up a couple extra stitches when I start the finger part of the thumb and then decrease the extras.

Now to start on the 2nd glove!

TTFN!

Lots of Pictures!

Finally! Today I have time to update my blog. :) Lots has been going on lately, and I haven't had much computer time at all.

First things first -- a big THANK YOU to my SP9 partner who sent me the greatest box from Norway! :)

I got 6 skeins of superwash wool, a cute viking figurine, a book about Troll Valley (Joshua loves it!), some tea, and a postcard. :) Thank you! What a super box -- I loved everything. And the yarn is already being put to good use, as you will see later on in this post!

Here's a picture of my goodies:



On the needles right now, I have several projects. I'm working on a crocheted bag for a friend. And I've been knitting small projects. I'm finishing up a kitchen project in cotton -- the pattern will be posted soon. I've also acquired a few new knitting pattern books and mags and made a couple of quick projects. Here's the new books I got:



From left to right, the new Knit Picks catalog has a lot of great pattern ideas and yarns in it. :) I downloaded a couple new patterns, and plan to order some wool and sock yarn from them soon. Nobody has better prices (IMHO), and their shipping is zippy! Beautiful Knitting is a great book...it not only includes patterns, but also tips/how-to knitting instructions. It's a nice mix of pattern book and reference. The small Shawl book is from Vogue, and I have my eye on several patterns to try. :) The colorful rainbow shawl on the front is my favorite. I have promised myself that I will buy the yarn for it when I have lost 50 p0unds. Great diet incentive, eh? :)

I got the latest issue of Interweave Knits last week. Just love it! Great sweater patterns (more diet incentive), and a knitted headband that I just couldn't resist. I knitted it up in blue wool. Pictures later in this entry. :) Garden Dishcloths to Knit is a pattern book I picked up because I only needed a couple more dollars on my order from Joanne's to get free shipping...I haven't knitted up any dishcloths from it yet, but it does have some cute designs in it. Showy Shawls has 4 lace shawl patterns in it -- I am DYING to try making lace shawls, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Too many current projects to finish up. But, this winter I WILL make one! :)

And last but not least, my FAVORITE new pattern book: The Knitter's Bible Knitted Accessories! I just love the patterns in this book! And, I have already started making the fingerless gloves shown on the front of the book!



Recognize the yarn?? :) The wool my SP9 partner sent me is making me a pair of toasty gloves! This is my first pair of gloves. I'm really enjoying trying something new. It's given me a great chance to practice my M1 and cable cast on skills. I'm sure the 2nd glove will work out neater than the first one....I came out with a bit of a gap at the thumb gusset (just like socks!), and my picked up stitches at the base of each finger left tiny gaps. When I weave in the ends, I will pull them closed from the backside. I figured out how to make the gaps smaller by the time I reached the last finger.

I really love this pattern -- the gloves are fingerless, but you also knit and attach a mitten flap, so you can cover your fingers if you choose. :) And the mitten flap secures with a button to keep it out of your way when you're not using it. Right now I'm 1/2 done knitting the flap. I'll take an updated picture before I join the two sides.

Over the weekend while we were out of town to a game convention (yes, we got our geek on), I knitted the cable and bobble headband from the new issue of Interweave knitting. I had some blue wool a friend sent me from England. It came out pretty!



The variegated yarn makes it a bit difficult to see the pattern....here's a closeup



It's definitely toasty! :) I'm going to make another one in a less fuzzy wool so that the cables and bobbles will stand out more. :) I like headbands a lot better than hats in the winter. No hat hair. :)

Now, how about some catching up? I have lots of backlogged photos I've been wanting to post. :)

It's been a great fall! We had a nice Halloween, and Joshua has been loving playing outdoors in the leaves with Buddy -- our puppy.

We had our traditional Halloween party this year. Planning was last-minute this year, so it was smaller than usual. But we are planning a big blow out for next year.

Joshua was a bat, and Daddy was Davy Jones.



Sonya and her boyfriend Brian came over for the evening.



We bought a new punch bowl for our Halloween festivities:



Gruesome, eh? The punch was Ocean Spray Cranberry-grape with Sprite mixed in. :)

Our good friend Tim brought the dip this year:



Mmmmmmm.....brains. The other other other white meat. lol. :)

November has been a busy month so far -- lots going on!

This past weekend we went to High Point, NC for the weekend to attend the annual Mace Gaming Convention.

Here is Mike with our friend Bill during a friendly game of Ra:



Joshua even enjoyed the convention. During the day, Mike and I took turns babysitting, and in the evening I took Josh upstairs to the hotel room where we played with Hotwheels and watched television. The Wizard of Oz was on two nights in a row (still not sure why they played it two days in a row...but not complaining), and Josh LOVES that movie. :) This year Daddy bought a new toy to share with Josh -- a portable DVD player. Josh watched Veggie Tales while we played boardgames and talked with friends.



At about $80, the dvd player was a good investment. It helps on long car rides. We drove nearly 3 hours to get to High Point, and Veggie Tales helped the last half of the trip to keep Josh occupied. :)

And to close out this really longggggg catch-up post, here's a couple of pictures of Josh that I thought were really cute.

Josh played with the puppy one afternoon out in the backyard for so long he couldn't even stay awake long enough to finish his supper.



Tired, tuckered Josh. :)

And, since it is getting cooler at night, sometimes Josh needs friends to keep him warm.



Kato is such a sweet kitty. :)

That's all I have time to post now.....a new pattern will be coming very soon! :)

TTFN