Happy Feet Warm Toes

aweeeeeeeeee said one piggie to the other late last night as i slept in my brand new hand knit socks .

woke up this am to -2 degrees so the weather bug says. this kid is going tback to her nice warm bed with the blanket on and my nice warm socks on my feet. not moving for nothing today just going to stay warm. this horribly cold weather is going to break by the end of this coming week end. so they say. and i sure hope so. cause i dont like this one bit.

going to spend the day reading Stitch and Bitch Nations today skimmed through it earlier and last night today i will take my time and think as i go about what to knit next .

Da Egg has been entered offically today

awe, i was so so ready for an outing today its nice and sunny out there but colder then cold still only 16 degrees. brrrrrr. so glad i am not walking in all this.
Hubby told me this am when i met him at the kitchen table for coffee to get Da Egg ready because it was time to take it out to the LYS and enter it in.
so i did shy sort of would rather hide behind him then hand over an egg in person LOL
we had to go to Joann's though i promised a lady that works there that knows me that i would show Da Egg to her before i entered it she works checking everyone out. she got on the store intercom and told one of the gals she works with to come to the front right now you have to see this. both ladies and several customers just went ga ga ga over Da Egg made me feel really good. of course i had everyone of my buddies on line that check the blog all the time right behind me made me feel even better. kinda like that phone commercial of having all those people behind you. hum cant think of the name of it off hand.
anyway, off to the book store to buy a knitting book of course hubby spoils me so badly . pay day and i get yarn and books and breakfast out. lucky me. so i bought Stitch n Bitch Nations. going to knit that other sock and read that book and check it out from cover to cover. and of course had to shwo the guy that works at the book store Da Egg he knits sweaters once in awhile so him and i are always talking knitting and he is always keeping me up on the new books that come in before i knew it all the people that worked there gathered around him and Da Egg and they just loved it looked at each item in it and oohed and awed at it all.
off to the Yarn Store. In we went. the lady owns it was busy helping out a customer so i went to look for yarn hubby busied himself looking at yarn too picking up several skeins checking out labels and feeling the yarn squeezing it all like he was a pro knitter. LOL pretty soon the lady that owns the store walks over and says is there something i can help you with today. i stretched out my arm with the bag that had Da Egg in it and said yea here you go. she took the bag fast and squealed with delight like a kind in a candy store. ran away from me to open it up on a table where she could get a better look and said i cant believe it omg you did this !!!!! This is your entry!!!!??? yes it is :) she couldn't say enough about it . said it was the first entry and said now you know i want you do to more . can you do more knitting ? enter as many times as you want ok. i said ok not a problem i can do that for sure just like i did the green hat along not a problem at all. thinking all the while what else am i going to do after all i am not working right now . so i have tons of time but then its to cold out there to do much else and knitting keeps me sane LOL
so since i am doing socks now i will think up some Easter theme in those . maybe throw in a hat . who knows its all in the adventure shyness be gone i have no time for you .
my daughter just loved her poncho i was so so happy that she did it is her brithday today and her dad and i stood in her office full of people everywhere and sang happy brithday to her loud as we could hum ok so i may not be as shy as i think i am LOL
awe but if i was at marti gra it would have to be "THROW ME SOME YARN MISTER !!! dont ask where that one came from it just did .
my foot is screaming for the other sock. so i better get with it and go knit that one up. i have the cuff of it done just have to take my time and knit the rest. i should have it done before dinner though i hope i would like to have happy feet tonight not cold ones LOL

Inspiration sock ( post one of three )

most of the socks i have are all store bought the ones i knit for myself have about worn out so time for some more. since even the storeboughts seem to be running off to sock land someplace unknown to me :)i was running around the net yesterday and i went tohttp://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory.phplocated a ton of socks i liked in there ran into this onehttp://www.soxie.com/sandalsox.htmland a few others that i liked took the patterns printed them out.and then challenged myself not to read the pattern. i think this is a game i sometimes play when i am bored. mostly happens in the winter.anyway i cut the picture out and then cast on only the 40 stitches it said to and then threw the pattern onto the table and went to town below is what i came up with :)

Sock in the works

Finished sock

wow years ago ( and i cant get away from that praise when i talk about my knitting ) gesh make me laugh one day i was young next thing i know i am spending alot of time with some elderly lady i see every day in my own mirror LOL anyway they sold this tiny circular knitting needle back when i learned how to make socks. and always looking for short cuts to do things i bought me a few of those and taught myself how to make socks using what was then called cuffing needles. tell you what using those making socks is the best . very few dropped stitches if any because i work the whole sock heel and all on that one needle right up to the toe then put the works onto dps. and finish off.

Ta Da Da Egg is finished

yes that is the tiniest sock i ever knitted 15 stitches on dp needles
my frist ever needle felting attempt
i had alot of fun doing this one . and have had alot of people here really like this one. my daughters frist words out of her mouth where" where did you get that?" i made it :) those to me are wonderful words when a project for any reason turns out as you thought it would... or close :)
i have the kids for the week end my not get to the pc as often or on line its a teen thing ya know. but i am sure i will squeese in some knitting weather its another idea or locating a patter for that. you all have a wonderful week end

BE SURE YOU CHECK OUT THE FISHING TRIP SLIDE SHOW AT COMEDY ALASKA THERE ARE 4 OF THEM:)

the last of the pictures for the day on Da Egg and I almost done

see what came in the mail while i was gone :)

Da Egg and I day 3 more work

on our way home in the snow ... we have to drive 12 miles to get to the mall and then 12 miles back so its a long long haul same distance to the LYS
i need green yarn on top of the white filling so here i am working on an idea


and there you have it green yarn doubling as grass. hubby picked out the easter bucket as a stand for the egg. and i am working on items for the egg stitch counters and such.

"Da egg and I" adventures continue day 3

Da Egg ready to stuff full of goodies
using a pencil shapener i honed down the chop stick and used a wallnut ink pad from my scrapbooking supplies to stain it. and clear nail polish to cover it after i sanded it down good you can also see1/2 of the egg peice i used as a mold for this project.
couple more chop sticks ready to use for tiny knitting needles i took some paper clay out and rolled that to make the nobs for the tops of these when dry i will glue those on good and then paint the tiny knitting needles
Da Egg so far for today

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
earlier this am when it was not even close to light out i wrote this ....

oh oh no no your not doing this no way egg!!! yep i woke up this am to the egg dried so good. it was wonderful cut the yarn away and then found it had stiffened so well it took alot of tough tugging and a stick i broke to get it off the mold LOL but i got that done was afraid it would loose its shape. so took the mold apart it is in two sections and layed the whole thing side by side put Da Egg on top of both sprayed it again for gps and now i wait one more time for it all to dry. then i have to work on regaining its fluff. not a problem at all just a tooth brush and and fluf that puppy up. my other probelm is to make something to keep it open so you can see inside . hummmmm oh yea a chop stick which means once i cut that to size i have to also make some loops to put on the egg to hold the stick. hummmmm arent i lucky its dark as dark can be at 6:33 am and i cant see nothing. Mike is still fast asleep , I cant find my tiny flash light so i can check out where he put the pencil sharpener LOL to i can sharpen the points on both ends of the chop stick to make it look like a tiny dp needle. maybe i will even paint it yellow or some such thing we will see.
once i am done locating and making the chop stick look like a dp needle its then time to move onto the what to stuff inside Da Egg so i can put in the chicks.
and i think those are going to be stitch markers laying around and maybe even a circluar row counter stitch marker. use knitting items for the little things inside. hum i am getting even more ideas as i blog. LOL i sure do love mornings a good time to be creative. for sure. oh yea i cant even locate my cell phone this am so i can take pictures LOL


ok cell phone located pictures taken pencil shapener not found but found another one that worked

Da Adventures of the Egg & I

After allot of note taking drawing math and figuring where i am heading with this egg. i sat this am while watching the court proceedings on where the heck to bury Anna Niclole and knit me an egg. yep felted it up and then sewed it to a the form egg i was using as a base for my design.

so now that i got this far and its sitting there in my window drying up. I can now get to the part of designing an outside picture or landscape so when i do get the felting needles in the mail which by the way were sent yesterday all weather baring i should see those next week sometime then i can proceed from there to finishing this one.

i bathed it in fabric stiffener to further help it to keep its shape. tomorrow or the next day i can take its stitches out and see what i got so i can come up with a foam form to felt the design with .

and ya know i have allot more wool yarn left over too so i can make maybe several more of these before i am done . we will see.

meanwhile the next step is to begin to think of tiny chicks and how the heck i come up with those. LOL i got an idea yep but i have to try it all out . so back to the drawing board. and yes i am keeping allot of notes on just how i arrived at this egg and how i will get to the finish line with it all. hum sounds like my first pattern in the works huh ? :)

Da Egg and I

ok call me obsessive .... what ever. i know i am and that is ok
the spring challenge is going to save my sanity for sure . ( that is just life with mikey talking there ) so lately i work on it off and on off and on.
ideas swimming around in my head . i have the basics down on what i want it to look like as far as shaping it goes. wrote all that down drew that all out.
measurements and all.
it should be this high ....this wide......... this shape....... have this ......to do this with and that .
all questions asked i brought out the yarns and picked out the frist contender.
a very old ball of fishermans yarn so it used to be called. good thing i stored it in a old sandwich bag over the years LOL i have learned yarns are like a good wine if kept in good condition they just are so much better over the years.

time to do a swatch. knit 10 stitches and 10 rows and then wash it to see how it felted up. and of course knit one more that i wouldnt do the felting with . so i would be able to see them side by side and know if this contender is even worthy of knitting up as an easter egg.
that poor swatch was treated like a drowning person. glub glub into the wash tub. ( stuck it in a nylon sock and tied the end closed ) check you out see if you shrunk nope down again glub glub glub . two times down and that should have told me no go. it did felt but not totally. i can still see stitches. but i am thinking that may work to my advantage.
heck i even tried dropping the little thing into my small coffee maker to see if it would felt up more LOL just a tade was all.
sooooo now that its drying its time to do one thing i am not good on at all. and that is the math. ugh your talking to a knitter who cant balance her check book on a good day with a pocket callculator LOL oh well that is what i got hubby for he said he would do all the figuring for me later on.
meanwhile i will begin to work on dreaming up a drawing for the outside . though we did discuss what to do with the inside of the egg. seems he wants me to knit a tiny chick to put in a nest in there LOL and he is serious.
and that leaves me standing by the coffee pot with the wool swatch cooking away thinking yep this is what you call a real challenge . one i know is going to be alot of sanity saving fun for me over the next few weeks :)

The disaster of the Purple hat and how it turned out ok

after doing all that knitting and after running out of yarn and waiting for the store to open up patiently i was finally done knitting the purple hat and ready to felt it in the washing machine. totally happy i was so close to done
awe but then after taking this picture of how huge it is before felting it and throwing it in the wash. and going back to check on it. i pulled out what could have been a disaster . the purple felted up nicely but the 100 %wool yarn from Joann's hubby bought wouldn't even budge not one inch wouldn't felt at all and nothing on the label indicated it wouldn't . hubby was totally disgusted said throw it all out. to which i said no if it wont felt up not a problem i will just use it to make hats for those family members don't know what cold was is for . with that i pulled out a pair of scissors and trimmed off the lavender yarn that was hanging off the purple hat looking really ugly. took the purple and shaped it on the candle holder that doubles as my hat mold placed paper towel in the brim i turned up and now it is sitting in the bedroom drying slowly in the cold Alaskan air for what its worth LOL waiting to see what i will decide to do with it next.

paper towels rolled up and stuffed in the brim to keep the brims shape as it dries

stitch markers, row counters and measuring tapes

measuring tape cut at the 13 mark and bent over a tiny key chain ring to use as a stitch marker
this stitch marker row counter was done using nylon cording with beads strung on to add that awesome look of wow . i used small beads of green at the top and bottom of the row counter as stoppers to keep the beads from running into the center. and used a darning needle to insert the cord into the row counter. stung it all onto a the tiniest key chain ring i could find. when doing this you may want to wax the end of the nylon cord using candle wax so you can string those beads alot easier. and when done burn the ends using a cigaret ligher to seal them so they dont come undone.
more row counters hung on key chain rings the blue one is the first one i ever did the other one was hung using black leather knotted and tied to the ring simply done easy to use .
love making earrings too with the grands so setting out to make stitch markers that would make any knitting project wow was and adventure for sure with the kids here are three Mandy and i made together
and lastly nothing like making something that says Alaska so here are two stitch markers i made using beads i found at our local bead store that once done say yep she is an Alaskan knitter :)

the spring challenge here at our local yarn store wow

Dear Ronda http://mitstitchingnut.blogspot.com/
omg you will never in a million years dream of what happened to me today LOL
hubby took me to the local yarn store so i could buy the purple yarn i was out of. all went well the owner is back from her long trip south and so she was glad to help me out . and glad to see me again. i showed her the purple yarn i wanted and she said " What no more green yarn?" i said nope done with the green hat along and i smiled . she found the right dye lot easy enough because i use my stitch and bitch book and clip a piece of yarn off each skein i buy and tuck it all in there along with the label so if i run out i know what i am looking for. she said i was really well organized. i said for this moment in time its working but i know there may come a point when it all goes up in the air and i end up becoming unorganized. LOL
then as were heading to the check out area she grabs me by the shoulder and says oh oh yea i have something i want you to make sure you see.
she is running a spring challenge and wants me to enter tells me its a spring theme due April fools day and make sure it has an Easter theme to it or design. then said its ok i know you can do this because i apparently had this really pained look on my face. LOL i didn't tell her my thoughts were " omg you want me to knit an egg !!! " instead i kept my mouth shut and both her and hubby told me flat out they knew i could meet this challenge. i silently gathered up the yarn and left for the door to take a look see what it was about this challenge that is going on. which she had posted there for all to see , took down the information and we went home.
on our way home i was thinking about you and all your beautiful felting designs the beautiful heart you did and all that and thinking of my first thought of knitting and Easter egg. and my head was reeling in designs and how toos and the lot. sooooooooo i shopped on line bought some felting needles and i am going to do just that plan out and Easter egg with some nice Easter spring designs on it i certainly have enough time on hand to figure this out and give it a good try right?
yea i think i even figured out the pattern for the egg in my head on my way home the 12 mile drive will sure give you time to think especially if your the passenger :)

ran out of yarn and my week end so far :)

what can i say i ran out of purple yarrn for the felted hat i was working on same pattern as the green birthday hat. sigh. waited patiently yesterday for hubby to get up but when we went out shopping for yarrn and food and lunch and other items we found the yarn store was closed and probably wont be open until tuesday. found the other items we were shopping for werent there. but we did locate a new light bulb for the freezer wowwwwwwwww now there is a treat i can see what is in there for the frist time in forever. yep having my man home is a wonderful thing.

took lauras hat to her this week end too and the first thing she did was take off everything but one white flower. she loves it though its all super wash wool and should keep her head nice and warm while she is out styling around.

everyone loved it and now i have an requests for the same hat in diffrent colors of course from the grands . hey what is a grams for right if not to knit you wonderful things that you will wear or things others wont and you scarf up like mandy does LOL she has this nack for following the things i knit for others around and if they even say oh lovely and then decide no way she is there soon after to grab that item up and say mine mine mine dont ask for it back. your loss my gain. so i would say having one grand fan of my knitting makes it all worth while. :)

no word on the reception of the green birthday hat at all. but that is ok mandy pie liked that one too so thinking of how she is with all my knitting i know one way or the other its going to find a good home.

i spent most of last night playing a two player game with mike on the x box. called Hallo or some such spelling. i had a ton of fun got killed a few times but we made it through something like 5 levels before we called it a day and he went to the movies.

no knitting last night i was busy trying to figure out size in the pattern for lauras hat so i could make it a few different sizes if need be. that way i can begin on timmys today while i am waiting patiently for the yarn store to open tomorrow so i can get the purple yarn and finish the decrease area on the crown of this hat. and move onto the flowers for it.

meanwhile i made one more quick circular row counter thing so if i have to count rows in timmys hat i can though i think i dont have to but i have another one on hand just in case since the one i made is being used for the purple hat. matter of fact i think i may pick up a few more row counters while i am out and about tomorrow joanns is right around the corner from the local yarn store. so picking up one is not a problem since i would be in the same area. its cheeper there anyway. but the yarn is so so totally awesome and so so much better from the local yarn store. i could buy one or more each friday which was pay day. but that has seriously changed now havent a clue what will come next sigh. but hey life goes on and i knit anyway. LOL

count my circular knitting?

you know i just thought of something this am will make all our knitting alot easier especial those of us that love to knit on cicular knitting needles :)

I am always having to count rows or decreases or some such thing when knitting and have had to carry around one of those clicker type counters that is almost about the size of a credit card . yet if i am doing my knitting on the go beware and good luck if you put that thing down you may not find it for a bit or you may miss place it or you could just end up loosing it all togeather. and then its shades of where was I???????!!!!

fear no more at least for me :)

like alot of us i have gotten into making my own stitch markers. hum there is a thought. love to make my own and have turned an old measureing tape into one so i would have a 12 inch tape on hand for those hats and gloves and mittens and things.

aweeeeee and now a stich marker row counter ta daaaaaa roll the drums please and take a good peek when i get to the bead store some time soon i may just remake this but for now it does the trick :)

oops forgot to say one thing.. its best to use either a cord that will feed through the middle of the row counter or a peice of leather cording which is what i did. knot the end string on what ever you want to . and then either knot the top to the key chain ring or use a necklace closer that bites into the leather to close it all off and then put it onto the key chain ring which by the way is the smallest one they have out there.

oh cool one of the ladies who replied to the post on get stitchy found a link to one you can order so if you dont want to make one use this link to get one that is already made by clover of course :) http://yarn.com/webs/0/0/0/0-1064-1088-1446/0/0/2340/

The Birthday Hat

well i got it done even though right now for this moment in time my daughter isnt talking to me i am sure before her birthday she will get over it LOL

hats and hair cuts

i have had nothing but fun knitting hats lately and of course found one more pattern yesterday that i just had to try out. so hubby bought me the book and i went home and worked on another green hat all night and just finished it up a few ago.
but while we were out i got a hair cut finally. havent seen a hair solon in ages . my hair was all one length and all the way down to the top of my but. and i was so so tired of washing it . would take me forever and lots of soap and three towels. so while we were out and about i told hubby i want a hair cut and i want one badly. he stopped by the solon on our way through the mall and they had an opening at 12 noon. when i got in the lady said ok what do you want . i said a hair cut sholder length and i want it layered and i want bangs. she asked me first before we got started if it was ok if she cut my hair before we washed it or began i can i donate it to locks of love? i asked her want locks of love was and she said its a charity foundation that takes hair like i am asking you for and makes wigs for cancer patients for free . would you like to dontate your hair. i said sure thing. and it made me feel so wonderful that all that hair i had jsut ignored for the past 5 years was going to go serve a good deed for someone who needed it .
sooooooooo the hat the hat hum sounds like da plane da plane LOL
like i said i have this hat pattern i found in a new book called Felt It! by Maggie Pace. on page 79 . that hat is a total wowww.
well i knit it up and when i was done i took it out to show mike . i smiled and said mike what you think? he said what is it grams ? its a hat for your auntie polly for her birthday next week. he smiled laughed and said yea for auntie pollies big big head LOL i said be nice now mikey and watch the magic. and i took the hat and threw it into the washing machine.
before i tell you about how wow it is let me tell you i did put it on my head first and it went right over my head and came down to my solders LOL i couldtn even see out it was like this huge green bag that was knit up and there i was calling it a hat LOL
i made sure i tucked the flowers into a nylon sock when i washed those so i wouldnt loose them. and i let the washing machine rip. kept checking to see if the magic had happened every 2 mins or so. and for the longest time nothing and i was beginning to wonder if i was totally wrong would this happen or not. and then walla it did and i pulled out this awesome hat . put it on my head and showed it to mike said see what ya think now he said is that the same hat you were showing me oh oh i know you felted it wowwwwwwww that is so cool he said he loved how it did that felting thing and how thick this one turned out . show stiff it was and thought once it dries its going to turn into one heck of a hat. i sewed on the flowers and the sunflower button hubby picked out for it shaped it one more time on my head and then put it on the candle holder i have that is nice and head shaped round to air dry over night. once done then its time to wrap it up .
oh yea take pictures of it frist yep yep
awe but hubby likes to take me shopping and this time he got me a bag full of yarn he took great pride in picking out all the colors this one that one maybe this one yep yep that one and NO GREEN !!! told me i have to begin making my hats in other colors LOL
yep the next one in this pattern is going to be in purple and lavender :)

mikes green hat :)

not to sure how many more i am going to knit at all. maybe one and that may be it.we will see.

but i have had tons of fun looking and drueling over wool yarn learning how to stand in the local yarn store and squish yarn get a good feel for it and all that. and have had alot of fun looking at patterns for hats and buying more books on nothing but hats. let me tell you i know have a ton of hat patterns. and havent even scrapped the top of the pile of hat patterns i do have. even though the green hat along is coming to an end soon i will continue to knit hats but use alot of different colors when i do besides green :) and i can tuck all i do into zippies and use as gifts through the year.

sooooooo here is mikes green hat . yes i fell madly in love with the slip stitch pattern.

my next one is going to be a lovely felted hat for my daughter. in green of course for her birthday and then lastly will be hubbies.

i think by then i will be ready to buy another color LOL of course when i bought my latest book at the yarn store the lady laughed and said still knitting green hats. i smiled and said yep of course i am :)

hey i have had alot of fun with this green hat along and all the gals that have dove into it and shared their talents and posted all of their thoughts to get stitchy which has become my favorite hang out on line these days . :)

finished green hat for laura

and here is the finished peice . make sure you read the long list of posts below so you know how i got to this point :)

begin with hats hats and more hats (Laura's green hat ) and then work your way up to here through all the pictures and posts that have (Laura's green hat ) attached to the post .

remember this hat was majorly influenced by one done on get stitchy posted by Lúthien Elendil

sorry no pictures of laura in her new hat until this coming week end i wont see her until then that is when she comes with her bro and sis for their week end visit :) cant wait to see her in it though :)

ok back to bed one of the grands gave me an early valentines day gift i must go enjoy i think..... yep its called a slight head cold another good excuse for renting movies and knitting up a storm LOL

remember those tiny buttons ? (Laura's green hat )

remember those tiny buttons its time to button on the flowers to each of them

button down the leafs (Laura's green hat )

to do this you have to take the band off the hat and wrap the long cord with the leaves around it and then button down each end of it like in the bottom picture using the last leaf on each end to do so.

Button me up please :) (Laura's green hat )

time to use all those buttons i sewed on the hat . frist i button the band on that i knit and placed those three small buttons on.

time to be creative (Laura's green hat )

the middle one is the knit band out of two colors of fun fur type acrylic yarns knit togeather as one. one is green yarn the other is one of those varagated yarns .

top picture is the long knit cord with all those knit leaves right out of " Knitting on the edge " by nicky epstein. page 118.

and then of course the flowers crocheted just done no pattern

brim of the green hat and the buttom placement (Laura's green hat )

here you can see the brim i made for the tam hat. and the button placement for the band of goodies to come. brim cut out of a plastic ice cream tub . the one gallon kind .