I am getting there..

I had hoped to be able to catch up on reading blogs yesterday during my lunch hour, but it flew by and before I knew it the hour was up and it was back to work. Hopefully today I will have some time to read a few blogs.

So have you been trying to figure out what the mystery project was. Well here it is.

It is a license plate cozy. I know you are probably thinking what the heck do you need that for. Well, my mother-in-law wanted it so she could hang a WWII Veteran license plate for her brother who has been very sick. It took quite an imagination to design this, but somehow I it made it happen.

I leave you today with cat craziness. Here I am trying to do my pushups when Sami decides my back is her new bed. She is just a little nuts. And you get a quick peek at the basement. I should have final pictures by next weekend; we only have a few more minor things to finish up.

Finished Objects: Kitty Bed

Okay, did Mother Nature go on vacation or what? The weather here in southeast Michigan has been quite screwy this week. Tuesday I thought spring had finally arrived when the temperature was nearly 70 degrees, which incidentally is unseasonably warm for this time of year in Michigan, but I was happy that I didn’t have to wear a coat. Then this morning we wake up to a fresh layer of snow. WHAT! I knew the warm weather wasn’t going to last but this is ridiculous.

Anyway, it was very pretty and I am very glad that is it just about al melted now. I love winter and all, but hay it is time for spring, and I can’t wait much longer to see all the bulbs I planted last fall. It was my first attempt at planting spring bulbs so I want to see how the placement turned out, and I am starting to get impatient.

Here is a picture of what the snow looked like this morning, and because it was still pretty early the neighborhood was very quiet and peaceful. I wish I had time to just sit and enjoy it.

Enough about the weather, let’s get into the knitting talk.

I have another finished object to post. As I mentioned earlier this week, the kitty bed was done and was drying after being felted. Tuesday night it was completely dry and I put it out for the kitties to try out. At first no one really paid much attention to the new bed, which really disappointed me because I spent so much time making it. But it didn’t take long before they were actually fighting over it.

In fact, there has literally been a kitty brawl for control over the bed. Crystal, who mind you is this smallest of all my cats weighing in at around 7 lbs, was sleeping comfortably in the bed when Sami, who is twice Crystal’s size weighing between 14-15 lbs, came along and decided it was her turn to sleep in the bed. She basically pounced on Crystal, who promptly ran screaming from the bed. Sami was happy that Crystal was gone and immediately laid down on the bed very content with herself. Since then I have caught those two having words over the bed.

By the end of the first night everyone had spent some time in the bed, everyone except Mickey, who is a 22lb bowling ball of a kitty. I don’t think he could fit into it if he tried. I would have to make a bed twice the size for him to comfortably fit. Now, just two days later, it is very rare that I don’t see someone taking a snooze in the new bed, which encourages me to make additional beds so everyone has their own.

One thing this bed has solved is Crystals need to always be sleeping on either my lap or Steve’s. You see, Crystal has had a habit lately of always wanting to sleep on one of our laps while we watch TV. Since the bed has been completed we have been able to very easily coax Crystal into the kitty bed instead on our lap. That is until Sami comes along and tries to take over. Then it is back on the lap for Crystal while Sami sleeps in the bed. Soon we will have kitty harmony when there are enough new beds to go around.

Here are some pictures of all the kitties trying out the new bed.

Cody

Crystal

Sami

Marty

Lots of Knitting

With my mom in town I seem to find lots of time for knitting, and this weekend we did a lot. It all started on Friday, when my mom and I traveled to Canada for a day of knitting and fun with my Friend Janis.

Here is my mom working on her first project in the round, Convertible Mittens. She has picked up this technique quite easily, and she is already experimenting with changing the pattern slightly.

Here is Janis starting a French Market bag.

Diane also joined us late in the afternoon for some knitting time. She finised a beautiful purse, all she had to do was felt it. I can’t wait to see it once it is complete. Diane started her French Market Bag too.

For me, I finally finished the sweater that I started more than a year ago, and it turned out perfectly.

With both Janis and Diane starting a French Market Bag, I decided that I should go ahead and take the plunge too, so here is what I completed of my bag so far.

Then on Saturday, I worked on the bag I knitted up on the sweater machine. Here are a few pieces while I was sewing up the seam.

I also finished knitting the kitty bed, it is currently drying after being felted. This picture is when it was just a few rows away from being cast off.

And of course we must have kitty shots too. Cody was so happy to get the spot next to me on the couch that he didn’t care what I laid on top of him.

I probably would have gotten more projects completed, but I spent a lot of time on Sunday working on my knitting scrapbook. Like this blog I am creating a scrapbook of all my finished projects. I had at least 8 projects that I have finished earlier this year that I had not put in my book. Now I am caught up, that is until the kitty bed is finished later this week. And who knows what else I might completed this week.

That’s it for now, I will have a picture of the felted kitty bed as soon as it is dry. More knitting on the way for me, this week I hope to finish my brown and black ribbed sweater, as well as make some good progress on the French Market Bag. I also want to start a pair of socks on two circular needles.

Hope you all have a great knitting week. I know I will be enjoying my knitting time.

Weekend Adventures

Okay, so the past few days have been rather eventful. Saturday I hosted Stamp Club, which seems to be transforming into knitting club. Janis and Melissa came over with their knitting needles, but Cathi and my mom did work on their stamping projects. I had planned on working on my knitting journal and documenting some of the projects I have completed, but some how the knitting needles ended up in my hands and I didn’t get any work done on my journal.

Here are a few pictures of the fun we had.

Here is Cathi happily stamping. We kept trying to coax her to start knitting, but she was’t quite ready. Maybe next month, Cathi.

Here is Janis, diligently working on Penelope’s coat. She finished her socks earlier in the week, but I forgot to get a picture of them. They turned out really great. I can’t wait to get my socks started with the same yarn.

Here is my mom, she did spend most of the day stamping, but in this picture she is looking through a catalog to see what she must have. We did get her to the yarn store Saturday afternoon, where she splurged and purchased yarn for two a pairs of Convertible Mittens, as well as the fiber for a sweater to be made for my niece. My mom mostly does crocheted afghans, so this is a huge step for her. Lots of new stuff to learn. She did knit granny squares for an afhgan years ago, but that was as far as her knitting went.

And, here is Melissa, this is the first time in a very long time that Melissa had picked up her needles. She started working on a section of an afghan that she had previously started, and then decided to started a new project.

And of course Sami couldn’t let us have fun without her. Melissa had brought over about 6 boxes full of yarn, some of which I had given her almost 10 years ago. We laid it out on the table for everyone to pick what they wanted, and Sami was happy with it all.

Sunday, my mom and I spent most of the day knitting. Did I tell you my mom was visiting from Maryland for a few weeks. Anyway, we watched movies and Knitty Gritty all day. Until the evening came and I had to take Steve to the Emergency Clinic. He has been having ringing in his ears for more than a week and it was really starting to drive him crazy.

I was glad I could be with him during his time of need, but I also took advantage of the opportunity to knit. I started a Kitty Bed while spending 4 hours at the Emergency Clinic Sunday night. Here is where I am right now. It looks more like a hat then a kitty bed. I am using the patter from Wendy Knits

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Melissa also brought over the Bond Sweater Maker that I gave her at the same time that I gave her all that yarn, almost 10 years ago. We pulled it out on Saturday, but only to get it set up and review how to use it. Last night I attempted to make a bag in one day, okay a few hours, and I got really close. I knitted up all the pieces for the bag on the knitting machine, and boy did it go quick. I also started hand knitting icord handles, but those aren’t quite finished yet. I hope to have the bag completedly assembled and ready for felting this weekend.

Here is a picture of the i-cord currently on the needles. When I get the bag assembled I will post a picture pre-felted. I am using Patons Classic Wool Merino, because I love the color and because it was on sale at Joann this weekend. I finished up one handle while at the hospital again this morning. Steve is still feeling rotten and was looking for some additional relief.

Knitting Organization

Okay, so I haven’t posted in more than a week. My mom is visiting and I haven’t had much time for reading knitting blogs or posting to my own.

One thing that my mom and I have done since she arrived on Saturday was to organize my yarn. You see I was storing my yarn in plastic grocery bags. All the yarn was divided by project but then just cramped into the cabinet. I couldn’t see which project was what without digging out and opening each and every bag. Not the best method of yarn storage.

Anyway, my mom, the organizational guru that she is, suggested clear plastic bins. Who would have thought about something like that? Well, my mom. Duh! Anyway, we went out in search of some decent size bins that were not going to bankrupt me. You see I needed a bunch of them because I have a lot of yarn. We found the perfect size at Target and they were under $3.00 each. Wooo Hooo, what a bargain. I got 12 of them just to get me started, along with a few smaller shoe box size bins for smaller projects. And let me tell you they were the perfect solution. All my yarn is now stored so nicely in these clear bins and I can see right into it them to find what I am looking for. I am planning to make some labels with the project name just to make it even easier, but I haven’t had a moment to do that just yet.

I didn’t think about taking a picture before the transformation and sorry I am not putting it all back so you can see the marvelous improvement we made, but I will show you how it looks now.

Fabulous!

In addition, I also documented all of the projects that I plan to make with the yarn I currently have, as well as a few projects that I would like to complete but haven’t purchased the yarn. So far I have fiber for 22 projects and another 10 or so projects that I would like to make at some point in the near future. And that doesn’t include the yarn I have for socks. I think I have enough yarn to make at least 10 pairs, maybe more. That will definitely keep me busy, and with all the bins full I don’t have any room for more yarn so I am going to try to use up some of the stash I have before I purchase more yarn. But as most of you know sometimes that is very hard to do. Maybe I will order the fiber for just a few more projects and then cut myself off, or I could knit my little hands off and use up some of the stash so I can justify purchasing more. Oh Yeah!

One more thing before I sign off for the day. Here is one of my fur balls that loves yarn. She loves to sit on my lap while I am knitting and she loves to lay on all of my projects. Sometime soon I will need to make her something special that she can have all to herself. And if it makes the other fur balls jealous then I guess I will just have to knit something for them too.