30+

We received over 30 inches of snow the day after Christmas! Poor Pip was stuck in Bklyn, so I trekked out there on Monday to bring her home.

I'm not a big fan of snow, but seeing Pi having so much fun makes it hard for me to a hold a grudge against the snow.

I'll admit that snow is good for a few things, like igloos...

And tubing!

What are your favorite snow activities?

Merry Christmas!

From the "K" family to yours, we wish you all have a wonderful Christmas! May we remember the true reason for the season.

Lots of love!!!

Is it really almost Christmas?

Whoa, what a few weeks its been. Work has been nuts, I took finals, doctor appointments, and have just been generally crazy! So you get a week's worth of re-cap in one quicky, drive-by post.

We went ice skating with Girl Scouts at a local rink. Piper hugged the wall the entire time, but she was definitely getting better by the end of the visit.

I can ice skate and was supposed to help Pi on the ice, but.... I managed to fall down the stairs and sprain my ankle even before we got there! I didn't want her to miss the skating, so I threw a brace on (left over from my 2007 tumble down the stairs). I'm all better now... no worries!

We bought our tree about two weeks ago. I love getting a real tree. It's a PITA, but it smells so good and looks so pretty, that it's so worth it in the end. To tell you the truth, we love decorating the tree so much not to mention it fell over, we did it twice! I'd like to take a moment to grieve my poor Mets ornament that lost it's life this year when my mets hating hubby broke it the tree fell.

But I digress... it's pretty, isn't it?

I also had grand plans of making EVERYONE handmade gifts this year. I made lists, cut fabric, picked out yarn... and yeah, nothing! Amazon and I spent some quality time together instead.

Other than the hats from a few posts ago, I only managed to finish one gift. It's a biggie though, so I'm still pretty proud.

It's a disappearing 9 patch pattern made with leftover fabric from my Oh, Fransson! Advent Calendar and some scraps a friend sent to me. I didn't have to buy one little bit of new fabric for this quilt, which makes it that much more awesome.

The back is lined with red solid fabric left over from the Principal's quilt. My non-dirty Grandma is getting this one. I hope she loves it as much as I do!

So, did you guys make a lot of gifts this year? Or was it Amazon to the rescue?

Help a knitter out!

Anyone have the Molly's Headband pattern? It was an Interweave freebie. I've had it bookmarked for ages but when I went to print it yesterday, discovered the pattern isn't up anymore. Was anyone else smart enough to actually save it as a PDF? Anyone? Bueller?





Here's a link...


http://www.knittingdaily.com/media/p/36941.aspx

Crystal's Baby Shower

A few weeks ago (yes, I'm really behind!), my mom and I went to a baby shower for my cousin's g/f, Crystal. She's due to have a little girl, named Leila, any day now.

I started early and managed to get a few handmade things done in time. The little quilted bib and the pj pants are made out of fleece. I love how soft they turned out! The hat is made from Wool Ease Chunky left over from the set I made for my SIL for Christmas.

This is called a whole quilt, if I'm not mistaken because both sides are made from a whole piece of fabric, rather than patchwork. I found this fabric at Walmart when they were getting rid of their craft section and fell in love with it on the spot. If you look carefully, it is all nursery rhyme characters... the 3 Bears, the 3 little pigs, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood! I couldn't bear to cut it up, so that's why it became a whole quilt. I wish I could tell you how big it is, but I forgot to measure it.

I backed it with red cotton that was left over from the Principal's quilt and finished with a pre-made solid red binding. I did free motion quilting all over, but I'm not particularly thrilled with it. I did a lot of ripping out and definitely need more practice.

I was afraid that I would have to tell my dad that my mom found a new man at the shower. This little guy loved her!

Here's me, Crystal, my cousin Steven, and my mom. Can't wait to meet the new addition to the family!

Bib pattern - HERE
Pants pattern - HERE
Hat pattern - HERE

Oh, hats!

What a week! My poor Pipster has been home sick all week. The doc said she is contagious and he wasn't kidding. Within a few days, hubby was just as sick as she was. I felt sniffly all week, but managed not to get as sick as they have been (yay vitamin C!). But this morning, I woke up feeling yucky. I hope a weekend in bed will take care of that quickly. Let's hope so anyway, because finals start on Tuesday.

I realized over the last few weeks that my posts have been lacking in anything craft related. Before you think I forgot what yarn looks like, I wanted to show you the fruit of my commuting labors.

I wasn't kidding when I said that my yarn stash and I are getting re-acquainted on the bus. Over the last few weeks or so, things have been flying off the needles. Why can't I be this prolific all the time?

This hat will be going to my 16 y/o cousin Kara. I used 1 ball of Vanna's choice yarn and it was more than enough for the hat, with a little left over. This yarn makes a nice, soft squishy hat. You know I love me some squishy! The pattern, which you can find HERE, is an easy one for beginning cabelers.

Because I loved how squishy the blue hat turned out, I dived into my stash to find more Vanna's yarn. I found this lonely variegated ball and used the same pattern. It's definitely just as soft and squishy, but the yarn hides the cabling in the pattern. Oh well... live and learn! This hat will be going to my cousin Zach. He's Kara's brother. Not sure how much she'll appreciate having matching hats with her brother, haha.

This purple set is for my SIL, MaryJane. I found the scarf pattern HERE. I modified it by using only one strand of Wool Ease Chunky. I used about a skein and a half, so there was enough left over for a hat.

Small problem...my SIL doesn't wear hats because she has this super pretty, long hair that she wears in a ponytail when she works. She works outside, so I still wanted to give her something to keep her warm. So, I used the same scarf pattern and made it long enough to fit around my head. I bound off and sewed the ends together. Viola, instant headband! She can keep warm and not have to worry about her ponytail.

This black hat was made for hubby. He's been eyeing the hats flying off the needles and not-so-subtly let me know he needed a new hat. He picked THIS pattern and a lone skein of regular Wool Ease from my stash. Easy peasy!

A few weeks ago, I commented on Bezzie's blog, that I hadn't learned how to change colors in knitting yet. Have you noticed all my knitting has suspiciously been one skein or one color projects? Yeah, I'm a big baby and scared to try changing colors.

After I typed out my comment, I realized how stupid that sounded. It's just a color change! I headed over to knittinghelp.com (love this place, because she answers every knitting question I could ever have) and watched a video on changing colors.

From that, this hat was born. It'll be going to my cousin Ian for Christmas. When I saw him a few months ago, he was still shorter than me. Come Thanksgiving, the kid had sprouted and I had to crane my neck to look up at him.

The gray yarn is Bernat Satin (no ball band, so I think but am not 100% sure) and the black is scraps from a Caron pounder. I didn't use a pattern, just winged it from measurements I took from the other hats. An experienced knitter can figure it out by looking at it, but if any newbs (like me!) want me to write out how much I cast on and when I changed colors, let me know and I'll type it up this week. It was super simple and I should have never been afraid to change colors. What a wuss I've been, haha!

I'm happy to say that all of the yarn I used was in my stash. I didn't have to buy a single ball! Not that my stash looks any smaller...