Flashing some FO's

One of the things that I love about Christmas decorating, is re-discovering all the things that I have made over the years to decorate the house.

Patchwork cross stitch pillow designed by Homespun Elegance .
I made two of these Santa dolls and gave one to my mom.....
The body was sewn together, stuffed, then painted. It was a very fun project and I think I was smiling the whole time that I was working on Santa.
I feel spoiled with some of the gifts that I got for Christmas, one of which was a gift certificate for the LYS. My mother spoiled me with this loveley project basket by Lantern Moon...

The fabric right above the basket is a light rust and black colored silk. The top part of the bag for the drawstring is black velvet, and it is lined with black velvet.
My mom and sis contributed to my collections of sheep ....

Merry Christmas

I am working furiously on finishing some gift knitting, in between the job and Christmas baking.
I will have pics of latest knitting after they have been mailed off to the recipients, hopefully before New Year's Day.
Just a heads up to look for my pattern for the Fake Isle Mitts. I am fine-tuning the pattern, then I need to convert it to a PDF file. I hope to have this done wtihin the next week. I haven't decided if I am going to post it only on Ravelry as a free pattern. If I can get my act together, I will probably post it on this site as well.
I am looking forward to when the Christmas rush is over and I can finish some projects for myself, start some on my "to do" list, and do some more spinning!! Tomorrow I plan on fully enjoying the day with my family and eating good food. When we aren't eating or opening gifts, I hope my youngest will entertain us with his guitar playing and singing songs that he has written!

Merry Christmas

Christmas Push

There is less than two weeks until Christmas, and life is crazy for everyone. I had prospects for a 4 day weekend that was crammed with things to do. On Thursday I went out of town with my youngest son for an orthodontic appt. for him and a day of Christmas shopping. We accomplished quite a bit of shopping, and I think I am about done. While we were shopping, I found a few cute things to add to my Christmas decorations.
I love vintage ornaments/decorations, santas, and snowmen.

On Friday I had hopes of getting alot of baking and wrapping done, but ended up getting called in to work for 5 hours. After work I went home and rushed around to get ready for a Christmas party. I made it to the party and had a great time with friends from work.

Saturday was spent baking and doing laundry.

Martha Stewart boxes for goodies......

Then Saturday evening my son had a performance - a Madrigal Dinner that the high school Madrigal students put on every year. The food was catered by a local restaurant, and the students served and entertained. What fun!

Now I'm off to wrap presents and do more cleaning!! Yippee!!

My Dyeing Experiment

I decided to try my hand at dyeing to practice what I had learned at the class that I took on 11-1-08.

Step 1 - winding the yarn around 2 kitchen chairs so that my repeats will be spread out over the yarn.

Step 2: I gathered the dyes, selected the colors that I wanted and got my crock pot ready. I put the yarn in the crock pot with the water already in it and turned it on high, letting the water get hot (but not boiling) and waiting for the yarn to "bloom". (sorry, no pic of that step). I waited longer than I remember the instructor telling us to wait and the yarn didn't seem to bloom as much as it did in class....so I finally just went to the next step. Did I mention that I was trying to recall all the steps from memory - since I couldn't find my notes from the class??

Step 3: Adding the color to the yarn that is in the crock pot........

the I put the lid on and set the timer..........and waited for the dye to be "exhausted"........then I checked it, and set the timer again and waited........

Do you see all the green dye that is in the water and not being taken up by the yarn??? It finally dawned on me that I hadn't added one of the most crucial elements to the water before I added the yarn - the vinegar!!! I think that is why all the green and brown dye stayed in the water? I waited soo long for the dye to be exhausted that the water ended up coming to a boil. I know you are all gasping with shock and dismay! But no, my yarn didn't felt, it is still soft and............

Not exactly the color that I was hoping for. I am not unhappy with this color though, it is kind of a mauve-ish pink. There are a few darker spots of pink here and there that must be where the dye didn't get mixed very well before I added it to the dye pot. I like the darker spots of color, they add character to the yarn. Now I just have to decide what to do with the yarn.

Yarn used - Dolce by Cascade Yarns. It is Alpaca, wool and silk. 50 gr. hank

Dyes - Wilton's Food dyes - color Juniper Green, Violet, Brown and Burgundy.

As for the knitting this week, I made one fingerless mitten, and started on #2 last night.

I am using the Potluck Wool Mittenettes pattern (it is free on Ravelry). The yarn is Baby Alpaca Brush and Perle. The little specks in the yarn are beads that are on one strand of the Perle yarn. I am holding one strand of each yarn together to knit the mitts. I hope to get the other mitt done this weekend. The mornings are getting cold here and I need something to keep them warm!