Last Summer Splash

I just finished the knitting on this bag. The pattern is called "Last Summer Splash" and is designed by Ana Maria Delk. She submitted this as a free pattern on the Bag-A-Holic Yahoo Group (now non-active) back in August 2007. I found mention of this bag on Ana's Ravelry page but not the pattern. It is a very easy knit and I love the colors and the way it looks.

Started: 8/10/2007

Knitting Finished: 12/28/2010

Needles: US8

Yarn: Crystal Palace Yarns, Squiggle

Color: 4705

Lot: E0068330

This is the yarn in the photo that has the felt looking strips on it

Yarn: Lion Brand Fun Fur

Color: 194 Lime

Lot: 579

Yarn: Tahki Cotton Classic

Color: 3805 Aqua

Lot: 833

Color: 3726 Green

Lot: 851

Color: 3402 Orange

Lot: 866

I still need to make a frame for this bag. This was started when I was very new to knitting and wasn't quite aware that very loose knitting would make for a very floppy bag - one with no structure whatsoever. I will get to that sometime in the near future. I am sure it will be an adventure as I have not done this before :o)

The start of 40 inches of I-cord for the drawstring
Hexagon #13

Hexagon #14 for the Whirlygig

It's nice to be bringing out some of my projects that have lain dormant for so long. It's also very nice to be knitting just to be knitting, not to be knitting for gifts and on a deadline. VERY relaxing!!

Patchfolio #2

The last holiday gift was another Patchfolio. I made one of these for my youngest son for his birthday earlier this year and blogged about it here: http://stitchingirl.blogspot.com/2010/02/mini-wrapfolio.html
This time, I wanted to use those cool Twistable Crayons that seem to be at the height of interest right now for the elementary aged girls as this was to be for my 10 year old niece.

I measured and remeasured, cut (and recut!!), and thought I had the perfect size for this set up.

This is the fabric I chose for the inside of this patchfolio and the pocket. I just love the butterflies but the picture does not show the irridescent gold that outlines each one - truly pretty.

For this patchfolio, I pieced the front just like the original pattern called for with one modification. I only used one fabric, the one from the inside, and the rest were ribbons that I had laying around. I chose different stitches from my machine to sew the ribbons to eachother and was very pleased with the result.

However, I must have measured incorrectly! The patchfolio was too small for the pad of paper that I had chosen. I found a smaller one and that worked out just fine. I had seen this type of elastic closure on another website with a similar patchfolio and thought I would try it - it looked easy to use and easy to assemble. The end result is not that great - I much prefer the wrapped style where the patchfolio is long enough to wrap around and totally enclose the end with a velcro fastener like I did the first time. I just like that it is much neater looking and I think would have been much easier to use - the original pattern is made this way and I wish I had followed those directions. I did not have time to redo this and did gift it. My niece totally loved it and started using it right away which was very nice.

This is a close up of the patched front. I am completely happy with this!! So......when I make more of these, and I know that I will - I will make them wider so that they can close with velcro. I will also bind the edges with binding. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong, but my satin stitch just does not completely cover all the layers even when I do two rounds as was done this time. There are definitely more of these in my future - all the rest of my kids want them and I think they are great take alongs for trips in the car for kids. Everything is there for them to entertain themselves for quite awhile. Love it!!

Holiday gifts and an OLD project

These Alien Pillows were very fun and easy to work up. They went quickly and the Pomp-A-Doodle yarn is nice to work with :o) The kids thought they were a hoot and now all of them including the cousins want one for themselves. Something to keep in mind.......

Alien Pillows
Pattern by Red Heart

The Antenna took quite awhile to knit and then to sew pom poms to the end. All in all very worth the effort judging by the reactions when they were opened :o)

The kids loved them!! My neighbor loved them so much she wants me to make a few for our annual school auction. We'll see how I feel - right now, I'm a little "knitted out". My mojo has left me.

A super simple necklace. Wire and pendant from Michael's.

Assembly time: 8 seconds!

Another one

Not such a great picture, but the best of the lot.

I have brought back this Christmas stocking out of hiding. It is intended for my oldest daughter. I have seven of these in different patterns - one for each of us. I have lofty goals to say the least!!

I worked on it last night and am remembering how much fun cross stitch is - even though my eyes are not as good as they used to be!! Maybe this year I will finish it. There is not too much left to stitch and then there will be the finishing, but hopefully with some consistent attention, progress will be made.

Another Baby Blanket

Friends of ours had their first grandchild!

This is the blanket for this new addition.
I love the little monkeys!!

It has to have his name on it.

The backing is just fleece. Hopefully it will keep him warm :o)

We are getting into this kit thing - E saw this and wanted to make it so I said "yes"!
It's actually well written. The holes are pre-punched for ease and also I think so that the finished product looks like the picture on the front of the box.

E is loving it!

This picture was actually taken a few days ago. She is almost done with the stitching along the outside and will stuff it soon.

T at the winter concert at her high school. They all look so polished in their dresses!

K at her concert - the band is very good this year :o)

What Ty (10 years old) put on his poster about him that hangs in the classroom. I laughed so hard I almost had to sit down!!!

When 8 becomes 9

E turned 9 over the Thanksgiving holiday so we decided to hold her party in the early part of December so that all of her friends could celebrate with her. The party was this past Saturday - she planned the whole thing and took charge of getting her friends in order :o)
This is the cake I made for the festivities. She wanted her "favorite" chocolate cake. So that is what I baked - 2 layers with raspberry jam in the middle. Covered with melted chocolate. Then I tried to get fancy. Heavy on the "tried"!! I melted white chocolate chips and thinned them with a little bit of crisco. Then dropped little circles around the cake and dragged a skewer through them to make the harts (some more successfully than others!) - notice that there are 9 of them :o). No matter, she loved it and it tasted good so not a total disaster! Although I think it could qualify as one of the cakes featured on Cake Wrecks.

All E really wanted to do was to play games with her friends. She made a list of games that she thought would be fun. This balloon game was the first - the kids stand in a circle and starting with one balloon try to keep it in the air - not letting it touch the floor - gradually more balloons are added one by one until chaos insues. All my kids love this game! The next game was telephone (such a classic party game) and then freeze dance. After which they were ravenous and we ate dinner.

After dinner, the girls created night shirts to sleep in and to take home instead of a goodie bag. They are just large men's t-shirts from Costco and permanent markers. Sooooo very easy!!

Then another favorite game - Frozen T-shirts. This one requires a little bit of prep as the T-shirts need to be soaked in water, squeezed out, folded up and then put into the freezer for a few days to freeze solid.

The object of this game is to pry it open and be the first to actually get it on. This can be quite a challenge and takes a bit longer than one might expect :o) After they all got the cold shirts on, they went into the hot tub to warm up. Then onto cake, ice cream and gifts.

Here are all the girls in their nightshirts ready for bed.

The next morning E had more fun games planned. Mummy wrapping - the kids pair up and wrap eachother in toilet paper to make them look like mummies. They have a certain amount of time and then the wrappee escapes from her wrapping and the partners trade places.

This year the kids got quite creative.....

Adding all kinds of props!

The last game was to build a free standing structure using only straws and masking tape. This group is talking strategy.

The winners!! This structure was taller than my husband who is 5' 11" tall!

This is the other structure. Hmmmm.....glad they didn't design my house :o)

E and her friends had a great time!! Way to go 9 year old!

Games & Knitting

I have been having so much fun lately!! All of my holiday knitting is done - three items need to have the ends woven and then sewn up, but a couple of nights should do it. Then there are two items that need to be finished on the sewing machine. All in all it feels great to be done ahead of schedule!!

Another mini-bear. I love the colors of the skirt.

More beading although it is very hard to see the green beads on the hem of the skirt in this photo. It is easier to see the orange ones at the belt area.

Lots of game playing around here. It seems like we go in cycles with our activities. This Sorry game is from my childhood - it's simply amazing that it has lasted this long!! Sorry is a great game for kids of all ages and we truly enjoy playing it :o)
My oldest daughter (15 eeeek!) showed us a new card game called, "Egyptian Rat War". It is quite entertaining with much slapping of the cards in the discard pile. It is quite loud and rowdy too!! I find that I get loud and rowdy also which entertains them all imensely!! Nothing better to them than having to tell mom, "you're being too loud!"

"Unscrunchable" Scarves

I tried out this pattern from Mary Ann over at Miss Woolly Knits - I can't make blogger accept the url so that you can just click on "Miss Woolly Knits so here it is in all it's glory:

http://knittingbunny.blogspot.com/2009/01/unscrunchable.html

I hope that works if you are interested. If it doesn't, let me know and I'll try something else :o)

Started: 11/2/2010

Finished: 11/30/2010

Needles: Special unique ones to be explained later in this post :o)

Yarn: Sensations - It's A Wrap

Color: 221 Blue/Angel Hair Lot: 1025

Measures: 6 7/8" X 60"

I cast on 28 stitches to start

This yarn is super soft and I LOVE it! The scarf is intended for my step mom and I chose this color specifically to go with her very vibrant blue eyes!

Started: 10/24/2010

Finished: 11/2/2010

Needles: Same as above

Yarn: Sensations - It's A Wrap

Color: 3 Taupe Lot: 10445

Measures: 8" X 63"

I cast on 32 stitches to start

This one is for my father. I hope he likes it!

This is one of the needles used to knit the above two scarves (the other one is currently being used in another project :o). Notice that there are no manufactured marks on it, there is no writing on it to tell you what size it might be. I used one of those fancy, dancy little tools and discovered that it is slightly larger than a US size 6 needle. These needles were made specifically for me because one of my favorite hobbies is knitting and because knitting makes me happy. Those were the words out of the 15 year old's mouth as she presented them to me awhile back. This girl does not like to knit or do much in the crafty department. She is all about soccer, running and music - yet she knows the perfect gift for her mom. So Sweet!