Well Hello, Beautiful

Several weeks ago, a friend of mine asked if I would come to the yarn store with her, and help her make her first yarn purchases. Well, I'm powerless to resist helping a new crocheter and the lure of the yarn store, so off I went. I ended up arriving before her, so I had some time to wander the store before she and her husband arrived. Strangely enough, I managed to find yarn that I wanted. I know, what a shock.

I got these little balls of baby yarn for baby socks, because baby socks are fun and kinda addictive to make. That, and I love these colours.

I got this lovely wool for an upcoming gift.

And this beautiful stuff... I told myself that it was to stripe with some of the crazy variegated and self striping stuff I have, but it's so gorgeous I may just have to make a lovely neutral sweater with it.

Did I mention this stuff was all on sale? I swear I just hung around too long and the yarn fumes got me. That's why I don't buy nearly as much yarn now that I don't work in a yarn store. The fumes don't have enough time to work their dark powers.

I have actually made my first project with my new yarn- these adorable little baby socks! It used up the whole ball of pink. I have to decide how I'm going to use the other colours. I have other balls of this yarn in my stash, so I'll have to pull it out and find some new combinations. Once I have time.

Last weekend I woke up early on Saturday, and decided to spend the morning shopping. I ended up with a new wallet, a few things for my husband, and these beautiful new shoes.

I'm working on these socks, which I think will be lovely with the shoes. I'm actually past the heel now on the first one.

In the meantime, I wore them with another pair of handmade socks this week, which made me so happy!

Sew Many Projects

Just needlin' ya with the bad pun in the title. I've been doing some sewing lately, and have gotten a little bit addicted to make these fleece leggings. Although I only have this one finished pair to show- the others were testers to make adjustments to the pattern. Actually, that's not even accurate- the first pair I wanted to be nice, but I accidentally cut against the stretch, derp.

The second pair I should have made first- I was less excited about that fleece (just plain cream) and did an alright job, but discovered that the person who wrote the pattern clearly has different proportions to me. I've now added the length and height to them that I like.

The first pair fit ok, but was sorta short and tight on the calves and I found the back part not tall enough for my butt. I have some pretty awesome booty, and there was just not room for it. So for this pair, I added a lot of length (although I still want to add another inch to the pattern pieces I made) and added a lot of height to top, especially the back. Now they fit like the coziest sweat pants, but snug enough to be leggings.

Besides the awesome fleece lined knit I made the first pair in, I also have the same fabric in pink and the two blue fleeces shown above to make more pairs in. They only take about 45 minutes to make, so I just have to find a little time. Maybe today- although today I'm helping a good friend move in just down the street, which is so exciting! But perhaps I can carve out time to make a pair. The only question is which fabric do I use first?

Finishing What You Start

 I've finished a few projects recently. This little cowl was finished last month.

 It's a fun pattern, working moss stitch over a thick and thin wool. I used a few handmade wooden buttons I got at the One of a Kind show.

 I finished this hat this weekend. The outside is a wool/silk blend, and the lining is alpaca.

 It's the warmest hat ever.

 The lining took what seemed liked forever, but I worked on a much faster method of slip stitch that sped things up.

 I also finished this sweater, the sweater that I had already finished.

But I pulled out the ribbing and made a hood, and it looks much better.

I'm also almost finished this blanket. I can't believe it. I left out two rows of motifs, but I am sooo sick of this blanket.

It is lovely, though. I will be giving it away because I'm just so tired of it.. but it is lovely.

That will make 3 projects I've finished this weekend, which will put me at 8 projects on the go. Almost down to my goal of 7! Even then I can work on getting to even fewer projects on the go. It will be nice never to get so many on the go again. It'll help keep working down the stash.

Sew Crazy

On Sunday I went back to the fabric store with my friend to get fabric to make my nieces quilts.

We had fun poking around the lovely stuff there, and I was so tempted by the adorable baby dress sample they had to buy fabric for little dresses too- but that will wait until it's warmer.



Anyway, I got back from the store around 2, then spent the rest of the day in a haze watching Gilmore Girls and quilting. By around 11, I had a darling little quilt. Not perfect by any means, but cute!









I had fun making my first quilt- although it may be a little while before I'm ready to tackle the next one!

Sewing

Yesterday I finally got around to the sewing I'd been planning on.

I made some new pillows, and I am very happy with them.


The fabrics are so cute and they really brighten up my grey couch.


Here's a look at the backing. I just made simple envelope pillows, didn't want to bother with zippers.

And as a bonus, here are some of my friend's dogs cuddling the new pillows.


I love these pillows! Now I just want to go and buy more cute fabric.

Goodbye Yarn Diet

Last year I decided that I just had too much yarn. The best way to not have too much yarn is of course to stop buying yarn. So I decided that I would stop buying yarn entirely, with the only exceptions being yarn for gifts.

I did buy yarn for some wedding blankets and baby things for my new nieces. I also got a sweater's worth from my Nan-in-law for my birthday so she could help me cheat my yarn diet, that lovely woman.

Those I didn't really count as slipping, but I did actually buy some yarn that was nothing but cheating on the yarn diet. I got two skeins of Lamb's Pride that I'd been lusting after for years that went into the discontinued section in the basement of Romni. I got an awesome ball of neon sock yarn from the basement, and I got four balls of stunning yarn for a sweater that I bought on my business trip in September.

But now my yarn diet is over! I went to both Ewe Knit and Romni this week, and got a little bit of yarn.


I wanted this yellow sock yarn ever since I first saw it at Romni. I got the thick n thin to match and have been working on these cowls with a great woven look. I did the first one as a tube but didn't quite like that it was so loose at the bottom compared to the top, so I'm trying one worked like a scarf sewn up. Either way, I think they're gorgeous.


The Koigu is from Ewe Knit and the Sea Cell from Romni. The Sea Cell is something I've been drooling over for years, but was always too pricey. It was my prize for what I consider a successful year of yarn dieting. I don't know what I'll make with it, but for now I'm content to pet it.


I also got some fabric from Ewe Knit. I saw some gorgeous pillow covers on vacation, but decided I'd have more fun making my own. I adore this fabric, especially the watercolour-looking floral print. I can't wait to have the pillows made.

I'm still going to keep my yarn buying to a minimum this year as I want to keep reducing my stash, but it's fun to give myself a little freedom again.

Happy New Year!

I'd like to lie to you and say that I don't know where the time has gone, and that I have no idea why I haven't posted in so long. I'd like that, but it's not true. I know exactly where it went.

It went to 60 and 70 hour work weeks, to coming home exhausted with often little energy for crocheting let alone blogging.

It went to three months with only one or two days free even including the weekends.

It went to a few lovely little escapes for the weekend.

It went to a business trip, a big promotion, a few months of very high stress while I tried to figure out a major role virtually on my own.

It went to saying goodbye to some wonderful friends moving away.

It went to awesome weddings of dear friends.

It went to training a new minion, who turned out to be great and make my new job reasonable.

It went to two sweet new nieces this December.

It went to a week and a half off for Christmas and New Year's and a delightful cruise with my family.

Now, finally, the new year is here and work has slowed down and I've mostly figured out my new, big, exciting and scary job. Now I'm looking at what I have left to crochet and nodding, because it all seems reasonable. Now I'm looking at this blog and remembering that I once enjoyed writing it, and that I'd like to do so again.

Happy New Year. I'm back!