Merry Late Christmas

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are continuing to enjoy the weekend. David and I have safely made it north central Illinois as we sit and freeze in my parents' 65 degree house (yeah they keep it that cold on purpose).

So we made it through Kansas and Missouri on Christmas Eve. We spent the last couple days with my in-laws in south central Illinois - enjoying wonderful food and lovely company. Today we also stopped in at my grandma's on our way up to my folks through the snow.

I had a pretty photo of ornaments to share with you today, but yeah, forgot to upload it before leaving home - sorry.

The rest of the plan this weekend is pretty simple - tomorrow Roeschley family Christmas, then Monday chill with my folks till we catch the train home in the afternoon.

Be safe and enjoy your weekend!

Christmas Party!

Last night my local knitting groups had a most wonderful Christmas party! We had a lot of fun and a TON of yummy food. I took a new dip that I am now adding to my recipe box, Chipotle Spinach Artichoke Dip. I think my only changes were to double the artichokes (because I love them) and use canned artichokes (because I couldn't find frozen).

We did a gift exchange, yarn/knitting based of course. I am excited that I came home with this Zauberball (photoed on the left)!

I also have one in the Burnt Almonds colorway so I am considering making Daybreak by Stephen West. I haven't decided which Zauberball I might use, but I do have some chocolate brown Malabrigo Sock yarn that would go wonderful with either of them. Or I could do what alobsiger on Ravelry did and use both Zauberballs I have.

So what is you vote? Or do you have an even better pattern for the yarn?

Just keep knitting, just keep knitting... what do we do we knit

Just trying to keep up with Christmas commitments, ah! 1.5 legwarms to go plus 75% of a color-work mitten and possibly a reading pillow. But I really want to make caramels this weekend so we'll see what happens.

Above is a reading pillow that my friend is giving in a Christmas exchange (we exchanged: my sewing for her yarn). And to the left are a pair of custom mitts I made for my Etsy.

Hope all your creative gifts are coming together!

Boot Liners

I generally don't talk much about shopping but these I had to share.....

Target has some very cool galoshes for women and I was lucky enough to find a returned pair at the Target in Fort Wayne, Indiana two years ago for $8!! Needless to say I snatched them right up.

When we lived in the valley, being the desert that it is, I didn't wear them very often but I did where them when I could. Now that we are farther north and into a little more precipitation I have been wearing them much more.

I don't own winter boots. I own my galoshes and hiking boots. And although there are some super cute winter boots out there, I am cheap. My hiking boots work for snow shoeing, which is my only extended time in the snow (other than skiing which has its own boots). Because of that I just wear my galoshes to and from the bus etc. because they keep the snow out though they aren't that warm. Until now!

Browsing Target I came across these (photo above) boot liners for galoshes! How perfect. You are probably saying, "But Emmy, you are a knitter and you know people who are really good at felting, why not just make some?" Point taken, and I had considered it last fall, but I was always afraid they would be too thick and make my boots not fit - plus I didn't find the project to be very motivating when I could be making sweaters.

So for now I have picked up an ivory pair of these fleece boot liners for $10 and am perfectly happy.... maybe in a few years I'll tackle making some awesome knitted ones, but for now my toes are warm on the way to the gym.

Slippers, with much love

We are just gonna pretend that I have been away for awhile making all kinds of secret Christmas things. :)

I have a new knit that I am in love with, these slippers. I wear them ALL the time. They are so warm and so gosh-darn-cute! The pattern is called French Press Felted Slippers and it has been all over Ravelry! They are called "French Press" because that is the name of Melynda Bernardi's Etsy shop.

They slippers are super quick to knit up on size 15 needles and even the felting went pretty quick, but the seaming slowed me down a little. I know, I know, it is hardly ANY seaming, but even so. And I should clarify, that even though I say "slowed me down" they were still done in two days, so yeah, not that daunting.

So if you are looking to treat yourself or for some awesome Christmas gifts - this is your pattern!

Something to Try Out this Weekend

Bread without a timetable. I would say it was good. It was on the dense and heavy side, but that is usually fine for toast (my main habit). But it did mold quicker than most of my breads, could have been the bag it was in though. Anyhow, check it out.

Approved!

David's second chance hat has been approved!

Some of you may remember this hat which I knit for him in February. Well, that hat wasn't "warm enough","tight enough", or "thick enough". So that hat become this hat, which I love.

So that left David without a hat and left me with a challenge. I debated about what fiber to use.

Since he wanted it to be warmer I considered using either angora or alpaca, but I decided alpaca had more drape than I wanted and angora was just WAY too warm. Despite his claims for more warmth I also know that he is rarely super cold. So I chose to go with good old fashion wool. Targhee to be specific.

For the tightness I went with a smaller needle size - US 3, 3.25mm - and of course, casted on few stitches then I generally would have - total 110 stitches. I was using my own hand-spun/hand-dyed that was a worsted weight yarn (9 wraps per inch).

To make the hat thicker I decided to do a double layer. I looked at some patterns on Ravelry and sorta went by what they said for the initial couple increases, but in the end didn't really follow their pattern. What looks like a giant tampon over on the left is what the final product looked like. It measured 22 inches... if I had the patience I probably should have made it 23 inches, but I'll blame it on my calculations.

So those were my adventures in designing David's new hat. I am so glad he likes as much as I do - though he is quite as excited as I am, but that is how things generally go, ha ha.

Tomorrow my Etsy shop will be closed in the evening as I am taking everything to a local home show. If you are in the area and have handmade Christmas shopping to do please come by for wine, appetizers and shopping!

This show is in Broomfield, Colorado at 1646 Redwing Lane (near 136th and Sheridan) from 6pm- 9pm, tomorrow November 18th!

If you have any questions leave me a comment with your email address, thanks!