Mary Janes

I've always wanted a pair of mary jane slippers. Or shoes for that matter. Like these!! But..unfortunately, my shoe budget doesn't even come close to being that big. I'm the kind of person who will spend $10 on a pair of shoes and try to get it to fit into most wardrobes. It's not that I'm cheap, I'm just not a shoe person. The last thing I think of is my feet. But, to tell you the truth, those Fluevogs are pretty darn tempting and just might be inspiring me to expand my shoe wardrobe.


Now, I came across a great pattern for incredibly easy Mary Jane slippers. No felting. No working in the round. Just plain garter stitch slippers. They're cute and insanely simple to do. Just what I need for being around the baby. I'm sure if any of you have little ones, you'd know what I'm talking about when I say, "Nothing get's done in this house!" Knitting lace is a far and distant dream right now, I needed something simple, easy, and that can be done with little concentration that I could do for gifts.


The only problem is, they are REALLY comfy. Too comfy in fact. My feet, being chilled all day really welcomed a pair of nice soft cotton slippers. Notice the button? Yep, one of mine. :D They were knit in blue sky Alpaca cotton. This cotton is so soft, it actually feels a little like silk. :D Now, how can I part with them. Oh well, guess I need to make a pair for myself.

When life gives you lemons..

..you make lemonade. Then you find someone who's life is giving them vodka and have a party.
I heard that off of the blue collar comedy tour. I was only in the audience vicariously through comedy central.

Speaking of lemons..I haven't posted in a while seeing as my computer mysteriously decided to NOT connect to the internet. (*Warning..Geek content*) I'm not sure why, but in order to connect, I had to turn on my computer, put in an Ubuntu C.D. and reboot and run an operating system from a disk. Which meant I couldn't print, save, or download anything without first saving it to a U.S.B. drive and turning off my computer and rebooting it.

Sound complicated?

It was.

My husband was finally able to fix it for me. In good time too, as I was nearly close to throwing the darn thing out the window. Then my neighbors would REALLY love me, seeing as I live on the 2nd floor of an apartment.

So..now I'm playing catch up.

Thanksgiving was great. I had two. One with my husband and children on Thanksgiving. It was nice and small. Although I think my oven is broken. I roasted a 10 pound Turkey for 4 1/2 hours at 350 degrees and it came out bloody. Put it back in for another 45-60 minutes..still bloody! The outside was really dark and almost burnt. I even covered it with foil! All the appliances are being replaced...I'm going to put my order in for a new stove. The one I have now is from the 70's!

The other Thanksgiving was at my mother's. It was wonderful. No bloody turkey, lot's of cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes...and lot's and lot's of alcohol. :D Here's my husband showing my grandparents his cell phone, with internet access, key board, camera and so on. My grandfather used to ride to boy scouts in a model T and had to manually turn the nob for the windshield wipers when it rained. Quite a jump on technology, huh?


What do you get when you have a room full of Norwegians, 1 Jewish guy, 1 Swedish Pastor and lot's of wine? A dirty joke fest. Oh the hilarity. Guess what. The pastor won.



My aunt was also there and found these in her shelves of books. I love these books. The handicrafter has some relatively modern designs which kind of surprised me. Maybe some slight alterations, even something as simple as color would make it really modern.

Couldn't you see this in purple, green and yellow with black sleeves? I'd wear that. Even pink and a darker rose and cream colored crosses, with charcoal arms instead.

School colors! But I thought Griffindor first. :D

I don't know why. But I thought that this was really sweet looking. I saw green and tan. Or a light and dark rose.


And yes, I've been making the gifts again. This time out of clay. (Sculpy or primo..whatever you can find at Michaels. I go for Sculpy..it's only $1.99 a block..and I got it on sale for $.98!)

A Pegasus and Unicorn necklace for my daughter. It'll fit her until she's my age..of course..I don't think she'd want to. But then again, you never know. :)


A little penguin bracelet. Admittedly, I did this for myself for the holidays. My son loves it. As you can see. If I'm not looking, he'll try and pry it off my hand and run off with it.


Buttons, buttons and more buttons. I wanted pretty buttons that match. I've got pretty buttons, but very few that have matching pairs of 2 or more. So, I made them out of clay. I should do a tutorial sometime. They're EASY. And fun. And addicting.

What I'm going to do with them? Well, sweaters, pocket book slippers and bracelets. For starters..outside of that I'm not sure. But aren't they pretty?!

Yo Gabba Gabba - Muno

Ok, this Christmas is going to be a very knitted and crafted Christmas here. I guess with the recent scare of all those recalled toys from China, and the fact I had to pry a very beloved Polly Pocket doll set from my daughters fingers because of it, I have a hard time trusting what's coming out of the factories. And it's not from dollar stores either. These are Matelle and other large brand names. My daughter saved her own money and spent $15 on the Polly Pocket set. Then I had to take it away.

Toys are scary now! Lead poisoning, magnets, and now this! I admit I'm freaked out. So, I took action and made my own mainstream toy.

If you have a little kid who loves watching Yo Gabba Gabba, you'd know who Muno is. He's the "Tall and Friendly" Cyclops. It's a cute show honestly, and teaches kids some great things...like manners. :D Here's the pattern...


Needles: #5 & #3 dpn set of 4

Gauge is not very important. I made this on the fly and
didn't bother with a gauge.

Measurements. 8 1/2" (You can easily alter this pattern to make a bigger
doll. Just work with larger needles and thicker yarn and work the body longer.)


Yarn:

I used a sport weight yarn for the body. I used
a wool, but I would highly suggest a cotton instead.

Orange/red for the body.
black and white for the eye.

Fingering weight yarn for the eye.


Bobble: Knit into st, but leave st on left needle.
Y.O., K into same st. Y.O. K into same st again. Drop st
off of left needle (5 sts). Turn work. Purl these 5 sts.
Turn. Knit. Turn, Purl. Turn Knit. Slip the 4 sts over
the last st knitted of bobble st.

k f&b: Knit into front and back of the same stitch making an increase.


Eye:

#3 needles, Using blackC.O. 6 sts evenly onto 3 dpns. (2 on each needle)

Round 1 (and all odd rows): K
Round 2: K f&b of each st. (12 sts)
Round 4: Change to white *K1, Kf&b of next st.Repeat from * (18 sts)
Round 6: *K2, Kf&b of next st. Repeat from * (24 sts)
Round 8: *K3, Kf&b of next st. Repeat from * (30 sts)
Round 10: *K4, Kf&b of next st. Repeat from * (36 sts)

Body

To make bobble sequence, it's best to stagger them and
make them random. Hence why I didn't write it into the pattern.
To make room for the eye and mouth, only work bobbles onto needle 2 &3
for the first 2" of the piece.

#5 needles C.O. 6 sts evenly onto 3 dpns. (2 on each needle)

Join in the round, make sure not to twist.

Round 1 (and all odd rounds): K
Round 2: K f&B of each st. (12 sts)
Round 4: *K1, Kf&b of next st.Repeat from * (18 sts)
Round 6: *K2, Kf&b of next st. Repeat from * (24 sts)
Round 8: *K3, Kf&b of next st. Repeat from * (30 sts)
Round 10: *K4, Kf&b of next st. Repeat from * (36 sts)

Knit in the round until body measures 6" from top.

(Halfway through the body, sew on the eye. It makes it easier if it's
halfway through vs. the body being completely done. This way you can manage
the needle better.)

Legs:

Knit across 18 sts (put remaining 18 sts on waste yarn)

Divide remaining sts evenly onto 3 needles. 6 sts on each needle. On
needle 3, C.O. 4 sts using backward loop method. (This is done in the
crotch area just as done with gloves) (22 sts)

Knit in the round until leg measures 2 1/2"

K3, k2tog around. Knit remaining sts.
K
K2, K2tog around. Knit remaining sts.
K
K1, K2tog around. Knit remaining sts.
K
K2tog around.

Cut thread and thread through remaining sts with darning needle.
Weave into body. Don't worry about threading it into sts, it will
be hidden inside the body.

Stuff body and leg through other leg opening.

Put remaining sts evenly onto 3 needles. (6sts on each).
On last needle pick up and knit into the 4 crotch sts.
(22 sts)

Work as other leg.

(When you get halfway through the decrease, stuff leg.
Stuff a little firmer, that way when you finish decreasing you can scrunch
the leg and even out the stuffing.)

Arms: (make 2)

C.O. 15 sts Leave 12" C.O. thread

Divide evenly onto 3 dpns. 5 sts.

Knit in the round until piece measures 2 1/2"

Dec.
*K3, K2tog. Repeat from * to end
Knit
*K2, K2tog. Repeat from * to end
Knit
*K1, K2tog. Repeat from * to end
*K2tog to end.

Cut thread and weave in through bottom. Stuff piece
and sew onto body.

Finishing:
The mouth is an embroidered chain st. with a black yarn.

The teeth can either be knitted or cut out of fleece. I would prefer fleece
myself, but I don't have any white so I had to knit them. They turned out a
little large and gangly, but it makes it cute!

Teeth. (make 2)

#3 Needles.

C.O. 1
K f&b of st. (2 sts)
K
K f&b or both sts. (4 sts)
K
B.o.

Sew above mouth

Spinning Wheel

Ok, here's the spinning wheel pictures I promised you. I finally got the pictures last night, and I'm still debating which is the better buy. Right now I'm leaning towards the Ashford Traditional.

This first one is an Older Norwegian Traditional. The flyer and bobbin (I always want to write boobin for some reason..talk about a faux pas!) are off at the moment. She says they fit fine, but they do wiggle a bit and seem a little loose. She's not sure how it spins as she bought it this summer and spent her whole time gardening, so ..no spinning time. :D She's going to try it out this weekend and let me know. It's older and has had much love, this one is $90. No extra bobbins or lazy kate.



This is the Ashford Traditional. There's no nylon cord...it's a cotton drive belt. But that can be easily remedied. There's a lazy kate and extra bobbins for an extra $20. This one seems to be my better choice as I'm a beginning spinner. And at $150 for the wheel, plus the $20 for bobbins and lazy kate it's $170.



Any thoughts from the pros out there?

Busy Days

You know, I've realized I'm really going to hate the months of October and December. Not that I hate Halloween or Christmas. But that they are SO busy, and I end up exhausted. This month was my step-father's and son's birthdays, Halloween (of course), my anniversary (my husband and I really like to celebrate when we first met), and a craft show.

The birthday was a blast. As you can see. Sugar rush for little Oogie.


And then the crash that quickly followed.


My step-father loved the hat. Obviously it was quite warm and thankfully big enough (he's a 6'4" swed). It almost didn't make it to him. My husband LOVED the color AND the hat itself. Which is baffling. I can never make him a hat that he really likes, but I make it for someone else and he ends up loving it. I think I'll just stick to socks for him. :D

Oh, and the craft show was fun and terrible at the same time! It was fun because I got away from the kids and hubby for a day. And terrible because I was across from a woman with handspun yarn! She sat all day spinning on an Ashford Joy. I couldn't resist. I bought myself a skien of yarn. It's Merino Tencil, 6 oz and 228 yards of worsted weight double plied yarn. I fondled it through out the day thinking, "should I???". But, of course I relented. I think it was watching her pack up at the end of the day that made me realize I would regret not getting it.



I also talked to her about her spinning wheel. Aparently she's got 4 spinning wheels and is looking to get rid of a few. One being an Ashford Traditional for $150! I'm definitely going to go for it. But, since it's right before Christmas time (which has my daughters birthday and my wedding anniversary too!) we agreed that payments wouldn't hurt as much. I emailed her today to see pictures of the spinning wheel before I buy it. When I get them, I'll post them here for you guys.

Oh and check this out! This is another La Dentelle Belle Scarf done! This one is done by Monika from smoking hot needles. I love it in the red and I'm thinking of making myself on in the same color. I've posted this in the Gallery. :D