Scrapbooking has taken over my needles...

I haven't knitted very much the past few days, because I have been trying to complete a mini paper bag scrapbook for a girl at work. She saw the knitted baby blanket at the shower and said she wanted one for her daughter, 3 months old. I felt bad :( but I didn't have the yarn to knit one up and knew I wouldnt' be making a yarn run anytime soon. Sounds crazy, but I NEED to use some stash yarn!!! Thus, the scrapbook.

I have tons, I mean TONS of scrapbook supplies and thought that would be perfect! I have been making them for myself and baby showers. Hey, I told you everyone I know is pregnant. Also, I have been making them for extra cash!! That's the good part. However, I hadn't made the mini paper bag kind, so I ventured out and "created" the cutest little book. I love it!!!! Now I am hooked on these. Please refer to the posted pictures that display the fine scrapbooking handiwork :) Alas, the paper took over my needles and now I must break that spell and get back to my hat, tote and scarf.

I also have some co-worker bdays coming up and need to come up with some quick knit ideas. I love to make my presents, because it is so much more personal (to me) than a bought gift. Although, I know a few people who think the complete opposite. Let's just not talk to them...

I put the finishing touches on the now infamous (because I said so) scrapbook while watching Dr. McDreamy on Grey's Anatomy last night. Aahhhhhhh...need I say more.

what to do....

Not much to report today. It has been a beautiful day and I did get in some knitting, but nothing to really post about it. Sorry I am more-than-usual boring this evening. I'm searching the web looking for a daring cookie, cake, or cupcake recipe to try. I won't to try something new, break out of my baking box.

The baby blanket was a hit. The mother to be seemed to like it and I am so very glad. I might make another, just as a baby shower back-up. I seem to be invited to a lot of showers lately. Must be the weather.

Anyway, I will go bake and then maybe spin a little. I have given Spawn of Satan a few nights off this week and she seems to be rested :) Maybe it's safe to approach her...

On my way to a hat...someday...

maybe by next fall I will have this hat complete. I'm just happy to be knitting in the round with more than a garter stitch. I have impressed myself :) (tee-hee, doesn't take much to feel like I'm progressing)
I am using some leftover rose and grey wool yarn to knit this little toboggan. And it calls for double pointed needles!!! What was I thinking?! I am a scaredy cat when it comes to DPNs. Anyway, when I finally finish I will post the end product and we will all be amazed!

I have signed up for the Knitting Olympics. Now I have to find something challenging to knit. And for me that is not going to be hard...the challenging part. I am leaning towards baby booties, I'm sure I will find someone needing them in the future. Or a pair of felted knitted slippers. I have been lusting over patterns I continue to see for the slippers. But I have been a little chicken. And socks terrify me!!!!!!!!

I have been knitting, eating, and watching American Idol...hilarious!!! Are you watching? I have laughed, cringed, and sat with astonishment over some of these voices. On a different note - does anyone have any REALLY good cupcake recipes to share? I would love to find some not-your-ordinary-cupcake recipes. If you do, please direct me there.

Okay, let's get busy on that hat...

The little bag that could...

Here is my progress on the tote bag that will eventually be felted and beautiful :) I need a good road trip to finish knitting her up, since I often do my best knitting in the car. Although, I do get car sick (very car sick), that doesn't mean I don't like to knit on the road. That's a knitters dedication...ya know?

It has been a cold and wet day again around here and I have yet to thaw out. I need to be gathering resources for a handwashing class I am teaching to kinders on Wed. But I am too cold to work and visions of hot chocolate and brownies keep dancing in my head. I wish I had stopped and picked up ice cream to go on top of the brownies...wouldn't that be so good?!!! Oh, why couldn't I crave carrots? Or celery? But no, my cravings are fattening and never ending. I must give in...I have no will-power...it is taking me over...

Actually, here she is ... evil wheel

For some reason the blog was not wanting to cooperate with posting all 3 pictures. Hmmm, wonder if the wheel and the blog are in cahoots against me posting the pics...sounds like a conspiracy. This is the evil wheel...
Notice some of the cats tried to get into the action. Actually I moved the wheel and that just caused chaos amongst the "kids."

Here she is ... evil wheel

This is the skein I have been able to get thus far, so pitiful :(

This is the wheel I have so lovingly written of...a Cherub wheel made in New Zealand. She is new to the US and I found her by way of ebay. I have taken classes on a Lendrum wheel, which I loved! But it was not in my budget at this time. I found a great deal on the Cherub and purchased her back in Oct/Nov of last year.
Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful wheel - we just don't get along. The maker and distributor of this wheel have both been very gracious in offering advice and suggestions in how to get her in working and sociable order. Right now I would settle for sociable...she isn't very friendly...is very rude and ill-tempered :) I did find out that the previous owner had made several modifications and that could be part of the reason she isn't wanting to cooperate with her new owner. So, I am at square one trying to coax a skein out of her. I added a pic of the skein I have been trying to spin for oh, several weeks!!!! She will spin a little then start to rattle, scrape, whine, stop spinning...etc. I am ready to pull my hair and her roving out.
Anyway, that is where I stand with Lady Cherub, or as I call her at home the Spawn of Satan.

It has been a cold and drizzly day around here and I spent the majority at my house (me and DH each have a house, long story) trying to mop and clean for the realtor. She starts showing it tomorrow for hopefully a throng of buyers :) If she doesn't sell, I am contemplating a yarn store!! Oh my gosh! Wouldn't that be wonderful, especially around here - where there is no yarn except for the craft stores. So it is a thought and my house would make a lovely knitting store, oh the possibilities....anybody got money?

WoolieGirl searching for yarn

Here I am looking for yarn...

where are the yarn stores?

Went through the Smokey Mountains on a daytrip, which I thought would be a perfect opportunity to find some yarn. Nope...none. Not one single yarn store could I find! Lots of mountain roadside stands, mom-n-pop stores, outlets, but no yarn stores. I didn't find a single skein of yarn anywhere, with the exception of Wal-Mart :) But that doesn't count and you know that no matter where you are you have to go to Wal-Mart!

So, I was very disappointed! I got out at the parkway overlook and strained to find a yarn store below. It was a sad moment....plus I was sick and that didn't make me good company either. But I did take some knitting and worked on the tote bag and found a cute hat I am going to try and talked myself into trying socks. Maybe it was just the cold medicine talking :)

I made a little progress on the spinning wheel last night. However, she and I are still feuding when it comes to tension. Anyone have suggestions about taming the tension beast? I would greatly appreciate it. I will take some pics tonight and post them tomorrow. Now I am off to knit and watch CSI, oh yes! And find a suitable snack...maybe hot chocolate - yum. That goes very well with my cold medicine.

sleepy cats

Aren't they sweet? I just had to show you these two cuties. Ainsley and Truman are sleepyheads all the time and they are precious when they sleep. All curled up and fuzzy...I could give them big kisses on their furry heads. Oh, I just love them so much.
I'm still trying to figure out how I can profit from their hair :) There is so much of it, I know it would make a good yarn :):) But who am I kidding? I have drawers full of yarn, not to mention a closet stuffed with yarn that I have acquired over the past year. It is truly addicting. AND I don't have a clue what I am going to make with it!!! But I can't help but search out yarn stores and ebay sells and fondle it when I see it!!! ANyone else? Is there a yarn-a-holics support group?
Right now I should be working with my spinning wheel instead of chatting up my cats! But alas, I am typing about yarn. Maybe I will go make some hot cocoa, find some candy (preferably chocolate) and sit and look at my wheel.
I did get a little knitting on my tote bag complete and that was a goal this weekend. I will have to find a pic to show you the progress. AND I found a cardigan pattern (what? cardigan? am I insane?) that I am thinking about ordering. I need drugs...
Okay, chocolate first....drugs and wheel second :)

Start the music...the baby blanket is complete!!! (see me take a bow)

Here is the baby blanket...complete with tassels. It is so soft and cuddly and knitted up very pretty. It probably does only take 4 hours, if you sit down at one time and knit. Unlike me, knit for 5 minutes when I can. Hats off to LionBrand for the 4 hour baby blanket.

NOw I am going to start a felted scarf from an idea I found on Spun Magazines website. It is the DIY Sweater Arm Scarf you sew up after you deconstruct the sweater and felt it and cut it up...
I found a couple of cool wool sweaters at Goodwill (yea for Goodwill) and felted them last night. One is a lovely gold and the other a vibrant lime, even though it looks yellow in the pic. Now I get to cut them up and create a new scarf, full of fun stitches.

For the technical part of this post; why can't I post a pic in the spot I want? I put it were I want it then it moves to the top...ALWAYS! We have already established my computer challenges, so it has to be something simple that I just can't grasp. Please explain...so my pics go with their correct verbage.

Okay, off to find some tea and cut my felt :) Good times.

Can I just go to sleep....

I'm so tired, can I just go to sleep? I helped with an elementary school health fair today and I'm pooped. I was the Glo-Germ nurse and taught all the kids how to wash their hands and get rid of those nasty germs. Now I'm paranoid about germs :)
I should be knitting, but I'm just so tired (and lazy) and keep dreaming about cake and ice cream...not yarn.
But I am almost done with the blanket. Yeah, yeah, yeah I keep saying that, but really I am. I'm on the decreasing end of the knitting! That's progress. Maybe I can get it completed this evening and post some pics and maybe I will throw in some of the "kids" looking adorable. Maybe I can catch Ainsley playing dead. She looks so cute when she flops onto her back and sleeps. She's such a cutie.
I've been surfing the net for a copy of "Felted Knits" at a good price. Along with a bread machine and a copy of the "Cupcake" cookbook. Anyone out their have a bread machine? What are your thoughts? I would love some comments about the pros and cons....thanks!

Okay, let's go get that ice cream and cake.

Everybody dance...a shawl is complete!!

Hello!! Let's get up and dance, I finished my wool shawl. I am so very happy! I used a beautiful variegated red wool that knitted up so well. I am tickled to pieces that it turned out without any problems.
I used a shawl pattern I found at Dee's Yarn in Blowing Rock. This is a lovely little yarn store that is packed full of gorgeous yarn and patterns. Unfortunately, I live in an area that does not exactly boom with yarn stores. So sad :( Is it too much to ask to have a yarn (or two) store close to home?! I think not!!!

STill working on the 4 hour baby blanket, that is not at about - oh say day 3ish. I guess I should apply myself to just one project. Is that possible? Does anyone else just knit one project at a time?

Speaking of projects...does anyone know how to list an archive with past project pictures? I'm still working on that portion of the blog. I need blog 101 people. My computer illiteracy is poking out.

Okay, now off to finish cleaning before I spin a little. Had to make a chocolate chip pound cake for a work meeting and some oatmeal chocolate cookies for me ;) Yum....

Oh yea...I also knitted up the same pattern in a sassy ribbon yarn (top right) of blues, greens and grays. It is ever so soft and melts to your shoulders...ahhh I just love yarn.

Yet another project...

Almost finished with the baby blanket and it is coming along quickly and is cute! I am also making my own totebag to felt. I recycled a brown sweater from Goodwill and it has been my main yarn for this tote. I have also added some handdyed wool that I lovingly dyed myself. What fun! This was my first attempt at dying wool with Kool-aid and it worked great. (That's the little ball in the corner)
Doesn't look like much right now, but watch out! Once completed and felted it is gorgeous!!!

I'm going to add some of the handspun wool I am also working on to give it a few off-beat stripes. That's the yarn aka hairball in the upper right corner. These too were dyed with kool-aid and smell great!!!

Okay...enough typing, it's time to knit and eat ice cream ;)

Baby Blanket Beginnings

Nope not for me. I am beginning a baby blanket for a co-worker. I found this quick pattern at the Lionbrand site; using size 50 needles and Homespun it is a quick knit (4 hours or so they say).
Anyway, here is the beginning of so-called baby blanket and log size needles. It actually looks much better in person, believe me.
I am halfway there at this time,been busy knitting up a storm this evening. Hopefully, you will see this infamous 4 hour blanket completed this week. Whoohoo...

Mr. TTkitty (and very dirty face) with the little felted bag. looks kind of like a basket...hmm need to add the handles. 

Mr T and the little bag

Mr. TTKitty with my little felted bag. This is a little wool bag I made for holding ribbons and pins. I made a large felted tote for my mother at Christmas, however didn't take a picture. Just like me...but I'm making me one, so I'll snap away as I progress.
I just like looking at Truman, cause he's so handsome!!!

Meet the kids...

Here are my babies - Truman, Ainsley, Corbin, and Maggie. These pictures do not do them justice and are not true accounts of their personalities. There normal look is closed eyes and snoring. I think they sleep about 23 hours a day and you can never find them when you want a snuggle. I actually don't know I have cats somedays.
I would love to have 4 more, but it's not looking good for me with DH - he says "NO more animals"! Spoil sport....
Anyway, I'm trying to figure out how I can spin their hair into yarn :) Why not, I have a ton of it floating around like tumbleweeds!

Bear with me on loading pictures. I am not computer savvy and it is taking me FOREVER to figure it out :) I don't have the technical gene that everyone else seems to have. Poor me...okay when I get it down pat I will upload or download some knitting projects.

Corbin kitty - aka Kramer 

Truman - the most handsome boy in the world 

Maggie cat - she thinks she owns everything  

Miss Ainsley - the princess 

Hello!!! Welcome to my new blogspot. All about my infatuation with all things wool. I've been knitting for about a year and a half and the addiction has me hard! I'm still a cautious knitter; I'm very hesitant about branching out and trying new patterns. BUT, I'm starting...baby steps.

So, let's learn about this blog and get some pictures loaded...shall we?