don't drop those needles!

I keep forgetting to take super blog pics while knitting, or at the shop, so I just have this video to share with you today.  I found a link to it here, which I linked to from knitgrrl.  

Off to the show!

I'm on my way to the TNNA show in Long Beach, CA in the morning.  A fun-filled trade show weekend of seeing all the fun new knitting stuff, and buying for the shop.  Yippee!  If you see me there, and we've never met, please introduce yourself.

New coat, new knitting

I got a new coat this week, and all of you fellow knitters know what that means!

I have to knit new accessories!  I am thinking of convertible mittens with the cream tweed on the right, and a scarf from two of the other yarns.  I might use a pattern from Knitting New Scarves by Lynne Barr.  You can see a gallery of the projects here.  I like the flapper, as well as some of the other linear/geometric ones.  We shall see!

Christmas knitting

I did do a bit of knitting for Christmas this year.  This is a felt tote that I made for my wonderful mother-in-law:

The yarn is Rowan Scottish Tweed Chunky,  with various wools for the needle felting, and Grayson E. leather handles.  I love how adding the handles and a little bit of embellishment can finish it off.  

The matching Christmas hats were meant for father and daughter, but I knew even while I was knitting that Pete wouldn't really wear his.  That explains why I got to model it here!  The yarn is Cascade 220 wool, solid red and cream, and one of the Handpaints for the green.  The colorwork is just a simple slip-stitch pattern.  I think they came out quite cute!  Audrey never did get a pom-pom, but I will add one for next year.  It should still fit her with a mild elastic adjustment.  

Happy New Year!

Audrey and I were in the Plain Dealer yesterday.  You can see the picture here, and you can read the article here.  Sorry I couldn't find them on the same page!  

I added a list of the blogs I read regularly to the sidebar.  Just in case you were interested, or bored, or whatever.

I tried to do a longer post, with pics of some of my Christmas knitting, but I wasn't able to load any photos tonight. Bummer!  More updates on my current knitting soon.

Ello's adventure

Ello is finished, and he has quite an adventure during his short life. You can see more adventures of Ello's siblings on the "adventures of Elijah" group on flickr.com. The pattern is from Ysolda.

(Sorry, I have no energy left for making links. Maybe later.)

Once upon a time, there was a little elephant made of yarn, and his name was Ello. He was born in a cubby in yarn shop, but he did not have a family.



Upon emerging from the cubby, he went for an exciting ride in a yarn swift . . .



. . . and he landed on the couch, where he received an excellent knitting lesson from a knitting fairy. He asked, but this fairy would not be his family. She already had a fairy family of her own!



He was quite sad and lonely, so he snuggled into a knitting bag and took a nap.



When he awoke, he was no longer in the knitting shop, but in a cozy cabin! He must have been carried home with a knitter! Maybe he would find his family here?



Checking out his new surroundings, he fell out of the knitting bag . . .



. . . and was eaten by a terrible monster!



The monster carried him all around the cabin, and Ello was very scared.



Then, the monster dropped him into the arms of a cute, friendly baby girl! Now he would certainly be safe from danger. Was she his family?



But wait, she is going to eat him too! Oh, the burdens of being so irresistible. He must get away!



Ello jumped to the floor, still in one piece. He met an entire pride of elephants, roaming the savannah of the nursery together. He had found his family at last! The end.

it's still not cold enough for a coat!

The November Ruffle is finished! I wove in the ends this morning and gave it a bit of steam before wearing it all day. Every girl should have a wrap like this; warm, soft, and comfortable while being pretty and elegant at the same time.



Sorry about the self-portrait. I cropped out the basket of clean laundry in the background.

Yesterday, I made a lining for my seed stitch purse.



When choosing the fabric, I had a couple of more subdued options picked, but then I thought, "If I get THIS, I will smile every time I open my purse!" It not only had sheep, cows, and pigs, but they are all wearing patchwork quilts! Too cute!

Still to do: sew the lining into the purse, find and attach a button, and finish sewing on the leather handle.