Hello!!

How have you all been?  I have been busy busy of late, but I thought I would give a quick update on what I have been working on and I will hopefully be adding pictures to the end of this post soon. :)

 With all the holidays and working everyday I haven't been able to blog or take picture of my projects but I can still tell you about them. :)

I have been knitting up some leg warmers for my mom its a simple rib pattern that is easy to sit and knit while sitting and watching a movie or visiting in the evenings. :) I have the first one finished and I am now working on the second. They are knitted with yarn from Knitpicks called tide pool heather which is now discontinued. I have 4 balls of this color and so far I have only used 1 so it looks as if I will have some yarn left over. :)

I have also been working on knitting up my first sock! :) So far I love knitting a sock. Of course I didn't start with a simple sock to start me out I decide to start with a lace sock. :) I have turned the heel and I am now working on the instep. The sock I am knitting is called Blue Crush for The Joy of Sox by Linda Kopp. I am enjoying knitting this pattern it is a nice lace design and I have been doing quite a bit of lace knitting lately. After knitting up the Juneberry shawl I feel like I can do just about any thing in the lace department. :)  I ran into a mental road block when it came to turning the heel but the problem ended up being as simple as me over thinking the directions. :) Some times I have to sit back and not think about what the instructions say and then the light downs and I know what I'm supposed to do and I start back into my knitting. :)

My counted cross stitch is coming along nicely I have started on the third page once I finish that I will only have one page left!! :)

Well I hope you enjoyed my little update!  Happy knitting!!

Giveaway winner!!!

Congratulations insaneelaine you are the winner!!!

Thanks to all of you who participated in my giveaway I wish everyone could be a winner! :)
I am looking forward to hearing how the winner likes their cowl. :)

Giveaway cowl.

Well here are the promised pictures of the cowl!! It is almost finished!! I only have to knit 6 rows of garter stitch left and then I can bind off and block it!! I will be sure to add some pictures to this post of the blocking process so you can see the leaf pattern all stretched out.

The lighting wasn't very good so it doesn't have the colors exactly right.

It looks a little short right now but when I block it it will get longer.

The leaf pattern is beautiful!

Kee of course had to come over and see what I was doing. :)

She was grouchy because the dog came over to see what she was doing.

This is Moo my poodle. :)

Well I hoped ya'll like the progress of the cowl!! :)

Have a marvelous weekend.

Giveaway!!

I am so excited that I have been blogging for almost a year!!! On December 9th it will be my one year anniversary and what better way to celebrate it than to have a giveaway! :)

Now the giveaway will start today and last until December 31st at 12 noon. All you need to do is comment and leave your contact info.

So now you are asking what am I giving away? Well I recently decided I wanted to try my hand at designing a cowl and my first attempt came out beautifully so I decided that I would giveaway a cowl with my own design! I do not have any pictures of it right now as I just started knitting it yesterday but I will add pictures throughout the month so you can see the progress. And I will be doing a post telling about the first cowl I made. It is very exciting to be giving away one of my very own design!!


I will tell you a little about the cowl and the yarn I am using. The yarn is from Knitpicks and it is the Shimmer hand painted lace yarn and it is 70% baby alpaca and 30% silk. It is in the spice colorway and it is a beautiful combination of browns, rust, and gold tones.  The lace pattern I am using is called the dropping elm lace and I found it in the aware knits book and fell in love with the leaves.


Well I am going to knit some more on the cowl now and Lord willing I will add some pictures of it within the next few day. :)

Looking forward to picking the winner!!!

Making apple sauce.

Hello again!!                                                                                                                                             

Well I have been busy with fall preserving apple for applesauce. I love how the apples look when they are in the sink with all the water drops on them. Here are some pictures of the process, I have it a little easier than most because the gadget I use for making applesauce doesn't require any peeling or coring. I simply have to quarter the apples and cook them until they are soft. It is a much simpler process but it still takes up a lot of the day. I enjoy making applesauce to it doesn't bother me that it is a long process.              

The knife looks quite fierce doesn't it?

I use a combination of Macintosh and Golden Delicious apples.

These were all ready to go in the pan for cooking.

You put the cooked apples in the top and they come through and the peelings come out the side and the sauce comes out through the bottom.

And here is the finished apple sauce!! I added Cinnamon after this was taken so it changed the color a little bit.

I don't have anything to show on the spinning or knitting front as most of what I'm working on is Christmas presents right now but I do have a few pictures of the cross stitch I gave to my mom today for her birthday. :) And of  course a picture of Keyla.  

This is called a rose progression and I decided to add a few extra touches like the verse and the border.

She decided she loves this pizza box.

This and that.

Hello again! :)

Recently I was given a Siberian Forrest Cat. I lover her to death already even though I have only had her for 4 days. :) I am looking forward to getting to know her better and to learn more about the Siberian breed! If you don't know what a Siberian Forrest Cat is here is a little info on them. They are a medium long-haired cat with triple fur, water resistant coat. They are a very muscular cat and are amazing jumpers, they like high places. They have amazing personalities and are very playful. Keylala is 4 years old and not full grown yet as Siberians are considered kittens until they are 5.  She has been adapting very well to her new house and has been getting to know the whole family. I am looking forward to seeing her personality come out more when she is more comfortable with me.

Meet Keyla!

Since I have brought Keyla home she has found quite a few spots she loves to sleep in. :) here are just a few pictures of her.

Bath time. :)

Nap time in the sun.

 And finally here is my most recent knitting project the Sweet Fern Fingerless Mitts from the Knitters book of wool. I am just about to the end of the thumb gusset. This is some of my own handspun yarn and it is fun to see how it is striping as I knit.

Farewell for now and may the Lord bless you this coming week. He has certainly blessed me this month!!! :) :)

Hand spun yarn.

Hello again my friends!!

I have been busy spinning away recently. There is nothing like seeing your finished spinning product. I love experiencing the whole process. Recently I had purchased a wool sample pack from a fiber festival  and I didn't really have any plans for it when I purchased it.  After looking at the different colors in the sample pack I set aside a few that I liked and decided to spin them up together. The first 4 colors I picked where a brown, peach, pink, and a blue, pink, and white multi.  I split  the 4 balls in half and then into sections as long as the shaft of my spindle and I set about spinning them up. :) I spun and plyed up both halves in less then 24 hours! I have never spun anything up that fast before!! I was so excited to have it spun and plyed in 24 hours!! It got me into a spinning mood and with the encouragement from a dear friend I decided to spin up the other 4 balls that I had set aside from the sample pack.  The colors for the second yarn was dark purple, grey, a bright purple multi, and a light purple multi. I split them up the same way as the first set and started spinning them up! I finished spinning and plying it up in 24 hours again!! I was so happy with the results if both yarns! I have been spinning three different lace weights recently and it was fun to spin up a thicker yarn and see it spin up so fast.

Well here are some pictures of the finished products!

Here is the first colorway before the twist was set.

Here it is soaking in the hot water.

And here it is in the cold water.

And finally hanging to dry.

I love how the colors turned.

And here is the second colorway.

The colors are so beautiful!

The weather has recently been very warm here and it was perfect for letting my yarn dry outside.  I am hopeing to get started on knitting some fingerless mitts with both color ways. I look forward to showing everyone the finished products with both yarns. I hope you all are enjoying the beatiful fall weather.