I made this knitting needle case last week:







I am not entirely happy with it. I like the way that it looks, but I found the fabric difficult to work with, and I didn't decide to do the ribbon edging until I had already sewn the seams, and so the edges are bulky and not as nice as I would like.

So...anyone want a slightly wonky needlecase?

Too bad! 'Cause I am not quite done making them. Still have a few more pairs to go.

This is one of the pair I made for my stepsister.



And this is another pic of the pair I made for the co-worker, so you can see the almost-matching stripes.




As a side note, I should have some non-knitting items to display soon. :)

Finished this pair of cabled handwarmers last night.



This is my first pair that has half-fingers. They were kind of a pain to make, but oh my, they keep your hands super warm.

The best part - these are a special request for a co-worker, who is actually going to pay me for them. Cool, huh? (The novelty of getting paid for my crafting still hasn't worn off).

I am participating in a EtsyFAST promo swap. The idea being that I make and send 50 promotional items and business cards to the organizer, and get 50 promotional items and business cards from the other participants, which I can include in my outgoing orders to help promote their shops, and of course, they'll be promoting mine. So I had to come up with something I could make a lot of, in a relatively short amount of time.


Here we have 25 sets of stitch markers, in varying sizes and styles.


4 bracelets, knit with some of my handspun yarn


And 21 crocheted flower pins, also made from my handspun and/or hand-dyed yarn.

Only now I feel like the stitch markers may be too limiting, since they are not useful for those who crochet...so maybe I should just do more flowers? I really have to mail them by Friday at the latest, if they are going to get to their destination on time. What do you think I should do?

This past week has been a very crafty one. On Monday, I went with paper_wings to the Sudbury SnB. Had coffee, did some knitting, and met some fun new people. Seems like a good group, and I expect I will be going back, even if it is a little out of my way.

Have been trying to get my etsy shop in order, as I pretty much neglected it (along with most everything else) for the whole month of December. Have joined a few groups to try and help promote my stuff and do some networking, but I haven't participated much yet, as I feel like my site needs a lot of work. Mainly, I need to come up with a name for it. I mean...I have my username, but most of my fellow etsyian's have a shop name, and I feel like I need one, along with a banner. So there is definitely work to do. But, I have still managed to sell the occasional piece, and am thrilled that someone finally bought the knitting needle case, so that I feel justified in making more. In addition, I sold some yarn to paper_wings, and accepted 2 commissions for fingerless mittens for my co-workers, so I am feeling good about those things.

I have continued to do a lot of spinning the last few weeks, and am very nearly finished with what I hope will be my very first sock weight yarn. I am so excited at the prospect of making socks from yarn that I spun myself. Have also been knitting my fingers to the bone, I need to finish up the fingerless mitts for J, so that I can start on the other pairs. And then, just for fun, I am currently in 3 swaps. The first is Dead Like Me themed, and I am having so much fun with that. The next is the Invite Your Partner swap, where lordavon asked me to be her partner, and made a request for some little stuffies. And the last is a stuffie swap. Haven't done much in the way of stuffed animals for a few months, and am really enjoying it.

So that's what up in my crafting world these days. Sorry there's no pictures, but hopefully I will have some more stuff to show off soon.

Gave this hat to Gail for Christmas. It is made from Misti Bulky Alpaca and is the softest, squishiest hat ever. Sadly, I didn't get pics of it on Gail, which is a shame, 'cause it was cute.





Joined a Dead Like Me themed swap. Heh. Going to have so much fun with that one.

Gave paper_wings her Christmas present today. Spun her some yarn from the roving I dyed a few weeks ago:



And made her a set of stitch markers:




And just for fun, here's some other yarn that I spun up recently:

My partner for the Spinners/Knitters/Crocheters swap finally received. Part of the swap requirements was to make or dye yarn, so I spun this up from some hand-dyed multicolor roving.


It has all the colors in it.

I also included this cute knit bag as the small to medium sized item:





I especially like the button closure.

I am very happy with how this one came out. Especially since I didn't have a pattern, but just made it up as I went along, and it only took about 2 hours, and half a skein of yarn.



Also, you like my head? I think I should decoupage it to make it prettier.

Check out my new hat. Knit from geekpixie's Caschic Hat pattern.

Part 1 of my plan for World Domination: Blind the Enemy

I've received some cute things in the mail recently and thought I would share.

First off, I received a ton of fun stuff from my Knit/Crochet Goodie Bag partner:




Fun fabrics!


Yarn and kool-aid!


Crochet books and an amigurumi bunny.

And now, here is the bunny in his new home at my desk at work:


Clearly, I have a problem.



Other new stuffies include Tofu-kun and Armless Ninja (the silly white block of tofu on the left, with the ninja on top of him). I love their big eyes. So cute.

Had a crafty weekend with ladygwyn and heathertea. Heathertea made fondue! Mmmmm....cheese. Actually got some stuff done on my long suffering Clapotis (you may remember that a year or so ago it had an adventure, and it has been sadly neglected for much of the time since then). I'm about halfway done now, I think. I also started on a baby blanket, as heathertea was getting rid of some baby yarn, and I have several family members who are having babies in the next few months.

And now for your viewing pleasure, some pictures:

Once again, the Berroco KnitBits newsletter actually contained a pattern that I like. Its the Badia tank top. I think the style may even be flattering for me, so I may add this to my list of tanks I want to knit. Speaking of which, I should really get to work on the tank I started last year. Maybe I can finish it in time to wear it THIS year. And wouldn't that be neat?

Dude! I totally made a pair of socks!

I found my sock! Yay! And, there is more done on it than I remembered. I only have about 1.5" left of the cuff to do, and they will be done.

Haven't posted a lot lately, so I thought I would share some pics to show that I haven't entirely been slacking.

So, here's some yarn I've spun:








Some stuff I've knitted:









And other crafty things:

So, I am working on a knitted bag for a swap package. The bag itself is done, though it needs a handle of some sort. Here's my problem. I started to make a lining for it, but it's not working out at all. I feel kind of bad sending an unlined bag, but I'd rather do that than send one with a crappy, ugly lining in it. I'm making a little extra present to compensate, but I still feel less than good about it. I hate to send a substandard present. Hmmph.

In other news, I still have 3 people whose Christmas presents are not done. I am really trying to get them done by the end of the month, but I'm not sure how that will work out, so don't hold your breath or anything.

I'm making a Calorimetry, and I think that making headbands may be my new thing. It's fun, and pretty much everyone has gotten a pair of mittens from me, so I need to move on to a different object. I have an idea for a fair isle patterned headband kicking around in my head. I'll have to see if I can get it to work.

Exchanged presents with kjpepper, sundart and sydneycat yesterday. Here's what they got:


sydneycat's scarf in a purple/black sparkly yarn. Simple dropped stitch pattern - this scarf is more decorative than functional.


Fingerless mittens for sundart. Pretty, self-striping yarn, which is nice and soft and squishy. Twisted rib stitch.


Fingerless mittens for kjpepper. Purple tweed yarn, also pretty soft and squishy. Twisted rib stitch.

Am still trying to finish up my remaining Christmas presents. I figure that at the rate I am going, I ought to be done by the end of the month. Woo-hoo!

So the week before Christmas, I knitted my fingers to the bone to finish these items for my family.

( some knitted presents )

With everything else going on in my life, I realized that I completely forgot to talk about how much fun I had visiting heathertea and everyone for crafting day, back on the 16th. Her new place is really nice, and there was lots of room for me, heathertea, ladygwyn, and sryder to spread out our crafting (and food) supplies. (In case you didn't know, food plays a very important part in crafting day.) So, it was much better than trying to squish us all into my living room. It was really great to see everyone. I've missed heather and am glad she and jon moved back to this general area, and even though they live nearby, I don't see enough of sarah and gerry, so it was cool to hang out with them too. So, thanks guys. You all were pretty much one of my only bright spots in this holiday season. =)

Also, I got a significant amount of knitting done, which enabled me, ultimately, to meet my goal of finishing my stepsister's and niece's presents by Christmas. Too bad I didn't actually get to see them, but that's a story for another time.

For now...enjoy some pictures:

Mmmm...cookies

( more pics! )