Sweater Weather, and other things. . .

I have been meaning to make some more polymer clay pieces for the shop for some time, and I finally did that last Sunday! Go, me! AND, since my original niche for my knitting row counters was sweaters, I decided to get back to the basics a little bit with the new pieces. . .

There are short sleeved sweaters (pink arrows), long sleeved sweaters (blue arrows), and a couple of holiday pieces (green arrows), thrown in just for fun! I had a blast with these pieces, and I hope to have them listed at Pretty Knitty Jewelry, starting before this Saturday!
"But, what is the yellow arrow pointing to, Pretty?"

Haha! The yellow arrow points out my priorities, which you will surely understand if you are reading this blog! That's the church calendar in my office, and the yellow arrow points to the word "Knitters" on EVERY THURSDAY, signifying one day each week that I work toward, and the knitting meet-up that helps to restore my sanity. . .even when the week has been crazy, crazy, crazy busy. . .or downright awful. I love my knitting friends, and I look forward to Knitting Thursdays with CKW. . .I rarely miss it! Yay!

Recently, a new knitting friend has been joining us on Thursdays. . .it's College Girl! Seen below, modeling a very chic, very purple nosewarmer made of acrylic yarn, she is quite a good sport most of the time (or this picture would not be in the blog)!!! Lately, she has been joining her Pretty Knitty mom more and more for recreational time, and she has started helping me coordinate weddings at the church!
I have mentioned my Wedding-Coordinator-Hat to you before, and it is a hat that I love to wear! As College Girl gets ready to plan her wedding, I was glad to hear that she is starting to be curious about what goes on "behind the scenes" of a couple's very special day!

It's a lot of work, and a labor of love (well, there is a little paycheck, too. . .and yes, I am sharing the profits with her!). Last Saturday, we ran around with this couple, sharing in their joy in a very peripheral and busy way, until the last guest had left, and the last candle had been blown out, and the last of the church photos was taken. As the new Mr. & Mrs. left for their reception, College Girl and I wanted to just put our feet up and relax!

That did not last long! There were flower petals to sweep, furniture to rearrange for church (thank you, Sweet Hubster, for "muscling" into the day as well!), lights to turn off, and doors to lock up before we left. It was a good day, but it left me looking forward to my regular job at the church. . .where putting my feet up IS sometimes an option!

And see what's on those feet? Yep! It's the finished Dragonfly Socks that I promised would be done before the weekend. . .I finished them on Monday! lol

I hope that you have some time to put your feet up this week, and do whatever you enjoy (unless, of course, you enjoy hiking, biking, running, playing or other sporting activities requiring that your feet touch the ground)! In any case, as one of my one of my friends always says, do what you love!

And as I always say, Knit in Good Health!

Seeing RED!

And that is a good thing!

It has been ages since I have had a clay-play-day, but I had one today! I have already even baked and glazed the pieces and they are dry! Look to the right to see what I have come up with: some fair-isle looking sweaters and hats, a couple of socks and a mitten or two in the mix! The details are in white, blue and yellow, and these were very fun to make...and I have a couple of tiny pieces of the detail discs that I am going to make into stitch markers that will match perfectly! I should start listing these pieces in the shop in a week or two, so check it out when you have a chance!

Continuing in the red theme, these are my newest knitting project, Candy Cane Socks! They are knit in Plymouth Happy Feet yarn (I think the color is #4?) on size 1 needles, though the pattern is written for a heavier wool with larger needles. To adjust, I added some stitches between the candy cane motifs, and I made a few other adjustments to taste as well...like there is a row of straight purls between the motifs in the original pattern, but I replaced it with a plain knit row...and I will do two or three repeats of the candy cane (can't remember how many the pattern calls for) before starting the heel...I think that's it tho. I love this knit, and I am glad that I will finally have a pair of Christmas socks! With all the socks I know I have knit, I cannot believe that I didn't already have one!


In Knon-Knitting-Knews, this weekend we are Puggle-sitting! As a matter of fact, I was going to title this post "Watch! Don't Step in a Puggle!," up until I started working with the clay! My DIL has gone to another state to set up housekeeping for herself and Army Boy (when he returns), and her mom went with her, and they have two doggies. Sophie the Puggle (part Pug, part Beagle) has come to stay with us until her mom gets back to town! This is the first dog we have had in the house since our 12-year-old beagle passed in the spring, and the cat is not impressed! She tells us (and the dog) every time we see her! lol!

Well, it's just for a short time, and this is a really sweet dog (don't you agree?), so I guess the cat will just have to "man up" until the end of the visit! I think the funniest part of the visit so far was when the Hubster brought the dog up to bed the first night, and he let her sleep under the covers! Haha! I know he is great with kids and pets, but I was not expecting him to do that! My kids will understand that when they read it!

Well, I guess that's it for now. More details about the contest soon! (Don't forget that Dawn's contest runs until midnight tonight! Hurry over to enter!)

Knit in good health!

Another One Flies the Coop. . .

And another one's gone,
And another one's gone,
Another one flies the coop!

Hey!, It's gonna get to you,
Now you have an Empty Nest...

So, I knew they were movin' on out, one at a time, and I have bloggged about this before. I guess I did not think about them leaving in stages like this...it's a new level of out with each piece they take from my home, that used to be their home...sigh!

These are pictures of the latest load of Army Boy's things to leave our family's house. I am excited for the, "newlyweds" as they prepare to set up housekeeping on their own (finally, once said boy returns from the Scary Place)...and I am excited to have some reclaimed closet space, but I am also a little sad, like there are nerve endings in the "apron strings." You moms out there get what I am sayin', right? But, in the grand scheme of things, it is as it should be. ;-) And Wifey-Poo will be taking their stuff to the other state soon, and he will be "home," where his heart and his wife are, soon after that. And they will continue to build their lives together - Yay!

In Knitting Knews this week, I have finished Who?, the hat for our friend at the Coffee Shop, and I like how it turned out! I will wash it, and sew some little buttons on just one of the owls before presenting the gift, do you think he will like it? BTW, my model was my Dear Husband. However, said husband agreed to the photo shoot only on the condition that his face not show up anywhere online! lol! So here is the hat, sans Hubby!
The big project I am working on is Wallaby 2, for the sister in the brother-sister pair I mentioned in the last few posts! This one, being a mere size 4, is going MUCH more quickly than the size 8 in gray! It's a lot more fun in pink, though, so I am a little sad that it is going so fast.
Oh, well, when it is done, I can go back to my Cardigan!

Meanwhile, back in the shop, LOOK what I ordered from CatChic on Etsy! Aren't these the most adorable, tiny pieces of cutlery that you have ever seen? They are about 3/4" long, and there are even tiny spaces between the tines of the forks! Originally, I thought they might have just been stamped metal, and prepared myself that they would not look as good in person, but looky here! They look darn good. . .and I have a creative plan for including them in some holiday-themed knitting jewelry! Stay tuned to Pretty Knitty Jewelry to find out what they become!!!

Well, I guess that's about it for this post...except for patting myself on the back for posting on time this time! I mean, I try to post on Wednesday and Saturday, and today is Wednesday! Yay!

Oh, one more thing before I go...I haven't heard anything about what you all might like to win in a Pretty Knitty Contest. So, I will come up with something on my own, and the 6-month Bloggiversary Contest will begin later this month! In the meantime, my friend Dawn is running a CONTEST over on her blog. . .check out Dawn and her neat designs here!

Knit in Good Health!

Daisy, Daisy! Give me your answer, do!

I have been busy in the etsy shop lately! Ever since I was an Etsy Shop of the Day feature in the Daily Chum, I have gotten a lot more traffic! Sales have picked up, too, including some custom orders. I'm selling the knitting row counters and the Crochet row counters. . .
So, I say it again. . .

Daisy, Daisy! Give me your answer do! I'm half crazy, because. . .

Aren't these the cutest Row Counters you have ever seen?

Daisies:
Playful Stripes: Watermelon:

Spring Garden Tee:
I know! I know! They are so cute! (Ahem, if I do say so, myself. . .) The daisies are a copy of a custom order I made. . .it was so cute that I had to list another as well! And the sweaters? Well, these are the first in my new "NeverNotKnitting Collection" at PrettyKnittyJewelry! I am excited to be working with Alana, and I encourage you to visit her blog and check out her very cool patterns AND her podcast! Knitting and broadcasting genius is she!

In other news, the Hubster and I have had a pretty great weekend so far. . .we babysat two darling girls on Friday night:

And on Saturday, we went to see the new movie Julie and Julia! Let me just tell you that it is a pretty great movie. I laughed, I cried. . .well, you get the picture! And it was kinda fun to watch the Julie character as she started her blog, and it started to gain popularity. . .I could identify with, "I have a comment!" lol Very cool stuff!

Along with the babysitting and the movie, I did a little knitting, and here it is. . .one College Cabled Purse, in cream colored Lion Brand Fisherman Wool for the College Girl to take to school. Haha!. . .wool for school!. . .haha! I just crack me up!

And then, if you scroll down just a bit, you will see what will be step 2 of this bag. . .you see, the college girl wants a gray bag, but her mom could not find yarn in the right shade of gray, sooooo

Acid Dyes to the rescue! Thanks to Michelle, for the loan of the Jet Black dye. . .I am sure it will only take a little bit to get the right shade. . .I can barely wait to finish up knitting the handle. . .if all goes according to plan, I will add color to this piece

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!

I'll dye ya tomorrow!

It's only a day away!

Well, as Bugs Bunny (or was it Elmer Fudd?) always said,

"Abedee, abedde, abedee! That's all folks!"

Knit in good health!