WIP Wednesday

This week I started on a new knitting project - a knitted lion. I probably should move on to something besides stuffed animals but I just love creating them. This is for a coworker; when I gave away the hippo, bear and lion to my other coworkers she expressed how cute they were and I know she would love a lion for her daughter.

The pattern is the Little Lion Sock Critter on Size 5 needles with Simply Soft yarn. It's been a quick knit so far - I have the entire body done and the arms ready to attach. I'm currently on the ears and am hoping to have it finished over the long weekend.

It's also been great for me because I've had to try a few new things. This pattern involves purling through the back loop and short rows, neither of which I had done before. In fact I think the short rows are great practice for when I get to the heel of the socks I'm working on. (Okay working on may be a slight exaggeration as they have mostly been sitting untouched for the last few weeks. I've promised myself to make some progress on them when I finish this project.)

For more projects check out Tami's Amis!

 

I'm blessed

It's been too long since I've joined up with the Blessing Party at He Sows and She Sews, but this week I'm just overflowing! Here are the many ways I've been blessed this week:

• I celebrated a very lovely Mother's Day with my kids. Since we had to go over to my mom's and MIL's houses on Sunday the boys took me to dinner on Saturday. They also gave me books, including a candy making book (that I've already put to use!). As an added bonus they behaved well on Sunday, which is some times challenging when we go from house to house.
• C finished up preschool this week. I can't believe I am not the mother of a kindergartener - the time has totally flown. I have been blessed with an intelligent, compassionate five year old.

This is a totally blurry pic but it's C holding the flag and leading the kids in the pledge at their program.

• It was my birthday this past week. I was fortunate enough to be able to take some time off of work too. I had a wonderful day and I'm so glad God has blessed me with another year.
  

I had the chance to paint some pottery on my birthday - it's a tradition I've had for the last five years or so.

• And maybe a little more minor, but tonight after playing blocks with J he picked them up without being asked. Yay!
  

Check out the I'm Blessed party here! 

FO Friday - A Bear and a Hippo

So that bear I mentioned a few weeks ago, the one that I optimistically thought I had two months to finish...turns out I had significantly less time than I thought to finish it. The baby shower ended up being scheduled for today and I still had to do a third stuffed animal too. So I knitted pretty much nonstop during my free time over the last couple of weeks (hence the lack of updates lately.)

The good news is I managed to finish! Here is Brown Bear.

The pattern is baby bear from Susan Anderson's Itty Bitty Toys book.

For the third stuffed animal I ended up doing a hippo to go with The Belly Button Book. This pattern is also from the same book - can I just say how much I love this book!

 

I think these will be a hit with the moms to be. Here is a pic of all three stuffed animals.

 

For more finished object Friday fun check out Tami's Amis!

 

Basil Pesto

My basil plant has been absolutely flourishing, to the point where I finally had to pick some of it. Oh my goodness, it was so fragrant as I was picking it! Check out how much I was able to pick.

I knew from the moment I planted it the first thing I was going to make was pesto. I'm a big pesto fan! I've never made from scratch but it was so easy.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of basil, pressed down
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoons of pine nuts
• 1/4 grated Parmesan cheese
• Dash of salt
• Squirt of lemon juice (this is not for flavor, rather to keep the basil from turning brown)
  

Throw everything in a blender (I used my Magic Bullet) and blend until everything in chopped and it turns into a paste. Then enjoy! I spread mine on a few slices of fresh mozzarella - it was delicious. 

 

I'm linking up to Sundae Scoop today!

My crafty life - 3kcbwday7

Today is the final day of Knit and Crochet blog week and it has been a lot of fun so far. Today's topic is about balancing your craft.


As I mentioned yesterday, I only know how to knit. I'm not sure why it grabbed my attention first but it did. I would eventually like to learn to crochet, however. I think up until this point I hadn't put a lot of thought into it because I felt like I still had so far to go with my knitting. Now that I've gotten over many of my fears of trying new things with knitting, it might be the right time to learn. I have it on my goal list for this year!

I think once I learn more than just the basics, crochet will be a lot of fun and will be well suited to me since I do like to make toys. I know there are things I've wanted to make before and have been disappointed that it was crochet not knit. However I imagine I will still gravitate towards knitting. It certainly is interesting to think about.

To see other crafters' thoughts on the subject search Google for 3kcbwday7.

Knitting Skills - 3kcbwday6

Today's topic for Knit and Crochet blog week is about improving my skill set. I've been a knitter for about five years now, maybe a little longer, but it has only been in the last year or so that I've started to increase my skill set. Let's put it this way - before last year or so I knew how to knit, purl, knit 2 together and change colors at the end of the row. I couldn't even figure out how to switch back and forth between knitting and purling on the same row. I always added yarn overs when I tried.

At the beginning of last year I decided I wanted to learn to knit in the round. I had the perfect opportunity when I found an Android to knit for E's birthday. (He's the little guy that was in the picture on Tuesday - the Android, not E.) That seemed to be the moment that I got over a lot of my fears of trying anything new. I ended up really increasing my skills last year. I learned how to do an i-cord, pick up stitches, kitchner, do a three needle bind off, start with a knitted cast on and the kfb stitch. I also participated in my first knit along (and had to figure out M1R and M1L to do it).

I'd consider myself to be an intermediate knitter right now; I still have a long way to go before I'd consider myself advanced. I need to know how to do cables, colorwork and at least a few more types of cast ons and bind offs. I'd also like to do something that requires an accurate gauge like a sweater. Some of these are on my New Year's Resolution list for this year - practice cable knitting, knit a pair of socks, learn at least one new cast off, learn some sort of colorwork, and try short rows.

I also plan on adding a whole different skill set too; I plan to learn (relearn?) how to crochet this year. I took a class a few years ago and made a scarf that was all single crochet stitch but unfortunately I have pretty much forgotten how to do it. I'd love to be good enough to do a granny square blanket or add a pretty crochet edging to my knitted blankets. Plus I want to learn amigurimi - based on my love of knitted toys, I think it would be fun.

Basically I'd love to be able to go on Ravelry, pick any pattern in the database and be able to make it. No small challenge, right?

To read about other knitters' and crocheters' skill sets, just use Google to search 3kcbwday6.

My knitting hero - 3kcbwday3

Today's topic for Knit and Crochet Blog Week is your knitting hero. I wasn't sure I had a knitting hero at first. I don't typically pick a pattern based on the designer so that was out as a criteria. But the more I thought about it, the more a couple of designers came to mind.

I'm from Arizona so I don't get a lot of use out of sweaters, gloves, hats and things like that. Don't get me wrong, there is an opportunity to use those things but the window is a whole lot smaller than many other places. And knitting a blanket in July when it's 110 degrees out is not the most fun.

That's why Susan B Anderson and Rebecca Danger are my knitting heroes. Knitting toys is a lot of fun. I had no idea when I first started knitting that you could make toys! And both of these ladies are amazing toy designers.

Susan Anderson's toys are great. I have a copy of Itty Bitty Toys and her instructions are so easy to understand. The bear I made for my niece for Christmas was the bear from that book.

I'm working on another bear for a coworker who is expecting. I also really want to knit the hippo because it is so stinkin' cute.

Rebecca Danger is awesome too! I love how creative she is. I absolutely adore her monsters.

I'm also dying to knit Jerry the Monkey and Basil the Brontosaurus.

If you want to learn about other bloggers' knitting and crocheting heroes, just use google to search 3kcbwday3.