Welcome to 2009

It has been a LONG time since my last post. I've been fairly busy with life. Thankfully life is starting to calm down a bit. I did get a few projects completed during my break from blogging. I completed a baby blanket that I had been working on. I used white and sea blue I love this Yarn from Hobby Lobby and a size I crochet hook following a basic ripple pattern. I think it turned out pretty good.
I've also recently developed an interest in quilting. My husband bought me a sewing machine the Christmas before last. While I have played around a little with it, I haven't done anything major with it. All of that is about to change. My mom showed me a simple quilt pattern in a Quilts and More magazine. The pattern uses 36 10 inch squares to make a basic patchwork quilt. I used several batiks from fat quarters from JoAnns and Hancock Fabrics. Right now I am in the process of sewing the squares together. Next I'll have to sew the rows together to complete the quilt top. Here is a pictures of all the squares laid out in the order I want them.
I still have some supplies to pick up before I will be able to complete the quilt. I need to order a walking foot for my sewing machine and pick up the quilt back and batting. I figure I'll be able to get it completed in another month or two. In the mean time I have plenty to work on. I need to finish up a red shawl I am working on and I have started yet another baby blanket. I also, in an effort to develop my sewing/quilting skills, have been toying around with making quilted coasters. My goal is to improve my sewing skills with every coaster so when it comes time to do the quilting my lines will be straight.


Another item I have been working on. I have been studying to get my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute. I plan to take the test sometime in June of this year.

That's all I have for now. In the mean time....

~~Happy Crafting~~

Saving Peanut

My little Peanut

Last weekend we were in Tulsa to visit family and drop my puppy off at my parents house in preparation for our Colorado vacation next week. Saturday morning we found a baby squirrel who apparently fell out of his nest in one of the big trees in my parents yard. It broke my heart to see the poor thing shaking on the sidewalk. His eyes weren't even open yet!

So naturally we adopted him and took care of him. I named him Peanut. Hubby did some research on the Internet about caring for baby squirrels. We hydrated him and got some formula in him and he started to do better. He slept most of Saturday and Sunday. Sunday morning I woke up to feed him and his eyes were open! He's such a cute little critter! My little Peanut.


Sunday evening and Monday after work he was pretty lively. He'd make the cutest little noises and crawl around on my shoulders and lap. Even though I knew I couldn't keep him, I got WAY attached to him. I took several pictures and Hubby even recorded him crawling around on me out on our front porch.


Tuesday we contact an Animal Shelter to see what we could do for Peanut. We couldn't possibly take him to Colorado with us. We are going to be high up in the mountains camping, it would get WAY too cold for his little body up there. It broke my heart to give him up! (Yes I cried over a squirrel). He was my little Peanut. He would crawl up and rest his little head on my shoulder and fall asleep like a baby.


Giving him up was hard, but I know it is what's best for him. He would never survive the cold climate in Colorado. He got too cold in our apartment and we had to turn it so the AC wouldn't kick on. We turned him over to a volunteer group called Wild Care. They took our address and said that when Peanut was ready to be released they would release him in our neighborhood. So I may see my little Peanut again someday.


I really miss him. He was such a cute little squirrel. At least I know he is being cared for by good people.

More yarn and some finished projects

It's been a while since my last post. I've been doing lots of knitting! I finished a few projects. I've been in this knitting hats phase this month. I've completed 3 hats and am working on a 4th this month. I made yet another beret from the Hip Knit Hats book using the lionbrand homespun.

I finished up the knitted hat that I was making for my hubby. I used the Lionbrands Fishermans Wool. The hat turned out really good. I also knitted up a hat using the Suri Dream Hand Dyed yarn from Knit Picks. The yarn is listed as super bulky weight, but it really didn't look all that bulky to me. I was a little worried that it would not be good yarn for a hat. Well, I was wrong. The hat is real light weight, but real warm! And I love how soft it is! It turned out really good with the striping. The colorway is Falling Leaves. Granted the hat turned out a bit different that the pattern. It's more of a slouch hat than a normal hat. But I really like it!

The fourth hat I am working on is from the Hip Knit Hats book also. The pattern is called Ella. It has a band of Entrelac knitting around it. It's a beret-like hat. I'm using Wool of the Andes from Knit Picks in Blackberry. It's turning out great! I can't wait to finish it!

Also this month I placed another Knit Picks order. A girl always needs more yarn! I ordered four more lace hanks, 3 hanks of Swish Bulky, 4 balls of Telemark, 2 balls of Palette, 1 Suri Dream Hand Dyed, 1 Suri Dream, 2 hanks of Wool of the Andes, a hat pattern, a book, some stitch markers, and I wanted to try their circulars so I ordered size 4 tips and 40" cable for the Peacock shawl I am going to knit after my vacation next month.

Lace: 2 hanks Shimmer - Galaxy, 1 hank Gloss - Blue Bird, 1 hank Gloss - Basalt

Swish Bulky - Brindle Heather: This is going to be a mobius.Telemark - Persimmon Heather, this is going to be for a scarf.

2 balls Palette - Asphalt Heather and Marble Heather: I ordered the Tam O'Shanter pattern and am going to knit it up using these two yarns.

Suri Dream Handyed - Falling Leaves, this turned into a hat and the leftovers are being knit into a skinny scarf.

Suri Dream - Strawberry Heather, I'm thinking this is going to be either a beret or fingerless gloves. I'm leaning towards the fingerless gloves and then whatever I have left over will probably be another skinny scarf to make a set. Book: Hip Knit Hats - I just love this book! There are so many great hat patterns and they are all knitted on the larger needle sizes so they knit up real fast!
Wool of the Andes - Blackberry (Ella Hat) and Coal. Both are going to be hats.I don't have pictures of the stitch markers or the circular needle. I do however have some pictures for your viewing pleasure from my trip to the zoo last weekend! They had two new baby snow leopards! Oh yeah, and the Red Pandas! Gotta love the Red Pandas!!!!!

~HAPPY KNITTING~

Finised a project!

Over the weekend I finished another hat project. I'm really enjoying the "instant gratification" aspect of knitting small projects such as hats. I finished up the Lace Leaf Hat project on Sunday morning.I think it turned out pretty well. It was knit on size 5 16" circulars, using Knit Picks Palette in Lipstick. I really like how the leaf pattern turned out. They really do look like leaves! Here's a close up: I can't wait to wear this hat in Colorado in September! It turned out so good.



I also cast on another hat project this weekend. I'm working on a simple hat that for my hubby. It's a K2P2 ribbing through the whole thing, very easy, a good TV project. I'm knitting it up with Lion brands Fisherman's Wool in the Natural Brown color. I'm about half way through the body of the hat, I hope to either start on the crown decreases this weekend or have it finished before the weekend rolls around.

I'm desperately trying to finish up my mystery shawl. I already decided to opt-out of the knitted on boarder. I'm just going to do an extra knit round and then bind off with larger needles. I just want it to be done. I didn't realize how long the final chart section was going to take. I can only get about two, maybe three, rounds done before I have to put it down and switch to something else.

I also started on some mittens from my Selbuvotter book. I chose what I thought looked to be one of the easier patterns to knit up. I'm just on the ribbing of the cuff, but I hope to have these done by November. That might be pushing it, but I'm going to try.

I'm using Knit Picks Palette in Black and Fog. I think they will turn out good. They will be my third stranded knitting projects ever. I completed two hats earlier this year. I can't wait to get into the body of the mittens and the real color work! It's going to be a challenge, but I'm up for it.

Until next time!

~~HAPPY KNITTING~~