First Knit-A-Long

Well it's been a while since I posted, but I haven't really had anything to show. DH and I ended up sick through most of March which left me with little ambition to accomplish anything. Now that the weather is turning warmer I find that I am looking forward to the flowers blooming and the yard work that's on the horizon. I'm also back to knitting again!

Back in February a new group formed on Ravelry call Knitting-Around-The-World-Block-Of-The-Month-2011. The idea is that we will knit one 12 inch square each month thru 2011 and then stitch the sqares together at the end of the year to make a blanket. I decided that this might be a really good way to learn some new stitches and get outside of my comfort zone a bit. Since the group began in February we will need to make up the January pattern at some point during the year. It's been great fun so far but due to being sick, I never began the March pattern. This means I will have to make up two months during the year! But I'm actually okay with that. :) Here is February's pattern. I didn't do a real good job blocking it but I figured once it's sewn into a blanket it wouldn't get blocked anyway so I wanted to see what it would look like if I just washed it.

The lighting wasn't the best either, but I think you get the idea. The pattern is called 5/5 Check and is from a book (she didn't give us the book's name nor the author's name).

I started working on the April pattern last night but due to the weight of yarn I'm using I don't think the pattern is going to work for me. I've seen many posting to the group on Ravelry where other knitters are running into the same problem. The pattern also has a pretty fancy edge which will make it difficult to stitch into the blanket. But that's okay because I learned a few new stitches, which was the whole idea anyway! :) I'll decide later today if I'm going to continue with the square or if I'll frog it and use the yarn for January's pattern.

I'm also still working on a scarf for my sister. I thought I had taken photo's of it but now I can't find them. Perhaps they didn't come out well and I just deleted them, I really don't remember. At this point I think I'll save the scarf for a birthday or Christmas present since it's a little too warm to use it now! LOL

Thanks for dropping by and have a wonderful Sunday!

-Janice

Snow, Snow & More Snow

Given the crazy winter storm we are having, it has been snowing ALL DAY today, and is expected to continue ALL DAY tomorrow as well, I thought I would share my latest knitting project. Back in December I received an email with a nice photo of a hat with ear flaps. You know the kind, right? So I asked my husband if he might like something like that to stay warm when clearing the snow. He jumped at the offer! So off to the LYS we go to get some yarn. While speaking to the owner she suggested that we consider a ski mask instead to keep more of his face and neck warm. She gave me the free pattern for a helmet liner and I was off and running.

Here is the end result ...

And the best part ... my husband LOVES it! Unfortunately he has used it twice now and it will be put to the test again tomorrow but it keeps him warm and toasty! YEAH!!

I learned several new techniques; knitting in the round, wrap and turn, and picking up stitches. It took me a full 30 days to knit it and a few trips to the LYS to get my questions answered but overall it was a very enjoyable project.

Since finishing the ski mask for John, I have begun a scarf for my sister. I'm not liking the yarn, it's very difficult to knit with, but I'm determine to stick with it. I'll show you a photo soon.

Hoping you all stay warm and enjoy the snow!

-Janice

Various Cards

Well it's been a while since I've posted but I really needed the break. Since I don't have anywhere to post about my blog, except Twitter, I don't have any blog followers that I am aware of so it probably doesn't matter! That said, I needed to understand why I blog and make sure it was something I really wanted to do. I've decided that it is something I enjoy but since I've gotten away from papercrafts and more into fiber arts my posts may be a bit more sporatic. I'm okay with that as I only want to post those items that I feel are really worth it. I don't want to post for the sake of posting once a week, which is what I promised myself I would do.

So today's post is a miscellaneous post with a couple of Birthday cards and a couple of Christmas cards. You can click on any of the photo's for a larger view, but some of the larger views appear out of focus. I guess my camera skills are lacking.

First up is a cute card made by my good friend Cindy. She loves Iris Folding and while I can appreciate the work that goes into it, it's not something I have enjoyed doing. Cindy is also really creative and adds some nice touches to her cards.

The ghost is made from a white shimmer paper which I absolutely adhore!! Unfortunately Cindy couldn't remember where she found it, but that's probably best since I would have purchased it and probably never used it! LOL She added some nice beads to spell out 'Happy Boo-thday' ... how cute and creative!



Here is another Birthday card made by a co-worker, Denice. I'm not sure exactly what products she used but my best guess would be Stampin' Up and she is an avid follower of their products. I love the punch and the button! Too cute!

Next up is a Christmas card from Cindy. Again she used the Iris Folding technique mixing up both pattern paper and solid paper. She really does an amazing job! Thank you Cindy for sharing your talent, I feel really blessed to have you as my friend!

Finally here is a Christmas card from Denice. I love the snowflakes and while you can't really tell from the photo, they sparkle beautifully in person.

While I was taking photo's of these cards one of our cats (Lady) decided to investigate the Lightbox. While she is not supposed to be on the table I decided instead of scolding her, I would take advantage of it and snap some photo's! They're kind of hard to make out since I had the black back-drop up and she is mostly black, but I think you can get the idea.

Here she is getting into the box and looking around.

Here she has pulled down the backdrop and is looking at it over her shoulder! She's such a riot!

I had taken several pictures at this point and I think she was about done with me! LOL

The look say's it all ... would you PLEASE stop mom? LOL

I'm so done with you! She really is adorable and I must have taken a dozen photos so I can totally understand her attitude. :)

Well, thanks for stopping by. Hopefully I will be back soon with more goodies to show you.

Enjoy the week and stay warm. I understand we are in for another whopper of a storm in New England this week. Wonderful :(

-Janice

Holiday Packages

Since John and I will be spending the day with his family tomorrow to celebrate Christmas I needed to get all of our gifts wrapped tonight. I thought they looked so pretty that I wanted to share them with you! We kept things fairly simple this year. We did not buy individual gifts for the children and individual gifts for their parents, instead we bought one gift for each family. I finished wrapping them earlier this afternoon but needed a break before I tackled the bows. Those are always the hardest part in my opinion.

Here is a close up of the bows I made:

And here are all the packages grouped together. Aren't they so pretty!?!


I finished all my wrapping today ... but I realized that I need to pick up one or two more gifts for someone special. I'm glad I figured that out now since I still have a week left to fix my error in judgement! LOL

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

-Janice

Knitting Project

Happy Holiday Season Everyone! Last weekend we decorated the exterior of our home, set up the Christmas Tree for my mom at the Nursing Home and attended an annual Holiday Party put on by the company my husband works for. This weekend I have officially started my Christmas shopping, set up our Christmas Tree, signed the Christmas Cards, and my husband played Santa for the Children's Christmas Party, again at his office. This will be his last year playing Santa for the children as he will be losing his job in February. Yes, this is something he already knows ... long story ...

I am so far behind in my crafting that I may never get caught up! Our December calendar still has no photo on the decorative paper and I need to make up a couple of cards/tags for the upcoming week. I did complete a cowl that I starting knitting at the beginning of October. I only have a photo of the "in-process" project. I will need to get a photo of the finished product so you can compare! Next I will be starting a helmet liner for John to wear when he's snowblowing. I've already told him he may get it for next year since I am such a slow knitter! LOL I think he's okay with that. :)

Hopefully I'll have more crafty-goodness to share with you next weekend. But for now we have a very busy week ahead. We're taking our cat to a specialist tomorrow to hopefully determine why he keeps pulling his fur out, Tuesday I have a Yankee Swap at work, Thursday I am meeting my mom at the mall for our annual shopping trip, and Sunday is our family Christmas Party. I'm exhausted just thinking about what the upcoming week holds.

I hope your week is a bit less hectic than mine will be! LOL

-Janice

Autumn Themed Thank You

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday! We spent the day with family, cooking, visiting, and of course eating waaayyy too much! LOL We still have so much turkey left over that I think we will be eating turkey until Christmas. Seriously. I am officially sick of eating the traditional left-overs from Thanksgiving. I'm not much of a left-over person anyway. I made a Turkey Pot Pie last night so next I'll make Turkey Soup and then probably freeze whatever's left over.

So before we officially kick-off the winter holiday's I thought I would squeeze in one last Autumn Themed card.



Here are the details:

Cardstock: White from source unknown, Orange Zest by Papertrey Ink
Stamps: Maple Leaf from Leaf Prints by Papertrey Ink
Ink: Maple Leaf's in Yellow, Orange and Red Colorbox Petal Point Ink, sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Sentiment: Mega Mixed Messages by Papertrey Ink

Well that's all I have to share with you today. I hope you all have a wonderful week! We will continue decorating the inside and outside of the house. Hopefully we will be done by next weekend!

-Janice

Calendar Pages

Well, as usual it's been a while since I've posted. I don't know how time consistently seems to get away from me. I realized the other day that I never posted my October calendar page and now it's already November and I haven't posted that page yet either.

So, without further ado, here are the last two months of calendar pages! October ...

And November ...
The photo used in the October page was taken last year from our yard. The photo in the November page was also taken last year but it was from a local farm. We moved the pumpkin from the pumpkin patch over to a spot that I thought would make a nice picture.

I've really enjoyed having this calendar displayed in our kitchen this year. I was thinking about purchasing another one but Papertrey Ink has recently come out with calendar pages and if you follow my blog you know I'm crazy about any from Papertrey Ink! Needless to say I've already ordered and received two different types of Papertrey calendars. Now I just need to find the time to make the calendars for next year! LOL

As always, thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this week.

Until next time,
Janice