More cloths

Here are the dish cloths I made for my mom for Christmas. I forgot to take a group shot before giving them to her.  They are made with Peaches and Creme.

Welcome 2010!

Hi to the new year!  I can't wait to see what wonderful things this year has in store. 

I know I've been quiet for the past month.  I would say I'm sorry, but then again, I've enjoyed what this month has held.  Up until the week of Christmas, I was crocheting and knitting like mad trying to get the dishcloths done.  I ended up completing 25 in total!  They were received very well, and I heard several murmured requests for a set.  I plan to make several more sets this year as I enjoyed trying lots of new patterns. 

I don't like to make New Year's resolutions, but I would like to try working with new and different yarns this year, and I'd like to knit and crochet down my stash.  I took a picture of the current stash so I can monitor my progress. 

Here are some of the dishcloth sets:
For my grandma:

For my sister:

My neighbor:

A very special friend at Chick-fil-a:

My college roommate:

That's enough for now, but later, I'll post pics of the set for my mom, and my mother-in-law.  I forgot to take "group shots" for those sets, so I'll post each cloth separately.  I'll also post my beginning stash photo, so you all can help keep me accountable!

Christmas Savings

I've still be knitting and crocheting like crazy, preparing Christmas gifts.  I can't wait to share the pictures with you!  I've also been trying to figure out the best way to handle Christmas on a budget.  One of my many cousins just shared some fabulous deals she's gotten in her most recent blog post.

I've heard of Swagbucks before, but haven't really taken it seriously.  I should have!  You earn 'bucks' easily - just by using their search engine when searching the web.  I am quite partial to Google, so the thoughts of giving it up, ,even once in a while made me sad.  Then I saw that the Swagbucks search results are partially powered by Google.  Awesome!  So now, I can search and earn!  Earn what, you may ask?  You can trade your Swagbucks in for a variety of things - Amazon.com gift cards, books, magazines, and all kinds of things!  Unfortunately, I haven't found yarn on their 'gift' list yet! Haha!  I would love to earn enough bucks to do some Christmas shopping on Amazon, but I'm not getting my hopes up that they'll accumulate that fast.

Anyway, if you (yes, you) sign up (It's totally free) for Swagbucks using one of the links in this post, I'll get 1 free Swagbuck (which would just be awesome!)  If you don't sign up, it's not going to hurt my feelings, but definitely check it out!  Free stuff is always cool, especially to a mostly-stay-at-home mom. 

I'm off to do my homework for the parenting class YammaDaddy and I take, and I've got to get it done while Sweet E sleeps! 

I hope you and your families had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We did, but more (photos) on that later.

Crafty Madness!

Has it seriously been three weeks since I last posted?  I've been working away on my Christmas crafting, and have lost track of time.  Again.  However, I've been forced to put things for me away, and work on things for others.  Not that I mind, but at the end of the day, I'd like to eventually have something to keep.  When the new year arrives, I will be making things for me and my family to enjoy, and hopefully be able to get some charity items made.

I've finally got my Etsy shop up and running!  Currently, the only items listed are coffee cozies, but it's a start.  I have several scarves and afghans I will list for sale soon - I just need to take picutes of them! 

Speaking of taking pictures, YammaDaddy bought me my birthday and Christmas present this past weekend - a Nikon D3000!  Woohoo!  I'm loving it!  Yes, my birthday is in December.  Yes, I've already opened my gift.  No, I don't feel guilty. :) 

A friend of mine is having a baby, and is due Jan 1.  She likes small afghans for her kids, and I usually make her 2 - one for her child to hang on to, and one for the laundry.  She swaps them out, and her youngest son never knows his 'night night' is being washed.  Sneaky, and a great idea!  I have afghan #1 made for the new baby, and as soon as I finish a chemo cap for my friend who just started treatments, I'll get busy with baby afghan #2.  I will also be making her youngest (well, he's currently the youngest!) 2 replacement afghans since he loved his other two to death.  Quite literally.  I love it that he loves his blankies so much!

I'm still baffled by the lack of spell check on this new Blogger composer, so if you find it, let me know!  Even though posting photos is SO much better now, I may have to switch back to the old style, just to have spell check. 

Knitting up a Storm

I've been knitting up a storm lately, and can't wait to show you, but you'll have to wait!  I'm working on a LOT of Christmas gifts, and don't want to give away all the surprise.  I also don't want to bore you with a bazillion pictures of dishcloths.  I'll take a group shot when I make more progress.  I've knit 4 dishcloths this week alone. 

I will also be crocheting baby afghans for a friend of mine.  One is for her new baby, expected in late December/early January, and another is a replacement for her 4 year old son.  He has absolutely worn his afghans to the points they're threadbare, and it warmed my heart to know he has enjoyed them so.  However, it broke my heart thinking he may be afghan-less soon.  We can't have that now can we?!? 

I took picture of my Etsy items last night, and hope to post them this week.  I'm starting off with a few scarves and coffee cozies. 

On an unrelated note, does anyone know where the spell check button is on this new Blogger editor?  I am usually quite computer-savvy, but I'm at a loss...

Beginnings and Ends

Interested in what's been going on? Here it is.

• I'm in the process of setting up an Etsy shop. I've stopped pondering it, and am going to jump in and do it. All that's left to do is post my shop policies, and photograph and list my items. You can be sure that I'll post links and more info as it's available.
• I finished a purple afghan and hat set


• I've gotten another order for a candy corn Trick-or-Treat bag
• I've been frantically knitting and crocheting Christmas gifts, praying I get them done
• I've been organizing my knitting needles (more on that later)
• I've been making apple butter from fresh apples we got this weekend while traveling

When I list it all out, it doesn't seem like much, but in all reality, I'm just not sure where the time has gone. I need to also get on the ball making these felt Christmas stockings. So far, I'm only 1/2 way through the first one, and I have that to finish, and 2 more to make, or else Santa won't fill them with goodies. Uh oh! I'd better get busy!

Projects Galore

I've been so busy working on projects!

I finally took the few minutes required and ran the ribbon though Sweet E's pink dress. I tacked it to the dress with hidden stitches, so the ribbon will stay in place. She wore her bloomers with it, but they were a little big, so I had to run a string through the waist and tie them. It worked out, and she was able to wear them, but I'd like to make her a smaller pair. I have a lot of projects now, so I'm not sure when/if the bloomers will be completed. Here's her finished dress.

I'm very happy with the dress, and love it on her. It fits very nicely.

I also took a few minutes and sewed the buttons on the white baby poncho, so now it is ready to wear.

I have also started working on Sweet E's 3-D Teddy Bear afghan again, and realizing how much work I have ahead of me, actually considered for a day or two just throwing away what I've done (or just making a tiny afghan of just the flower motifs) and being down with it all, so I can move on to projects that interest me more. However, I really want to finish this afghan, and hate to get rid of the work I've done thus far. I've pretty much decided to make it smaller than the pattern calls for, but that's still a lot of work.

I added several projects to my queue today - a knit dress for Sweet E, a crochet cardigan for me, and a baby afghan that has been commissioned. All of these on top of all the projects I'm making for Christmas. I'm to the point I'm so overwhelmed I don't know where to start, and I'm losing valuable time just thinking of all the work I have to do.