Spring is getting close, hope this hoodie wrap is done in time.

Sneak Peak at a work in progress. Can you hug a knitting project. Oh, I want to hug this one - with a certain little girl wrapped in it....can you tell I'm getting excited?

The hood is coming together nice! The seams have so much detail.

The back of this is as sweet as the front - the seams are my pride and joy, can't believe I'm joining pieces. Also the shoulder decreases to shape the little cape down the arms is a sweet touch. There is still a 1" trim that goes around the entire wrap, hood and all.

Above is a pic of the front, since it gets the 1" trim it doesn't have a finished look yet. I'm off to buy size 2 circular needles today - and PERFECT buttons.

Above is a picture of the front view along with the trim yarn.

I've been working on this little number now for about 8 weeks (off and on). I paused for a few trips to Little Rock, knit some felted clog slippers, and life in general causes some pauses.

My goal is to have this done in a few weeks - right before SPRING hits!!

This is the pattern pic, but, I'm not using Berroco yarn, (Shhhh!) or the colors that the pattern calls for, but I had a wonderful Yarn shop owner in Little Rock help me pick out the perfect yarns for this piece, she has a good eye for color and a good understanding of Yarn sizes!! Thank you Cindi. (I'm using ON-line Supersocke 100 Wellness-Color a German yarn (supewash) with Aloe! It is washable (IN COLD WATER) so it will be an easy care item.

Judy - knitting on pins and needles!

Knitting Socks, Sock Yarn, metal needles, and Giant Slippers to Felt. And a Cross Country Motorycycle Ride By Myself. WHAT?

I changed my title picture.

I found the picture on-line quite a while back and when I was thinking about knitting socks, this really made me laugh.

If only knitting socks were that simple.

But, I know that I can knit them now, the trick is getting around the heal, and knitting in a circle to close the toes having all your stitches divided up on several little needles, looks pretty strange, but it works. I made slippers before Christmas, that were giant socks, then felted to fit the hubby's feet. Link to my slipper blog post.

He wears them every evening, and now I have to tackle sock yarn.

Sock yarn, this is like using toothpicks and thread (almost), slight exaggeration, (very slight). I'm trying to use sock yarn for my next large project, a size 2 cape, and I've torn it out now 5 times since January 1st. I've ordered a pattern from Fiber Trends for Felted Clogs. Could not find a pattern I could buy and download ANYWHERE what's with that? If Fiber Trends allowed downloaded patterns, I'd have the men's clogs DONE!! (Sorry Ken)

When our son was home from Denver, he admired the slippers I made for the hubby, and sent me and Jenn looking for yarn for some slippers for him. We decided on a Clog pattern, thus the hunt for the pattern. I've designed a lot of items, but the slippers are still new enough to me, I cannot improvise!! (YET) I found the pattern on EBAY!! YEAH, EBAY!! It'll be in the mail in Indiana this week, then sent "via snow-bird account" to our temporary Phoenix location. Then I get to knit clogs.

I just went through pictures on my old computer and found over 18 items that I made last year that were not included in my latest youtube video (in the right margin down from this post).

I made a dress for our new Granddaughter (ended up more like twice her size by the pattern and by the guage of course, but she's so petite it's in her closet till she's 12). I also stepped down the pattern (some math and some guessing) and made a matching doll dress. Of course the doll wears her dress all the time, so far.

I knit a full-length sweater for my d-i-l and doggone it, I forgot pictures of several items. One good friend ordered two purses for her daughters for Christmas, no pictures (other than the felting process on one made it to youtube), and I made her a laptop computer sleeve, and for the life of me I cannot even remember what colors I used ... getting old is such a bummer along the lines of losing ones memory!

I knit a great tote last summer that was all black and subtle grey stripes. It was Huge, and called for leather straps that fastened to the purse with 4 small belt loop style tabs. After felting and doing the PURSE STRAP ON-LINE HUNT, I gave up and sewed two belt loops about 1/3 down from the top of the bag as belt loops, and wove a very nice silky scarf through the loops to give the purse a personal style ... I was so anxious to bless my friend with this bag I FORGOT PICTURES.

I knit several pairs of wrist warmers, didn't like most of them, but they sold at a craft fair speedy fast, some also sold on Etsy. Last minute Christmas I knit a sweet baby-blanket to go with the little baby-buggy for Aven's doll, and of course the Mother Daughter wristers (arm-warmers) I desgned, whew. You'd think I have nothing else to do, but really all of this is about 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours a day and I love creative knitting!!These sold on Etsy.

Guess what I hope to improve on this year?

• GETTING GREAT PICTURES OF EVERYTHING I MAKE (you'd never know I am married to a professional photographer with an amazing digital camera - I'm in too much a hurry to get the gift out, or get it listed - I'M SLOWING DOWN ON THIS ONE!
  
• TAKE GOOD NOTES - GOTTA BE ABLE TO TEACH WHAT I'M DOING (if anyone cares)
  
• DON'T PROMISE TO KNIT SOMETHING WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE A PATTERN YET
• MEASURE, MEASURE, MEASURE (or watch it hang in a closet)
• ENJOY KNITTING - and get published (don't know how this will come about, but I'm looking into it)

All realistic goals for improvement ... and I'm well on the way. I hope my wrists hold up, I'm developing some stinging in my joints, wrist fingers, ets. I need to have strong hands to ride my motorcycle also. Going cross country in May for the 7th time. I'm thinking about making this one a fund raiser for a cause! I'm planning on riding cross country by myself (ahead of a huge organized ride)...hooking up with the group at some stops and every evening, but riding the entire country by myself. Plans are lookin' good.

I'm in the middle (2/3 done) of a Vest for a gift.

Actually is it a gift if the recipient buys the yarn and pattern?

I'm making a vest for Karen, she saw the pattern, bought the yarn and asked me to make it. This is the pattern, the blue yarn is Paton's Chunky Tweed. It is hand washable, 25% wool. It is a great yarn, thick, making a solid fibre piece of clothing. The dark color allows the tweed contrasting colors to pop.

The pattern is different as there are several variations to the patterns in the book, but each section of the item is in a different section in the book, i.e. front, back, trim, sizes, etc. Depending on whether it has sleeves or not, is long or short, has a collar or not, each section is highlighted so you can mix it up and design your own piece...this I like!! I'm about to do the trim on the second sleeve, then I have side seams, front trim and the collar and it is in the MAIL!!