Update!

Right before Thanksgiving I had a shop update. I know i'm really really REALLY late in getting this posted here. 
Sorry about that. Since turkey day things have been super crazy around here. I'm not sure about you but doesn't it seem like this year is just flying by? 
I have been really busy knitting and crocheting things for Christmas and other things. I think my fave project by far are these crochet hooks. Aren't they fun? I made some for my DH and then some for myself. I just recently used mine and LOVE it. I'm going to have to start doing more of these. they're so comfortable in my hand and really helps with the smaller hooks. With the extra I made some buttons. Not sure where I'll use them but they're pretty. The ones I made for my DH are more manly.   He says he likes them and has been using them while he's making his hats for everyone. I'm so proud of him. He's really going to town with the crocheting. If you want to see what he's made here's a link to his own set over at flickr. I also had him set up an account on Ravelry to share his crochet projects with other people. 
It's totally awesome! 

SALE!

It's Cyber Monday and StarKnits is on sale. My etsy store I mean. Everything is 10% off.  So if you've been waiting to buy a tote, WIP bag, or some bling check it out!

Christmas Giveaways

5 Minutes for Mom is having a Christmas Giveaway. Not only are they sharing fun stuff for us to win, but they're also helping other families out with Under the Tree. It's a program to provide families in need, with presents this year, for Christmas. The companies who are donating prizes the giveaways, are also providing presents for those families. So why not try to win a prize, nominate a needy family and have some fun?

Bill Oddie - "The Knitting Song"

This is a great song, fun to listen to. Enjoy!!! I just had to share.

Halloween

So lets talk about Halloween. Last year we skipped it b/c I have issues with how commercial everything is anymore. But this year I let the girls pick out some cheap costumes. (read they needed to come up with their own costumes from what they had) 

So the Bub found some fairy wings at the dollar tree and decided to become a fairy. Luckily I just finished the pants I was knitting her and they match rather nicely. The pants were a test knit and I really love the pattern. (go check it out) Then I figured for her costume to be complete she'd need a mask. Not to mention I've always wanted to go to a Halloween party where you wear masks and people have to guess who you are. So I made her a butterfly mask. (since she's a butterfly fairy) I had to make up the pattern as there wasn't much to go off of on ravelry. Not a big deal, it was really fun to make. So her costume is complete. 

The bead on the other hand, her costume was easy. She found a shield and breastplate at the dollar tree and already had a sword. She wanted to be a how to train your dragon viking. To complete her outfit she needed a viking helmet.

I was able to find a pattern for it but had to adjust it a bit to fit her. She loves it and wore it for like 3 days straight. So her outfit was complete, just in time for our trip to the Zoo. 

We went on the Zoo Boo event so the girls got to dress up and "trick or treat" through the zoo. It was fun, but really crazy busy with people. Luckily we bought a family membership and we'll be returning on a not so crazy zoo day. My fave part is the aquarium and walking UNDER the sharks and polar bears. 
Now we just need to find a trick-or-treat time around here that fits with our schedule. 
Later Gaters

I love grover!!!

It's all craziness I tell you!!!!

I guess with the start of school and all, I have been so crazy busy lately. So an update is in order.
The coolest thing we've done lately, (in my opinion) was we went to our backyard and picked some apples and I made some apple butter. If you follow that link you'll find the recipe I used. The girls had a lot of fun picking the apples as you can see. We used a ladder and everything. (as the bead explained to my DH when we were done) I am really overjoyed at the idea of getting apples from the tree out back. Don't ask me why it just makes me all kinds of happy. (yes I'm a dork)

The next coolest thing I've been doing is sewing. I found some great t-shirt surgery tutorials and I tried one of them on a tie-dyed t-shirt. I think it turned out really interesting. It's definitely something I'm going to have to try again. Basically you take a large t-shirt or one with a stain or hole or even one that's too small for you and get out your scissors and cut and sew it into something you actually want to wear. I took that plain old man's XL t-shirt and turned it into a girly and sparkly v-neck (something definitely showing off the girls better) Here's another link to some tutes for you (if that type of sewing interests you)

I also spun up some angora for a friend, crocheted some squares for a comfort blanket, Knit some death socks and worked on a test knit. (that I'm still working on but almost finished)

Oh and I also made this crazy cute Owl key chain or zipper pull that I'm going to/HAVE to write up a quick pattern for. (or so I'm told)
And did I tell you that the girls got a new pet? It's a hamster. 
I think that's about it for an update... as usual you're most likely to find me over at ravelry, in the HPKCHC group. 
I've got another blog post running through my head so I'll be back sooner than later!

Do you listen to podcasts?

I love listening to podcasts. (in fact i'm obsessed with it) it's great for walking, spinning, knitting, and just all around fun! One of the podcast I listen to is Getting Loopy, it's all about crochet fun. Well every week she has a contest to enter and you can win a prize. Guess what!?! a couple of weeks ago I won! and last week I got the yarn I won in the mail. Its pretty isn't it? I'm not sure what to make it with. Any ideas?

Another podcast I listen to is Knitmore girls. I love it. well they had a head to toe contest. for designing preemie hats. I made one up and submitted it, and it was picked for a prize. I haven't received it yet but I'm sure I will soon. It's sooo exciting! So do you listen to any podcasts? lmk which ones b/c I'm interested.

One of my Summer Projects

Thanks to the Ravelry Group DIY tools, I found this tute. Of course I had to try it, I got my DH to do the cutting for me. (b/c I can just see myself sawing something I need off). I'd measured and marked everything for him to cut. Then I needed to find someone with a drill press. Luckily my BIL had one and he allowed me to bring myself and the kiddos over while He and my DH drilled the holes for me. So I had all the parts sawed, and I sanded them till they were smooth. The hardest/longest part was sawing the heads off the nails with the dremmel. After that was done the nails were epoxied in place and I glued the two pieces of wood together and attached a handle. It was from an old grilling tool that I hadn't used in a long time so I re-purposed the handle. I only put a handle on one of the

combs b/c I figured I'd be using the other one attached to the table. Then I tried them out. The weren't awesome but worked completely well. I loved it. I'm slowly working on the unprocessed wool a friend gave me. Look at my little nests! So much fun. I'm off to process more wool. Now if only someone would send me a sheep or an alpaca or both!

What to Knit with these wonderful skeins?

A couple of weeks ago I went on a dying binge. I was actually dying some yarn for my etsy store. With the left over dye I thought I would dye some roving. I broke some up into 4oz sections and dyed away. It was a lot of fun. Of course I couldn't let the roving sit that long with out spinning it. 

So first I took the Peacock roving and got to work. I named it Peacock b/c it reminds me of the colors of a peacock feather. I decided to try my hand at spinning a cabled yarn. Which is taking the singles plying them together and then plying those together. (4 ply total) Here's a close up of the yarn.
  I'm unsure of what kind of wool this is. because my sister got it at a garage sale. But it works out fine for me to play with. 

The second 4oz of wool I dyed with the Twilight book cover in mind. I use only 2 colors, black and red. They blended really well and it just turned out LOVELY! I am really amazed at how wonderful the roving turned out.

Spinning this yarn was a lot of fun. The colors changing as I was spinning was exciting to see. I've got to to try dying with only 2 colors again. This yarn I just plied a 2 ply yarn. It's so lovely i'm just staring at it. Here's a closer photo of this yarn. of course there's more photos in my handspun set over at flickr. I really enjoyed how the grey parts and the pink parts plied together and look almost purple.  And I have one more 4oz roving left, from this dying binge, to spin up. This one is named Flaming Forrest. and I can't wait to spin it up.

Summer Fun!

I've been creating things like crazy lately. So much I made a mosaic to show it all. Most of it had been made for my Etsy store. with the exception of my new green sheep  hook for my spinning wheel. I geeked out too making all the HP stuff. but I love it!
Here's the links to the photos if you're interested.
1. green sheep, 2. sheepy hook, 3. dragon stitch markers, 4. yellow and black, 5. my fave colors, 6. ravenclaw, 7. stitch markers, 8. slytherin, 9. bronze and blue, 10. gryffindor, 11. hogwarts, 12. top of yarnlet bag, 13. needle/hook roll, 14. pretty toile, 15. tall flowers, 16. small yarnlet
 Today I went to Home Depot and got some stuff to make myself a  comb and hackle! I'm so excited to do that. Now I've just got to find someone with a drill press so I can drill the holes. Then I'll be processing fiber like a champ. Now all I've got to do is make a diz.
that's not all my Garden has exploded!

See this is the right half.  My zucchini, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, beans, peas, a few tomato plants and, I was hoping, some peppers but I don't think they're going to do well this year.
This is the first year I planted carrots and radishes. the radishes are doing well and I'm not sure when I'm supposed to harvest the carrots, they don't look ready yet. we'll have to wait and see. 

and the Left half that's my lettuce, onions some garlic (i hope) and more tomatoes and cucumbers.
What you don't see is the watermelon and pumpkin and corn. they're up further past the main halves. I also have a pot of mint (just started) and a pepper out by the porch. But I can't remember if it's a hot pepper or regular bell.  I was hoping to can some salsa this year. I may need to stop at the store and get a jalapeno plant. inside i have some lemon balm in water trying to get roots, and dill, basil from last year and hopefully some cilantro.
with all the rain we've had the garden has been doing well and gone a little crazy. I've gotten some radishes and a few zucchini and onions so far. the cukes are almost ready. I'm hoping the tomatoes come in this year. they never did last year.
so we're surrounded by green things right now. Not that we mind at all!
ok well I've got laundry to do. (if only that was fun)

I've been busy!

I've been keeping up with my HPKCHC group on ravelry and my job is to do the CRR (common room recaps) for those who are away. so I'm usually found on the Gryffindor House Cuppers blog doing the CRR's. But I figure I should update my blog more often.. so I wanted to stop in and say HEY! 

I have been taking a photos though for my project365 group on ravelry. So I wanted to share what I've been doing... Here's the photos from the last 36 days. At the beginning of June we went to WI to visit with my family and we stayed for a week and a half. While we were there, my Sister and I  had a Ravelry meet up in Milwaukee with 2 other ravelers it was a lot of fun. When we got home it got really hot and the girls have been playing in the pool a lot, trying to stay cool. My garden is going well and I'm glad for that. I'm starting to get my first few veggies. which is always exciting! Life is a little crazy, my DH has started school and I'm getting ready for home school next year.
Here's the links to all the photos if you want to know more about what I did the past month or so. I've got all the photos with little blurbs about what they are.. go check them out!
1. bento lunch, 2. hawaiian, 3. raw but clean, 4. dyed and drying, 5. 1st ever!, 6. hiding, 7. down the hill, 8. say cheese, 9. windy day, 10. ravelry meet up, 11. from above, 12. 5 grandkids, 13. fingerless mitts., 14. the mess, 15. yum yum yum, 16. raddishes, 17. batt of the month, 18. elliptical, 19. new pool, 20. goggles, 21. ready to be stuffed, 22. green garden, 23. sock progress, 24. soooo hot, 25. time to ply, 26. painted girls, 27. gerbel sitting, 28. black beauty, 29. iced coffee, 30. first veg, 31. zuchinni flower, 32. Mocha, 33. bike ride, 34. stopped and watching, 35. 1st zuchinni, 36. goggle girl

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

I hope you're having a great summer! I'll be back soon!

So Excited!

I'm so excited for this movie I can hardly wait till November! Are you excited yet?

Facebook in Real Life

This is hilarious!

Dyeing!

So I've been really busy lately but I've been able to keep up with posting over at the gryffindor blog for the HPKCHC, so there's no excuse for my lack of posting. I hope my fabulous adventure in dyeing can help by keeping you distracted.

 I used this tutorial to get me started. and Picked 3 colors Pink, Blue and Green. then I started squeezing the colors on to the roving.When I was finished it got wrapped up in saran wrap and rolled up like sushi and put in a pot to steam for about an hour. When I pulled it out of the pot, I realized that the blue kinda took over. So next time I'll have to be aware of how that works out. 
But after it dried and was  braided, I really like how it turned out. I can't wait to see how it will look spun up. I'm just itching to try it again. Though I only have  a few more rovings to dye. But my sister did just pick me up some more wool. 

This spinning thing is sooo awesome. 

Great Video Tute.

I found this video about how not to get ladders when working in the round with a Purl row. I think it is really helpful to anyone who'd going to knit in the round. Watch it and LMK what you think.

Win something free!!

I've been all non-bloggy lately but that doesn't mean I haven't been around. I've been following Knock-Off Wood now for a while and I love that site. I'm budgeting, right now, to buy some wood to build a bed for me and my DH. then I want to build some shelves for the girls' room and build them some beds too. The possiblities are sooo endless. I love that site! Well when I was reading KOW's latest post she shared a contest for a Free Mosaic Kit over at Inspired. She has a great website that sells Pink tools they're great! Go Check it out and enter to win!

ignore this post

I made some badges for HPKCHC so just ignore this post!

DIY mugs

So over at ravelry I'm taking part in a coffee/knitting swap. Part of our swap needed to be handmade.  I got  to thinking, what goes good with coffee and yarn? how about a mug? I shared with my sister and she loved the idea so I thought you'd like to see it also! Here are the tools I needed
some white mugs (I was looking for clear ones but couldn't find any)
rubbing alcohol,
paint brushes,
ceramic/enamel paint. (found at the local michaels) I got the water based kind.
I figured I can't draw that great so a saying would be key. I used a piece of paper and wrote down what I wanted my mugs to say, to have spelling working and all that jazz. I had two I really liked, but "I don't have a problem with caffeine I have a problem with out it" wouldn't really fit.  So "Coffee.Knit.Repeat" won. So I slowly painted on the words then let them dry for about 10 min . I'm amazed at how shaky my hands were. Then I repainted them and let them dry for about an hour. The directions on the paint said to put the items in a cold oven heat to 350 then bake for 30 min and remove from a cold oven. the Black turned out better so that's the one I sent on to my partner. I really hope she likes the mug.  I really like how they turned out. What do you think? I plan on getting better at painting and making more mugs to use as gifts. they're a lot of fun to make. If you try it share the photos with me!
To celebrate my creativity I made myself a cappuccino!

Hey Look!

a quick distraction.... I posted about socks over here

a new pretty spindle
and a new spinning wheel
more to come about those later

Scarves the word of the week!

 I've been told I need to update this more often...

So Scarves. it all started when I taught the bub to knit. she made this one for the bead After that she started on a scarf for my MIL. Which she finished this year for Christmas and that was her present to her this year.(a child after my own heart!) Then she made a scarf for a friend at school and
Her last scarf she finished was for a friend who's in kindergarten. I just think it's so sweet she's been knitting them scarves. I've been thinking about getting her to make other things... we'll see. she's happy making scarves right now.