TOKmas holiday card swap

I joined the holiday card swap in the Tiny Owl Knits group on Ravelry. I've gotten a couple really cute cards...

This one came first, from "Rainbowscuba". She needle felted a little owl piece for the front of the card:

This one came from "SilveryMoonbeam". I love the animals on it.. and it sparkles! Plus she drew such a pretty owl on the envelope....

This adorable card came from "Thumbelina139", though I dont think it was part of the swap.

Thank you to you lovely ladies! I wish you a wonderful holiday season!

I am so behind on gift getting and making and putting up our tree, decorating and sending out cards this year, with the move. I sent out my cards for the swap weeks ago but my regular, personal cards are sitting in the den waiting for stamps yet!

Settling In

I love my new house!

I love the huge windows that face the sunshine all day long. I love the soft shag carpet. I love the sauna. I love the new neighbourhood and the huge garden. I love the deer that walk around my property every day, despite the fact that they will eat my flowers in the summertime. I even love the dated wood-paneled rec room with it's fireplace.

I just love it here and am settling in comfortably. I still have a ton of boxes to unpack yet but I'll get to them ... eventually. The important things like wool, knitting needles, teapot, kitchen things and computers are unpacked.

Can't find our xmas decorations yet though! Will have to take care of that this week. Good thing my mom and auntie brought us a huge house-warming poinsetta plant.

Been getting alot of knitting and finishing done on some projects that have been sitting around awhile. My box for the TOKmas swap was mailed off to my spoilee on Monday. I finished up her Gnome Homes (for double-pointed knitting needles - or pencils!) and her Hopsalot bunny slippers.  Tracking the package shows that delivery was attempted and she should have a notification card to pick it up at the parcel depot. I'm excited and nervous! I hope she loves everything I sent her!

Also finished up a gang of Travelling Gnomes that I sent off as a gift to a fellow knittie. I forgot to take a pic so this is hers!

And... I finally finished this guy! Gort the monster (pattern from the Big Book of Knitted Monsters by Rebecca Danger). I started him at the cottage this summer but only just had the time to finish him up the past couple days.

I have a ton of Xmas knitting yet to do and cards to mail out and gifts to buy and wrap! With moving, it's all been left to the last minute... but that's ok! I work really well under pressure! ♥

Update! Kitteh

Wow! It's almost been two weeks since I updated! That's what I get for moving, eh!

We've been absolutely crazy-busy with packing and moving and starting to get the new house set up the past few weeks. It's really been nuts. We are just now finishing up the 'moving' part and now, onto the unpacking part. It's my least favourite part. I'd rather pack than unpack -- I find it really stressful trying to figure out where to put everything in a new place and get back into a regular routine.

So, I have no knitting to update on!

... though, I've finished putting together my TOK-mas swap package and it will go out in the mail tomorrow. I'm not sure if I'll post pics of the goodies I made for it before it's received yet. I'm fairly positive my partner doesn't read my blog so I just may. The projects I did up, in my humble opinion, are awesome! So, maybe I'll share this week. 

I've also been putting the finishing touches on a package for another knitter who had a new baby. I'm sooooo slow though! Baby was born in August and life got the better of me and I am just now finishing up putting buttons on sweaters. I decided to add a couple little elves for her other kids too and may put in a diorama ornament too, if I can finish one by Tuesday night. I want to mail it Wednesday. 

So, for lack of knitting pics, I'll give you my kitteh.

Sleeping .... and behaving, for once.

Isn't he a goofball?

♥

Stash enhancement, WIPs and weekly Hexipuff check in!

I have a couple of topics for one post today --- stash enhancement, WIPs and my HexiPuff check in.

I'll start with the weekly HexiPuff count up for my Beekeeper Quilt (pattern by Tiny Owl Knits). Week 7 and I'm up to 83 puffs! That's 12 done this past week. That's also ALOT considering I also feel like I slowed down on my puff knitting and ramped up on alot of other knitting. Not bad, eh!

I only took photos of the new puffs ---- no 'group' photo this time. The past week's puff theme was Blue Moon Fiber Arts' yarn in Chestnut, True Blood and River Rocked.

I have no idea what this upcoming week's puff theme will be yet. I have a multi coloured skein of Araucania Ranco I picked up in Black's Harbour, New Brunswick a few years ago and made one puff out of it so far. Maybe I'll just see how many of those I can make this week.

I also did a little stash enhancing this past week ---- like I really needed it.  I DID! yes, I did so!

The next installment of the Dancing Dog Dyeworks' Monster Mania 2 club arrived. I think this may be the last installment for this round. Michelle is looking at MM3 for the new year. Yay! I love, love, love her worsted yarns. They are fantastic for all those monsters I love to make.

This shipment was a dual pack. A regular sized skein in the "Summer Sugar" colourway, together with a mini skein of "Pretty Pink".

I've only ever tried DDD's worsted yarn but totally fell in love with the Tropical Twist colourway that Michelle put out with a sock club during the summer. It's a great blend of yellow and blue and looks fabulous in a pair of socks! Michelle had a 'second' leftover skein and sent it with my Monster Mania pack. Big Love and ♥♥♥ to Michelle for the yarn! I can't wait for Xmas knitting to get through so I can make myself a pair of great socks with this. There's also enough on that skein to fit in a few hexipuffs, too!

Been working on a pair of Veyla, fingerless mittens (pattern by Ysolda Teague). They are made of Elann Peruvian Baby Cashmere (Alpaca, Merino, Cashmere) in the Tapestry Blue colourway. These will probably be a part of my Xmas swap package for the Tiny Owl Knits group on ravelry.

I'm waffling between the Veyla's or a set of White Rabbit Wristees for the swap but my partner has some wool issues so I'm not sure I should make her something made of mohair --- since alot of people can't wear that.

 

(This photo copyright to Tiny Owl Knits)

Yarn arrived this week for these!

(This photo copyright to Tiny Owl Knits)

They are the Hopsalot bunny slipper super adorable pattern, also by Tiny Owl Knits. I really really really want a pair of these for myself but for now, these will also be for my Tiny Owl Knits Xmas swap partner. I'll finish them this week for sure.

I picked Blue Sky Alpaca yarn in a light grey for this. It is so super soft and will felt very nicely.

Ok! Lastly for this monstrous post --- another work in progress for a fellow Raveler's babe. This is the Kira hooded vest by Yumiko Sakurai. It's really a cute vest good for a boy or a girl. I'm using Diamond Yarns' Luxury collection superwash merino in a lilac and white for this. The yarn is incredibly soft and nice to knit with. I'm almost finished. Just a couple more rows to go then bind off.

I've got alot of knitting going on right now plus I also have about 7 stuffies I started this summer that I am committed to finishing before the end of the year. I just need to have them done so I can start the new year fresh .... or relatively fresh, with a minimum of wips.

I dropped out of the DDD and Dangercrafts xmas swaps. It was alright since partners haven't been assigned yet. I just won't have time with the other commitments and well, we bought a new house too! Yeah, we did! So, packing and moving right before Xmas won't leave me too much time for other stuff.

Anyhow -- that's it from me for this week!

I'll leave you with a couple shots from the cabin this morning --- we took a drive and had a cup of tea on the hill.

Catch you next week! Happy knitting.

 (Holy MEGA post, batman! I promise to try brevity next week! )

♥

Gnome Homes & Felted Cauldrons

I did felt up those mini cauldrons last week as well as the gnome homes.

Here's a couple pics of the cauldrons. I love them! They will be perfect for my Tiny Owl Knits Xmas Swap. I'll fill them with chocolate and mini yarn skeins!

After felting, I also put the finishing touches on one of the gnome homes last Thursday since I wanted to give him away to one of the girls at knitting on Friday night. I did his face and beard according to the pattern but after a few hours of humming and hawwing over it... I found I just wasnt satisfied so I added alot more hair and am so happy with the way he turned out after that!

The first pic is the 'before modifications' shot and the other two are after.

I have 3 more of these guys in neutral colours to put the finishing touches on. They're for the swap also.

Then I had a brilliant idea. These are just so cute and adorable and really great for DPN holders or even pencil holders. I LOVE this pattern! They are highly customizable both size-wise AND theme. I already have a bunch of new plans for these in the shapes of sock monkey, giraffe, owl, bunny, bear, elephant, panda, and so many more animals Plus, MONSTERS!  They will be great for swaps of all kinds. I just need to find the time to get going on them but the hexipuffs keep sucking me in!

Long Weekend

It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada which means a long one --- and family and a big turkey dinner and pumpkin pie! Yum!

It also means lots of time to knit!

I put aside the hexipuffs to get to work on my TOKmas swap knitting. Knit up a few mini cauldrons to be felted and am working on a few Gnome Homes. They are all so adorable -- I can't wait to felt them and see how them turn out.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadian friends!

FOs: Sausage Dogs!

So, I finished up my swap package for the Dancing Dog Dyeworks' First Anniversary Puppy Secret swap! It went out in the mail to Lily-Lemon on Ravelry last week and arrived yesterday. She sent me a message saying she loved everything in the package and that it was one of the best swap packages she'd ever gotten! Awww! *blush*

I sent her the 5-pak of Sausage dogs, each done in a different DDD colourway. I used Anna Hrachovec's Sausage Dog pattern from Mochimochiland. They turned out fantastic! I also knit her doggie Tuffy a little bandana out of Zombie BBQ yarn. I made the pattern up as I went along -- the idea behind it is that it has a sleeve at the top to slide onto Tuffy's collar rather than tying it around her neck. I also sent some gummi candies and a small Fox themed bag and cards I found on Etsy. Also, since she'll be making a Beekeeper Quilt eventually too I sent her a couple mini yarn skeins -- all of yarns from or dyed in Canada. I'm glad she loved her package!

Now, pics!