[knitting] Felted House Slippers - Blue

The blue house slippers felted nicely and were given to their recipient last night:

Santana had to come check out the commotion:

[misc] Penny Monday

While Murderface never really liked this sweater, Penny doesn't seem to mind it.

There is a mobility issue but the thing is warm. The yarn is a wool/alpaca blend and if there's anything Penny loves, it's being warm. She'll purr while she's wearing it. And she can wiggle out of it easily if she wants to. Next, I'll make a sweater that she can't get out of so easily.

[knitting] House slippers - before felting

I've been working on several pairs of house slippers to felt:

Pattern is from Knit 2 Together by Mel Clark and Tracy Ullman. I did a fugly pair back in 2008. They weren't even worn until last winter when I wanted something easy to slip in and out of on the cold floor. 

I wore holes into the soles I wore them so much. They were perfect. Soooo ugly but perfectly shaped to my feet and not bulky. So I sat down to paw through all my yarn scraps to make some more. I felted these three pairs last night and I think they might be given as Christmas gifts. We'll see how they look in a few days when they're dry. I can always make more- for me, for guests- since the stash overfloweth. This is a great project to quickly use up leftovers.

[misc] Santana Thursday

Packages are arriving, presents are being wrapped, kitties are curling up inside empty cardboard boxes:

[crochet] Elsa

Making an Elsa doll from the movie Frozen, as another Secret Santa gift for a niece:

Off to a creepy start.

[vermont] Winter Wonderland

Our house is just at the right elevation that we haven't lost any of the sticky snow that fell last Tue/Wed. The drive home along our dirt road looks like:

There were rumors of possible blue sky over the weekend. On Saturday, I saw some:

But that was basically all of it. Some sunlight came across the back yard:

Very pretty. We've got some rain forecast, so I'm not sure if everything is going to melt away or turn into a crystal ice wildness. We're probably in for more power outages in either case.

[crochet] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Finished the TMNT in time to give them yesterday:

These were the only project I worked on for two solid weeks. I'm glad I did all four- they look great together.

Pattern is free (rav link). Unfortunately, even using two full balls of Plymouth Galway Worsted in green for the bodies, I ran out of yarn for the feet. All the other yarn is already in my stash. And I had the safety eyes. I didn't need to buy anything- my favorite kind of project!

The next project is a crocheted doll from Frozen.

[misc] Penny Monday

Penny generously allowed me to sleep in for one extra hour on Sunday, but then...

...informed me that it was time to get up and feed her.

Saturday was a snowy snowed-in snowstorm day. I finished crocheting most of the turtle pieces- time to start sewing them together. Sunday was a cleaning day- I also picked up a nice, tall Christmas tree. It was still very closed/frozen from the weather on Saturday, so we put it into the tree stand and are waiting for the branches to drop. 

[misc] Penny Friday

TGIF.

[knitting] Aran Afghan Block #10... interrupted

I started a new afghan block a couple weeks ago after I decided that I was sick and tired of making socks. I got halfway through:

Then the holiday gift-making guilt-o-meter ratcheted up from "You've got plenty of time" to "You're never going to finish it all!!" Then I started the turtles. I'll get back to relaxing with pleasurable knits after Christmas.

[crochet] Turtle Pieces

Dollar and I are Secret Santa to one of his nephews this year. I asked what the boy is in to and his mom said "Ninja Turtles". Unsure whether or not this means the old school Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the cartoons I grew up with or the freaky live-action ones from the recent movie, I decided to go with classic TMNT.

If I never see green yarn again, ugh. Why I decided to make all four, I don't know.

The first head and body I made are riddled with mistakes- the torso is inside out, unnecessary slipped stitches, lumpy filling, etc. The prototype is Donatello, though, and I reasoned, "He's the scientist of the group, so he wouldn't mind being the guinea pig. He would prefer it to be that way. I'm sure." 

I'm nearly done with the arms (which look like a cross between a pickle and green piece of poop), then on to the shells. And bellies. And all the accouterments like arm bands and knee bands and belts and... That might be it. I hope that's it.

[knitting] Vineyard Socks

Some handspun chain-plied yarn from back in the day:

Knit into plain socks:

Cast on 56 stitches, used US 3 needles, plain stockinette body. The only problem is that the two skeins of yarn that I made weren't exactly the same weight. These socks were knit identically, obviously, but one sock weights 49 grams and the other is 65 grams. Whoa. You can definitely feel the difference- one feels like a normal sock, the other feels like a heavy winter boot sock. Thankfully I only wear my handknit socks in bed and I can't tell the difference between they're actually on my feet.

They've very soft and warm. Lovely bed socks. This is just a good lesson for me to be much more precise with my spinning when I spin for socks.

[misc] Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Went to see a Trans-Siberian Orchestra show this past weekend. I'm glad this is becoming an annual thing- the music, lights, lasers, pyro- it's such a great show and totally puts your into the holiday spirit.

I have so many pictures but I'll stop there. It's such a bright and fun and uplifting show. Highly recommend.