craft time and a little news

I’ve been sewing, knitting, and stitching. Love these new designs from Little House and Country Cottage!!

Yes I am still in Michigan. Jerry is back in Colorado where he recently started a new job with a company he often did subcontractor work for during the last 10 years. He spent the last quarter of 2011 in Nebraska so house hunting was on hold during that time. We aren’t packing the moving van yet but hopefully (hopefully) before too long!

I do plan to grow the webshop in 2012, I still take orders but have not promoted the site here in Michigan. I will be having an inventory clearance the weekend of the ‘big game’ February 3-6.

Also, the new Prairie Schoolers will be here before long. I talked to Nancy at PS and she will be sending designs shortly. I will be offering my usual special and am already stocking up on photo mailers for safe delivery! If you would like to reserve designs please feel free to contact me.

Jane has a new toy too.

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PS – Thank you for visiting me here, I do love company.

progress report

Passing the days with stitching and knitting. I’m way past due for some new glasses so I find myself knitting more than stitching lately and the chilly weather we’ve had turns my mind toward knitting as well.

The design I’m stitching is Colonial Welcome from Little House Needleworks. I’m personalizing this as a Jane Austen Sampler. I’ve added a date and plan to re-stitch the initials to CM and HT (hint, hint) you should be able to tell which novel from those clues.

I used this pattern for the hats. I eliminated the knitted rib (changed to all purl between cables) for the white and red hat and reworked the decrease rows a bit. The white hat is on the small size so I’ll be passing that on to a little girl I know, I didn’t skimp on the ribbing of the red one so I think it will fit okay.

Kellen has requested a bright blue one like the green hat so I’ll be knitting this pattern at least one more time.

January has flown so far, although some days feel like they’ll never end…..I hope 2012 has been good to you!

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winter day

We have had a couple of true winter days here lately. The lake still isn’t completely frozen over. The swans aren’t completely frozen either, they were looking a bit more lively this afternoon.

Jane is coping as best she can.

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another ‘nice’ sampler

Just have a few stitches left to go to finish up Just for Today by Primitive Traditions. I’ve used 35 lambswool linen for this and mostly the prescribed threads. I’m thinking of a fabric bordered wall hanging for this one.

I jumped right into an additional cable knit project. I’m having a go at this hat. Just using a skein of Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice yarn on this, the color is dusty green.

With my Christmas bookstore gift cards I added 2 nice knitting books to my shelves. Both have been very helpful in my knitting journey so far.

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phone & photo mitts

I’ve been knitting more than stitching these past few days. I finished up a pair of finger-less mitts, handy for the phone and the camera. I’ve also found that these help my hands feel better when I’ve done a bit too much knitting, just that extra bit of warmth. This is a free pattern which you can find here. I ended up using smaller needles and casting on fewer stitches to make a snug fit. The artwork on my phone is by Ethan.

I’ve decided to try out a cable project. This is another free pattern found here. I’m using some of the yarn I got at Christmas for this project. It’s going pretty well but I feel like I’m wrestling with the needles sometimes. It’s fun to learn something new and I do like how it’s looking.

Today was another warm and sunny day here. I caught a glimpse of several nuthatches in the trees and ran out to take some pictures. These birds aren’t still for long. Nuthatches are some of my favorite birds to watch and not so easy to photograph.

Back to wool wrestling!

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PS – This is my 1,100th post – seems like an awful lot of blogging to me!

a nice finish

From Little House Needleworks, Plant Kindness. I stitched this on 35 count lambswool using mostly the prescribed threads. I did switch the black to DMC 3371 because it was what I had on hand. I plan to frame this one so I’m keeping a lookout at the thrift shops for the right frame.

Another Little House Project in the works….I’m working out my plan to finish this as a Jane Austen themed sampler and hope to have it finished up shortly. I didn’t start this project with that in mind but it occurred to me late one night that it would work out nicely.

It has been a very mild winter here in Michigan for which I am grateful. The lake didn’t freeze solid until yesterday, this picture is from Tuesday when it was trying to freeze but the waves kept breaking up the ice. Today it has frozen across and though I said it has been a mild winter, I am just a bit jealous that it is supposed to be 63 degrees in Colorado today!

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a glance back

Wishing you all the best in 2012!

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green-eyed girl

Jane!  Stop that!

What?

I pounce on you!

Recently finished is this zig-zag knit scarf in a green that matches Jane’s eyes nicely. This is a free pattern over at Lion Brand Yarns (look for pattern #90197AD) I used larger needles and decreased the pattern repeat accordingly. This is Vanna’s Choice yarn in the color olive.

Jane likes to play a little stalking game with me. Without breaking eye contact she will slowly come toward me half crouched and then pounce. I’ve tried to show this in pictures. Although she’s not in focus I think you get the idea. At the beginning of this particular pounce I scolded her for gnawing on Ethan’s little chair (such a bad kitty), she glared and me and then started her stalk.

I am enjoying having my laptop back in working order. Another little repair in the works here is my car. I had a rather unremarkable (except for the damage) accident with it. I drove over something which cracked something vital on the engine which now must be replaced – completely! Thankfully this is covered by our insurance. Believe me we are thankful!!

Time to get back to my knitting!

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merry days!

Hope your Christmas was wonderful! I’m back online after my little laptop had a minor op in Texas (hard drive replacement) and will be back to blogging more regularly soon. Thank you so much for still coming by after such a lack of posts.

Jerry is here for one more day. Sadly we did not see Amber this Christmas and that was hard for all. Many cookies have been baked and gifts opened lately. My two oldest children celebrated birthdays the week before Christmas as well.

I’ve been knitting and stitching so there is no lack of projects to share soon.

Happiest of Holidays to you!!

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decorating begins

I couldn’t resist stitching up this ornament as soon as I saw it. It is from the 2011 JCS Ornament issue which Marianne so sweetly sent me. This is Little House Needlework’s submission which is my favorite of the issue but there are lots more on my really, really like list. Thank you again Marianne!

Ethan is helping Aunt Janet decorate the main tree. Jerry flys back to Omaha in a few hours and we are all still full from Thanksgiving here.

Hope your Thanksgiving weekend has been wonderful, and those who shop are thrilled with their loot. My weekend purchases amount to 2 rolls of paper towels whooo hooo!

Happy Holidays!

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