Hello 2015!

Was the new year good to you?  So far it has been good to me!  For the last few days of 2014 I was knitting away at the cowl for my sister.  I had to finish by 12/31/14 for Loopy Academy.....and I did it!

This was the picture uploaded for Loopy Academy....it still needed blocking!

Blocking:

Done:

I will see my sister this Thursday, so I will give it to her then!

I ordered some Miss Babs Yarn with her graditude sale she does every year.  This is a skein of Yowza in the Volcanic Eruption Colorway......I really love it!

Speaking of Yowza....remember the Skein of Joan of Arc that Darlene got me for Christmas?  Well, we are doing a KAL in her Ravelry group for the Yowza Weigh It Shawl or the Yowza Weigh It Shawl 2!  Both patterns are by Susan B Anderson.  You should really come join us...You do not have to have Yowza....any yarn is fine!  First, I weighed my skein and it is a VERY GENEROUS skein.  It is supposed to be 8 ounces, but mine is 9.14...YOWZA!

Then I swatched (can you believe it?)!  I liked the look on size 10's (the bottom one..I think):

Then, I cast on with the girls at SNB on Saturday!

It is SUPER easy....it has ONE row you repeat over and over and over again....then one other row...then knit....then bind off.....Come and join us here!

I did get some other knitting done.....Jaime was hunting again this weekend....so I was at home all weekend to do nothing but knit!  To explain to you why I knit what I did....there is a small story behind it.....There was a contest on FB to win a free yarn bowl......so I shared this picture and liked the page in hopes to win.....well, a friend of mine commented on the photo that she could make me a yarn bowl.  I had no clue she did pottery.  She said she does not have a wheel, but she has a kiln.  So, I asked her how much a yarn bowl would cost.....she wanted to trade...she sent me a picture of a headband she wanted some more of.  She said some 'fuzzy' and some solids in black, grey and red.....I sent her pictures of my 'fuzzy' yarn and she picked some.....I got one pattern from an LSSK friend and one pattern from Ravelry.....then I started knitting......and made nine....yes, nine.....headbands!

I sent them out in the mail to her today.  I know she will not get to my yarn bowl for a few weeks...but I am glad I got these out of the way....they were fun to make, but now I am tired of making them....ha, ha!  The great news is that she did not need me to make any flowers for them, and she also said she has buttons, so there was no need for me to put buttons on them....double win!

I also finished a pair of socks from July....yup, these were some Tour de Sock socks.....and I really wanted to finish them in 2014...but I was a few days late.....but they are DONE!  My first big FO of 2015 (not counting the tiny headbands)!

I have a couple other 'enhancements' but they are not stash enhancements....but I have to share with you anyway....in the past, I usually do not wear my hand knit socks to work for a silly, silly reason....when I get home from work, I take off my work shoes and go straight into flip flops....so, if my hand knit socks were not flip flop socks.  Yes, I know that is silly!  So, I told my boyfriend, Jaime, that I wanted some slippers and I sent him the link to the ones I wanted.  Well, I got them Friday....and I LOVE THEM!!!!!!  Thank you Jaime!!!

Immediately after delivery:

Wearing them with my favorite Jammies!

Okay.....now to take you back to a post a few weeks ago about some knit cable wax warmers....Apparently, great minds think alike.....My sister got my mom a wax warmer set (this was from both of us, but my sister does the shopping and I just giver her money....correction, my sister's husband does the shopping, and I give the money)....well I loved this set and so did my daughter.  There was a pine garland and pomegranate champagne scent that were both heavenly......so I asked my BIL where he got them.....Lowes!  Yup, Lowes.....so I found some online and ordered them.  I gave my daughter both of the wax holders (because I have my cable ones) but, I did steal the 3 wax scents.  I also have several scentsy waxes that she took from me.....I wish this pine garland and pomegranate champagne were sold by themselves!

A few last (random) things to finish out my week.....

One of my hand knit socks came undone in the wash....has this happened to anyone else?  I usually wash my socks, but then take them out before they go in the dryer:

I bought a few new 'knitters' during the Miss Babs Sale:

Who knew that Harley Davidson was getting into the food business (it was not bad!).....

Jaime's oldest son, Jacob, shot a buck.....

I hope everyone has a fabulous 2015!  Happy Happy New Year and Happy Happy Happy Knitting!

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas......

Okay...I promise I will not sing to you, but it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.  I got out my Christmas tree yesterday, put it up, pulled out the lights and had to throw away almost 3 strands of lights.....so I have a few lights on the bottom, and I have all the ornaments on it....but I still need to finish off with more lights.  I do not have a picture of mine....but I do have a picture of Paige's....her roommate, Bizzle, only likes real trees....so they got a real tree and got it all decorated.....Antonio was sooooooo super excited!

Can you see the excitement in his face?  I just love this time of year!!

Remember the Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock Yarn I got last week?  It was an awesome early Christmas present from my BFF Darlene......well, I loved the yarn and colorway so much......I FINISHED THE SOCKS!  Yup...with all the UFO's I need to get working on, I made a pair of socks....but I love them, and they are for ME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Paige's friend had her baby early, so I finished the last hat.....now she has small, medium, and large to choose from.

My sister recently returned from Europe and brought me some European crack (at least to me) from my relatives....Thank you Tante Mecki, Uncle Dieter, and Cousins Sabine and Dagmar!
This is the best chap stick in the world....Labello.....and the best candy in the world....MaoaM!!!

I also worked on Little Mario's baby's blanket....I am just about at the 1/2 way point!

I worked on Paige's sweater too, but only about 5-6 rows (hey, they are over 300 stitches each).....and I also had a Club Delivery today....it is Miss Babs Knitting Tour Final Destination of 2014.....this is Isadora Yarn (A heavy lace with 70% merino wool and 30% tussah silk) and the pattern is by Joji Locatelli.....I love this designer and have several of her designs in my que.  It is called "A Day to Remember"  The closeup of the yarn is the best coloring I can capture.  There are lots of extras (as always with Miss Babs Tour)....the band around the yarn is a leather bracelet that says "Must Knit Faster" by CJohannesen Studio.  Today was also the day to buy next year's tour.....and I got mine!

I am also participating in a Secret Santa Exchange and my package went out to the recipient today!  I hope she likes it....I cannot wait to get mine!  While I was shopping for my Secret Santa Sister, I came across some wax warmers.....let me tell you, I have tons of candle wax (scentsy)....and it seems my holders to melt them ( also scentsy) are always breaking.  Plus, I have a lot of the plug in the wall (like a night light) and the grand kids think all those are too interesting, so I have to go with ones I put up high on a shelf and then a cord plugs in to warm up the wax.....well, I found the cutest Knit Cable Pattern ones....whatcha' think?  I have not decided if I am going to gift them to others, or keep for myself (they were initially bought to keep for me).

Lastly, the lady that heads up all the HiyaHiya stuff asked me to make a video of her grandma's stretchy bind off......so I did.  This is for a toe up sock and it is for a k1, p1 ribbing.....I used it on my Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock socks....and it is stretchy!

That is all I have.......oh, one more thing....a friend of mine on LSSK found these cute IOU labels.....so just in case you are a little behind on your Christmas knitting but still want to wrap something and put it under the tree......print this out, fill it out, put it in a box and wrap it!

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!