Huginn and Muninn

My husband is deeply immersed in Norse mythology, and has a love for the art and stories surrounding Odin and his two reconnaissance ravens, Huginn and Muninn, (Thought and Memory). This was also an Anniversary gift, I made it for his office wall. The wall hanging is needle felted roving on a wool felt base, and then framed with a knitted braid.

A close up view of Huginn.

The Pyorre Sweater

This gorgeous sweater pattern is The Pyorre by Mari Muinonen, and was featured in the fall issue of The Twist Collective. I'm showing my version first. I ordered the yarn that the pattern called for in September (which I rarely do) and began knitting in late October. I finished on Dec. 21st. It came out beautifully, and is by FAR the best sweater I've knitted to date. It ended up a perfect fit on D, and was his Anniversary gift this year. The pocket was my biggest drama!! I carefully block the sweater body, and the pocket. I laid the pocket it out, and carefully measured out the center and pinned it into place. I delicately stitched it into place so the stitches looked invisible and there was no sign of puckering. I was so proud!! It was perfect! THEN, I picked up the sweater....and realized I had sewn it onto the back of the sweater....

I was too shocked and devasted to scream, but I wanted to cry. I wished for a high cliff that I could just throw myself off of. After some deep breathing and meditation, I carefully removed the pocket, turned the sweater over and repeated the whole thing onto the front. Whalla!!

These are the pics from the Twist Collective pattern that show a much more accurate color. My camera is so awful at getting good, true color sometimes. D says my batteries are too low or something. Dunno.

For my Husband's Feet

This pattern for a house slipper is from the last Interweave Knits Weekender magazine. They call for being lined with roving that is needle felted into the inside. I skipped this part, and made them as a second sock, or an over the sock house slipper. They were an easy knit, each one done in an evening while watching a movie. He loves them!! And with them, another pair of his favorite socks. The undulating rib pattern. I used some left over coordinating yarn for top and toe so I could make them longer. The top is about 10 inches high. Again, they were a perfect fit! He ooooh and ahhhhed as he put them on for the first time. He claimed that putting on new handmade socks is like a foot massage!! =)

A close up view of the undulating rib pattern.

Our Son

Our Son Christian, on the right. My heart swells with pride to say that he successfully completed his basic training at the beginning of december!! He was home for the holidays, and now he is setting off for Missouri to get his secondary training.

No matter how concerned and worried we get as parents, our pride for our boy comes first along with our undying support of the path he chooses!! Our love to him always.

Polli's Purse

This is another one of my flower bags! Again made as an adaptation of the Tentacle bag, but not a mobieus. It has 12 petals, and 4 little leaves plus a little leaf with a clip for closing the top. I made this one for my friend Polli as a Solstice gift, and she absolutely loves it!!

Each petal is it's own little pocket on the outside.

This is the finished bad after it was felted. The felting came out beautifully and transformed it magically!! Here it is with all of Polli's stuff inside!!

Merry Christmas Everybody!!

Merry Christmas to all of my friends who celebrate it!! As your Jewish friend, I was busy through the beginning of the month with my own celebrations, and I was blessed to celebrate Solstice with my Pagan friends!! Also, this year, my wedding anniversary fell on the day after Solstice! I'll have pics of that goodness coming up too!
These are the pics of the gifts I made for 2 of my sisters. I made this hat for my sister Olivia! Knitted and felted. The Lock Nest Hat. A standing view. I've already seen pictures on Facebook of her wearing it, and she loved it!! So did her teenage daughter, who has already taken to wearing it!!

These are the elbow length arm/handwarmers that I sent to my Sister in Law, Johanna. I haven't heard from her yet, but I'm hoping she loves them!!!

My Mother in Law's Gift

Lol, now that I'm so far behind on blogging, I've forgotten the name of the lace pattern that I used here! I think it was sea wave, I know it was some kind of wave darn it! But I loved it! I made it from locally grown, spun, and dyed Alpaca that I picked up at this year's wool festival. The scarf is wonderfully light with lovely drape! I also made a pair of matching handwarmers that I think of as Hymnal Mitts, because I know that the first place she will wear them to is Church.

This picture gives off better stitch and pattern detail.

I already recieved my Thank You note, and I was right, she loved them!! That's one of the reasons I love to knit for her, she has such an appreciation for handmade gifts! And I was right again in knowing that she immediately wore them to church!!

Knitting Gifts

The knitted gifts knitted before the real knitting season has started!!

My good friend Jack, just turned 40!! He was the one who turned me on to Dr. Who. I'd never seen an episode until this past summer when we flew out to Virginia and stayed with him! I really loved the show. I like cheesy, goofy, British Sci-Fi. I can't help it. He sent me a bunch of episodes and while I was watching them at night, I knit him this awesome Dr. Who scarf, 16 feet long, for his big 40th! He says he loves it, and it would make Dr. Who jealous!! I found my husband rummaging through his stuff like a mad man. Like a good wife, I asked what he was looking for. His good winter indoor hat. So over the next day, while he tore through all of his clothes, and boxes of only good knows what, looking for his missing hat...I knit him a new hat. Another version of the Koolhass Hat. He's been wearing it everyday since, LOL.

Foot Stools

My loving husband and I have spent the last few winters sitting around the woodstove on our upside down milk crates. I've used old milk crates for absolutely everything, but I felt it was time for something a little more sophisticated....but not more expensive!! Again, recycled sweaters!! I cut pads to fit the top out of an old foam mattress pad thingy. I covered the crate with a linen/tweed fabric, and covered the top with pieces of sweaters I scored from the freebox.

His and her footstools!!

Again, I'm totally happy with how these turned out! Everyone has ooohhed and aahhhed over them. And they're still old milk crates!! LOL, but now they're really very comfortable!

A close up shot of the sweater being sewed onto the top.

My husband isn't always the best at noticing the new touches I add to the yurt, but he noticed these right away and was raving about how great they are and how much better they are with 3 layers of padding!!

Couch Pillows

These are the arm cushions that came with our Futon, which was a handme down gift from my good friend Polli. They had some stains from spilled wine and coffee, so I had set them aside to knit covers for them. They only had to wait about 2 years before they came up to the top of my "to knit" list, LOL. Again, all recycled yarn ripped from found old sweaters. I knit rectangles, seamed them up and then knit circles for the end caps and sewed them on.

I love, love, love how they turned out!!!

So then put them on the futon, but decided I needed more coehsion in my crazy collection of pillows. These are all scored pillows from thriftstores and whatnot that I've covered over time. My Mom was the best at making couch pillows. Her's were always ruffled, and stuffed to perfection. I never did master her technique, but she was inspiring!

So I took a couple of the ugly odd balls and kept going with the yarn! A small one in seed stitch, and a long one with cables.

Now the set is complete!!

Now that's crossed off the list!! What's next??!

Wool Fest 2010: the people

Me and Merce, 7am opening morning of the Taos Wool Festival. The weather was perfect!The weekend as a whole was a huge success. The positive feedback from visitors and patrons was addicting. The atmosphere was jolly and energetic and good!! The vibes were loving! Things sold like crazy, which was so great considering the current economic climate, but people were buying!!!

Merce underneath her Marigold garland made with marigolds from her garden, and her Wire/Wool hanging sculpure.

Me with Dita and Wanashee, Merce's very helpful & beautiful daughters.

The hats were a huge success and the people who came in to buy them were the best!! It was so much fun! I wish I had gotten pictures of them all!

My good and crazy friend Laura!!!

Wool Fest 2010: the booth

And here's our booth!! Merce is "Pure Felt, Vortex Spinning". I'm "In the Wilderness Art". Merce is responsible for this amazing collection of ribbons that adorn our booth!!

Our signature flowers at the door!

Our crazy collection of Art, Crafts, and Yarn!!

So much Wooly Goodness!!!