Nervous, Anxious, Super Cute Knitting!

While waiting, impatiently, for my precious little niece to be born I knit up this little "Five Hour Baby Sweater" which, you may remember, takes me a bit longer to knit than 5 hours. More like 7 or 8...but still super fast! It's knit from the top down and I just think it's a lot of cute bang for the effort. Since my niece's name was going to be Scarlett I drank my custom Scarlett Rose wine and used my little Scarlett stitch marker to keep me company while I waited to hear that the newest member of the family had arrived. I may have cast-on another sweater already! I made this sweater with some more of my friend's grandmother's stash too!

Still Feeling Festive!!!

I’ve been away from my blog for way too long, mostly because I need to find a faster, more convenient way for posting...I’m giving a mobile method a try to see if it works miracles. 

Currently the house smells like all the smells because I’m cooking three different things at once in an effort to have a freezer full of home cooked meals. I’m pooped from hours of chopping and looking forward to lounging this evening and working on this festive sweater that is working up really fast on Size 8 needles.

Are you working on anything festive?

Teeny Tiny Tree!

I had to knit a teeny, tiny Christmas tree hat for my Lady Lawyer Lane bestie's sweet little baby boy! He wasn't supposed to be here yet so it was a last minute project added to my to-do list, but it came out SO CUTE! It's so small it really only took a few hours, and the pom-poms were from my kiddie craft stash so I just had to sew them on.

Little Bunny

A friend of mine is expecting a little boy soon and loves rabbits...so this little set I put together should bring a smile to her face! I made the diaper cover from a one piece pattern I found on Ravelry and then used my pompom maker for the first time to make the super sweet tail. The hat is a pattern by Susan B Anderson, and while I think it may be too big...I'm hoping it will still make for super cute photos for the new mom!

Kitty Kat Hat

I can't bear to call this hat by its pattern name...let's just say it's another name for kitty. ANYHOO...the little knitting group of attorneys that meets at my house are all going to whip one of these hats up. They were interested in the pattern so I gifted each of them the yarn and needles for Christmas. It's a  fast knit(not in the round)and I was quick to finish it...even though it took me weeks to take the time to seam it up. Now it's done and will hopefully motivate the other ladies to finish theirs!

Twas The Night Before Christmas Socks

My Christmas Eve cast-on socks are finished! My Mom had the great idea to highlight the tree design by adding little star buttons (that we found in Jo-Ann Fabrics)...and I think it really makes the trees pop! I'll have to take a photo when I'm wearing them, but for now...look at the little trees!

Christmas Eve Cast-On 2017

I've really grown to love casting-on socks for the Little Bobbins Christmas Eve cast-on.  I think this cast-on is the third year I've done it, and I love coming up with a pattern and yarn and looking at all the projects being knit around the world. This year Little Bobbins kept it easy...she designed the 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' socks that have trees knit into the fabric. I stopped by a local yarn store and picked up some yarn that will hopefully do the pattern justice and now I'm all ready with a fun holiday movie, my Christmas bag, DPN holder, stitchmarker, AND When Figs Fly port from a local winery. What a festive way to spend Christmas Eve...and that doesn't even include my birthday cake! Merry Christmas!

Christmas with the Knit Nuts 2017

At one of our recent knitting afternoons a member of the Knit Nuts mentioned that she had never seen the movie 'It's A Wonderful Life'. As a HUGE fan of the movie I decided to see if the ladies would like to come over and have a Christmas get-together at my house and watch the movie.

The ladies were excited and carpooled to my home, and I had pasta bake, salad, a grape and cheese tray and a festive nonalcoholic drink ready to enjoy.

The drink had cranberry seeds, pomegranate seeds, halved green grapes and diced green apples and then sparkling grape juice poured over the fruit. It was so pretty and festive!

We ate and chatted and exchanged our treats...

And then it was off to the movie room to watch the movie and knit.

And at the end, surrounded by friends, when Clarence leaves the message that no man is a failure who has friends....I felt so moved and grateful!

Beyond Measure Package

I've followed Beyond Measure in the UK on Instagram for a while now and I've admired the lovely notions that she ships all around the world. There was one thing I saw again and again that I never made it to her shop fast enough for, but I one day I learned how to have Instagram notify me of posts from specific accounts I follow and was FINALLY quick enough!

When I ordered I added some glass head pins (they are really beautiful and I find every so often a few pins added to what I have isn't a bad idea since they get bent, misplaced, etc).

I also added some copper colored bulb pins which I can use as stitch markers when knitting. I already have some in black but thought the lighter color might make it easier to see when working with dark yarn.

Then, separately wrapped in gorgeous light blue tissue paper...was a hand-hewn pin-cushion with teal tapestry fabric...just what I asked for. The shop has a local wood artisan that makes the wooden bases, but they are so popular they can only be made in batches and they are REALLY small batches! I wanted to ask for this item as a birthday present but wound up ordering it myself because it was tough to get an order in. The upside to ordering it myself was that I was able to open it right away and not wait for my birthday (that's not cheating, right?)

Wonder Woman Woes

I was so excited to start this project. I even knit the sleeves first so that once the body of the sweater was knit I wouldn't have the boring sleeves to work on, I'd be finished. BIG MISTAKE. How about I knit almost the entire body of the sweater and then realized that it would be WAY too long if I knit it to the point where the sleeves would work? And, since I had wanted it to look like Wonder Woman's corset/top...it would be UNDER my chest line?!!?! UUUUGGHHHH!!!! I ripped it ALL BACK. All that intarsia....that I had already weaved in ends for because I was trying to be a good knitter. I could have cried. It may take me a day or two to be able to start again. I'm really going to have to give myself a pep talk for this one.

Beginning of An Obsession

Is there anything worse than having a deadline project that you're working on and then seeing a project that just SCREAMS to be made?!?!

A kind-hearted friend, knowing how my family has loved sea turtles over the years, sent me a post about this sea turtle blanket. I was hooked from the start! I investigated a little more and found a free pattern for one here. I didn't think I wanted to commit to a crochet blanket though (I've done it before, but wasn't into the idea)...so I decided to find a feather and fan stitch that I could knit. Do you see where this is going? How I fell down the rabbit-hole already because of this blanket? Finding a free pattern...a free one no less...then figuring out how to knit it instead...oh...then I realized there was a Hobby Lobby that had the yarn I needed close to my office. I was done for guys. I knew I would cast-on for this project when I had no business starting something else!

I wound up casting on during a beach trip. I had hit a snag with my sweater design and just did not want to have the stress of knitting math during our quick trip. So I cast-on and enjoyed some (relatively) mindless knitting. I've put this project aside again now...but I'll keep it out where I can see it so I can get back to it once the sweater is done!

Shark Week 2017 Socks!

Another Shark Week pair of socks bites the dust (pun intended). The intarsia (gray fins) sections took some work, I had to rip back once to make sure I had a tension that allowed me to actually WEAR the socks...but now they fit well and I'll be able to add them to my Shark Week sock wardrobe!

Knitting Lakeside

Back by the water again, but this time we're camping! We've already been out ON the water, so now I'm just enjoying looking at the water while I work on my Wonder Woman sweater. Doesn't get much better than this view right here...but a campfire, wine and some great food are in the future...and campfire knitting is pretty great too!

Have you ever knit by a campfire?

Nautical Notions from Never Not Knitting

Y'all know I love the sea! So when I saw notions from Never Knot Knitting I jumped right in when they went on sale before the next season's inventory came in. Yay for sale!

I thought I'd like to share how cute everything came to me. I opened the box...

And found a smaller box inside.

I opened it up...

And my treasures were inside!

Would you look at that sea glass?!?!?! I love the scissor fob (connect one end to your knitting bag and the other to your scissors and never search for your scissors in the bottom of your bag again)...and the sea glass stitch markers!!! And the whale needle gauge! It's SO much cuter than the plastic white gauge I picked up when I first started knitting. And the scissors! It's all so beautifully made!

Fall Soccer Must Be Starting!

If you see me with grass in the background and knitting on my lap...it's a good guess that I'm watching Little Man at soccer. It's his first game and I'm working on my Shark Week 2017 socks. I know they'll be great now that I've gotten past the intarsia sections...so I'm at a section that is easy to knit while watching his game. Look at me multitasking!!!

Sock Catch-Up

I never shared these socks all finished!!!

These are the Fright Night Socks, made with leftovers from my Shark Bite socks (Knit Picks yarn). See the bats?

These are the Business Casual sock pattern,knit in Malabrigo sock yarn.

And these I made for my Christmas Eve cast-on socks!!!

Shark Week 2017!

Another year of Shark Week, another shark-themed project to tackle (pun intended). Jimmy Beans Wool had a limited release of the Shark Bait colorway and stitchmarkers and the pattern I'm planning to tackle is by Lara Smoot. She designed the Jaws socks I knit last year as well as the Fright Night socks I made.

Little Man is ready for Shark Week too!!

Where Is Craft Chick?

If you're looking for me this summer, you can probably find me in our screen porch! With our new furniture it is so comfortable to sit and enjoy the sound of the fountain and the air outside...and it's the perfect place to try to catch up on back episodes of the Little Bobbins podcast!

One Last Photo

Before I share anything else, can we please have a moment of silence for my knitting bag? You may remember last year when I had a streak of sewing project bags and DPN holders...and that's when I made this travel-themed bag. I was using some gorgeous remnants from a fellow knitter to knit socks with during our international trip. Well, I knit on them from Baltimore to Iceland, we got off the plane and had a quick bite before getting on our 2nd flight to Frankfurt, and then when we landed in Germany we had a cluster with the rental car company. We didn't get the car we wanted, and then we were driving stuck in a car with no A/C when we had to turn back to the airport to switch out the car. We were almost there when we were hit by a big truck. By the time we dealt with the police and then the rental car company that wanted us to pay for the whole car...we still had several hours of driving to do and I didn't realize I didn't have my bag. I don't know what happened to it. I contacted Lost and Found for the airports...I guess someone found it and kept it for themselves. The above photo is the last one I have of it.

Wonder Woman!

Back in March for International Women's Day I cast-on the sleeve of what will be my Wonder Woman sweater. I haven't gotten the chance to work on it as much as I would like, which at first sent me into a panic. I had originally planned to have the sweater done to wear to the movie theater when I saw Wonder Woman. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. So I decided that my new goal is to have it ready for the Justice League movie in November. This goal will work well for a couple of reasons. One, Wonder Woman is in that movie too. Two, I won't be wearing a hot, heavy sweater during the summer!

I came up with the idea after seeing this pattern. I'm giving it my own twist though, so you'll have to check back to see what direction I'm taking it! I am still using two strands of yarn held together like the original pattern, so it definitely won't be a lightweight sweater!

I may not have had my sweater done but I had flip-flops and sunglasses my brother had gotten me to wear. Funny store about the sunglasses. YEARS ago...we're talking preschool age....I had a pair of Wonder Woman sunglasses. I wore them on a ferry ride while on vacation and they fell off into the ocean. For YEARS I would say how there was probably a fish wearing them like the Incredible Mr. Limpett. So this past Christmas my brother bought me these to replace them! This time I'll make sure not to lean over any rails while I'm wearing them!

Have you seen Wonder Woman? What did you think of it?