I just wanted to take this time to wish everyone a happy new year. This has been a wonderful Christmas and Holiday season for us but it has been so busy. I am looking forward to starting on some new craft projects and sewing projects. The boys are looking forward to more crafting also.

I have finally casted on the last portion of my brown sweater…again. I hope to finish it this month and actually wear it this winter.

I am planning on starting a new knit-along within the next month. I am just now sure which project to choose. I am debating doing either a project from my Jane Austen Magazine or The Great American Afghan. I know I did not keep up with my Knitivity KAL but I had not planned on Christmas being so busy. I will bring that KAL back later this year, maybe towards the end of summer. Please let me know if anyone is interested in either of those KAL’s or if anyone would like to see another KAL.

I am looking forward to doing more craft project with my boys. They are currently working on a new craft project. Their Aunt and Uncle bought them a huge Mater (from the Cars movie) which is made out of cardboard. They are able to color and decorate it and then play inside of it also. They just love it. They started coloring it today.

I am looking forward to working on my brown sweater tonight after the boys go to bed. We have a winter snow/rain storm expected to come through tonight so I cannot think of a better way to spend it than to knit a warm sweater and have a nice cup off hot chocolate.

I wish everybody a happy and healthy new year!

As I posted earlier, we brought home a small tree to decorate with food for the birds and squirrels. Let me just say that the tree was a huge success with the birds and the squirrels alike! After about a day or so they found the tree back there and we ended up having many visitors. In this picture you can see the little squirrel helping himself to some of the birdseed underneath the tree.

Within a couple of days all of the birdseed stars were eaten off of the tree. Some of them I had to throw away because when we made them we used regular glue on them. When our Firefighter saw that he suggested we use wood glue instead because the birdseed stars might fall apart if they get wet in the snow. I had never even thought of that. So, the birdseed stars that had regular glue on them fell apart while the birds and squirrels were eating them because it was raining and they were wet. The stars that we had made using the wood glue stayed together great. We had some extra stars made up from the last time we did this plus we were able to use the ones that had stayed together on the tree. Before we started on the new stars we had to clean up the old ones off of the ground.

The boys had a good time making up the new stars and they were very excited to hang them back up on the tree. For some reason though we seemed to make a much bigger mess making the birdseed stars than we did the last time. We ended up having to use the hose from the vacuum on the kitchen table and I don’t even know how long it took me to sweep up the floor.

A day or so later I took a closer look at the tree to see if much of the birseed had been eaten yet. Not only was it eaten, the stars were gone! I thought that they fell off of the tree but there were none on the ground. My Firefighter told me that the squirrels had been taking them off of the tree and out into the yard. We were going to go out and look in the yard to see if we could find some of them but then it got late and dark so we were going to go look for them the next day. It snowed! So now the stars are out in the yard somewhere under the snow. The snow is melting already but the grass is very wet and muddy so we will only be able to replace the stars that are still on the tree. I’m glad that the birds and squirrels are enjoying the tree so much but boy can they eat a lot of food!

I hope that everyone had a nice Christmas! We were very busy here over the Christmas holidays. There was lots of last minute gift-making taking place. I FINALLY finished the scarf for my Step-Father. I worked on it whenever I could that week before Christmas and on Christmas Eve, when I was supposed to give it to him, it still was not finished. Fortunately, we were planning on spending a quiet Christmas Eve day at home before heading over to my parent’s house that evening so I was able to spend a couple of hours on the scarf. At that point I was so close to being done. The boys needed baths so while they were playing in the tub I sat in the bathroom with them and worked on the scarf. By the time we were all dressed to go to my parent’s house the scarf was finally finished. I was so glad. I really wanted him to be able to open it on Christmas Eve. He really liked it and it made the knitting well worth it.

On Christmas Eve morning my Firefighter had to run a couple of errands so while he was gone I took the opportunity to finish the two kites that I was sewing for him for Christmas. When we were growing up my Mother had made us a bat kite and a dragon kite. We used to fly them all the time, especially on vacation. Over the years the pattern became too worn to use anymore but she happened to come across it on Ebay so she bought it. I know that my Firefighter enjoys flying kites in the summer so I borrowed the pattern from her and made him the bat kite and a regular triangle kite. I had them almost completed but just needed to put on a few finishing touches while he was out. Fortunately, the boys were playing nicely together and I was able to complete the kites. I made the bat kite out of bat fabric that I bought at Halloween and the triangle kite I made out of firefighter and fire fabrics. Yet, even with buying the fabric over two months ago…I was still finishing the kite on Christmas Eve!!

I was also able to finish Gabriel’s fleece frog robe. That one I actually finished with a week or so to spare. I was happy with the way the boys’ robes turned out and they really liked them.

Finally, I finished two projects for two of my friends. I made them tiny dresses out of fabric which I sewed onto a dress form printed on cardstock. That was my first sewing project where I sewed fabric onto paper. I then attached it to a heavy cardstock glitter paper that can be framed. I really liked how the dresses turned out. Those were two of the first ones that I made and I was happy with how they turned out. They let you play with lots of different types of fabrics and see how they all work together yet you don’t need to buy too much.

Well, those were my handmade Christmas gifts that I could not show you until now because I did not want the recipients to see them on my blog…plus there is always the fact that they were not completed until the last minute. Next year I will do better…or at least I will try to!

I have finally spotted all of my UFO’s (unfinished objects), or at least the ones that I am serious about finishing.

I don’t know about you but I absolutely love to start a new project. Take knitting for example. I found a great sweater in the Vogue Knitting Magazine and I decided to make it. I have never really had a successful attempt at knitting a sweater. I knitted a few disasterous sweaters but have mainly stayed with socks, scarves, mittens, bags and accessory type items although I did complete an afghan that I was very happy with.

When I decide on beginning a knitting project, like my sweater, I get very excited about choosing the yarn. I purchased the yarn for this sweater at my LYS and am very happy with it. It took me awhile and I had my boys with me. Fortunately, the LYS owner has small grandchildren so she always has toys available for the boys to play with, otherwise I would not have attempted looking for the perfect sweater yarn with my boys.

Once I made the yarn decision I brought the yarn home and I swifted it with my boys. They really enjoy turning the ball winder and watching the ball of yarn form. Once they were in bed I took out my needles and my stitch markers and began my sweater. That was one year ago! I am bound and determined to get this sweater finished by Christmas and wear it. I started out real well with my sweater project but then life got busy, things were hectic with the boys and my firefighter’s work schedule so the sweater was put off to the side. I worked on it a few times over the winter but really started working on it seriously this past Spring, then I slacked off and now I am working on it again.

Back of Sweater

Left Front

Right Front

While I was working on my sweater I decided that I would not start a new knitting project until it was finished. Well, I did pretty well with that until I just recently when I purchased yarn for a scarf for my Step-Father for Christmas. There is nothing like the adrenaline rush that you get when you purchase new yarn, especially when you already have a project in mind for it! I found this yarn at a LYS up at the Lake. My Step-Father was just telling me how he would love a winter scarf in stockinette stitch for the winter. I decided to knit him one for Christmas. However, not only am I knitting him a scarf but I am knitting it in the round so that it will be extra thick for him but, of course, this will now take me twice as long and my sweater is still not finished. Why do we always feel invincible when taking on too many craft projects and thinking that they will all be done by Christmas or some other deadline?

The beginnings of my Step-Father's scarf

With my sweater and the scarf well under way I decided to add to my list of UFO’s. My boys both liked the fleece bathrobes I bought them a year or two ago. They have since outgrown the robes so I decided to make them fleece robes for Christmas when I found this pattern .

Fleece robe pattern

I purchased the fleece on sale a couple of weeks ago at the fabric store and finally started cutting out one of the robes today. The pattern looks pretty basic but we’ll see.

Fleece fabric for robes

Of course in my mind I think that is only four UFO’s…my sweater, the scarf and two robes. Four projects sure doesn’t seem like much does it? However, when I figure that I need all four of those items in the next two months I am beginning to realize how much time this is all going to take. I am also working on sewing some re-usable grocery bags. Somehow I feel that my poor sweater is going to be taking a backseat again.