Gobble Gobble!

Have I mentioned how much I love Ravelry? Well, I do! I was killing time looking at the free patterns and I found this one for a turkey hat. Yep, that's right. A turkey hat! I thought it was too funny and that Madelyn needed it for her first thanksgiving. I started making it Saturday and I finished it this morning. It knitted up very quickly. I used some acrylic yarn that I had in my stash. I know, I know, acrylic yarn isn't my favorite either, but it was free so I used it. Here's how it turned out:

It's a little too big for her. Luckily, it fits me...but I'm still not going to post a picture of me in it! :o)

Baroness Beret

I have a confession to make. I have yet another addiction. I am now addicted to Ravelry. I signed up with the website a few weeks ago and I haven't looked back. There are sooooo many cool patterns and people on there! If you knit or crochet, I highly recommend checking out this website. I found this pattern for the baroness beret from http://www.knittherapy.ca/. I'm making it for my mother for Christmas. I am also making a few other items at the moment but the people that they are for use the computer and my mother does not. I feel safe to post my progress on her hat. Here it is so far:


I am using Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends yarn in the color sky. It's very nice to work with. This pattern calls for a tubular cast on method which I have never done before. Luckily, I found a tutorial here that really made it easy to master. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

all those years of honors English just might have paid off...

Movie Reviews

Brittany Jumper

I love, love, love baby clothes, especially baby girl clothes (go figure, huh?). As soon as we found out that we were going to have a daughter, I went a little crazy buying knitting patterns. I bought Minnow Knits Too by Jill Eaton because my local yarn store had a sample of a jumper hanging up. I knew that I just had to make it for my daughter to wear for Christmas. I worked on it for a while, but of course I got sidetracked with other projects. Then about a week ago I realized that Christmas is coming up and if I wanted Madelyn to wear that jumper I better get back to work on it! Nothing like a little time crunch to get yourself into gear. Here it is so far:

I just need to finish up the back bodice and buy some buttons. I bet that if I got off of the computer I could probaby get the knitting done today. Hmm...

Secret Pal 13 Questionnaire

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I love angora/mohair kinds of yarns. I'm pretty inexperienced with non-acrylic yarns (gasp!!) so I'm sure my secret pal would know better than I would about good yarns that are available. Help me learn about them!

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
Nothing. Yep. I'm probably the most unorganized person alive. I would love to change that. I never know what needles I have. I already have a crochet hook keeper that I actually use so I'd love one for my knitting needles.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
My cousin taught me how to crochet when I was 12 and I'm very advanced in crochet. Knitting is a different story. I taught myself how to knit about 4 years ago and I can pretty much figure most things out. I'd say I'm at the intermediate level in knitting.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes, I have a wish list on Amazon.

5. What's your favorite scent?
I don't like the cookies, vanilla, baked-good scent candles. I like apple, cinnamon, and floral scents.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I have a MAJOR sweet tooth. I love chocolate and caramel. I don't like any kind of nuts or peanut butter. My favorite candies are mallo cups, cadbury eggs, basically any kind of milk chocolate that doesn't have nuts or peanut butter.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I do not spin. But I basically do any other kind of crafts. I sew, quilt, paint, and cross stitch. Lately I've been into quilting, knitting, and crochet. I also LOVE to bake.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I like country and rock. My computer can play mp3s.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I like reds, pink, brown, and purple. There really isn't any color that I don't like. My winter coat is red.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I am married and have an infant daughter. We have no pets.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I love scarves, hats, and mittens. I'm not really into ponchos.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Lately I've been into knitting hats. But I also like to knit stuff for my daughter.

13. What are you knitting right now?
I'm making my mother a hat for Christmas.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
I love it. My 4 sisters and I exchange handmade gifts every year. They always end up being my favorite gifts that I get because I know how much work was put into them.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I prefer any and all needles. I don't have many needles and I'd love to add to them.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
I don't even know what those are.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
I started a quilt top about 4 years ago that I still need to put together.

18. What is your favorite holiday? What winter holiday do you observe?
Christmas by far!

19. Is there anything that you collect?
I used to collect bumblebees but not really any more.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I don't have any magazine subscriptions. As for the books, yarns, etc, yes! Everything! I'm very easy to please. I like quick projects because I don't have a very good attention span.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Right now I'm teaching myself how to make lace. So far, so good.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I've knit myself one pair of socks. I would rather knit something else. It took too long for me! I wear size 10 shoes.

23. When is your birthday?
April 18

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
Yes! I just signed up last week! My ID is patchwrkbumblebee.

new inspiration...

I love finding new crafty blogs. I just found another one that you should check out. Koala brains has lots of cool ideas.

ribbon tag ball tutorial

Okay guys. I've read a lot of tutorials...apparently enough to make me think that I can now write my own. We'll see. I've had this idea of making a ribbon tag ball floating around in my head for awhile now. My daughter loves her tag blanket and loves squishy balls so I thought I'd combine the two and see how it turns out. I think it came out pretty well but we'll have to wait and see what Madelyn thinks of it because she's napping now...shhhh.....

Ribbon Tag Ball Tutorial

Use this pattern to cut out 6 pieces of fabric (I used 2 different fabrics - 3 of each).
Cut your ribbons into 3 inch pieces. I used 3 different kinds of ribbons so I could have 3 loops on each side. You could put more on if you wanted to.

Fold your ribbons in half and pin in place.

Sew the ribbons in place. Make sure you stitch inside the 1/4 inch seam allowance so it won't show through.
Lay another cutout piece of fabric on top of the piece that you just stitched the ribbons onto, keeping right sides together.

Stitch down the side that the ribbons are sewn:

It should look like this:

Repeat this for the other 4 pieces of fabric. You should now have three parts that look like this:

Now you begin to sew these pieces to each other, making sure that your corners line up. Here's four pieces:

And here's all six pieces sewn together:

Make sure you leave an opening so you can turn your ball right side out. Now it's time to stuff with fiberfill. I also added some jinglebells.


Sew up the opening by hand and you're all done. Taa daa!

help!

I really need to quit looking at these craft blogs! I have waaaaaaaaay too many unfinished pitiful projects that need my attention. But then I found this scarf pattern. I think I'll be heading to my local yarn shop very soon to pick up the supplies. Sorry, sad little unfinished craft projects. It looks like you'll have to wait yet another day before I finish you.

maybe I'm a little crazy...

...but I've joined a few swaps. Okay, more than a few. I've joined 4. Yep. And they are all pretty much going on at the same time. The first one I joined is:My partner is Emily. This should be pretty interesting because we are pretty different in the crafty stuff we like to do. I think it will be fun to see what we come up with. I'm almost done with making stuff for this swap.

Since that swap was going smoothly, I decided to join Secret Pal 13. This is a swap that I'm very excited about. I love secret pals! We did something similar to this in a hospital that I worked at a while ago. When I got my office job I was really hoping that we would do secret pals but we didn't. I was very disappointed. Oh well. At least now I can do one! Yay!

Then one night I found this swap. I've been trying to figure out what kind of cookies to make this year since my husband's family decided to have a cookie bake-off. I thought that this swap would be fun to see what kind of recipes other people really like.

Today I signed up for the last swap. It's:

I found this swap through homemade by jill. I'm kind of a Christmas decorating freak and I love getting new ornaments for the tree. I have a pretty good idea of what I'll make.

Whew! I have lots of crafting to get done now...not to mention the homemade sister gifts that my four sisters and I exchange every year. I better go get started........