I need elves!

I've decided that I need elves! Santa has elves - I want elves!! Elves would do all those things that I need to do but haven't done yet.

I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted. Way too many things going on.

I almost have the felted bags done. The lavendar and taupe one for Kelcie just needs the handles sewn on. I made Allie's in black Patons Classic Wool with a narrow red stripe at the top. I just need to sew the handles on this one, too. Then I'll felt them together. I bought another zippered lingerie bag so I can do them in separate bags. I gave up on the Cascade socks for now. There was no way I was going to get them done by Christmas. So I knit another Lopi bag to felt for Rachelann. This one is in black and pale rose. I have to sew up the sides, make the handles, sew them in and felt it. I probably won't have time to finish these until Thursday, though.

Tomorrow Scott's sister, Danalee and her husband, Leon, and her oldest son, Dan are coming to dinner. Danalee and Leon live in Syracuse but Dan lives in Los Angeles. We haven't seen him in 3 years. After dinner, Scott's other sister and his two brothers and their wives are coming for coffee and dessert. Dinner is going to be simple - tortellini soup for Scott and whoever else doesn't want meat and minestrone with turkey meatballs for the rest of us. Plus a nice loaf of french peasant bread. That will leave us room for dessert. I baked yesterday and today, and Danalee is bringing cookies, too. I'm not really happy with any of the cookies or fudge I made but I guess they will do. I also had to make cookies for the live Nativity at church tomorrow night. We won't be able to go but at least I'll get my cookies there.

I also started a scarf for Scott's niece, Megan. I'm making from one strand of Skacel Poker and one strand of Skacel Gatto. I'm doing it in stockingette stitch on size 11 needles. It's very soft. The Poker is lt.pink, dark pink, white, and light green. The Gatto is a blend of pink, blue, purple and dark peach. They really go together nicely. I'm more than half done with it and don't see why I won't get it done by Christmas. This is not going to be a cheap scarf, though. The yarn cost me almost $40.00. I bought 3 skeins of the Poker (88 yds each) and 2 of the Gatto (93 yds each). I hope it comes out long enough. I don't have time to go back up to Indigo Yarns for more Gatto. I'll have a lot of Poker left so maybe I'll do fringe.

I have not wrapped a present yet. Scott did mine last night and tonight and got Danalee and Leon's done. We're going to be busy Thursday and Friday!

I have lots to do in the morning before work so I'm going to stop here and go to bed.

Slow but steady progress

I finished the first felted bag. The i-cord was a snap to do and really quite fun. The felting process was pretty painless, too. I'm really happy with the way it came out. (Yes, I know - post a picture. I haven't quite read up on posting pics but I will). After I felted it, I read on the knitlist and the sockknitters list how Lopi doesn't felt very well. I thought it felted just fine. The bag shrank 3 inches in height and 2 inches in width. Since the bag was only 12" x 12" to begin with, I think it's just right. I don't think I'll finish the mittens I was making in Lopi to felt, though. They might not shrink enough.

I started the second bag in 2 strands of heather Cascade 220 and 2 strands of lt. taupe Patons Classic Wool. It's working up to be 11" x 11". I'll have to watch it closely when I felt it since I think it'll felt faster than the Lopi. I'm more than half done with it.

I was going to do 4 of these bags but decided to do 3 bags and a pair of socks. The youngest of the girls that I'm making these for has a zillion pocketbooks. Really! She's been collecting them since she was 2 and now she's 12. So I'm making her a pair of socks in Cascade Fixation. Her mother (my friend Sue) laughed when I said I'd make Rachelann socks. This 12 year old girl wears size 11 shoes! This child is tall! She takes after her father (he's 6'3"). I'm 5'8" and I think she's just about as tall as I am. I hope I get the socks done in time for Christmas. If not, she's a sweetheart and will wait until I get them done. The last bag is for her 18 year old sister. Sue told me that she put a purse on her list and she wants it in black. The pattern I'm using is striped which I think is very pretty but I'll make a black one for Allie. I might do the top border and handles in gray, though. Just to make it interesting. Or maybe red. I have both those colors in Patons Classic Wool. I know Allie likes red.

The trip to the new LYS on Saturday was a success. Sue and I went there. That's where I bought the Cascade Fixation to make Rachelann's socks. I can't find it anywhere else around here. This yarn shop had some beautiful yarns. She carried Berrocco, Ironstone, Dale of Norway, Manos (I can't remember the rest of the name), Gatsby, and lots of really nice yarns. The Dale of Norway yarns seem to be her basic wools. I really hoped she'd have Brown Sheep. I did buy a hank of Ironstone Yarns "Starlights" in colorway 1. This stuff is sooo nice. It's 50% mohair, 8% wool, 36% rayon, and 6% nylon. The colors are beautiful. If I remember, I'll take it to the shop tomorrow and scan it. Then maybe I can post it here. This is going to be for me!

Last night was our monthly Craft Night. For the past year or so, it's been Sue, myself, Carolyn G., and Carol L. Last night we had it at Donna F's house. She's just gotten back into knitting and crocheting and is going great guns. She also invited Diann F. Carol didn't make it but it was nice having so many of us. Donna and I decided we're going up Indigo Yarns again on Saturday. She's been crocheting earflap hats out of the Dale of Norway yarn and was happy to hear that they had it. I had my eye on the Manos and might pick up a skein to make myself a pair of mittens. I might pick up another ball of the Fixation, too, since I have no idea how much it will take to make socks for Rachelann.

Well, it's time to start dinner. If I get some things scanned, I might even post again tomorrow. I don't think I'll have time after that until Sunday or so. Friday I'm going to Syracuse shopping with 3 of my 4 sisters and Saturday I'm hitting yarn shops in New Hartford. Busy, busy, busy...

Christmas is coming - too soon!

If I'm going to put my blog address under my signature, I guess I'd better write some blog stuff! I've been putting off posting here because I really want to include pictures. But first I have to figure out how to get the pictures from my digital camera into this blog. Soon I'll sit down and figure it out.

In the meantime, I guess I should talk about my knitting. I'm trying to get some things done for Christmas presents. I know, I should never plan knitting projects for Christmas unless I've decided on them in January - of the previous year. But I did decide to try making felted bags for the 4 teenage daughters of two friends.

I bought a Plymouth Yarn pattern for felted bags made from two strands of Galway wool. My LYS doesn't have Galway so I bought Lopi to use instead. The first bag I am making from one strand of Lopi in denim blue and one strand in med. gray. The top is 6 rows of garter stitch in gray with 4 row stripes of blue and 2 row stripes of gray down the side. The bottom of the bag (4 rows of garter stitch) is gray and then it is the same up the other side. Then I sew up the sides and add i-cord handles. I've never done i-cord before but it doesn't look too hard. I know, famous last words.

Saturday I hope to get to a new LYS that just opened. Unfortunately, it's not here in town but is about 15-20 minutes away. Not too bad but I wish there was one closer. The only other LYS is also 15-20 minutes away. Scott keeps telling me I should open a yarn shop. I don't know how serious he is about this. Of course, if I could guarantee that I'd make enough money at it so he could get out of the plumbing & heating business, he'd let me do it in a shot. I'd like to open a small one in a local co-op. Then it could be open 7 days a week and I wouldn't have to be there all the time. Maybe I'll look into that and see what it would cost.

I may try playing with the one online picture of knitting that I have. It's a scarf I made from Patons Cha Cha and TLC last year for a gift for one of the above mentioned teenagers. Wish me luck!