Now for some of you who have been knitting for ever and posting on this board lots, the thought of a scarf is probably not a big deal but for me it is!

I've crocheted for over 30 years but sometime in my younger years someone must have tried to teach me to knit, although I don't remember, because I did recall casting on and the basic knit stitch.

About 10 days ago my son's girlfriend asked me to take her to the local craft store so she could buy knitting needles and yarn.  Hmm, I thought, maybe I should get some needles and teach myself to knit.  Armed with a new pair of needles and some cotton I already had at home, I headed to You Tube to learn......a dishcloth would be the easiest I figured and I was easily able to find a video showing me how.  After making a basic diagonal one I decided I had to try something a little more challenging so I found a pattern on-line that used knit and pearl stitches and I made another one.

After 2 I was bored with dishclothes and I knew I had some fun yarn in my stash (Bernat Twist and Twirl.)  There was a website listed on the label directing me to a scarf pattern and off I went.  3 1/2 hours later, this is what I ended up with:


               


and a close up to see the colors better

                     


Now my plan is to go back to the craft store and find some other fun yarn to try a different scarf.  Then after another scarf, who knows what I might attempt!

For the last 6 years I've made a quilted stocking - sometimes for the Stocking Swap and sometimes for decorating our house.  The 2012 edition is going to a lady at my church who I think could use a little pick me up this Christmas.  I plan to add stuffers of things I know she enjoys.


                                   

I purchased a pattern and fabric package for my tall snowman earlier this year and figured I should get him done now so that he could help brighten up our very wintery days.

Even though it doesn't look like it, each section is a different fabric - snowflakes, dots, squiggles, etc.  He stands 45" tall.

Each section has batting between the layers so he has a little dimension and each section is sewn to the next - a technique that took a little time to figure out just how best to do it.

He's hanging on a little wall between the kitchen and livingroom and I love him!!

                                 

Our best friends just became grandparents for the first time and we've known the new dad since he was 6.  I wanted to make little Samuel a quilt so I went through all the 'young' fabric I had and pieced this quilt.  The back is also pieced with large pieces of flannel.

I fussy cut a few pieces so they had some meaning.  The top center piece is letters of the alphabet and I made sure his initials were in that piece.  On the left side there are some musical instruments and since his daddy plays guitar I made sure that was featured.

I'm hoping that Samuel and his parents will enjoy receiving this quilt.


                       

For the September birthday swap I made this fall leaf.  It's in a 3" hoop so it's tiny but so colorful.

                     

Hope you aren't all sick of my monsters yet!!

I was an angel for the Ongoing Hoopla 7 and on the recipient's list was a cute monster so I couldn't pass up making yet another one.  She likes Grover so I decided to make him blue in 'honor' of that.

             

Two lettuce seeds made their way into my cucumber patch this year and rather than pull them out, I decided to just let them grow, with good intention of harvesting them when they got large enough.  Well, when they were ready to eat we happened to be away at our son's wedding and by the time we got home I noticed something strange.  One plant was starting to grow a spike from the middle and I just knew I had to let it go and see what became of it.  After watching it for a week I noticed it was growing significant amounts each day so mid-July I started documenting the growth by taking a picture every other day.  My lettuce was growing up at a rate of 1 to 1 1/2 inches per day!  I finally stopped taking pictures mid-August when it seemed to have stopped growing in height but getting bushier instead.

I measured it today and it's 59" !!!  (that's a yard stick beside it)


                        


You can see the remnants of the other plant on the lower right.  Why one grew tall and the other died off I'll never know.  It's been so much fun watching this grow!!

Hmmm.....wonder what strange thing I can grow next summer  
 

For 27 years of marriage I have been crafting and dreaming of a space to call my own, somewhere that I could 'play' and when I needed to do other things, like make supper, I could just walk away and not worry about cleaning up first.  We've never lived in a house that had any extra rooms so my craft space has mostly been the kitchen table/counter.  14 years ago be bought our current house which has 3 bedrooms - one for hubby and I and one for each son - ahh, back to the kitchen area I went.  Then, last fall, my oldest son became engaged and I started dreaming about when he would marry, move out and free up a room    However, his room was in the basement and while it's very large there was no way I wanted my room down there.  Not long after son 1 got engaged, son 2 told us he was moving to the basement the minute his brother moved out - perfect! I could have his room upstairs, with lots of big windows - and I could see my dream becoming a reality.  Son 1 set a date for the end of June, purchased a house in January but decided to do lots of renos so no moving out before wedding time.  The day came that we finally moved him out, then after doing some painting and replacing carpet, son 2 move into his new room.  FINALLY I was going to get my own space!!  Well it didn't happen as fast as I wanted because son 1 still needed help with some renovations, my room needed a new paint job, new flooring which would also extend into the hallway, etc.  But we plugged away at it for almost 2 months and today I can officially say it's DONE!!  I have my own space and I'm thrilled!  I can work on projects and just walk away when I'm needed 

Okay, enough rambling already, let's get on to pictures (I know that's what you are really thinking!)  The one and only before shot, taken at 5:00 a.m. the morning I started painting (we were in a heat wave and I wanted to paint before it got really hot - okay, my Canadian heat wave is probably a cool day for some of you in the southern US but it really was hot for us)

                       

The same wall after painting:

                       

Transforming the closet into storage:

                       

Sorting time, which meant gathering my fabric from other places I had it stashed:

                       

Closet complete and tidy - I can finally see all my fabric, yarn and other supplies:

                       

The rest of the room:

                       

                       

Two things left to do - figure out how to cover the blue on the desk (paint it or cover it in fabric) and put a few more things on the wall.

So there you have it - ribbon cutting ceremony at noon today - anyone want to come?   

I did it!!  I made a monster for myself, finally!

In January I made my first cute monster (seen here), in March along came a sibling (seen here), in April a 3rd sibling (seen here), in July #4 came along (seen here) and now in August, #5


                     Presenting Sunny:

                    


and just for fun, here is a picture of them all together:

          

In January I made my first cute monster (seen here), in March I made him a sibling (seen here), in April I made a 3rd sibling (seen here) and in July I made yet another sibling, #4.

He was sent to deathbeforedishes in the Ongoing Hoopla Swap and when I asked her what her favorite colors were she replied that her daughters considered 'rainbow' a color so I decided to take on the challenge of making a rainbow monster.  I didn't want to just make stripes so in the row where 2 colors meet, I used one strand of the top color and one strand of the next color to sort of blend them together.


                        


I've said after making each one that the next one will be mine yet I keep sending them away.  Well, no more - I have my monster (#5) almost done so keep your eyes posted for him to appear shortly.