Winter projects: fingerless gloves

Tis the season for knitting.  The seeds for the garden have been ordered.  The garden has been planned.  It's still too early to start seeds, so what is a girl to do?  Make fingerless gloves, of course. 

I've been seeing these everywhere this year.  That must mean that I'm not the only one sitting in a chilly home all winter.  I was at a friend's a few weeks ago, watching her finish up a pair similar to these.  What was even better, was that they used sock yarn.  There is an absurd stash of sock yarn in my basement currently.  A few years ago, I went on a sock knitting bender.  When Knit Picks had a nice little sale on sock yarn, I went a little nuts.  Then I stopped knitting socks.  Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this.  So, now there is a large stash of sock yarn with no purpose.  In steps the fingerless glove. 

One of the wonderful things about the internet, is the vast array of free patterns.  As a member of Ravelry, a knitting and crocheting community, I was able to access hundreds of patterns almost immediately.  (my name is nandmsmom on the site, but I'm rarely on)  Now, don't get me wrong, I'll happily pay for things, but to get my feet wet, there isn't anything like a free pattern. 

I whipped up this pair pretty quickly.  When I posted a pic on Facebook, my niece, who just joined the military, promptly asked for a pair.  Since there are lots of birthdays coming up soon, guess what's on the agenda?  By the time Spring rolls around, I should be plenty tired of making these.  The stash of yarn should be nicely emptied as well.  That should be less to pack next year. 

Mommy, please?

This is my latest project.  Morgan got into my stash of yarn the other day.  She found a few different colors of wool that she thought looked nice.  "Mommy, I LOVE the blue yarn"  Then she begged for an afghan of her own. She found three colors and arranged them in the pattern that she wanted me to knit them.

Last year I made an afghan for Noah.

This one for Noah was made with the most horrible acrylic yarn that he picked out.  The reason he loved it, was  that it was bright red and very soft.  He likes soft, very soft.  So, I struggled through this horrid yarn doing the pattern that he picked out.  I have to say that it is pretty.  In the end, it is much shorter than it should be, but I couldn't take it anymore.  He loves it, but is now complaining that it has holes in it from the pattern.

Morgan decided that she loved the yarn that Mommy had and wanted that.  She didn't want any holes though.  So, I'm tearing through this afghan for her.  It will be as long as it can be with the yarn that I have.  She found three colors and arranged them in the pattern that she wanted me to knit them.  I think its pretty cool that my kids love getting an afghan made for them.  It gives me something to do while they are taking swim lessons and gymnastics.

Completed market bag

I did it!   The body of the bag I wasn't worried about, it was the handle.  It has an applied I-cord.  It turns out, I-cords aren't very difficult.  Who knew?  The kids are fighting over the bag right now and making lists of colors they want them in.  It didn't really take very long to do either.  We went  and got some more yarn, but need to find different colors somewhere else.

I'm sorry that I haven't been writing much lately, life has been getting in the way.  I'll be posting more soon.  Still working on the garden expansion and lots of other things.

Getting moving on the Christmas gifts

I signed up for Crunchy Chickens Hand for the Holidays challenge this year. This isn't my first year doing hand made gifts.  Last year my Mom and I decided to do as many home made gifts as possible.  I made hats, scarves, dishcloths, socks and lots of baked goods.  This year I'm doing the same.  I've already done one item for my brother's girlfriend, but have lots to do.

This is the start of a market bag that I'm making.  The kids are wanting to have their own, so I may be making quite a few of them.  The handle on this is scaring me a little.  I've never done an I-cord before, so there will probably be lots of frogging happening before the final product is finished.  There are still lots of other things to be made as well.  Is anyone else working on gifts already?