Mittens Complete

It wasn't easy... well it was after I took all my lumps and fixed all my mistakes:)

And look what you can do while wearing your new mittens.
Make super silly funny faces!

Gotta admit that the lovely thumbed mitten of the previous post turned out to be practice. Since finishing the inside-out, way too big mitten, my skills improved. I had to make 2 more to have a wearable set. What a great skill I have now though. I'm off to make 2 more pair for the other munchkins.

You can find the toddler mitten pattern here.

Look Ma, I Made a Thumb!

Go ahead and laugh. No really, its ok. The fact is that I couldn't be more proud of this little thumb. This thumb was no easy task but I did it. Truly, I feel like a preschooler who needs her mama to say "Good girl! Great job!"

If you look closely, you can see that my poor thumb is on inside out but I don't mind. No, perfection is not critical this time around. Simple execution is enough for me. Why am I so excited? Well, I have never been "taught" to knit. I am purely self taught through books and online tutorials. This little thumb required me to pick up and knit, knit 2 together, break off and bind, sew a seam. Quite a big lesson in such a little thumb.

Truthfully...this mitten was meant for my 2 year old. As you can see, it fits me. Oh well, like I said, perfection is not on my radar right now.

In other crafty news, I stopped by the most adorable little shop yesterday. I have driven past it many times in the past few months but wasn't sure what was in it. All I could see was the sign outside. Its called My Eclectic Mess and the logo is a dress form wearing a polka dot skirt. Enough said. This is the place for me.

I did a bit of online research and came across the shop's website and blog. Yes, its a bloggy mama that owns the shop. Even better!

Look at the lovelies that followed me home. I was looking for some fabric for the girls fall wardrobe. Beth suggested these fabrics from Joel Dewberry's Aviary collection. I could not be more excited to make something from them. A little jumper I think. If I could just work up the courage to cut them....

Go check out Beth's site. Also note that she offers her amazing fabric selection in an Etsy store.

Ahhhhh, Completion

I have been in a bit of a funk lately. I feel scattered and ineffective. I have not been able to get a handle on anything it seems. I set the goal of "finishing" the current, and ever-growing, laundry pile everyday this week and all I could muster was a load or two. The house looks like a bomb went off but no matter how long I spend picking up, it just never looks any better. The day before yesterday I decided that it was time to take back control. My way of doing that was to hunker down and finish something. Here it is:

I am in love with this bag. It is perfect for the fall and I adore the color of the yarn. I used the Stitch and Bitch pattern but changed out the ring handles for these vintage wood ones. You may remember my good fortune of acquiring these handles. They make me happy just looking at them. They are chunky and heavy and feel good in your hand. If you ask me, they are a huge improvement over the cheap-o bamboo rings I originally bought for this project.

Half of the fun was choosing the broach that compliments it best. I have quite a collection now and I had such a ball sorting through them, trying them all on and selecting one. I'm a huge dork, I know, my hubby just reminded me of that. Good thing he loves me anyway!

Since deciding to kick the funk to the curb, I have managed to finish my book, finish the laundry and get the house reasonably clean. Sometimes you just have to muscle through and say NO to the cloudy funk. Its amazing how great I feel today. I think I may head to my local yarn shop for some group knitting tonight. What has gotten into me??

Pattern: fat bottom bag

Bathroom Rehab

This home improvement project was supposed to be a quick and simple task but it turned into a huge ordeal. Don't they all seem to go that way?

Since we moved into this house 3.5 years ago, the half bath has been a dark shade of grey with chinsy black fixtures. The paint the prior owners used was textured with grains of sand. Even though I hated this room, we never got to it because we weren't really sure how to deal with the textured paint. Being the super savvy home decorators that we are (not), we decided that the best way to handle it would be to put more textured paint over it. I mean, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em right? No, not right.

We ended up with a huge, gloppy textured mess. See below.

I stopped Brian midway through and told him to put the brush down and walk away. Upon doing some research on the dreaded textured paint, I decided that the best plan would be to prime the walls with 2 coats of heavy duty primer and then do 2 coats of flat paint. Small job turns to huge job.

Here is the old color with the new textured paint on top. Yeeew...no double yeeeew!

After putting the new plan in action, we completed the job. The new half bath is light and airy. The light fixture makes the room literally glow. I found the mirror at the Hobby Lobby on clearance ($45.00). I made the curtain from fabric in my stash, whooo hooo! Nothing like decorating while stash busting. I'm glad that I found a place to use this fabric because I simply adore it!

Once I got the sewing machine humming again, I couldn't stop. I just had to make a cute hand towel. I made the towel out of a thrifted table cloth and embroidered a little humming bird and flower. Do you ever color with your kids? It's really soothing and mindless. I feel the same way about these simple embroidery projects. Soothes the soul.

Project complete, thank goodness. Even the kids can't get over the transformation. They keep wanting to go potty in the "new" bathroom. Can't say that I blame them.

My First Wearable Knit

Think fall baseball games, think trick or treating, think date night on a cold and snowy evening. I think this cowl/hood will be quite useful.


When the wind begins to blow and the rain/sleat/snow begins to fall, just pull up the hood and the hair is protected....without being smashed.
I used a cotton/wool blend for this project. It is super light weight yet soft and warm. I am happy with my very first completed knit project. On to the next!

Gearing Up for Colder Weather

I have been toiling away on this cowl/hood for the last few days. You would not believe the hours I have into this project because I have frogged it twice. I am a beginning knitter and I don't know how to fix mistakes so I just end up taking it all apart and starting over.

After doing that 2 times, I decided to get smart and look for a video tutorial for recapturing dropped stitches. Kelsey is my girl and has pretty much taught me how to knit. What a woman! No more frogging now. This puppy is going to be finished if it kills me!

Hopefully it will look a little like this when I am finished. Cozy!

This is a free pattern from lion brand yarn. All you have to do it join and you're in.