I had a blast creating these first two books. The paper from Cosmo Cricket made it even more enjoyable! :) I used my bind-it-all to bind them.
Next is a book that I made this weekend for my Mother for Mother's Day. It is all about thanking her for many of the things that she taught me to love growing up. Sewing, cake decorating, gardening, books & reading, camping... I used one of the new board books from The Angel Company, along with their paper and stamps. 
I finished the wool knitted/felted clogs! And love them!
I also finished the hat I was working on.. but have yet to get a picture of it felted... Just to see how huge it was after knitting and before felting, here is my 2 year old wearing it: It seems that I have been tagged (see comment in last post). I guess this means that I am supposed to name my top 5 favorite blogs... this is proving to be extremely hard. So, I must put more thought into it.
I did finish the felted hat I was working on. I'll try to get photos of it posted later.
I have the paper crafting bug today... off to play!
Here are some of my latest WIP's - first I'll start with the knitting:
My favorite sock so far. It has little shells and is oh-so-soft. I'm using one of the naked wool yarns from knitpicks (see sidebar). 
Next is a sock that I started to play with stripes. The pattern is one of Cat Bordhi's in the soaring on 2 circulars book. I have two other socks in the making, but they are at somewhat boring stages, so photos will come later on those. 
And here is my first felted clog! Made from the Fiber Trends felt Clogs pattern. It was SO fast and easy to knit up! Unfortunately I ordered the wrong amounts of yarn so have to wait to make it's pair. 
Oh, and this is a HUGE huge hat... that will be felted when done. Pattern from "Knit One, Felt Too". It is my goal to update this thing tomorrow!! I've got many WIP's - including 4 different socks! I finished my first felted clog - but ordered my yarn wrong so will have to wait to make the mate until the yarn fairy comes again. (hope it's soon!) Busy, busy, busy, with more designing as well (paper-wise).
More tomorrow....
Well, it's official... we're farming for ourselves. My husband has always worked in farming, and we've finally taken the plunge to be on our own. The farmer that he works for now (and will continue to work for for the next few months) is ready to retire, and has been great in helping us get started. This year we will be growing carrots for seed.
Were you ever curious about how carrots were planted? Well, let me show you a little bit of that world.
First, a load of carrots - yes, whole carrots - are loaded into the planter.
They go over the whole field and plant the male carrots first. Then they go back and plant the females. I'm still not sure if you can tell by looking if it is a male or female carrot... :)
Four workers sit and drop carrots into a spinning carousel. 
Oh, did I mention that the planter, the dumper and the roller were all made by my husband? Pretty cool.
The last photo is of the carrots being rolled over to make sure they are firmly in the ground. Now, if the deer will just stay away.....
Oh, and this makes me a bookkeeper... Yikes...
Here is what I made using the roving that is pictured in the previous post. It spun up beautifully! I then knitted an oversized bag and then felted it. I added in some natural colored handspun yarn to add more bulk for a thicker "fabric" when finished. The darker contrast color is some wool that I had on hand. I love the results!! 
It's quite sturdy and fuzzy!
Spring break ended with a fabulous trip to a fiber fair! I picked up some scrumptious goodies. This is some lovely roving that I began spinning right away. It's just beautiful! 
Next is a felted wool bag that I made while away on spring break.
And, I finished my first PAIR of socks!!! I started a toe-up sock (also from the "Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles", by Cat Bordhi), but lay it aside for a while. I think that I need to make another pair of top-down socks before attempting toe-up.
The last photo is of the silly deer that entertained us at my parents house. They come right into the yard to beg for apples! At one point there were 8 of them chasing each other and racing about all over the field, and in and out of the woods. They put on quite a show for us!
I have been so very busy I haven't managed to take the time to post! There are so many things that I'd love to show here - but for various reasons - can't! Some will be able to be revealed in a couple of months...
Here is a couple of my current knitting projects. Yes, that is going to be a PAIR of socks!!! I am amazed at how my knitting has progressively gotten better. When comparing the sock tops, it looks like two different people knit them! I've also started on another wool felted bag, which is below the socks. A dear friend, who was my midwife's assistant with my last child, requested it!
Happy Spring!!
Yes, there are still some good ones out there!
This weekend two of my friends and I had a fabulous time at a scrapbooking convention. On our first day we had an amazing - but exhausting - time traversing the huge amounts of booths. When we got to the friend's house that we were staying at, her husband (great guy #1 of the weekend!) made us some very pretty blue drinks! The name of which won't be mentioned here... ahem. Then he made us cosmopolitans and finished up with chocolate covered cherries (also a drink). After we were sufficiently relaxed we took out our knitting and had a great time just kicking back.
The next morning we went to the local cafe. It was the greatest place with an amazing atmosphere. We had breakfast and coffee there and were off to another day of fun at the convention. We had a little mis-hap, though, only one block away from the convention center! Parking was already full in the garages, and we were searching for a place when it happened. My friend was driving, and I must say did an amazing job at keeping her wits about her!!! :) The front bumper of the car was tore away leaving the metal part of the bumper hanging by a thread. The man that we collided with wasn't exactly nice.... but then enter great guy of the weekend #2!! He was a vendor heading in to the convention center. He stopped and helped us, when nobody else did! He ripped off the fiberglass part that was left, and wired up the metal part of the bumper for us!! He was our hero!!! Dan, you're the man!! We were able to drive the car home safely without any trouble.
It is refreshing to know that there are still people out there that are truly caring.
I must also mention a thank you to my husband for watching the kids so that I could get away.
This was the first time in about 7 years that I was able to be away overnight without kids!
All in all it was a really fun weekend. I came home with some delicious papers and other goodies.
Cheers!!!!
For a sock!
I did it! I knit a sock!! I must say it was quite an accomplishment for me! Now, if I can find it in me to make another! In most things, I find it hard to make two of the same exact thing. I did come across a way to knit 2 socks at once, on 2 circular needles... may have to try that!
Next is a simple scarf that I made the last 2 evenings.
Last, is a hat. I still haven't closed up the top - and then am not sure if I will felt it or leave it as is. If felted, it would end up quite small - and should fit my youngest.
What to knit next?? :)
Well, kind of... You can see one of my creations here. The one on the left. It was a fun project. Three of us were sent the same supplies. We had creative freedom to make whatever we wanted.
I recently participated in an art swap - I believe there was almost 70 of us - from all over the world. It was a 5x7 swap - we all used 5x7 envelopes to send whatever we chose to make to one person. I received mine yesterday - simply amazing! And from a gal in England!! I am SO amazed... you can go here to see my full post of it. What a great experience!! Thank you again, Sarah!
These are a couple of tiny cards made with Bazzill papers and stamps from TAC. The ribbon is from the "dyeable" line from Making Memories. I ran it over a stamp pad for the color. 
This is a thank you gift set that I made for the hostess of one of my workshops. I found the template for the bag online (I'll try to find the link). They are such fun to make!
The pen is covered with TAC paper and encrusted with glass micro beads. The notebook is also covered with TAC paper ("Catelynne" collection). The stamp sets I used are from the "petalpack", "younique", and "awesomeABCs" sets.
Several of my friends are amazing knitters. They've inspired me to pick up my needles - which haven't been touched in many years. I'm slowly re-learning! I'm starting with a simple wool handbag which I will felt when finished. My thinking on this is that the felting will hide my many mistakes!
This is my friend Char and I after an afternoon of papercrafting challenges! 
We made the most amazing little boxes within a box contraption. We've both seen them several places on the internet (with different names) and loved the look. What a load of fun!! 
I still haven't finished decorating mine - but so far I have used Bazzill papers, and stamps from the sets "Forget Not", "Deco Designs", and "The Good Life".
This is a piano hinged book that I filled with inspiring parenting quotes, such as:
“Every parent should remember that one day their son will follow their example instead of their advice.” And...
“To understand your parents' love you must raise children yourself." Chinese Proverbs
And...
“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength."
Maya Angelou
And...
"If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent and you will have given your children the greatest of all blessings." Brian Tracy
I just love altering objects - especially functional objects such as the notebook on the left. I used the "peaceful heart" TAC stamp set - it's currently one of my favorites. 
Not much to say today... it's been a coffee-spilling kind of week. I'm slowly learning a lesson the hard way... not to drink coffee at the computer and on my workdesk. One computer mouse and TAC catalog down....
Off to refill my cup....
Another exploding scrapbook box! I will be teaching this at a workshop this month. All of the papers are from the Matchmakers Brights Cardstock Stack. Love these papers. They are textured and white cored. Great for distressing! I used several TAC stamp sets including the "decodesigns" set. I also used the tiny "mini-bet" alphabet set. I filled it with photos of childhood friends.
