My Favorite Things.....

Max has a Christmas stocking...

Max just had to have a Christmas stocking, so I started looking on the internet and found this cute little machine embroidery "Westie":

His name doesn't show up very well on the Christmas plaid material that I had remnants of, but that's ok.  I don't think he will mind.  Here is the full stocking:

I also finished up putting the lining in my felted Christmas bag.  It's a little smaller than I usually carry, but I really don't need to carry much it for what I'm going to be using it for.

The bag is so small that it was a little hard to get my hand inside it to sew in the lining, but I got it done.  Will be perfect for either my red or white suit for Christmas.

We are still stranded in our house (day 3).  We have about 12" of snow.  The main roads coming up to the house have not been scraped and the man that suppose to scrap our driveway hasn't called us.  I was suppose to get my hair done on Friday, but I had to cancel---actually the Aveta Salon closed down because of the snow.  Now I'm scheduled for tomorrow at 1:30 and I don't think I'm going to be able to get down off the mountain.  May have to do my own coloring for Christmas.

Max enjoyed his little romp in the snow when it first started on Friday.  He was so cute.  He would take a running leap, slide, roll over and over in the snow, stand up, shake himself off and start all over again.  Here he is modeling his new over-coat.  At least it kept the fresh falling snow off of his back.  He came in with little snow balls attached to his feet.

 

It's now too deep for him to go outside.  We have had to rely on the potty pads located in various parts of the kitchen and breakfast room.  When they were first put down, Max only tore them apart.  Now, after three days, he has learned what they are for---good boy!!!!!
 

I started another scarf.  This one is the Chevron and Feather Scarf from My Little Box of Scarves.  I'm using 10 1/2 US needles and Noro Kochoran which is made with wool, angora, and silk.  Fun scarf to knit.

The girl that does my hair wanted to learn to knit "with needles" and asked me if I would teach her.   She had been using the plastic circular looms to make hats.  I bought her two skeins of this same yarn, some needles and printed up a feather and fan pattern from My Little Box of Scarves.  She was a very quick learner and has already finished her scarf.  I loved the way the colors blended together and decided I had to have one for myself.

Time to start dinner.  Hopefully, we'll get off the mountain tomorrow---but I highly doubt it.
 
 

Finally got some photos of Max wearing his new sweater...

Alicia, John and Maggie came up for the weekend to attend a Santa brunch at the club on Sunday.  While they were taking their nap this afternoon (and Max too), I finished up Max's sweater.  Here are some photos of all of them:

If I had thought, I should have left a buttonhole in the back of the sweater to feed the clips for Max's harness through.  I'll have to remember that for the next one.  The sweater actually fits him to a T.  It looks a little bulky on his back in the above photo, but that is his harness causing the sweater to bunch up on his back.

Alicia told her daddy that she would never get any sewing done now because I would be using all my time knitting sweaters for Max ;)
 
 

Max's new sweater......

Max is our newest Alabama fan.  Here he is showing off his new Alabama T-shirt.  Actually he doesn't like the shirt and tries to pull it off; but, doesn't he look cute!  Oh, you do know that Alabama is #1 now-----Roooooooolllllllll Tide!!!!!  Next challenge----Texas...

Wendy told me I needed to knit him a designer sweater, so I did:

I haven't finished it yet.  I still have to knit the arms and weave in all the ends.  This was a fun little pattern to knit. I love fairisle knitting.  It only took two days to knit because it's so small.  I attempted to try it on Max, but he just loved getting his teeth into both the sweater and the loose ends.  Photos of the sweater being actually worn by Max to come when it's all done.

Oh, details on the pattern:  Drops Design (free pattern on Ravelry).  I used Ella Rae Classic yarn that Lynn gave me last Christmas---thank you, Lynn) and both 3.5 (US 4) circular needles for the body and 3.0 (US 2) circular needles for the ribbing.   I made the XS size so he could wear it now.  It will not fit him next winter, but he needed something now.   It got so cold here that he would be shaking when he came in from his walks.  He definitely doesn't like to walk in the snow  (we had just a little dusting of about 1" over the weekend).

Update on Max:

He went to the Dr yesterday for his checkup.  He's a big whopping 4 lbs.  He's very healthy.  His eyes were a little red which was caused by those hairs sticking in them so the vet clipped them (as you can tell the the first photo) and gave us some drops to put in them for three days.   The vet microchipped him.   You could hear him (Max, that is, not the vet)  yelling all over the building when the procedure was done, but he's ok.  He loves to eat, drink, wet and poo--in that order.  We put him to bed at 9:00pm and 11:30pm he lets us know that he needs to go outside.  Then at 4:30 am he lets us know again.  He always goes right back to sleep after his walk and sleeps until about 7:00 am when he is walked again.  Then it's every hour during the day. (This is like having a baby in the house again---but we're having so much fun!!!)

Well, 4:30 comes early, so I'm off to bed.
 

Meet the newest member of our family!

 

Thanks to Alicia and Nathan his name is "Max".  He is a two month old West Highland Terrier.   We went all the way to Russelville, Arkansas to pick him up.  We're on our way back home now.  So far he is doing very well.  We have a kennel for him but he doesn't like it.  He wails when we put him in it.  So, he rode in my lap all the way from Russelville to Jackson, TN where we are staying for the night.  I have no idea how he will do through the night.  I've never had an inside dog before so I really don't know what to expect.  Right now he is asleep under a chair.  He was so cute a little while ago.  There is a full length mirror on the closet door.  He went by the mirror and thought his image was one of his brothers.  He jumped up on the mirror and tried to find out how to get to the pup that he saw.  It was a little sad because he misses them.

I did get some knitting done on my way out to Russelville.  I started and finished a feather and fan scarf.  Good thing I finished it because there is no knitting tonight. ;)  Didn't get a photo, but as soon as I get home and get a chance to block it I'll post one.

Think we are in for a long night.  I was told I might have to get up about 4 am and walk Max.  I'm not use this, but I'm sure it won't take long to get into the routine. ;)
 

Christmas Bag

A couple of weeks ago we got a Gump's catalog.  Just love browsing through catalogs, don't you.  John commented on this and said that I could make it for myself.  You know, I thought to myself, he's right!!!  Can you make out the prices of the bags below?  That's unreal!!

I've never felted before (except by accident and totally unintended) so I jumped into the car and ran over to one of our LYSs to see what I could find.  I told Linda what I had in mind and she immediately came up with Fiber Trends, Gelato Bag.  It was perfect!

Just look at the similarity. I started knitting as soon as I got home.  Linda had suggested Iceland 100% Wool yarn by Crystal Palace in a beautiful shade of red.    I omitted the handles as I wanted to use something like the photo. (Now I have to figure out how to attach them.)  Since I had never felted, I wasn't sure where I should make a tab to be inserted through a loop of the handle.  We'll see.  Anyway, this is what the bag looked like after knitting:

Then it was time for the felting.  I put it through three hot washes until I had it the size I needed:

I'm waiting for it to completely dry and then I'll try to get rid of the fuzz---is that possible and how do I do that?  Any suggestions from you felters  will be greatly appreciated.   I plan on sewing in a lining.  I have some beautiful Christmas pins that I can use on the front of the bag that will be just perfect.  The way this bag is made, with  different pins,  the bag can be used for more than just Christmas.  I think I'll make a black one too.

I'll post follow-up photos as the process progresses.
 
  

Congratulations!!!!

to my brother, Bob, for again being top vote getter for Commissioner in his town yesterday.  I  don't remember how many years he has been on the board, but it's been a long time and every year he is the top vote getter.  Good work, Bob!!!!!  Somebody out there loves you ;) 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Have a great time Trick-or-Treating!!!!!!
 

...and then there were five.......

"itty bitty" socks, that is.  These little socks are so much fun to knit.  I only have five done and many more to go, but it's fun none the less.  As I knit each one, I say to myself----"I remember the socks I made from this yarn".  Actually, the light one was from the little cork screw hat I made for Maggie last month.

In fact, here is a comparison: (I'm not sure about the green one)

       
 
 I haven't decided how I will display the finished socks.  There are several options:  Hang them with little clips on a line, put them on a ribbon in a ladder fashion, put them on a wreath, put them on a small Christmas tree----will just have to wait and see how they look.  Any suggestions?

Now I'm off to the basement to do a little sewing for the little ones.

Pattern for "Itty Bitty" Toe-up Socks

Wendy wrote this afternoon and gave me permission to submit this pattern.  All of the directions are relative to the type yarn and needle that you use.  You must judge this for youself.  The completed sock is 3" long from toe to end of heel and 3" high from end of heel to top of cuff.  It measures 2" across from one side to the other (laying flat).

Remember this is based on Wendy's Toe-up gusset heel sock.

Here is the pattern:  (The numbers written in red are those for using sock weight yarn--like Artyarns, Koigu, etc.)  I think sock yarn like Regia might require even more stitches to start with in order to get the width you need.  I'm still working on this.  Will adjust pattern when I get to my Regia yarn left-overs.

Using Judy's Magic Cast-on and two circular needles (I used US 2 because of the weight of my yarn), cast on 6 stitches. 

Increase to 14 (16) stitches on each needle for a total of 28 (32) stitches.  (I adjust this according to the weight of my yarn).

K 12 rows

K across the top of needle one (top of sock).

Begin gusset by working only on the sole stitches.

Row 1:  K1, M1, K up to 2 stitches from end and K1, M1, K1.

Row 2:  Knit

Repeat these two rows until there are 24 (28) stitches on the needle.

Turn Heel:

Row 1:  K 13 (15), SSK, K1, Turn

Row 2: Sl 1, P3, P2Tog, P 1, Turn

Row 3:  Sl 1, K4, SSK, K1, Turn

Row 4:  Sl 1, P5, P2Tog, P 1, Turn

Row 5:  Sl 1, K6, SSK, K1, Turn

Repeat  this sequence until all stitches are worked and there are 14 (16)  stitches on needle.

Begin knitting in the round for 14 (16) rows.

Begin Cuff:

K1, P1 for 6 rows and bind off.

That's it!!  Have fun if you decide to try them.

How about some more socks.......

...this time---itty bitty---

I put the cell phone in the photo so you could get an idea of the size.

I was reading Katie's blog the other day and she is making an advent calendar using mini socks.  Katie's are based on a (knitter found on Ravelry).  It's such a cute idea and I have so much left-over yarn that I decided to attempt one for John, Maggie, and Nathan.  I'm only going to make one for John and Maggie.  They are big enough that they will hold things for two children. 

The socks knit up very fast.  I decided to make mine based on Wendy's toe-up gusset heel socks and using Judy's Magic Cast-on.  It took me a while to get the proportions right and the proper amount of stitches (each sock will be different based on the weight of the yarn).

I'll write up the pattern after I hear from Wendy.  I just thought I should ask her if it is ok to print up the pattern since it is her gusset heel.  
 

As many of you know by now, SAFF was this weekend in Asheville.  WOW!  What a turn out.  I haven't been since year before last and was I in for a surprise.  I've never seen so many people and vendors.  The list of classes was not so bad either.  My blogging friend, Wendy, came up with her sister-in-law, Diane, to take some classes.  We met for lunch and then went about our separate ways for Wendy to take a class and for me to brouse around.  I ended up with  two sets of HiYA HiYa needles (which ended up being too short for me and I don't like the bent needles---they only had 12" and I like 16"), 6 skeins of Miss Bab's sock yarn and 4 skeins of Kitchen Sink Dyeworks sock yarn---oh they are lovely yarns.

Saturday night John and I took Wendy and Diane over to the country club for dinner.  To our surprise, they greeted us with gifts (that's not suppose to be).  They gave John some wonderful Pepper Marmelaide and me a needle holder made of pottery and some lovely wooden needles.  The needle holder was designed by Diane and was made by Miracle Pottery of Valley Head, AL.  It just lovely and I waisted no time filling mine up:

Now I have a special place to put my Mother and Grandmother's old metal needles.  Thank you Wendy and Diane.  We had so much fun visiting with you Saturday.

Now, I'm off to knit another "itty bitty" sock and then run to the store or we don't eat tonight (did I ever mention that I hate to shop for groceries!!!!!!)