Little Knitting

Today I was working on a little knitting, finishing up some little ornaments I started in July.  I'm trying to decide if I want to leave them as little ornaments, or knit up a few more to make a garland.  The biggest problem I have is that the leftover sock yarn I have is in rather blah colors: gray, olive drab, maroon and orange (I've made a lot of men's socks).  I need to pull them out and see what they look like.  I do really like the ones I've made though.

Homemaker

I finally finished and shipped my sister's wedding gift last week.  I also just finished a pair of socks for my other sister's birthday that was in May, apparently I've been working on them for a year and a half.  I have one more pair of socks to finish up before I can move on to a new project, Mr. Logical's Aran sweater.

A few months ago, one of my sisters gave me a cookbook that she got from a friend of hers.  I kind of just took it to be nice, but a few weeks ago I cracked it open in a moment of desperation.  It has been so hot out, that we can't bear to turn on any other cooking appliance.  This cookbook, The Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Cookbook, is awesome!  I'd used my slow cooker before, with rather disappointing results, but I've had great luck with the recipes in this one.  Tomorrow night, beef stew.

Care Packages

Well, I finished the rainbow socks, and they are all shipped out!  These are probably the fastest socks I have ever completed, thanks to being heelless.

I have another package to ship out that was about the same size as the rainbow socks, and luckily Mr. Logical just got in a shipment of Spotbot cleaner.  They individually boxed every bottle. so I decided to use two of those for my little care packages.  Because the boxes were pretty marked up from other shipping, I wrapped both in pretty scrapbook paper before I sealed everything in packing tape.

While I was packing up these care packages, I remembered that I had pinned this box of sunshine care package with the intention of sending one to my sister.  But I don't think she will mind if I send one to our sick friend instead.

Rainbow sock

We found out recently that my mom's best friend, our second mother, has stage 3 uterine cancer.  So besides sending her some very cute cake pops from Shari's Berries, I set about making her a pair of socks.  It seemed like the perfect time to try out the Heelless Sleeping Socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks.  The first one knit up really quickly, and I am quite pleased with it.

Also started my dollhouse this week, and am just about finished with my sister's wedding gift (will post pictures after she gets it).

Southwest Sock

I finally finished my Southwest socks!  And I will say that I am never knitting socks in lace weight ever again!  They take too long and I get bored.  I think these turned out cute though, and I am one step closer to working on my doll house.

Finished

I did it!  It only took me a year and four months, but I finished my brother's Aran sweater!  I am super pleased with how it turned out, and that it is finished.  Mr. Logical has informed me that the only reason he married me was to get such a sweater, so his is next (well, after I finish the three pairs of socks I have to finish).

Domesticated

Tonight I am making this sausage dinner, except I am using carrots instead of parsnips because that it was we have in the house.  I also turned the heel on Mr. Logical's dad's sock.  We are working on cleaning up our house, and it is looking much better.

Baked oatmeal update: turned out pretty good, but I would make some changes next time, like adding protein powder.

Crochet practice

I have been steadily working on my crochet afghan.  It is the first crochet project I have ever attempted.  I learned to knit from books when I was ten, and picked it back up about 12 years ago while I was in college.  I would say I am an above average knitter, and it is truly my first love in terms of handicrafts.

My mom was a professional crocheter in my childhood.  She made sweet little sweaters that were bought by a woman I called "The Crochet Lady," who sold them at craft fairs.  My mom never taught me to crochet, and for a long time I didn't know what to do with only one crafting implement.  It didn't much matter, I rarely needed to crochet, and when I did, I just asked my mom to do that part for me.  But then I found the book Vintage Crochet, and knew I had to figure it out.  I bought the book in 2008, but didn't teach myself to crochet until last year.

This afghan is really just a large granny square.  I think it is going to be smaller than I wanted, because I am almost out of the dark brown, and I bought this year last year so there is no hope of matching the dye lot.  I've also been working on making little granny squares out of the sock yarn I have left over from the socks I've made over the past few years.  Once I finish my started projects, I'd like to learn how to read a crochet pattern.

Unfinished

At the moment, I have about 8 unfinished craft projects.  Three pairs of socks that only have one sock, a crocheted afghan, a crewel work sampler, a small cross stitch piece, and 2 sweaters are what I can think of off the top of my head.

One of the pairs of socks I need to finish in the next few weeks, because it is a thank you gift for my new father-in-law.  I also need to get to work on one of the sweaters, because I have been working on it for a year, it is almost done.  I got really frustrated with it because I made one sleeve three inches too short, so now I have to pick out the bound off edge and add some more.

I think my unfinished project problem comes from my dad, who moves from project to project.  He always circles back around, though, so there is hope for me yet!