Christmas gifts ...

I have been knitting! ... and knitting ... and knitting ...


These are 2 sets of fingerless gloves, easy. If you'd like my pattern let me know. The pink ones go to my niece that received the pink/green snake scarf last year. I'm trying to finish the green ones to send to my Mom, who is 82, in Denmark. She's not into the hot, screaming colors, but I thought she needed something bright ... and if she only wears them indoors - who cares! I thought they would be fun.



This cowl is for my friend who spends a lot of time on the quad. He plays in the snow and plows out driveways - the wind in your face gets very, very cold. I found this pattern on Ravelry, it's by Michael who also has a blog, This Boy Knits I think I searched for "cowls", but I'm not sure, on second thought, try searching for "Man Cowl" - the name of the pattern. Michael's pattern calls for 60 rounds for the main section, but I only did 40 rounds and it made it long enough to pull up and cover the lower face. It's a bit hard to see the design because I used "camo" yarn, but I think it's very nice and manly!



This is the beginning of a Double Layer Hat, where you start the hat at the top, knit down to the ribbing, then knit another hat to the top. Stuff one hat part into the other and you have a double layered hat. Extra warm. This is for another friend that likes to take walks in cold weather and I thought he needed something extra warm for his head.

Hopefully I will get all these done so I can move on to all (4) the beaded ornaments I need to make! I'll get it done, I just need to sit my fanny down and do it. Sounds familiar, huh?

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.
Hugs

I have crafty stuff to show ... !

I realize it's been 2 weeks since I promised some "crafty pics"... I got some for you!

I tried some chicken pin cushions -


The large girl is made with two 5 inch squares and is lightly stuffed, she's just an ornament for now. I sewed the back end closed with the machine, I will NOT do that again - I will do it by hand from now on, much easier! The two smaller girls are two 4 inch squares and was getting real fidgety to work on. This pattern also had two prairie points as tail feathers. WOW! that was tough even by hand and there was no way I was trying the machine. So the conclusion is: NO tail feathers and close the back opening by hand! But ... I love the chickens anyway!

I now move on to show you more of the studio with more of the stuff:


This is the top of the two plastic 7-drawer units that I have my driftwood, sand dollars, shells and some beads in. The stuff on top needs to be put away after I straighten and organize the drawers. There are several (3-4) containers of beads, findings, stringing materials, etc. that are not shown ... LOL ... they are in the studio, but not very organized, so not for viewing at the moment.

And here is my closet. Getting fuller by the day!


All this stuff is sitting on top of a legless chest of (4)drawers. There is NO room in the drawers for this stuff, so I just need to organize it as is. There are more containers filled with crochet cotton that are sort of just in the closet ... there is no organizing them, so they just sit there. One of the drawers is full of skein ends, leftover yarns and odd ball stuff. You can see all the knitting needles just sitting there ... and I find I need more needles. I am now into knitting in the round so sets of 4 or 5 dpn's (double pointed needles) are needed as well as circulars - can we say "Lots of money" for this? I can! and no, not yet. Someday when I'm rich, bwa ha ha ha ha!!!

And this will be my biggest challenge - the slow process of sorting fabric!


The six containers on the bottom two shelves are my very feeble attempt to sort fabric by colors. I say feeble as I have sooo many cartons of fabric that will NEVER, EVER fit into those teeny, tiny containers. There is a container for Christmas fabric which might fit everything, but well see as I continue to dig ... The little drawer unit, bottom left, will go somewhere else, I just don't know where yet ... and that space will be filled with more fabric containers!

The cutting table is covered with fabric pieces from remnant bins that I don't know what to do with yet, so you don't get a picture. I'm trying, I'm trying!!! At least I can scrape out a little clear space for small projects, but some of the bigger ones I want to do will just have to wait.

One last picture from my craft studio:


This is my darling Maggie. She is under the desk that has the serger on it, sharing space with another tote - lying on top of the heater vent! Sometimes I think she is really ditzy, but if I could, I would curl up and join her today - it is COLD.

Have a great (short) week, and a Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Hugs

Simplifying my life ... LOL

In the previous post I'm showing all the stuff that's being 'stuffed' into my craft room ... and I just added a button for the Down-to-Earth Forum ... under Simplify you life. Now does that make sense? Yup, it does. I'm simplifying my craft life by having everything in the same room, no matter what it looks like. I have zones in there; the bead area, general crafts, quilting, painting, etc.

I just went looking for crafty type pictures, and I realized that I don't have too many. 99% of the ones I have, I've already posted here - - well stay tuned, in a day or two, I will have plenty to show you.

The blog for Down--to--Earth is listed in my side bar. Rhonda Jean lives in Queensland Australia, and is living a simple life. There are just tons of recipes, tips, gardening and much more that she writes about. I love her blog. The forum is a place for getting together with all the people who post on her blog. Check it out, you will love it.

I won't forget the pictures either.

Hugs

Craft room and some flowers ...

I tried to post this on Friday, but blogger just did not want to cooperate!

Believe it or not, but I'm still working on 'stuffing' the craft room with stuff! I finally got the other bookcase in there, but haven't put anything on the shelves yet - it won't be hard to do, but everything has to be dusted, including the books. The little that is sitting on the shelves will be moved - they are just in a holding pattern for now.



As you can see, I've also hung the bulletin board and put things up. The baskets hanging above the bulletin board have smaller baskets in them for now. I don't like to put loose things anywhere because they get so dusty - living on a dirt road does that!! LOL



My Christmas Cactus has finally flowered! This one has never flowered before, but when I put up the shelf under the kitchen window and moved it over there, plus remembering not to water until it is bone dry, it has beautiful flowers on it and lots of new buds.



This picture came out a little dark, but that is what my house is like - dark. The flash went off on the first one and I don't know why it didn't with this one. All my plants, all eight of them, are clustered around windows, but north and northeast windows don't bring in a lot of bright light. There is just enough light to keep the plants alive, but even that is touch and go sometimes. The kitchen window faces mostly west, but it is the only one, besides the bathroom window, that does.



I hope everyone survived Halloween. Where I live the properties are far enough apart and the area dark enough that we don't get any trick or treaters. The kids would have to be driven from driveway to driveway and with the cost of gas, not many parents are willing to do that.

Just think, only 25 days until Thanksgiving!

Hugs