Branching out into something new

I love to knit and every year I try to knit new items for friends and family and my Etsy site. I also love to design and so I try to design as the year goes by an item or two. Some years it goes well, others not so much. The life of a busy mom. :-)

This year I had someone ask me to make them a pair of baby booties for their little one for Christmas. I thought, those are so cute...yes! Then I realized that they were not knit, but crochet. I kind of freaked out. Now for those of you who do not know me well, I don't crochet. The last time I crocheted was when I was first married and I hated it. I felt tense and frustrated and I had to keep stopping and looking up abbreviations in a book and tearing out. My husband and I decided that at that time in my life crochet was not a good idea. ;-) Well.....what to do. Crochet these adorable booties, design some that were knit, but looked like the ones she wanted (which would take a long time), find a pattern for knit booties and just buy that to make them for her. She wanted them for her little one for Christmas and I wanted to make sure she got them for Christmas. I knew she would be okay if I couldn't get them to her, but I wanted to. So, I decided to crochet them. It was so much fun! There were still lots of looking up abbreviations, but this time on my computer via Youtube. Oh how I love technology like this.  I loved getting to see the actual stitches done and then get to crochet them. I had so much fun and now I can say that I crochet. I still like knitting better, but it was fun and I can do it. Yay for me. :-)

Learning new things is good for our brain and development and I feel that this year I have done that and should have a stronger, healthier brain. :-) 

Cabled Vest

I love when someone hands me neat yarn and says I want something made out of this and I totally trust you will make something great. It is so humbling and exciting being given that kind of challenge and trust. Anyway, I had a lady hand me wool from her sheep and ask me to knit a sweater vest for her grandson. She didn't care what it looked like, just something nice. ;-) It was a ton of fun! I looked at patterns, thought through what the yarn would look like with different technics and made a sweater vest. It is so cute and I am really happy with it. Hopefully she is as well!!!

Summer Projects. ;-) Well sort of.

I really wanted to get the inside of my kitchen cabinets painted with chalkboard paint and then quotes written on them for everyday encouragement and reminders. I also wanted to get the hallway upstairs turned into an art wall for the kids (and parents) ;-)  I am so happy with the way they both turned out. Now to get the art quote I want in the hallway, bought, and put up. :-)

Argyle Socks in the works

This is my first try with argyle socks and so far I think they are turning out fairly well. I am very much enjoying the challenge to remember what color to use and for how many stitches. Definitely not something to work on if a lot is going on around me though. I shall post a picture of the finished project as soon as I am done.