Inky Again!

More fun times in the ol' stamping room today! If this card looks very similar to another I've made recently, it is. I got some excellent advice on how to improve my earlier effort, from someone who knows! So I wisely followed his suggestions, and here is the result. I love all the color, and the sentiment.



I used the same sentiment here, but went for a totally different look. The images are from the same Face Flowers set I was sent in my design team kit (so many great images to play with there), but this time I made the green background by applying alcohol inks to glossy cardstock, then stamping with pigment ink and embossing the images, so they would show up nice and dark. Easy! Layered on black, then shiny gold cardstock (too bad you can't see it in person - the green background also has some gold in it. Shimmery!)

I have more stamps to play with, but I also need to clean up in my room; it doubles as a classroom (some of you may remember that), and as it happens, I will start tutoring a lovely young man (tenth grade) in English starting this Monday. I have known this kid since he was in sixth grade, and a sweeter kid you've never met! I just hope I can give him some help. He's very smart, and long on charm, but perhaps just a wee bit unmotivated when it comes to his studies. I want to help motivate him, because after all, it's his future at stake! We'll see how it goes. So while I'm excited to help him, I'm a bit unnerved at the prospect of giving my stamping/class room a thorough cleaning. It's been...awhile, shall we say?

I was a good girl though, finished translating this month's section of the Holocaust memoir before going to play. I still need to double check some spelling of towns and such, and polish it up a bit before sending it off to the client. But the main work is done, thank goodness! I hate to be late.

I've also done some knitting (of course), which also keeps me happy. Will likely get more done tonight while watching a basketball game on television. I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend!

More Gifts

These are the fingerless mitts I made for my niece in California. She and I agreed on the pattern and colors this past summer, and I think she will look great in them! Only wish I could have given them to her personally. I included the balls of left over yarn so you could see that you actually can manage to make the smaller size with just one 50 gram skein of each color (though I was sweating a bit over the green, I can tell you!). They are called Transition Gloves, and I got the pattern from Simply Sock Yarns, one of my very favorite places to buy yarn.



These of course are Avi's Chanukah socks, made with Austermann Step yarn, which has some kind of softener in it that feels marvelous on the hands while you knit, and probably feels even better on the feet. Of course, Avi said, "But I already have a pair of your socks!" when I gave them to him. Sigh. Needs just a bit more training, but I think I'll keep him anyway.

After these finishes, I still have another nine (yes, 9!) projects on the needles. I am going to try very hard to finish up as many as I can starting now and continuing through the Winter Olympics. Then I need to get started on gifts for Liat's homeroom teacher of the last two and a half years and the principal of the school. I'm thinking maybe Swallowtail scarves for both of them (don't worry, if you have no idea what that means, I'll be sure and bore you with photos and details when the time comes).

I ordered some more Marvy brush art markers and glossy cardstock today, for more cardmaking fun! I'm hoping to spend part of tomorrow making some more cards, too. I feel very lucky.

I hope you are all having fun this weekend, too!

Catching Up

How can I catch you up when I keep moving forward? Anyway, here is the bunny I made for Meital for Chanukah. I imagine by next year she won't want stuffed toys, so this may be the last one I make for her, at least for awhile. I didn't make the dress according to the pattern (called The Well-Dressed Bunny - it's on Ravelry for those of you who are members there). In fact, I knit and ripped out the dress several times before coming up with something I was reasonably happy with.



And this is another card, made today, with my new Posh stamps. I used a stipple brush and a multi-colored ink pad called Blending Blox to make the speckled background, then stamped the ivy stamp and the phrase on the card. The sunflowers I stamped on sticker paper and added. Fun and easy! And since I've been watching all of my Dee Gruenig DVDs (and viewing her videos on You Tube) I have a whole lot more ideas spinning around in my head, waiting for a chance to come out!

However, my deadline for sending in the third installment of the Holocaust memoir is drawing near, and I am spending most of my time on that lately. It's very interesting learning about life in the camp of the Bielski partisans.

I did sneak in some knitting today, too, though. Shh! Still trying to finish Avi's second sock, and I'm nearly ready to start the toe decreases, which means I just might finish by Friday night, the last night of Chanukah. Wish me luck!

Playtime!

I got my first designer's kit yesterday from Stamp A Mania, and it's a lovely one! It's called Face Flowers, and some of the images are smaller versions of stamps already in my collection, which makes me think of all kinds of fun possibilties. Meanwhile, I made these two cards today, and had a blast getting inky after so much time away from my stamping table.


It's going to be lots of fun thinking of ways to use these pretty stamps. They are even a great size for ATCs, so I may have to get back into those, too. The Posh Rubber Stamps website is partially operational but the big reveal will be coming soon. I can't wait to see all of the accessories they are going to carry; I am in desperate need of Marvy markers and more glossy cardstock!

I've been away from blogging for a while and I've missed it. We've had a fair amount of work come in, which is always good. Plus, I'm still working on my biggest project, the memoir of a man who survived the Holocaust. I have just gotten to the part where he joins the Bielski partisans (did anyone see "Defiance"?).

Natually, there has also been a lot of knitting. I will share those photos in a future post. Some items have been given to their recipients, but I am still stealth knitting the socks for Avi. Nearly done, thank goodness! Of course, there is no shortage of other projects I want to start as soon as I finish the ones already on the needles.

A Finish

Not to be confused with a Finn. I met some lovely Swedish members of my distant family over a year ago, but have yet to discover any Finnish leaves on my family tree. But I did finally complete this Marsan Watchcap for my nephew Michael in Jerusalem. I hope he likes it!

This is the third black hat I have made for a young man in recent weeks. Two of the three will be entering the army some time in the next year to year and a half, so hopefully the hats will come in handy then as well as now.

But I'd really rather not have to knit another hat with black yarn any time soon. And aren't photos of items knitted with black yarn just so thrilling?

Instead of casting on for the scarf for my niece in Jerusalem, I decided to see if I could finish at least one other something first. I finished the leg, knit the heel flap and turned the heel on the second in a pair of baby socks made from leftover Koigu, and I hope those will be finished by Saturday night. Meanwhile, I am going to work on Meital's first tipless glove tonight.

It's so much fun to knit with the sound of the rain as my background music!

I Blame Ravelry

For those who may not know, Ravelry is an online community for knitters and crocheters. There are discussion forums, interest groups, and places to share your finished projects and works-in-progress, your yarn stash, your knitting/crochet book collection and more. The place I hang out most is the Patterns section. There are thousands and thousands of patterns on Ravelry; many are free, and others can be downloaded for a reasonable fee. The Patterns database is searchable, so if my niece in Jerusalem wants a scarf in black and pale turquoise (which she does), I can search scarf patterns for designs using two colors, and so on.

The guilty secret alluded to yesterday isn't that I ate all the Swiss chocolate stashed in the fridge, or that I splurged on new stamps, ink pads and the like. No, the truth is, the yarn you see in the photo above was calling to me, and I spent many enjoyable minutes browsing through the patterns at Ravelry, until I happened upon the one that shouted: "I'm the one you've been looking for!" Of course I got started right away. Couldn't make myself wait until I had finished one of the eight (8) projects already on my needles (one of which is a sweater for me, for Pete's sake).

I love the way this very simple design (it's the mara shawl from Madeline Tosh, for those who are interested) showcases the gorgeous yarn, which is Fiesta Boomerang in the Rain Forest colorway, purchased two years ago while we were in Oklahoma City. Another fun thing about Ravelry is that you can view the knitting of others who have made your project, read their raves and/or complaints about a pattern and any problems or innovations they had along the way. More than a couple complained that this was a boring knit, but I don't think that will bother me. So far, I am finding it fun and yet soothing to work on. The color changes in the yarn amuse me, and it's fun to watch the shawl gradually grow on my needles.

So there you have it; my guilty secret. I'll bet at least some of you were expecting something like this.

Knitting Content!

I'm finally getting around to showing you the tipless gloves I am making for my girls. If you've been visiting Bag Of Chocolates for awhile, you might recognize this pattern. Basically, I took Ann Budd's Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns glove pattern, did 2x2 ribbing for the wrist & hand, and stockinette for the thumb gusset and fingers. I've made gloves like these for my sister and both of her daughters. Liat's yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Apple Hill colorway, on size 2.5mm needles. This photo was taken a couple of days ago; I finished this glove today and cast on for the second one.


Meital's tipless gloves are also in Lorna's Laces, in the Flamingo Stripe colorway. Since her hands are a little smaller, I am using 2.25mm needles; not sure how much of a difference it will make, but it should be fine. That's what I love about doing these in 2x2 ribbing; they can stretch to fit, but are also fairly snug to the hand. I just don't love floppy gloves/mitts/wristwarmers! This photo is from today, but I have since worked on this and am nearly done with the thumb gusset.

I've also been working on the Marsan watchcap for my nephew in Jerusalem, but since it's black I just can't get enthusiastic about progress photos. I've even worked a little on the second baby sock in leftover Koigu. I started this pair months ago, thinking they would be the first in a bunch of summer knitting. But I ended up making other things and the socks have been neglected. Now I really want to free up th needles so I can get started on Avi's Chanukah socks, not to mention socks for some other lovely people...

No stamping for the last few days, but I think the ideas have been simmering just about long enough and will be ready to appear on paper soon. And next time, I will confess a guilty secret.

Stay tuned.