Last quilt of the year…coming soon!

I’m well on my way to the toe on my second Fuzzy Feet felted slipper, then on to learning how to Kitchener stitch.   But more importantly, I’m almost done with my last customer quilt of the year…and it’s GORGEOUS!

Yes, I like the quilting design I’m putting on it, and yes, I picked something that took way longer than it probably needed to,  but when I first saw this quilt…well, I fell in love.  It’s just so peaceful.

I love bright colors.  I’m animated. I’m always on the go.  This quilt is none of that.  I’ll be finishing up the border tonight, while my husband is at work.  As much as I’m dying to, I’m not going to post a sneak peak of the quilting, but you’ll know what I mean when you see it.

Once this quilt is finished, then I can focus on my own projects:

Finishing the Fuzzy Feet felted slippers

Finishing a surprise quilt for a friend

Finishing the last round of my Pass-the-Bag project

Replacing the sponge in the HK-100 knitting machine

Making at least 6 hats on the knitting machine

Replacing the electrical plug on the Passap

Cleaning up the Passap

More knitting projects…check out my Ravelry queue!

Spending time at my LYS

New Year’s Day spinning

Today, though, we need to go car shopping.  Last week my husband’s 20 year old van broke down, the one he uses for his side jobs doing drywall.  It’s been very enlightening having only one vehicle, and truly emphasizes the lack of bus service in Boise!

I’ve drawn a line in the sand on spending anymore money for repairs; there’s over 194,000 miles on it!  We’ve already put in more money than we should have, trying to get it to last until Spring.  For the most part it’s been a good vehicle, but it’s time to replace it.  Terrible timing, though.

Oh, and my mom is coming to visit at the end of the week, after Christmas, so we’ll have our own celebration then.

For those of you don’t celebrate Christmas, I hope you enjoy the festive atmosphere of this holiday season.  For those of you who do, Merry Christmas!

Sock Knitting!

This is my first "sock"!

About 3 years ago, someone suggested that I use the Fuzzy Feet felted slipper pattern from Knitty.com to learn how to make socks and I finally got up the courage to start it!

I'm using a double strand of Fisherman's wool where I took the ends from the middle pull and paired it with the end of the ball, and because I'd wound the skein into two, somewhat similar sized balls, when I got to the toe of this first sock and was running out of yarn from the first ball, I figured I should make a design decision and finish it up with another color.  What's showing as green in the photo is actually brown in person.

Yes, it's gigantic, but it's supposed to be so that it will shrink to the appropriate size when felted.  It's a top down sock and now I need to learn how to do the Kitchener stitch to close up the toe.

I've even cast on the second sock (no second sock syndrome for me)!  Last night I got the 2nd cuff done and I'm ready to start the heel flap.  I'm really getting excited to learn how to make some everyday socks now!  After learning the Kitchener stitch, I'll learn how to make toe up socks.