Monday, October 20, 2008

This and that

I have a couple of FOs that I haven't blogged about yet. Not sure why I keep putting it off . . . maybe because I've already posted them on Ravelry and Flickr and forgot about the blog.
bath mitt
Sherrie is selling so many of her beautiful soaps at a craft fair in Yarmouth this weekend. It's at the Grand Hotel, in case you're local, on October 25 and 26. If you're there, please stop by her booth and say hi! I'll be helping her all weekend, so I knit up a little bath mitt to give away as a door prize (as if her soaps aren't enough to draw people to her table!).

Pattern: Wash Mitt by Erika Knight (rav)
Source: Classic Knits at Home
Materials: less than half a skein of Louet Euroflax Originals in Champagne
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm
Started: October 15, 2008
Finished: October 17, 2008
Raveled here

Modifications: I changed a few things. I knit the front and back separately, but didn't bind off the end, rather I kept the ends on the needles and grafted them together. If I knit this again, I'll do it in the round and knit the end like a sock toe.
Sweet Baby CapI also knit up this little darling with bits of leftover yarn for my cousin's baby boy.

Pattern: Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap (rav)
Materials: bits of Oceanwind Knits Merino in Blu and Black Lamb City Silk
Needles: 2.5 mm addi turbos
Started: October 8, 2008
Finished: October 10, 2008
Raveled here

Apart from that, I've been busy knitting lots of Christmas gifts. For a sneak peek, you can visit my Ravelry page. Since none of my family members knit and most of them read my blog and keep tabs on my Flickr page, Ravelry is the only safe place on the internet to post my secret projects!

Monday, October 06, 2008

Craft Swap!

I had read about craft swaps on house on hill road and thought it was a great idea. So I sent off an e-mail to my two favourite crafters, Sherrie and Blogless Annie, and asked them if they were interested. Of course they were! We set a date (last Thursday -- why has it taken me so long to blog about this?) and got crafting.
365-150 (birds on a branch)
Sherrie had shown me these lovely little birds on spool a while back, so after mulling over several different crafts, I set about making a flock of these guys. I just used some leftover fabric from different projects, found some branches on the trail behind my house and used some 18 gauge wire for the feet.
birds on a branch
Aren't they sweet? I may even make a few of these for myself.

Sherrie, maker (and seller!) of everything soapy and sweet smelling, made the loveliest milk baths (mine isn't fizzy because citric acid is the fizzing element. Since too much citric acid in foods makes my tongue swell up, I don't even want to think of what a citric acid bath would do to me!) and Raspberry Coconut sugar scrub. I've only used the sugar scrub so far, but Lordy, is it ever divine!
What Sherrie made for the swap
Blogless Annie made us these re-usable feminine hygiene products. Fashionable and Earth-friendly! Annie swears by these, so I'm interested to see if I'll become a covert too!
What Blogless Annie made for the swap
We also cooked up a great meal before the swap. It was sort of like a really fancy potluck. We chose the theme "autumn" and each brought a course. We started out with my curried butternut squash soup (accompanied by some Nova Scotian Tideview Cider -- can we just take a moment to talk about how amazing this stuff is? It's like wine, only apple-y with a little sparkle. It's so-so-so good. Too bad you can only get it in Wolfville, NS.)
Course #1
Blogless Annie cooked up Penne with Summer Squashes and Sweet Corn. It was so good. I'll definitely make this sometime.
Course #2
And Sherrie made an apple tarte tatin from Donna Hay's Modern Classics #2. So, so delicious.
Course #3
All in all, a great swap. I hope we can so it again!