no sew puppy sweaters!

this is olive...we got her yesterday and are totally in love. she is just a baby and gets very cold when we take her outside so i started looking for an easy puppy sweater tutorial. i didn't want to spend too much time since she will be growing so quickly.

this was just perfect! i have had several old sweaters lying around waiting for me to repurpose them so it took a total of 10 minutes for Olive to have two new sweaters! i left the blue one a little big so she can wear it for a bit.

she doesn't really like the way they feel on, but she stays outside much more comfortably!

so cute and EASY!! i LOVE no sew stuff!

i have a few other little projects to share, but i probably won't get them up until after the new year...SO happy holidays! see you in 2010!

mountain baby blanket

i am up past my eyeballs in the middle of finals and one of the few things that brought a smile to my face was seeing this. it is the quilt jenni and i made for the mountain baby blanket project! check out jenni's blog for more pictures and details.

5 more days...and then i am free. (for 4 weeks...)

umbilical cord hats & a sweet buggy

can't you just picture the little baby heads in these? OMG its too much...even G said we need a baby to put in there! that man loves him a beanie...doesn't matter if he has to admit he wants a baby to express his beanie love!

the un-umbilical cord hats are for girl twins due to one of my professors. i am SO excited for her. we surprised her with a mini shower this week and it made her so happy. love things like that.

i tried to embellish them with knit flowers...what a pain in the ass. seriously - i won't try that one again! they are cute enough without - love the swirl at the top!

then i had a 12 hour clinical shift on labor and delivery with only 1 delivery - a c-section =(...so i spent the day knitting up the third TRUE umbilical cord hat. that one is going to a sweet baby boy...hope it fits!

and back to my wonky stitches...you just can't deny how wonky these are! what the F? it is DRIVING.ME.INSANE. i think i need to go to the local knitting shop after finals and figure out a solution to my tension issue. switching to continental might be the solution, but it kind of frightens me.

lastly i made this little card for our professor so we could all share our congratulations. my buggy shape leaves something to be desired, but for how annoyed i was getting trying to get my thread tension right i think it turned out ok. i found it here, which linked to here, which was originally created here. whew! that is how blog land will suck you in and you won't come out for three days!

details:

pattern - umbilical cord hat in stitch 'n bitch
yarn - cotton-ease in stone & azalea (8401)
...also detailed on my ravelry page with mods

in my element

grant caught me spending my day the way i wish i could spend most of my days...staying in my pjs, archiving my pictures, looking at fabric with it all in arms reach. back to the grind starting tonight...

thank goodness!

quilt squares for collaborative quilt with Jenni for Mountain Baby Blanket Project

it has been such a great week filled with crafting, friends, food, and festivity! only two and a half more weeks of school and then a WHOLE month of this!

wedding quilt

{all photos courtesy of simple beans}

Oh man... did i receive the package of a lifetime last week!! in general getting mail is one of my favorite things. it is one of those simple things that can make your day so much better...

so you might remember that we (i) decided that we wanted our wedding guest book to be a quilt. one of my bridesmaids headed up the project...she designed the quilt, cut all the fabric, and brought it to the wedding. we had all of the guests sign a rectangle of muslin and she took them all home to stitch it all together. she finished it a few weeks ago!

i am IN LOVE! Grant and I hadn't read any of the squares so it was really fun to sit down and read them together. i am so excited to have this to remind us of that day.

for a while there i was getting SO tired of our wedding fabric,... just saw it so much while planning the wedding and i have a TON left so i always am staring at it in the craft room. well...when this arrived all that went away. i am back in love!

jess enlisted the help of our friend, jenni, to help do the actual quilting. didn't she do so great!? she stippled over all the patterned fabrics leaving the signed parts alone so they were easier to read. oh the talent of these women!

thank you both so very much. grant and i will treasure this for the rest of our lives...we truly appreciate it. Jon - you too receive a special thanks... for moral support and fabric input ;-)

toasty

yay! something for me! I really want to start knitting more for Grant and I - I love knitting for others, but there is always a birthday or holiday to make something for someone. There will be a few more store-bought gifts, but I think that is just fine. These are really great. I was all about the Toast pattern without the thumb hole, but then I saw jenni's and started thinking about how cold my hands get while I type - gotta have the thumb hole! So happy with the results! Although I am starting to get frustrated that my stitches are uneven when I knit. I keep thinking it will get better with time, but it doesn't seem to be improving - any advice??

Bottom line - these are awesome. you should make 'em!

details:

pattern - toasty free!
yarn - cascade yarns 220 heathers in grey (8401)
...also detailed on my ravelry page

so very necessary.

after a bad day, all this + my rocking chair = much better evening.

oh man

do i need this? i think YES!

coffee sleeves

remember WAY back when i made a crafty to do list and (foolishly) thought i would get all of it done before i started school IN MAY?? anyway i had coffee cozy on that list to knit for a friend's wedding gift (she hearts starbucks!). that was march... i started and finished them this month. oops.

i made a his and hers. i am satisfied with them, but wish i had done something that didn't show how the top and bottom pulls to one direction. i saw one on etsy made in a solid seed stitch that was really cute. maybe next time.

you should have seen the look i got when i asked if i could buy empty cups at starbucks. the guy was like, umm...i guess i can just give you one. he gave me one tall cup without a lid...i didn't go further and ask for a second, but i sent the hubby back and he got two grande cups with lids in a bag. i guess he really knows how to sweet talk the baristas!

my plan is to pack them up with a few pounds of starbucks coffee or a gift card. i hope they like 'em. i get really anxious when giving handmade gifts lately!

details:

pattern - coffee sleeve free!
yarn - cascade yarns cotton rich dk in colorway 2730 (blue) & 5606 (green)
...also detailed on my ravelry page

warning: TOO CUTE

i can hardly stand the cuteness! idina wearing her shrug...i'm so glad it fits! i think arie's is still too big...

bread baking

i christened my kitchenaide this weekend...it was everything i thought it would be and MORE! we made bread together...she did all the work and i just assisted. it was awesome.



is everyone as messy as i am in the kitchen? my husband can't be around when i'm cooking/baking... its just too all-over-the-place for him.



this is the beautiful dough we made. its the french bread from this book (the only cookbook i've ever really used... good recipes that are easy with few ingredients and GOOD...you should get it)



after the first rise (1 hour) you roll the dough out and then form the loaf. it was so much fun!



here it is 45 minutes later after the second rise...she's a beauty, huh?



oh yea... we made the honey wheat bread from that book too. thick and hearty... she was pretty too!



the french bread fresh from the oven... SO GOOD! it was crusty, but soft and moist on the inside. it had a good 'crumb' as those in the bread making arena say. the second day the crust softened and it wasn't as good. next time we will be FORCED to eat it all in one sitting.



this is the honey wheat fresh baked. also good...you can tell its healthy...not sure if that is a good or bad thing.

each of these loaves required maybe 5 ingredients and a total of 20 minutes hands on time. the rest of the time they were rising or baking!



i also made this soup (one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE recipes), set out a few of our pumpkins, lit some candles...it was fabulous.

l+l embroidery

we have some good friends who got married this summer... they had a fabulous wedding at the university of oregon. it was in true duck spirit. we were so sad to miss it, but i sent along this little congratulations a few weeks ago. (only a few months late...)

i thought the font i used was kind of cool, but it accentuates my uneven stitches. oops. i found this idea online somewhere... but i can never remember the link. jenni made one a few months go...cute huh?!

toast

i know...i know... this is a goofy modely pose, but we were in a HUGE hurry to get a few pictures and my smile was all goofy in every single one. this was the solution. plus my husband thought i looked hot...so there!

on to the knitting! i made these wrist warmer's for Jess' birthday and i LOVE how they turned out.

I continue to struggle with knitting in the round on dpns and i also bound off too tightly, but luckily this yarn is very forgiving and blocked up nicely. i did have to go back on a few spots and reinforce the stitch because it was too big, but mostly it was just fine.

this is the nicest yarn i have ever knit with and i LOVE it. it is really, REALLY soft. too bad i can't afford it for everything i make!

gotta have one in-progress shot...

details:

pattern - toast free on ravelry!
yarn - Sublime Yarns Extra Fine Merino Wool DK in dusty grey (18)
...also detailed on my ravelry page

christmas came early!

i might have peed my pants a little when i opened this package...

out came some pretty amazing fabrics. a friend with self - diagnosed SAS (stash acquisition syndrome) needed some help. i was obviously more than willing to do whatever i could to help her condition. now my stash has practically doubled!!!

new thrifty finds

i love new treasures! my mom and i found this quilt while i was in Oregon for $5 at a garage sale. its a little worn, but there are enough good squares to make a pillow or something small.

its all hand pieced and hand quilted. isn't that insane? it makes me wonder who made it and who they loved enough to spend so much precious time on this quilt.

this might be my favorite new find. Grant doesn't like it so much, but i ADORE it. we both use bar soap to wash our faces and it gets the side of our sink all mucky. i had been looking for a pretty plate to use, but then i saw this. it had to come home with me.

i also love this plate. its so sweet and simple. it is enamel with a few rusty spots for good character. i bought it to start a collection of plates to hang on the wall in our dining room, but for now it hold our keys and other junk.

this is another oregon find. i just think its so cute and funny. its from the 1940s so its just interesting to see the things they focused on having the little girl scouts learn.

things like how to set a proper table (something i should probably learn) or how to be a good homemaker.

sunday morning rolls

these are a fantastic way to spend a sunday morning...