Goldfishluv

I think Christmas stockings were one of my favorite things about Christmas. My parents allowed us to only open our stockings without them on Christmas morning so, no matter how early we were up, we were allowed to dig in to our stockings. There was always a Mandarin orange in the toe of the stocking and tons of puzzles, little books and cute toys to keep us busy while my parents slept.

Now that I don’t live with my parents I still wanted to keep the tradition so I set to knitting stockings for Batman and I. Unfortunately, I’d taken on too many projects that needed to be done for Christmas so this one didn’t get done until after and I still have to make myself one. Next year, we’ll continue the tradition.

I used Valley Yarns Spotten Christmas Stocking pattern but modified it a bit by using Lion Brand Thick and Quick yarn, 7.0mm and 6.5mm double pointed needles. These materials make a nice large stocking but not overly huge. The first think Mr. Kent did when I gave it to him was kick off his slipper and try it on. He has about size 9.5 feet and it was just a tad too big for him.

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I think I’ll start with mittens.

Last April, after finishing my practicum, I took a knitting class at a local yarn shop. I had been in University for the past 7 years so to go from learning every day to nothing I needed something to fill the time and that’s when I discovered my passion for fiber art. I’d been crocheting since I was very young, my Grandma taught me how to make butterfly fridge magnets and I was “hooked”.

So I took knitting classes and loved them, I actually can’t stop thinking about knitting. I’m addicted to Ravelry, the patterns section of Etsy and the public library for patterns and tips. So for Christmas I decided to make knitted gifts. Most of those gifts turned out to be mittens;

These mittens were for my girlfriend in England. She was so excited to get them, she said she put off buying a pair because she had good feeling I was making her some for Christmas. She was right.

These were for my girlfriend in on the coast. I started a pattern that was for two needles on four needles so I had to switch patterns and make some adjustments to make them work. They turned out a little big but are still adorable. The snowflake is embroidered on.

These Bella mittens are for my youngest cousin. She loves Twilight and her favorite color is royal blue. This was the first project I did with cabeling and they turned out perfect. So perfect that I wanted to keep them for myself.

This pair I made for my brother. He lives in Edmonton and needed a pair of manily mitts. His only comment was that the thumbs were a little tight and they're not appropriate for snowball fights but overall he was happy to receive them.

Here are the patterns:

Owl Mittens

Snowflake Mittens – you need to log on to Ravelry for this one, it’s free and AMAZING!

Bella’s Mittens

Man’s Mittens -  this pattern is in a book I got at the public library called “The Knitting Experience: Book 2, the Purl Stitch”  The patterns in it are kind of dated but this mitten pattern is very good.

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I don’t know when it changed but I’m addicted to the public library. The library went forgotten for a long time for me.  It could have been that I was so used to being in the University library that I lost sight of the marvelous world of public libraries. Or that, when I was in high school a friend of mine worked at the public library putting away books. She would tell me gross stories of how she would find Kama Sutra books in the washrooms and that she was constantly washing her hands in fear of pervert cooties infecting the books.

Although the University library holds many treasures, they mostly hold journals, periodicals and text books that are not exactly comfort reading (can I use the term ‘comfort reading’?I suppose reading is a form of nourishment and for some I’m sure it gives a similar warm sense in your core to when you finish eight of Baba’s cheddar onion perogies with a thick dill sauce and a very large glass of red wine… tangent, carrying on.)

Needless to say, the public library does it for me.  They always have what I’m looking for to quench my creative spurts. Recently I found this book.

As some of you have noticed, I’m addicted to knitting, so when I find patterns or books as inspirational as this one I have to write about it. The author, Wenlan Chia, knows exactly what I’m looking for in a pattern book. Nothing fancy or too complicated, nothing intricate or time consuming and something that I want to keep knitting through the night. This is very much an instant gratification knitting book.  And what makes this book even better is that it came from the public library! I didn’t have to pay $18 to get a peek, I just went to my local libary website, logged into my account, ordered the book and when it was in, the nice automated lady from the library called and left a pleasant message to say that my book was in.  Gone are the days of finding call numbers in roll-a-dex catalogues, simply type “knitting” into the library search engine from home and request as many merry books as your heart desires. Keep in mind, there are late fees, respect the service, don’t get cheap with the local library. Merci, a bientot!

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I made a bunch of these a couple of years ago for Christmas gifts. For the most part the recipients thought they were wonderful, although a couple thought they were pretty creepy. The idea came to me on a trip to Vancouver while paroosing the wonderful shops and galleries on Granville Island. After doing a little more research I found this awesome book: Stupid Sock Creatures and was instantly hooked to their creation.

I created a whole family of sock monsters and one monster takes about an hour with a sewing machine. I boxed them up individually with a Family portrait and a poem.

What I discovered the full moon past

Through the curtains the moonlight cast

A peek to the darkest part of my room

Where one dares not venture or face eminent doom

I discovered a litter of littles under my bed

Sound asleep after just being fed.

This was six weeks ago and now

The bumps, the creaks, the moans and groans

Are getting too much as these little creatures grow

I’m missing my sleep

As the roam and creep

The darkest corners of my space

They are old enough now to have a new place

So I’m giving them to you to cuddle and hold

On those dark chilling nights they will scare off the cold

From the motherly monster under my bed who preened

Cherish them, these nine unique babies, I have weaned

Of brothers and sisters who go bump in the night

They will protect the people I cherish, from fright

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I know I said I was going to make all my gifts this year but my lil bro introduced me to this site and there’s soooo many gift ideas I’m going to have diviate from handmade for one or two gifts. The website is www.thinkgeek.com and it’s AMAZING! There’s something for everyone on your list.  I placed an order for t-shirts and am thinking about another order with other fun and interesting gadgets like, shock ball, solar system lights, plush microbes and rare earth magnets… the list really goes on and on. Take a peek, you will be addicted.

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Here’s a couple sites I found with templates and instructions on how to make gift boxes. Not only am I going the handmade route for my holiday giving this year but they are going to be wrapped in nice little up cycled boxes. I especially like the flower flap box, and the take out box. Here are some more box and card ideas.

Also, if you google “origami __________ box” (fill blank with desired shape, eg. square, rectangle, triangle), you will get tons of no cut, no glue ideas.

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Yes,  I’m one of those.  All my students have been reading the series so I like to tell myself that my curiosity turned addiction was strictly motivated by wanting to relate to the students. Never-the-less,  I’m addicted to everything Twilight, books, movies, etc.  One of the “etc” I stumble upon was a free pattern on Ravelry called Bella’s Mitts.  Very similar to the books,  this pattern has become a phenomenon.  It was easy to knit and my first project with cabling. Bella wore similar mitts in the first movie and the pair I made are going to my youngest cousin and Twilight’s biggest fan this holiday season.

These are the pair the author made, to whom I am in debt for this amazing pattern and the “best cousin” award I will receive come Christmas day.

Because I can’t knit and read at the same time,  I’ve discouvered audiobooks. The whole series of Twilight should be available through your pubilc library. If not Amazon has it.

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I’ve been making tons of gifts lately, unfortunately I can share pictures because the recipients are followers. I promise that after Christmas I will have a full run down ready of the past months efforts.  Meanwhile I’ve been finding excellent gift ideas (as always) on Etsy. They’re gift guide section is phenomenal. I’ve also been finding wonderful glove, mitten, scarf and stocking patterns on Ravelry among other gift ideas.  I want to knit stockings to hang at our fire place and found three amazing patterns in the book Holiday Knits, I highly recommend it.

I have a feeling I’m going to run  out of time but I’ll make the goal anyway.  The weather is getting colder and there’s only 4 more weeks of school until Winter Vacation.  Stay warm everyone!

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So school was all over and I was having some learning withdrawls so I signed up for a knitting class! I’ve been crocheting since I was about 1 0 and I knit a scarf in highschool so I really had no idea how to knit.

The class was offered by Art of Yarn and it was fantastic. Only $40 for 2 hours/week for six weeks! After the first 2 weeks I had successfully knit a pair of mittens and moved on to the cutest neck warmer on the planet. For those of you still not signed up for Ravelry,  do it.

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Well, I finally did it. I drafted my own pattern! I was sitting browsing the multitude of free patterns on Ravelry.com and thought to myself, “I’ve benefited to much from other people’s generosity, it’s time to give back.”   Here’s my contribution as a THANK YOU to all those out there who selflessly post amazing patterns. I’ve enjoyed them immensely!

I call it the Big Girl Bonnet, the flower on the side is made out of #2 sport weight yarn and the pattern in from Crochet Today in their free listings.

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