Knitting, sewing, organizing

In the midst of trying to reorganize our basement I have taken on a few more knitting projects. I have managed to knit and felt 3 more purses this week. These are Christmas gifts. I am trying to get all of my Christmas gifts made now since I realize that I need to do alot of fall craft/art shows to make up for the poor sales at the farmers market this year. Once the busy craft/art show season begins.... there will be no time for making anything fun until November. So.... I am planning gifts now and trying hard to get everything made.
I also completed all of the blankets for the Critter Knitters Knit-a-thon. I managed to get these shipped out earlier this past week. I also included a few of my handmade soaps for prizes and a few for Liz as a thank you for all of her hard work with this project. It really feels good to have contributed the blankets I made for this knit-a-thon. I know the recipents will love receiving a nice, warm blanket. This will make their stay at the shelter much more pleasant.
I really wanted to make alot more of these blankets. But time just has not allowed to go beyond the original goal I had. I atleast made my goal of 5 blankets to donate. I personally have rescued and have kept 5 precious kitties this past year. So, I felt led to make/donate 5 blankets from my rescues to 5 other rescues in the shelter these blankets will go to.
The organizing project is still ongoing...... I put up a new shelving unit to replace the one that crashed this past week. I bought several more to free up some floor space in the basement. Hope to work more on this over the weekend.
My husband has finally found the woodworking system of his dreams. He had a ShopSmith woodworking system several years ago. But was forced to sell it when he was laid off for 18 months..... this was before we met and married. I know he has missed having this and finally managed to find a nice one that was well kept. He and one of our close friends are on their way home tomorrow with it. This system was located out of state.
So.... my husband will be making lots of sawdust soon in addition to some furniture pieces that he wants to make for me. First on his list..... a large display cabinet for the porcelain dolls that I make. I have wanted something to display the dolls in and he wants to make this for me. The next projects are a pie safe, quilt racks and some fun type of projects that he will make to take to the craft shows with me. I am looking for a few other projects for him to make for the shows so that he can get busy right away working on these things.
First thing this morning I took my daughter to run in a 5K run which raises money for our schools cross country team. She did very well and I am very proud of her. She has gone back to bed now since I had her up at 7 AM for this run.
The remainder of this weekend I will be busy working on the reorganizing project in the garage and basement, putting up more shelving units, etc.
I hope to get some knitting done and possibly work on some of my spinning, I have a very pretty various shades of orange/yellow wool that I am spinning into yarn. I am thinking of leaving it as a single instead of a 2 ply yarn. Spinning the yarn has been consistent so leaving the yarn as a single will be nice.
I am working on the handles for a purse that I plan to felt this weekend. Then will start working on another purse..... for one of the Christmas gifts.
Sewing is also on the list of things to try to work on this weekend. I have a cute little dress I want to make for my grand-daughter. I want to make a few things for her to wear to school. She starts kingergarten in a few weeks. I also want to try to help out with school supplies and other needs. This will help my daughter and son in law out alot since they are expecting another baby and still recovering from the financial hardship that losing their youngest daughter has caused since November 2003. It has been a really tough year for them and the entire family. I can't do alot since I also have alot of expense of trying to get my youngest daughter ready for high school. But.... anything I can do.... no matter how little or how much.... will be ALOT for them. Now just to make time for sewing. Won't take me long to make a dress or possibly a few dresses..... only a few hours is all I need. I think I can squeeze that in.... not a problem. Plus.... I love to do things for my precious grand-daughter.
I am working on my knitting wish list...... I want to make this purse/totebag from Black Sheep Bags..... it is called Lily. This looks like a nice pattern to use some of my handspun yarns. There are stripes in this pattern and would not take alot of yarn if made with several various colors.
I also need to find some more wool roving for spinning. I have managed to work through most of what I bought in April and May at the 2 fiber events I went to. I love vibrant colors that have been handpainted on the roving. Purple and pink are favorites. Along with a mix of blue and green and anything that would blend well together.
For my spinning wheel.... I am also putting on my wish list some more spools for my Ashford Traveler. I am finding that I need a few extras when I am ready to play the yarn I am creating. I tend to fill the spools and have nothing to ply on. So, I then have to wind the yarn off onto the yarn skeiner and ply from there onto the empty spool. It works.... but is easier with extra spools.
I am finding that I love finding lots of beautiful novelty types of yarns for blending with the purses I am making for myself and for gifts. The purses I am making right now are knitted with wool up to the 1 1/2 inches and then I add a pretty eyelash or other type of novelty yarn with the wool. This gives the purses a very dressy look to them. I also love the eyelash yarns for making scarves and blending it with an acyrlic yarn such as Homespun or a chenille. I love chenille yarns with the eyelash yarn for scarves.... makes a very nice, soft, warm scarf. I made one for my husband last year that he loves to wear. I made one for myself a few months ago for this winter.... used Splash eyelash yarn with another yarn and it really turned out nice. I can hardly wait to wear it. Squiggle yarn is another one I have recently tried. Really looks cute when I knitted with a wool yarn to make a purse for myself. I need to felt this one soon. I love these funky and unique looking yarns. I know they are trendy.... but that is OK. My teenage daughter is also loving these types of yarns. I made her a few things with these funky looking yarns and she wants more.
My next stash enhancement buying will be sock yarns. I am really enjoying the 2 pairs of socks I made this spring. These feel so much nicer than the store bought socks. And much prettier also. I bought 2 skeins of Opal sock yarns in April at a fiber event. The colors were pink and the other color was purple. From what I have seen from photos of socks made with these yarns.... they will be very pretty. I can hardly wait to work on these. I do want to find some more needles for making socks. It would be nice to have 2 sets to be able to work on both socks at the same time.
I also have a fall project I am planning for right now. I bought a book awhile back that had a beautiful cardigan sweater with a star design on it. I figure I can spin dark blue merino wool for the base color and then add various shades of other colors for the stars. I can't think of the name of the book right now.... but it has alot of gorgeous sweaters that I want to make using the handspun yarns I am creating.
Well..... time to get back to working on the organizing and making room for the new woodworking system that my husband is bringing home this weekend. The sun is out now also..... it has been raining off and on for 2 days.... so now is the time to pull everything out of the garage and get it organized. Sounds like so much fun doen't it?????? Not really.... but needs to be done.