On the Road

Big Knitter is attending a conference in Albuquerque for a couple of days. It's our first road trip since last August. 

It's cold here!

But I'm trying to keep warm by "poddin' around"...here and there...while he's in class...

My first stop was a new little fabric store on the NW side called Hip Stitch.

Wow they are super friendly and have some of the fabrics I love the most. (like Free Spirit, etc.)

And, I happened upon this:

It's a Gotta Have.

Weekend Sewing New From Heather Ross.

I spotted a little baby kimono in the back that jumped off of the page. (literally, I swear, honey, it did, I had no choice but to buy it!)

And of course, I needed a little piece of fabric for my first kimono:

"Starling", a pretty pink background for my soon-to-be-new granddaughter.

And I did actually look at the rest of the projects in the book (after I bought it) and pretty much loved them all.

I highly recommend this book! And I love Heather Ross' fabric anyway. In fact I just got this in the mail before we left for Albuquerque:

Purchased on Etsy, 7 fat quarters from A Fabric Outlet A Sewing And Quilting Boutique. Most of their fabrics are $7.49 / yd.

These 7 fat quarters were $15.75 plus, I think $3.75 for shipping. And a wonderful person named Deborah shipped pretty much instantly. Love it!

How 'bout some knitting?

Well, I am going to be brave and drive the motor home myself, (eeek!) to Village Wools and see their new location here on the NW side. 

They went ahead and moved a few years ago, from their little hole in the wall that I loved...I can't believe it's been so long since I've been here...time flies!

I'll report back on the new digs later. (That is, if I can find a Big Enough place to park...it's a little motor home, but since I'm not used to driving it, I will need a Big place to turn around! Watch out!)

The big knitter brought his Manor Care blanket with him to knit on. One of these days he will complete it. We call it that because he started in when my Dad was in the nursing home and he really only worked on it while we were there. 

Now, he brings it along rarely; it's a slow project, I guess.

Something an Oregon Duck Fan would love: Cascade 220 in green and yellow. And it's one of Big Knitter's "mystery stitches", as I call them, one strand at each end of the circular needle.

I almost hate to sign off, it's been so long since I blogged on BigKnitterLittleKnitter, but I have to if I'm ever going to get to Village Wools!

A Great Cause For 2009

I've been following this blog for quite awhile now and wanted to share it with those of you who haven't yet visited the NieNieDialogues. If you have a few spare dollars in your PayPal account, please consider sending along a little bit to the Nie Recovery Fund. 

My wish for you: the happiest, healthiest, safest, most prosperous and peaceful New Year.

Little Knitter

From Ghoulies & Ghosties

From Ghoulies & Ghosties and Long Leggity Beasties and Things That Go Bump In the Night Good Lord Deliver Us!

A little bit of crafting is getting done around here.

My grandson loves skeletons so I made him a little skeleton pillow out of a onesie he grew out of last year. I drew the "bones" with a Copic pen and then stitched around the whole thing and stuffed it.

Next time, I might consult one of my old anatomy books before drawing...but...

I used the pocket from the onesie for a little surprise on the back. It's big enough to stash a Hershey's kiss inside.

No appreciable knitting getting done in this house...

Even the big knitter is slowing down on his knitting lately...several blankets are still in progress but coming along slowly.

The corner where the big knitter sits to knit is in our t.v. room. Awhile back we put up a curtain on the window in there. We never had one on that window because it faces out onto the back porch and back yard.

Anyway, that curtain makes the room so dark it's like a cave in there. In fact, it's just about the best mid-day-nap-room one could ask for on the big ol' corner couch.

At night, though, the lighting is nebulous, so much so that the big knitter really thought he was working on a brown blanket and when he took it outside on the back porch the other day, he found out it was really a lovely shade of dark purple. Oooooh, and what a lovely shade it really is... I must have helped him pick that yarn out.

I haven't knitted for so long and haven't even been to our fave yarn store Kiwi for so long, I'm seriously feeling out of touch. Maybe I'll visit Ravelry and see what's going on.

Or maybe not.

We'll see.

Knitting Slump...arrrgh.

Back in November, I declared my knitting slump over... well.....I was wrong. Still haven't done any since that toddler hat. (But I did finish it...even though this photo doesn't prove it.)

I was in my local Starbucks this morning with my grandson, he was wearing his hat, and the girl behind the counter said: "Oooooh...that is the cutest beanie I've ever seen."

Whooosh! Ego, ego, ego! Thanks!

Followed by guilt, guilt, guilt...gotta get knittin'!

Now the big knitter hasn't slipped a stitch, so to speak, hasn't missed a beat in his knitting even with all the holiday hoopla going on about him.

He has a half dozen blankets in process. And some of them are getting BIG! I will get some photos soon to show them off. Some are quite wonderful.

In my little bear store, we have carried a small supply of Cascade yarn for people to make bear sweaters, and felted bears, and little bear accessories. I do have a small following of bear makers who are knitters. But not really big enough to support alot of yarn. So I put some of it out on ebay and have sold some already.

I'm getting ready for an artist signing in the bear store in March. So I decided to have a raffle for charity in conjunction with the signing. I'm giving all proceeds to the Academy For Cancer Wellness, a really wonderful organization here in Tucson that provides assistance to cancer patients and their families. They are raising money so they can start a fund for underinsured patients. This little raffle will hopefully help a bit.

Yup!

Hello, Kitty!

I first saw this cute-beyond-cuteness sewing machine at CraftORama in Austin. Since then, I've been semi-obsessed with finding one for my granddaughter so I could teach her to sew. Well, as it turns out, on the Target.com website you can do a search to see if something is available locally. And, low and behold, it was listed "in stock" at our local Target store. And it took me about a minute to hustle off to Target to get one.
I set it up across the table from my machine.
Our first "sewing club" meeting was pure joy and she was so excited! We learned to fill bobbins, thread the machine, cut out felt pieces and try out all the stitches. (basically, straight and zig zag stitches) I felt such a strong sense of this being a life changing moment for her. I kept imagining her years from now saying to her own granddaughter (or son), "my dear old grandmother, whom I loved so very much, taught me to sew when I was seven."
Her first project was a "hot pad" made from three layers of felt. She stitched back and forth across the square, using various colors of thread and trying all the stitches. Then we used pinking shears to even off the edges. And she proudly took it to her other Grandma as a gift.
I look forward to many, many happy days of sewing with her. And Christmas is coming, it will so much fun to make gifts.