{Recap} December 2015

Ah! December! Tis the season, to not feel like Christmas?

This year, the weather has been so un-winter-like that it never felt like Christmas to me.

Yes, the decorations were hung and Christmas activities where happening, but no snow? Boo.

Friends down south? How do you do it? 

Just like it doesn't feel like Christmas without snow here, I bet you would feel the same if there was snow on Christmas! Right?

 And yes, this is how I felt of most of December and January! 

Pregnant with baby number 4... Is hard!

To help being "busy pregnant" I made baby boy this awesome center out knit blanket. 

It's so squishy I want to make a giant one for me! 

Just a little something I put together for Carter's teacher for Christmas.

Fun glittery pencils, an insulated cup and then filled with gel pens!

Simple yet adorable, and I know she would use it all!

My boys LOVE Lego Star Wars, and my husband remembers seeing the movies when he was a kid and started watching them with them. So when we needed cookies for a school Holiday party, and I saw how easy these were.  Chewbacca cookies it was! 

These are chocolate sugar cookies, not gingerbread men. They were a hit at the party too! 

A simple gingerbread man cookie cutter, and fork make the hair. Chocolate frosting and sprinkles! 

And yes, I was that mother using tweezers to pick out five sprinkles of one color! 

Lastly, the table is almost complete! 

My husband really took his time with the table because the wood was no kiln dried. 

So he wanted to let the wood acclimate a day or two in between steps to try to prevent warping and pulling. Hence, the table upside down in my dining room!

{Recap} September 2015

Ah September! The month were I swore I would get my act together and come back to blogging! 

Ha. That's funny.  I'm definitely blaming it on being pregnant! 

In September, Canning is in full effect. Even with being pregnant I didn't want to waste a thing!

Luckily my husband stepped up and helped me!

He was an applesauce making machine! I think we canned 50 pints of applesauce last year!

Carter, my oldest is now back to school, and loving it. 

It's amazing how your kids either love or hate school. 

Fortunately, my guy loves it! 

And fortunately for me, I get lots of time waiting for him to get on and off the bus.

So i made myself a pair of warm socks!

There too thick of a shoe so I wear around the house instead of a slipper!

In September, my husband had to do some business in the Maryland so the kids and I tagged along and we made a detour to Washington D.C.!  This kids were excited to see the White House from the truck, and then we hit up the National Air and Space Museum. If your kids have ever seen the "Night at the Museum Movies" you should take them here! My kids recognized so many things. My boys turned a corner and yelled "Hey! That's Amelias red plane!" And sure enough it was!

Lastly, we picked our lone pumpkin. 

I was really hoping for three, but there's always 2016 to try again!

Knits: Lace Shawl

Oh  my word! I cannot believe I am posting this, but this lace shawl pattern was a dream to work with!

From start to finish it took me 18 days! That's less than three weeks! Yay!

It's definitely going to be a pattern I may do in another color or two!

 

Here it is in all it's finished glory! 

I can't wait to wash and block it to see if it will hang better on me,

 but if not Ellie has already tried to claim it as hers!

Oh the detail of the lace! 

The pattern came from this book, and it's the Lace Shawl.

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014!

Every year I take a minute to look back at the top ten popular posts of All Things Fee!

{2010}{2011}{2012}

And this year is no different!

 10. Knit Wreath Tutorial

9. Under Sink Drawer Hideaway

8. Baked Ham & Egg Cups

7. Easy Crochet Flowers

6. Meal Planning

(I've Revamped how I plan now, so check that out here! I think it's pretty genius, I never have to sit to meal plan again!)

5. Chalkboard Eraser Tutorial

4. Crockpot Mac & Cheese

3. Fabulously Festive Ornaments

2. Sews: Advent Calendar

and.... the number one spot goes to

Finger Knit Cowl!

Who Starts a Knit Sweater on Fourth of July?

And then waits a month before blogging about it?

Yup. Me! That's Who!

I picked up some yarn a while back, with no project in mind. It was one of those "I have a coupon, gotta find something not on sale to use it for!" moments. So I picked up this yarn, and sat on it for a while.

Then, after looking through some patterns, I realized that the needle size recommended to use with this yarn was an 8, exactly what I needed to make this sweater.

I had started this sweater once before, but didn't get far because the yarn wasn't right, the gauge wasn't right. So I ripped it out, and put the project on the back burner. I'm talking years!

And lately, I have really learned to just go with the flow (I'm thinking having three kids aged 4, 2 and 9

months has something to do with it) and the crafting stars aligned for me to start this project!

Plus, if I start now, I will be able to finish before winter hopefully!

So far so good! I'm past diving off for the sleeves. I've done the lace pattern a couple times too.

All that is left is getting it to the length I want! Not sure how long that will take me, since one of my students at the library wants to knit socks ( so I started a sock to work on along side of her!) so I am working on two big projects at once. Which is not like me. Normally I have a big and a little project going!

What's on your needles?

I'd love to see!

Knits: Gauge Issues Fixed!

Last week, I put out on facebook that I needed some help! 

Well, in the meantime, hoping someone would come to my rescue I did some searching.

In my head I thought I could just double my stitches because my gauge was half of what the pattern said. But I didn't want to get knitting and be wrong.

 ( I have not one, but two sweaters that I knit, and don't wear either, but that's a completely different story!)

Plus, I am thinking of using this pattern from Ravelry.

(Did you know you can connect with me on Ravelry too? Here I am!)

And if you click the projects, it seems like everyone was having issues with the gauge.

Personally, I think the gauge is wrong. 

Her yarn must have been really thick compared to mine. And I am pretty sure its the same!

Anyways, after some searching I found this site.

Perfect right? 

It confirmed that I can just double my stitches like I thought. But it's also a great tool for when you have a more complicated swatch that has you stumped. So glad I found it!

Knits: Starting a new Project! Yea!

I am the absolute WORST about starting a project and running out of yarn.

(just ask my sister for confirmation! I keep raiding her stash!) 

But here is why. I don't buy new yarn! I try to use what I have so that I can cut my stash down. To then be able to buy more down the road, but for now the stash busting is working!

I seem to acquire yarn from anyone and everyone.  (Which is not a bad thing!)

But lately it's been holding me back from starting a new project. Always asking do I have enough? 

Every month I get the knit picks catalog and love going through it and seeing all the yarn, and patterns and then I go on and request any and all books they recommend from my library!

Well, while flipping through I saw a yarn scale. And the light bulb went off. I had just bought a digital kitchen scale for when I am canning ( Do you know how many canning recipes are in pounds and not cups? Super frustrating until I got my scale!) AND it measures in grams just like the yarn scale does!

So now, if I am using a pattern I will have a better idea of whether or not I will have enough. 

And even thought I measured this ball of yarn, I started my project and I think I won't have enough yarn. BUT I do have another ball of it somewhere else. So I should be safe! Fingers crossed it works out!

Do you weigh your yarn? Or are you like me and forever running out?

Finished: Pink Granny for Baby B!

Yay, last week I showed you the in progress. And I literally finished it that night! 

Gotta love quick and satisfying!

Maybe this was all I needed to get back into my yarn stash! 

I've been on the hunt for my next pattern to work on. Have any to share?

Finished: Chevron Baby Blanket

I finished it! Now I just have to weave in the ends and clip them and block.

I'm hoping a little blocking will square it up a bit as it folds funny right now. 

But other than that I'm happy, and this may be another go to baby blanket pattern!  I love the Idiot's Dishcloth Baby Blanket, but I'm loving this one too!  To remind you, its the Purl Bee's Chevron Baby Blanket. 

A little knitting...

I've been working on a knitting project for a new baby...  

It's Purl Bee's Chevron Blanket.

See the books? Have you checked them out yet?

Itty Bitty Nursery, Itty Bitty Toys, and Itty Bitty Hats all by Susan Anderson of Spud and Chloe!

Not sure what I'll make out of them, because there are so many cute patterns!

What have you been knitting, crocheting lately?

My Mary Margaret!

I finished this a while back, and I'm terrible at self portraits!

 Well, the portraits aren't bad. I just don't ever like how I look in pictures. (I gotta get over that!)

So there she is! "My Mary Margaret!" 

The pattern is actually for the Montera Hat out of this book.

I only followed the pattern for the"lace" for one repeat, and then knitted the rest.

Shalom!

She's finished! It only took two tries, but she is finished! 

Yea!

Now, to get the guts to wear her in public! I'm funny like that. I feel like she might look "homemade-y" even though I've been told she doesn't! When I wear her, I will get pics, I promise!

I think where I went wrong the first time was the thin ply yarn, and small needles. She was taking me forever. And then I ran into this problem. Oops. So this time I used a worsted weight yarn, and a size 9 or 10 needle and tried her on several times as I went. (I took her off the needles and threaded her onto a random piece of yarn and tried her on).  Definitely glad I did. 

What's on your needles? Hooks?  

I'm working on an adorable beret (more when I'm done!), that reminds me of Mary Margaret's from Once Upon A Time! 

Shalom Take Two!

Here I go again!

I'm attempting Shalom again!

Last time I used tiny yarn and tiny needles, all while attempting to adjust for my size. 

Not good.  I did okay until I had to CO for the body.  

This time I feel I am doing much better!

I even took it off the needles ( onto scrap yarn) to try on before I bound off for the sleeves. I pinned where I thought they should be and adjusted that way!

Layered Wrist Warmers

Can you guess where I got the inspiration for this?

If you guessed Pinterest, you got it!

One day I was browsing pinterest and found this pin.

Which made me have a total duh moment. Layered  Wrist Warmers!

I've always liked the idea of wrist warmers, but where I live it's a glove or no glove situation. 

I used to be confused by wrist warmers! Not anymore!

Take any wrist warmer pattern ( I made this one up as I went) and layer a pair of cheap stretchy gloves and your all set!  I gifted a set with both a pair of fingerless and regular gloves!

For both the knit and crochet pair, I just used my hand as a guide and repeated for the second warmer.  I prefered the crochet on because it had the shape for the thumb versus just a space when I seamed up the knit version. Back to the needles for a better knit version!

What have you been knitting? Crocheting?

I'm working a big knit project that I will hopefully finish soon! 

Finger Knit Cowl

At the last knit night I attended, our hostess' daughter Grace was finger knitting. The next day that's all I could think about! So, with the help of youtube I learned how to Finger Knit. How addictive! 

If you do not know how to traditionally knit, and want to "fake" it. Learn to Finger knit.
I think your limited as to what you can make. But still satisfying and quick!

So after I learned how to finger knit, I went ahead and knit a long "scarf" it was big enough to wrap comfortably around my next about 4 times. 

But, instead of just wrapping about four times, I wanted sew the ends to for a cowl. 

Here's how I did it,  I took my tail from casting on and my tail from binding off and tied them together.

Doing so, created a giant circle. Then I took the center of the circle and brought it up to my tied off section ( the end).

Twist them a couple times. 

Use your tails to tie it all together, Weave in your ends and wear!