In the realm of crafts I’ve learned a lot. It’s really easy to get into a craft rut so I’ve been pushing myself to learn new things.

February I tried to make mitts out of a felted sweater.

and made a salve with arnica and willow bark.

March I finished my first pair of socks.

In April I worked on using natural ingredients in my soaps.

and layering soaps

and made my first batch of marshmallows

and visited my first LYS

In May my Mom went in the hospital for a cell transplant and out of some mental preservation went crazy with crafting.

My first batch of rebatched cold processed soap.

I participated in a soap swap and had this beautiful soap

Hand balm pearls and coffee butter lip balm

Indoor rose bush cultivating

My first hand knit dish cloth

Got to see myself knitting (this is a silk shawl)

In June I turned 30 while I waited to see if my Mom would make it out of the hospital.

I tested out several premade lip solutions.

I had my hair cut with a cute aline bob (this is me in the morning before styling)

If you haven’t tried the card game Dominion I highly recommend it! It’s so fun and we played several games on my birthday.

Felted my first and second pair of slippers.

Tried weaving again using roving

In July I was still waiting for my Mom to get out of the hospital but I was looking forward Sock Summit at the end of the month.

For the 4th hubby and I went to the mall to see the show.

3 am pie!

The week before the summit I fostered a cute baby kitty for a few days before his family picked him up. Such a sweetie!

Sock Summit!

August

Astoria in August

A swift at the Maritime museum in Astoria

August was also when I decided that I wanted to make handmade things for Christmas gifts and also when I started knitting up these fun cowls.

Since this post is getting really photo heavy I’ll finish up the year in another post. I am wondering how 2012 will go though. After only half a day this year I managed to step on a knitting needle that has put me out of commission for the rest of my vacation time (maybe) and my Mom is back in the hospital. Wish me luck. I think my family could use it.

Over the summer I made plans to hand make all of my Christmas gifts this year. That was probably a crazy idea but it looks as if I might be able to at least give each person one handmade item this year. Over the last few days I washed all of my growing FO knits and now it’s time to get serious. No more fiddling around with projects that aren’t gifts!

On that note……last night I worked on shop orders…..and fiddled around with a new hand balm recipe that needs more adjusting (too much coconut oil) but looks amazing.

Happy holidays and here’s to procrastination!

On the left is the Fiber Optics green Kashmire and on the right is Be Sweet Bamboo in color Storm.

I present! Susie’s Reading Mitts With a modified thumb by me in Be Sweet Bamboo yarn in color Storm.

Most likely, this isn’t rocket science (nothings been confirmed yet) and I could have just picked up another pattern with a thumb design that looked like what I wanted but hey, I wanted to do it my way! And mostly it’s working out with only one minor rip back so far. I really think this designing thing will be the only way I’ll learn to read charts so here’s to a December full of knitting, crafting and learning.

Ps: This year I’m planning daily posts (hopefully!) with pictures of yarnie and soaping goodness and who knows what else! If I get desperate for idea’s there’s always the completely un-edited novel, lol.

One thing that’s concerning me is my self imposed knitting deadline looming in at a mere 34 days. So far I’ve finished three cowls, one pair of mittens, a kitchen towel (and a half), and one scarf. Three of these are wool and will be avoided like the plague by most of my relatives so it seems I need to take a closer look at my projects and conserve energy to only the most important projects….my biggest problem is not knowing what the men in my family would actually use. Scarves and socks seem like easy projects but they would quickly be discarded. Fingerless mitts might work although would also likely meet the discard pile. The question is, what Would they use. One option I found was a remote control holder for the couch. The other option is to find something in a completely different craft area which might work out better in the long run because I might have a boost of enthusiasm to get me through a new project. Currently I’m looking into some ideas with leather because my father likes most things leather.There is also the option of metal stamped items since I’ve got the whole set up already it would be easy enough to find the right thing to stamp or if I’m feeling really brave I could try sewing something. I’ve seen some really cool re-purposed men’s ties. Soo many options and sooo little time!

Oh my. The last several weeks have been a roller coaster.

1. Mom’s cancer is back.
2. Transmission issues with our car led us to acquire a new suv (ahem, I will Not mentioning locking the keys in the new car!)
3. Mom in and out and back in the hospital.
4. Several get together’s including English high tea, Knottie Ladies knitting (read eating and chatting, love!), monthly book club, friend’s birthday, and Apple Hill trip with my girlfriends.
5. My sick cat….that was nasty. I threatened her with a trip to the vet and I think it worked because she seems fine now….I was bluffing…mostly.
6. Prepping for what has become a traditional themed Halloween party at our place. This year we chose Harry Potter. This means costumes to fit the theme and lots of themed food.
7. I’m going as Fleur and hubby is going as Bill. My hat isn’t finished.
8. The holiday shopping season has picked up and I’m working on a steady stream of orders and items for donations.
9. I’m posting a blog instead of sleeping but can’t seem to drag myself to bed yet.
10. There are only 45 days till my Christmas gifting deadline with little to show yet.
11. Next month is NaNoWriMo where I’m supposed to write 50,000 words….not sure how to fit this in with all the knitting….it’s causing a little stress….and I still want to do both.

Let see…this would be more interesting with a few photos….

Wet felting is a labor intensive process but usually worth the effort and a lot faster than knitting something and Then felting. This is just the first three layers with a sudsy foam all over. Likely it will also need some starching to help hold the shape.

It seems I missed posting about Lambtown 2011 from the beginning of October. As always it was a lot of fun taking classes and spending time browsing the vendor booths.

Since I am getting tired I’ll write up a full post about it later but here is a picture of the mittens I started at a class about using home spun yarns.

and spinning in class on my new wheel.

One last photo. It’s a yummy sort of homemade whoopie pie. I baked pre-made cookie dough from a co-worker’s kid’s fundraiser along with some Noah’s Bagel whipped cream cheese, about 2 tables spoons plus a teaspoon of powdered sugar mixed together for the frosting.

Star Anise & Cinnamon Hand Balm and tinted Vanilla Mint Lip Balm.

Oatmeal Milk & Honey Sugar Scrub.

Lots and lots of Via Coffee Bean Soaps. Love these!

Stresses are definitely high lately and I’ve been coping with little thinks like breakfast quinoa

and knit mittens

quick crocheted scarves

and filling orders and posting new things to my store

This cute cupcake soap is now available in my shop.

There is so much going on this month it’s hard to keep up on the blog (especially when it’s been hacked and needs fixing by hubby, thanks hubby!) And now I’m off to the races!!!

Ps: Hopefully November will be filled with lots of weird novel type stuff, it’s NaNoWriMo month!

French Clay with Tea Tree Oil and Goats Milk.

Transitioning from summer’s damaged skin with lightly exfoliating and nourishing facial soap into relaxation.

Greens and browns for Autumn with massage bars.

Mint Chocolate chip for cool winter evenings with a fun Christmas stamp.

And the promise of love throughout the year.

These will all be available in my shop soon.