More Jewelery

Amidst the sew-a-thon that has been this weekend, I manged to find a bit of time to make a new necklace. I'm calling it masquerade and I can't wait to wear it.

Variations on a theme.

Just thought I'd share a couple jewelery pieces I've made recently. Inspired by all of the beautiful jewelery on Etsy I thought I'd try combining chain and bead myself.



And with some of the leftover pieces I came up with this:



In case you're wondering I haven't stopped knitting. You can see what I've been working on here on Ravelry.

No Excuses

I know I haven't blogged in months and months and this post isn't even about knitting but I just wanted to share with you some of the things that made me almost late for work on Saturday. It was a pretty day, grayish sky, muted colours, and a dusting of snow on the ground. I just couldn't help myself. I doddled.

3 things...

1. RENT came to Toronto this past weekend and I was able to get tickets for my Mom, my Aunt, my cousin and myself. It was and amazing show and an excellent girls night. I can't wait for it to come back! Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp will be playing Rodger and Mark again during next year's U.S. tour. hopefully they will make a stop north of the border as well.

2. I have some finished knitting to show you. This year was the year of the mitten. I've just finished my fourth pair (they weren't all for me). It all started with some plain sock yarn mittens I knit this fall, which haven't been photographed. After that I moved on to stranded mitts. I made these for me,

I made these for my cousin Brooke,

And I just finished these for her sister Jessica,

I'm hoping the weather cooperates so she won't need to wear them until next year. But you never know.

3. I've been thinking lately that I should be doing more art pieces. As much as I love creating functional pieces, I am really missing making art. So stay tuned for some mixed media pieces. I plan on starting tomorrow.

Not Knitting

I was busy last night but I wasn't knitting. You see on Friday afternoon my salad dressing leaked all over my lunch bag which was old and a little grimy to begin with, so yesterday rather than cleaning the old lunch bag I decided to make a new one. I rushed over to the fabric store and found two fabrics I loved, on the sale table even and everything else I would need, rushed back home and got started right away. with a little help from Roxie,

I put this together,

It's a little sloppy but will do the job and I can make some adjustments once I consult the sewing expert (a.k.a. Mom). The outside is soil resistant upholstery fabric, I chose a cotton fabric for the lining and added a layer of table vinyl so that I can clean up any future salad dressing mishaps.

There is a layer of flannel sandwiched in there as well for a bit of insulation and a magnetic snap to keep it shut. Just for fun I quilted one of the large flowers on the front of the bag.

The quilting also helps to keep the flannel from shifting. Over all I'd say it was a success. I can't wait to test it out tomorrow.

Crafty Weekend

It's been a busy weekend of crafting here thanks to lots of snow and big winds. I've been sewing up ornaments, some fabric, some paper and am very pleased with the results.



First I made bells using fabric that my toddler class painted. These will be gifts for their parents.



Then my teaching team wanted some of their own. (I did the painting on these ones.)



I sewed up some paper bags to wrap them in. The tags are bits of paper that I made and embossed with snowflakes.



The last bunch of ornaments are for some of the other ladies I work with. They are made from mulberry paper with a mixture of appliqué, ink and decorative stitching. The have just a little bit of stuffing to puff them up.

Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween night and I'm home sick from my dance class. :( One good thing came out of being home though. I finished my Mom's birthday socks. Yeah!