Bella doing tricks

She (almost) learned a new one! BANG! and she falls over!

I love these gloves!!!

There's one thing I love about knitting.  Now I can see someone wearing something and I can make it.  Anyway, on New Year's Eve, Blake Lewis performed on one of the countdown shows.  He was wearing the most awesome wool scarf and fingerless gloves!  I figured that I was the only one who cared, but then found the forums abuzz with love not only for the performance but about the scarf and gloves.



A friend dropped Blake a message to ask where he got the scarf and he said that he got it in Scotland.  No luck... can't make a trip to Scotland for a scarf... but I *can* make the gloves!  It's Bethy to the rescue!  She loved the gloves, too, and has an original pattern that she's tweaking.  To make a long story short (too late) I finally got to start on them yesterday.  You can also read a bit of my conversation with rzonmrcury in this way-too-dark picture :)



I'm using Susan Bates size 6 Quicksilver circular needles.  The yarn isn't as dark as it appears in the picture.  It's 100% alpaca, sport-weight yarn from Frog Tree.  It's 005 at the bottom of this chart:


So I'm only just starting, but they're coming along nicely.  I'll update when I've gotten farther up the hand.

So what are your arts & hobbies?  Tell me about them!

Something pretty!

I can't believe how pretty this uber-simple project turned out. Just a simple shawl pattern, $6 worth of a soft wool blend, and a few hours while watching tv and you've got this:




It's for my grandmother, but this little model was more than eager to show it off even though it's way too big.

Materials used:
-2 skeins of Patons Shetland Chunky in High Plains Variegated (sorry... nothing called "Fizz" is coming anywhere near one of my projects. I hate novelty yarns!)

-1 pair of size 17, 14" birch knitting needles by Brittany, originally purchased because they're pretty and look like magic wands!

Snow Again AGAIN!!!

I just realized something. Y'all may not know that you can click on the pictures for a bigger version. Did you know that? Give it a try! -jen

We had even more snow today! We probably got around 2.5 inches or so. It started around 9:00 this morning and continued all day! We took lots of pictures in the woods, and some of them are very similar but I'm posting them anyway. There are even more on the hard drive. If you'd like any of the full-size, un-retouched versions of the pictures just drop me an e-mail & I'll send them to ya!

Jazzie wouldn't zip her coat so her hood wouldn't stay up. Her hair got all wet from the falling snow!

There was this tree that had really neat-colored dead leaves on it... sorta golden brown. I made the kids pose under it!




Jazzie figured out how to make a really big snow ball... then she smashed it on the driveway!

It was sooooo pretty in the woods! I wish that I could've taken more pictures but the snow was coming down so hard that it pictures looked all blotchy... not to mention the lens was covered with itty bitty water spots!

Tristan, wearing his too-little hat I made for him a couple of years ago. He refuses to wear anything else!

A very cold, very wet, but very happy little doggy!

This kid will pose for anything.

Bella, even though she was a cold lil pupsicle, absolutely *loves* the snow! She had a complete fit to go outside, talking and bouncing and around-ing just inside the back door. She saw that snow and wouldn't settle down til we took her to zoom around in it! When I picked up her little sweater she jumped in my lap and started tugging it, trying to put it on herself! Once we were outside, she looked like the world's tiniest snow dog pulling at the end of her leash. Here's a little video of it:

Snow again!

And the crowning glory of the day, a squirrel trapped inside the squirrel-proof birdfeeder!