This would have been done much sooner if I hadn’t had so many distractions in the last few weeks, like landing two contracts. Really I’m not complaining, because work is always good.

Almost done! Not telling what it is until I’m finished.

I know I’ve been away for a while. I haven’t been knitting much these days, but recently started experimenting with plarn. I’ve wanted to try knitting with plastic bags for ages and finally decided it was time. So far I’m loving it. It’s different and the end result is pretty cool not to mention it’s eco friendly. Below are my first knitted samples. Starting from the left we have a milk bag, top right a Shopper’s Drug Mart bag and the bottom right is a Wonder Bread bag. The milk bag and bread bag are made from a strong plastic and knit more smoothly, but the Shopper’s bag is lighter and ‘softer’.

As my contract ends in week and I only will be working 2 days a week I will have time for blogging, knitted and needle felting.

Okay this has nothing to do with knitting but, I’ve been on a canning adventure and had to share this image of all my goodies. I’ve titled it “Preparing for the zombie apocalypse, one jar at a time.”

In a flurry of stabbing things with sharp, barbed needles I created a whole bunch more felt beads. The next step is going to be creating some actual jewelery. There’s a great bead shop in St. Jacob’s not too far from me. I need plan a trip out there soon without the girls so I can really concentrate on what I should get. It’s a bit overwhelming because there are so many choices and options for creating beautiful jewelery. The fabulous thing about the beads is that they are super light so you can make pieces that might normally be too heavy using traditional beads.

It’s been a hot summer and it’s only half over. I haven’t picked up a needle in a few months. I blew the dust off of my needle felting supplies, finished a little bear I started ages ago and created my first needle felted beads.

Here’s the photo I promised of the back which is almost done. I lengthened the back a little because I can’t stand sweaters that aren’t long enough – really don’t want it showing my stomach every time I lift my arms.

Well I was going to post a photo of my progress on the Debbie Bliss fair isle sweater I’m making, but sadly I realized I had made a mistake and had to rip out the entire snowflake section which was done. It really helps to pay better attention to the pattern. I feel so silly. You’re supposed to be shaping the armholes as you are also knitting the snowflake chart and the heart chart. I did not do this and just knit straight up. Clearly I couldn’t just wing this mistake so rip, rip, rip. I am proud to say I didn’t shed any tears – a lot of profanity yes, but no tears.

The photo of my progress will come once I’ve finished the back piece.

In other crafting news I finally cleared the clutter from around my sewing machine and I hope to embark on some sewing projects this spring and summer. It’s about time I got back at it. I’m excited by all the great things I can make for the house, the girls and myself. Sewing will likely have more of an instant gratification than knitting which takes so much longer to complete.

Life is good. The new job is good. I’ve been very busy, but I’ve been finding the time to continue working on my sweater. All is good with the world. That is all.

I can’t believe how fast the fair isle sweater I’m working on is going. I thought it would get a bit tedious between the patterns but it hasn’t. The sweater has grown a lot in a short time.

Due to the unusually warm weather I was able to photograph my progress outside in the back yard. Normally that would be unheard of in February. I can’t say I miss the freezing cold temperatures we normally have this time of year, but something just isn’t right when it’s this warm out. All the little furry critters are confused, thinking it’s spring already. I want to tell them ‘there’s no food out yet, go back to bed!’