Merry Christmas, new projects!

Firstly, you have to see Bailey's newest fashion addition. She has a new collar and collar jewelry. Isn't she stylin'?! She posed so perfectly for this picture that I couldn't resist.

So, onto life. We have been celebrating the holidays in our own way here at the Thornton's house. We watch our Christmas movies, and beginning about 10 days before Christmas day, we start opening one gift a night. I haven't opened too many, but the little kids all love this tradition. I have gotten some spectacular gifts so far this year. I have already shown you some yarn I got, but here's more!

They are both called "Mermaid" and one is fingering weight, the other is laceweight. I think I will make a lacy scarf with the laceweight and still unsure what I'll do with the fingering weight...socks maybe?

















I have frogged the socks I was working on for my mom (she wasn't that thrilled with the color and neither was I), and started something with my new yarn. A scarf! It's the one I talked about in one of my previous posts by Noro and it's working up beautifully! I can't wait to see it all washed and blocked. The pattern is wonderfully simple and free, so how can you go wrong? I am working on size 1 needles, but I am so loving the result, that it's worth the tiny stitches :) I am all done with my Christmas knitting list, so it's nice to be working on something for me. I do feel a bit selfish, but I love this scarf!!

I have been so busy knitting that I have been neglecting my puzzle, but I promised to post about it, so here it is!

Now, I know it doesn't look like much, but all that sky at the top was a challenge! Now just to finish the 50 odd people that are skating on that pond...whew!

Now, I don't know how many of you follow this but last weekend was the Target World Challenge (it's a golf tournament for those who may not know). It was also the first tournament that Tiger Woods has played in 11 weeks. So, it was a very exciting weekend, especially since he won! Golf is so great to knit by, nothing better. You can have the time to look down at your project if you need to and not miss what's going on, but there is still something interesting enough to occupy your time. Tiger is taking more time off from golf and won't be playing again until the Buick Invitational on January 25th. I will just have to make do until then :)

I am really getting interested in making handpainted/hand dyed yarn.I have loved knitting with it and think it would be so fun to create my own colorways! We went to Barnes and Noble the other day and picked up the book The Yarn Lovers Guide to Hand Dyeing. It has some interesting techniques in there that I am eager to try, this will be so fun! I will chronicle my first attempt for you all to see...Hopefully it turns out well, lol.

Well, I am off to work on my scarf some more. Happy holidays!!

Thanksgiving Lapbook and other ramblings

Well, as I promised, here are the lapbook pictures. Didn't they do a wonderful job on this one?! We all had a really good time working on it. It's one of the many lapbooks from Live and Learn Press. They have several free ones (they refer to them as Learn 'N Folders), you should go check it out!

We have now put up cork board in our dining room and it has quickly been filled with drawings of all different Christmas themed pictures. Isn't this a beautiful sight?! :)

We have had a lot of fun with that. There is even a crayon drawing of mine up there, but I will leave it at that, lol. I have had a chance to get somewhere on my puzzle, here's what we've got so far:We always do a Charles Wysocki puzzle during Christmas/winter time. This one will eventually look like this. I love Charles Wysocki's artwork and it's so fun to put these puzzles together!

I have entered a contest over at the Lady knits, you need to check it out! Lots of goodies to give away!

I have also decided to join June's great idea of the Pay-it-forward exchange. Here's the low down: I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

So there you have it! Won't this be fun?!

I will end this post with a picture of the cutest little blue merle sheltie you could ever want to see!

Update!! Finally!!

First thing's first...please, PLEASE, please forgive my lack of blogging this past month. Time has just gotten away from me and I have been a horrible blogger...so sorry!! Now to catch you up on things- I finished the purple-y socks for Mackenzie, but cannot show you a picture just yet since I have already wrapped them. For those of you who saw the yarn as a work in progress in the last post, however, I will provide the details.

Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks, Winter Eclipse (75% Washable wool, 25% nylon)
Needles: Size 2 harmony circulars
Pattern: Basic toe-up sock, sized down for a child

Since my last post I also started and finished a pair of socks for Mallory and here they are.


The details are:
Yarn: Fiesta colorway, 100% superwash merino by Black Bunny Fibers
Needles: Size 1 circulars (harmony needles...gorgeous!)
Pattern: A child-sized variation (by me) on the toe-up sock by Wendy

I know that Mallory is really going to enjoy these. She kept coming up with excuses to try them on...just for fun of course :) I still have to wrap these and might put them in her stocking. The lucky thing about her being the youngest is that, since she's the smallest, it's so much easier to make things for her! So, thus ends the Christmas list of things I wanted to complete. I can't believe I made it! I have started a pair of socks for my mom, but my tendonitis is acting up again and I have been forced to set them down for a while. I am fathfully blue ice-ing it twice a day, so I expect speedy recovery!! So, here are her socks...toe-up of course.

Now on to other things. I have already gotten to open a couple of gifts for Hanukkah and they have been delightful! One of my gifts was this beautiful yarn. Both fingering weight, 100% superwash merino. It's kind of hard to see, but the one on the left is a blend of purples and greens, Gem Stones by Poppy Flower Fibers . The one on the right is a blend of greens, blues, and purple called Evening Forest. They are both 500 or more yards each! I am using the Evening Forest to make myself the Noro Silk Garden scarf.I saw it worked up at our LYS and fell in love! I think it will look awesome with a handpainted yarn like this.


I have been working on our annual Christmas puzzle and finally finished it. We always have one of Charles Wysocki's paintings and they are wonderful! Anyway, I finally finished this one two pieces short. ARGH! Oh well, I guess that's what I get for buying it at a yard sale, LOL. Fortunately we have 2 others and I have just started one of those. Here's the "before" pic and i will post updates as I progress :)







Ok, now last but not least in my personal news is something rather dramatic.



My sister Aubrey and I went and got a new piercing! We both got one of our Tragus' pierced, and for those of you who might not know...that's the flap of cartilage that you would press on to cover your ear and say "I'm not listening!", lol. I am so pleased with the outcome and it is healing nicely. I would prefer a smaller hoop, but that will have to wait a couple more weeks at least :)





So, there you have it folks. I will be posting the kids latest lapbook soon. It's their Thanksgiving project and it's mighty impressive, even if I do say so myself.