Finger Cramps?!

Oy vey! Well, Spincerely finally has done it. Yep, brace yourself world - I am learning to knit! For many years I have sidestepped her friendly invitations to the world of fiber claiming to be true to my one lifelong hobby. Yes, since scrapbooking is so time consuming - and I get so little time to do it - I figured I should stay with that alone (well, unless you count reading as a hobby, but I don't). Here's what sucked me in... knitting is so much more transportable. I find as the children get older I spend more and more time waiting. Wait at the doctor, wait at sports practice, the orthodontist, the school, the rehearsals, etc. Now, in the past I have attempted to bring scrapbook magazines, or some photos to crop, or a notebook for ideas and sketches. All okay, but not quite satisfying (and with Ethan almost impossible).

So, I am picking up this new hobby as a travelling one. I'm not too good at it yet.

Here is my very first "project" so far. It is going to be a Webkinz sleeping bag. For Fluffy the Webkin. Then I need to make blankets for the numerous other Webkinz living in this house.

On to my very first "knitting catastrophy" so far. I am in full concentration mode (well, if you can concentrate with one son in a tutu and cowboy boots doing tap dancing and the other in a doggy costume with a santa hat and a trick or treat bag going around saying - ho, ho, ho, I'm Santa Doggy and giving me "treats" AND "Go, Diego, Go" playing on the tele) (and YES that is totally true) so yeah, I'm sort of kind of almost concentrating when my yarn ball plups off the couch. I ignore it figuring I would get it when at the end of the row (being new to this thing I get scandlized if I need to pause mid-row). Sooooooo I go to get it - AND IT IS FLOATING IN MY FREAKING TEA! Yes, my brand new, lovely, Spinny special yarn is now a TEA BALL! Eeeep!

I say a few choice words left over from my school teacher days (OH maccaroni and cheese! Parsnip juice and jam toes! and fingledoodle!) then I rush to the phone to call my Knitty 911 pal to get her advice.

She tells me to rinse it (hadn't thought of that, really - duh to me) and unroll it to dry it out. Hence the pic of Raggedy Ann "helping" me dry the yarn. See I was tempted to throw it all in the dryer for a tumble. Lucky I called her!

That's my life. You are now updated. Oh, and I have finger cramps from the knitting I think!

On to a scrapbookery topic... here is the thank you gift I made for Abbie's Odyssey of the Mind coach (who's a teacher too). The specs are:

- page size 4"X 12" (so no 4x6 photos need to be trimmed, sweet!)

- jump ring to hold it together tied with random ribbon scraps (shoulda knit them!)

- Bazzill cardstock in tan

- Junkitz fanci*ful line patterned paper
- Junkitz fanci*ful carstock stickerz

- Junkitz fanci*ful tagz & flowerz

- tea dye distress ink

- Adirondack acrylic paint Dabber - expresso

- some assorted clear stamps

I think that's it.

The pictures are of just a few of the pages so you get the

general idea. I got the idea to do this type of project

off of the Fiskars website.
Hope you like the project feature - have a great weekend!