Sir Gawain Arrived and Today is My Birthday!

Well look what the letter carrier delivered this Saturday all the way from sunny CA to dreary, overcast OH. The hank of Sir Gawain handpaint from Holly of HollYarns for being the first person to send a donation for Cyrano's Creature Comfort's Drive!

The yarn is even better in person. As usual my mediocre photography skills simply can not do this gorgeous yarn justice.

A HUGE thank you to Holly. I love the yarn!

In non knitting news today is my birthday! It snuck up on me this year. We've been doing a ton of work on the house and have been super busy. We don't have anything big planned other then maybe going out to dinner with the kids.

I do hope to get to knit a little on hedgehog NUMBER FIVE today. I've got the body and paws done. Now it's a matter of picking up the stitches for the back. I have a big Huggable Hedgehog post percolating in my brain to detail the little changes I've made and what I've learned knitting the pattern multiple times. I want to help share the Hedgie Love.

HP Hedgie Progress

Allison's HP Hedgie is coming along nicely. The Bernat Boa is creating a soft, flocked effect. I'm seeing Allie tomorrow morning. Not sure if I can finish it up in time for tomorrow or not. You can see a bit of E's Preschool art work on the wall behind Hedgie.

After the Hedgie is done I think it will be time to take stock of the stash and make up a list of things to knit. Obviously I want to knit several Hedgies. The peek a boo mittens, a another blanket or two for Holly's Creature Comfort Drive and possibly some felted clogs.

I saw a picture of a gorgeous candle flame shawl on flickr a few days ago in the Crazy for Knitting Flickr Pool. Photo pools are a great way to find inspiration.

Harry Potter and the Book 7 KAL

I joined the Harry Potter and the Book 7 KAL today. I've already knitted a few HP inspired items detailed in my introductory post. I love all things HP. Dave and I are even reading book 1 to E a few pages at a time each night before bed. We are all enjoying the books. Even Dave, who will not read them. Well he is now. :-)

I've been thinking about knitting Hatmione and the matching mittens again. I loved the Cascade 220. The pattern is really easy to follow. The cables and bobbles are fun. We shall see.

I also have my eye on Pensive Frog's Peekaboo Mittens in the current issue of MagKnits. I'm thinking some stash yarn might be fun. Oh. What about a rainbow pair for my step mother. They would match her rainbow Nautilus hat. Need to think about that.

In other KAL news. I picked up the log cabin blog yesterday and added another bar. It needs to be bigger. I'm enjoying the pattern. It's fun but not too hard.

I have a Knit Picks order coming sometime soon. I ordered a bunch of yarn for Hedgies last Tuesday during the BIG STORM. We had a huge for Central Ohio snow storm that closed the Knit Picks warehouse in Grove City, along with a ton of schools and other businesses. The order shipped Friday so it should be here soon.

Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the Hedgie is so delightful!

Oh boy!

First and foremost a very large thank you to Holly over at Hollyarns who is hosting Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive and to the United States Postal Service for delivering my two blankets safe and sound to California. Thanks to the USPS's speedy delivery I won a hank of Holly's hand painted Sir Gawain. I'm thinking about what lace pattern to knit with the beautiful handpaint.

To say I'm excited is a bit of an understatement.

Please consider knitting up a blanket or two for Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive. The next prize will be going to the 1oth package to arrive at Holly's door filled with blanket love.

I had E all dressed up this morning for today's preschool Valentine's Day party only to find out preschool was canceled for the second Tuesday in a row. E took it pretty well. She's been so excited for Valentine's Day this year. We are talking Christmas level excitement. Hopefully the weather will calm down enough for her to go to preschool on Thursday.

On to knitting news. I finished knitting the Huggable Hedgehog. Oh what a fun knit. The back went really fast. I held the fun fur double because I wanted really lush fur. I'd been saving up a ton of coasters to felt so today turned into felting day.

Pattern: Huggable Hegehog
Designer: Debbie Radtke
Size: Just Right for Cuddling
Yarn: Knit Pick's Color Your Own Worsted and Lion Brand Fun Fur
Needles: 10.5, 24 inch circs
Started February 11, 2007
Finished February 13, 2007

Check out little Hedgie Love. E is just completely enamored with little Hedgie. He is even the sleep lovie for tonight. I was afraid that the tummy would not be dense enough. It felted up great. The paws did not need stuffed, they just sort of felted themselves.

I'm thrilled with my first Hedgehog and am planning out several more. Now if only I could get out and about to buy more yarn...

Heggie Love!

Well I did not go nuts at the LYS on Saturday. Only bought two sets of circs. Got to see a Huggable Hedghog at the LYS, very cute.

Speaking of Huggable Hedgehogs someone sent in a picture of a fab pink and purple Hedgie to Trent over at Pink is the New Blog. Scroll down to the end of the post for Hedgie Love!

I finished another little kitty blanket over the weekend for Hollyarn's & Cyrnao's Creature Comforts Drive. I've been wanting to learn how to Log Cabin. I followed Cara's Log Cabin X pattern. My block is nothing amazing, I basically used up an entire skein of Grandma Ruth Stash Acrylic. I held the yarn double so it's super thick and cushy. It's not much to look at but I did learn a new pattern.

My current knitting obsession is definitely the Fiber Trends Hedgehog pattern. I knitted up a little pink body over the weekend. E, H and I went to JoAnn's this morning for Fun Fur, eyes and noses.
It's knitting up so fast and so fun and just plain SUPER CUTE! If you want to learn short rows in a fun and cute way then this pattern is for you. The directions are clear and fairly easy to understand. You will be doing short rows in no time and have a huggable little Hedgie friend in the process.

My sister has already put in a request for a Harry Potter Gryffindor Hedgehog. We are thinking a yellow/mustard colored tummy and burgundy fun fur.

I'm hoping to finish little Hedgie soon. I have a ton of stuff to felt, a bunch of coasters and a bowl.

In the meantime I'm back to knitting more Hedgie Love.

Letter Carrier Love

The Letter Carrier brought a heaping helping of knitting pattern love today.

My order from Bella Filati arrived. Admittedly I'd never heard of the store and purchased from them because they were the only online store that I could find that had both the Fiber Trends Hedgehog and Felted Clog patterns in stock. The customer service was good and the patterns arrived quickly.

The current Interweave Knits also arrived in the mail today. More pattern fun!

Henry and I mailed a package to CA for the Hollyarns & Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive today. I would like to think there are two little kitties or maybe small dogs out there waiting for blankies.

Cyrano’s Creature Comforts Drive FO's

Well I finished a second item for Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive. I knitted a 4 Corners dishcloth in stash acrylic held double on size 10.5's. It's not huge but it is soft and squishy.

Now Knitting...Even When Sick

Nothing like some under the weather knitting. E spiked a fever on Friday. After a weekend of watching Mulan and Mulan II over and over and over she is on the upswing. Dave and I still have chest congestion, oh the chest congestion. H wants to be held all the time but that's pretty normal for him.

I have an FO to share. A Pinwheel Baby Blanket out of Ruth Stash Acrylic for some little kitty or small doggy for the HollYarns & Creature Comforts Drive. It's red and fiesta held double. It's machine washable!


I'm thinking the next blanket is going to be a square. Something nice and simple.

After knitting up the blanket I started another modified Nantasket for a holiday gift giving coaster set. I dyed the yarn with Orange, Pink and Regular Lemonade on Saturday. It smelled really orange.



I'm getting really adept at starting a circular knit on dpn's. I start with a long tail cast on on only one needle then knit three, three then two stitches on the other three dpn's. The uneven numbers help me keep track of the row end.

Cyrano’s Creature Comforts Drive

Holly over at Hollyarns is having a cat, dog and rabbit blanket drive in memory of her late kitty Cyrano who passed on last October. Holly has written up all the details so please check out her page about the drive.

Cyrano's Creature Comforts Drive!

This sounds like a fabulous way to burn through some of my ample acrylic stash. Even better is that most of the acrylic stash is from my dear late step Grandmother Ruth. Ruth loved animals and helping others. I can't think of a better way to use that stash yarn. Now to figure out what to knit.