Christmas!!!

Knitting down to the wire on the big day. My daughter wanted a new pair of fingerless mitts, for ease of twirling her ipod wheel on the walk to school. This is the third pair i've made for her - the others must have been ripped off because they were obviously so awesome (I choose to think!)

This pair is beautiful - super soft plum tone baby llama. Found a bulky pattern on web - but had to add thumbs. The yarns was approx $10 a skein, took a skein and a half. She'd darn well better look after this pair!

B. told everyone on the planet he wanted slippers. Have an old patons pattern with animals heads. The only mouse colour i had was a tan organic cotton - so not fluffy, but he seemed happy.

Now - promised mom a crocheted laundry hamper from my old duvet cover. Seeing her Sun. Better get on that...tomoro

Merry Christmas!!!

Cool packaging!

I invented the coolest thing today! When I shipped out a recent order, I sewed a nice gift bag for it. But at the PO I couldn't use it because it rendered my package too fat to go thru a mail slot. that would mean sending at parcel rate rather than letter rate.

So have been mulling what kind of nice package i could de vise to fit in a common cd bubble envelope.

Then it hit me -actually they were lying all over the floor by our little home copier - crumpled sheets of copied sheet music. I love wrapping parcels in music. Music notes are just so classy.

So I cut around a basic cd jewel case. Hole punch around the open sides and top. Since I am GoodYarns, stitch thru the hole punches like the old kindergarten craft (i loved that craft!), and tie off with a bow.

It looked fabulous, and I say that knowing how over the top in comparison to my more true to character unwillingness to call attention to my own genius. But it was pretty amazing.

Today's shipment was a knitted ornament, so I printed out a free Deck the Halls - perfect. Will post a pic when i get a chance!

The warm glow of creating

Am feeling pretty toasty right now. Last week I responded to an SOS on Facebook from a young mom friend who wanted a box with slots for advent toys for her little girl. She couldn't find one for purchase anywhere. I commented what about making one from felt and hot gluing on the pockets. Well one thing led to another and I ended up making one for her.

This was so much fun. I knew that oversized piece of red felt from the remnants bin at Len's Mill was speaking to me for a reason a few weeks ago.

All doo dads and ornamentation made from things found lying around the house - so no consumer demand for spun plastic was generated in the creation of this piece - which can of course be used for years to come.

Guess what I'll be listing early next fall!

Bowls, needlefelt, tunes, pasta, Titanic!

Busy weekend. Fri- Benny and friend Selena painted the papier mache bowls we made in christmas colours. Next day were able to use as snack bowls for gold fish crackers and pretzels. These of course are rougher than primitive- but the whole thing has got me thinking positively about my 'gift of the season' idea.

Fave LYS called Fri to say my needle felting tools had arrived. The minute I tore the packaging off on Saturday they were put to good use. Was running out of time to embellish my Christmas coffee cosy - visions of various applique swirling in my head. But the needle felting option worked fabulously. I think is a terrific fit with the coffee pot, where the heat from the pot will weld the fibres together even more. Should make it fairly easy to launder.

Sunday has been music day. I wish we could do this every week. The girls got out their violins and we got some pretty fab trios going with violin and guitar. Even brought Benny in on his percussion set. He had surprisingly little patience for this.

However he had amazing patience for turning the crank on the pasta machine. Stan has got to be pleased to finally have a pasta pal with staying power.

Buddy nearly fell asleep in my arms at dinner, but had the endurance for the Mag Tree house Titanic book - 7 chapters! - before bed. He never ceases to amaze.

Wrapping up another fine week around the homestead!

Dawn's Birdies

Really happy I made the connection to myself about all those birds I was knitting. Of course I knew the inspiration for my all bird Christmas tree - Stan's (mom's) cousin Dawna. She had that beautiful tree in her smart north Toronto condo.

My family trees had always been a glorious hodge podge of ancient, battered ornaments with a dash of handmade by us kids. Hers was the first I saw that was so...themed.

What a great lady. Has it already been half a year since she passed away. No children of her own, but always so comfortable with kids in her and Jack's condo. Always so mindful about the births of our kids - and I'm sure those of others.

It gives me profound joy to see her name in my shop beside every little bird. Seems fitting that each bird should come to represent the little beacon of joy that she was for her family.

The opportunity to see her name posted, to create something in her memory, has been entirely worth developing the shop.

Good Yarns Ink - 1st entry!

Imagine me blogging. Actually I have a billion blogs, but not one dedicated to crafting. Or should we call it yarn artistry.

When searching for an online shop name, one that would work for knitting journalist, my daughter suggested Good Yarns. I love it!

So here's my first post under the shingle of Good Yarns. Hope you find it fun and enjoyable!