Elemental Stitches

Scenes from the Road

From last week's trip.

Gilroy, Ca

Gilroy, Ca

Palmdale, Ca

Mom's house.  Palmdale, Ca

Mom's deck, where everyone hangs out on the weekends.

Prickly Pear - My friend Tina got hundreds of those tiny orange thorns in her arm and hands.  Tape, very sticky packing or duct tape is the trick to removing those suckers.

Azula - My mom Aussie Shepherd

My Mom.

Antelope Acres/Neenach, Ca

Neenach, Ca

Neenach, Ca

Antelope Acres, Ca

Also wishing you a very happy Easter!

Finished Knits

I am working on my dress are you?  You have until this Saturday Jan 8th, 2011 to finish and post your link!

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Solstice, Brae's birthday, Christmas, and New Years slid by so quickly I hardly had a chance to enjoy them.  Instead of visiting family we were visited by many friends who we haven't seen since winter quarter started at their colleges.  Some stayed for a couple days, others for a week, and one more is staying for a couple months while his son is in the hospital nearby. 

Tom and I had a blast watching Brae open all her presents and have spent many frigid afternoons watching her ride her new bike in the driveway.  We have had a hard time finding a well fitting helmet.  Anyone know of a good kids bike helmet? 

I did my best to separate the holidays from her birthday, which falls on Dec 24th.  Its tough, but we just try to make Christmas Eve all about her and not about the holiday.

There was no way I was going to knit all my gifts this year.  I didn't want that added stress so I kept it simple.  My sister wanted a pair of fingerless mitts so I made her a pair of Thanksgiving Day Mitts.  The pattern can be found here at TwinKnits.  Or on Ravelry.

I finished these in just a couple days of knitting.  The pattern is simple, but not so simple that it becomes tedious.  The cable pattern is very similar to the Star Crossed Beret & Cowl patterns.  I might make myself a set one day using all three patterns.  I knit with the super soft and squishy Spud & Chloe Sweater yarn which I will definitely use again. 

Brae was the only other person who received something knitted this year.  She was in desperate need of some warmies.  I used the Legwarmies pattern by Alana from Never Not Knitting.  The yarn is Debbie Stoller's Alpaca Love.  A nice inexpensive yarn I found at Michaels. 

I also made matching fingerless mitts.  I winged it with a generic mitten pattern modifying the tops to make the mittens fingerless.  It worked out perfectly. 

I had planned on a matching hat but didn't get to that.  Its on the list for this month.  Ice has moved in and is chilling us to the core on the way to school every morning.  My new cowl has been great at keeping away the chill.  So great that I have plans for a hat with the same yarn. 

More on that soon.

2010 - The Year of Beginnings

Sitting on the couch this morning with a cup of tea I thought about all that happened this year.  For us 2010 has been a year of beginnings.  Starting with Tom's new job, then we moved to a new city.  I finally started a food blog, a photo business on the side and my little one has started Kindergarten.  We have paid off some nagging debts, got another car, grew 100 pounds of food in our little backyard.  We have been blessed this year!

Looking forward to 2011...  I have no clue what to expect.  I feel like I am looking into a fog which has happily settled itself over my plans for the future obscuring them from my vision.  There are many things I would like to do this year, but the timing is not right.  Those dreams must wait a little longer.  For now I am going to take this as a sign that 2011 is a blank slate that I can color in as I wish.  It's in my hands. 

One thing I know for sure, 2011 will be a good year.  We will get through our rough patches with love, we will celebrate our happy times together and I will be here on my blog next Dec 31st wondering what craziness 2012 will bring. 

Happy New Year To You All!

Happy Holidays

Hi Everyone,

The holidays completely swept me up!  I have had lots of yummy food, lots of knitting and hanging out with old friends.  I will try to post some of the stuff I have made this month sometime soon.  And that includes my jacket from our sew a long!  I know I still haven't posted it!

Happy Holidays to all of you! 

I hope that the spirit of Santa has touched you all in some special way this holiday season!

Weekend in Pictures - Deck the Halls

We rested.

We found.

We sang.

We decked the halls.

Our Weekend in Pictures

Christmas Make and Do

Am I really thinking about the holidays?  Have we really lived in this house 8 months?  Time flies by so quickly, it seems like we have lived here only a few months.  This is the first year where Tom and I will not be spending the holidays visiting relatives and I find myself cuddled up on the couch in the living room imagining where our tree will go and where should we put the stockings since we don't have a fireplace.  I know everything is going to be perfect because we are here together in our own place.  Last year Tom spent the holidays in San Jose working while I was in Southern California with my daughter, Mom and siblings.  It was very hard to spend that much time apart, especially during a holiday, which is why I am so excited about this holiday season. 

I've been writing down a list of things I want to make for my little one this year.  Like most kids in America, she has far too many plastic dolls and toys taking up space in her closet.  As a matter of fact I plan on getting rid of a lot of that stuff she never plays with (we already started with a mountain of naked hand me down barbies) and replacing them with more of what she really loves.  Dress up clothes, books, play kitchen toys, art supplies, and doll clothes. 

Toy Craft List

-Felt Food - I already started on this.  I have 3 carrots, a bulb of garlic, some bow tie pasta, and a zucchini finished.  Plans for more veggies, a loaf of bread, peanut butter and jelly, sushi rolls, tea cakes, cookies, and much more are already in the works.  I have found some great tutorials from

• Chasing Marcus
• Helping Little Hands - Look at the left sidebar for a huge list of felt food tutorials
• Felt-o-rama - Again the list is in the left sidebar
• Lit'l Brown Bird's Passion

-Dress Up Clothes - The princess dress I made a couple months ago for our sew a long has been a huge hit.  Its amazing its still here too.  I forgot to tell you about how it got completely covered in my little ones blood when she fell and cut her head.  By some miracle we got all the blood out and my daughter is fine.  I was hanging up all her play dresses the other day when I thought about turning the project for this month into another princess dress.  I think there is a lot I could do with it, so that is tentatively the plan.  I would also like to squeeze in a crown somewhere.

- Legwarmers, hat, mittens & maybe a cowl - Okay, so this is probably to make me happy rather then her.  I figure she loves when I make her things and if I make them pink she will be happy.

- Socks - Believe it or not, she has requested hand knit socks.  I can't say no to that.

- Doll Clothes - I am not sure what to do here.  She has specifically requested barbie doll clothes but I honestly have enough to knit this year.  Maybe I can fit a few in late at night.  Here are lots more clothes too!

- Doll Crib & Dress Up Closet from Ana White - Remember the coffee table I built with my friend Tina?  I am pretty confident that if I could build that table then I can build this adorable Doll Crib and a Dress Up Storage Closet.  Ana is posting new toy ideas to build for the next month! I am sure there will be more things added to this list. 

That's all for my kid craft list.  Isnt it enough?  I also have a whole list of holiday decor I want to make as well.  I got out our puny holiday decor box and realized that all we have left from our two moves last year are ornaments.   That just wont do!  I will be posting pictures of what I am working on and how I am decorating over the next few weeks.

What's on your holiday craft list and what are your decorating plans?