sockapalooza socks: check

They're done, they're done!



Now to pack them up and not get attached to them...

specs for the curious minded:
pattern: Monkey socks from Knitty
yarn: Spunky Eclectic Skinny Sock in Hot Rod
needles: 2.25mm dpns

crafty goodness is now for sale!

Hi peeps,
I'm announcing the grand opening of my etsy store. I'll be selling homemade blockprinted cards, quilted paper cards, journals and bath salts. Hopefully more fun treats to come. Please go and and take a look-see:
www.yarnbee.etsy.com

Also, Elliott, my husband has decided to sell his amazing spice blends in his own etsy store. I've been lucky enough to try them all. They really make everything taste better. No really. They do. You can find his store at:
www.emburke.etsy.com

And if that isn't enough excitement for you all, I finished a sweater. I know, I know I haven't blogged about it, but it's a store sample for WEBS and I was racing to get it done in time. My friend Alicia kindly offered to model it as it's a bit too small for me. See what you think.









Specs:
Pattern: #103 Portland sweater from WEBS
Size: smallest 35" bust
Yarn: Valley Yarns Rainbow / color #26 Brick / 8 balls
Gauge: 6 stitches = 1 inch
Needles: 3's
Started: June 22
Finished: July 12
Notes: This is a pretty easy and somewhat mindless knit, which is great for much movie watching. I would recommend blocking the sleeves in shape (stretching out the bottom half ) before you pick up the stitches for the main body.

In other late breaking news, Elliott sent me a photo today of my Gymnocalycium catcus with its first flower! I couldn't be prouder!

Brimfield antiques outing

A few of us from across Massachusetts decided to meet up at the Brimfield Antique show yesterday. The town of Brimfield is only known out here for a giant, I mean GIANT, gathering of many antique shows for three weeks each year, generally one in May, one in July and one in September. Without fail I always choose the hottest day of the year, even if I go in May. Of course, this year was no exception as it was 95 degrees with full on knock you down humidity. We did make it through a number of dealers stalls with impressive collections of bakelite, fireking glass, oddities like giant display fruit and an entire taxidermy deer statue (who wouldn't want that in their living room?). We probably only saw maybe a quarter of the show before we had to call it quits due to the unbearable weather and sweating. A few finds were made, however. My friends found set of 1950's glass refrigerator containers for a good price and I came home with a huge jar of buttons for $3.00. Here's a shot of some of the treasures hidden in that jar...

babies don't wait for their accessories

Even though I made a handy list of newly arriving babies to knit for, somehow I am getting a bit behind in my baby gift knitting. I decided to scale back a bit from the baby sweater plan and managed to knit up some fun newborn treats in a couple of movie-watching evenings. If you get the impression that all we do here in the evening at chez yarnbee is watch movies you're pretty much right.

The best thing about newborn accessories is that they knit up so quickly! Like these wonderfully cute baby bootees from saartje knits. They practically fall of the needles. Paired up with a cute stripy hat, you've got yourself a great gift. I think I can get them delivered before the baby comes - we'll see!



specs:
bootees -
pattern: free PDF from saartje knits - see link on sidebar
yarn: Sidar DK Snuggly
needles: 2.5mm

hat -
pattern: made up as I went along
yarn: Sidar DK Snuggly
needles: 2.5mm and 3mm

more making

Happy Fourth everyone!
I hope that you all had good celebrations. It rained here and was somewhat stormy and sucky outside, so Elliott and I hunkered down and watched many movies with much knitting and craftiness for me. Now that it's sunny again, I can show you my latest sewing efforts:



This combines the efforts of making some fun summer clothes while busting through the fabric stash. You can see how wrinkly the linen is going to be, even after I ironed the heck out of it, but its a great material for hot weather. I'm thinking about embroidering some circles or other fun decorations on it. Thoughts?

specs:
pattern :Butterick pattern #3134
fabric: linen fabric from stash, probably purchased many years ago in Philadelphia

Earlier this week I got to help my friend Lisha (aka. Pedro's mom) make some photo albums for her fraternal twin sisters. It was so fun to show her the ropes on some simple book binding techniques. I can't wait to see how they turn out chock full of family pictures.