Back in February, she brought us the olive. Now, just in time for Halloween, she brings us knitted eyeballs.

I’m working on a basket. I found a pattern for a Red Hat Lady Pill Box Hat and realized it was the perfect sized bowl. Because hats are basically just bowls you know. There were some errors in the decreases, so that kind of frustrated me. So last night I fixed the pattern, reversed it and made it a little bigger. Now I have knit it bottom up and I to the point where I am debating a handle. This is generally where I have always had issues. I am too darn picky. I have written the pattern up to the point where you should start a handle. It only took a night to knit the “body” so I may just make quite a few with different handles.

I bought a Sizzix Die Cutting Machine at the hospice resale shop a while back. I bought a tag die to make little ornaments and some embossing plates. I got it for a steal, so the four cards I have made put me on the “saving money” side of things. Yay for me.

So that’s about it on the crafting front. I’ll report back with pictures once I have some.

I started following PumpkinKnits after discovering her Rogue grafting cheat sheet. Then comes the Spidey hat (see this entry for Spidey hat pictures). Seriously, how awesome/adorable is that? I kind of want to knit if for AJ, but will it translate well in acrylic? It isn’t nearly cold enough here to knit it in wool. I know he would like it, but I’m torn regarding the wool. I actually have the colors in wool and have set them aside.

In other craft news. I saw the most awesome craft tables at the hospice resale shop. Unfortunately, neither of them would fit in either car. Oh the humanity! They were P-E-R-F-E-C-T! Not to mention that they were only $14.99 each. That place doesn’t mess around with pricing stuff high. They get in more than enough stuff to sell. Unfortunately, it is rarely crafty. I always check though. Just in case.

I live about a minute drive from the library. I am on one end of the road and it is on the other. Seeing as I am so close, I have been checking out knitting books to weed out the books I do and don’t want to purchase.

This morning I picked up: Speed Knitting: 24 Quick and Easy Projects

What makes most of the projects quick and easy is the use of bulky weight yarns or doubling up on the worsted weight yarns or the fact that they are fairly small items. The patterns are fairly quick and straightforward and there are items for both genders and various ages. I’ve found myself interested in the scoop neck vest pattern and possibly the a cotton summer “shift”. It isn’t quite a dress, but it is longer than your average shirt. Towards the back you’ll find explanations of some of the techniques you will encounter in the book.

It is worth looking at, but I’m not sold on purchasing it for myself or anyone I know. The patterns are quite generic. For me it is serving as a gentle reminder that quick gifts can be knitted if two strands of yarn are used!

The second book I picked up was: Christmas Stockings: Holiday Treasures to Knit (Christmas)

Holy adorable Batman! Interweave Press does it again. There are felted, celtic, aran, fair isle, silly, sweet and even funny stockings. Who wouldn’t want a stocking and a matching sock monkey? There are 18 patterns that are sure to cover everyone in the family, including the pets. The patterns are all top down and feature kitchener toes, but the heels vary. If you are scared of knitting socks, these holiday stockings might be a place to start.

Last week I picked up Knitting on the Edge. Unfortunately, I wasn’t all that impressed. I found more information in a book I purchased some time ago, The New Knitting Stitch Library. The only difference is the pictures are larger in the Epstein book. Needless to say, I took the Epstein book off of my Amazon wishlist. After spending some time with it, I realized I had a book that already covered everything in this book.

The other book I checked out last week was Knit One, Felt Too. I wasn’t too overly impressed by this one in the end. Many of the patterns are very similar to patterns available online. My main purpose of checking this one out was to serve as a reference. I want to make something for someone for Yule, but I wasn’t sure of the details. It might be helpful in inspiring your creative bug, but don’t rely on it too much.

I bought some undyed wool today. I have decided that I want to make some of the Yule presents this year. I know the kids are kids, so if I knit something for them, it will be quick and easy. Something that if they lose or throw it away, I won’t be upset. I want to make some things for other family members that I know will appreciate them. Know what I mean? So, I am going to use some of the dyes I have been collecting, dye the wool and possibly do some fulling.

Now I just have to think up some ideas. I have a couple but since they are potential gifts, I can’t quite mention them here. If I complete them, I’ll post them on Ravelry. My id is well, miftik.

Since Josh is hogging my laptop, I am sitting at my desktop playing on Ravelry. I decided to see what patterns people are making with some of the yarns I have. I came across something great… A Captain Underpants doll! I had to post this because I had never seen a knitted Captain Underpants. If you don’t know Captain Underpants, it is OK. I only know of him because of his premiere at my niece’s school book fair a few years back. ALL of the boys just HAD to get the Captain Underpants books. Boys are funny.

A deathly hallow’s wrist band! I think I may add this to my list of things to make!

Well, I finally started messing around on Ravelry.com this afternoon. It is neat. Josh laughed when I explained it to him. He called me a geek. Um, he’s the one that has spent the entire day installing/tweaking/customizing fetchmail on our server here so that it can download his mail while he is at work.

Kris was my first (and currently my only) ravelry friend. I can’t remember what anyone else signed up as. I added my rogue to my projects, but I need to tweak the specs I have listed. I just wanted to see how everything worked. Tomorrow I will probably start adding things to it.

Cute knitted animals at Crafty Alien. Maybe I will buy myself some patterns for a graduation present. That’s going to be the only time in the near future that I might have a chance to knit. I worked on the monster between semesters, but now that classes are back in session, he’s on hold. He’s missing 3/4 of his limbs. Let’s not even start on features like eyes! Josh told me he looks like a furry gord right now. Not cool, not cool at all.

After casting on four different times, I’m giving up on knitting a monster tonight. I want to knit, but the knit is against me.

I like this instructables for quilt making. My great grandmother used to make quilts often and she is the one who first got me into sewing (and crafting). I’ve been thinking of taking some of the older plain t-shirts I have and cutting them up for quilting. Some of them have bleach stains so they aren’t exactly good for donating. It is on my list of things to do. My list is pretty long right now. I should work on that.