Who’s behind this damage? None other than my orange muffin:

Yup, Granola loves attacking my chair. I’ve tried squirting him with a squirt bottle but that doesn’t deter him. In fact he acts like the squirt bottle is a game-how much can he scratch before I get him wet. Meanwhile my chair was just getting worse:

I had bought some flower fleece fabric to cover it. Originally I had a vague idea to sew on velcro to hold the cover over the chair. When it came time to sew them down I realized that wouldn’t work. Just as I was resigning myself to handsewing the cover Bliss called. I asked her advice and she said-”Put that needle down!”. She recommended using a glue gun instead. When the fabric was worn out I could just rip it off and glue down more. Brilliant!

I glued over the fake leather and left the plastic bits exposed. The glue gun made it super easy to tack down.

An added bonus was our glue gun was a low temp one so I didn’t burn my fingers.

A close up “after” shot:

I love how it turned out! It’s so cheery!

This is on a vega in front of Weaving Southwest.

Here’s what the back looks like:

To insure we don’t harm property we’re not using any nails or staples. Instead we’re using ties and making sure the tag is snug around the object. I put ties every few inches and it worked well.

A close up of the ties:

Teresa, from Weaving Southwest, and I have started a new blog called Yarn Blog Taos to chronicle the Great Taos Yarn Bombing of 2012.

Here’s me and Abbey posing with him:

How exciting to have the Ram there! If you’re in ABQ and want to see him in person please stop by and let me know what you think.

Later on Abbey and I posed with our monster bags.

My ABQ visit was short but we had a good time hanging out.

So I cracked open the GAPS Diet Cookbook and made myself some truffles.

These are ghee truffles rolled in coconut and walnuts and are vegetarian.

These are so delicious and really help when I’m craving something that’s fatty. Though next time I’m planning on rolling them in bacon crumbs.

These are pistachio date truffles.

These are yummy too but not as good as the ghee ones. They’re good for when I’m craving sweet and crunchy and are vegan.

Source: Internal Bliss cookbook

That picture doesn’t reflect the color quite right. Here’s another.

They fit and she likes them. Yay!

Pattern: Yoga Socks
Source: me
Yarn: stash
Needles: 4.0 mm needles
Size: custom
Modifications: N/A
Started: Dec 2011
Finished: Dec 2011

I found the Girl’s Strawberry Purse Pattern on Ravelry.

It’s super cute! I altered the pattern some-I knit a row of k2tog, yo to create holes for an I-cord drawstring. And I lined it with cotton fabric from an old tshirt.

Sewing the yellow yarn into little seeds took awhile but it was totally worth it. A pic of the innards:

Leila loves her new purse! Yay!

Pattern: Girl’s Strawberry Purse
Source: Ravelry
Yarn: Lamb’s Pride
Needles: 6.0 mm needles
Size: N/A
Modifications: some, see above
Started: Jan 2012
Finished: Jan 2012

I bought this Noro Iro several years ago at a big yarn sale. The colors are fabulous. I was in one of my moods where I didn’t want to follow any patterns and wanted near instant gratification. I wanted ribbing for the cuff in a complementary color. The pink Lamb’s Pride just kept calling to me. Though I’m not normally a pink girl I trusted the Knitting Muse.

After the ribbing I just knit stockinette until it was tall enough. I used Kitchener stitch to bind off. Then I added big tassels in and ode to Red from Fraggle Rock.

To add more flair I crocheted a flower and sewed a recycled button in the center.

For the scarf I decided to knit a Noro striped scarf. I alternated between two balls of Iro. Watching the colors stripe was so fun while knitting. I added fringe to match the hat tassels. If you look close you can see Sieben’s nose.

Granola joined us for the photo shoot.

I love my new accessories! I’m calling them the Pinktastic Hat and Scarf.

Pattern: Pinktastic Hat
Source: me
Yarn: Noro Iro, 1.5 balls
Needles: 6.0 mm needles
Size: custom
Modifications: N/A
Started: Dec 2011
Finished: Jan 2012

Pattern: Pinktastic Scarf
Source: me
Yarn: Noro Iro, 1.5 balls
Needles: 6.0 mm needles
Size: custom
Modifications: N/A
Started: Dec 2011
Finished: Jan 2012

RAWR!!!

This is definitely one of the most fun projects I’ve ever knit. After looking at pictures of monster bags on Ravelry and Craftster I decided to make up my own pattern as I went along. I used acrylic and fun fur yarn for the body and knit it in the round.

Knitting in the round pushed the fun fur to the inside of the circle so before starting the flap I turned the bag inside out.

Abbey loved the monster bag idea when I told her so we decided to do it as a knit along. She’s making hers out of brown yarn. We decided the purse straps should be the monster’s arms.

It was her idea to use kids gloves for the monster’s hands. Brilliant! I found the gloves stretched so before attaching them I decided to put a piece of felt inside for stability. I put a snap on the gloves. I suppose I could have just sewn them together and may do that in future versions. (How could I not make another?!)

For the teeth I cut out two pieces of felt, sewed them together and turned them inside out.

I did the same thing for the tongue.

I sewed the lining, teeth and tongue to the knit fabric.

For the eyes I used buttons. I sewed them on with the flat side up and super glued the wiggly eyes onto them.

Monster Bag tastes the kitty…

…and decides he tastes so good he needs to nom him. Granola seems unperturbed.

Monster Bag also gives Sieben a lick:

For the lining I used polka dots. I love polka dots-they’re so cheerful. I put in plenty of pockets and have room for all my purse goodies.

It feels like I have a Muppet on my arm. I can’t wait to debut it around Taos!

Pattern: Monster Bag
Source: me
Yarn: green acrylic and green fun fur yarn
Needles: 6.0 mm needles
Size: custom
Modifications: N/A
Started: Dec 2011
Finished: Dec 2011

Grant gave me upholstery fabric that used to be part of his late father’s living room recliner. His Dad Ralph was an awesome guy. So funny and so sweet-just like Grant though he’d never admit to the sweet part. I used one of our old pillowcases for the lining so the whole bag would remind Grant of people who love him.

For Megan’s bag I used recycled fabric. She sometimes goes by Bee so I put a flower and bee detail on the bag for her.

Megan’s father recently died. As is often the case around death the family was in a state of stress. So in addition to the grocery bag I decided to make her son Logan a hat. And I let him pick the colors.

They’re in MO so I couldn’t try it on him while knitting. I went with the Hothead pattern since it’s nice and stretchy. It fits him great and he loves it.

Here’s Granola helping with laundry again.

Pattern: Grocery Bag Gifts
Source: my own pattern
Medium: sewing
Started: Nov 2011
Finished: Nov 2011

Pattern: Hothead
Source: Stitch ‘n Bitch
Yarn: stash yarn
Needles: 4.5 mm needles
Size: medium
Modifications: none
Started: Nov 2011
Finished: Nov 2011

Bummer about the class but still it was a good exercise in design. The pattern is my own.

The toe and heel are both a short row construction. The cuff is seed stitch with an I-cord loop attached.

I plan to officially write this pattern up soon.

Pattern: Xmas Stocking
Source: me
Yarn: Lamb’s Pride Wool, 3 skeins
Needles: 6.0 mm needles
Size: NA
Modifications: none
Started: Nov 2011
Finished: Nov 2011