Keeping Busy!

I have been away from my blog and email lately, and it feels good to get back to it and to all my good blogging friends...I've been so busy getting ready for the Christmas shopping season. My daughter Kate at The Paper Sparrow has asked for more dolls, more jewelry, more prints, more...everything! And i am very happy to be asked! So here is what has been going on around here...

From this tangled mess, comes.....

some new jewelry, with more on the way. Here we have a blue lace agate necklace, some chunky garnet pieces, and as always the popular pearl pieces, some bracelets and gobs of earrings....

...more teddy bears knitted up, and waiting to be stuffed and sewn together. Some will be for small children, embellished with embroidered features and a few will be thread and button jointed with safety and button eyes....

And in this pile you can see a little baby sweater almost finished in a soft blue and pearly white yarn, a new patterned hat for Lola, a super small dog sweater in the works(my first one) and a loomed snowman doll almost ready to be stuffed and shaped.

And as if that wasn't enough, my new knitting class started at The Paper Sparrow. This time we are learning to knit mittens....

My teacher Linda is starting me out with two different methods of making mittens to see which one i like best...The traditional double pointed needle way, and the "Magic Loop" way on circular needles. I like both methods but i think so far the Magic Loop is my favorite. I know that with more practice, both methods will get easier, but right now knitting with four needles feels like i am wrestling with a porcupine in my hands! (Keep your fingers crossed for me that i can get this lesson right)

So as i type this, this is what my kitchen table looks like at this very moment. What a mess! But with time and a little bit more focus, i should be able to wrap a few of these projects up and get them to the shop before Troy Night Out and the Victorian Stroll. What have you been up to?