Free Advent Calendar Knitting Pattern ~ Done Except Numbers

Phew! I finally finished all 25 sacks! Aren't they CUTE???

I have it hanging in our LR :) I put them in order so that I can easily take some off from the right side when I want to number the next in line! SO... no particular order THIS year, but next year they will be all numbered! Every morning, the kids find the sack that has candy in it (I fill it each night) or count because I always put it in the sack that is in the right number place :)

If you want to make this fun Free Advent Knitting Pattern, it is here on my blog and will soon be a Free Ravelry Download!

Choosing a Contest Winner ~ Call Me Old Fashioned.

I start by cutting up little pieces of paper. Yes, I do this everyday because my contest is running 30 days! I COULD do something in notepad on my computer and print it off or something, but I am a little old fashioned sometimes, and actually like writing. Weird, huh?

Then I go to my blog and look at all the previous days entries. I put each name on a separate piece of paper and then fold them up... (this is a cruddy photo because the sun was shining in SO bright that the computer was WAY over exposed! But... it's sun and I like sun... so all is good.)

Then I put them in a knit hat (well, of COURSE... I'm the Knitting Maniac!!!). Today's hat is my middle son's "hunting" hat. He's never hunted a day in his life.

Then I figure out which of my kiddos hasn't picked a name for a while. Then I listen to the others fight for THEIR right to choose a name. THEN I end up letting my oldest pick because he doesn't care either way.

Sometimes I feel like I just need to reel him in and make him feel young again. Then I come over to my blog & write all this stuff and start getting teary eyed at how mature my oldest son is, and how he'd much rather watch his younger siblings have fun. Then I want to cry. Then I realize that it's a GOOD thing that he is growing up and is such a great young man. Then I still make HIM choose a name because... well... because it's just fun and he's only 14.

Then I add the winners names to my "wool entries" piece of paper, which also has my hen scratchings at the bottom of a wool order for me and my friends :)

Then I add a photo of my "almost" 21 month old daughter sitting on the potty because it's just too cute that she's clapping for herself! The painting by the flush was crafted by my Aunt Phyllis and it says, "No job is finished until the paperwork is done." Guess that is fitting for my baby girl's situation... and my contest. haha

The End.

Bridget

Longies, Knit Advent Calendar, & Childhood Stocking

My little fingers have been knitting like crazy! I am almost done my youngest daughter's textured scrappie longies! I need them to be done by the 16th when I take her 21 month photo! I just have to knit the hip skirty and the i-cord and they will be finished!

I am still working on my knit Advent Calendar! #20 is on my needles, but here are numbers 1-19! Over on the right hand side, you can see how I've started knitting 2 colored stripes since I ran out of unique solid colors!

And as I was hunting for my kids Christmas stockings, I came across the sock my Grandmother knit for me when I was small! (and for my 3 siblings and my 2 cousins!) She loved to knit as much as me! If you had known her, you'd see where I get my passion for knitting from! Every Christmas we all got handknit socks and mittens and they were one of my favorite gifts from her!

My Christmas stocking has the name, "Kewpie", on it because my name was one letter too long for the front! haha I collected Kewpie dolls and that was my CB handle and it fit perfectly! Who remembers the days when CB radios were popular? "Breaka 1-9, how 'bout cha Kewpie" ... those were fun days!

So, my big "hold a ton of stuff" stocking was inspiration for creating my own pattern! (which I am going to add to "Ravelry" one of these days! I started to write up the PDF file, but it's not completely finished because I decided to modify it so you can make other sizes instead of just the super huge size!!!

My Mom helped me knit these up before Christmas 2009! I knit the tops, she knit the legs, then I knit the heels and feet! The names were duplicate stitched on when I was finished! I also made a little tiny sock for my daughter's favorite little firefly, "Sparky". This year I have a few more little ones to make for my other children's favorite toy animals! Am I crazy, or what?

And my sweet Suri was not born when we made all of the other stockings, so I took a scrappie sock I was going to sell, and gave it to her!! I still haven't added her name on, but will before I hang it this year!

Do you still have your childhood stocking? Do your children have stockings?

Happy Knitting! Bridget

Bitty Britches Mini Knits & My Knitting Accessories

A couple years back, after seeing the "Bitty Britches Ornamental Longies" pattern on Ravelry, I decided to modify it and make exact replicas of a few of my knits! I got a little addicted at one point and made a handful of minis... these being my 2 favorites...

Mini Budgie Bloomers! Doesn't get any cuter than this!!!

I feel like showing some photos of random knitting things that I've photographed here and there, so this is something I have in my room.

At Walmart, in the hardware section, I got this little gadget organizer. I don't have a labeler (but really WANT one) so I had to improvise. I printed off sticker labels and stuck them on the little drawers. This is one of my all time favorite organizer thingys because I have LOTS of little things!!

The doll on the little cubbie shelves beside my drawer organizer was from my childhood. Isn't she the sweetest? She has sand in her bum which at some point had a purpose, but since that was years ago, I can't quite remember what it was. haha I think she would slowly lay down and shut her eyes.

And there is my little "KNITTING STUFF" drawer...

And a close up.

I have lots of knitting doo-dads, including my bestest ever stitch holders... DIAPER PINS!!

I don't know why all that little stuff makes me happy, but it does! One can never have too many stitch markers, stitch holders, stitch counters, stitch ANYTHING!!!

All for the love of knitting. Aaaah. It's a beautiful thing!!!

Bridget, AKA "The Knitting Maniac"

Free Advent Calendar Knitting Pattern (my progress)

My FREE ADVENT CALENDAR PATTERN is on Ravelry! You can also view it on my blog HERE. As soon as I'm finished all 25 sacks, I will be writing up a pdf that will be a free Ravelry download for easy printing!

It's December 1st and this is how far I've gotten...

I'm halfway done. But at least I only have to knit this up once and it will be a treasured heirloom to use every year in the future!!

At this point I have enough sacks done that the kids can open lots of days of treats and I still have lots of days to finish!! I am actually going to choose one sack a night to number and knit another one up!

I went and got a bunch of candy at the Dollar Tree. I looked for unique candy that the kids either have never had or haven't had in a while. And I also checked to see how many were in each bag so that I could use the same candy later on in the month to save money! Grand total was $9 and I have a gallon size Ziplock full! (ick. I don't like my kids to eat too much candy, so it was hard for me to buy all this jazz, but it's only a little a day so I can suck it up for the month!!)

Mmmm... RaZzLeS. A blast from the past. I remember buying these when I was a girl and eating so many that I felt sick........but it was SO worth it! (and of course eating a pack of Razzles was the first thing I did last night before I fill day #1!!!!)

Instead of making a sack for Christmas Day with a "25" on it, I decided to make a striped sack. It's a little messy, but worth it. When I add my Free Advent Calendar Knitting Pattern to Ravelry in pdf version, I will be adding the directions for the striped sack too!

Here's the "wrong" side that shows as you knit the pattern. Ewww...the dreaded ends that need to be weaved!!!! When I took the photo, I had already weaved in half the ends. At least it was only for one sack!!! I would NOT want to do this to all 25!

After weaving all the ends, it was a pleasant view to see the "right" side!

I. LOVE. STRIPES.

The kids were excited this morning to peek into the first sack! BUT Mama, of course, had to get a few photos first.

They tend to get a little impatient with me so I get some funny faces after a few clicks of my camera. Today's funny face winner is...

My youngest son, Evan with the buggy eyes and flaired out nose! haha

The best part... picking out the candy to eat before breakfast! woo!!! (they know this is only happening today and that they'll have to wait until after they eat next time!)

Happy December, Everyone!

Knit Advent Calendar & Other Random Stuff...

I have wanted to knit an advent calendar for my kids for a few years now, but always thought of it when it was too late to do anything about it!

The other day I hunted on Ravelry to see what they had for free patterns. I found "Smitten, a Holiday Garland" but honestly, having 6 kids that I knit mittens for and despising knitting thumbs, I shied away from it! But I still tried to download the pattern to look at it and my computer was acting wonky so I got impatient and gave up.

Then I remembered a pattern that I loved and printed it off so I could remember how it was knit up. It's a really cute knit sleeping bag for stuffed animals called the "No-Sew Beanie Baby Sleeping Bag".I made a couple one year for my kids Webkinz.

No, I'm not hanging up a bunch of sleeping bags as an knit advent calendar, haha, but it's the technique I love. You knit it on straight needles, but it's knit as though it was "in the round" (sorta) so there are no seams. I don't mind knitting on DPN's (double pointed needles) but this is just a fun, unique way to knit that I enjoy.

Here's what I have done so far...

My Little Ragdoll

I forgot to post a photo last week of my youngest daughter, Suri, modeling my first "trial" pair of Budgie Bloomers that I made a few years back! (after I designed my knitting pattern!) I'm glad I now have a little girl to wear them!!!

She turned 20 months old on the 16th!

I took her photo like this every single week of her first year (video following photo!!) and now I do it monthly! I love you, Squeaker!!!

















Here is a video my son put together of my little girl's first year! She is definitely wool spoiled!

Surprise Socks!

I feel so blessed! Today a package came for me from my friend, Laura, who lives in California.

I opened it and this is what I found!!!!

Beautiful, scrumptious, soft, unique and GREEN (my favorite color!!!)...

SOCKS!!!!!!!

They are a perfect fit!!!!!!! Thank you, my sweet friend, for making me feel so special today!!



I may be the Knitting Maniac, but it isn't often that I knit anything for myself, especially socks!

And since the only socks I've knit for a while, (Flip Flop or Ninja socks) were not the biggest hit with some people (I often get called, "Moose Feet" when I wear them haha)... I know my new socks are going to get lots of compliments!!

Move over, Moose Feet... My Surprise Socks are in town!!!



THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Laura!!!!!! (P.S. Laura is also going through the TKGA Master Hand Knitting Program, so it's encouraging to have a friend to bounce thoughts around with!!!)