Ladybug

Here is my finished knit amigurumi ladybug by Amy Gaines. Her's always look better than mine, but I love it nonetheless. We haven't given him/her a name yet... any suggestions? I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this one yet. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it, give it to the kids, or sell it in a craft fair, which Amy says is fine to do. Thanks again, Amy, for your fabulous patterns!

Revisiting a Past FO - knitcroblo6

I love to knit all kinds of things, from scarves and hats to dishcloths and purses, but one of my favorite things to knit is amigurumi, so I thought with this post I'd include my very first amigurumi project. This adorable owl is by Amy Gaines and was knit, as opposed to crocheted. My son (pictured) absolutely loves it, but I think he's forgotten Jorge (that's what we named him) by now because Jorge sits on my craft table, untouched. I prefer to keep him that way because he is somewhat fragile. Since he was my first amigurumi, he has a few mistakes, and my sewing isn't great so things look a bit worn around the edges. I love how his eyes look all worried, as if he thinks he's about to get squeezed to death :) Ah Jorge, we love you so.

One Great Knitter! - knitcroblo3

Well it didn't take me long to figure out who this post was going to be about! I have knit several of this person's patterns, mostly for my kids. This knitter/crocheter is none other than Amy Gaines. I simply adore her amigurumis and find them so fun to knit. I don't crochet yet, so I haven't tried her crochet toys, but I think I appreciate her so much because she provides knit amigurumi, which are more difficult to find than crocheted amigurumi, and she also writes the patterns for 2 straight needles. I love this because I cannot use DPNs yet. Her patterns are so simple that even a novice knitter like myself can follow them. I admire the tenacity she must have to sit down and work out these patterns. As I sit and knit these adorable creatures, I have no idea how she does it. Lots and lots of practice, I would assume. Thank you, Amy Gaines, for your awesome patterns and for providing me with tons of toys for my kids.. they put smiles on the kids faces, especially when they realize I took the time to knit the toys for them.

Woodland Cuteness

I had the best time knitting these amigurumi woodland animals by Amy Gaines! These will be given to my boys in their Easter baskets this year. My favorites are the hedgehog and the owl.. too cute!

Hats and Fairies

Ok, I need to take some Blogger lessons or something because I have the worst time getting my pictures in here right! The one with the hats is sideways, for some reason it uploaded that way on Blogger and I can't fix it.

Anyway, I've been busy knitting, as usual. I take time every day to knit because I love it so much and I need the few minutes of relaxation. I do not work during the day anymore so I have much more time to put into my knitting. The first pictures you see here are hats I have knit, mostly for Knits For Needs. I will keep and attempt to sell the bright colored ones in a craft fair I do every year, and the purple and gold one is MINE, all MINE :) Can you guess what school I went to and follow? That one is for fall when we're having our football parties and cookouts. The pinkish one on the bottom, or actually on the left since my picture is crooked and I can't fix it, is felted. It turned out pretty cute. I personally love all the square topped ones I knit. As you can see from the picture of my youngest son, they look very cute on kids!


The other pictures you see here are of an amigurumi fairy doll I knit for my daughter for Easter. It is an Amy Gaines pattern, seen here, although hers looks much better than mine! I had trouble with the eyes and improvised a bit, but other than that I think it turned out pretty cute. I am working on some forest critters for the boys for Easter and will post those pics when I'm finished with them. I just finished the squirrel yesterday and I'm working on the owl currently.






















In other news, my daughter (12) and I went to a meeting of Twitter knitters at Rare Purls in Duluth, GA on Sunday. We met up with a couple people I have met before and I also got to meet some people I know from our online conversations. I did not do a good job taking pics, in fact I took none, but Melissa, the Knifty Knitter, did take pictures that can be seen on her blog. There is a picture of me and my daughter sitting next to eachother as well as the other people we met with. I had fun and was so glad we set up that meeting! My daughter is a novice knitter and is currently knitting a hat for Knits For Needs as a service project for the Junior Beta Club at school.

Thanks for stopping by Merf's Turf, and have a wonderful day!

I'm Still Alive

Wow, I haven't posted in awhile. Yes, I am still alive. I just haven't had much to say, I guess, and I've spent most of my blogging time updating the Knits For Needs blog. Also, I have been terrible about taking pictures of my knitting, unless it is for Knits For Needs, in which case those pics go on the KFN site.

I just started working on my first ever blanket/afghan!! Since I'm not great at following a pattern, unless it is amigurumi, I am just knitting 15 inch x 15 inch squares and sewing them together. I knit like I cook: no recipes needed, just throw it together :) Before I sew, or is it knit(?), them together, I need to do some research about how this is done. I did watch one YouTube video this morning and I think I found out how I'm going to attempt it. Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3rvJx3-9Xs The method I think I'll use is called "Weaving". It looks simple enough.

I recently did a craft fair at my kids' school and it did not go so well. I displayed about 15 hats, 15 scarves, and a multitude of cell phone cozies, purses, and coinpurses. To see a pic of these items, scroll down to the previous post.. they're all pictured there. In previous years, I have done well at this craft fair, but this year I think, with all of the economic hardship people are having to deal with, people just did not want to part with their money. I think they were looking for cheap trinkets, and that is not what I specialize in. Oh well, there is always next year. I really should look for other craft fairs in which to participate, but I'm not sure what holds me back. I mean, I've got a bin full of beautiful items.. I should sell them. Should I open an Etsy shop? Food for thought.

Another item on my needles is an amigurumi monkey. I found it at this site that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE: http://knittedtoybox.blogspot.com/ Another GREAT shop for knit amigurumi is Jelly Bums.

My husband has this week off for Thanksgiving, so do the kids, and I happen to have today off so we're all piling into the car in a few minutes to eat at IHOP... Yum!! I think I'll go see if everyone is ready...

Knitting Fun

I've been up to lots of knitting, but barely any blogging, so I have lots to post today! I recently went on a girl's trip with my three best buds from high school. Three of us drove up to St. Louis to visit the fourth of our high school gang. Just to give you an idea of how long ago that was, we graduated from Lassiter High School in Marietta, GA in 1991. Time flies! Here is a picture of us, all grown up :) That's me, Merf, all the way to the left, the one blinding you with her shiny chin.










As a souvenier of our 2009 girl's trip, which was a big deal to me because I have been married for 11 years (Aug 8!) and NEVER been on a girl's only trip, to the horror of my friends, I knit cell phone cozies for each of us. None of my friends knit, so they probably don't appreciate them as much as I do, but I think these cozies are pretty cool. I have made a couple for my new blackberry, which I also love so much I've given it a gender and a name. Her name is Pippy. (I'm half joking, ok? I'm not crazy :))


So I'm about to post pictures of all the things I've been knitting over the past few months, for all of you wondering if I ever get off Twitter long enough to do anything else, and you will probably wonder how I manage to raise three kids, manage a knitting charity as well as knit a lot of items for the charity, and still manage to knit all these things for an upcoming craft fair. The answer is, I have no idea. I always wish there was more time in a day so I can do more, and knit more, but when I dragged out all the items I've finished to take pictures, I realized I HAVE knit quite a bit! I should open up an Etsy shop. I am seriously thinking of it. What do you think? Someone wants to profile me on their blog, so I thought maybe I should have a shop in place when that is published. Hhhmm.. food for thought.




Meet Mr. Bean! My son loved him so much he sleeps with him, which is the ultimate compliment to a crafter, of course. I am currently working on another Mr. Bean for my other son, who insists on having one. I think I'll make one ear blue on this second rendition so we can tell the two apart, although that probably is not necessary since I made one small boo boo and there is a tiny hole in this one. As I've mentioned before, I'm still a novice so I don't know how to fix mistakes in knitting! I just try not to make them. Mr. Bean comes from a pattern by the great Amy Gaines. Here is her shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=38931



I have a craft fair coming up in November. It is at the kids' school and I love to participate in it every year. I have knit about 15 scarves, mostly long, fluffy ones, for it so far. By November I will have about 20 to display. The pic of the scarves really does not do the scarves justice at all... they are much prettier in person :) I need one of those dress forms or something so I can display them better. Where can I get one?





I have knit many purses, small coinpurses, and cell phone sock/cozies as well. Some of these are knit with wool that I obtained from frogging sweaters from Goodwill, which I LOVE to do and can't wait till the sweaters come back this Fall so I can frog to my heart's content. I also used jute for one of the purses. Can you guess which one? It is the orange/brown one on the bottom. I used jute and beautiful orange wool to knit that particular purse. It appears reddish in the pic, but it is actually more orange in person.





Also, I have knit some hats, some of which have a matching scarf.












Thanks for visiting my blog and reading about the knitting I've been up to! Comments/questions/suggestions/etc. welcomed!
**Please note that all donations for Knits For Needs are used for the charity only. I use my personal yarn for everything non-charity related**

Amigurumi Fun - Jelly Bean

I finished my second amigurumi, Jelly Bean, and feel like I think this is something I'm really going to enjoy doing. It is a bit tedious, but there is a lot of fun within the tediousness :) It is pretty cool to see some ordinary looking yarn turn into something so cute, especially knowing that I'm the one who did it.

The pattern for Jelly Bean is by Amy Gaines:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25573866

Here is my very first knit amigurumi!! I'm not actually sure what the definition of amigurumi is, so I'm not sure if this is one or just a knit toy, but whatever it is, I'm so proud of it! I didn't think I'd be able to knit something like this because I'm a novice knitter and have always stuck to hats and scarves, but I did it! It is a bit rough around the edges, as you can see, but not bad for a first try.

It is a bit bigger than I thought it would be, which is good. I took a pic of my youngest son holding it to demonstrate the size.

I'm so proud of this cute owl that I have named him... his name is Jorje - ha!

Here is the original pattern by Amy Gaines:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25269282