The Geekish Reader

Mike made these funky lap trays for Christmas gifts.. I made the cushion part on the bottom :) This is the one we made for my Mom. This is the cushion part on the bottom, makes is super comfy to have on your lap.. perfect for dinner or for your laptop (which I use mine for!) I picked up some vintage looking nails from the local fabric store to trim around the edges.

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday! Mike spoiled me :) it was great! I got a fabulous pair of italian dress makers sheers.. they are gorgeous!  I also got a new glue gun and all the stuff that goes along with it, and it's cordless!! He picked up two movies for me that I'd be wanting - Angels & Demons and Night at the Museum 2 I also got a book I'd been looking for.. The Tomb of Hercules by Andy McDermott, so far it's a great book! I'm 3/4's of the way through it! My Mom got me a great antique cookie jar from the 1930's.  It's pale yellow, I'll post pictures later! She also got me a great cookbook I'd been droooling over! "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" by Ree Drummond.  Her website is addictive! I got PJ's from one of my sisters, a crochet cowl from my other sister.. another book from my sister-in-law... and a few other things that elude me at the moment! I'll post later with some photos of the finished gifts that Mike an...

Merry Christmas to everyone, hope that it's a safe and happy one. Aislynn

I made up a quick loose fitting hat last night, and finished it up this morning.  Mom was saying she wanted one that wouldn't give her 'hat' head.  It's a bit loose on Mike, so hopefully *crosses fingers* that it'll work. This is Buddy (above) and Myla (below) - our two dogs.. And this is Mike :) modelling the hat for me..

It's done!!! Finally.... I made this for my sister Jen.  It has a chocolate brown knitted scarf and a daytimer inside it. I hope she likes it!! Here is the pattern (from Ravelry) http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ms-poppins-bag Oh and here is the scarf that is inside the bag..

I was going through my WIP and Frogged items that I had on Ravelry... I'm thinking come January I'm going to get them finished, or restart where I need to.    I started this baby blanket, and it's just been put aside.. I've done it in a multi coloured blue/beige/brown/cream, basketweave 12x12 squares.  A friend of mine is due in April, she is having a little boy, so I thought this would be prefect.. -------------------------------------------------------- I thought I'd attempt my very first sweater.. I'm doing one of those nordic sweater that was really popular back in the 80's and 90's.  A friend at work gave me this great pattern book, very retro!  I photo copied a few of the patterns to try out.  I'm using a dark navy blue, with pale blue and cream accents.  I'll post some progress photos as I go along.. so far this is what I've got! -------------------------------- I started the 'D...

So I've decided I'm going to start working on Christmas gifts for 2010 in January.  I've got quite a few left to finish up before the deadline next week.  Here are two of the projects I've been working on: 1. Basketweave scarf for my SIL Christine I've got this one about 3/4's of the way done.  Just need to park myself in my 'knitting' chair (as Mike has nicknamed it) and work on it for a few solid hours and get the thing done! 2. Ms. Poppins purse for my sister Jen Really all I have left to do on this is put it together.   I have to sew the inside and stitch the side together and put the handle on. __ I've also got a multi strand blanket I'm working on, a couple of other scarves, some hats to finish up, one more to start, and a blanket to quilt.   Thank goodness I have tomorrow off, sunday and next week I'm on holidays! Wish me luck! A.

So I started pressing some fabric for a quilt I'm working on for a Christmas Gift.. and I thought I had pulled it from the pile I had washed.. As I got through the pile, I started to realize.. wait this stuff hasn't been washed.  I was just over 3/4's of the way through it!  *sigh*  Have to wash it tomorrow morning, press and cut. I thought about not washing it, but there is quite a bit of red and cream fabrics.  I'm afraid of the colours running... Do you normally wash your fabric before using it? A.

I found a great post on Yarn Harlot this afternoon, and thought I would share. http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/tsffaq.html A.

I've been inspired by all those great blogs out there to start my own.  There are some amazing knitting, sewing and crafting blogs out there and I am an avid reader. My favorites include: One Pearl Button - http://www.onepearlbutton.com/ French Press Knits - http://frenchpressknits.blogspot.com/ Purl Bee - http://www.purlbee.com/ Spillyjane Knits - http://spillyjane.blogspot.com/ Yarn Harlot - http://yarnharlot.ca/blog/ Futuregirl - http://www.futuregirl.com/craft_blog/index.aspx I'm sure there will be a few more to add!  Enjoy!