December 2013 – Thimbleanna

Gingerbread Houses 2013

40 Comments / December 27, 2013 February 15, 2014 / Gingerbread Houses

I hope you’re all relaxing and enjoying the week between Christmas and New Year’s — even if this isn’t a week of vacation days for you. We’re having a quiet week — no kids home this year to keep us running. And to prove it, I think this is the earliest I’m managed to put together the Gingerbread House post!

This year, we were missing three key players. {BooHoo} SweetiePie, TheFirstChild, and my CuteNiece1 were all working. We were also missing the boy’s best friend who has joined us for several years, so his mother and sister filled in for us and we had so much fun that we’re all hoping they’ll be regular gingerbread house makers. Voting was really tough this year — there were five houses and ten votes. Two houses tied for last place with no votes and it was almost a tie between the other three houses. With nine votes counted, they were in a dead heat with three votes each. Luckily, the last vote was a tie-breaker, rather than going to one of the last place houses.

Team 5: TheManoftheHouse and Me.
We got no votes. So sad LOL! Since we’d been to Iceland this year, we decided to go with an Icelandic theme. We decided to create the ticket house at the beautiful Jokulsarlon glacial lake. We had icebergs, a boat, and an employee entrance door that was too small to write employee in one line. ;-) We also put black sprinkles on our roof to represent volcanic ash falling on the house.

Team 4: TheSecondChild and NewGirlfriend.
Love appeared to be the theme of this house LOL. I think they did a great job considering NewGirlfriend had never made a gingerbread house before and as TheSecondChild says “I’m the least artistic person here”. I thought I heard one of them say that this was supposed to be a brothel, and knowing TheSecondChild and his history of naughty houses (he’s the one who started naughty houses many years ago) it wouldn’t surprise me. I thought the use of the hearts was cute — we could save this house for Valentine’s Day!

Team 3: CuteNephew and CuteNiece2.
For some reason, these guys love to pick on their older cousin and they re-visited the theme of a future house belonging to TheFirstChild and SweetiePie. A house full of wild children, a hard working SweetiePie and a lazy, football watching FirstChild. There were wild little kids everywhere — starting fires, hanging themselves, and wreaking havoc (they mentioned that all the children are girls, btw). SweetiePie was inside the house cleaning and TheFirstChild was watching football on the big screen tv. This house really didn’t look like anything special, BUT … CuteNephew had a big surprise in store for us. Just as we were getting ready to vote, the “big screen tv” came to life. He’d very cleverly left his cell phone inside the house and he “tuned” it in to a football game. It looked just like a big screen tv in that little house. He had us all howling with laughter and it was great fun. Oh So Clever!!!!

Team 2: CuteFriend’sMother and CuteFriend’sSister.
This cute “couple” did an amazing job on their house. They’re a McDonald’s family and we LOVED their house. They had so many clever touches and came prepared with the red and yellow dusting flakes. I loved their cute little Ronald McDonald, the kiddie ball pit, and the great snake-around drive-thru. These guys made voting really tough!

Team 1: MyDadLovesMeBestSister and CrazyBIL.
This was our winning house and these two were ruthless. MyDadLovesMeBestSister has been gunning for a big win all year — she even has a board on Pinterest titled “Gingerbread Houses — I’m Going to Win this Year”! CrazyBIL came prepared and right away he started carving a ski slope from cardboard boxes. Their theme was the up-coming Russian Olympics. Their house was SO darn cute and MyDadLovesMeBestSister outdid herself on the icing decoration for the house. Look at those beautiful loopy icicles! I LOVE the clever tow-rope up the front of the slope too. What a team! Of course, being CrazyBIL, he had to throw in the Olympic controversy too — I’ll spare you the narrative, but it’s there in the pictures!

So, there you have it. The 2013 Gingerbread Houses. It’s getting harder and harder to come up with ideas, but I think everyone did a great job this year!

XOXO,
Anna

Merry Christmas!

25 Comments / December 24, 2013 February 15, 2014 / How-To

It’s He-e-e-e-re. It’s Here It’s Here It’s Here!!! Are you ready? I’m having my traditional Christmas Eve morning breakfast. Yummmmmm!

It was a busy weekend here in ThimbleannaLand — we had the gingerbread contest and my oh my, we had some stiff competition this year. It was great fun and as soon as we make it past the festivities of the next few days, I’ll get through the pictures and have a full report. In the meantime, here’s a little sneaky peek.

Ok, zippity zip. I must dash to the dungeon — in true Christmas spirit, I still have a few hours of super secret sewing to do, followed by some cooking and then Christmas Eve with everyone in the family except for the boys and SweetiePie. ;-( We had a fun Christmas with TheSecondChild and his girlfriend over the weekend, and we’re looking forward to seeing TheFirstChild and SweetiePie next week.
I hope you all have a Merry, Merry Christmas. I know you’ve all been good little quilters and knitters and crafty kids this year and I hope Santa is very, very good to you! (Don’t forget, you can track his progress and see how many gifts he’s delivered on the cute Norad website .)

XOXO,
Anna

Baby Booties

30 Comments / December 20, 2013 December 20, 2013 / Knitting

Hey Kids — we’re in the home stretch — how’s it going out there???

It’s all good here in ThimbleannaLand. I’m done with work for the year WOOHOO!!! I should be cleaning and wrapping as we speak, but instead, I’m procrastinating here on the computer. I guess you have to sneak in a little downtime don’t you?

One of my little Christmas gifts has been gifted, so I can show it to you. I have a friend at work who will be a new, first-time Grandma in 2014 and she’s beside herself with excitement. I thought it would be fun to make her a little pair of baby booties for Christmas. I found this free pattern on the Bernat website (most likely via Pinterest, but I can’t remember). My friend won’t know the baby’s gender for a few more weeks, so I chose a multi-color Koigu yarn — totally not what the pattern called for, but it seemed like a versatile pattern that should work for lots of different yarns.

After my middle of the night knitting marathon (why do I always think these little projects will be quicker than they really are?) I put the little booties in a clear cupcake box and tied them up with a tinsel bow. Perfect for a quick gift! (Ooooh, and I just noticed in these pictures, the striping pattern worked out the same for both booties — that was totally an accident — I couldn’t have done that if I tried! I LOVE it what that happens!)

This pattern called for the booties to be knit flat and then seam them along the bottom and up the back. If you know me though, you know I loathe sewing on knits (which is odd since I love to sew so much.) When the knitting is done, I want the project to be done. So, I spent a little extra time (and ripping out which is why this ended up being a middle-of-the-night project) adapting the pattern for knitting in the round. Normally garter stitch is knit, knit, knit, but when knit in the round you have to alternate between knit and purl rows.

There were a few other changes too, so, in case you’re like me and would like to try these booties in the round, here’s the adapted Bernat pattern:

Circular Knit Bernat Baby Booties

Note: Please refer to the original Bernat pattern for gauge and sizing information for these booties. Number of stitches are for small (medium, large) booties, according to the original pattern. I knit the largest size using size 4 needles with my koigu yarn, which probably resulted in small to medium sized booties.

Using whichever circular knitting method you prefer (dpns or magic loop method), cast on 14(18,22) stitches. Turn work and knit 13(17,21) stitches into the bottoms of the just cast on stitches. You should now be back at the beginning of the cast on row of stitches — at the beginning tail of yarn. Your first stitch of row 1 will be knit into your first cast on stitch.

1st, 3rd and 5th rows: Knit.
2nd row: P1. ybwd. P12 (16,20). ybwd. P1. ybwd. P12(16,20). ybwd. P1. 31 (39,47) sts.
4th row: P1. ybwd. P14 (18,22). ybwd. P1. ybwd. P14(18,22). ybwd. P1. 35 (43,51) sts.
6th row: P1. ybwd. P16 (20,24). ybwd. P1. ybwd. P16(20,24). ybwd. P1. 39 (47,55) sts.
Rows 7,9,11,13,15,and 17: Knit.
Rows 8,10,12,14,16 and 18: Purl.

Shape toe:
Note: Depending on the circular knitting method you are using, stitches may have to be shifted around on the needles to knit the toe section.
1st row: K15 (19,23). K2tog. K5. Sl1. K1. psso. Sl1. yf. Turn.
2nd row: K2tog. K5. Sl1. K1. psso. yf. Sl1P. Turn.
3rd row: K2tog. K5. Sl1. K1. psso. Sl1. yf. Turn.
4th row: As 2nd row.
5th row: K2tog. K5. Sl1. K1. psso. Sl1. Turn.
6th row: P2togtbl. P5. P2tog. Sl1P. Turn.
7th and 8th rows: As 5th and 6th rows once more.
9th row: K2tog. K5. Sl1. K1. psso. Knit to end of row. 21 (29,37) sts.
10th row: Purl. Continue in garter st (alternating Knit and Purl rows) for 2 (2½, 2½) ins [5 (6, 6) cm], ending
with a Purl row. Cast off and weave in beginning and ending tails.

Enjoy those cute little booties!!!

Have a GREAT weekend — I hope you’re doing something fun and festive!!!
XOXO,
Anna

I’m Dreaming …

18 Comments / December 16, 2013 December 17, 2013 / Around the House, Store

…of a White Christmas and it’s looking pretty iffy out there. We finally have snow, but we’re expecting a little warm-up on the weekend. Fingers crossed that it won’t all melt! I loooove snow and we got a nice little storm over the weekend. According to the weatherman, we got 7″. It’s so pretty out the back window.

Well, how’s your holiday prep coming along??? We’re in the single digits now — only 9 more days until Christmas! I finally have a little decorating, a lot of shopping, and a little wrapping done. It’s a mess, really. Super Secret Sewing took several weekends but that’s been conquered now — Yay! And yesterday was the annual gingerbread baking day. I learned a few years ago that the gingerbread needs to be made earlier than the day before the competition to allow the gingerbread to dry out a little. That seems to help with all the cave-ins. (Btw, here’s the link to our recipe — you still have time if you’d like to do your own gingerbread houses this year.)

So, not much to show, but there has been a LOT of work going on around here — around your house too, I’m betting. And, I’m thinking, if you’re getting tired, you should treat yourself to a little surprise! ;-D I’ve put a few Moda precuts into my little shop just in case you decide to treat yourself.

(L to R: Printemps by 3 Sisters, April Showers by Bonnie and Camille, Color Me Happy by V and Co and Le Bouquet Francais by French General)

I also have some charm packs of April Showers listed just in case you need a last minute gift for a quilty friend or two. Or (it goes without saying) YOU. Did you buy yourself a gift yet this year? I haven’t bought mine yet, but it’s almost certain to be fabric LOL.

Okey Doke. Must run. Still a little secret knitting that needs to happen. Good Luck with the next week — Be Good to Yourself!!!

XOXO,
Anna

Christmas Stockings

23 Comments / December 8, 2013 December 27, 2013 / Knitting

Gee Whiz. It’s been almost another week since I posted. I could have put in an appearance earlier in the week, but it was just too embarrassing to make you come back here at Christmas time with those creepy skeletons still in the header, and it’s been hard to find the time to get rid of them. It’s finally done though — a not terribly exciting new Christmas header. It’s getting harder and harder to figure out what to do with those thimbles!

I’ve been locked in the dungeon with Christmas sewing all weekend, so there’s no shareable quilting or sewing excitement going on here. I did manage to make some little knitted stockings though, and I think they’re pretty cute.

Awww, look, a puppy! Did I tell you I’m a new Grandma??? TheFirstChild and SweetiePie picked up a new little puppy yesterday and he looks sort of like this one. He’s really cute — I’m sure there will be pictures to come — you know how us grandmas are LOL!

Anyway, back to the stockings. They were a fun, easy knit. The pattern is in the book “Handknit Holidays” by Melanie Falick. I made the pattern as is, except that I changed the cuff — it had a little narrow cuff and I like them a bit wider. I love cables, even if this one looks a little wonky due to it’s stuffing.

These stockings are the only speck of decorating around here. It’s very sad. I made a deal with myself that I wouldn’t decorate until I had this particular batch of sewing done and a deal’s a deal. I should have thought that through — the sewing is taking WAY longer than I’d planned. It could be next weekend. Ouch!

I hope you’re more organized (or more realistic) than I am!

XOXO,
Anna

Month: December 2013

Circular Knit Bernat Baby Booties