PIF and other FOs

Two of my three Pay It Forward gifts have been successfully delivered and received so I can now post some photos of some of the small projects I've been working on. Life has been really busy lately with work (I'm now working with teachers in 5 schools and still trying to budget my time so that everyone feels like they get what they need), school (one more class for UVA underway), life with Honey (I actually went down to help build again this past weekend but more on that in a bit), and life in general that I've been happily working on smaller projects that can provide some satisfaction for completion. So what did my lovely on-line knitting friends receive????

More (better) photos can be found on the recipients' blogs. Stacey received a kitchen set showing off her sorority mascot and hopefully some luck and wisdom of the elephant will also be sent her way. (Not that Stacey is in need of additional extra wisdom or anything. In fact I feel like the lucky one to have had her stumble upon my ramblings and offer up her friendship.) The pattern is a combination of Piece of My Heart and an Elephant Dishcloth made with a deep purple cotton yarn. It was fun to add little beads for elephant eyes!

Becka received the Flora Scarf from Knitty.com in microspun softness. I'm hoping that it will add a splash of warm comfort during the approaching winter months. The flower was interesting to make with all those twisted thingies!

Both ladies appear to be pleased with their gifts. Don't be afraid to head on over to their sites and leave them a message about how lucky they are to know me!

Another small gifted item is for my WW friend Ora. She has reached her goal weight and is on her way to being a Lifetime member!!! As sort of an additional incentive, I promised her I would make her a tea cozy for when she got her Lifetime. Here it is all ready and waiting for her!

It has an interesting little pocket thing right under where the teapot sits where you can put a little sachet of cinnamon or lavender or something and when it gets all heated up from the pot will send aroma therapy all throughout the house. I used the Kueryon Kozy done up in Lambs Pride. It only used about 1/2 a skein so I gave the rest of it to Sarah who is going to use it to make felted coasters (Sarah, check out this link) or something for Ora so she'll have a matching set.

Lacey also received a special handmade gift from me in her Fall Swap package.
This lovely felted fall Booga Bag was made with SWS in a Santa Fe colorway (I think that was the name of the colorway). Hopefully she'll fill it with knitting goodness throughout this beautiful fall weather we're having.

So as I mentioned earlier, I actually went with Honey again this weekend to help build his parent's house down in Orange. Boy was that so not fun. I spent the weekend caulking the seams of the siding that Honey and his dad were putting up. Caulking is the messiest, yuckiest stuff I've ever had to work with. Not fun at all. In fact it got to be so messy that no matter what I did to try to make it neater just made it messier. I ended up giving up part way through Sunday and retired to a corner of the porch where the sun was shining and keeping me warm and knit for the rest of the afternoon. Between knitting on the drive down, knitting at his sister's house Saturday night, and knitting Sunday afternoon (instead of helping) I finished a pair of slippers that I just need to felt now. Before and after pics will follow at a later post. Hopefully tonight I'll wash them and see how they turn out.

This coming weekend is approaching with much anticipated excitement.... my nephew turns 1!!! I'll be heading home to the back hills of PA for a large family gathering to celebrate. I'll have to spend some time tonight or tomorrow planning for what I'm taking with me to knit. However, I'm so in love with that little one that you'll have to forgive me if the needles don't get much of my attention while I'm there.

In other knitting news, I have started Mr. Greenjeans. I'm really excited about it and it's come along nicely. I just need to learn how to cast on with a backward loop method and I'll be all set to divide for the sleeves. It's on the list of things to do this week, but we'll see how far I get with the preparations for this weekends road trip. Here it is so far:

And I'll leave you all with a photo of some of the peeps who were on the Alexandria Breast Cancer Walk two weekends ago. What fun we had! What exercise we got! And all for a good cause - mammograms for everyone!!