the pic above is a sneak peek of a new tutorial coming soon! i hope you all are going to luv it as much as i do. i'm totally crushing on bari j's new line splendor 1920. it makes me feel all warm and cozy and wanting to sip tea and do embroidery. i heart it.

i've been busy making but crazily enough none of it is xmas presents.  while i find this daring and somewhat freeing it's also weird. i have never not gone a christmas without making at least one gift and i'm sure i'll end up making at least 1-2 but as of right now...nada.  i know...it's wild!  must be all that kahlua i've been sipping!   i took a tally of some of my wip's (work in progress) and my wisbwo's (work i should be working on)(yes, i totally made that acronym up, i rock like that) and thought i would show you all that a) i'm not wonder woman and never get 3/4 of the project i start even half way completed b) i always bite off more than i can chew c) i think that i am in fact 3 human beings and that there really is 84 hrs in a day and d) that sleep is for the weak.  i in fact will openly admit this isn't even half of it but it's a good chunk of what's in baskets hidden away in my sewing area.

i got a little irritated with some of my knitting wip's and even unravelled a few and rewound them.  that my friends is really wild.  that i did without kahlua. not even a sip.  i just looked at it and went - meh.....ripping this out.  done.  felt good.  no guilt, yet here i am telling you all about it and now feeling a tad remorseful for the project that is no more. oh...wait....a tiny inkling of wistfulness....and....it's gone.  done.  bye bye.  see?  that was ok. i survived.  now i need to allocate that yarn to a new project or donate it or sell it.  cleaning out and moving on.  i think if we all allowed ourselves the freedom to just "let projects go" sometimes our creative souls would feel so much lighter.  we all carry the baggage around of the "unfinished projects" or the ones "we have no time for but need to work on" or the "ones that we think are gonna be amazing but fail horribly and make us re-evaluate if we should even keep on making".  they all gather taking up precious real estate in a corner of your brain and drain energy that could be spent making projects that simply make you happy.  so for this xmas and for the new year i am only going to attempt to work on projects that "make me happy".  if the others don't make the list they simply will be undone or reworked.  i just don't have the energy to expend on them anymore.  sheat happens and nobody is perfect.  if it doesn't work out, try again or move. simple as that. we all grow the more we create.  the more you practice the better you get and the better you get the more you learn and to me, learning and growing are what feeds my soul and my hands.
i recently picked up this yummy scarf shown above and seriously have been wearing it everyday.  i swear these colors just scream shannon right now.  i have been bundling up with this warm color palette during all of these grey blustery days we've been having.  it puts a smile on my face and keeps me warm.  a win/win in my book.

i've also been busy working on my next tutorial for the fat quarter gang.  i'm up in about 2 weeks and i'm working on something fun using pat bravo's new line " rock 'n romance".  i've been trying to clean up my sewing workspace so i can finally show you all some shots of my new sewing wall that's been up for months now that i still haven't blogged about (oops).  while i was cleaning up i realized some goodies that i haven't blogged about yet or in a while.  remember my audrey above?  so purdy in that yummy red!  i've been plugging away at it when i have the time but it keeps getting put on the back burner.  i started it last fall in the hopes of wearing it for xmas 2011 and never got it done and what do you know....i'm hoping to wear it this xmas but really don't think it's going to happen.  i'm going to remain optimistic though.  so in the meantime it's hanging out with a gorgeous skein of lace weight madeline tosh in calligraphy that i. am. obsessed. with.  i just keep swatching and swatching and know soon she will be a new design.
i recently cast on an " oatmeal pullover" while we were away a few weeks ago and i'm hoping to be wearing this cozy sweater very soon too. i'm just about at my hips and plan on making mine a tad longer and doing short sleeves instead of long ones.  i'm hoping it will cure the horrible case of sleevitis i have going on. the yarn is one of our groups fave go tos for quick cowls and chunky sweaters at an affordable price and it's by lion brand yarn.  i used the lion brand wool-ease chunky in colorway "wheat " for my oatmeal pullover.  i also recommend their wool-ease thick and quick weight as well.  both chunky and thick and quick are regulars for gifts and quick knits.
that lovely rainbow colored yarn is patiently waiting for the new year for me to cross one of my new years resolutions off the list.  i really want to make my first pair of socks.  i've knit my whole life and never made socks.  you see i hate wearing socks. i know it's sorta weird but i just hate having them on my feet. it's bothered me since i was a little girl and used to pay my younger sister pennies to put my socks on for me. i couldn't even touch them.  word to the wise never ever put socks fresh from the dryer near me.  it's like nails on the chalkboard.

needless to say it's weird that i want to take all that time to knit socks when i hate wearing them but the way i see it is that maybe if i make them and i choose the feel of them i just may wear them?  what do you think?  yay or nay?  well i ponder this life altering decision (not) the sock yarn is hanging out with my startings of "folded".  now this yarn i want to just wrap around my body and wear as a cloak (so now i'm nude, with no socks and a cloak made of gold malabrigo sock yarn...not a pretty picture my friends) it's that glorious.  i've got enough to make a garment and chose folded in the springtime.  it's now sat there crying for me to pick it back up.  sad thing is that i feel like i've lost my gumptcha (is this a word?) to make it anymore.  i've been tempted to rip it out and start another project with the yarn but each time i go to start to unravel i stop and think about how long it took me to actually knit what i have done and that i really do love folded.  so it still sits all curled up in it's knitting bag....waiting.....and waiting....for me to actually do what i wrote about at the start of this post. time to be brave ladies.  who's with me?

what are you all working on?  seriously, i love to hear about what you're making. i think it's one of my fave questions to ask you all.  i also adore when you link up posts showing what you're working on or recently made so i can pop by and say hi!  so come on...put the mug down and say hello :)  i promise it's fun.....