I finally got around to replacing the mittens I knit in 2007 and had sadly lost [ in 2009 ]. These aren’t as fancy, but they’re a fast knit and are really warm. Let’s just say they get the job done. I want to make another pair of the Corazon mittens sometime, but haven’t really had that much time to devote to knitting. And I really wanted a pair while it was still cold. Those mitts took me several weeks to finish.

These mittens are made from the leftover yarn I had from Steph’s leg warmers and a bit of scrap yarn. I used the Nordic Mittens pattern from Ravelry. These took about 3 hours total to knit. I also modified the pattern to fit my tiny hands by reducing to 27 stitches cast on instead of 33.

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It’s been pretty cold the last few days. I didn’t have any coverage for my ears and I’ve been rocking the old lady shawl [ ie. I took an adorable cowl and figure-eighted it so it acted like a hood too ].

I decided to whip up this bad boy. It’s pretty warm. Not to mention cute. And it only took 20 minutes.

I might actually write up a pattern for this and put it on Ravelry. Stay tuned!

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I’ve been asked by a few people to provide a tutorial for this lovely scarf I made as a commission by Mark for his mom for Christmas. Which, by the way, I might have to make a few more of because they are really cute. You can snap all 3 snaps, leave some open, mismatch snaps … so many combos and ways to wrap!

Also, I severely need to take better photos. I’ll take photos with me and a cute outfit for the next one I make. I wanted to have pictures of this so I could remember how I did this next time I did it. But now I have a tutorial put together for you all.

Here’s a PDF tutorial. Enjoy!

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It’s getting colder outside here in Iowa, but not cold enough to bust out the full-on winter gear.

It’s the season for wrist warmers and convertible gloves and mittens.

One of my favorite men’s patterns is Cigar Gloves from knitty.com. I made a pair for Mark and one for his dad 2 Christmases ago. I really liked how they turned out. The pattern on knitty.com shows them with green and brown, but I made mine with 2 tones of gray. These are pretty easy to make, even if you’ve not made anything but scarves and hats before. It’s a good beginning pattern to try.

Do you knit or crochet? What do you make?

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It’s October, so it’s high time to get started on winter knitting that way the projects are done and ready by the time it really gets cold. I love these Corazon Mittens from Knitty.

It’s not a pattern for beginners. But I picked this project up after only knitting scarves and hand warmers — easy projects.  And I mostly succeeded. The only thing that I didn’t succeed to do was to make these the right size.  Knitty’s smallest size is STILL TOO BIG for my hands.  I want to make another pair of these using a smaller pair of needles in hopes to get them to fit just right.

Also, I lost these mittens two winters ago.  I reallllly want to make a new pair.  I am going to put that on the long list of projects of things I want to make.

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I realized I’ve not blogged lately.  Which is weird. But I have been SUPER busy.

1. I’ve been crafting up Christmas presents — for my friends and for those who’ve purchased crafty items from my etsy store for the holidays.  I’ve been spending the past several days filling a pretty large order of tattoo mugs that I’ve had for a while.  And I’ve got another oversized mug to finish and some other items.
   
2. I was in a (minor) car accident in early November, and I’ve been fighting with insurance and the officer who DIDN’T WRITE A POLICE REPORT for the accident to get my car back. My car was a 2-day fix, so it was really frustrating. I drove 3 different vehicles last month. The loaner car from Toyota — which they gave me for a gracious 18 days before telling me that they were going to have to report it stolen if I didn’t return it — even though my car wasn’t fixed; my grandpa’s truck — ironically, the same make and model that ran me off the road in the first place; and a fabulous Hyundai Elantra with XM radio — the rental car I finally got for a week when I received the other guy’s insurance. WEE. However, I did discover Beyond Bollywood, an incredible XM radio station.
3. I’ve also been working out a lot more — adding in an hour after work like I used to. Trying to fit back into my pants. Getting there. But the holidays are approaching.
4. OH, and this doesn’t have anything to do with why I haven’t blogged lately, but I want to share!  I got a lovely Boheme hand-knit chunky cowl from Hey Jen Renee.
   

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My friend Molly had her annual Christmas party this year and I was lucky enough to be invited to the festivities. Molly makes the most awesome food and it’s always fun to get together with these girls — usually full-on crazy.

I was really excited to go because I finally got to introduce my fabulous beau to all my friends. Granted, he’s met most of them before — just not in boyfriend context.  We’ve been good friends for years so our circles have overlapped already a bit anyway.

Anywho — I made a giant spinach/spring mix salad and an awesome Better than Robert Redford cake. (yes, robert redford — because of the mixed bag that reads my blog!)

It was a fun time. We had a lot of wine and a lot of good food. Lots of good conversation and fun times with friends!

Here’s a few photos from the event … I’m hoping I captured the crazy as well as the cuteness of all the adorable people there! (I can haz cute friends?!)

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Check out my Cyber Monday sales on Etsy:

Birdies and Coffee Cup

Flower Fiesta Bowl (Gold)

Butterflies in Wonderland Baby or Lap Quilt

OBEY Andre the Giant Men’s Winter Set

Mention the code mrfidgets and receive FREE SHIPPING on any order until December 15.

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I’ve got a Mary Kay facial in about a half hour, so I’m just chilling out and finishing up some stuff and hanging around at work.

Today was really nice out… 30°ish and NO SNOW!  I took advantage and ran at noon.  BEAUTIFUL out but my body just wasn’t having it. I think I’m sore from hills on Sunday. (sad)

Either way, 3 more miles for the week.

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my average time FINALLY made it under 10 min/mi according to Nike+.

And if you notice, I’m pretty close to 500 miles (since August — I’m about 15 miles away from 1000 since last March).

I ran 7 miles last night between the treadmill and track. Dunno if I’ve mentioned this before, but I HATE running inside. BO-RING. I did each for about a half hour.

Today I did speed intervals. Nothing too exciting.

I also noticed that nikeplus.com adds a cool background if you ran at night vs. the day. This is the day version (missing a hell of a lot of snow though).

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