Little projects, and a early birthday present

After Christmas knitting and the sweater, I needed some fast and frankly, instant gratification projects. (I really should have taken photos of the Christmas knitting, including my favorite gift that I gave this year, which was a fancy, smancy, lacy scarf for my bestest friend.. Maybe she'll model for us. )

So, I realized that my felted slippers were finally, after more than three years, showing signs of wear (getting holes my friends), hence, new slippers for momma!



These are thick, wonderfully warm and easy! You knit a really, really big sock, then stick it in the washer until it fits your foot... Then, instead of rolling the top as the pattern calls for, I attach a hook (or in this case a baby overall bib connector thingy) and fold it over to fully cover the top of my feet.





I'm making another pair for work.. (It really gets cold in those call centers folks, we all have blankets at our desks and for us desperately cold people, slippers under them.)
Anyway, you can see how much bigger the slippers are to start with, I haven't even gotten to the heel yet. This is a GREAT way to start socks, you get a feel for the process, but you get instant gratification, and the fulling process hides your mistakes. And who can resist warm, cozy slippers?

Now, also, my wonderful husband is an auction kind of guy, and he ran across my birthday present, (It's February, so it's not too early really) and it has a beautiful sound.. check it out!

It is older, it was serviced in 1965, in San Francisco according to a sticker inside. It also has a Stradivarius sticker inside, which was common in the 1800's, so we don't know how old, exactly, it is. I will be getting it restrung, but really the sound is amazing, and I am looking forward to starting all of the wonder of violin!