The Student Knitter

{New Commenting}

2012-01-27T05:12:00.000-05:00

Hello Lovely Friends,

I played with my commenting settings yesterday to make it so they appear below the post. Can you let me know how that goes? lol Do you like the commenting system here? I wish for it to be the least annoying possible.

Let me know what you think?

Sarah

{Casting On Advice, Please!}

2012-01-26T06:59:00.001-05:00

Starting tomorrow, Friday, Mr. Pie and I are headed to the cabins at Douthat State Park! YAY! It's the park where we got married, so it's a very special place to us, and it's promising some dark and dreary weather, which is perfect for having a wood fire all day! Knitting in front of the fire at the cabins may be my very favourite thing ever.

So of course this morning, when I should be worried about getting dressed and getting to school to work on my final paper, instead I'm worrying about what yarn to bring for a new project to cast on! I'll have lots of knitting this time weekend, (and lots of writing time...hopefully) so I'm excited.

Dark and Stormy is one option - this is what I was thinking of using that Vanna Heathered yarn on:

This cardigan is top down with worsted weight yarn, so I wouldn't think it would be too bad for cabin knitting - nothing overly fussy and such, so it holds good possibilities. I would have to buy the pattern today though. $6.50 isn't too bad for a sweater pattern. I would probably have to fuss with the side seams a bit to put some shaping in, but I've been admiring this sweater for so long!

Maybe a sock pattern? I have a few sock books kicking around and that killer skein of cashmere sock yarn kicking around that I could probably just cake it and toss it in a bag along with my sock needles and have a pretty easy packing job of it. I do need to finish the second of Mr. Pie's slipper socks before I cast on for more sock though. In for a penny, in for a pound?

I also haven't knit a shawl in a while and I have a some pretty lace and sock weight yarns that could be shawls. Do I want something really complicated? Usually for cabin knitting it's what i go for since there's no distractions, but if I don't *finish* the project this weekend that means that it'll drag over in to the spring school semester which mean - let's face it - it'll be unfinished until at least May.

There's IS this one shawl idea that I've had percolating for a while: the Cladonia Shawl pattern in this great colour changing yarn, with maybe a soft grey to stripe it with...

So what do you guys knit when you're getting away?

{New Yarn!}

2012-01-23T17:22:00.000-05:00

There's a general feeling out there, I think, that when someone gets something for free, that they don't value it as much as if they had bought it.

I promise you I'm not that person. I got my FREE skein of yarn from Eat.Sleep.Knit today!!

Squoosh Fiberarts Merino Cashmere Sock in color "Bark"

If you are a yarn person and haven't shopped at Eat.Sleep.Knit you are totally missing out! Some of the best customer service, hands down, of any retail experience I've EVER had. One of their totally cool perks is that with every order you get a little scratch and win ticket and I got one along with my christmas present this year. And I won this yarn! I am THRILLED!

In other new yarn news, I ordered some new yarn from Knit Picks to do some nice thick fair isle slipper socks for Mr. Pie:

Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Worsted in Fedora, Winter Night and Dove Heather, respectively

And picked up some pretty acrylic yarn at a good sale Michael's was having:

Vanna's Choice Heathers in "Grey Marble"

At 1500 yards of worsted weight for $25, I didn't turn this down. It'll be enough to do a whole sweater for me! I don't think I've ever knit myself anything in acrylic, and I like how this feels, so I'll give it a try. I don't want to be labeled a yarn snob, right? :)

How about you, any happy stash enhancement lately?

{Baby Quilt Top}

2012-01-22T12:55:00.001-05:00

Continuing with the theme of baby paraphernalia (hehe) : I started a baby quilt! I've had these precuts from Connecting Threads kicking around for a while with my baby niece in mind; it's called called "Sunny Day". Then I came across this quilting pattern from Moda Bake Shop called Strawberry Fields Forever ! It was a perfect marriage!

I started cutting right away. Do you know that feeling where you're so excited about a project that you drop everything and become obsessed? I love that feeling. Today, almost 48 hours later, I have this:

Ta Da! Isn't she pretty? These wonky blocks are right up my alley! No measuring! No matching seams! LOL They came together so incredibly fast. Now, I need to figure out if I want to use some existing fabric that I have, which while the colours work is a flat cotton instead of the flannel, or if I want to order some yardage from this collection instead so it matches perfect. Then for binding I think I want that silky/ satiny feeling fabric. What IS that stuff? lol

It's 40" x 40" . Do you think that makes a good sized baby quilt? I know this way I wont' have to piece the back. :P I could add borders, I suppose. But I'm kinda digging it. :)

{Baby Sweaters Galore}

2012-01-13T19:18:00.001-05:00

I've had a few friends come out and let me know that they are expecting!! I'm so excited for them (TWINS in one case!) so I've been furiously casting on since the day I found out. Two down:

and a third on the needles! Of course, I'm just waiting on buttons. These two up above were from the Concentric Stripes Cardigan pattern, which is free. I had fun mixing and matching some left over yarns in my stash and finished off a bunch of odds and ends! The top one in browns is some wool/silk blend, along with wool for the accent colours and the bottom green one is mostly acrylic with some wool accents.

The next one is done in some Unplanned Peacock yarn and i'm loving knitting it. Updates soon!

{Look Ma, No Rolling!}

2012-01-03T08:29:00.000-05:00

Ta-Da! I picked out the cast off edge, did 12 rows of garder and booya! no rolling. It's not my preferred look, but I like it better than how it was before, so I consider it an improvement.

And yes, that's the Christmas tree still up. It finally started snowing last night! and it's sticking! So I couldn't take the tree down yet. Maybe tomorrow.

{Stephen West is a Genius}

2012-01-01T19:55:00.000-05:00

Stephen West is a brilliant knitware designer. I think the brilliance in his designs are how elegance meets simplicity. When I went searching for a shawl pattern to show off the beautiful stitch definition in the yarn I got from Mr. Pie for Christmas, I found Boneyard. Definitely simple knitting, but with a touch of interest in the garder ridges every 12 rows. Then, at the end, I added a whimsical touch by way of another gift: the book Knitting Beyond The Edge.

I'll let you be the judge of their marriage:

I love how this yarn is such a beautiful semi-solid - tones of orange and even red show through subtly in a few places. What I don't love about this edge technique is how badly it curls, even after a very aggressive wet blocking. I've considered steam blocking or picking out the cast off edge to continue with a few more rows of garder, or even just picking up stitches on the edge and knitting some more rows with what's left of the yarn.

I'd love your opinion. Here's to some very successful knitting in 2012!

The deets:
pattern: Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West and
"Lattice Beauty" from Knitting Beyond the Edge by Nicky Epstein
Yarn: Have you Any Wool Luxe Sport in Truffle

{You May Have Noticed....}

2011-12-31T09:25:00.001-05:00

You may have noticed that I've left everyone hanging after my last post. My camera is acting WAY weird and I need to get photos of my knits. Pretty much since school got out I've been knitting up a storm! I'm about 75% of the way through a pair of crazy-colour socks and I'm 95% of the way through my Cromarty Cardigan. I had to stop on that one because I ran out of yarn with only 1 1/2 repeats left to go on the arm. It was a WAY bummer, but I've ordered another skein and it's here now, so that's good. I've also knit a whole Steven West shawl since I blogged last! So yeah... I need to get the camera up and going. lol

As a way of winding up the year, I've made it a tradition to see all of my year's knitting all at once. So here it is, in the form of a wonderful Picasa collage:

All details can be seen on my Ravelry Project page, if anyone is interested. :)

I think I've done less knitting this year than any year since I started, which makes sense to me when I remember that it's my last year of college. lol What I notice though is that I'm happier with the knits that I have done - they're ones that I wear. I think I've figured out my own knitting "style". Also, the other thing I notice is that I've knit more for myself this year than maybe any other year. I've learned who is good to knit for and who appreciates the knitting the most. Much less disappointment this way.

Next year I'd really love to learn a few new skills. It's cool looking at all of my year's accomplishments together - I see that pushed myself to master the skills I know more thoroughly - I did more difficult lace shawls (Fiori Di Sole and a pair of Cookie A socks) and more complex fair isle (Selbu) than I had before. I'd like to learn some entrelac for sure, and maybe some steeking. Though that last one scares me. lol I'd also like to make time/money to learn some basic spinning on the spindle I have, though to do that I'll have to get a teacher for it I think. That's not one I'll be happy with teaching myself I don't think. There's a lady that teaches it at the local School of the Arts I'm involved in - so maybe a class is in order. :)

Do you have any 2012 crafty goals? What were your big accomplishments from this year? I'd love to hear them!

I hope everyone has a FABulous New Year's Eve tonight and I'll see everyone in 2012 - with pictures I hope!

{Christmas Decorations}

2011-12-21T10:54:00.000-05:00

I've done some new things with our decorations this year and I wanted to share with my friends and family who live far away. So here goes!

I'm very happy with the buffet this year. You can imagine it smells amazing with the wreath, the rosemary and the mint all right there. The little bud vases were a steal from Pier 1 last week and I adore them. The little silver bowl has jingle bell ornaments that I can't trust my cats to not climb the tree to get. hehe

This is the front door of the house as seen from our living room. The natural garland came from the farmers' market and I cut out all those snow flakes and hung them from the ceiling. The little wreath hanging from the bookcase was an experiment from last year.

And finally, the Christmas tree with all the gifts wrapped and ready to go underneath. We tried some new things this year: we used 5 strands of tree lights instead of the usual 2, and we used silver beads instead of the fluffy garland. This last one felt kind of like betraying everything I've known about how to decorate a tree since the day I was born.... but I kind of like it as something different. We'll see if we keep it going next year or not.

Tomorrow I'll come back and show you how my knitting is going, but if you're just dying and can't wait, I've uploaded new pics to my Ravelry project page.

{On break, finally.}

2011-12-18T12:08:00.000-05:00

Christmas break is finalllllyyyyyy here! yay! I'm not going to lie - this end of semester push was the hardest I have ever had and it nearly drove me insane. By the end I was a mere shell of my former self and it's taken me about 3 days to really comes to grip with the idea that it's over.

Lots of lots of knitting therapy. Really, even more than the knitting, I think I needed a few days of just doing nothing to get it through my head. lol

I managed to get these bad boys out in just about a week! They are called the Daina Mittens,by Tuulia Salmela.

I knit the first thumb in the same pattern as the rest of the body, but there just wasn’t enough room in there for the 3 yarns and my thumb, so I had to rip it back and do it in a single colour. Kinda disappointing. So instead I did something crazy and made the thumbs two different colours: one's green and one's orange. :)

I'll be back tomorrow to talk about some house decorating!

{Winter Knitting Update}

2011-11-27T13:24:00.002-05:00

Man I really wish Winter would hurry up and get here. The weather outside still feels distinctly of fall and I'm getting antsy for the gray skies and icy mornings. It can hold the ice until after finals though (10 days from now!).

So yeah... blogging. hehe Recently I was visiting Virginia's Blog called Virginia is for... and she was asking for volunteers to take her back issues of Interweave Knits. Since it's my favorite of all magazines I spoke up with a "Yes! Yes! Yes Please!" and she was kind enough to send me all she had along with a very sweet note:

So incredibly cool! I love Interweave and there are always a couple projects in each magazine that I want to knit. I had a subscription last year though so now I have doubles of each of the seasons from 2010, Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. If anyone would like them I'd be happy to pass them along. :)

Meanwhile, I'm knitting a sweater to prepare, and hopefully to bring good MoJo, for cool weather. I bought the pattern for Cromarty by Heather Dixon the instant I saw it because I even had yarn for it!

photos from Army of Knitters

Isn't it perfect! Going to be gorgeous when it's done, but I have some tinking to do first. I was tired and I blew through about 3 rows of lace when I wasn't paying attention. I'm not sure how I did it since there's lace on EVERY row, but there ya go. The yarn is pretty big so it shouldn't take too long once I feel like doing it. lol The pattern is super well written (so totally my fault, not the designer's) and there's even a knit-a-long on Ravelry if you're interested. The pattern is kinda steep at $9, but since I already had the yarn for it... oh and I also was in LOVE with it, I splurged. Consequently, when you pay good money for patterns they're usually super well written and easy to follow. Who knew? hehe This one is no exception to that trend.

Speaking of Interweave, have you looked at the Winter 2011 yet? I'm kind of obsessed with the Briar Rose Tunic. Go there and find out why. I probably wouldn't knit it quite so long, but otherwise i'm all up ons that pattern. I need to get my hands on that pattern for sure.

I've also finished a project oh about... 2 months ago that I haven't written about yet. School and all, blah blah blah. lol It's almost done! Then I can be back to blogging regularly! hehe

I called this the Forest for the Trees cowl. I just made up a pattern of alternating cable and lace and cast on enough stitched to go around.

The colour is a deep pumpkin and I love love love the yarn, Fluffy DK from Gaia's Colours (discontinued), but to tell you the truth... I'm just not sure cowls are for me. I can't figure out how to wear it to look right. I like it under a coat, but I'm struggling to make it look right after the coat comes off. Do you guys have any hints for wearing cowls?

Well, I think that's it for me. :) You folks probably won't hear from me again until after finals, about December 10th or so. Wish me luck!

{Holy Crap an FO}

2011-11-06T09:12:00.002-05:00

Yep, you read that right: I've finished a project!

gloves from the Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns

When I found this yarn for sale on Ravelry, I pretty much fell in love with it. Then when I went looking for a pattern and couldn't find one that excited me, I pulled out this book of patterns. It's super handy! The patterns are all very basic and given in table form where the gauge is down the vertical axis and the size is across the horizontal axis. Pretty brilliant!

But just because you have a pattern for worsted weight gloves doesn't mean you SHOULD knit them. The fingers are different lengths (doh) and I didn't manage to close the gaps between the fingers very well. There are too many hand stitches and not enough finger stitches, too. lol I'll wear them because they're warm, and I like the yarn, but geez. I think the next gloves I try will be in fingering weight. lol

Warning: Whining about School Ahead

So, you may have noticed that I've been missing for a little while too. Do you want me to tell you about my last month? hehe This semester has been a KILLER. More than any before. I am a math major, and I never thought it would be *easy* but I seriously considered dropping it as my major and I only have 1 semester left to go. I just didn't think I could do it anymore. I've spent fits crying and I've been stressed out of my mind since pretty much the second week of class. In order to finish on time, I had to take 3 math classes this semester, which is just too much.

I came to this University with a perfect 4.0 GPA from my community college, so I'm used to being above average academically speaking. More than that I'm used to above average coming to me fairly easily. This has been a real struggle to face a task where no matter how much effort I put in, I don't get the results that I've become accustom to. In all my other not-math-courses I have earned A's, and they have been harder to get than Community College, but dang. These math courses are kicking my ass.

So I was freaking out about my plummeting GPA, knowing that someday I want to go to Grad school. I also would kinda REALLY like the latin honours on my diploma, which is questionable now whether that will happen. I spend about 3 weeks not thinking about anything else other than if I want to drop this math - a goal I have worked toward for almost 3 and a half years. I talked to top women CEOs in the Roanoke area that I had made connections with at a conference, and they all told me to follow my heart and no, they really wouldn't care if I had a math minor or a math major beside my business degree. But Mr. Pie was still holding out that he believed I would be disappointed if I quit now, but he understood and was supportive of whatever decision I landed on.

I was all set to walk in to my math adviser's office and tell her that I was dropping it but after talking wit her she strongly urged me to consider it for another night. I was only two 2-credit classes short of a bachelor's degree, and no, they really wouldn't be as hard as I was thinking, and do I really want to quit so close to the end? So I did what all rationally-thinking adults would do and I called my mommy. She pretty much didn't even let me finish my sentence when I told her what I was thinking of. She made an analogy that made sense to me: I'm like a marathon runner in the 21st mile and according to her, I couldn't be trusted to think rationally about this right now because I'm so tired and so stressed.

So with the opinions of the two people who know me best in the whole world, I decided to have faith in the system and stick it out. This is going to be so. so. hard and I'm so scared that I'm not going to be able to do it. Next week I'm registering for my last semester of undergraduate classes EVER. I'm not sure how I feel about it - not excited, but maybe more resigned to my fate? If I can make it through just ONE more 12-week stint and I'm done.

May 20th (graduation day) can not get here soon enough for me.

{Knitting News of All Kinds}

2011-09-21T18:01:00.001-04:00

Today I have an FO, an imminent cast on and also knitting patterns to share with you!

First: Patterns! Because the new fall Knitty is out!! Do you all have your faves picked out? The first one that caught my eye was the Tenney Park Pullover. I love love love the entralac in the front, especially since it's been on my list to learn for ages now! I'm imagining my version having a slightly lower neckline and a little less contrast in the colours chosen for the front panel.

The Auguste Pullover is a good style for Mr. Pie I think, though I wish I could see it on some dude other than Mr. Twilight Fanclub that they have it on. (hehe) Mr. Pie is pretty boxy and large across the shoulders, so the open neck will work well on him I think. It's also a fairly small gauge so it wouldn't turn out to be a super heavy sweater, which is important because he's practically a furnace all by himself.

But for me the one that steals the show is the Vignette Cardigan. I adore the turquoise with the red buttons! The deep V is perfect for me and I love the detail down the arms.It is knitted in pieces and then seamed though, which might be something to keep me from knitting this particular pattern in stead of just say... using it for inspiration. I can totally hack that lace pattern, right?

In other news entirely, I finished a languishing UFO! YAY! In you're interested in seeing it, and you're not family to me, then you can go to my Christmas 2012 page at the top of the blog to see pics and details of the latest gift knitting. :)

So with that one off the needles, I think I want to start a new project! I've foobarred the lace sweater really good and I need to decide if I really REALLY want to tink back 5 rows (in the round) to put the waste yarn for the arms at the appropriate place. While pondering my next project, my friends Anna and Jenny informed me they were both knitting the Brandywine Shawl, so I thought I'd hop on board! It's a Rosemary Hill pattern, so I know I'll love knitting it. I have a semi-solid with quite a bit of contrast in primarily a very dark brown (almost black) from the Unplanned Peacock, so I'll be using that. :)

{A New but Older FO}

2011-09-16T19:34:00.000-04:00

Do you remember me mentioning my Shrug This cardigan that I knit AGES ago during the summer? Ravelry says I finished it on June 30th and I guess I believe it. hehe

Well I wore it today!! I was SO excited when accuweather.com told me it was going to top out at 59 degrees today!! YAY! I had Mr. Pie take a few pics before I left this morning:

(oh and I also cut my hair this summer. Wattaya think?)

I'm loving this! Over the summer when I tried it on I wasn't digging it at all but just over a black t-shirt and with jeans it's perfect. It's super warm but without full-length sleeves it wasn't TOO warm for hiking around campus in. Perfect!

The yarn I used was from Unplanned Peacock, Superwash Merino Aran and then the edging was a Gaia's Colours yarn, Fluffy DK which is now discontinued. This one is certainly going to be worn. I got SO MUCH compliments and even another friend of mine asking what it would cost for me to make one for her! I hope the price didn't scare her too much! LOL

And just so you don't think i've been doing NO knitting, I'm getting ready to connect up my lace weight top down sweater together below the neckline. lol It's a little slow-going.

{Seriously... lace?!?}

2011-09-08T06:03:00.000-04:00

What was I THINKING when I decided to knit a sweater in lace weight yarn? Yeah... I haven't even reached the increases around the neckline yet (working from the top down). This is going to take a while.

In other news, I'm completely up and running with school and even though the first day was only a week ago it seems a distant memory. With 9 months left until I graduate from college - does this make it the first week of my first trimester?

Send some good mojo my way, won'tcha? :)

{Cast on: Laverne}

2011-08-30T09:32:00.000-04:00

Readers, meet Laverne by Snowden Becker.

She is a charmingly simple laceweight teeshirt knit in a fuzzy yarn, which in my case is primarily Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud, perhaps with a contrast border in a deep blue from my stash:

It's a pattern I actually paid for, which is pretty uncommon for me. There are so many free patterns out there that I want to knit, and funds are so strapped right now that I frequently try to not pay for them. This one was only $5 though and I'm delighted to say that it is written very clearly so to be easily understood and the modification for bust shaping and waist shaping go above and beyond other free patterns that I usually deal with. I think this was money well spent.

I am SUPER excited about this knit, but gauge is going to be important so I'm trying to take this first part slow so I can do it properly.

{Winner from Mama Roux!}

2011-08-29T09:25:00.000-04:00

The winner of the giveaway of a circular needle holder from Mama Roux is.... Knitterly Designs!

knitterlydesigns said...
"I could use one of these. Very cute!"

You get to choose the style from MamaRoux's Etsy site! Thank you so much to everyone to entered!

{My Favorite Dinner Recipe}

2011-08-26T17:50:00.001-04:00

The Giveaway from Mama Roux is still going on through Sunday!

Comment on THIS POST and be sure I can get a hold of you if you win!!

Don't worry, this isn't about to turn in to a cooking blog. hehe I'm not much of a cook, so when I find a recipe that is healthy, yummy AND easy to make then I want to scream it from the roof tops!
Right now sitting on the desk in front of me as I type this is my dinner plate, which looks like this:

This is Chicken Sloppy Joe's and I LERVE it. It's one of those recipe that I have to be careful I don't make too often or I'll get tired of it because seriously, I could eat it like 4 times a week (and between days for lunch) and I'd be happy as a clam! I have no idea where I found this recipe, so I'll type it out for you here. I have it hand-written in my recipe binder.

Ingredients: 2-3 Cloves of Garlic
2 tablespoons EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
2 pounds of ground chicken
1 carrot, peeled and grated (obviously if you pay attention above I skipped that and just chopped baby carrots)
2 celery sticks finely chopped
1 onion chopped
2 table spoons red wine vinegar
2 table spoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon worchestershire
1/4 - 1/3 cup of hot sauce
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup chicken stock
8 rolls

Instructions: brown your chicken with the EVOO for about 5-6 minutes. Add the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook for 7-8 minutes until your chicken is brown all the way through and the onions are translucent. Meanwhile, in a bowl mix red wine vinegar, sugar, worcestershire, hot sauce, tomato sauce and chicken stock. Pour your mixture in to the pan and simmer until you have the amount of sauce left over that you desire. (I like mine a little more saucey! hehe)

DONE. It's like, 20 minutes. Enjoy!!

(More updates on the knitting front tomorrow. :) )

{Wow... Just Wow.}

2011-08-23T22:23:00.001-04:00

How often seriously do you stumble over the most gorgeous products you've ever seen on Etsy? For me it's like that everyday. But this.... you guys... I don't think you even have to be a fiber enthusiast to appreciate the colour and the luminance captured in this yarn.

It's a two-lady team from Germany and they have several shops. I've only pulled just a few examples of their work (they have PAGES of offerings in each shop!)

These yarn above are from the shop Dye for Wool and are all wool and wool/silk blends. Seriously - do you see this colour???? All of the ones pictured are between $25 and $27 dollars, which I think is very reasonable. They are so incredibly breath-taking!

Then these ones are from their shop Dye for Yarn, and are all 100% silk with a price between $34 and $35, which is still totally comparable to other yarns that don't have this kind of depth to the dyes.

Then... THEN! They have a jewelry shop too! It's called Balanced Entropy and this is my favorite piece from that store:

This is called "Moonflower" and is $47. Way cool.

Friends... family... distant relatives and complete strangers: look no further for my Christmas, Birthday, Anniversary or graduation gifts.

You're welcome.

{More Frogging than Anything}

2011-08-22T12:52:00.002-04:00

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a circular knitting needle organizer by commenting on my last post! Entry deadline is Sunday, Aug. 28th!

The last three days have been more frogging than knitting around here it seems. I can't find just the right project to get my mojo back, but at least I'm trying, right?

I've really been feeling this fall orangey colour that I have an abundance of in my stash and decided I wanted a fabulous cabled cowl. Something with a lot of intricate weaving cables that would keep my attention.

I started out with the Caera Cowl which I LOVE but after frogging it and recasting on about 3 times, and getting frustrated with the FIRST paragraph of directions, I gave up. It's these instructions here which do not make sense to me:

"Next row: Begin row 1 of Cable Pattern 1, followed by row 1 of cable pattern 2.

Work one pattern repeat of 12 rows of cable pattern 1, (followed by two 6 row repeats

of cable pattern 2. Remember Cable Pattern 2 is half the size of Cable pattern 1 in rows)."

does this mean I do the first row of pattern 1 ALL the way around (for however many repeats of row 1 of the pattern) and then on the next row of my cowl I do row 1 of pattern 2 ALL the way around my cowl, then I flip back and start with pattern 1 again and complete the whole chart? OR do I do one repeat of pattern1, then 1 repeat of pattern 2, etc.... I tell ya, neither looks right with the picture for me. If anyone wants to go investigate and let me know what I was missing, I'd be grateful. The comments all say it's a great "easy to understand" pattern, so maybe I'm making it more difficult than it needs to be. Sounds about right for me. lol

SO - then I cast on for the Cornflower Cowl instead (about 4 times to get the count right) and I'm half way through the first repeat, but I'm just not feeling it. If you look at the Caera again, then the Cornflower, you'll see there's just no comparison and my heart has been set. I'm thinking of maybe searching for something in another gauge that I can adapt by doing more repeats or something. We'll see.

After much frustration, it was the Mailman to the rescue! Sunday I was informed of a surprise package that came in the mail for me! It's my kit from the Unplanned Peacock yarn that I won AGES ago!! I was so delighted!!

It's Steven West's Daybreak pattern along with two skeins of fingering weight Superwash! YAY! It was the kick in the pants that I needed. I'm kind of in love with the colour combination he's wearing in that picture on the front, so I swapped out the golden-yellow colour for (what else) but a coppery orange to go with the deep brown she provided. I'm in LOVE. :)

So there's what I'm knitting on right now, between panic attacks about school starting next week.

{Giveaway from Mama Roux!}

2011-08-21T08:49:00.001-04:00

Mama Roux contacted me a few days ago about hosting a giveaway here at my blog and seriously... how could I say no?? Her things are so pretty!!

She sews tote bags and knitting needle holders and sells them over at her Etsy shop Mama Roux Handmade. Here are a few of her creations: Circular Knitting needle holders!

I ADORE the patterns and the colours! These holders are made with velcro to hang over a hanger or pole (brilliant) and each pocket is labeled in American AND metric sizes. YAY! No more conversion on the computer! hehe Her bags are just as cute, both knitted and sewn. You should check them out!

I'll draw one name at random from the comments on this pose one week from today on August 28th. The winner will choose the needle holder from any on her Etsy shop!! This is a $25 value FREE! Just leave a comment and be sure I have your contact information in case you win!

Don't forget to visit Mama Roux Handmade to see other pretty things!

Thank you so much Mama Roux! I feel blessed that quality craftspeople such as you want to give pretty things away to my friends. :) Good luck everyone!

{I'm BACK! }

2011-08-20T09:36:00.000-04:00

My camera finally arrived in the mail!! (Thanks Dad!) and so I can show you my (not so many) knitting accomplishments since I've written last. The weather has finally broken and it was only about 62 this morning, so I'm hopeful that soon my knitting mojo shall return. I'm even sipping Chai Tea as I write which is definitely a good sign.

The FO completed furthest back is this sweater, which I have been promising a picture of for AGES. It's from the pattern Shrug This by Toni Kayser. It's a free one on Ravelry but it's also been published in the One Skein Wonders series.

I made it from two skeins the most SUMPTIOUS yarn I've ever come across and the colours just screams of fall. The body yarn is Superwash Merino Aran by the Unplanned Peacock, who is local to SW Virginia, and the ribbing is in Pales DK (held double, I think) by Gaia's Colours. Both are discontinued but if you can find them used on the Ravelry exchange they are well worth the extra trouble to find. The length is longer than the pattern as written with lots of waist shaping put in. It turned out this length because I just wanted to knit until my yarn was gone but it's actually a little but awkward. I haven't worn it out of the house yet because it's been so hot, but ripping back the length a bit may not be out of the question.

The buttons are cut from antlers! Oh my goodness I love them! They've been in my button tin since I got them for Christmas two years ago from my mom waiting for just the right project.

Okay, on to my knitting from my trip home. The plane rides and layovers are always long and annoying, so I decided on some intricate Fair Isle to keep me busy. At the top of my queue for a long time has been Selbu.

I used Marks and Katten Fame Trend for the background and some Knit Picks Palette I had kicking around for the cream pattern. I loved knitting it and watching the stripes appear and the pattern take shape. I really think this was my most favorite pattern to knit ever. Unlike lace, it's instant gratification! I totally recommend giving this one a try. The chart is an easy one too.

That's it for completed knitting for the past month. Crazy, right? I have a couple pairs of socks on the go right now, but they really aren't interesting or complete so I don't think they count. lol

Other FOs include non-knitting (really, non crafty) type things such as.... CARPET! Our landlord GRACIOUSLY paid for new carpet in our rental home and I can not be more pleased. We've been here for almost 6 years now and he said he wanted to reward us as good tenants. Yeah! We did all the heavy lifting though in that we completly moved out of our house and then back in to it two days later. The Uhaul never moved! lol Here's a peak at the difference:

BEFORE: 40 years old, dingy, stains, holes, and no padding:

AFTER: bright, clean, and NEW!

It seriously feels like a new house! I love it but it was LOT of work. It's like we moved but without moving. lol We're still unpacking a few boxes and I've taken one huge load of miscellaneous junk (to me) for the Goodwill. I made a few tough calls so that our house wouldn't feel cluttered again like before. I gave away my wedding dress. Hopefully it'll find a home with a bride on a budget who doesn't mind a little alteration. It was a gorgeous gown but it was just taking up a LOT of space in my tiny closet.

I'll wrap up with a couple of photos from home:

My sister and her two oldest girls:

(I'm sure she'll love me for the no-makeup pic. hehe But the girls are cute!)

And the baby, her youngest and my Goddaughter:

doing her fashion pose. hehe

They are getting big too fast and seeing them once a year is not often enough.

{Christmas Knitting?}

2011-08-11T08:14:00.000-04:00

I got a call from family back home that my camera is on it's way , so that's good. I'll be able to have pictures for you of my FO's from the last month and maybe get this blog up and going soon. :)

I'm also thinking ahead to Christmas Knitting. I'm definitely cutting back this year because I think there are certain family members who just aren't *thrilled* with hand knitting. And I want them to be overjoyed and EXCITED to get my hand knit gifts. It's not like they save me a bunch of money or time or anything. *scoff*

IF you aren't a family member, check out my Christmas 2011 tab at the top for my first planning thoughts and then let me know what you think!

{Do You Ted?}

2011-08-06T14:45:00.000-04:00

Ted.com may be one of my very favorite websites of all times, ever. In all of history. It's an open source learning site chalk full of speakers on every inspiring, interesting, scientific, or humanitarian topic you could think of. I can spend hours getting lost in 18 minute speeches. It's a grand morning when that happens, let me tell you.

This morning I was browsing my regular blog roll and came across an old post from an Interior Designer that I enjoy, Colour Me Happy, that mentioned a Ted Talk from Eliazabeth Gilbert, writer of Eat, Pray, Love. In this speech she talks about creativity in a way that I've never heard before and it almost brought me to tears. Go listen to it so the rest of this post makes sense to you.

The reason I was almost in tears is directly related to a recent crash and burn I experienced, creatively speaking. I spent almost one entire week earlier this summer sewing clothes. I started with a pattern for a skirt, got stuck and moved on to a skirt with no pattern that wouldn't fit over my hips and then a dress that looked terrible followed by another skirt that I was SURE would work, and may still work some day when I lose 10 pounds. Not one actual piece of clothing that I would be comfortable wearing and one huge pile of pieces of clothing shaped fabric to mock me was what I was left with for my efforts and enthusiasm.

At the end of this week I felt like a huge failure, and no matter what I tried I wasn't cut out for sewing. All my dreams of making my own wardrobe some day were down the drain and really, why try when I just spend all this time only to fail again and again?

After listening to Elizabeth, I feel like if I just keep showing up at my sewing machine, and I keep doing my end of the deal, eventually it will click. That's a better feeling than just defeat.

{Man I Dislike These}

2011-07-30T13:35:00.000-04:00

So, I kinda swore that I would never do this thing where I apologize for not posting. For a number of reasons. #1 - I don't think you're waiting on baited breath for my every post, I know you guys have lives. Doesn't an apology assume somehow that you're waiting for me to post? #2 - I'm certain you understand that life sometimes gets in the way, so at least for me, no apologies are necessary between friends. :)

BUT. I wanted to let you know why I've been absent, so maybe there's a balance that can be had?

Over the last couple of weeks I've been home to visit family in Vancouver to celebrated my dad's retirement and his 65h birthday. Travel to and from was horrendous but the visits are never long enough. I did do some knitting while I was there, but I left my camera at my sister's house and am waiting for her to mail it back so I can take photos of what I've done. hehe

August looks like it's going to be a busy month! I start a new part time job and I'm back to my internship too. Then the last day of the month is the first day of school! I'm not sure if I should be nervous about this year or not!

{just a symbol}

2011-07-23T17:09:00.001-04:00

We stand with you.

{A Treat!}

2011-07-16T18:23:00.000-04:00

Hey folks!

I'll be out of town for about the next week or so to go home to Vancouver and visit with family. I leave you with a special treat! You know about the Clifton Forge School of the Arts, right? I've been heavily involved with them this summer doing their website, teaching classes, etc... and in an effort to promote what they do, got in contact with a friend of mine, Josh Hagy, who works at the local paper, the Virginian Review. Well, someone from the not so local (but almost) TV station, WDBJ7 saw the front page article and contacted me about doing a feature! On Thursday, July 14th, I was on TV. It still astounds me.

So here it is. Enjoy!

Leave a comment so I can still hear from y'all while I'm gone, okie?

{A Designer Spotlight: Vera Sanon}

2011-07-13T19:20:00.001-04:00

Ravelry is a huge time suck, as most knitters know. Some days I spend more time on Ravelry than I do *actually* knitting. hehe But sometimes it's really worth it! I stumbled across a fantastic designer! Her name is Vera Sanon and she designs simple and chic garments. I love that!

This was the first I fell in love with. Does it not look like the perfect weekend pullover that's effortless and fabulous?

Not Your Boyfriend's Sweate r

photo (c) Cascade Yarns

But there are so many other fun things she's designed! This one is so perfect and sophisticated:

All Over Lace Cardigan

photo (c) Cascade Yarns

I am a total sucker for a great cable:

Stika Cable Pullover
photo (c) Cascade Yarns

Totally effortless summer chic:

Summer Lace Wrap Cardigan
photo (c) Cascade Yarns

You should totally hop on over to her Ravelry Designer page to see some other fun things!! I'm not sure where I'll start. :)

Edit: And did I mention that all of these patterns are FREE???

{Swap Presents!}

2011-07-12T14:34:00.000-04:00

Lazy (from Lazy Knits and Purls) and I decided WAY back in May to do a swap amongst ourselves just for the heck of it! I had a ton of fun picking and choosing yarn and a pattern for her!

Then, with much anticipation, my package from her arrived!!

I LERVE it!! The colour is the perfect shade of heathery teal that I've been obsessing over lately and I absolutely adore the pattern! She blocked it perfectly so all the lace stands out super nice!

AND I got some Godiva chocolates, but unfortunately they have not survived until photographing. hehe YUM! Thank you so so MUCH, Miss Lazy! :D I can't wait for weather to get cooler so I can wear it out!!

{Knitting Updates}

2011-07-11T09:30:00.000-04:00

I've had a pretty busy first week at my internship, but I've managed to do quite a bit of knitting as well. I finished a second From Norway with Love hat, this time a touch bigger so I could wear it!

Also, I've knit the first sock for The Store inside CFSotA. Have I told you guys about that yet? There's a new school of the arts around the corner from my house in this tiny town and inside there's a little art supply store that is carrying Unplanned Peacock yarn!! I offered to knit a sock sample, and here's what I've come up with so far: one Nanner Sock by Wendy Johnson.

I think what I've decided to do is knit two ankle socks out of this 100g skein and then knit a pair of fingerless mitts just to show how far one skein can go instead of knitting one pair of VERY tall socks, ya know? Is this a good idea or not so much?

And then yesterday I've also cast on for the Lace Saddle Tee out of Interweave Knits Summer 2010.

I'm knitting this one in pieces from the bottom up because I think the side seams will actually help support the 100% cotton and keep it from growing too much. I think I've heard this somewhere... I think I'd rather be knitting it in the round up to the armpits to tell you the truth, but this also keeps too much knitting from sitting in my lap. I'm knitting it from Estelle Young Touch, which is making a really pretty fabric. I think I'm going to like this one! Not getting gauge (of course) but when I hold it up to myself it looks like it's going to fit okay, so I'll keep going and pray for the best. lol

I've also got a skirt mostly sewn together on my sewing table and a zipper to go in it, but no zipper foot. I'm a crossroads here... do I pay for a zipper foot on my little Brother LX-3125 or do I hold out and wait until I upgrade (before the end of the year, I'm thinking) which will most definitely come with a zipper foot. If I decide to wait, I'll just put elastic in the waist band of this one and keep my eye out for a used or refurbished sewing machine. Ideas? Advice?

What are you guys up to this summer? :)

{Fall Cannot Get Here Fast Enough}

2011-07-06T16:29:00.000-04:00

Remember the other day when I said I was totally in the mood to knit fall wear? I knit a fair isle hat!

Norway with Love

I love it! I've already cast on another one. I'm loving this planning for fall here in this hot hot weather. It's a tad small for me though so it'll go in to the Xmas 2012 file I think. :) Anyone in my family wanna call dibbs? hehe

{Blog Birthday Giveaway Winners!}

2011-07-05T20:32:00.001-04:00

You know, I've been noticing a TON of blog giveaways these days. I just want to make sure that you guys know that I really really feel the love - the fact that you decided to visit me, follow my blog and enter this giveaway. Thank you SO MUCH!!

((BIG MASSIVE HUG!))

That wasn't too creepy, was it? Well... either way. It's time to announce winners! I'm going to announce these in the opposite order they were listed, because that's the order I can scroll and see them. hehe

Giveaway #5: The winner of a set of buttons of her choice from Stephanie Xu Is....................

PEG! Who said:

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! My Birthday is July 12th....

those buttons would be a sweet bday gift (wink, wink). "

Giveaway #4: The winner of the cupcake project bag from Craftastic IS.......................

Jess/Blushed who said:

"How adorable! I love cupcakes and project bags :D"

Giveaway #3 The winner of the leafy buttons from RetroNaNa IS.................

Tecrin!! who said:

" Oooo, pretty buttons! :D "

Giveaway #2: The winner of those spectacular gray crochet earrings from Febystan Designs IS...

Simply Sitting!! Who said:

"Love your blog -- thanks for adding to my list of

must have now earrings :-)"

And of course the winners of Giveaway #1, the 20% off coupon code for spectacular natural buttons from A Remark You Made is EVERYONE! The coupon is good until 6PM EST on July 15th, so you can continue partying my birthday for another 10 days! hehe

Thank you again to everyone who took the time to enter - you made this so super fun for me and it will for SURE not be the last event I do like this. SUPER HUGE thank you to the 5 Etsy stores who participated and believed in me enough to donate pretty things. to you too! (I'm a hugger). For those of you who entered the giveaway without checking out these awesome vendors, I urge you to do so now! :)

I'll be contacting all of the winners, but I'm going to have to give you a deadline to respond before I pick someone new. I hope you all left your emails for me! More crafty content coming soon. I owe you that designer feature from this morning's post and also that pic of the durn sweater. All coming soon!

{Last Chance to Enter Blog Birthday Giveaways}

2011-07-05T06:57:00.001-04:00

I am so so excited and humbled that so many of you have joined me for my 2nd blog birthday! To date, I have gained about 70 new followers from this event and I couldn't be more PLEASED! Welcome to all my new friends! The 4 drawings will all be drawn tonight at approximately 8PM EST. So enter away until then! Also, happy birthday to my little seester! Her and my blog share a birthday. hehe

Sewing and knitting have been flying everyone in my craft room this last week, mostly half finished projects and clothing in pieces are strewn around at the moment. I do still have to grab a photo of my new sweater for you (but who wants to model Aran weight wool in 100 degree temps? Gah!). It may be a little bit before we get that picture to you. hehe I've also finished some SEEKRIT knitting and I've begun Christmas 2011 knitting too!

I also plan to feature a designer coming up too! Here's a sneak peak at what she does:

Happy back to work after the long weekend! It's my first day at my new internship, so wish me luck!

{And the Queue Goes On....}

2011-07-01T22:52:00.001-04:00

Happy Canada Day, Blog World!

Before you read this awesome post, don't forget to enter my Blog Birthday Giveaways here, here, here and here! You won't regret it! Also, there's a great coupon code here that you definitely want to check out. The drawings will be announced on July 5th, the day Student Knitter turns 2 years old!

I have been doing a bunch of crafting lately, but since the giveaways were so exciting they took priority. I don't have pictures yet for this post, but tomorrow I'll take photos for you all to see my new sweater! I knit a sweater in like a week! (aran weight, top down. don't be too impressed. lol)

Oh, so Ravelry seems to have exploded with interesting new fall patterns I haven't seen before! My queue there used to have like 3 things in it and now I'm up over 20! I'm kind of sick of summer already. Is that terrible to say? I'm just not a summer person. My skin is so pale that I constantly have to worry about getting burned if I'm out too long, I hate the sticky wet feeling of the humidity here in the south, shorts and my butt aren't really getting along (hehe), so yeah. I can't wait for fall to get here.

It's patterns like this one for instance. My heart literally skipped a beat when I saw it! (cables. How I love thee!) The depth of colour on this first yarn is just mind blowing:

and the same in white:

I Heart Aran sweater by Tanis Fiber Arts

(Ravelry link. If you aren't signed up for Ravelry already you seriously should be!)

The cables just down the center are so so flattering, don't you think? I'll be able to build in some shaping! YAY! The cables... the neckline... the way the sleeves fit! SWOON! I love this sweater! I might make it just a tad longer so it comes down over my hips but lord oh lord that is one gorgeous piece of clothing!

And I might just wear it with these socks.

Inlay Socks from Knitty's Early Fall Collection

I wonder if the Boyfriend Sweater Curse carries over to socks? These would be some FAB boyfriend/husband socks. But I still think I'll make them for me. :P I have been doing MUCH better at selfish knitting this year as a whole. It took some work, too! hehe

I think it's time for a really fantastic fair isle hat too. Something like this one:

Gramma K's Fair Isle Tam

I think I would choose different more fall-ish colours, but I love the overall design. Or something similar. So pretty. Maybe something with matching gloves?

Hand Painted Gloves by Karen Neal

Entrelac is totally on my list too. Something about how the colours play off each other in this hat makes me very interested.

Entrelac Cap by Ruth Cook

Felting.. ? Maybe? I'm not sure. I am intrigued by some of the bags I see though. I still haven't found my perfect pattern for the one in my head.

I have pieces of a skirt for sewing on my sewing table. It's my FIRST skirt! YAY! I managed to buy a very different size from the one I needed though, so that sucks. My friend Judy helped me cut it out and add the extra inches in where I needed them.

I also expect I'll be doing a touch of quilting... crochet maybe? We'll see! Definitely more berry jelly making (because fresh berries make summer worth living through) and bread making.. do you guys want to see that here? :)

Happy July 4th weekend!

Sarah

{Bloggiversary Giveaway Day 5: Stephanie Xu}

2011-06-28T08:31:00.003-04:00

Before you read about this awesome giveaway, don't forget to enter the first three giveaways here, here and here! You won't regret it! Also, there's a great coupon code here that you definitely want to check out.

Today is the 5th and final day of PARTAY Bloggiversary The Second! Last but not least, I want introduce you to Stephanie and her Etsy store Stephanie Xu. She has so much greatness!! She carries natural fabrics like cotton/linen blends in SUPER fun patterns as well as outdoor fabric prints! She has bias tape, lace, zippers, iron-on transfers, embroidery, purse handles and all kinds of goodness, as witnessed below. Her style manages to be adorable, sophisticated and polished all at the same time!

All kindsa Stuff for crafters everywhere!

ANNNNNDDD.... She has BUTTONS!!! Tons and tons of hand painted wooden buttons, metal buttons, coconut buttons... all with her unique and quirky design sense! I love them all!!

Super Awesome Buttons, amiright?

Stephanie would like to give one of you, my followers, any set of buttons you choose from her stock!! How totally COOL is that?? Please be a follower of my blog and leave a comment at the bottom of this post! Also, be sure I can get a hold of you in case you win!!

I will be choosing winners of all 4 giveaways at random on my actual Blog Birthday, July 5th, which is ONE WEEK from today! Best of luck to all of you! And if you would be so kind as to spread the word around to your friend, family, pets, and neighbors, I'd be forever grateful!

{Bloggiversary Giveaway Day 4: Vegan Craftastic}

2011-06-27T07:37:00.001-04:00

Before you read about this awesome giveaway, don't forget to enter the first two giveaways here and here! You won't regret it!

I fell in love with Kala from Vegan Craftastic first because of her very friendly and crafty blog, similarly called Vegan Craftastic. I love the honesty and integrity of the materials she uses, whether she's knitting, sewing or baking. I highly recommend checking her out!

Her Etsy store by the same name is a fun place for crafty supplies. She does buttons, pins, key chains and stitch markers, all made of super cute natural fiber fabrics. My favourite things in her store, though, are her bags both the zipper ones and the draw string ones. She uses the best fabrics!! Here's a smattering of what she offers: (is smattering a word? hm.)

Cool Stuff she's offering in her Etsy Store

For you my lucky readers she is going to be giving

away the cutest bag EVER!! The Cup Cake Bag!

Because what kind of party would this be without cup cakes??

To win this bag for FREE please be a follower and leave a comment and your email address in this post! That's it! And if you would tell your friends to come and follow my blog and leave their own comment, I'd be much obliged. :D

One last giveaway tomorrow and then we'll start choosing names of winners!! YAY!

{Bloggiversar Giveaway Day 3: RetroNaNa}

2011-06-25T19:07:00.001-04:00

Day 3 of our Birthday Bash! Check out the last two posts

to enter the giveaway for some Crocheted Earrings from

Febystan Designs and for a special-to-us discount code

for some natural wood buttons from A Remark You Made.

YAY! Comment on those two posts too for more chances

to win more cool crafty stuff!

Today I want to introduce you to a fabulous Etsy seller named Jessie who runs RetroNaNa. She stocks the quirkiest fabric buttons, yardage, stamps, lace, sewing notions, ribbon, and more! I swear I can just get lost in her store for an hour, easy! I've ordered buttons and fabric from her multiple times now and have always been really impressed with the level of custom service, and the attention to detail in the packaging. I love it!

A smattering of offerings from RetroNaNa

Remember the striped cardigan I finished knitting about a month ago? This one right here?

Check out those buttons!! I love them!! They are 1.25 inches big and SO SO fun!

Green Leaf Handmade Cloth Buttons

Jessie has graciously agreed to send a set of these Leafy Handmade buttons to follower of my blog! Just comment on this post to be entered! Be sure I have your email address in case you win! And if you would be so kind as to spread the word of this party-lovin' blog of mine through your facebook friends, your blog, your twitter, or just off your rooftop, I would be happy as a clam!

Day 3 down, two more to go!! There's more partying to be had! Check back often! And for those of you interested: I have been crafting, but that's not nearly as exciting as this. hehehe

{Giveaway from Febystan Deisgns}

2011-06-24T17:22:00.001-04:00

In celebration of this blog's 2nd Birthday there are 5 days of giveaways and promotions! Today is Day 2, and let me tell, I have something in store for you!! Don't forget to visit the yesterday's post too for a coupon code for some FAB natural wood buttons from A Remark You Made.

Today's Birthday present is a pair of the most stunning beaded crocheted lace earrings from Febystan Designs.

The moment I saw these they took my breath away! I can picture myself wearing them with jeans and flats to school or with a cute cocktail dress and heels! Ebru, the name behind Febystan Designs, carries such an amazing array of jewelry and I just want to own it all!

There is so much colour to drool over! And the patience this artist must have to work with such fine fine thread just boggles my mind. As a knitter with very limited crochet experience, it all looks like magic to me still. That's nice sometimes, isn't it? :D

To enter this giveaway for a free pair of the

beautiful gray earrings pictured at the top,please

be a follower and leave a comment on this post!

It's as easy as that! You can find more info about

Febystan Deisgns on their facebook page.

The drawing for the winner will be on July 1st.

And I would LOVE LOVE LOVE it if you would tell all your friends through

facebook or by posting it to your blog, but I won't twist your arm for it. ;)

Oh, and if your email isn't attached to your blogger account,
leave that in case you win!

Check back again tomorrow for day 3 of my birthday party!!

{I'm 2 Years Old!}

2011-06-23T10:07:00.002-04:00

Oh my goodness, on July 5th this little corner of the blogging universe that I call my own will have been here for two whole years. It's time to P.A.R.T.Y!!!! To say an extra special awesome thank you for chillin' with me, I've got some very cool crafty giveaways lined up! Starting tomorrow, I'll put one up each day for 4 days and they will run for one week so the last one will end on July 5th! Does that make sense? Super awesome, right? If not, just check back in and enter giveaways and I'll let ya know when you win. hehe

To kick us off the right way I want to introduce you to Brenda from A Remark You Made. She creates works of art for our homes and our craft projects from natural wood and stone.

Diamond Shaped Olivewood Buttons - $11.50

About her Etsy Store she says: "We specialize in earth-friendly jewelry, knitting and fiber arts supplies, eco-friendly tree branch buttons, and sustainable products for green weddings and the home. At A Remark You Made, our commitment is to the environment and our customer. Sustainability is very important, so we always use organic and natural materials and fabrics if possible. These are honest products. Each piece is unique."

This is exactly the kind of store I want to support! AND it doesn't hurt that her product is just GORGEOUS.

4 Spalted Maple Wood Tree Brand Buttons - $9.25

All of her buttons are made from downed trees, so this product is completely earth friendly and just so genuine.

Assortment of 1" Shank Buttons - $12.25

Each set is just so incredibly unique and beautiful, I sincerely believe there are buttons in her store for absolutely any project, whether it's a lazy-around the house cardigan, or sophisticated pleated pillow.

4 Perfect Pine Tree Brand Buttons - $8.25

In celebration of my second birthday, she has agreed to

run a 20% coupon on ANY in-stock BUTTONS on her

Etsy site!! Just use the coupon code "Blog Buttons"

and receive a 20% discount until JULY 15 at 6:00pm EST.

Of course, while you're there, you should take a look at some of the jaw-dropping Jewelry Brenda creates as well.

I just drool over all of it!! Thank you so so much to A Remark You Made for helping me celebrate this occasion by offering my friends such an amazing discounted product! I hope everyone will go out and find something they love and support this great store by purchasing that thing!

And check back in tomorrow for the first of our giveaways. July 5th, Baby!! Spread the word for us, pretty please? :D

{It's a Tiny Baby Sweater}

2011-06-16T18:59:00.000-04:00

It's Baby Sophisticate!

I love this tiny sweater! It'll be for some new friends that I'm meeting this weekend who are expecting their first child in November. YAY! Perhaps a tiny hat too?

{It's done! It's done!}

2011-06-14T06:04:00.002-04:00

The Crossroads quilt is complete! In fact I'm sitting with it wrapped all around me right. now. EEE! It's the perfect weight for a summer quilt! Breaths easily, but is just heavy enough to feel like you're all wrapped up. I LERVE it.

Front:

Back:

AS you can see I came to terms with the quilting. In the end I bought a fabric marker and used the width of my long 2' ruler as a guide to make the squares and they came out pretty much perfect and perpendicular. Also, did you notice that little strange square on the back? Yeah... I ran out of backing fabric. hehe But it's cute and quirky right? please?

OH... and check out what else happened over the weekend:

That's me! On the FRONT PAGE of our local paper! My friend Josh was nice enough to do a great story on my knitting experience in order to promote the beginner's knitting class I'm teaching a week from today! (eep!) I'm kinda nervous, but I know it's gonna be great fun too! :D

I've shared this project on Under the Table and Dreaming

{And the Quilting Continues}

2011-06-12T08:38:00.002-04:00

Man oh man I've been obsessed with this quilt yesterday, to the huge detriment of my knitting! I ran to Joann's on friday and bought all the fabric I needed to finish this marathon!

the light gray is the backing, and the dark gray will be for binding. I'm also going to put some long pieces of the pattern fabric on the backing too.

And then Saturday I finished piecing the front!!

Mr. Pie is the excellent model hiding behind the quilt top. hehe About 20 minutes after this picture the rain and the thunder rolled through . It was SO cool! I love thunder storms. :)

I made the back rather quickly Saturday night during the storm, and lept right in to trying to do the actual quilting part ie: sewing the layers together with the batting. With my last quilt I sent this part out to have done by a professional.

I did not take pictures of this part because I ended up picking out ALL the quilting lines that I did. I learned a few important lessons. After a lot of crying.

Number 1: after sewing all day and when in need of food, do not rush in to attempting a technique that you have never done before. I didn't even have a fabric marker on hand and was trying to just wing it. Yeah... not so smart.

Number 2: pin pin pin with every pin you own then go borrow more pins (exaggeration for effect! hehe) The layers shifted horribly on me and I was sewing in folds and tucks. Not good. So to avoid this problem further...

Number 3: Begin quilting in the middle. Not at the corner. umm.. duh? This one never occurred to me and I had to look silly in front of the lady at the quilt shop.

and finally, Number 4: mark your lines with a ruler and a washable fabric pen. I don't know what I was thinking. lol

Final pictures should be soon - I just have to cut the binding and get that on! YAY!

linked to: www.homestoriesatoz.com , tutorial tuesday

{In need of some feedback...}

2011-06-11T08:48:00.000-04:00

Hi folks! I don't know if you've noticed... but this tiny corner of the blogosphere of mine seems to be creeping closer and closer to 200 followers (which BLOWS MY MIND) and, at the same time, my 2nd blogoversary is coming up shortly in about a month.

So I'm thinking of maybe putting it out there.... a giveaway perhaps? in an effort to reach 200 followers by my 2 year mark. What kind of things would you folks like to receive in a giveaway? It can't be super extravagant, but I want it to be something cool enough that you'll want to invite your friend to follow my blog, spread the word a little, and get people excited.

So I'd love some ideas! Thanks everyone!

{Cute Sewing Caddy}

2011-06-09T22:25:00.000-04:00

As soon as I stumbled across this tutorial here, I was scheming in my brain about which fabrics to use where. I like the rustic feeling of mine compared to a little bit more refined look of the one in the tutorial. Do you like the little piece of lace?? My favorite part!

I love that the little trashcan is removable, and that it stays on my desk to keep all my sewing stuff handy.

She's so purdy! This one was made a few days ago while the shawl was drying. It went quick for sure!

{Dress Sewing: The New Frontier}

2011-06-08T11:09:00.000-04:00

There are a ton of sewing blogs out there that inspire me , but there's a couple in particular that I adore. Jessica from Green Apples has been amazing in helping me with the first baby steps and has some amazing posts for beginner sewists like myself explaining fabrics and advising some patterns and books for the very beginner.

She suggested a skirt like this one as my very first project:

The fabrics are HERE and HERE from fabrics.com . I have no idea if the main floral is the kind of "cotton Sateen" that Jessica was trying to encourage me to buy, or if the jersey is at all appropriate for the band at the bottom, so if you have a suggestion, please let me know!

Here are two other beginner dress pattern I bought at the same time:

because I happened to catch McCalls during their pattern sale and got ALL THREE for $12 including shipping! Yipee!!! Next I'll be on the search for a great jersey print for the bottom on, and a luxurious jersey solid for the top convertible dress one. I almost bought one of those convertible dresses on Etsy for almost $100, so I'm stoked now that I'm going to try to make it instead. :)

I'm scared of this whole dress sewing thing! I hope it turns out okay!

{Fiori Di Sole is BLOCKED!}

2011-06-07T11:27:00.000-04:00

Fiori Di Sole by Rosemary Hill

Just so you know... this is going to be an image heavy post. I'm probably more proud of this shawl than anything I have ever knit. Ever. 10 charts in total, and 5 repeats of chart E (the main body leafy one.) I chose to block the edge in to points instead of doing the crochet bind off, and I really like it. Just a touch less froo-froo than the lacy edging the pattern calls for.

to get an idea of size

Isn't the colour gorgeous? and that edge... to die for!

casually tossed around my neck

around my shoulders and tied in the back

(please don't ask what face I'm making. I can't tell ya)

And it's all for me! me! Muwahahahahaha!

{Knitting on Fiori Di Sole is DONE}

2011-06-06T08:58:00.001-04:00

and here she is in all her pre-blocked glory:

If you've studied the Fiori Di Sole pattern, you may notice that I opted to skip the fancy crochet bind off. I made a judgement call based on how much yarn I had left after the last purl row, and boy am I glad I did, because here's what i had left after casting off:

I'm pretty sure if I'd tried the crochet bind off I would have run out of yarn. Sure, it's true that I have another skein of this lace yarn, but have you ever wound Malabrigo lace? it's a P.I.T.A. Besides, I think I like just the leaves at the bottom.

Now for blocking. I don't have wires at the moment... do I wait and see if I can *get* wires somewhere, or I just pin it out as per usual for me? I'm debating... waffling, you could say. There's a sink full of water waiting for this shawl right this moment, but I think I've changed my mind yet again.

Opinions?

{The ABC's Of Me}

2011-06-05T09:15:00.001-04:00

I saw this over at Lazy Knits and Purls (gosh she's a riot!) and she saw it over at another blog called Wool Durham's blog. I'm totally a joiner now too.

A. Age: 29 - I'll have just turned 30 when I graduate college. That's not bad, right?
B. Bed size: Queen
C. Chore that you hate: folding and putting away laundry. It stayed in the basket crumpled FOREVER.
D. Dogs: someday... and probably big.
E. Essential start to your day: cereal... occasionally I can bring myself to make it hot, like oatmeal. Raisin bran, cheerios, fruit loops, granola, I'll pretty much eat it all.
F. Favorite color: green. I gravitate towards it like a fly to a zapper.
G. Gold or Silver: both, my wedding rings are silver, and I prefer silver in the home, but I own other gold jewelry that i like too.
H. Height: 5'4 or 161 cm
I. Instruments you play: i played trumpet once upon a time in my glory days. I miss it sometimes.
J. Job title: stoodent
K. Kids: none of the nonfurry variety, and it might just stay that way and I'm pretty sure I'm okay with that.
L. Live: yes please? lol what does this mean?
M. Mother’s name: Norah, though that's not what people call her. I remember as a kid people would call and ask for her and I'd have no idea who they were talking about.
N. Nicknames: Mrs. Pie, Cutie Pie, sweety, baby, darling, lovey.... we're big on pet names.
O. Overnight hospital stays: none. I once had to go in the middle of the night for food poisoning, and i've had plenty of visits for ear infections as a small child, but never anything serious.
P. Pet peeve: drivers who do 15 miles under the speed limit where I can't pass you. Why do you have to inflict that on others?
Q. Quote from a movie: OH my goodness, so much tv that's been cracking me up lately, but I can't think of anything right this second. We've been watching Californication, which is hilarious, but I probably shouldn't quote anything from there. LOL
R. Right or left handed: Right
S. Siblings: Two whole siblings, both younger, and who half siblings, both older.
T. Time you wake up: 6:30
U. Underwear: boy-short style, preferably with lace and frill
V. Vegetable you hate: kale. that's really the whole list I can think of right now? well, mustard greens too, but they're like the same thing. This list has become significantly shorter in recent years. I now eat asparagus, spinach, brussel sprouts, zucchini, etc. I'm like a grown up.
W. What makes you run late: all that last minute crap like finding keys and shoes.
X. X-Rays you’ve had: just teeth
Y. Yummy food that you make: I love baking. I recently did chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing for Mr. Pie's birthday. mmmmmmmm....
Z. Zoo animal: I like visiting the big animal compounds where they get to wonder around and stuff, they remind me of Jurassic park.

{Quilting Part 3}

2011-06-03T11:20:00.000-04:00

My Crossroads blocks have all been assembled and made to be (mostly) square at 13 and 1/2 inches.

Of course, Popeye had to help press them last night. He's so helpful, you know. hehe

In the end I had more than enough to complete the goal of 25 squares (instead of 20) so that my quilt is square instead of rectangle - better for cuddling under I think. I did run out of the crisp muslin I was using and had to substitute in some lighter, so let's hope it holds up okay. lol

There are lots of strips left so I think I'd like to put together pieced quilt back. I think I'd like a dark grey solid binding , and a slightly lighter shade gray, for the majority of the backing, as seen here:

So I'm auditioning different backing ideas.

Idea 1 and maybe my favorite, I found on this website here, but she doesn't give a source.

And here's a whole flickr group with just backs of quilt ideas. I never know how people will feel about me using their photos, so go there and see if there's any you super like. Or if you have other ideas of how I could use up all these fabrics for a back, I'd be more than grateful! :)

It's coming along!

{Quilting Continued}

2011-05-30T17:51:00.001-04:00

I've continued to be gripped by this quilt, and I'm enjoying it very much! It's quite a mess in our office when there's an in progress quilt so I feel like I need to hurry up and at least get the top put together so there aren't all these pieces laying around. hehe

Would you like to see my quilting space all set up??

I finally have it all figured out! Now when I sit at my stool everything important is right in arm's reach! Huzzah!

And here were my finished blocks part of the way through the morning. I started the day with 8 squares, there are 10 in this photo, and now I have 16! Only 4 more to go before the amount the pattern calls for, but I'm thinking I'll have enough fabrics for another row of 5 to make a big square quilt, so that's my goal.

Oh! And today is Mr. Pie's Birthday! Happy Birthday, Baby! I've got steaks marinating and waiting for the grill and Chocolate cup cakes baking in the oven, soon to be receiving some cream cheese icing. Off to the kitchen I go!

How is your memorial day going?

{Crossroads Quilt: The beginning}

2011-05-28T15:13:00.000-04:00

AFter receiving that gorgeous table runner from Laura for my birthday, I caught the quilting bug again. I took a trip down to Joann's because they were having what I thought was a pretty good quilt fabric sale (turned out it was only a little bit of the fabrics on sale, but it saved me a couple bucks I guess). Then I visited my local quilt store to add a few more.

For a pattern, I picked the Crossroads Quilt from the Moda Bake Shop, which uses precuts. I can't afford precuts, so I put together the patterns on my own. I had 1/2 yard cut of each one. I have no idea if that will be enough! LOL

Here's what I ended up with:

And I've made the first few blocks. Please don't laugh, they are FAR from perfect!

17 more to go!

{Lydia Cardigan is DONE!}

2011-05-26T18:09:00.000-04:00

My Lydia Cardigan has sewn on buttons! Unfortunately we just took this one picture, but I'll be sure to get more when Mr. Pie has time to point and click.

I really like this one! The buttons I chose were from RetroNaNa on Etsy! She has gorgeous buttons and fabrics at reasonable prices, but they take a while to get to the states from China (hence the delay in finishing this sweater!). Here's her picture of them:

The yarn I used was Marks & Kattens "Lin" sent to me from Sweden (from guess who? Jenny!) in two shades of off-white. Kind of a cream and a linen colour together. I really like the very subtle contrast here. The wide collar is a lot of fun too! I wish I'd cast on a few more stitches at the button of the button band, but hey... I wasn't up to ripping it out at that point. lol I thought I'd be able to fix it with some gros-grain ribbon in the button band, but I ended up opting not to do the ribbon. With this kind of button band that goes up and around the neck I didn't know where it would be appropriate to stop the ribbon, so I just skipped it. I was also having trouble finding any wide enough. Does anyone have a good online ribbon resource?

Overall, I've been enjoying wearing this cardigan a ton. It was 90+ degrees today and it felt nice wearing it in the air conditioning. Outside it was a little bit warm, though. I think I expected the linen to be cooler, but it is paired with some acrylic too, so maybe that's giving it some warmness factor.

Either way. Loving it!

{And The Birthday Never Stops!}

2011-05-25T09:22:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, my last birthday gift arrived in the mail! Laura from Needles, Pins, and Baking Tins send me this SUPER sweet table runner! It looks just like her Bento Box quilt!

She was so apologetic that this gift was late, but she doesn't know how much I LOVE to drag out my birthday for as long as possible! hehehe

Thanks Laura! I really love it!!

{We Built Bookshelves!}

2011-05-24T08:39:00.003-04:00

**Edited to add questions and answers at the bottom!**

I'm sure I've written to you folks about the inconveniences of my home. One of them is storage (but doesn't everyone complain about not enough storage?) but the layout of the house is kind of annoying too. The square footage just isn't used very wisely. A prime example is our hallway; at 5 feet wide by 20 feet long, it's almost wide enough to be a room, but not quite. I've dreamt of bookcases in this hall for EVER, but we all know how expensive good bookcases are. I really liked these one here, but yeah... $400 each? So not gonna happen. Plus we have some pretty super high ceilings in this old house, like 10 feet throughout and I wanted to be able to take advantage of the height here.

A plan was born.... we're gonna BUILD them. By Ourselves. Armed with this tutorial from Popular Mechanics, I drafted up some to scale drawing to plan the heights of each shelf, how much moulding, etc. I wanted them to work well for this house, but then when we buy a house in oh, 4 or 5 years, I want to be able to use them in that house too.

The Plan: 3 separate bookshelves, each 2 1/2 feet wide by 7 feet tall, then base moulding and crown moulding to tie them together. All anchored to the wall, and to each other in the back.

There was cutting outside, and then building inside:

We used whitewood for all the structural parts and then inexpensive wood paneling for the backs, but turned backwards so the raw wood was showing.

It took us about a day and a half of work, but here they are finally standing up, just missing their shelf moulding:

Once I saw them here like this, I decided I liked the raw wood look for a while. I was thinking first I'd paint them white, like my inspiration bookcases, but then I was thinking that since we bought real wood for all of it, not mdf or ply, that it would be sad to paint. I began to think about staining. In the end I think I've decided I like how they are now in this house, and when we move somewhere more permanent, I'll decide then what colour they should be.

After dinner yesterday I started to pull books from everywhere: the shed, under the bed, in plastic storage bins in the office, from under our nightstands, and from the older not as nice bookshelf in the living room.... holy macrel. I don't think I believed we'd FILL the cases just yet!

But there ya go. They're pretty much full. I had no idea! Now we have about half a dozen free plastic totes for organizing the shed today! Maybe I'll be brave enough to take pictures of that too. LOL We'll see!

You've never seen two people more proud of themselves this morning than Mr. Pie and I. I think this is the beginning of a lot more furniture being built around this house.

Edited to Add:

I've had a few questions so I thought I'd put them here at the bottom, okie?

How much did lumber cost? We spend about $250 on the 1"x10" lumber, plus the trims, for all three bookcases, then the backing for all three was about $50, so a total of $300 for all materials.

How much lumber did we use? It was 10 - 1"x10"x10' and 3 - 1"x10"x8', then 10 feet of base moulding, 10 feet of top moulding, and I think 6 - 8' sections of 3/4" shelf trim, and 6 - 1/4" x 1 1/2" x 8' side mouldings. The other part we added was some 1x1's to hold give the shelves some support, so I think we bought 6 - 8' sections of that those too.

Was this hard? It was labour intensive for sure. We're lucky that Mr. Pie had most of the tools we needed like the electric saws and whatnot. We did decide to invest in an electric nail gun since we know that this won't be the last of the furniture we build, but it totally crapped out on us half way through. We hoofed it old-skool with a hammer and nails the rest of the way. That sucked.

How much time did it take? not counting the whole day sucked from our life in the lumber store, it was about 8 hours one day, and about 4 hours the next day, so about 12 hours total with both of us working. Mostly I did the measuring and the holding, and Mr. Pie did the operating of spinny blade tools. It's probably best that way. hehe

Thanks for the questions!

Linked to: http://www.bystephanielynn.com

and http://www.flamingotoes.com/

{My First Lamp Re-do!}

2011-05-21T15:10:00.001-04:00

... and I must say I am ADDICTED. I know these aren't new in the blogosphere to any extent, but it's new to me, so I thought I'd share. :)

Just to remind you, in case you missed my post about my amazing Goodwill trip earlier this week:

Yes you read that right: I paid One dollar and Ninety-five cents for this lamp. And it worked! No rewiring required!

And... the after...

I had to buy white spray paint, so that was about $4 at my local hardware store, then I painted the all the aged brass colour with black paint and a little paint brush. The lamp shade is silk from Walmart, on clearance for $14, so all in all, I spend about $20 for this lamp.

And I LOVE IT! I'm on the lookout for another one to paint to go on the other side of the bed! SQUEE!

{For the Love of Collages! (updates)}

2011-05-19T09:21:00.001-04:00

So, finals are over and I've survived. I got A+, an A, and A- and.... a C. Yes folks, it is my FIRST EVER anything less than a B+, and it is a C. It has come to me in the form of Multi-Variable Calculus and I worked HARD for it. With that in mind I should say that I am proud of the grade I got (I PASSED!) but it's still just a teensy bit hard to say. It bring my 2-year GPA to 3.77. *sigh*

With the summer plans still hanging in the balance (Hello, Advance Auto? I really REALLY want to intern for you over the summer, preferably paid, but I'll take unpaid. Call me?) I've been doing other things to keep busy.

I've been knitting. Are you surprised? I thought I would attempt Nightsongs , but in a 100% organic worsted cotton on #9 needles to make it a nice quick around-the-neck shawl. I knit it in 2 days, and now it's blocking:

Soooooo... couple of things. I really managed to screw up this chart. lol It's one of those free lace patterns that while BEAUTIFUL, you kind of have to know a little about lace knitting in order to be able to figure it out. It's only two charts, one for the body and one for the edging. I screwed up the body enough that the edging pattern didn't fit at all. So I just left it off. lol Then, when I went to block it, it wouldn't block straight across the neck edge, so I hope it'll wrap okay. Also, it's taking a million years to dry, but I guess that's just the worsted weight cotton talking? Overall, I'm happy with it I think and I hope that my friend who is graduating on Sunday likes it. I'm planning another like this in the future for me.

Fiori Del Sole is coming along. I'm almost 4 repeats done of the main body pattern, then I start the 19 edging charts. hehe I'm just kidding, it's more like 8. But that's still a lot of charts.

Yesterday I had a VERY successful trip to Goodwill! At Goodwill I either have no luck at all, or all the luck in the world.

Pictured above is a fanTASTIC tulled (tooled?) leather belt with a belt buckle I can replace ($1), a new looking pair of mary-jane style Naturalizers ($2.50) a great 70's style blue dress with an elastic waist, which is the perfect perfect knee length on me ($4) and a very cute knee length skirt ($3.50). This was my one maybe-ish purchase. It's kind of puffy on me, but if I wear a long fitted shirt I think it looks good. Time will tell. Oh, and also a pair of Adidas track pants for working out in ($3.50?). THEN, there's the finds I'm particularly fond of:

This floor length dress is made out of pajamas material and i'm in LOVE with it. ($4) I do need to shorten the straps just a bit I think, though. And also,I just realized that maybe i'm wearing the wrong size bra. huh.

AND... la piece de resistance!

A new ceramic lamp!! Do you see that price tag?? And it WORKS! I don't even need to rewire it! (which I was prepared to do). She needs a coat of spray paint and a new lamp shade. Stay tuned!! All in all I spent $25 yesterday at Goodwill.

I also have very exciting other news! Mr. Pie and I have the next whole week off together!!! I'm so excited! We couldn't remember the last time we had one whole week with nothing to do except be together. We have lots of home projects planned, like building library book cases, but weather must cooperate for that to happen. Our recent weather doesn't leave me entirely too hopeful.

That's HAIL on our front porch! I hope we have fun pictures to show you soon of home-type projects. Right now I'm going to go help Mr. Pie plant the veggie garden! YAY!

-this post brought to you by picasa collages

{More Presents??}

2011-05-09T21:25:00.000-04:00

The Yarny kind! I tell ya, the people who love me really know what I love! This box came from Eat.Sleep.Knit care of Jenny who blogs at Jenny's Blog on Knitting.

Elizabeth Bennet from Yarn Love in colourway Shiny Penny. ohmygoodness I LOVE! It's merino and bamboo. So lovely!

Super Squish Sock from Fiberphile. So incredibly soft and squishy! This one is 100% superwash Merino, but it's sayin' hat or shawl or something ot me. Too soft to wear in my feet I think!

I love them both so so much! I have no real ideas what I'll make with them yet, but I'm looking forward to doing some searching!

In other knitting related news, the knitting on my striped cardigan is done. I've ordered buttons and I still need to buy grosgrain ribbon for the inside of the button band. The buttons are 1.25 inches so I figure I'll need the stabalizer for sure. Oh and blocking. Pssht. I'm wearing it now even without buttons. tee hee! I'll make sure to post pics soon.

One more week of school! YAY! (until next fall. lol)

{Find a Deal Saturday}

2011-05-07T18:32:00.000-04:00

I realize that it's been a cabillion years since we've done a Find a Deal Friday, but I saw this deal online and I couldn't NOT tell you about it! I'm such an enabler! hehe

Over at Dodge Creations you can get 50g of 100% SILK for $2.00!!

enjoy! :D

{Birthday has Come Early!}

2011-05-05T16:30:00.000-04:00

Mr. Pie has been teasing me relentlessly about how he was going today to pick up my birthday present. He and I are both *horrible* at keeping secrets! I got home from school today and he was waiting for me with this...

A new yarn bowl!! He special commissioned this one for me from Sonya Forté, who was the lady that I posted about from the Fiber festival we were at recently. I love owning hand made objects from artists I've met! He also commissioned it to have one of our favorite motif's on it... hugging people. We didn't set out to start collecting hugging people, but we managed a couple of statuettes and a great abstract piece of art before we realized that we have a theme going.

I think this probably won't be the last of the art we buy from Sonya!

Thanks, Lovey!! I LOVE this gift!!

{Progress is Being Made}

2011-05-02T21:19:00.000-04:00

Progress.

{Kai-Mei: Complete}

2011-04-25T17:36:00.000-04:00

Kai Mei is another Cookie A pattern that has been fabulously popular on Ravelry. And really, why wouldn't it be? They're fabulous! I knit them in a sock yarn with 10% Cashmere so they are like HEAVEN on my feet. They haven't come off my feet since they've been off the needles yesterday. Well... except for sleeping.

I decided I'd had enough socks for a while and promptly cast on for The Lydia Cardigan. Mine's in cream and white and I'm LOVING it so far. I think I was jonesin' for a stockinette project. Pictures to come.

{Alright Folks - I need your help with homework!}

2011-04-22T04:59:00.001-04:00

As the title not-so-subtly implies, I need your help with a homework project. For my E-Commerce class I need to design an online store of my choosing, and of course I chose a yarn store. I need to be able to describe everything about it - the navigation, how I'm going to attract customers, how I'm going to keep customers, how it looks (with a little bit of web design to go with it, though this is not a web design class), Is there any kind of online community? Search Engine Optimization... like...everything. And I have an unlimited budget for my imaginary store.

So hit me with it! What are all your favorites things about your favorite online stores of any kind? If you're an online yarn shopper, specifically, how do you like to shop for your yarn and knitting goodies? like, how are they organized on the store. What are your favorites stores and why do you keep going back to them? Hook me up with a link so I can check out what they look like!

I basically need to do this over the weekend. ANY help you can offer I would be SO GRATEFUL! Thank you, Online Hommies!

Sincerely,

Desperate, The Student Knitter

{The Great Sock Wash Experiment}

2011-04-18T19:27:00.000-04:00

These are almost every pair of socks that I have knit (and kept) to date. Yesterday I decided to wash them all at once, more for convenience than any master plan. Afterward, I noticed how differently each pair of socks handled the process and a light went on in my head! I should document this for SCIENCE!

The Great Sock Wash Experiment

Method: All socks went in to one load of laundry in my washing machine along with a little bit of detergent. The wash was set to the gentle cycle in cold water along with some other cottons. After, they were all laid flat until dry.

Observations: I am going to base my observations on the feel (content) of the yarn and try to rate each pair on a scale of 1-10 for how much they felted, pilled, bled, fuzzed or otherwise lost stitch definition, with 10 being absolutely no damage from washing. All socks were originally knit on a US size 1 needle.

Socks #1: Vanilla Sock Pattern out of Sock It To Me, 75% Wool, 25% Nylon (discontinued)

Construction: Toe-up stockinette sock with short row heel and toe and a small amount of ribbed at the ankle.

Hand before washing: a sturdy yarn that, while not scratchy, isn't very soft either. The yarn has little give.

Hand After Washing: slightly softer. Almost no pilling, only a slight amount of fuzz.

Grade: 9 out of 10

Sock #2: Sprucy Lucy knit from Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Multi , 80% Wool, 20% Nylon

Construction: Toe-up with a heel with a heel flap, extensive lace and some ribbing at the top.

Hand Before Washing: wonderfully soft hand. This yarn is a joy to knit with.

Hand After Washing: still very soft, but with quite a lot of felting on the heel flap and toe. Lace pattern seems to have survived very well.

Grade: 5 out of 10 - you can definitely tell they were washed improperly.

Sock #3: Stockinette Toe-up sock, knit in Gaia's Colours Umaj Sock, 70& Merino, 20% Bamboo, 10% Nylon (discontinued)

Construction: Knit with two strands held together with this wonderfully soft yarn, Short row heel and toe, twisted rib at the top.

Hand Before Washing: very soft and the fabric has a very sturdy feel.

Hand After Washing: exactly the same! perhaps a tad softer, no stitch definition lost.

Grade: 10 out of 10

Sock #4: Mock Cable Sock knit from Pagewood Farms Yukon, 70% merino, 20% bamboo, 10% nylon

Construction: Toe-up construction with short row toe and slipped-stitch heel flap. All over rib with a cable every 4th row only on the knit stitches.

Hand Before Washing: Super Duper soft, maybe the softest of all the yarns I've used. Maybe a little bit of a halo.

Hand After Washing: some extra fuzziness and some stitch definition lost, especially on the heel.

Grade:7 out of 10.

Sock #5: Hermoine's Everyday Socks knit in Knit Picks Stroll Tonal, 75% Superwash Merino Wool, 25% Nylon

Construction: Toe-up with a slipped-stitch heel, an all over offset knit-purl pattern and some ribbing at the top and on the sole of the feet for a better fit.

Hand Before Washing: Stroll has a very hearty hand when you're knitting with it, but it's not uncomfortable. Not as hard as the Sock-It-to-Me, but not super soft. It's very comfortable to wear.

Hand After Washing: softened up a tad, a little bit of felting on the heel but fuzzing otherwise.

Grade: 8 out of 10

Sock #6: Glynis in DROPS Fabel, 75% Wool, 25% Nylon

Construction: Top down, all over lace pattern, with ribbing at the top and a slipped stitch heel. Double decreases at the toes.

Hand Before Washing: fabel is a very stiff almost scratchy yarn but I found it comfortable to wear. The lace pattern was consequently easily seen because of this.

Hand After Washing: excellent performance in the washing machine, almost no fuzz or felting, slight loss of stitch definition in the heel.

Grade: 9 out of 10.

Sock #7: Cable Socks out of Zen Yarn Garden ART WALK Sock, Bamboo, Plant fiber, Nylon, Merino (no percentages given on the website or Ravelry).

Construction: Toe up, 3x2 cable based on the Mock Cabled Sock pattern from Wendy Johnson, just without a cable.

Hand Before Washing: not the softest ever, but pretty soft! Great to work with.

Hand After Washing: these have been washed many times and still look great! have gotten softer over time.

Grade:10 out of 10.

Over all Conclusions: It seems like the fibers that aren't as soft wash up better, no matter if they're super wash, with or without nylon. Also, the socks knit at a much tighter gauge (the pink ones) survived the best of all. I wonder why the slip stitch heel flap has, over all, worn worse than a short row heel? Could it be a coincidence because of the yarns I used in each case?

As far as bleeding, I didn't notice any colour in the water and didn't notice any loss of colour in any of the socks. I don't think I had any problem with bleeding in any of the yarns.

Do you have anything to add to this experiment? I'd love to hear about your experiences with washing socks and how your yarns have held up! I want to be able to find my absolute favorite sock yarns. The ones that are a joy to knit with, wear well, feel fantastic and don't cost very much!

{Action Packed Weekend!}

2011-04-16T15:03:00.000-04:00

This weekend has been a ton of fun. Last night Mr. Pie and I got a room down in the BIG CITY of Roanoke and attended the spring dance my school puts on every year. We got all dolled up and had a great time dancin' and laughin'. :)

(it came out a tad fuzzy, so do yourself a favour and don't make it big. hehe)

The only way we could have had a better time was if the DJ had played more music we were familiar with. I didn't think I had been out of the loop THAT long, but he really enjoyed mixing and the result was a bunch of music I didn't recognize or particularly enjoy. But we still had a good time.

Then this morning we woke up and headed out to the Bedford Fiber Festival. My first one ever! The weather didn't want to cooperate so much:

They managed to get some hay down, but before that I may have ruined a pair of sneakers in the mud. lol We weren't there very long because it was more of a vendor fair than a festival - but I did meet some fun people!

I met this very lovely lady: Natasha from Unplanned Peacock Studio, a local yarn dyer whose yarn I fell in love with at the LYS in Roanoke called Yarn Explosions.

and I did a little stash enhancing, of course:

some Twisty Sock in a colour called Onyx that Mr. Pie picked out for some dress socks for him. I'm looking forward to working with it!

I also met Sonya from Studio 43 Pottery , a local pottery maker, who had some hand built yarn bowls that were to die for. And of course now I can't find a picture. GAH! They were $30, and just so so so gorgeous. She has an etsy store that's linked from her site too but expressed disappointment in it, so it may not be there for long. She said to contact her directly if you're interested. I'm definitely interested! Don't you think a yarn bowl would be a wonderful birthday gift? muwahahaha We also saw a decorative platter that captured our heart because it had the most beautiful tree drawn right in to the pottery before firing. Uhh! Loved it.

I'm exhausted, but content. I think the rest of the day will be for knitting, but then tomorrow and monday will be nothing but homework!

{My First Cookie A's!}

2011-04-11T21:45:00.000-04:00

Ta Da! My Glynis socks are done!

... and I LOVE them! So comfy! I used just over 50g of the Drops Fabel that Jenny brought me from Sweden and took me just over two weeks. The charts were really clear and it's a very unusual pattern. Not sure if I'd knit them again, but they were a nice intro to Cookie A socks, I think.

I've already cast on my next favorite from the book: the estimable Kai-Mei! More on those later.

{A Great Idea plus a WIP}

2011-04-10T12:22:00.002-04:00

I was going through my blog roll yesterday when I came across a post from Sachiko about a friend of a friend of hers who currently lives on the coast of Japan. Here... take a look.

http://www.thesleepytimegal.com/for-the-children-of-ishinomaki-japan/#more-3011

It's the personal stories coming out of that region that really get to me. For some reason when I hear about a huge tragedy like the tsunami's, earth quakes, and nuclear fallout that are continuing to impact tens of thousands of people, I just can't get my head around it. But when I hear about one person's personal struggle to help I get super teary. I'll be sending a box over to the Monk in the link and if anyone else would like to contribute, either some items that you have around your house or would just like to help by chipping in a few dollars to help with shipping that would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to get that box out in the next week or two.

Okay... Maybe some knitting now? I'm really excited about my current work in progress, a shawl called Fiori Di Sole by Rosemary Hill.

Having completed the first 4 charts, I'm now beginning the big repeating chart that will make up the majority of the body. The charts aren't hard to read, there's just a lot of them (10!) but it's such a pretty shawl. I can't wait! I'm hoping mine is going to work out to be as big as the one in the Rav picture!

I'm knitting it in Malabrigo Lace that's been in my stash forever from when Hope gifted me with a TON of yarn. It's HEAVEN to knit with, but I wasn't very happy when I found 4 breaks in the skein as I was caking it. Oh... and the tangling? Is that seriously a problem with EVERY malabrigo skein? Has everyone else had a horrible time with tangling in their Mal yarns? It feels so good and the colours are so so pretty but dang. It's almost not worth it for the amount of cursing that comes out of my mouth as I have to take the yarn OFF the ball winder and feed it through the tangles on my yarn umbrella thingy. grr.

{New Cast-on}

2011-04-04T07:22:00.000-04:00

Yes! I started another new project! Too many gorgeous yarns - I think it might be time for some startitis. I decided on this one for my Berroco Softtwist in the deep orange colour. It's called Metro, by Connie Chang Chinchio. Isn't it lovely?

It's bottom up seamless. You knit back and forth to the armpits, then divide for the top as you would expect. The arms are picked up and knit down to the cuff. Pretty cool! So I decided to cast on after my first sock was done. There's 173 stitches in the size I'm making (37") and I thought I'd just dive right in without swatching. I also decided on an i-cord cast-on because to me it looks like the bottom would roll like crazy.

So I cast on 173 stitches with an i-cord cast on with the suggested size 8 needle, knit about 2" and then checked gauge. I was WAY. OFF. It wants it knit at 4.5 stitches to the inch, I was at something like 5. I tore it out. Now, I'm typically a tight knitter, so don't ask me why my next swatch (yes, actual swatch) was on a size 7. I got confused. This one came out 5.25 stitches per inch. What?!? Yeah. So then I swatched for real with an 8 again, and got more like 4.75 stitches. Sigh. I settled on the 8 and started casting on again like regular, figuring I'd do a few rows of garder like some other projects on ravelry because the i-cord cast on is so tedious.

But you see, I suck at gauging how much yarn I need for a cast on. I tried casting on 173 stitches 4 TIMES and came up short on yarn each time! GAH! The last time I made it 168 before I had to rip it out. This is why I was casting on with the I-cord, because you don't need to guess at how much yarn, you cast on three stitches, and away you go.

It's all ripped out. Again. I have no idea what I need to do. Should I go up to a size 9 , do my i-cord cast on again, and just be happy? I think I need to knit another swatch. Gah. I hate swatching.

Meanwhile, I'm back with my Glynis sock.

{Stress Knitting is Productive Too!}

2011-04-01T21:27:00.001-04:00

First of all, thank you do everyone who sent me well wishes about my calculus test. I did pass, but not by much. I got a 69%, which is a D. My first D EVER. It pains me just to write it. I know it's not the end of the world and I'm still working hard. Finals start May 10th! eep!

A TON has happened since my last post. Jenny (of Jenny's Blog on Knitting fame) and her hubby Thomas came to visit during my spring break and the it was amazing and wonderful and I can't wait to get to Sweden next year. She's got tons of awesome pictures and the stories from her WHOLE trip over on her blog here:

Jenny's Blog on Knitting - The Vacation Edition

This is my favorite pick of us, knitting at the cabin at Douthat State Park.

Did I mention that Jenny arrived with yarn? YAY! It was so sweet of her! I got all of these!

So much yarn!! The purple, red and green are sock yarns from Drops. I'm knitting with the purple right now and I'm loving the stitch definition on it! Totally enjoyable to knit with. The top right is yarn from Swedish Alpacas, no dyes, which I adore. The pink and yellow ones are from a Swedish hand dyer called "Handfargat sockgarn" (I guess "hand dyed sock yarn?") and the big one in the middle is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE.

During her stay we of course made a stop at the local yarn shop "Yarn Explosions" in Roanoke. I found some really pretty burnt orange yarn for a cardigan on clearance. 1000 yards of worsted weight wool/rayon for $32! I couldn't resist. It's really pretty. I need to find JUST the right cardigan now! It's a discontinued yarn, so I need to be absolutely sure I have enough for whatever I pick.

And just because of these yarns (yeah right. hehe) I also bought this book here: I'm knitting my first Cookie A socks!

During the cabin stay(before the book purchase) I managed to finish a pair of beautiful vanilla socks in Gaias's Colours yarn. I love the yarn so much that I held it double to get a gorgeous squishy pair of house socks!

Those were done too quickly and with much driving left to do, so I picked up a scarf I had been working on called Cinnamon Grace in some Madelinetosh Light. OH my gosh I love this yarn.

Can you see how pretty the reds and golds and bronzes are in this yarn? love! This was pre-blocked too. I'll have to get a new one once it's dry.

I'll post picks of my first Cookie A experience once those are done. I'm about 75% of the way through my first top down sock in AGES. Meanwhile... homework. As usual.

{I Survived!}

2011-03-16T20:30:00.000-04:00

Just a quick note to let everyone know I survived the Calculus test yesterday. I still don't know if I passed, but I feel okay about it. Thank you so much for the wonderful messages of encouragement - they mean so so much!

I'm actually in class right now, so I'll talk to you soon!

{Yarn! and in the knick of time}

2011-03-14T15:35:00.000-04:00

It's hard to complain about a Calculus test when I've just been reading the news out of Japan. I realize that in the global scale of things failing one Calculus test (or even a calculus course) doesn't affect my health or my family's health. So even though I'm about to complain about Math, I do keep in mind that other people in the world have much much more to worry about.

For me personally though, this has been hanging over my head for a month now. I feel like I'm going to need ptsd therapy by the time I'm through. I'm just stressed 24/7 about making it through this course - I've been crying and losing sleep about it for almost three weeks now. I still don't know how I'm going to do it. Today I'm working my way slowly through problems that will be on tomorrow's test and hoping that I manage to remember half of the material. For a student who has only received one B grade among the rest of her A's, the prospect of failing an exam is excruciating. It's worth a full quarter of my over-all grade for the class.

So where I do I retreat for temporary sanity? Yarn. I got my order from Gaias Colours today! I've taken pictures to share with all of you. :)

Pales Fluffy DK in Redwood

Pales Fluffy DK in Cup of Clay

These are both 100% Superwash and I think are going to be slated as small shawls.

Heithrun Sock in an oopsie colourway that I am ADORING.

80% Superwash/ 10% CASHMERE/ 10% Nylon. Yum.

and lastly, the re-order of the Umaj Bamboo/Merino Sock Yarn to finish a pair of socks that have been languishing:

but, as you can tell, my colourway isn't quite right, so the socks have been pulled off those dpn's that were holding my live stitches. I haven't decided if I want to knit new socks holding the two yarns double (making them super fluffy and soft) or if I want to knit one row from one cake, then the the next row from the other... I'm just not sure. I even think the the newer yarn is a little bit more loosely spun, so I'll have to decide what I'm going to do with this predicament. but I LOVE the yarn and the colourway both. Whatever I decide to do, it won't be a waste of this gorgeous yarn.

Alrighty, back to the math for me. Next break maybe I'll search pattern, or maybe do a little knitting. We'll see. :)

{Socks and More Socks}

2011-03-07T18:25:00.000-05:00

School has been so freaking stressful lately, that all I've been able to knit is vanilla socks (or near vanilla with this Hermoine's Everyday Socks)

These brown socks were made of Knit Picks Stroll Tonal and I really really enjoyed knitting with it. They make a sock that's soft, but feels sturdy. I'm looking forward to see if they wear well because if they do, it might become my new favoritest sock yarn ever.

Here's my ankle socks make from Sock It To Me, only 50 g and with some left over. I tried the afterthought heel and I liked it, especially for this stripey yarn.

And now that the socks are done, I've tried picking up the 22 Leaves Shawlette. It's a gorgeous pattern but I just couldn't pay that much attention to that many charts, so today I frogged it in favour of the Autumn Calais Shawl. The yarn, Madelinetosh Merino Light, just didn't want to be that shawl though. It wasn't crisp enough for the main pattern. After ripping it out for the second time, I cast on Cinnamon Grace which is a much simpler pattern with basically stockinette and a garder stitch border. I'm much happier with it because it's really showing off the colours in this gorgeous Amber Trinket colour. There are flecks of bright orange and pink amongst the amber colour.

Wish me luck! Picks of that one soon. Oh... and a little luck will go a long way this semester as school, so if you happen to find any, will you send it my way?

{A Favourite Dyer - Going Out Of Business}

2011-03-01T07:46:00.000-05:00

Hey folks, I have good news and bad news. Gaia's Colours, one of my favorite Indy Dyers has decided to close up shop. That's the bad news. The good news is she's offering SUPER discounts on all the yarn is has in stock! She has mostly luxury yarns, like sock yarns including silk and cashmere. I just bought me some more of this yarn here:

It's a gorgeous and durable sock yarn that I LOVE. On sale now for $13.80 instead of $23.00. I also purchased a few of her other oopsy colours that looked beautiful. I bought 300 yards of DK SW Merino for $11.00, and another skein of sock yarn for $13.00. The shipping will take a while because she's shipping from British Columbia to the states. But it's worth the wait!!

www.GaiasColours.com

enjoy!

{The Conversation}

2011-02-19T11:57:00.001-05:00

I just got through listening to an NPR radio piece called The Resurgence Of Knitting from On Point with Tom Ashbrook, which can be found here: http://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/02/15/knitting-resurgence?autostart=true. Definitely worth a listen.

my first afterthought heel sock, in progress

knit from Sock It To Me

I love the conversation about why knitting has been enjoying a resurgence in the last decade or so. For me, knitting is all about creating something from yarn... which in and of itself isn't a very useful item. Spending the time to create practical pieces of clothing, combined with the art involved with choosing yarn and matching it to patterns is just so enjoyable and yes, at times, relaxing. I do feel a connection with past generations, in specific my grandmother, when I hear the click of the needles and I feel such a pride when I get to tell someone "I made that." But knitting is more than that too. It's self expression and a kind of rebellion against all things modern that seem to take us further away from one another. It's all about the community of people I don't even know, but with whom I share the common bond of knitting with.

Why do you knit?

{I Have A Designer Crush}

2011-02-18T07:35:00.002-05:00

Have you ever just been browsing Ravelry or the intra-blog-webs lazily, only half reading or seeing what you're clicking, when all of a sudden you see something new that makes you perk up? I was on the blog Hoxton Handmade (which I adore) when I came across this design, and sat up a little taller, for sure! So I clicked on over to the blog linked (babycocktails.blogspot.com) and could not believe my eyes! Gorgeous, practical, wonderful design after another! I thought to myself "I want to knit this, and this, and oh THIS!"

And before I knew it, I was deep in a designer crush with Thea Colman, aka Baby Cocktails on Ravelry. I pretty much want to knit every sweater she has ever designed ever. Isn't she gorgeous? She also seems so super sweet and cool on her blog, which I spent a good amount of time reading from beginning and going back. And just as a side note... maybe the nail that sealed the coffin of this crush... almost all these sweaters are top down. *SWOON*!

I commented on one of her patterns and she's going consider giving me a bulk discount on these patterns. That's not weird or creepy of me to ask, right? hehe

These photos were mostly taken by Caro Sheridan aka Splityarn.

You can find her at www.splityarn.com

@2010 Splityarn.

{A Valentine's FO}

2011-02-14T13:14:00.000-05:00

Happy V-Day to you all, whether you're celebrating with a lover, friends or family. I'm not big on valentine's day, myself. Neither is Mr. Pie. He makes me super special and loved EVERY day of the year, so we don't worry about over priced roses or trying to get a dinner reservation. We just cuddle and kiss like normal. hehe (did anyone puke?)

Knitting! I have an FO to show you! I even took the picture all by myself. hehe

This is another pair of the Mock Cable Socks from the Socks from the Toe-Up book, this time in Pagewood Farms sock yarn. The colours they have are SO LOVELY! I used just a little over half the skein. I definitely need to work on my patience for doing the leg. hehe

Otherwise they fit nice! I did something different this time - I cast on for the toe with just 8 starting stitches for each side (a total of 16) and it looked so funny on the needles, but the toes fit really nice and snug. I think I'll do that always from now on.

I have more sock yarn I need to match up with patterns! I recently bought some Knit Picks Stroll and am very anxious to give it a try. I LOVE the colour! It's called Kindling Tonal.

I'm not sure whose socks these will be yet. Hmmmmmmm....

{Socks Finished, More Started}

2011-02-05T11:19:00.000-05:00

Here's the socks I finished in the Lorna's Laces I bought:

I'm actually not super stoked about them. Whenever I do lace socks it seems like I make them a little large for my feet, and they don't fit my ankles really well either.

The Lorna's Laces was wonderful to work with and they make a solid feeling pair of socks, but I wasn't as thrilled with the colour. They're a little too muddy for me. But I dig the subtle blue stripe, so I didn't think it was worth just not knitting them. And I DO like the ankle sock length too. It's good to know that I can get a pair of socks out of one 50 g skein.

I've cast on and frogged one sock already this week because it was too small. Now I've decided that I want a pair of socks I don't have to concentrate on too much. I've cast on a pair of Mock Cable Socks in my new Pagewood Farms purple yarn. I'm lovin' them! I love the ones I made Mr. Pie in the Zen Yarn Garden last summer, but they're too big for me, so I want my own pair now.

I also think I'll cast on this scarf Just Enough Ruffles in my handspun alpaca that my Mum got me for Christmas, and then after that maybe a simple triangle scarf in some black alpaca and the suri silk. So... to cast on something new, or keep working on what I have goin'? hmmm....

{A Weekend Of Knitting}

2011-02-01T11:40:00.000-05:00

I've had such an amazing lazy weekend with lots of knitting and lots of time with Mr. Pie. He's back on his rotating shift schedule, so we'll only get one weekend together a month again. A far cry away from every weekend like we've had for the last 6 months.

And it turned out to be very productive in a knitterly kind of way. I finished my Pipit Sweater!

The construction was super interesting in this one, but the knitting itself wasn't too intriguing - pretty much all stockinette. But you start at the back of the neck and knit down one sleeve, then (if you've done the provisional cast on, as stated, unlike me) then you just pick up your cast-on stitches and knit down the other sleeve. This turned out exactly how I wanted it to! A flattering but super duper comfy weekend / school sweater. It's easy to wear, form flattering if not form fitting, I think. The pattern doesn't call for any shaping at all, but with my body that doesn't work so I put in a little bit.

The fact that it's knit in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino doesn't hurt either. ;)

You'll also notice that my sleeves and neck are rolled, unlike the picture of the pattern. I have no idea how they got theirs to NOT roll since it's just stockinette bound off. The pattern also gives instructions for a kind of baseball jersey shaped bottom where it dips down in the front and back a little bit. I was running short on yarn so I skipped it, just doing a bottom trim like my last sweater where I did one purl row, knit a few more rows and then bound off, tucking the bound edge up under. I like how it looks nice and finished. OH, I also knit the sleeves in the round so that there was ZERO seaming and/or finishing! Woo-Hoo!

So what do you think?? I'll have another FO to show you tomorrow, too!

{How to Creat Loyal Customers}

2011-01-24T18:12:00.002-05:00

How to Create Loyal Customers: Eat.Sleep.Knit Case Study

One : Have a beautiful, well organized website where the consumer (me) can find exactly what she wants and drool over gorgeous photos. Look at this website for reference: EatSleepKnit.com

Pagewood Farms Yukon in New Horizon

Two: Offer great promotions on your website, like the Yarn Marathon that Eat.Sleep.Knit has - an ongoing promotion offering bonuses just for buying yarn!

Three: Keep your prices competitive. All the prices at Eat.Sleep.Knit were within just a couple of cents of the lowest prices I could find when I went shopping on froogle.google.com ( my secret to all things bargain shopping on the web).

Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Amber Trinket

Four: Have 2-3 Day Shipping for only $5. I placed my order with Eat.Sleep.Knit on saturday afternoon and received the email that it had been shipped a half an hour later! I'm not joking. My box came in the mail today!!

Five: The details count! Include a little piece of chocolate with each order. For Reals! It really hit the spot when I got home. There was also a little scratch lotto card for the chance to win a gift certificate. Who doesn't love a scratch card?

Lorna's Laces Shepherd in Baltic Sea

The Backstory: My sister had a really horrible customer service experience with a small local business recently, wrote about it on facebook, and managed to get in to a facebook flame war with the owner who couldn't believe that she would say such horrible things about her business (The Horror!). I posted, rather respectfully I think, the age ol' addage that a customer who has a bad experience will tell 10 times as many people as a person who has a good one - so you better do your best to not have upset customers. I wanted to change that up a bit this time. EatSleepKnit.com has blown me away with all levels of their business. They have made a loyal customer of me for life!

And no, no one gave me anything to say these things. Just go shop there! We need to reward those businesses who do right by their shoppers, don't you think? :)

{Man I Love A Quick Knit!}

2011-01-23T06:05:00.002-05:00

Though this project didn't go as quickly as it could have (the previous post explains why), it still only took me a couple of days. Gorgeous Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in aran weight, and enormous size 15 needles were the main reason for that, certainly not my concentration and skill!

Here's the black version of the yarn because I cast on with the cream ones before I got a photo.

And here's the finished object!

It wraps twice around my neck, plus some. I'm still trying to get a handle on the styling. It is soooo soft though and so warm, even though it's all holey! I would have taken a picture of me wearing it, but I was in my pj's pretty much all day. ;)

In other yarn related news, I did manage to pick what to buy and I'll show everyone when the yarns get here. After picking up the mail, I remembered that I had bought a skein of sock yarn from a destash on Ravelry! It was only a couple of bucks for this skein of Sock It To Me. Should be fun! I'm disappointed in the yardage, which I didn't pay attention to before. Grrr. Hopefully it's enough for two ankle socks.

Thanks for all your help and advice yesterday! I can't wait for my package of new yarns to get here!! :D

{Yarn! and Knitting!}

2011-01-21T06:18:00.000-05:00

How is it you folks do it? How do you work for 8 or 9 hours a day and still have energy for anything else? This internship has me worried about my ability to function in the real world. When I go to school you see there are days where I work from home and I have a chance to cook and tidy the house and even get some knitting in. It's not like I'm taking easy classes or anything... I'm a Math major, but still. Now this accounting internship (which I am really enjoying! Surprise to me!) is from 8:30 to 4:30 Monday through Friday, but since I'm an hour away I'm out of the house from about 7:30 until 6. When I get home I'm not in the mood for anything except vegging out with a bowl of cereal in front of some blogs or a tv show. Once the weekend hits, I don't even bother to get dressed unless I have to go out for groceries or something. lol So I say again... how do you do it!? I know some of you peeps have kids and responsibilities and stuff. LOL

Needless to say, my knitting has consisted of my stockinette Pipit (details to come) , and a VERY easy lace pattern (K2Tog, Yo) kind of stuff for this pretty cowl/ scarf: The Mustard Scarf.

I'm knitting mine is some GORGEOUS aran weight Debbie Bliss Alpaca/Silk that my friend at Susie F Handmade gave me as part of her destash! She gave me two 50g balls of cream and one of black. I'm using size 15 needles for this! They're so cartoonishly large they are cracking me up laughing! It's like knitting with Tent Pegs! hehehe That project is not quite done. I think I'm going to use my large Antler Buttons mom gave me for Christmas LAST year on this one. I'm so excited to wear it!

I'm also excited about buying YARN! I got a $50 rebate for my recent cell phone purchase and have been given the go ahead to use it JUST for buying yarn! YAY! But now that I have the opportunity to buy yarn, I'm so lost in all the choices! Do I buy two skeins of fantastic sock yarn? (one for a shawl, one for socks of course). Do I buy more of something less expensive? I'm always looking to get a great bang for my buck and I want to spend my money somewhere worth while if I'm paying regular retail, ya know?

So here's a few of my options I'm liking:

Lingonberry Jam - SW Merino/nylon sock yarn . $23 + $2.50 shipping from Springtree Road .

Zen Yarn Garden's Squooshy - $23,50 + unknown shipping. I've already had a great experience with socks here. They're washing in the machine great!

I've heard good things about Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock. The nice thing about these is they're about half the price at about $12! I might give this a try. It'd just make my money go so much farther!

I've knit one pair of socks already with Araucania Rancho, but not the sock version with a bit of Nylon. Also a good price for the yardage at $15.

These look really pretty from ToPlyFiberArts:

Sea Glass is 80/20 Superwash and Nylon again, a great price at $15. I like that it's hand dyed by an Etsy artist. She charges $2.50 for shipping, but then only 75 cents for each additional item... hmmmm....

What's your favorite Sock Yarn? Do you dye your own on Etsy? I'd love to see it! What's your favorite online sock store? Let's hear it!

Hey, this is kinda Find A Deal Friday, isn't it? Neato!

{First Knitting of 2011!}

2011-01-13T17:48:00.000-05:00

I've been working at my internship in the Business office at school doing all kinds of cool accounting stuff. I'm really enjoying it, but dude! It's like a... a full time job! LOL

I got this little project done before I started January 3rd, but I come home in the dark every night so getting a pic has been hard. I caught this one just as I was losing sun!

I had been knitting on that lace scarf for a while, but with the working and all I needed a good stockinette project. Enter the Pipit Sweater. (rav link) It's an interesting construction, enough that I don't fall asleep, it's top down seamless, since I'm knitting the sleeves in the round, and it's going to be SUPER comfy in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. I can't wait for this one to be done!

{2010 In Pictures}

2010-12-30T05:55:00.002-05:00

I've been quite the productive knitter this past year! With the help of picasa, I've pulled together a collage of (most of) my projects completed during 2010.

(just for fun, here's last year's collage for comparison's sake)

I've made a lot of progress this year! I think 2009 was decidedly the year of hats, but this year I can't really put a label to it. I knitted more kids' sweaters, venturing in to top down raglan designs, fair isle, as well as pieces knit separately and seamed. I knit a lot more lace this year, including 4 shawls, as well as a couple pairs of lace socks. I did a couple pairs of mittens this year, both fingerless and with fingers, which I'm planning on doing more of very shortly. It was a good year!

In the new year, I'd like to do more sweaters for me and try to knit more for me. It's amazing how much of what's above I've kept for myself. 7 of the items above are still with me ( and three of those are toques). I'm still working on melding what I like to wear with what I like to knit, ya know? I want to knit more socks, for sure. But my main goal I think is to knit more in a finer gauge. I think I'm happier with projects when I do, and my knitting is certainly teaching me patience. Maybe there's a fingering-weight sweater in my not-too-distant future. :)

What about you guys? What are your knitting / crafting goals for 2011?

{The Christmas Haul}

2010-12-28T09:09:00.001-05:00

Hi folks! I hope your breaks are all going just lovely. Did you have a good Christmas? Mine was really wonderful over here. We had snow on christmas eve and then a little more on christmas day, which was just beautiful. Not very much... just a couple of inches, but I'll take it. :)

I had a very fibery Christmas, too! My mom bought me some GORGEOUS hand spun undyed alpaca from a little farm back home. The alpacas name is Hamlet. hehe Any suggestions on what to knit from this? I really don't know the yardage, and it varies from bulky in some spots to more like dk in others. Maybe a cowl of some kind? Where on Ravelry would I search for patterns that are good for hand spun yarn?

The Mr. Pie bought me some yarn I've had my eye on for a long time now! It's 100% cotton Color Changing Yarn from Wolle's Yarn Creations on Etsy.

It's really neat yarn and I LOVE the colours. It's made up of 4 very small threads and the colour changes happen by changing one thread at a time to the new colour. Pretty cool. What I'm not a huge fan of is that the yarn isn't plied, which is kind of strange, and they just kinda tie in the new colour so you end up knitting with 6 threads for a little bit and you have ends to snip off. I'm super excited about this one and knew immediately what I would cast on - the Lace Christmas Rose scarf by Susann Hajjar.

What I love about this pattern is how there are so many different lace patterns, but they all blend so beautifully in to one another. It's very fluid. You can see I chose to knit green on the ends and it'll be the light tan colour in the middle. I love waiting to see when the changes will come! It's exciting knitting. Also, I never get bored of the lace pattern, which is my typical problem with these long lace scarves. I just finished the first of 6 sections! 15% done!

The first pictures of well received Christmas gifts are trickling in, too. Here's one of my baby niece and god-daughter Alora in her new sweater (the baby body armor) and the tutu her Great-Grandpa bought her. Oh my goodness it's WAY too cute!

The sweater fits nice! The arms were a tad long, but my sister just rolled them up for her. I suppose they could be rolled down if her hands are cold. And the cables look great! At first my sister didn't think it would fit but it's way way stretchy! I'm calling this one a success. I hope I get other photos of my knitting being worn and loved! The pictures mean so much to me because I spend so long wondering how my creations will fit and if the recipient will love it and wear it.

I also finished a project over Christmas! Mr. Pie's socks that I was knitting out of a great dark green Araucania wool yarn.

This was a another pattern out of the Toe Up Socks book that I got for Christmas last year. I think it's my third or fourth one! I'm thinking the other books might be coming my way soon! I had a TON Of this yarn left over because after my last incident where I ran out of yarn, I was wary of it happening again. Mr. Pie bought me my very own yarn scale though, so never again! YAY!

Did you guys get as spoiled as I did this Christmas? Do you have snow where you are? I have one week of vacation left, and I intend to knit my heart out! :D

{My Swap Package!!}

2010-12-23T18:51:00.000-05:00

YAY!! It's finally here!! Laura Jane is from Needles, Pins and Baking Tins blog. I can't remember if I found her or if she found me, but once I read her site I was hooked! She's more of a quilter turned crochet/knitter and I'm a knitter trying to do some quilting. She also has the EXACT same sewing machine that I have! How cool is that?? We're also both math type people, which is cool to find. :) Totally kindred spirits!

So of course, one thing lead to another and we began emailing back and forth. The idea of a swap was brought up and I jumped at the chance! I love swapping with my international friends. :) We set a deadline for sending out our packages on December 1st. Mine somehow got to her at lightening speed and she wrote about it here , and for some other random reason mine took until today to get here! And let me tell you... it was WELL worth the wait. I've totally been spoiled!

I was impatient and didn't take a picture of the pretty box! You can see Popeye climbed in the pretty stripey paper instantly. hehe The yarn was all wrapped up in some some CUTE reindeer paper and there were hand written notes!! I love a great hand written note. hehe

Oh my goodness there are SO MANY yummy goodies in this box!! I'll save the yarn to show you last. ;)

The food yummies here are some Jammie Dodgers (these are them, Laura Jane! YAY!), some mince meat pies!! Oh my goodness oh my goodnesssssss! The real ones! These will be going in the oven one by one!! for just ME! And some HP sauce for Mr. Pie to eat on his Bacon Sarnies. hehe

Then there's a VERY cute recipe book ( which I can't wait to delve in to) from a British magazine, some Twinings tea that I don't recognize the name of (very cool), some GREAT lipton teas, a few candies, which are so much fun, and the felt hearts are on my tree!

Some traditional marmalade, orange and strawberry, then finally some awesome scraps of fabric to start building up my stash! Even some from Laura Jane's baby blanket that her mom made her way back when! It's these personal details that make swaps the best thing on the entire planet. I could not be more excited about all of these things!!

Then... The yarn. Does this face say it all?

There are two balls of Sirdar Eco Wool, 100% undyed virgin wool. It is soooo much softer than you think it might be. I LOVE this! I think I could buy undyed for absolutely everything and I'd be perfectly happy.

Laura Jane sent two balls of Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed that are to DIE for! I hadn't had a chance to knit in a tweed yet but I've been chomping at the bit! This dark brown is just so incredibly lovely:

Then finally.... an absolutely gorgeous skein of recycled Sari yarn! I'd heard of it before but I had never seen it in person! The shine this yarn has is stunning. I already have a project brewing for this one!

So Laura Jane, in response to your comments about me spoiling you and going over board - I think I got the better end of this deal! hehe You asked for less expensive yarn than I did for sure! I can not wait to get knitting with these and testing all my yummy goodies! Thank you so much, Laura Jane! This was an excellent Christmas Eve Eve surprise!!

{A Finished Sweater}

2010-12-18T10:14:00.000-05:00

This pattern, The Opulent Raglan, has proven to me that top down seamless raglan sweaters are all I ever want to knit for myself. Ever.

This beauty came together in 5 days. FIVE DAYS! It is aran yarn on size 8's, but still. I just LOVED knitting it. I tried it on every step of the way to make sure the waist shaping was right and the decreases in the arm were working for me.

You may notice that it's missing the puffy arm thing ( I wanted to be able to wear this sweater without dragging the arm in my soup. hehe) and I also made it a touch shorter than in the pattern photo. I like this length on me that just brushes the top of my hips because I think it's flattering.

The edge detailing used in the pattern is really pretty. You knit your desired length and then knit a purl row, then knit in stockinette for about inch or so. The material naturally folds at the purl row and you can tack the inch of stockinette under like a hem. It's so pretty on the bottom and on the arms.

And the yarn... Lord have mercy the yarn.... it is Heaven. Sundara Silky Merino, 50% silk, 50% merino wool, and it is so incredibly warm and soft. I can't stop touching my sweater! It's a single ply, which from what I hear will pill, so I have to be careful about shaving it when it does. I also haven't blocked it yet, which I'm scared to do because at $32 a skein this sweater is worth over $100 in yarn alone. I'm so SO lucky that my friend Hope gifted me this yarn! It's SO gorgeous and I certainly don't feel worthy!!

{11 Days Until Christmas!}

2010-12-14T15:24:00.000-05:00

and my last gifts are in the mail! So how do I celebrate? I sew a new bag for ME! The idea struck when I surfed in to these directions at New Green Mama. Fantastic full tutorial with a TON of pictures! I had been pondering what to do with the rest of the fabric I bought for the treeskirt and this pattern totally fit the bill!

It's about 12" x 14" wide and the size is perfect for a math textbook and a notebook, plus pencils and erasers and stuff. There's two pockets, little square one and the one that's the whole width on the solid red side. And did you notice it's fully reversible? I love it! Thank you Green Mama for the pattern!

{The Perfect Sunday}

2010-12-12T20:02:00.002-05:00

The perfect Sunday began by sleeping in WAY later than normal (like 8 o'clock people. It's unnatural for me), then a pancake breakfast! Shortly after, with a cup of hot chai in hand, I began my final exam for International Politics class. 2 1/2 hours plus 8 pages type written later, I was finished with the whole day ahead of me!

Mr. Pie and I made a quick grocery store run and I came back to chat with two of my favorite people ever - Jenny and Anna - on Skype. (do you Skype? I kinda heart it hard.) Then as the sun was going down the Christmassy Spirit arose! We made bread bowls from scratch and some clam chowder to go in them for dinner, plus homemade eggnog for dessert. SO easy and SO SO SO much better than store bought eggnog!

Bing Crosby went straight in to the cd player and some tree decorating begun!!

It was really hard to get a good picture of the tree, so it looks kinda bare. I'll try again tomorrow in the natural light, I promise. Here's a few of our favorite ornaments and our angel topper too. :)

I also have an FO to show you!! How exciting is that? Mr. Pie asked for a balaclava to wear to work next week since it's going to be in the teens in the early morning and he'll be working outside (!!!) so of course I was happy to oblige. I pulled out some cascade pastaza, which is 50% wool and 50% llama, VERY warm!

This is a super simple knit, just a 2x2 rib, I cast on 88 stitches and knit it in the round until it was long enough to cover his nose. I cast off about 32 stitches, knit two rows back and forth, then used the backward loop method to cast the 32 back on. From there I did about an inch and a half of rib then switched to stockinette so that the decreases were easier. I knit 6, knit 2 together, all the way around, knit one row straight, then knit 5 knit two together all the way across, etc.

I ran out of yarn so close to the end that you may notice the very tippy top is a slightly mixed green. hehe I think it's kinda cute! This knit will certainly be super warm and functional. That's one of my favorite parts of knitting I think, just knowing the things I create help keep my loved ones warm and cozy. :)

{ I Sewed A Tree Skirt!}

2010-12-11T20:20:00.000-05:00

This afternoon, after a long day of shopping in the big city of Roanoke, Mr. Pie and I stopped at our favorite locally owned tree dealer to pick up our Christmas tree! She's a beauty!

Oh my goodness! What's that wrapping delicately around the base of our tree?

Well well well. That's the new tree skirt I sewed ALL BY MYSELF! Yep, you read that right! Isn't that fabric to die for? I absolutely adore it! The tree skirt reversible too with a solid red linen texture fabric that's just as gorgeous! Both fabrics were bought at Joann.com on Black Friday when they were 50% off, so with shipping two yards of each was $36. Mr. Pie also bought me the pretty red thread and some new heavy-weight needles for my sewing machine. I got to figure out how to install new needles! hehehe

I'll be the first to admit that it isn't perfect, but I love it. This tree skirt is just the kind of project that I like - simple and beautiful. Nothing fancy, just two doughnut shaped fabric sewed together with some ties to close it up. This is also the first time I've had to sew circles!

What do you think? Can you tell I'm happy as a clam and proud as a peach?? :)

{More Frogging than Knitting}

2010-12-07T14:38:00.002-05:00

I'm not traditionally a frogger. I loathe the idea of undoing hours of time and work and starting from the beginning, so instead I usually try to make do. But I tried on my bottom-up sweater only to find that it was about 6" too large in the waist for me, which isn't really fixable, so two skeins of Sundara Silky Merino made their way back in to cakes and I recast on for a much smaller size. This yarn is just too good to not wear when my V-Neck sweater is complete! The frogging had an added bonus of allowing me a second chance at the cast on since I found it was rolling something terrible. I restarted with an I-Cord cast on instead of a few rows of garder. It took two days to do, but I really like the result. I'll talk more about the project when I'm a little farther along and have something to show you.

I have had significantly more success in doing small projects around the house! I found the inspiration for this 5 minute project on Design Sponge where they wrapped yarn around balls to create their snowmen, but when I first saw it I just thought it was stacked cakes! So that's what I did!

The buttons are just attacked with two stick pins and the arms are tiny twigs. It was just what I was looking for in my display! I love the textures beside each other (cotton, wool and linen) plus the slightly different cream colours and fun too.

Mr. Pie and I also made our second annual Gingerbread House! We had such fun last year that we decided to give it another go.

We struggled with our dough in the morning and by the afternoon I'd become so frustrated I ditched it for a kit from the grocery store. I like the simplicity of just putting it together and decorating it, but it lacks personality I think. So next year the secret will be to refrigerate the HECK out of the gingerbread dough so it's not sticky.

And we got our first snowfall this weekend! Always an exciting time! We took the opportunity to do a teensy bit of baking. What you see are some chocolate covered almost and pecans setting in the cold because the cutting board didn't fit in the fridge. hehe

They were super easy - just melt some chocolate chips in a double boiler (or a metal bowl and a regular soup pot, as it was in our case) and then toss the nuts in the chocolate until you feel like you've got them covered without too much chocolate left over, them spoon them on to some wax paper and allow them to cool. We were a bit impatient. hehe

I hope your December is coming along as nicely as ours is here! The final projects for the semester have been turned in, but that hardly means I'm done. I have two big final exams coming up that will be the bain of my existence for about the next week or so. Wish me luck!

{More Decorating}

2010-11-30T18:15:00.001-05:00

I really liked my fall table top display. The sideboard in the dining room is the only flat surface in the house that isn't totally functional, so I feel like I can go a little crazy with the decorating there.

Here's how I've changed it up for winter:

It's a little different from last year's when we exclusively used the miniatures. The books that were part of my fall mantle have been wrapped up in the red plaid fabric, and of course you get to see my wreath transformation too! I really like how it looks all lit up. :)

I'll probably fuss with it a bit in the coming weeks. Lower the wreath I think, and I want something with more pizazz over on the right instead of those little candles and the extra lantern, but they'll do for now.

Here's a few more closeups:

How is your holiday decorating coming along? :)

{New House Socks)

2010-11-28T10:08:00.000-05:00

I finished some big comfy house socks!!

The pattern I really only used the charts as a inspiration. It's the log cabin socks from the book Handknit Holidays. The pattern is the written for top down with a beautiful complicated heel flap. I however decided to do them my normal toe up way and just put a short row heel in for simplicity. They're very functional!

The yarn is Kampes, which is a Swedish yarn that my friend Jenny from Jenny's Blog on Knitting gave me as part of a birthday package. It wasn't the most pleasant to knit with because it's pretty scratchy, but let me tell you... it makes some WARM socks! You see here that I didn't make them overly tall and I'm wearing socks underneath so the yarn isn't against the skin.

So YAY! Now... what to cast on next? I think it's going to be in the softest yarn I own. hehe

{The First Christmas Decorations}

2010-11-26T11:12:00.001-05:00

I went to the dollar store today and bought a few things to do the first of the Christmas decorating. My fall wreath was pretty, but it was time to move in to the new festive season!

I spent $4 this morning to change out my wreath! Here's what it looks like:

The supplies you'll need to do something like this are...

- A Grape vine wreath
- some $1 stems of holly and $1 stems of white flowers (I only needed 3 stems total for my little wreath, but you may need more).
- a $1 roll of red velvet ribbon
- glue
- wire cutters
(ignore the tape, I didn't end up needing it!)

Step 1:
(Don't forget to attach your preferred method to hang before you get started!)
Don't forget to attach your preferred method to hang before you get started!I started by wrapping my grape vine wreath in the red ribbon in a kind of candy cane pattern, leaving some spaces blank.

I finished this off by gluing the ends of the ribbon together behind the wreath.

Step 2:
Cut all your holly off the stems using the wire cutters and leave two inches or so of the stem.

Step 3:
Push all of the individual pieces of holly through the back of the wreath at the bare spots between the ribbon and bend the stem behind. I don't like to use glue for this because I want to be able to disassemble it and use the wreath again.

For the three white flowers I just bent the stems and hooked them over the back of the wreath, layering on top of the holly. So really they're just kinda hanging there. Shh! You won't tell anyone, will ya?

Step 4:
Hang it up. I used a bit of twine for this, but you could of course use more ribbon or a hook. Take a step back and admire your work!

This weekend will be more decorating around the house so I'll show you how it fits in to the overall scheme of the dining room as soon as the rest of it is done. :)

{The Silliest Thing I Have Ever Knit}

2010-11-24T17:41:00.001-05:00

By Far. Mr. Pie got very excited when he saw this pattern as I was flipping through Ravelry patterns. He requested that I drop all of my other knitting and start making him one. I was excited because he rarely gets so excited about my knitting, so of course I obliged.

It must have been fate because I even had all the necessary yarn in his colours of preference on hand. And now, two days later, we have this:

Do not rub your eyes, it's true. This toque has a beard attached! And a silly mustache! Want to knit your own? Check out the BEARDED TOQUE pattern on Ravelry! Maybe there's a Man in your life who will get as excited as mine is right now.... but that man will be difficult to find!

{Wordle is Fun!}

2010-11-23T06:09:00.003-05:00

Go to www.wordle.net to make your own Wordle!!

{Another Knitting Attack}

2010-11-22T08:11:00.001-05:00

Maybe I could make When Knitting Attacks a weekly segment, just like on the Knitmore Girls podcast? lol

This one is kinda serious though. I decided I wanted another pair of socks out of my pink yarn I got for my birthday. This time in cables instead of lace! I knit one whole sock from the toe up, turned the heel and knit the heel flap and then put the sock on some holders. I cast on the other sock from the outside of the ball and knit along thinking that at the end I would knit a row on each until I had used the whole ball! Two equal socks! Brilliant, right?

Well....

I ran out of yarn during the gusset of the second sock. These will probably wait until I can order a second skein of the yarn from gaiascolours.com. *sigh*

Now I have to figure out what to cast on next!

{FO As Promised}

2010-11-20T20:26:00.000-05:00

Hellooo! I've had one crazy week, let me tell you. Crazy ups and downs! I'm glad to be off of classes for the week of thanksgiving, and not so glad that I have a whole bunch of homework to do during that time. But that's okay! Only two weeks left once I get back!

Since knitting kept me from crying too much, or killing a person, I did a lot of it last week. I'm not quite sure of the results. Normally this is where I would warn the recipient of this gift to click away, but since the recipient is only a year old and can't read yet, I have nothing to worry about! :P

I present to you: Alora's Sweater.

This is the one I did out of Vanna's Choice, so it's SUPER thick. Mr. Pie jokingly referred to it as "Baby Body Armor" and I can't say that I totally disagree with him! The shoulders have come out kind of funny but I won't really know how funny until she tries it on. So I hope that works out well! :D

AND this marks the official end to my Christmas Knitting List 2010! Everyone is getting something knitted this year (pretty much everyone) and this week I will be wrapping and packing so that the packages can all make their way out by December 1st to beat the shipping craze! YAY!!

{Knit PIcks Contest!}

2010-11-19T05:18:00.002-05:00

In case anyone in my family is interested in Christmas shopping from my Knit Picks Wish List , here's the link!

Oh, and I COULD win my list if I get lucky too! WAHOO!

(don't worry, there'll be a better post this weekend. I've been knittin'!) :)

Holden Shawlette DONE!

2010-11-13T10:44:00.000-05:00

My Holden Shawllette is done!!

Rav link to the free pattern

I finished it earlier this week. I pretty much love everything about it! I love the colour the BEST! This might be my favorite yarn colour ever - Malabrigo Sock yarn in Botecelli Red. The variation in the yarn is my absolute favorite kind of colour too - sorta solidish. hehe The pattern was super easy and would be a great intro to lace/ shawl knitting for anyone looking for an entry project! The size is bigger than I thought and it's knit on 6's, which is kinda large for a lace shawl. It's one that's easy to wear too because I don't feel like it's way fancy or anything.

As soon as it was blocking I started pulling out the yarn from that Pea Coat that made me so mad and starting knitting on my LAST Christmas gift!! The sweater for my niece is to be the Cable Rib Pullover by Kristen TenDyke. Here was my progress as of thursday:

Another free pattern available on Ravelry

Don't those cables just look impressive? It requires two cable needles, which is something I've never done before. I love how fast this knit is going (maybe because the back was only on 60 stitches? hehe) The back was done yesterday and I cast on for the sleeves to do two at a time on a long circular. I'm not sure why I didn't do this pattern in the round instead of knitting the front and back separate. I usually don't mind the seaming part too much and as I've already pointed out, it's a pretty little sweater, sized for a 2 year old. Since Alora will only be 18 months comes Christmas, hopefully it'll fit her for at least through the winter.

The yarn is Vanna's from Lion Brand and chosen because it has a great loft to it. It's showing the cables FABulously, but I'm not really enjoying knitting with it. It's tough on the hands after knitting with it a ton and I'm looking forward to gettin' this one done! I don't think she'll have any problems wearing it though and hopefully it'll soften up more after a washing. :)

{Some School Maddness, then Knitting. and sewing.}

2010-11-07T05:30:00.001-05:00

I'm seriously seeing a pattern in the frequency of my blogging lately - mainly that I have been blogging once a week on a weekend day. I'm not surprised because I know how stressed out I've been at school this ~~week~~ month. And really, it's been my knitting that I've sort of retreated in to. Healthy or not so much? I really don't know, but I'm glad I have it.   It's only two weeks until Thanksgiving break and then I get that whole week off of classes (but will have tons to do at home) and then I go back for a week and a half, and then it's FINALS!   It's so so weird how fast it's coming up.   I have so much to do next week and in to the weeks after, but at the same time it feels like this semester just started a few weeks ago.

Last week I kind of had a melt down, actually. My classes are just getting so hard and I'm having a hard time spreading the hard ones out over the last three semesters I have until I graduate because of when the department offers the classes I need. We're a small math department on a mostly residential campus and I'm an adult commuter student.   My advisor was trying to pressure me in to taking not only the 8 credits of math I don't have a choice about (if I want to graduate in 2012), but also another 2 credit elective course. Ummm... No. I think I mostly have that situation worked out after a LOT of meetings with deans and department heads. I may have to go to another college to take an elective in order to graduate on time, but I'll be a much saner person for it. :)

I realize this blog is called "The Student Knitter" but I rarely talk about the student part.   I've been a strong student all my life and have always enjoyed school, so I guess no one thought to tell me that school was going to get really hard, even for me, and that I would begin questioning my ability to finish it altogether.   I also still have no idea what I think I want to do with my BA in Mathematics and another BA in Communication and Technology (business, basically). Everyone I tell that to goes "huh. What a weird combination." lol   If anyone has a job themselves, or knows someone who has a job that has these kinds of qualifications, I would love love love if you would leave me a comment or send me an email!

Skip to Here if you want to read about Knitting! hehe
So, are you ready to see some knitting updates? hehe As you can see by my side bar status thingy, I did decide to frog the pea coat I was working on. I was just really mad at it. lol   I haven't decided what I'm going to do to replace it yet and since it's my last gift to finish before I need to send everything to Canada on December 1st I decided to start something for me!

I cast on the Holden Shawlette, which was published for free in September 2010 and already has 124 projects! Mine doesn't look like much yet, just the stockinette body. I'm doing it in this yarn: my Malabrigo Sock in my absolute favorite colour EVER.

(remember this mess? Never again Thanks to my friend Hope!! She sent me a swift as soon as she saw this pic!! Thank you so much!)

So yeah. I'm chugging away on that and pondering Niece #3's Christmas gifts! This year is going to be very lean so I'm sure I'll have to knit something, but what? Or maybe I'll quilt for her? Dunno yet, but it needs to be done in the next three weeks ! lol

I also did a bit of sewing last night. It was kind of an whirlwind of little threads and machine whorls:

It's a pillow! Kind of lumpy and poorly photographed, but made out of the fabrics leftovers from my quilt and a recycled sweater. The lumps will work themself out with wear, right? This was my first time working with a knit fabric (what a pain!) and also my first applique project, and the first pillow I've ever made. LOL I like it, I think. It looks amateurish, but I learned a lot (like buy pillow forms, not just stuffing!) I also tried to do a bit of a cording around the outside and you can see how that worked out for me too. hehehe It disappears in to the corners instead of going around them. I'm not sure if it'll stay at my house or go off with the Quilt as an xmas gift. We'll see. hehe :)

Was the pillow worth reading through all the blather at the top? How are you guys going on your Christmas gifting lists? :)

{Yet Another Gift Done}

2010-10-31T12:01:00.002-04:00

Today is Halloween, just 55 days until Christmas is upon us. The days here are getting crisper with a tad of frostiness each morning. I of course am MORE than welcoming this change from 70 degree days! Let winter come! The most surprising? This is the second to last gift that I had to do, and then my Christmas knitting list is complete! Almost too good to be true, isn't it?

Alrighty, now's the time for the standard warning: if you happen to be Niece #2 - You may not look any further!! Anyone else, look away!

Okie Dokie, just completed today is this lovely Cardigan! I used Caron Simply Soft to give it a nice drape and to be kind of fuzzy. I'm a fan of this acrylic because it's not scratchy at all, but I found it to be a tad splitier than the Eco version of the same yarn, which I've used for numerous other projects for dads and nieces and nephews alike.

This is the Fresh Picked 3/4 Sleeve Cardigan, a free pattern from Lion Brand that can be found here (you do need to sign up for their website though). The pattern was super simple and only took me 5 days to finish!

The last of my christmas knitting now comes down to that dang pea coat. To Frog or Not To Frog? THAT is the question.