{Man I Dislike These}

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}

We stand with you.

{A Treat!}

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}

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 Sweater 

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!}

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}

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}

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!}

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}

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:

(c) Cascade Yarns

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....}

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