FO Show-Off Post: Christmas Hat for Chris

It's finally finished! 

Chris's hat is finished!

I started this hat back in September right before I decided I was going to the craft show in November, so it was shoved to the back burner pretty quickly. I also finished all of my other Christmas projects before resuming this one. I knew Chris wouldn't care if his hat was late since he picked out the yarn colorway and the pattern. (We are boring and have zero surprises around here.)

Top of the hat - decrease section

I used Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in the Cousteau colorway. The pictures don't really do the color justice. This yarn has beautiful greens and blues with some underlying black. 

The hat is Lauren Sanchez's Cross Stitch Cable Beanie, slightly modified. Chris wanted a simple ribbed hat, so I did not knit the cabled parts or do the purled border that separates the cabled area of the hat brim.

ribbed pattern

I really like how the ribbing looks in this sock weight yarn, and I liked how it felt while I was knitting it. Chris likes the feel of the smaller yarn on his head, too. Win-win! 

I really didn't like the pattern he picked out for the last hat I made him, but he loves it, and that's all that matters. This one is much nicer, though, so I feel a bit redeemed (in my own mind). 

I have about half a skein left, so I will get to enjoy this yarn some more with another project someday.  Woohoo!

LePen

Hello, all! 

I'm sorry for the lack of posts recently, but that likely won't be remedied until next year. I am just too busy! 

I am working on patterns, and this time I have a test-knitter. 

Yay! Thanks, Danielle!

So. Most exciting thing in recent times: I found a set of LePen Pens at Hobby Lobby. AND they were ON SALE. Wooo! 

These are my favorite pens to use when I write poetry. I like the sound they make. If you're not careful, though, the nub will get pushed in and then you will end up holding your pen at an awkward angle.

Ah, office supplies, my third or fourth love.

Birthday Yarn

My parents gave me a gift card to Webs Yarn Store for my birthday, and my package arrived a whole TWO DAYS early! Yay!

Take a look!

What a haul! (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)

I'm just going to list each item with links. I'll give an individual review of each yarn as I use them in the future. 

New Books: 

Up, Down, All-Around Stitch Dictionary by Wendy Bernard

The Knitter's Book of Yarn by Clara Parkes

I wanted to order yarns with fiber types/combinations I might not have used before. I feel like I hit the jackpot! I can't stop rubbing my face on some of the yarns. I'll knit with them eventually!

Yarn:

(left to right as pictured above)

Frog Tree Llambrosia in Fawn- 100% Baby Llama 

Lotus Yarns Mimi Hand Dyed in Star Gaze- 100% Mink

Madelinetosh Pashmina in Baltic- 75% Merino Wool, 15% Silk, 10% Cashmere

Kollage Yarns Scrumptious in Red Velvet- 70% Angora, 30% Silk

Reywa Fibers Embrace in Picnic- 100% Tibetan Yak Down

I think I want to knit with Reywa Fibers Embrace first after I finish my Christmas knitting, but who knows? I've got some time to decide.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Last-Minute-Christmas Knitting, everyone! 

Up-Cycled Scarf

Life has been a flurry of activity the past couple weeks! I just love the holiday season, but I feel like I am flying in so many different directions that my head is going to fall off. 

As promised, here's a picture of the scarf my mother-in-law bought for me at the craft fair! I love it! 

It's made from recycled fabrics and t-shirts. It's really soft and comfy, and the lady who creates them makes every one of them unique. 

She makes them in other colors and she uses other team themes, too, but we can't post about that team here, haha! 

I wear this on game days with my slouchy orange and black beanie. It's a great combination. Go Pokes! 

Pete plays trombone

My dad brought my trombone to me from Texas. I played for 8 years straight, and then I didn't play for nearly as long, about seven years. 

Wow. It's been an adventure picking it back up since I got it back from the shop on Monday. 

Pete isn't quite sure what to make of things. 

I caught him investigating while I was sorting my sheet music this afternoon. 

"How is this thing so loud?"

"Isn't that white thing supposed to make it quiet?"

I really thought Pete would hate it when I practice, but he only seems to mind when I am just buzzing on the mouthpiece. 

The neighbors probably hate me now, but they're lucky I even bought a mute after their 7AM Sunday morning weed-whacking session a couple of weeks ago! I'm not holding a grudge or anything, haha. 

If it happens again, I'll go outside and play my lungs out towards their house! 

I will! 

(And that really is a terrible threat right now since I'm quite awful at the moment.)

WIP Wednesday: Duo MaxCowl

I haven't done a WIP Wednesday in... well, I don't think I've ever actually done a WIP Wednesday post. It's mostly due to the fact I have trouble remember what day of the week it is, and I always want it to be Thursday. Thursdays are my favorite. 

Picking back up where I left off a couple months ago, here is my Duo MaxCowl. 

(It was somehow named after Duo Maxwell as a joke between my husband and myself that neither of us can actually remember now, but the name stuck. He's not even my favorite character. I mean, he's better than Wufei, but no one likes that guy anyway, right? Trowa Barton and Heavyarms all the way. OK, this is devolving quickly, back to knitting...)

Knit in Blue Sky Alpacas Suri Merino in Crimson and Sahara, I unintentionally picked out our rival college's school colors. But the "crimson" colorway really looks more maroon, right? Right?

Ahem. Picture. Here. Look:  

I know it's a bit difficult to see, but here is the chart I made for this project: 

It's a bit hard for me to see, too, since I generally view it on my phone, but I'm cheap and lazy and I don't want to print it out and use up my expensive printer ink. (Seriously, that stuff is way too expensive. Consumer reports says it's even more than fine champagne. Give that article from 2013 a read if you care about serious adult issues like printer ink. Especially check out the lovely .gif at the bottom.)

Aaaaaaand with that last rabbit chase, I'm just going to stop here while I'm ahead! 

Pete is giving me looks. Specifically, this look: 

I need to go play with him. I have about 209,807 dog toys at my feet right now. 

Until next time, happy knitting! 

First Craft Show

The Craft Show has come and gone!

Here's my little booth:

Ta-da!

And here are a few closeups of the displays:

Left display

I forgot to post my mock display last week, but that's fine since it changed anyway!

Center display

I ended up displaying more beanies in that empty space. I collected emails in the jar for my Etsy store launch in January.

Right display

I had so much fun at the craft show!  

When I made all of my items, I had my Etsy store's target audience in mind: the expectant mother. However, that didn't translate to the craft show as well as I had hoped since there was (of course!) a much wider range of people. (I still consider the day a success, though sales were modest.) I'm kind of glad that one of the cowls didn't sell since I decided I wanted one in that color. Now I don't have to make another one. Geez! This is why I need help building up my business sense... 

I wrote down tons of ideas and notes for next time, and things will only get better! 

Many other vendors stopped by and complimented me on my suitcase display idea. It really gave me a confidence boost since I was a bit nervous. Setup and cleanup were a breeze thanks to my suitcases! A couple of ladies said they were jealous of how quickly my booth breakdown process was. (Not-so-secret secret: I'm lazy. I don't want to spend time doing things I don't have to when I could be spending time knitting, reading, or bugging my dog.)

Next year I will have a wider range of children's sizes and more adult items as well. I plan on matching fingerless glove, cowl, and hat sets along with selling a few of the patterns I have designed recently. 

Now that the show is over, I have a few items left to finish (well, I have to start them first) for Christmas. 

I will go back through my posts and add the patterns/charts I promised a few months ago, too. I haven't finished my two-tone cowl, but the chart is done, and I think that's all I will post here. I think there are a couple of patterns here that I haven't added to Ravelry yet, either, so I'll try to catch up on those. 

Gamer Pumpkins

Danielle and David invited us over for an evening of pumpkin carving, and we had SO MUCH FUN!

After I got over the grossness of pumpkin innards, I really got into the groove. This was the first time Chris carved a pumpkin. I think it was my second, but I'm not really sure. 

Chris did the Aperture Science Logo from the Portal games for his pumpkin on the left. 

I did the Legend of Zelda crest (as seen on Link's shield in the Hyrule Warriors game) from the Legend of Zelda game series on the right. 

Danielle and David did awesome actual Halloween-themed pumpkins. I forgot to ask her about posting it, and I'm waiting on a picture of David's pumpkin, so you all will just have to wait to see their pumpkins.

We've decided this should be a new tradition. Nachos and pumpkin carving. 

Sounds like a winner to me!

Stamps from CupcakeTree on Etsy

They're here! My stamps from Cupcaketree on Etsy are here! 

Well, they've been here for a few days, but I'm just now getting around to writing this post, so play along, ok? ;)

I ordered the Yarn Skein with Monogram  and the Knitting Love rubber stamps (pictured top and lower left) from Cupcaketree a little over a week ago, and I am just in love with them. 

They're small, but they're just perfect for decorating the back of my tags for the craft show. I'm going to use them on my knitted Christmas gifts, too. 

Olga, the owner of Cupcaketree, even threw in the "with love" stamp (pictured lower right) for free! It was such a pleasant surprise when I opened up my package. The little things can really make your day!

She has TONS of different types of stamps and also does custom orders, so definitely check her shop out for your stamping needs. Here's the link to Cupcaketree on Etsy one more time. 

Magic number 70

And here is beanie number 70! It's a size 3-6 month beanie in a soft, chunky 100% Acrylic yarn. 

I'm starting to think that my original goal of 100 beanies might not be so unreachable as long as I use chunky yarns. 

I need to make more larger sizes, though! I have over 50 size 0-3 months (that could probably stretch to fit more, honestly), but I only have a few 3 months plus. 

I have two tires with slow leaks on my Edge. One of them has already been patched once, so I'm frustrated that I keep picking up nails or what have you. (I picked up a bolt, of all things, in my Cobalt tire once in the middle of a road in town.)

This just means I get to work on my knitting in public while the nice guys down at our local tire shop look at the tires. 

Yay for knitting in public! 

It's normally a great conversation starter. I have yet to meet a knitter who didn't want to show off her work, so if you see someone out knitting, be sure to have a little chat! 

Stamping Up

Less than a month remains to my first craft show!

I don't know how many people will want bags for their purchases, but Chris thought it might be cute to use a brown paper bag. I have a couple stamps on the way in the mail that are yarn themed, and I have the "thank you so much" stamp you see pictured above. I have purple, pink, yellow, green, and brown ink. 

If I could firmly decide on a business name for my sales tax license, I would have business cards on the way by now. 

I swear I was working on this earlier. Where did the time go? That's just part of growing up, huh?

Despite my worries, Chris is always quick to remind me that things really are coming together well. What would I do without him? <3 p="">

I'm in the home stretch of beanies, and I even thought of a new pattern for the yarn skein remains that do not have enough yardage for a beanie. 

And we have 60!

Yay!

Beanie number 60 is on the needles!

Not number 60 

Only 20 more to meet my (modified) goal of 80! Anything more than that will just be a bonus. 

I'm still waffling on pricing, but I talked to Chris's grandma today and figured out some more things... mostly that I need to get my rear in gear and get my sales tax ID number already! 

So that means a business name and business cards and this and that and I'm overwhelmed again!

Chris suggested brown paper bags for people to carry their craft show purchases, and I think I could make them cute by printing a design on them and then stapling a business card to them. 

Knit knit knit!

I'm off to Danielle's to knit some more beanies and enjoy some much-needed girl talk. Yay!

And misplaced beanies make 53

I finally passed 50 beanies!

Actually, I did it a few days ago. 

I found 3 beanies that were stored in my craft closet and not in the vintage suitcase that holds the rest of my craft show creations. 

I'm basically out of chunky yarn, too. Booo! Chunky knits are my favorite. 

sad remnants of my chunky yarns

Now I can waffle on the decision to buy more or just use worsted weight yarn. 

So! 

Beanie count: 53

Days to craft show: 35 (or 34, depending on how you want to count it)

Can it be September again? Aaaaaah I am so behind! I don't want to think about how little time I have left. 

Clicking away

This is September 27's post. What is it with me and forgetting to actually click "post" these days?

--------

I reached 44 beanies this morning.

Phew!

It turns out watching Chris play Hyrule Warriors on the WiiU really motivates me. I bet it's the music. 

I would be at 45, but I misjudged the amount of dark purple yarn I had, so it turned into this thing:

I'm just calling it an ear warmer. 

(Chunky yarn, size 15 circulars: CO 32, K1P1 3 rounds, K all 3 rounds, K1P1 3 rounds and BO) 

Easy peasy. 

I'm almost out of chunky yarn, which kind of stinks since chunky hats take less than an hour for me to knit. 

I have enough for about 3-4 more chunky hats and then I'm back to worsted weight. 

Maybe I'll break 50 this weekend! 

It's unlikely, though....


(Edited to fix picture formatting. They were all kinds of wonky.)

Madelinetosh Tosh Sock

Here it is! This is my other skein of Madelinetosh yarns. 

It's Tosh Sock in Cousteau. 

I just love it! The blues and greens are so gorgeous together. I just love hand dyed yarns. 

It's going to be a beanie for Chris, eventually!

-----

Beanie count: 40 

I think I'll look for a pattern to make some quick booties or start working on some more cowls. 

I'm decidedly burnt out on beanies. 

I'm sure I'll pick them back up soon, but as long as I have a good number of items to sell to test the waters, I think I will be OK. 

--------

Well, I forgot to actually post this post! 

Here's a bonus, freshly groomed Pete for your enjoyment. 

Then and now:

Gorgeous Greens

Look at these colors!

I can't resist greens. 

My whole house would be hunter greens, burnt oranges, wine reds, and espresso browns if I didn't think living in perpetual fall might be too much. 

Beanie count: 38.62

Tanis Fiber Arts and Madelinetosh DK

I finished two more beanies! These two are made out of yarn from Samantha. They're Tanis Fiber Arts yarns, and I am a TFA believer!

Seriously! The colors are so yummy and the yarn is so squishy... (I can continue fangirling over this yarn for a good while!) I am buying some soon. Maybe Chris will let me pick some out for Christmas.

I did this at our LYS yesterday. You can see project bags in the background. Please ignore my knee, haha. 

This one was Thursday's hat. As long as I have at least one a day, I can be content. (As long as I keep repeating that to myself, it will come true, right?)

AND I GOT NEW YARN!! IT'S MADELINETOSH!!

I do not have a yarn problem I do not have a yarn problem I do not have a yarn problem I do not have a yarn problem I do not have a yarn problem 

Madelinetosh DK in Mare

I bought some Tosh Sock in Cousteau, too, but I need to take a better picture of it. The one I have doesn't show the color very well. Next time :)

Beanie count: 37.5

I have to include the ".5" to make myself feel better. I'm worried about burning out before the show, but I really want to make sure I have enough to be a success. And that is why I'm going to my LYS to knit on a completely different project today. 

Thank you, Samantha!

Yay!!

My amazing cousin Samantha sent me some of her leftover yarn so I could use them for hats for the craft show. 

Lookie lookie!

She has such a good eye for color. :)

She sent me a note, too. "Knit like the wind!"

It's on the bulletin board over my desk now. :)

-------

Beanie count: 35 

It's mid-day, so I hope to have that number grow more today, but I have a pile of laundry that really needs to be folded....

Beanie Count 9/16

Soon, that pink yarn ball will turn into five adorable baby beanies. 

Sometimes I just sit and wonder how in the world someone figured out that fiber can be spun into thread that can be plied into yarn that can be knitted into a garment. 

Who picked up two sticks and figured out how to knit?

I want a book about the history of knitting. Time to hit the library! 

Well, after the craft show... 

Today's beanie count: 33

Knitting, Still Knitting!

Phew! 

I'm still here and knitting like mad!

I'm a little tired of one of the patterns, but I bought a pink yarn (most of my craft fair yarns are blues and greens) that will shake things up. 

Beanie count: 30

Cowl count: 3

Misc. item count: 5

Items left to make: TOO MANY!

I am behind. I hoped to have over 40 beanies by now, but I'm not upset. I still have over 50 days to the craft show. If I do one per day, that's still 80 beanies. 

I spent the weekend in Arkansas with my friend, and it was so worth it to see her. Her house is suuuuper cute, and it was great to talk to her in person for once! 

My non-craft show projects are on hold right now, so I probably won't update very frequently other than to take more pictures of my pre-craft show stash. 

Also, somewhere over the past few weeks I passed 6000 page hits for this blog. 

WOW! 

Thank you for reading!! 

I never really expected people other than friends and family read my blog. 

I will share more free patterns and pattern mods/charts after the craft show. I promise! Especially since those are the most popular posts by far. 

So, a little teaser of what will come eventually: 

Owl Cable Baby Beanie (pattern mash-up and mod)

Duo MaxCowl (two-color cowl chart and recipe inspired by Halftone Cowl by smine on ravelry)

And more! 

Busy busy

Wow. I really haven't posted much recently! Sorry!

But I've been productive. :)

I'm going to be at a craft show with Chris's grandma this November, so I've been experimenting and knitting a lot! 

I feel like I have stacks and stacks of beanies, but I will need a lot more. So far I have about 20-30 beanies, and I'm hoping for at least 150 beanies. 

I really have no clue where to start on craft show inventory, though. 

I set aside lots of different yarn from my stash (about half of my stash. Talk about stash busting!)

I will take lots of notes at the show and see what types of beanies people seem to like. 

Well, wish me luck! 

I'll take pictures and have a huge beanie picture post eventually. 

Happy knitting! 

Mystery plant

So I was talking to my husband today, and we are fairly certain my mystery flower is actually a weed... OY!

Its stem is huge, too! It's like a weed bush. 

How embarrassing, though, that I might've been babying a weed!

But I don't want to pull it just yet, in case it actually is a flower. 

It's research time!

Garden Update

I haven't posted pictures of my garden in a while, so here's an update!

I cleared the green beans out of the south bed. They were donezo about a month or so ago, but they had a great run! They were housing some gigantic wood spiders, so they had to go. I was touching a spider almost every night and running around screeching. OK, not really, but the neighbors probably heard a few short "Eek" yelps. 

The basil is doing well, as is the oregano. 

The flowers I planted finally started blooming! And, of course, I can't really remember what I planted and I'm too lazy at the moment to look for my list. 

I think that might be a snapdragon. I've had them in deep purple, yellow, and white so far. 

This thing hasn't even put out buds yet, so I don't have a clue. Maybe it's a daisy. I think I planted some daisies. 

This thing is taking days to bloom but it has quite a few buds. I think it'll be really pretty when they do bloom. They're purple, though. I was hoping some would be pink. 

We have a friend who lives next to our back door. 

Isn't she cute? She eats a lot of the bugs on our porch, and it's fun to watch her gobble them up. She's there almost every night. I think her boyfriend lives in my marigolds. 

I wish she would eat the ginormous wood spider that somehow got into my harvest bucket. I haven't used that bucket since the spider got itself stuck, and Chris seems to be conveniently forgetting to take care of it! 

Pete licked her the other night and ended up smacking his lips for at least 30 minutes. He hasn't learned, either! He keeps sniffing her and licking at her. Oy!

Leave the hoppy toad alone, Petey!

The tomatoes are doing so-so. They got a bad case of blight, but I think they're recovering.

Learning Double Knitting

My friend Danielle is working on a really pretty gingham double knit cowl, so I decided I just had to learn the technique! 

Double knitting uses two colors to make a piece that is two layers thick. 

Danielle told me the basics, and I found a tutorial that had slightly different techniques for double knitting. 

Apparently there are tons of right ways to do this!

I used Cassie Castillo's Basic Double Knitting Tutorial from Ravelry. She has lots of patterns on her blog along with an entrelac tutorial, so be sure to check out Azalea and Rosebud Knits. 

Here's the "right side" of my little double knitting patch...

and here's the "wrong side." 

There are so many ways to cast on and connect the sides. When working flat, I prefer to twist the yarn, bringing the working color up from under the other color, to close the edges.

Eventually, I want to make this cowl (Click it! Do it! It's gorgeous!). I realize this cowl is stranded and not double knit, but I think it would be perfect for a double knit piece. I could make it for my friend who just moved up to Alaska. It'd be really, really warm.

I think I'll start off with something like this washcloth, though. It's best to start small. :)

Silly Pete

Pete likes to chew the centers out of his frisbees. 

Well, sometimes they like to fight back and Petey needs to ask for help. 

What a silly little dog we have! 

FO Show-Off Post: Rainbow Cowl

If you need a quick and easy pattern for a gift or a small one-skein project in between larger projects, let me wholeheartedly recommend to you the Simple Glitz Cowl by Melissa Poon (link is to Ravelry pattern page). 

Cascade Eco Duo or Rozetti Cotton Gold yarns are recommended, but let me add another yarn to that: Yarn Bee Diva Sequin.

Yarn Bee Diva Sequin is 84% Acrylic, 12% Wool, and 4% Sequin. The colors pop, and it is terrifically soft. (Don't you love how soft acrylic yarns have become recently?) 

At 180 yards, it has slightly less yardage than the two recommended yarns for the Simple Glitz Cowl, but it is perfect for the pattern. Diva Sequin is a long-striping multicolor yarn, and the number of stitches in the cowl is pretty much Diva Sequin's magic striping number. 

Diva Sequin is quite affordable, as well! It is $7.99 a skein at regular price at Hobby Lobby, but don't forget that Hobby Lobby always has a 40% off coupon on their website or in their app. That makes it about $4.80 before tax! For a quick one-skeiner, that's not bad at all!

Take a look at the colors in the Bali colorway!

Bali Colorway

According to its Ravelry page, Diva Sequin has 17 colorways, so if rainbow brights aren't your thing, you're not completely out of luck. 

Here's a snap of my first finished cowl:

The cowl has a small decrease toward the end that helps it fold in on itself in wonderful rolls of warmth and color. 

It only took me a couple of hours to finish the first cowl. I'm still working on the second one, but things are moving a little slower since I'm still recovering from surgery and my mind is a bit foggy at times. 

It's important to note that sequins (and beads) generally seem to end up on the purl-bump side of any work, so you may have to fiddle with the yarn a bit so some sequins will show on the right side of your cowl. I didn't have a problem with this yarn, though. 

That factor makes the wrong side just as wearable as the right side of the cowl, so you can enjoy two ways to show of your sequins with this cowl. 

I hope you give Yarn Bee Diva Sequin and the Simple Glitz Cowl a try!

Happy Knitting! 

Gluten-Free Chocolate Layer Cake

This is basically just a picture post for now. I made this chocolate cake last week for Chris. 

I decorated it "rustic style."

It's surprisingly moist for a gluten-free cake. 

It's a bit difficult to show moistness in a picture! Haha

I had surgery to fix my septum/nose on Monday, so I'm on "take it super easy" mode until Friday at least. I don't really trust myself to type up a long, coherent post while on meds, so I'll try to remember to update with the recipe sometime next week. :)

FO Show-off Post: Tri-Color Linen Stitch Cowl

It's finally finished!

My tri-color linen stitch cowl is finished!

I still need to block it, and the gauge got a little tight at the top because I was a weeeee bit annoyed at the dealer while I was waiting to get my car worked on. 

But it's finished!

I'm pretty proud of it. 

Here's a close-up of the linen stitch again. 

I'm still in love with this stitch!

(Also, WHOA! I have over 5300 views on my blog! When did that happen? Thank y'all for reading!)