Tag Archives: knitting

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Show & Tell 12/9/2011

Look! I made something! And it’s finished! I feel like I’m finally getting my mojo back.

I even had all the supplies on hand and cranked this cowl out in less than 24 hours. I used some chunky white yarn that I had bought on sale last summer. One skein! (Well, technically a hank.) I love the color, and I LOVE the texture. This little project was fulfilling on many levels.

I haven’t yet decided the fate of this beauty. But for right now, I’m happy it’s done.

What have you been making lately? Share share share! I need some inspiration.

 

 

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Show & Tell 9/30/2011

Today I am showing and telling differently. Instead of something tangible, I want to share with you my Tumblr.

The link is over here on the sidebar ——->

I was inspired at The Creative Connection to have more of an online presence. I decided to start this Tumblr blog to share the pictures that won’t make it onto my regular blog. I call it Outtakes, and I try to update it every day.

I am surprised at how much I love this new creative outlet. I have always enjoyed photography, and I haven’t had an outlet for it for a long time. Now I am challenged every day to take interesting, hopefully funny pictures. I do edit them, which is also something that I am learning and that I find surprisingly creative and rewarding.

I realized that the link on the side doesn’t really grab one’s attention, so I thought “Show & Tell” would be a great opportunity to share my new online presence with you. I want to share beautiful, quirky photos. Check back daily to see what’s new.

 

Have you been creative this week? Share what you’re working on in the comments. I am inspired by what you guys are making! 

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Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop!: A Day in My Life

Hi Everyone! It’s Thursday, so I am linking to the Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop!. This week’s theme was A Day in My Life. I had glorious plans to take loads of pictures and share with you a rather detailed layout of my day. I had two problems with this – first, my days aren’t usually the same and second, I’m awful busy to be taking pictures all the time! So I am sharing three pictures with you today. The first is a typical morning picture, the second a typical midday picture, and the third, a typical evening picture. I like to think that what is lacking in quantity is made up in quality.

About three to four days a week, I take the bus to work. Usually I sit in the back so I can knit in peace. Here is the empty back of the bus on my commute.

And then on my lunch break, I usually try to find a quiet place outside to knit.

 

And when I get home, I usually take on some crazy activity. This week (Monday night), I made cherry jam.

Then I go to bed…exhausted! And excited to do it all again tomorrow.

Gussy

Welcome, folks from Gussy Sews and everyone else! What things are important to your day? What activities would you photograph that capture your life?

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Show & Tell 4/8/2011

Observe this sweet little white cardigan. I can’t believe how beautiful it looks. The mother was happy with it – she thought it would look great over the baby’s sun dresses for the spring and summer. I love the buttons almost as much as I love the lace diamond pattern.

The pattern for this sweater is here (you will have to log into Ravelry – accounts are free though, and if you don’t have one already, you are in for a treat!). The yarn that I used for this was cotton. It was easy to knit and should be easy to care for.

(The color IRL is closer to the first picture.)

I had a mini emergency with this product. The instructions were translated via an online translator, so most of the information was there just in a rather illogical order. I bought what I thought was enough yarn…until I was nearly knit through all I had and had only finished two of the diamond repeats. The example in the pattern had four repeats. Since the yarn was discontinued, I frantically called the shop where I bought it to see if they had two more skeins left of this color. They only had one, so I asked them to hold it for me. With three skeins of yarn, I was able to finish three diamond repeats, which I think is plenty long enough for a one-year old.

This pattern was complicated enough to be interesting without being too hard. It is knit on pretty small needles, so it took a bit longer than I expected. But I finished it in time for the birthday party, and it was a big hit.

Share! Share! Share! What have you guys been up to?

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Show & Tell 3/25/2011

Good morning! Here I am, modeling my brand-spankin’ new Shauna Cowl. Robyn from the Minimalist Knitter wrote this pattern and hosted a Knit Along for it.

I wanted to participate in the Knit Along but wasn’t sure what I would do with it at the end. I decided to use this as an opportunity to knit up some yarn from my stash. So I used this – Vanna’s Choice. The color is supposed to be Taupe, but I like to call it Mushroom. It really is exactly in between brown and gray. I actually don’t like it in its skein form, but once it was knit up – wow! The seed stitch added the right kind of texture to make this color pop. I am really happy with how it turned out.

I didn’t have the proper needle that the pattern called for (US10 circulars), so I used one size down (US9 circulars). I also knit sort of tight, so although I used the correct yardage, it’s only about 6″ instead of 8″. It is still large and would definitely keep your neck warm on a winter day.

One last thing – whenever I knit something that is supposed to be fairly “elastic” like this (it needs to go over your head and twist), I always use the Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. Otherwise, my bind off will be too tight and the item will lose some of its functionality.

Well there it is. What have you guys been working on this week? Share!

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Links I Love 3/21/2011

I had a busy weekend and didn’t have my post ready this morning! But trust me – it was a great weekend.

Here are my links. Enjoy!

1) I can’t stop thinking about this post - mostly because I love cupcakes and biking. I want to bike commute someday.

2) I was able to get out this weekend and do some training for the duathlon. I am training roughly 70% of the total training program, but now that the weather is getting nice, I am looking forward to some quality time on my bike.

3) I am knitting this vest, and I love it! I want to have it done so that I can include it in my items for the Spring Palette Challenge 2011.

Happy Vernal Equinox (yesterday)! I hope your Spring is awesome so far.

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Knit Along Reminder

Hi! I just wanted to send out a quick post for any knitters who might be lurking – Robyn at the Minimalist Knitter is having a Knit Along for her latest pattern, the Shauna Cowl. It starts today, if you are interested.

I am going to use this as an opportunity to stash bust. I am using some acrylic yarn that I have had kickin’ around for about 2 years. I love the seed stitch on this pattern. I can’t wait to see how it knits up!

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Show & Tell 3/10/2011

The subtitle for this post is “Stash Knitting”. Here is what I have been making lately:

Wow, can my camera not handle red. Crazy.

Anyway, I had made my coworker a hat a couple of years ago and still had a significant amount of the yarn left over. So I knit him this little guy. He was wearing it around the office yesterday, so I guess he liked it.

Here are some baby hats that I knitted using some light pink acrylic. The pattern I used has a couple of different variations, so I was trying to use all of them. Some of the ribbing is two  knit/two purl, some of the hats have 10 cables, others 5, etc. It’s like one of those puzzles that you do when you’re a kid – “Circle all of the differences among these three hats!”

I hope to do some serious sewing this weekend (and good photos!), so check back next week for some awesome clothes.  :)

What have your busy hands been creating? Share below in the comments!

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Show & Tell 3/3/2011

I finished it!  I showed you the monogram last week, but here is the whole enchilada (I mean, blanket).

The last one I made was square, and I was trying to make this one a rectangle.  I knit until I ran out of yarn; unfortunately, still a square!  But I didn’t want to buy any more yarn, so this is the finished project.  I didn’t measure at the end, but based on measurements I made while knitting, this is roughly 30″ square.

I have passed it along already, and the recipient was happy.  So I am happy.

Here is a final shot of the monogram.  I sewed in the loose yarn on the back and was able to close some of the holes from the intarsia (using the two different colors).  I think it looks great!

I have a few random little projects I have finished in the last couple of weeks, so next weeks Show & Tell might be a smorgasbord of crafty goodness.

How are you guys doing?  Create anything lately?  Please tell me about it in the comments.  With links!

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The Locals

I realized, as I was writing my post about the yarn shops I had found in Ireland, that I had never talked about my local yarn shops.  As I would like them to stay in business, I thought that I would share them with you here. 

InDetail Studio is truly my local yarn shop.  The shop is split between yarn supplies and beading supplies.  It is a small shop, but I have never left empty-handed!  They have a great selection of yarns.  They also offer open knitting sessions and knitting classes; check their website for dates & times.

Marji’s Yarncrafts is incredibly charming.  It has a lot of yarn tucked in two rooms.  Their selection is amazing and really inspiring.  They offer a lot of patterns, a lot of needles, and, if I remember correctly, a lot of finishing pieces such as buttons, etc. 

Creative Fibers is really a mecca of wooly wonder.  This is the largest local yarn shop I have found in central Connecticut.  Really, if they haven’t got it, you don’t need it.  They also offer knitting classes and retreats.  I haven’t attended them yet, but as I learned with quilting, it really pays to learn from an expert.  So I am keeping my eyes open for a great opportunity.

Also I want to give a shout out to my local fabric stores:

My local quilt shop Sew Inspired is amazing.  The staff is friendly and helpful.  Their classes are very informational and educational.  (They literally changed my life.)  It’s a great shop if you’re looking for fabric or anything quilt related.

Osgood’s Textiles is a little bit of a drive for me, but it’s the closest, decent, independent fabric store in the area.  And its selection is exhaustive.  I bought all of the fabric for my Spring Palette Challenge there. 

So that’s my little tour of local shops.  Trust me – they aren’t paying me to say this.  I don’t get any discounts from them or anything.  They don’t even know I have a blog.  I just appreciate that I have these resources in my community.  When I support them, they support my area by creating jobs, providing valuable goods and services, and generally making the world a better place to live. 

Do you have a local shop you love?  Give it a shout out in the comments.