Another Blanket and a Trip to Bristol, RI

I did it!  I finished an adult lap blanket it ONE WEEK!!


Here I had only just started the pattern the Thursday before July 4.  Aren't the colors fun? :)  

I brought this blanket with me on our mini vacation to Bristol, Rhode Island to visit a former roommate and experience the longest celebration of Independence Day.  During the 4 and a half hour long parade I accomplished an entire segment (yellow, green, variegated, pink, and back to yellow)!  Yes, I did get quite a few "compliments" on my "knitting,"  i.e. "Isn't it a bit too hot to be knitting?" one soldier joked.  Why yes sir, it is merely 88* in the sunshine, but that is why I am not keeping it on my lap, but next to me.  :)  
It was a wonderful day of amazing period costumes and many military veterans along with local business owners and organizations' floats.


I can't believe I get to say it is already complete but I do and what makes it even better is I get to display it for the Toledo Art Walk that I am participating in tomorrow!  If you are in the area, I hope you'll stop by and say hello.  :)

I have a few other new goodies that are awaiting their close-up, like a few braceletes and soap savers, and I hope to post about them soon.

Happy Fourth!

Newest Cowl

I'm so excited about this new cowl.  Not only is it my favorite style to wear, but I was also able to get my beautiful cousin to model it for me while we visited her family for Christmas!  :)


I have to admit I'm not normally much of a color-red fan, but this variegated skein was calling out to me in the store and I couldn't wait to get it on my needles.

Long enough to wrap around twice for extra neck coverage.

I was hoping to have enough to make two double-wrap cowls but I guess I didn't realize how much I truly needed.  So this time I have one long (above) and one shorter (below).


How do you think they turned out? 

Magnets & Ear Warmers Everywhere!

This is what all those new ear warmers looked like, all lined up, waiting to be displayed in the shop "window."


A few already listed...

 

It doesn't happen very often, but its fun having so much [for me] lined up; kind of looks "primary" in all their solid color blocks.

And all these magnets...


I only photographed half of the 17 completed pairs.  I'll either save the other half for a craft/ house show or list them once some of these start selling.  


I was thinking, not only could you use these for the dishwasher, but the washing machine and dryer (if you share the chore with someone else).  They are magnetic, too!


Anyone else feeling accomplished and/or spring fever? :]

Out Takes

I'm not usually one to post out-takes of my "photo shoots," especially when they involve my face, but some of these turned out so cute, I couldn't resist sharing in some way.  I hope you won't mind a narcissistic post just this once.


Getting a detail shot...


"Did I get it in the frame?"....


This is what my arm looked like after getting all those ear warmers photographed.  They each have a pair, too.  Are you ready to pick out your favorite? ;)


If you enjoyed this post, let me know if I should do more like it. 

It May Be Classified as an Addiction at this Point...


...my ear warmer knitting that is.

I think the discovery of Downton Abbey pushed it to an obsession.

I wonder if this show will bring some of this fashion back into style?

So elegant & graceful




Because the show is so intense and sucks you in, I have to have something in my hands to be working my excitement out but the pattern can't be anything too complex or I mess it up in all the excitement & anticipation.

Especially last night, watching the season finale!

And since the ear warmer pattern is just that well memorized for me, I am able to crank out at least one if not two ear warmers per episode! [Though it is more like one and half per episode].


Yeah.... this is some of the *damage* of that.

Now if only I enjoyed sewing buttons as much (and as quickly) as I do the knitting part..... [because that is all that holds them back from the shop].

Finished!: Blue & Purple Dishcloth Set

Another one to cross off the list! Yay! See what happens when I'm gone for a while? It's like production just cranks up 10 notches to make up for lost time, hehe.


This set is for a mother I babysit who just moved into her new apartment (with her son & husband) this past June. The funny part was that went away to Brazil (her husband's native country) for all of July. The plan was to have these done as a "house-warming" present for when they returned in August.


I had most of them completed, except I ran out of purple to finish the one hotmit. So that slowed the process; and then I moved out of my apartment into boxed-living for a month (which is a whole 'nother story). But then I dug them back out a few weeks ago & I couldn't believe how quickly they whipped up!

I'm excited to present them to her later this week :)

Finished!: Black & White Dishcloth Set


It feels so good to get to scratch things off my list. :)


These are a gift I promised to my fiancé's boss's wife last Christmas.... Yes, I can be THAT bad at procrastinating sometimes. Luckily we never set a date... :-S


I think my biggest worry with this set (after waiting forever to find grey cotton yarn and never finding it in the brand I use) was that they would come out looking like zebra stripes.


Luckily, I don't think they did.

Earwarmer Headband

I finally have a new item to post about! It's my take on the pattern I asked about a while back and someone sent this pattern to me. Woot woot! I think it was THE pattern I had found way back when. :) Thanks Jessica.

Here is the one picture I snapped with my phone

I hope to do an actual photo shoot soon with a better camera so be on the look out for that post. Happy Weekend!

Nima's Pillow

A friend of mine has moved to Strongsville (outside of Cleveland) for a job and started from scratch furnishing his apartment (he sold off, donated, gave away & threw away anything he didn't want to take with him).  I felt so honored that he asked ME to help him in his furniture search for his new apartment.  :)  After we made a list of the things he needed (or I *wanted* for him), we went to a couple different furniture shops around his area.  We ended up finding most of the stuff we liked at World Market & Value City Furniture (I think).  And to make his place feel more like a home (& save money), I told him I'd be making him a couple throw pillows for his couch, two round seat cushions for his bistro/patio set, and a set of dishclothes, handtowel, & hotmits.

Well, as simple as this sounds (and normally I'd be able to whip all this up in 2 weeks), time has sped by, like it usually does in my presence, and it's already been a month since he moved out there.  Happily, I have already finished one, solid-turquoise pillow for him...


...and just finished the striped light & dark turquoise pillow to compliment it (it is 18" square, 2" larger than the 16" solid square; but I think they'll look very nice together).  He is a pretty modern guy and I think matchy-matchy just wouldn't have been his style.


All together on his new, modern couch (and VERY comfy-firm):


Next on the list: the pair of yellow + white circular seat cushions.  Hopefully they won't take me another month to complete (though I can see it being true; I'll be making up the pattern as I go along, which means trial and error takes more time).