pretty things.

Oh, how I love pretty things!  Here are some of my favourites.

This lovely package that arrived over Christmas from the amazing Svetlana of S.O.T.A.K. Handmade.  These hexies are to die for!!  I am trying to figure out how to use them best, and am thinking a mini quilt may be in order. Thank you, Svetlana!

This incredible Christmas/birthday bundle from my bestie Samantha in Toronto makes me weep with joy.  LIBERTY fabric, a Liberty book, personalized stationary, the best tea mug ever which I use daily, and a hand knit cowl!  Spoiled.

Pretty yarns, everywhere I look.  I seem to have a bit of knitting ADD and have multiple projects on the go.  Since I have a hard time finding a chunk of time to pull out my sewing machine lately,  I have turned to knitting as my primary happy creative outlet.  I love that I can pick it up easily for a few minutes here and there, and its portability for this mom-on-the-go is THE BEST.

I finished up my Coolbreeze sweater (photos to follow, someday) that I have been working on forever, and have promptly started a new pullover with some gorgeous Tanis Fiber Arts yarn in shadow (above right).  Lord knows we have had more than our fair share of wool sweater weather here lately!

(See?  Portable.  Here I am knitting while at a dental conference.  Made it MUCH more interesting!)

And I did finish up a Northern Loop cowl using TFA iris yarn recently which I absolutely LOVE.  So cozy.  More details on my Ravelry page here.

It has been a popular companion for me these past couple weeks.  Cheers!

plucky

Have you ever heard of The Plucky Knitter and her yarn?  I hadn't either, but it kept popping up all over, with rave reviews.  But here is the thing.  You can't just BUY it.  No. You have to be on the email list to be notified of its release, then sit at your computer at that exact moment and hit refresh a bunch of times to buy it up before it's gone.  It is seriously a frenzy.  It seems Plucky is the rock star of yarn.

Naturally, I had to have some to see what all of the fuss is about.

I ordered a couple sample skeins in different weights, then enough in her pretty bohemian blue for a sweater for me....am thinking this one here.

I wanted to try it out right away.  So I grabbed a skein of the bulky weight in sagebush, a pretty grey-green, and cast on the dropped stitch cowl pattern (love my pouch form Ali!!).

I knit like a maniac in ocd-worthy fashion, and finished this cowl the next day.  And I have to say....this Plucky is good stuff!

This one will be heading south to my lovely friend Kelly, who I had the fun of hanging with in Atlanta, and has made me a gorgeous AMH velveteen and voile cowl in return!  Life is good :)

baby earflap hats for modern moms

One of my favorite coworkers is expecting 2 grandbabies this autumn- her daughter just had a boy, and her son (well, his wife, technically) is expecting a girl this month. Her kids are not the typical pastel-pink-and-blue types, so I thought I would "fun it up" a bit for their baby gifts.

So here we have "The Cousin Hats." A boy and girl version, but coordinating. The base is the same, I used the free Scandihoovian Hat pattern on Ravelry. The green yarn is scraps left over from last year's yarn wreaths.



From there, I added my own touches. A big crochet flower for the girl hat (yes, I am now branching out into crochet, Lord help me):



And a fun, bad ass Mohawk for the boy version (insert electric guitar solo here):



Both were finished off with crochet trim- it is on backwards, but when I fixed it I actually preferred this look, so I ripped it out again and redid it like this! Also threw some braids on the sides.

If you want more deets, visit my Ravelry page here.

bi-CRAFT-ual

I have been having a bit of an online discussion with some concerned blogging friends lately about my craftual orientation. They have noticed me wandering over to "the knitting side" quite often and they were worried about me. Have I forgotten about my first love, Quilting? Is there room in my heart for another love?

Well, I am here to assure you that I am completely at peace with the 3-way going on over here. And if you really care about me, you will accept me for who I am.

I can't deny it any longer.......I am BI-CRAFT-UAL, hear me roar!!

So all you knit-haters, shield your eyes because I am going to show off a new hat, henceforth known as The Bicraftual Hat. Now, if I had anticipated that its "coming out" post would have had this particular slant, I might have knit it in a rainbow yarn, but regardless, I am very happy with the Malabrigo Rasta in leguna negro that was used here.



I used the Chunky Slouch Cap pattern from Ravelry. Made it a bit bigger and longer to allow for more slouch. I had to restart this baby 3 times because I had initially started it too small, then messed up the pattern, etc. Typical of me!



Love the way this hat looks and feels. I see another in my near future.....

Christmas present #1 done!

Well, I am TRYING to not leave all my Christmas crafting to the last minute this year, and Shay is making me feel inadequate with her Elf-like production, so I started by knitting a hat as a Christmas gift for a good friend who loves purple (and who usually doesn't read this blog!).

This was such a fun and quick knit after the hours spent toiling away on The Middle Child's sweater! I used the Autumn pattern by Jane Richmond, and used just one skein of Malabrigo chunky yarn in cuarzo to do the job. Man, this is the softest yarn I have ever touched! It is fantastic. I have a second skein to make a matching pair of mittens- I am even writing my first knitting pattern!

Anyways, I got his hat done in a weekend, and love it. May have to order another skein to make one for me ;)

I know, I know- you want to see some sewing outta me! Frankie says Relax....I got some coming down the pipe, Peeps! But the knitting has been an awesome summer project that has been easily portable to the great outdoors...after all, I want to enjoy summer before "toque" weather arrives!

Love letter

Dear Yarn,

I don't know what has come over me. I feel like a school girl again! When I see you, my heart beats a little faster....

I just want to be close to you, to touch you.


I imagine our future and all the fun times we will spend together. I can picture us together, on a front porch, in my old age.


I know we have only just met, but...is it too soon to say I love you?

Affectionately,
Kristie

Eddie the Elephant

Ohhhhh. I love this guy.

I made this big guy for my son. So very cute and cuddly (both the elephant and the kid).


Made from Knitted Toy Tales by Laura Long, like the pig and kitty. But I confess this guy is my favorite so far!

I used some Vanna's Choice yarn in silver grey for his body, and did the fabric accents on his ears and feet with some Sherbet Pips scraps I had left over from my Pips quilt. I stitched it in with a lime green Perle 8 cotton thread, since red and green are my guy's favorite colors (well, ALSO blue, but hey...).

He and Eddie are already best friends and Eddie has been awarded a place of honour on his bed :-)



I THINK....I may just be ready to move on and try to knit a sweater. Once I finish up a few more quilty WIPs!

The Christmas Swap that never happened

Does that title sound ominous?

Well, it has been a bit of a misadventure.... Back in October, I signed myself up for an informal Christmas swap at Little Miss Shabby's site. I was paired up with an nice Australian grandmother and we were to each send "a homemade gift, a delicious treat, an unexpected surprise, some fabric bits and a holiday card," all to be sent by December 1. Due to Australian Customs, it was requested I not send food so I actually ended up doing a few homemade gifts. Anyways, I gathered it all up, took my photos and shipped it off in November so it had extra time to make it across the ocean.

Well.

It never arrived. It appears that it is lost on a deserted island with Tom Hanks or something, but certainly not at Sue's in Australia! I am kind of cheesed because I worked pretty hard on this at that crazy time of year... Anyways. And to make the whole experience that much more frustrating, I never did receive my gift either. My partner had a string of medical and family issues come up which of course have not been in her control. Last I heard, at the end of January, she was planning to mail it off "soon"... still no sign of it, though. So I guess you can say that this hasn't been the best experience. Has anyone else had swaps/bees like that??

Today I got a letter from Canada Post that the "investigation" into my package has been closed, the package officially lost, and at least I was issued some insurance money for my postage spent and supplies. So, I am closing that book but thought I would share the photos of the stuff I had made!

First up: I found out Sue was a tea drinker, and likes antiques. I thought a quaint little quilted tea cozy would be the ticket: The tea cozy applique is basically copied...I mean inspired by one I saw at Patchwork Pottery. I appliqued a little tea pot on the front, with a button knob on top. It doesn't show up the best against this busy fabric, but I free motion stitched "steam" coming out of the spout: The back sports a little string of patchwork with some hand quilting detail. I used Moda's Breakfast at Tiffany's, as her fabric preference was shabby chic and she specifically mentioned this line. Luckily, a quilt shop across town carried some, so I was able to pick it up, along with some extra which I sent in her fabric bundle. I used a little loop of this sweet lace at the top. Next up, a yarn wreath. As you may recall, I made a stack of these yarn wreaths here. Well, I was sure to make an extra for Sue, who said she decorated for Christmas in mostly cream and gold, with little splashes of red. As a little extra treat, I thought these adorable hexie cards were the perfect gift for a fellow quilter. Best of all, they were a free download, found here. I printed them onto some thick glossy white card stock, paired a stack of them with some luscious chocolate brown envelopes and tied them with a ribbon. Finally, along with a fabric bundle, I included a hand stamped Christmas card. So, there it is, in photos if not in hand. Maybe it will resurface someday??

This little piggy

I was at the library and came across this book:

Immediately, The Middle Child begged, pleaded, whined, "Mommyyyyyy?? Can you PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE knit me this cute pig???"

Big Gulp. Looked hard. But I checked out the book (in fact, I loved it so much I have since ordered a copy!). And I happened to have some pink yarn in my stash (when the heck did I start a yarn stash???). And here is what I made:

Sweet piggy tail (thanks, Kathy!):

A-DOR-able fabric details in the ears and on the feet:
And a very happy daughter:



It was actually quite simple. Honest! I am pretty certain I will be making 95% of the cuties in this book. It is so well written and photographed, I would recommend it to everyone!

good things...

1. My painfully shy son, holding a "Star Student" award from his teacher for reading a book aloud IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE CLASS!!

2. My baby girl, looking so grown up, posing with her framed creations at her preschool Art Auction fundraiser.
3. A sweet little 2 year old student- the winner of the tree quilt! My son actually cried when he realized we weren't taking it home...."But you worked so hard on it Mommy, won't you miss it?"

4. Rainbow colored knit slippers....I was planning to knit a pair but came across these at a BAKESHOP for only $6.75!!

5. These alarmingly delicious cinnamon buns, also from said bakeshop (they cost much more than the slippers!).


6. This gorgeous grey and sequined (!!!) wool that I bought at the local yarn shop....not sure what it will become yet, maybe this hat?

7. Fandango fat quarters....not that I needed any more fabric...but I so seldom set foot into an ACTUAL quilt shop and it was so pretty in person, I couldn't resist, even at the crazy Canuck prices ;)

Hope you are having a day full of good things!