Giveaway Winners!

First of all - thanks to everyone who entered the double giveaway! It was fun reading about your resolutions, and seeing so many people interested in the two lots.  I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of bloggers who are just learning knitting or wanting to add to their collection.

Now, onto the winners!  They were chosen by random number from the submissions entered for each giveaway.

 First, for the two knitting books, the winner is...

Andrea B from four square walls

The winner of the Vogue sewing patterns is...

Erin of Gravamen of the Stitch

Ladies, I'll be emailing you to get your details.

Thanks again to all that entered and stay tuned as I'm going through my vintage pattern collection and hope to stir up another giveaway soon.

Long Awaited Giveaway... Ready, Set, Go!

As promised (and promised, and promised), I have a giveaway for my loyal readers!  You have two options: knitting or sewing.  Feel free to enter for both, you just have to state it in the comments.

So, what's up for grabs?

The set of Stitch N' Bitch books - the Knitters Handbook and Son of... (patterns for guys)



I've noticed a lot of my blogger friends have taken up knitting and thought this would be a fun item for their library.  It includes basics on knitting and some fun patterns.

or...

A set of Vogue patterns. In particular, V8648, V1208, and Vintage Vogue V1136.  All are size EE (sewing pattern sizes 14 -20/22)



To enter: Leave a comment on this post about which set you'd prefer (or either), and one of your New Year's resolutions.  If your profile does not have a link to your email, please also leave a way to contact you.  The giveaway will close on Friday, January 11th and is open to all readers that follow through Google Friend Connect, Facebook or RSS feed.

*Note, this giveaway is not sponsored by Stitch N' Bitch or Vogue patterns, but are new items from my personal collection.

Stitches West and Knitting Idols

This past weekend was the annual Stitches West convention in Santa Clara, CA. I’m lucky that this convention takes place in my backyard, and that I’ve been able to attend it for the last three years.  This year was made even more special when I met my knitting idol.

I went with a group of friends who had never been to a knitting event of this size. That’s always exciting because they don’t really understand the intenseness that is Stitches until they really get there.  While they were getting situated when we first arrived, I ran over to say ‘hello’ to another fellow knitter/dancer friend from out of town.  While hanging out with her and waiting for my friends to catch up, I noticed that the booth behind me had Ysolda Teague’s new books.  I had Whimsical Little Knits 3 on my wishlist and was just waiting to see it in person to pick it up.  While I was purchasing it, the lady at the booth said ‘you know Ysolda’s just down in the other aisle right?’  I must have looked completely stunned because she followed up with ‘I’ve mentioned it to a few people and I either get excitement or this look of ‘umm, who?’  I clearly had the former.  

In Ysolda's booth with her incredible knit sweaters

After that, they couldn’t ring me up fast enough.  I hurried over to the next aisle and saw her sitting in her little booth looking as cute as can be.  I went in to have my books signed and tried not to gush too much about how excited I was to see her.  She really is one of the major influences that I had when I first started knitting. Her first two books were my first knitting pattern purchases and inspired me to try new things with knitting.

With Ysolda. Definitely a 'squeeeeee!' moment

After that, I was wandering around Stitches on cloud 9. My ticket had now paid for itself.  Oh sure, I found some other fun things - mainly buttons from my favorite notions booth, Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods.  They always have a gorgeous booth with amazing displays. 

A few pics of some of the amazing items at Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods

I also picked up a new knitting purse from Jordana Paige, who was sharing a booth with the lovely Erin of Bobbin’s Nest.  They had incredible Hazel Knits yarns on display. Unfortunately I’m so stocked up on Hazel Knits yarn that I still haven’t worked my way through.  It’s one of my favorites to work with, but there’s just enough hours in the day!

Gorgeous yarn and knitting from Phydeaux Designs

All in all, another successful year at Stitches! I didn’t buy nearly as much yarn as previous years (only one skein) because really, I’ve got a bit of a yarn stash problem that I’ve got to work through.  But it’s always great to go and get inspired by the incredible vendors.  Maybe I can keep the momentum up to get some needlework done before the 2013 convention?

Ysolda's had a fun photo booth setup

So tell me, do you have a crafty idol that you would love to meet?

Owl Mittens

A late post on some knit mittens that I made for Christmas.  I had originally started these last year (oops) but having just given up on socks, decided that mittens would be just as daunting.  I was mainly intimidated by the separate thumb space.  Once I got going, these were pretty easy to figure out.

 

I think the size of the gloves ran pretty small (it's the Give a Hoot pattern on Ravelry), but my friend has petite hands so I wasn't too worried.  I finished the first glove in just a couple of hours, but got antsy with the second one (what I was afraid of... second sock syndrome!) so it was stashed away for a couple of weeks.  Luckily I woke up at an ungodly hour on Christmas morning and was able to finish it before the rest of the house was awake.

As cute as they are, doing separate thumbs... well, I'd rather do fingerless gloves.  Call me lazy, but it's so much easier.  I'm going to save my small knitting for toys.

Going Green

Remember the yarn giveaway that I held in September?  Check out what the winner, Jennifer, has been up to since then.  I think I need to bookmark that pattern for myself!

Knitting and Stitching

Apologies for the recent silence! I've been swamped for the last couple of weeks with birthdays, competitions, and work.  This has left very little time to even step foot in my craft room and get any meaningful sewing done.  I have been working on some other little projects though.

My friend recently celebrated her birthday so we drove to Southern California to visit and make a quick trip to Disneyland.  She's a teacher and I've had this little knitting project on the books for her for a while, I could just never get myself to finish it.  I wanted to make her some teacher washcloths.  I had originally planned for four, but in the end only managed to make three in time.  The problem? I made the first two, no problem, but then I took a little break before making the last one.  Well, apparently I duplicated my efforts... and made the same design twice.  So she received one school bus and two ABC's.  Oops.  It's the thought that counts, right?

The blue and green are ABC, the yellow is the school bus.  It's a little hard to see, but if you tilt your head sideways, it should become clearer.

I don't know if you've ever used knit washcloths, but they're suprisingly great.  I admit when I first received one, I had no idea what to do with it. I use this to wash my face? No, they're great for everything! In particular, I like to use them for doing dishes.  When you're done with it, just throw it in the washing machine for the next time you want to use it.  And the best part, is that if you have a washcloth with a design, the design become more prominent the more you use it and wash it.

In addition to the washcloths, I have been making my mother-in-law a housewarming gift/mother's day present for her new home.  Here's a sneak peek of the design so far:

 

 

More on this project later in the week.

The shawl that finally ends

Front of the shawl

I finally finished my Damson shawl! I've been knitting this shawl for over a year. Ok, that's kind of a lie.  I mean, it's been hogging my needles for a year, but I was so over it that I put it down for about eight months.  I decided it was finally time to complete it as I was only about 20 rows from completion.  It just so happened that they were rows of 300 stitches and more, interspersed with an entire row of purling between each pattern row. Uggghhh!

Back of the shawl

I forced myself to sit down over the course of a few nights and whipped out (ok, well, slowly churned out) the end of the shawl.  The final bind off row was over 500 stitches and was pure torture, but it was so worth it when it was completed! I blocked the shawl into place and within 24 hours was wearing it in this perfect California Spring weather.

Pre-blocking

Blocking

This was my first knit shawl, and like childbirth (well, from what I've been told) I forgot the pain this inflicted and instantly cast on another shawl.  Not the same pattern, and I swear it seems like it should be less painful... right? Uh oh, what have I got myself into...

Knit Hat for the Hubby

During our recent trip to Seattle, my hubby once again proclaimed that I don't make him nearly enough things.  Our friend had just knit a hat for a friend, so James decided he needed one too.  We stopped by a local yarn store and I let him pick out a yarn and color for his hat.  Luckily, he had good taste and picked out Alpaca with a Twist Highlander yarn.  I picked out a pattern: Jason's Tweed Hat that I found on Ravelry.  A nice, basic yet manly hat.

Hubby modeling his hat

Can't get any warmer...

Another knitting post!  As I mentioned, the past week has brought wonderful weather in the Bay Area - hitting the high 70's almost daily.  And yet I continue to knit... this time with the bulkiest yarn and needles I've ever worked with.  Malabrigo's super bulky yarn and size 19 needles.  I was making Phydeaux's Asterisque Cowl from the pattern copy that I picked up at Stitches West back in February.  I had intended to work on it sooner, but I had a hard time finding size 19 needles - only one yarn store in my area carried them without requiring a special order.

Monster needles and uber thick yarn.

My girlfriends and I had a True Blood marathon to introduce one of them to the show and to prepare for the upcoming fourth season.  As I've already seen the show all the way through, it seemed like a good time to work on a fast knitting project.

And fast it was!  I was able to whip this up over the course of about four episodes.  Before we started the show, I had to look up a tutorial on how to do the daisy knit stitch.  Once I watched it through, I was set.  It was really easy to do but just complicated to understand on paper.  The biggest pain in this project was the combination of the bulky yarn and bulky needles.  I'm looking forward to doing another one of Phydeaux's patterns, and I've already set aside some slightly less bulky yarn to knit with.

The finished wrap. I just need a fancy brooch to go with it.

This post will be participating in the following Linky parties:

Tatertots & Jello * Think Pink Sundays * Making the World Cuter * Just Something I Whipped Up * Made by You Mondays *Sew Cute Tuesday * Talent Tuesday * I Made This * We Did It Wednesday * Hoo’s Got Talent * Look What I Made * The Trendy Treehouse * Thrilling Thursday * It’s a Hodgepodge Friday

Chirality Knit Cowl

I finished the Chirality Cowl this weekend.  I purchased the pattern at my LYS, Bobbin's Nest, at their Stitches West party.  When they posted preview pictures of the cowl, I fell in love with the design.

The pattern opened up wonderfully after blocking

Luckily, it was really easy to put together, requiring only basic knitting knowledge, including that of YO's and sk2tg's.  I repeated the pattern two and a half times before I ran out of yarn.  I loved how easy it was to follow - just when I would start to get tired of a pattern, I would be onto the next row.

Pre-blocking

Soaked it in water for half an hour

The yarn was Hazel Knits Artisan Sock yarn in Sassafras.  I used just under one skein.  It was great to work with and I love the color.

Full length

Double-looped

It's been a warm week, but I may be able to get a bit more use out of the cowl this season.  Anyone else feel crazy knitting as the weather starts to warm up?

This post will be participating in the following Linky parties:

Tatertots & Jello * Think Pink Sundays * Making the World Cuter * Just Something I Whipped Up * Made by You Mondays *Sew Cute Tuesday * Talent Tuesday * I Made This * We Did It Wednesday * Hoo’s Got Talent * Look What I Made * The Trendy Treehouse * Thrilling Thursday * It’s a Hodgepodge Friday

Hand crafts

My sewing machine has been giving me grief this week.  I'm taking it into the shop for a repair, so until it's back I've been working on some hand crafts.  Mainly a knit cowl pattern and a St. Patrick's Day cross stitch.  I only have two weeks for the latter to be complete so I'm furiously stitching away.

An Irish Blessing scroll

Knitting Cowls

I'm obsessed with cowls right now.  They're so easy to make, and I think the fact that I create them in the round helps break up some of the monotony of making scarves.  

Single loop around the neck...

I had this worsted Malabrigo on some needles for a bolero that I'd been stuck on for a while (make that... a year).  It required some weird stitch that I just couldn't get the hang of.  When I found the pattern for this GAP-tastic Cowl, I decided it was time to frog the bolero and whip this baby up.

Or doubled up. Nice and snuggly.

It was a ridiculously easy seed stitch pattern.  Just knit one, purl one, all the way around until I made it about 15 inches wide.  The length is perfect to wear with a single wrap around your neck or doubled up.   It took about one and a half balls of the Malabrigo and I was able to knit it while catching up on my tv watching. Perfect.

This post will be participating in the following Linky parties:

Making the World Cuter * Just Something I Whipped Up * Made by You Mondays *Sew Cute Tuesday * Talent Tuesday * I Made This * We Did It Wednesday * Hoo’s Got Talent * The Trendy Treehouse * Tatertots & Jello * Thrilling Thursday * It’s a Hodgepodge Friday

Stitches West Recap

I go to very few conferences and conventions during the year. Maybe it's due to past jobs where I was required to attend 'x' many a year, but very few catch my eye or my interest.  Stitches is the exception.  I have this bookmarked on my calendar a year in advance.  Ever since I took up knitting last year, I've been hooked on Stitches.

My Stitches stash

Lucky for me, Stitches West takes place in my neck of the woods.  This year my friend Jonelle was flying in from Seattle to join me for the convention.  We set a game plan, picked out suppliers that interested us, and determined our budgets (well, more like the 'would be nice to stay under this amount' budget).  When the Saturday of Stitches arrived, I picked her up from the airport and setout for the Santa Clara Convention Center.

Wonderful shawl pattern and print-outs from Never Not Knitting

Never Not Knitting's booth

Stitches didn't disappoint.  Surprisingly though, the majority of my early purchases were not of actual fibers, but of knitting accessories.  Maybe it's because I'm more experienced and know what sort of items I was looking for... or because my yarn stash is already out of control... but during the beginning of our Stitches trip, I focused on accessories. 

Some awesome felting from Ellen's Wooly Wonders

Some of the fun things I picked up:

From Slipped Stitch Studios: A project pattern protector case in an adorable hedgehog print.  Also, some great pattern magnets to help me keep track of my progress within a pattern.  This booth also had some great project bags and buttons.  It was also PACKED!  I was fighting for a spot within the booth to check out their adorable goods.  The good news is: they have an Etsy shop!  I'm bookmarking this shop for gifts for the knitters in my life.

Wool Candy makes me weak in the knees.  I love their yarns! Even better, a designer I've been drooling over on Ravelry and Etsy, Phydeaux Designs, was working in their booth.  I picked up a copy of the Asterisque Cowl pattern and have bookmarked the Regalia cowl for a later purchase... I think it will be perfect for some knitwear to go with my Spring Palette challenge.

One of the walls in the Wool Candy booth.

I picked up bits and bobs from a few other booths at Stitches, including some Malabrigo and Tosh yarn from ImagiKnit's booth, but my favorite of all of the booths had no yarn relation at all.  Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods was a huge booth filled with vintage buttons, ribbons, trims, lace and more.  I don't remember seeing them at Stitches last year but they couldn't be missed this time.  Their booth was beautiful! Everything was broken into a color story and contained perfect bits of accents to use for all of my crafty projects.  I picked up some buttons that I used on my Sencha blouse, and some cupcake ribbon to include in some of my creations. I thought it would be a nice label substitute until I take the time to actually make some of my own.

Now Stitches wouldn't be complete without the pre-Stitches parties.  Some of my LYS' had them, including Bobbin's Nest which carries my all-time favorite yarn, Three Irish Girls.  I swung by the Thursday before Stitches to enjoy the new releases of TIG and Hazel Knits, and picked up their new cowl pattern from Rocket Boy Knits, the Chirality Cowl.  I've already started knitting it in my new Hazel Knits sock yarn.

And the winner is...

Elle!  Congratulations on winning my first giveaway for a cupcake craft bag and some goodies.  I will be getting in contact with you for details.  The winning post was:

Elle said...

I'm just starting to knit, so this will be so cute... and useful!

Thank you to all who participated! I'm planning my next milestone giveaway and look forward to kicking it off.

The regularly scheduled Sweet Treats Saturday will be posted shortly. I'm furiously baking away.

In Stitches

I've been doing a bit of cross stitch, knitting and crochet recently. While you can spend hours cross stitch and not have a lot to show for it, I have made a bit of progress on my Baa Baa Black Sheep pattern.

4 sheep down, 5 to go!

I've also been working on another cowl, this time knit.  It's the Gap-tastic cowl pattern on Ravelry.  It's essential a seed stitch cowl just worked in the round.  Super easy and mindless knitting. I'm over half way done with it and can't wait to see the final results.  Especially because this yarn had previously been tied up on another project that just wasn't coming together like I wanted it to.  I finally decided to scrap it and create another cowl that I could put to use instantly.

Knit one, purl one, over, and over, and over...

New Year, Blog Goals

I’m back to the blogging world! I needed to give myself a few days in the new year to get settled back into work and my regularly scheduled dance classes.  Work didn’t disappoint and I’ve been busier than ever!  However, I’ve had some time to think about the direction of the blog and my goals for the new year.

First things first: craftiness!  I really want to focus on all crafty activities this year.  I have a tendency to dive deep into one type at a time, leaving the rest to collect dust.  I need to work on this!  So here are my crafty blogging goals for 2011:

1.  A minimum of one garment per month. I was averaging a bit more by the end of 2010, but because of this my other crafts suffered. I definitely want to continue making clothes, but I’d also love to sew some other things (such as a new quilt or coverlet for our bed).

One of my quickly multiplying vintage patterns. 
They're like gremlins in water...

2.  Continue to develop my sewing skills by trying more advanced techniques.  Not only do I want to continue making garments, but I need to work on some more advanced projects.  I’d like to start the Ceylon dress by Colette patterns, and some more vintage patterns in more complicated designs.  I’m ready to take on the challenge!

3.  Work on my yarn stash and utilize some of the amazing patterns at my fingertips.  I have some great patterns saved on Ravelry, and some would be really quick, de-stashing projects.  I would like to work on both knitting and crocheting with things like more cowls, fingerless gloves, maybe another pair of legwarmers, and yes, that first sweater!

4.  Count off my completed cross stitch patterns! I have about three patterns that I’m working on simultaneously right now.  I’d like to finish at least two of them before starting another.  I did order some great kits and patterns, so I’ll be set for a while but I won’t finish any of them if I just keep starting new cross stitch patterns.

A project that I would love to start on...

5.  Last, I'd love to make some cross stitch patterns.  In my hunt for dancing patterns, I've found a big shortage in the Irish and Scottish category.  I'm hoping to try my hand at cross stitch patterns in some dance designs.

One of the few Highland dance pattern collections I've found.

I think these are pretty manageable goals.  I hope to still participate in other blogs, such as Sew Retro (when relevant), but I don’t want to stretch myself too thin.  I’m working on some other personal goals and want to make sure things are reachable.  Regardless, I’m excited for what 2011 brings!