Be My (Knit) Valentine

I realize this is a few days late, but I thought it'd be fun to have a Valentine's Day themed post here.  There are so many cool ideas for Valentine's Day knit projects that I just wanted to share some of my favorites!

Valentine Mug Cozy Knit Pattern XO (source: ravelry, $5.00)
 This mug warmer pattern is so cute!  I wish I had found something like this to knit for a friend prior to the holiday.  Oh well, next year... Or maybe I'll just have to make one for myself! ;)

"Be My Valentine" Flirty Fingerless Gloves (source: ravelry, $5.00)
These are just too cute.  I've noticed more and more people wearing these fingerless gloves lately, and this is a very fun Valentine's twist on the idea.

 

Love My iPad Case (source: red heart, free)

And last, for you crochet folks out there, this is a very cute iPad case pattern.  I'm still not skilled enough with crochet, but hopefully some of you readers are and can take advantage of this free pattern!

 

Happy Belated Valentine's Day to all my readers!  Thanks for reading!

New Year Catch Up

It has been quite some time since I posted here.  The holidays were very busy and I also caught a couple colds both during and just after the break, so I've been resting (and knitting) a lot.

I spent most of my time finishing up orders and gifts for family and friends, but I found some time to enjoy other hobbies during the holidays and just after the new year as well... Here's a little peek into what I've been up to since Thanksgiving...

 Made my first pair of potholders for my grandparents

 

Drank a lot of hot cocoa, especially ones with giant marshmallows and brown sugar :)

Made more lussekatt buns for St. Lucia's Day...

...while knitting of course :)

Tried making a gluten free mac and cheese for my roommate

Celebrated 2014!

 

Ran my second race...with a very slow pace...

...and this was waiting for me at the end :)

Happy 2014! Here's to another fun year!

Baby Bear Hats

Hey all!

Been crazy busy with life and knit projects for my Etsy shop and work's craft fair.  As I mentioned in my last post, I have several items that are now for sale on my online shop, so feel free to check those out!

In the meanwhile, I had some hats commissioned by a co-worker and I managed to take some photos real quickly before handing them off to her.  Sorry for the horrible phone photo quality, but it's all I could manage.

 

They're for two toddler boys, so hopefully they like them :)

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers!  I am thankful for all of you!

For Sale SNEAK PEEK!

Here they are!  Some of the projects I've been working on that will soon be for sale on my Etsy shop and/or my work's craft fair.  Had a blast taking photos with the lovely Sam Samuels today.  You can check out her blog here.

Enjoy! :)

City Knitting

Sometimes it's fun to get away from the usual knit spots and get some fresh air.  Since I live near San Francisco, I especially love the idea of knitting by the water and really giving the project a bit of life and a better story.  Here's a picture from a recent excursion.

In other news, I'm getting ready for some holiday sales.  I've already had a couple commissioned projects, and other than those, my main focus has been getting ready for my work's craft fair.  I'm also hoping to get some items on my Etsy shop soon.  It's just a matter of setting aside the time to create the listings...

To the left is a fun glove project I just sort of whipped up this past weekend.  I still need to finish the second glove, but the first one turned out pretty nice:

I have several other ideas in mind, like some knit boot cuffs or ankle warmers.  Since I've started wearing more boots again for the cooler weather, I wouldn't mind having some myself! :)

Well, thanks for reading.  Hope everyone has a great Halloween coming up!  Here's a fun idea for a Halloween themed project: knit candy corn!  You can find the pattern at Purl Bee.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Knitting Therapy

When life gets fuzzy and complicated, what do you do?  You knit.  A lot.

There's something really therapeutic about knitting, which I'm sure all knitters have discovered to some degree.  The methodical movement and structured creativity provides a nice outlet and consistency when the rest of life is all over the place.  I always think of that one moment from Julie & Julia:

“You know what I love about cooking? I love that after a day when nothing is sure (and when I say nothing, I mean nothing), you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. That’s such a comfort.”

Granted, that was about cooking, but you get the idea.  You can know that when you knit two together and do a yarn over, it will have created a lovely eyelet hole that's visible just after knitting the next row.  

That's what I was doing for the last week.  My knitting friends and I have been passing around a pretty cowl scarf pattern with random rows of eyelet holes.  I took some time to use some merino wool that's been sitting my stash for the last year and made myself a nice warm infinity scarf (after modifying the original pattern to make it longer) for the coming cool weather.  Here's a picture of it in it's "in progress" form.  It's finished now and I've already worn it once to many compliments.  I'm currently making another in a different yarn and color.

You'll notice I was also enjoying a chai tea latte.  Yep, when life is crazy, there's nothing better than a good knit project and a warm cup of coffee or tea.

Here's to the busy holidays, lots more coffee, and lots more knitting!

Side Income

While knitting is one of my favorite hobbies, it's also a side income for me.  I love making stuff in my spare time and often make more than I'll probably ever use or give away.

Every year, my company hosts a craft fair in December.  I've participated the last three years or so and it's generally been a nice source of extra gift spending money for me around the holidays.  With it already being October (crazy!), I've started working on some projects to sell come December.  I'm also probably going to help with organizing the event, so you know, double the work this year.

I've already got a few items that I'll either save for the craft fair, or eventually post on my Etsy shop.  Here's a look at a pair of my finished gloves.  I also sell the pattern for these on both Ravelry and Etsy.

Currently, I'm finishing up a couple last personal projects and then it's going to be all "for sale" goods!  It's that time of year, folks!