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!

Knitspiration

Welcome to Fall.

Yesterday was the official first day of the autumn season.  This is a knitter's dream :)

Weather starts cooling down and your warm cozy yarn stash starts to look more and more inviting.  I, like many others, took a major vacation from knitting during the warmer spring and summer months, but now that fall and winter are upon us, it's hard to resist the lure of warm drinks, cozy fires and new knit projects.  To also keep my inspired, someone else just bought my glove pattern on Etsy! :)

I recently spent a long weekend in Seattle, taking in the sights and weather.  It wasn't too rainy, but the weather was definitely cooler and rain was definitely present.  One of my favorite discoveries, however, was the abundance of big cozy sweaters and cute knit hats.  I started feeling rather inspired to pick up my needles and make a hat for myself.  I even found an awesome over-sized sweater pattern online...

Do you need some knitspiration for your fall?  Here are some awesome patterns I've found online!  Happy knitting!

Lucy Hat

Baggy wave-sweater

Mac & Cheese

I recently took a week off from work so I could get some rest and recharge before my next busy work project.  While I was off, I took some time to knit some gifts as well as some personal projects I'll probably keep for myself.  It was refreshing after having completed several items for my etsy shop (those should be up soon!).

But one of my proudest moments of my week off was making mac & cheese from scratch for the first time.  Most of my friends and family know how much I love the creamy, cheesy pasta dish, but many had no idea that I had never made it from scratch!  Recently, my favorite mac & cheese restaurant (Homeroom), released a cookbook with all their recipes!  I bought it right away and the first recipe I tackled was one of my faves: the Gilroy Garlic Mac.

The hardest part about it was the timing.  You have to be really precise with the timing of how long you cook everything.  There is definitely a greater possibility of ruining sauces, textures and consistencies if you don't time it right.  The most difficult timing portion is making the bechamel sauce, which is made with a simple mix of flour, milk, butter, and salt.  But it's all about timing.

For the Gilroy Mac, you simply start with the bechamel sauce and then add in your cheeses and a garlic compound butter (minced garlic mashed together with butter).  I used Pecorino Romano and a five-year aged Gouda for the cheese.  For fun, I also added in some bacon.  Who doesn't love bacon in their mac?

Bechamel Sauce Ingredients (plus some panko and the pasta)

Gilroy Mac ingredients: butter, minced garlic, Pecorino Romano and Gouda

Garlic compound butter

Finished product before adding the panko bread crumbs

For the finishing touch, I added on baked panko breadcrumbs.  To get the toasted look, you actually toast them in the oven for a few minutes before placing them on the mac and putting it all back into the oven.  It was great to pull it out and share it with friends.  Goes great with a white wine.  The authors suggest a chardonnay, but after making the dish twice, I found that any wine of choice seems to go well :)

Finished product prior to serving

Absolutely delicious!

With fall around the corner, I'm looking forward to more warm dishes, coffee and lots more knitting!  Should be a great fall!