3KCBWDAY4 - A Knitter or Crocheter For All Seasons?

A Knitter or Crocheter For All Seasons?

As spring is in the air in the northern hemisphere and those in the southern hemisphere start setting their sights for the arrival of winter, a lot of crocheters and knitters find that their crafting changes along with their wardrobe. Have a look through your finished projects and explain the seasonality of your craft to your readers. Do you make warm woollens the whole year through in preparation for the colder months, or do you live somewhere that never feels the chill and so invest your time in beautiful homewares and delicate lace items. How does your local seasonal weather affect your craft?

 I live in a four seasons kinda place. And when its the cold seasons... it seems brutally cold! Although some of my more northern family would laugh at me for saying that, but its all relative! I've been knitting for a little over 12 months now and didn't start off knitting for summer. I started by knitting baby blankets. Cause that's the beginner kind of thing to do. As fall came I realized I wanted to knit people Christmas presents. And cowls, snoods and neckwarmers were the next easiest thing to do.

Oh and dishcloths.
So I knit up a few cowls. Christmastime is Wintertime. And Wintertime lasts til... uhm, this week here apparently. So that's good use of winter knits. And I was thinking of putting down the needles for summer and sewing instead.

Say What??? What was I thinking? luvinthemommyhood started a Tops, Tanks & Tees KAL and heck yes, I could knit myself something to show off this summer? And when people asked, "Did you knit that yourself?" I could proudly say, "Yes!" (Cause for years the answer has been, "No, my lovely mother did." And I want to say, "Yes, I did!"

So I'm knitting Coachella and can't wait for it to come together.
I'm only a few rows past this photo where I stopped to try it on and find out that the neckline hangs really l o w on me.
Saucy!

So all that to say, I'm probably going to be a seasonal knitter.

3KCBWDAY3 - My Knitting Hero

3KCBWDAY3 - My Knitting Hero

Blog about someone in the fibre crafts who truly inspires you. There are not too many guidelines for this, it's really about introducing your readers to someone who they might not know who is an inspiration to you. It might be a family member or friend, a specific designer or writer, indie dyer or another blogger. If you are writing about a knitting designer and you have knitted some of their designs, don't forget to show them off. Remember to get permission from the owner if you wish to use another person's pictures.

Well, I wouldn't even have had a thought about knitting if it weren't for my mom! Knitting since she was about 14 (give or take, she can't exactly remember) she can whip up a garment while I visit. But now she's always too busy visiting with her grandchildren. LOL

But honestly, my mom has always been willing to knit anything I want and make modifications for me. Even the time I found a gorgeous men's wool leaf pattern sweater kit at a show. I was in high school and had my own cash to buy the kit. Any kit I wanted! The style was baggy sweater, pinned jeans. I'm tall but skinny. So this sweater needed to be modified from a men's small to a woman's small. She did it. Without a word. And this is one example of many.
"Mommmm! Can you knit this?"
"Do you think you could make my friend a baby sweater? They're due in June. Sex unknown."
"Mom, I bought this knit pattern book. Can you knit your grandson this sweater in it?"
"Can you knit this but make the sleeves shorter and the neck higher?"

Years of me asking her to knit things up. Never a complaint. Always with a smile. On top of that she was loves knitting stuff she picks out herself for the grand kids. Especially when my little guy came 9.5 weeks early. My mom knit the tiniest little cap and sweater for him!

And when my daughter was born early too, oh the tiny gorgeous girly sweaters. I remember when they were too big for her and now I can't believe that she was ever that tiny!

Then there's the help she is more than willing to give. Skype when I have a problem or even sending me packages of needles she no longer uses. Or random knit help books she finds that I might be able to use. Uhm... yes, please!

So now a gallery of knits of the knitting my mom has done for me and my kids. There's a lot. But I love them all too much to leave any out. Of course all the knits from my youth are buried.

Adorable - If I do say so myself. These really are some of my fave pics. I wish I had a better photo of the striped one. Its still my absolute favourite ever ever ever.






Sweaters for my son. Note the adorable Elephant buttons on the royal blue hooded one.



Baby girl is still wearing the purple top left sweater, but check out those tiny sweaters! I should have took 'scale' photos so you'd understand just how tiny. The sherbert kimono sweater is my fave!



My stuff! Fingerless gloves, Celtic cashmere lined mitts (love), big fluffy warm mitts and a scarf she knit me from a skein I fell in love with years ago. It was super expensive but I could afford it back then!

And now here are some current kid stuff from Nanny.



Snuggled in her sweater and blanket knit by Nanny! (I purchased the hat, it was too cute to pass up)

 

She's still not tall enough but soon soon...



Love the Northern Ontario feel of this one.

One that I had my mom knit up from a book I found.

So there you have it. My mom is My Knitting Hero.
I love you, mom! x0

Kreativ Blogger! Oh my!

What a huge compliment! Pearls Toronto has nominated me for a Kreativ Blogger award.

The amazing thing about this is that I get to talk about other blogs that I enjoy, which I've been meaning to do for awhile now. I'll start with Pearls Toronto. We met at the grocery store. Her and I bonded over some celtic knitted mitts from my mom and voila! A local knit pal was made. She's funny and uber talented and has great energy. Pop over and check out her blog. You'll see exactly what I mean.

Now my part in this is that I share 7 random things about myself.

1. I've only been knitting for a little over a year which is shocking since my mom has been knitting since before I was born and its always been around me. But forced to put my feet up before my daughter was born last year I decided to do something productive with my time and knitting helped fill that creative bug in me.

2. I. love. music. I always have to have some on in the background. Its hard when you have children though as it turns into "Songs for Toddlers". I used to go to concerts 6 times a year and discover new music. And now a tiny part of me is happy to be back at work 9-5 because I can listen to my music all day!

3. I love all Jim Hensen creations. We grew up on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show and any other Hensen production. And now that I have children I have introduced them to it. Well, my son who's 3.5 years can identify them. The baby girl at one year is still having trouble saying Rainbow Connection but I'm working on it!

4. I've made Thursday night my Yoga night. I found a great session at the local community centre with an amazing instructor. One and a half hours just for me and my body. I've fallen asleep twice during the relaxation now. I'm a light sleeper so that's pretty huge.

5. I'm a mom. This is not random if you know me, of course. But pre-kids I used to worry about taking care of them and being responsible. You know, like feeding them properly, teaching them to be nice, not losing them in public places. But now I just feel they're an extension of me and its an awesome feeling.

6. I live downtown Toronto. I love it, I've grown accustom to it. Queen West is my backyard to stroll and pop into shops is so fantastic. Stop for a drink. Shop. You know... But, I want to live outside the city. Have a house where I can sit on the porch and watch the kids play in the yard after dinner. Have some fruit trees. Smell the blossoms. Where in winter time we can make snow angels more than once a year.

7. I'm sarcastic.

Now for my favourite part. To introduce YOU to 5 Blogs that I follow and love. For me these are blogs that have inspired me and reminded me that being creative is a part of me and no matter how I go about it that I need to feed that part of me.
In the order in which I stumbled upon them.

1. 1funkyknitwit
This absolutely funky woman not only knits up a storm and does test knits, but she dyes and spins her own yarn. She has an amazing sense of humour and has been so supportive of my knitting from the very beginning. If I lived in Australia... I'd track her down and soak up all her knowledge.

2. Groovy Moments
I actually know Groovy Moments personally but didn't know she had a blog until a mutual friend pointed it out. A thrifter who loves to upcycle things, a sewer, a traveller and a mom, I love following her adventures. Her and her husband recently took their two small boys on a 3 month trip across the ocean! I love her Soulemama Moments. Janie's also been another cheerleader in my adventures in blogging.

3. Luvinthemommyhood
After reading just one post you will immediately feel at home with Shannon. She's open and warm and her creative soul is overflowing all the time. From her knitting to sewing to photography you will know she's a person you want to hang around (if I didn't live across the country...). She always has amazing KAL's going on, including the one I'm doing now. Oh and tutorial's, free patterns, giveaways... she just doesn't stop.

4. Hey! Jen Renee
You know when you don't even remember how you found someone but it really doesn't matter? Hey! Jen Renee is a stylin' mama with loads of creative juice. A graphic designer? Enough said. She takes amazing photographs, has great craft ideas (just check out her daughter's 5th Birthday invites!), she knits as well as designs (I knit her GAP-tastic recently as you may recall) and had the best maternity wardrobe I've ever seen... She rocks. If I'm forgetting something its because she has such a diverse blog that there's always something changing up.

5. Jane Richmond
I was lead to Jane through a luvinthemommyhood giveaway. I won free patterns from Jane's line and now I'm addicted to her patterns. She designs my kind of stuff! I'm now following her blog and its not just knit talk either. But when it is she is extremely informative. Her photos are always fab (she's her own gorgeous model) and I feel like I can feel the west coast through her posts!

Well, there ya go. I hope I gave you inspiration to go and visit each and every blog I mentioned and give them a spin for yourself (including Pearls Toronto who nominated me). I could have listed more but the list was only 5! When I have about 15 I follow, that's hard.

3KCBWDAY2 - Photography Challenge Day

Photography Challenge Day

Today challenges you to be creative with your photography, and get yourself in with the chance to win the photography prize. Taking interesting photographs in this instance isn't about flashy cameras or a great deal of technical know-how, it's about setting up a story or scene in a photograph and capturing something imaginative. Your photograph(s) should feature something related to your craft, so that might be either a knitted or crocheted item, yarn, or one of your craft tools. One example of setting a scene would be to photograph a girl in a knitted red cape walking through the woodlands with a basket of goodies, as in the Red Riding Hood tale, or you might photograph a knitted gnome hiding among the flowers in your garden. Photo editing is permitted for competition photos. 

So... I'm new here and little did I know that the week's challenges were all posted on Eskimimi Makes' blog. 
Duh and Blarg!
But don't worry folks. I'm catching on and can now prepare ahead of time. However, I only noticed this on Day 2 so here I am, scrambling to complete the challenge!


All day at work I was thinking about what my photography story could be. But I really had a hard time. My mind kept getting distracted by a few facts. 
One is that most things I've knitted have been gifts and no longer live in my home. 
The second was that the two items in my house I did knit were for my 1 year old daughter who does not sit still for the camera.
Thirdly, was that I would have about 2 hours of natural light before the kids had to go to bed, in the room where the last rays of light hit best in our house. And the first hour and a half of that is taken up by dinner and clean up. None of this would be a problem if I hadn't returned to work until next week but we can't be too picky I guess. 


Now have you had enough of listening to my excuses?
Here's my photo.
I started knitting for my kids so I wanted to show a picture linking the two.

Knitting & Crochet Blog Week:3KCBWDAY1 Colour Love

I came across this event and thought... hmmm... with an actual specific topic I might get more than one post a week up for... a week.

Here's what today's topic is about...

Colour Lovers

Colour is one of our greatest expressions of ourselves when we choose to knit or crochet, so how do you choose what colours you buy and crochet or knit with. Have a look through your stash and see if there is a predominance of one colour. Do the same with your finished projects - do they match? Do you love a rainbow of bright hues, or more subdued tones. How much attention do you pay to the original colour that a garment is knit in when you see a pattern? Tell readers about your love or confusion over colour.

My first project was a baby blanket. Not for anyone in particular but a very easy pattern my mum sent along with the yarn. It was soft and cuddly but extremely warm to have in my lap and knit! It was baby blue, a very sweet baby blue.

But I love colour! Almost every project I've knit in the last year has had an injection of colour. The next baby blanket I knit was for our new niece that was born last September. I wanted something unisex (because baby just wouldn't let mama and daddy know their sex) and I wanted colour. The variegated coloured yarn was gorgeous. (First picture below) I'm not entirely happy with the striping it created but I still love that yarn. I have a couple balls left and hope to find a project for it next fall.

I have a love for purples, mustards and olive. That combo (pictured in the sock yarn above) is my dream. Purple. Yummy purple.

The two grey items I knit this year were presents for people who I knew could work the grey in as a neutral.

And then for myself I did a nice ivory neckwarmer.

Quite knowingly I've got quite a bit of coral going on this spring! I love that its the colour this year. Its cheery, it looks good on most people and I just love the yummy yarns I've found it in.

So I kind of jump all over the place with no real trend. But I do take note of the original pattern colour and I've learned that even though I might not always match it, it plays a part in what I do pick.

I admire the brilliant colours that Esimimi Makes has posted. You are automatically happy when you see all those gorgeous knits!

Its interesting to see everyone's style on this post. And I can't wait for the next topic!

Which way do you lean with your colour choices?

The Last Sunday

Today is my last day before I am back at work after a wonderful year of maternity leave. I treated myself to a couple new items to wear back to work and then came home for some family time.

Monday's will return to being MONDAY's.

Never mind how amazing and awesome my place of work is and the people there. But gosh darnit. I'd love to be a stay at home mom. All the constant hugs and crafts and outside time. "Squeeeee!" as they say.

But alas, that is not to be at the moment. Although working where I do and the massive budget cuts upon us, my dream might come true sooner than I think! Then that's a whole other ball'o'wax.

Here's my day in a nutshell.

Adding colour and pattern to my wardrobe.

Salad spinner art. More to come.

Big brother picked these for his baby sister for her birthday last week. But there's not much left in them.

Chasing baby girl around trying to capture her in the dress I knit.

Otherwise a pretty normal day although I just don't want it to end.
The.

Last.

Day.

Lift a glass and cheers to the fantastic, crazy, loud, busy, most awesome year at home with my kids.

pay it forward ~ handmade

I have decided to join in with a wonderful Pay it Forward I found over at Marigold's Loft.

Would you like to play along?

Here are the rules:

1.  I will send a surprise gift to the first three people to comment on this post. The gift will be handmade by me.  It will be sent sometime in the next 365 days. It will be a surprise.  We all love getting surprises in the mail, right?

2. To sign up and receive a gift, you must play along, too. Pay it Forward on your blog, by promising to make a surprise for the first three people who comment on the post.

3. You must have a blog. (That is regularly updated, as I will blog stalk you to find the right little something for you)

4. After commenting here, you must repost this or something similar to your blog in 48 hours.  If not, I will chose the next person who comments…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Admit it.
It sounds fun, doesn't it?
Who doesn't like surprise packages in the mail?
Just make sure I can reach you.

I NOW HAVE MY 3 RECIPIENTS! YAY PAY IT FORWARD!

Bonnie's Got Style

Just re-watched Bonnie & Clyde.

I need this sweater tee.

Love
Love
Love

The entire look actually.

How To Wind a Ball of Yarn

You know that moment when you've run out of the ball of yarn you're working with and don't have a new one wound and ready to go to continue?

Blarg!

My Coachella for the luvinthemommyhood KAL is coming along now. *happy dance* And yesterday in the middle of a great run (baby is napping) BAM. I came to the end of the ball.

My thoughts. "What? How the? oh right. Ach. I don't have time to hand wind a new ball the baby is going to wake by then!"

But what else are you going to do but get winding. Is that the proper term? I could Google™ it but I'm too lazy.

So I quickly wound one with my fancy 'spinner' and 'winder'.
Here's the set up.

You're jealous, aren't you?

GAP-tastic Cowl

Do you know Hey! Jen Renee?

She's another soul who loves to knit. And she's so stylin'!

She posted about her redesign about a cowl she'd seen at the GAP and I bookmarked it knowing exactly who I'd make it for. I've got a good friend who moved to the UK last year and between the weather over there and her style I knew this was for her. With a Birthday in April I knew I'd be pushing the use of it in this current year but I did it anyway.

GAP-tastic Cowl

I did make an error though. I somehow used super bulky instead of bulky. I blame the wording on the yarn package. *wink* So its a lot longer than what is intended but it still works.

It finally arrived to her today. I was scared a postal servant had decided to make it theirs I tell ya!

It was easy to knit up and has a great look to it! Even when its way bigger than it should be.

Look at the length on this sucker!

Spray What?

Sick days can be tough when you haven't planned for a day at home. My son does daycare every morning of the week. My baby girl naps during this time. I knit or clean.
... Let's be real. I clean if I really have to. I'd rather knit or craft or nap.

So when my son has been up all night sick all over his bed multiple times he stays home and we are all pooped! And as much as throwing on a movie would be the easy way out I make us all work for it first. Today I decided to try something I've been dying to try for a while.

Water colour spray art!

I had just picked up plastic table cloths at the dollar store for my daughter's Birthday party last weekend and we didn't used them. So I draped it on the floor and taped it up the shelf vertically as well. You can never be too safe! (Yeah, he still sprayed the shelves and contents a bit.) *sigh* I do blame myself. He's that Go Big or Go Home kinda kid.

So here's what I did although I'm not sure any of it was more than guessing. Do not hold me responsible for any water colour spray art that happens in your home. Unless its a huge success!

I bought full on water colours. The expensive kind. Small tubes, a 15 pack. (You might be able to just use food dye.)
I squeezed a bit into a spray bottle knowing I'd only put in about 1" of water. Just made my own ratio.
With water and paint in the bottles I lidded them and gave them each a vigorous shake.
The canvases are from the dollar store. Good ole' dollar store.

All set up and ready to go.

We also had these little orange wheels that were part of a kids meal from a fast food chain.
There. I said it.
Sometimes we buy our little guy chicken pieces at the drive through. But I need to clarify, 'real' chicken pieces, not from the place that just puts chicken parts in a blender and calls it chicken nuggets.
Anyway, that's another topic.

We placed the wheels on the canvas in various spots for some design flair. Try explaining why not to move them to a 3.5 year old.

Some spraying action going on.

Also try to explain to a 3.5 year old to spray and not make lakes on the canvases.

 I now wonder if I could have added corn starch to thicken it a wee bit?

 Once done I put the left over colours in bottles for future use. All those leftover NICU milk bottles do come in handy!

He picked his colours and yes, one of them was black. It added a nice contrast in the end!

Do not remove the wheels until you know your canvas is completely dry. As you can see below some were removed too early and just left large blobby circles. Unless that's your thing.

Our finished canvases!

I love the detail it gave.

And to be honest, I think I'm going to hang these in their room. Not only are they funky and the same colour palette but its my son's very own art!

I also might have him do a bit more spraying now that they're dry, for a layered effect and to make the colour pop some more. Maybe.

And the movie he got to watch afterwards?
Labyrinth.
Its one of his favourites right now.

Third Times a Charm

I hope I'm on my way this time.

After two cast ons and one small frog of a row last night I have been able to move on to working the upper body of the tank.

It helps when you use the needle sizes in proper order according to the pattern.
My second error.
My first?
I can't even remember anymore.

But now I've gotten far enough into it to feel some progress is happening.

Last night my mum helped me via Skype. I was totally lost at the racerback separation. Thank goodness she got me straightened out. I was going banarnars!

Its hard to put the knitting down at night and go to bed. Once I get into it I just want to plow through!

Knit Along! Another Knit Along!

So I stalk this blog luvinthemommyhood. Shannon inspires me to get my knit AND sewing on. This spring she's got a Tops, Tanks & Tees KAL (you will see the button on the right) going on and I've joined. Cause you know what? I need to knit something for myself! And I've been eying a tank pattern since last summer.

I went and bought myself this gorgeous bamboo silk yarn at my LYS. I even found it in the sale section!

Ella Rae Bamboo Silk "orange"

Its a bit more orange as this picture shows.

And I'm going to knit Coachella.

This amazing drapey tank top.

I'm going to make it longer for so many reasons that need not be explained. But otherwise. I hope this yarn makes a great Coachella!


So I've done a couple swatches. Adjusted my needle size to suit and have cast on. Problem one. The one set of circulars I bought in bamboo are the 6mm I need for this project. The blunt tips and the fine yarn do not get along. I got very mad at my project this afternoon. I also have to knit the first 5 rows into the back of each stitch which is trickier and a pointier needle tip could really help right now. I'm so frustrated but dealing.


Next issue. My project is too small for the circular so I have to knit in Magic Loop method, which is fine except the stitches won't slide on and off the needle nicely. And this yarn is so deliciously soft its slippy!
*insert baby cry here*
BLARG! (I say that a lot. Can you tell I'm a Tina Fey fan?)
Or am I doing something wrong? I'm starting on the neckline so maybe things will change but it calls for circulars and my ends won't reach so...


Anyway, I shall persevere. I really want to have this tank. Summer is coming!


Stay tuned for updates... if you dare.

Eggcellent

How is it crafts with kids always involve paints and dyes and all things that can stain? I had a heck of a time wrangling the 3.5 year old while the almost one year old had a bad day with teething. Poor girl. But we made it through with no major set backs. Honestly. How did not one dye cup get tipped over? The boy can't make it through dinner without an accidental spill of 1/4" of milk in his cup. I am shocked yet thrilled. And I do love him. But darnit. He's a klutz! But as I said, moot point. We survived. Nothing spilled and only one egg got cracked at the very end when my son was showing off the eggs to daddy. And baby girl sat in the high chair watching it all go down. She however, was not impressed she was not a part of it. Loaded up on infant Tylenol and a teething cookie in hand, she would screech out at us with her outstretched hands wanting to play. If I were a Montessori mom, I'm sure I would have found a way for her to be involved but I barely got by with the one kid handling eggs and dye!

On with it.

We used a kit from last year that hadn't gotten used. But then this year I found all these fabulous ways to naturally dye eggs and I so wanted to do that instead. The "wasteful" fairy on my shoulder made me use the kit though and I'm okay with that. Having said that, the box that turns into a tray for drying is USELESS. Look at this! Am I alone here? Why bother? There has got to be a better way.

I convinced my son to allow me to do 3 eggs.
I wanted to do more, of course, I LOVE dying eggs, but apparently its about the kids. Pffffttt.
I also convinced him to try things like striping with elastics. But explaining how to layer colours is another thing so some worked well and some came out solid colour in the end. And that's okay! It really was fun.

Some vinegar added to the colours helped the colour *pop* a bit more and I also added some food dye drops where I had a matching colour. And for some more *pop* we dyed eggs twice.

Our fancier eggs.

Our gorgeous solids. *sigh* I love Easter Eggs

And then the boy insisted on rubbing on the decals that came with the box and they were suddenly transformed to the trashiest ho-ed up eggs you've ever seen. No photos available. I find them offensive.

Now the eggs are all hiding in various nooks around the living space waiting for a little man's first Easter Bunny egg hunt. I love the moments having kids brings back into my life. I get to relive it all. Don't worry. I do remember. Its about the kids.