Sunday, March 25, 2012

The Norie Shetland Hat & Cards!!

A work in progress.

I can't wait until this is finished to post about it. The hat is too fantastic. It's mustard yellow, slouchy and has a beautiful lace pattern. I found it a few days ago while trolling Ravelry and instantly had to buy it once I saw the preview images that went along with the pattern. (Find the pattern here.)

This is what my hat looks like currently, after 4 days of work:


This is what it should like after I'm finally finished.


Needless to say, I'm very anxious to finish. I'm not used to spending so long on one item. The lace repeats and length makes this a bit tiring on my poor fingers, but the end result will be worth it. I'm also thinking that I might pick up this beautiful ice blue yarn from the model picture and knit this hat again.

On another note, I took a break from knitting to finally sit down and make a business card that I can hand out to people who ask (and to slip into gift bags for purchases). I am not very confident in my photoshop skills and I tried to create a card earlier last week, but to my chagrin it did not work very well once I got to the printing stage. So I gave it another try today and I have to say that I am very pleased with the result. It's absolutely perfect and really captures my style.

Aren't they the prettiest? I love them so.

Please note, the facebook page listed on the card doesn't really exist at the moment. It will, very soon, but for now it's just writing on a card.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Cranberry Sauce & Acorn Lace Hat and Mug Cozy

Boy have I been busy lately! I don't think I've stopped knitting these past few weeks. And if I have, it's been to look for new patterns that I'd like to try and to drive back and forth to the city. Due to this busy spurt, I decided to wait until things relaxed a bit to make another blog post but now that it has, I don't even really know where to start. I'm going to stick to jot notes!
  • I wore my Shamrock Headband proudly this past weekend in St. John's and it was a hit! (So was Emily's -- I had made a lighter version for her). Women stopped both of us asking where we got them and we so full of praise when they heard they were hand knit. What a great feeling! A few even asked for my card. Another woman asked if I had a card when I was at East Side Mario's this weekend as well. I really need to get on that!

Even Johnny had to wear the headband for a bit!

  • Finally got to deliver all the headbands and other orders to my customers!
  • I've gotten very crafty with my packaging (gift tags, brown craft bag, tissue paper).

  • Finally got around to making the Cranberry Sauce hat I fell in love with on Ravelry. I used the Fairy Tale yarn from Knitpicks (Bravia Bulky line) and it's so comfy. I think if I make it again, however, I'll add a few extra repeats of the cable pattern to make it more slouchy.


  • My second hat this week was the Acorn Lace Hat that I've been asked to make for my sister's roommate. It turned out lovely seeing as it was the first time I'd babbled in lace work. But again, not as slouchy as I would have liked. The yarn is very stretchy however, so maybe with wear it'll get larger.
Acorn Lace Hat in Black.

  • And my final project this week is the Mug Cozy in Candy Apple Red. I started this last night while teaching a friend how to knit for the first time. I used two strands of the worsted weight yarn, but it got extremely knit after the first few rows. Next time I'll stick to a single strand. Really happy with the result though!

Monday, March 5, 2012

Yarn Stash!

I live in rural Newfoundland. If you've read this blog before, you'll know that. If not, you've learned something new today! Now, I really enjoy life here for the most part, but when it comes to knitting, my choice of yarn is very very limited. I'm stuck with Red Heart or Bernat worsted weight yarn and only select colours. So when I visit the city (St. John's -- the best city in the world might I add), I kind of go a little crazy with my yarn purchases at Michaels, A Good Yarn and Wool Trends. I bought 10 skeins of yarn this weekend alone. I had visited A Good Yarn and Wool Trends for the first time and really couldn't leave without something for my stash. But I got a little out of hand. 

Then, I went to the post office this morning to mail off a few Shamrock Headbands to friends and discovered that my Knit Picks order had arrived! 8 more skeins for my stash. Whatever am I going to do with all this yarn?!
Finally here after 3.5 weeks!!

Jewel tones everywhere
The whole Knit Picks stash
What wonderful colours! 18 skeins of yarn love.

I knew that the first thing I needed to do was organize it all and get it out of the dusty corner in my living room. I have a beautiful 9 section black bookcase in the spare room here so I decided to reclaim a few sections for my yarn. Two sections for worsted weight, one for Bulky and another for Super Bulky. I'm quite happy with the result. 



Now I have to get back to the knitting. All that yarn is yearning to be used!