more accordion

I've been swamped lately, so  - accordion video!

Bella's Mittens = cozy.

I've been going to town on my selfish knitting. 

Check out my modeling skills with Bella's Mittens. I knit these mid-way through Mary Lou's Christmas Cardi (I needed a breather), and I am sooo happy with them. 

They knit up fast with Lamb's Pride Bulky and they're the perfect thing to wear with vintage coats. Those "bracelet length" sleeves can leave a wrist out in the cold if your mittens aren't long enough!

this dumb Christmas sweater is finally finished...

Ok, I admit it: I made a mistake.

When my great aunt Mary Lou asked me to knit her a cardigan for Christmas on size 5 needles, I should have said no. But I thought to myself "I knit a lot of stuff last year, and I was fine!" ... I also started earlier last year and was much less busy, but I chose to ignore those important factors in favor of proving my knitting prowess ONCE AND FOR ALL ... to no one.

I sewed the buttons on last week and finally finished. I am so so happy to be finished. Nothing has hung over my life like dark cloud as much as this cardigan has.

Mary Lou requested this specific pattern - Season-Spanning Cardi from Knit Picks. I ordered the pattern and yarn as a kit with Knit Picks Shine yarn. I really liked the yarn - a great cotton blend if you're in the market - but I did not like anything else about this project.

The feather and fan part was knit in the round and took for.ev.er. After that the body with the eyelet pattern moved quickly, but there was an error in the pattern, so I had to track down the errata on the Knit Picks website. I know, it happens, but it's extra annoying when you just want to be done.

It's on its way to Mary Lou now, and bless her heart, she understood that it might be a little late. A mere two months late! That's a drop in the bucket, in the grand scheme of things! I hope it fits. 

looong weekend

We took off early last Thursday and had a long weekend at home in Michigan, heading back to Chicago yesterday just in time to avoid most of the blizzard that hit Michigan. 

My cousin got married on Saturday, and a large amount of my huge extended family was there (my dad has 3 brothers and 4 sisters - makes for a lot of cousins). Funny thing - my cousin who got married is named Christopher and he got married to a Katie, and they are the same age as us! 

So, here's Chris & Katie, the not-married:

I always find it difficult to dress for winter weddings, so I've worn this dress to two. It's a vintage dress I found in terrible condition - ripped and broken zipper - and I repaired it and love it now. I am such a fan of the sheer neckline.

I have today off for Presidents day and took a ton of pictures of all the crafty work I've been doing lately, so stay tuned!

an accordion song

ps. it's not a perfect recital. I'm ok with that.

knittin' like the wind

... if the wind could knit, this is what it would look like:

Due to terrible weather and work-related stress, all I have wanted to do lately is knit (and watch Battlestar Galactica). I knit my way through the body of my Beatnik in a fury and I'm all caught up with my knit-along! I just cast on my sleeves and everything.

I was pretty excited to try it on. No matter how careful I am with my gauge and calculations, I am always afraid that my sweaters will be too small. This one looks pretty good, though, and it's a lot longer than I thought it was going to be, since it's advertised as "cropped." If anything, it's bigger than planned, and I think I'm going to make the sleeves a size smaller, since I have tiny toothpick arms.

Of course, I walk away from my knitting chair for 5 minutes, and this is what I come back to. Bunnies love knitting, too!

I cleansed myself... yeah.

After the holidays, I was feeling a little chubby. Now, I think this is pretty normal, but this year the cookies and delicious meals got to me a bit more than usual, and I had gained about 10lbs. Sad.

I am all for making healthy choices with food, however, I really believe that at certain times (holidays and vacation), you should be able to eat whatever you want. Will you pay for it later? Yes, but it's worth it!

So in order to shake the holiday chub, I decided to do a vegan cleanse. I had been reading about the Raw Vegan food movement online for a few months, and I was interested to try it. I found this cleanse online, and decided to slowly cut meat and dairy out of my diet for a few weeks and see how I felt.

Oh, I also got a juicer:

classy "juice glass" aka Stella Pint glass

I could not have done something like this without a home juicer, and I am so glad I bought it. Having fresh juice every day has been amazing. This is my usual morning juice - 1 grapefruit, 1 apple, 2 carrots and ginger root. Delicious!

So today is the last day of this cleanse, and I can definitely say I will never be a Raw Vegan. In fact, I will never even be a vegetarian. I spent most of the cleanse dreaming about burgers and fries, and I think that's not a sustainable way to live. I also didn't feel that great - I felt tired all the time. Had I continued eating Raw, I'm sure this would have evened out, but it wasn't the "rejuvenating" experience I'd hoped for. 

I did, however, lose weight, and I discovered a lot of delicious foods that I didn't think to eat before. So why am I posting this on my mostly-crafty blog? Obviously: to tell you of my love for fresh juice!  And to share. Thanks <3

Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway, and thanks for your well-wishes.

The winner is JamericanSpice!

I'll email you shortly with your discount code and you can get your Mary Janes!

ThunderSnow

If you didn't hear, Chicago had a really crazy storm on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. In addition to about two feet of snow, there was thunder and lightning! After the storm was over, it was fun to watch adorable dogs frolicking in the middle of the street. 

Since I was stranded inside, I was finally able to slog through the last, outstanding Christmas present. Full breakdown on that later. So I finally cast on for my Beatnik! 

Despite the inane-ness of the twisted rib, I find it refreshing to be knitting something for ME. Yup, it's all about me, and that's why I joined the Selfish Knitalong on Allyson's blog. Let the cabling begin!

Year 1 :: CSN Stores Giveaway

Today is the one year anniversary of this little blog. I started a year ago as part of my new years resolution to keep track of my crafty endeavors, and I couldn't be happier with where I am today. Thank you to all of you who have come along for the ride.

And to celebrate: A giveaway!

The lovely people at CSN Stores are once again sponsoring a giveaway for me. If you don't know, CSN Stores is a huge network of online shopping, everything from luggage stores to shoe stores to an entire store devoted to accent chairs. 

Anyone who likes accent chairs is a friend of mine.

To enter the giveaway for a $35 gift certificate to CSN Stores, just comment below and make sure that I have some way to contact you. I'll close the comments on Friday morning and choose a random winner. 

Easy! If you're bored, you can tell me your favorite or least favorite thing about my blog. 

Happy One Year Anniversary!