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!

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!

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!

January - Drawing to a Close

I've been a bit under the weather for the last week and busy wrapping up all my January projects. At some point mid-month, I was approached with 3 or 4 offers for new jobs or projects, and I took them all on.

Lesson learned: you do not have to say yes to everything. 


I did, however, finish up a ton of felt brooches and list them in the shop:

I've been working a lot on my photography, and I feel like I've definitely improved in the last 6 months, but I would love some input. Are you drawn to a clean, white background when shooting photos of your work? Or do you prefer to experiment with colors and textures?

Valentines! Or... Anti-Valentines

Yesterday I listed a ton of Valentines in my Etsy shop. 

However, let's face it - Valentine's Day is kind of dumb, right? I mean, yes, it's sweet to celebrate love, etc, but shouldn't you do that every day of the year? Plus sometimes you're just not feeling up to it. 

Which is why these are my new favorite:

A bloody arrow through the heart. That's more like it. 

All of these are available in the shop.

Meghan's hat & mittens

When my family came to visit for Thanksgiving, my sister wore a hat I knit her for her birthday in January 2009. I only had one measly WIP picture of the hat, and asked her to take some more of her modeling it.

She agreed, but told me, "I need some mittens to match!" I asked her what kind she wanted - gloves, mittens or fingerless gloves?

She responded that she would like the kind of mittens where the top folds over so they can be fingerless gloves. Otherwise known as the most difficult type of mittens. 

I started with a pattern that matched her hat - BonBons - and modified it. I made the cuff longer, closed the thumb and added the flap over the fingers. I winged it with the flap, picking up stitches on the back of the hand and using even decreases with the cable pattern. There's a loop at the top so they can button back to the wrist.

The hat, by the way, is the Slouchy Copy Cat and both are knit in Wool-Ease.

So it only took two years, but now she has a matching set!

escape!

So as soon as I came back from "Christmas break," I jumped right into rehearsal for a new show. It's a new original musical called "Escape from the Haltsberg Boys' Choir," and I'm playing in the band. 

What am I playing? My accordion, of course. 

Can you see me on the left, bent by the weight of my giant accordion? Don't feel too sorry for me - I only come on stage for about about 5 minutes, and the rest of the time I sit in a chair off stage. This is my first public accordion performance, and it's been quite the learning process. Video soon!