I got an iphone!

I got a new iphone! I was using the tiniest, oldest flip phone for the longest time, and I finally decided to upgrade to the fancy iphone 4. Although there are many cool features, I love the camera most of all!

I've been playing with camera apps. Any recommendations?

And a picture of my current favorite nail polish - a minty green:

winnerrr!

I enter a ton of blog giveaways, but I rarely ever win - luck of the draw! So when I got an email from Julia & Yuriy of Mr & Mrs. Globetrot, saying that I won their giveaway, I was extra excited. 

Julia & Yuriy took 6 months to travel the world after their September wedding, and they post tons of gorgeous pictures and interesting stories of the people and places they've seen. After taking so many awesome pictures, they opened a store for their prints when they returned to the states - Handle with Care.

They sent me a t-shirt! I love the cute illustration. You can get one for yourself or look at their pretty prints here.

collaboration

I've been busy directing a reading of a new play - Su Sessiz. One of my favorite things about theater in Chicago is the sense of open collaboration between artists. A playwright starts the process, and then the director comes in and adds their ideas, and the cast and the designers add theirs, and finally the audience responds - for better or worse.

This is rare with sewing projects, but lately I've been lucky enough to collaborate with a few shop owners and artists on some new items.

A special wedding owl.

A set of patches commissioned by my life-long friend, Randi, for her etsy shop. Check out her baby hats - so cute. 

A special mustache for Sacred Art's 5th Anniversary. 

A million owl magnets for Sifu Design Studio. 

Beatnik. Finished.

Nothing like terrible weather, the month of February, and a bad cold to help one power through a complicated sweater! At the beginning of February I joined Alyson at the Sweatshop of Love for a knit-along, and it's been pretty awesome. I learned how to knit two sleeves at once - a huge brain-saver! 

The details - the pattern is Knitty's Beatnik, and I knit it with Cascade 220 on size 6 and 8 needles. 

I knit it almost completely according to the pattern, with only one mod - I knit the body in a size Medium, but after seeing how wide it was, I knit the sleeves in a size Small. I have tiny tooth-pick arms. If I had the heart to rip it out and re-knit the body in the smaller size, I would have. Instead I just blocked it aggressively and the fit turned out great!

I'm so happy with how it came out. I LOVE the collar - although knitting 4" of twisted rib is not something I'll be rushing to do again any time soon. Very wearable!

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!