Snowflakes and colour work

I've weighted out the pros and con's of doing colour work and have come to a conclusion...it's one big pain in the butt! I've mentioned in a previous post that I'm working on a hat for my mom and I'm doing a snowflake pattern in it, and all that got me through the colour section was that I knew how much my mom would love it. If it wasn't for that I don't think I would have done the snowflake section; at least not if it was just for me.

Well...now that I'm done my rant, I'm writing this to show off my colour section of the hat...he he As mush as I complain I have to say I am proud of what I've accomplished.

I had my doubts on how they were going to look, because it didn't look good; I even contemplated pulling it out and doing something else. But I figured I may as well wait until the whole thing was done and then decide. I'm glad I didn't rip it out, because I think they're cute. : )

I'm hoping to get the hat done by tomorrow, fingers crossed...I was going to post a picture of another colour work project I did but it's already wrapped and under the tree. : p

12 More Sleeps and I still have knitting to do!

It's crunch time, seeing how Christmas is less than 2 weeks away...and for some unknown reason I've decided to start some new projects to use as gifts. I made myself a hat with a brim not too long ago and my mom is in love with it. I got the original patter from the book "Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders" and decided to tweak it a bit. She has a love for anything pink, snowflakes. So, I thought why not incorporate those things into the hat...

I did a random 'snowflake' search on the web and found this free chart pattern. I decided to use two of these to do a single ribbon around the hat. The main colour is just a plain white, and the snowflakes are a beautiful cobalt blue. I'm finding the yarn a bit on the thin side, even though it's the right gauge so I'm going to line the inside of the hat with a nice fleece.

I've never been good at reading a chart, I even have a row counter app on my Ipod because I easily forget what row I'm on or where in the chart I'm at. So, I'm currently in the process of writing out the chart for myself, I figure it'll help keep mistakes from happening. Well...that's what I'm hoping for.

But for now it's off to lay on the couch, and drink some tea. I'm fending off a cold right now...which I guess merely gives me more reason to sit around and knit. :p

Christmas Cards



You fill a bag with candy and place inside.

 I've been back home in Ontario for over a month now, and it's been really nice not to have any obligations like a job or anything else. I've been able to help my Grandma out whenever she needs it, and go on trips with her; I have to say this looks to be one of the best Christmas' for me. My Grandma is like a second mom to me, and it's scary coming to the realization that she's not going to be around forever...so I've thoroughly enjoyed this time.

With that being said, lately my mom has been coming up with little things I can do around the house, like decorating, baking, cleaning; just to name a few things. But this week I had a really fun task to do...Christmas card making! I absolutely love making cards, I can't explain why without sounding a tad bit crazy but I just love it. She gave me a template of another card of what she wanted, and we went from there. This merely gave me another reason to take a trip to the most wonderful store in the world...MICHAEL'S! Not that I think you should have to have a reason to go there, it just makes it easier to explain to your husband why you bought what you did... : p

My mom is a very matchy matchy person, she doesn't like to mix a lot of colours together, which made this kind of hard as I'm the complete opposite. I love to through in different colours, textures and hues together. But together we got some really good items to make the cards, and they're not like the original at all. 



I'm an embossing God...I kid, I kid. : p




An up close look at the details...



I got my sparkle...in ribbon.




My mom loved them so much she wants me to do some more for her work but in red, which I had to say I'm excited about. I think I'll post a step-by-step look at how I made them, not that I think it's that hard to figure out...but meh.

I'm off to listen to more Christmas music and to do some knitting, I had an idea for a new cowl...yes I'm addicted to them lately. : )

Home - A cowl pattern

Alright so I've been working all week on a cowl, and I'm proud to say it's done. : ) I bought this yarn that is so soft and chunky, I love it. The yarn is by Loops and Threads called Country Loom in colour Driftwood (01165). Since I have yet to figure out how to use windows word I decided to just type it on here...without further a due, my pattern. : )

Home - Cowl

Yarn: Loops & Threads Country Loom, colour Driftwood. 1 Ball
Needles: 8mm / 11US
**I'll admit I didn't care about the gauge, but the yarn itself has a gauge of 11stitches and 16 rows to create 4x4inches, using a 9mm needle.**

Using 8mm needles cast-on 28 stitches, working back and forth proceed with pattern bellow...

Row 1: K4, P4 - repeat to last 4 sts. K4
Row 2: P4, K4 - repeat to last 4 sts. P4
Row 3: K4, P4 - repeat to last 4 sts. K4
Row 4: P4, K4 - repeat to last 4 sts. P4
Row 5-6: KNIT
Row 7: P4, K4 - repeat to last 4 sts. P4
Row 8: K4, P4 - repeat to last 4 sts. K4
Row 9: P4, K4 - repeat to last 4 sts. P4
Row 10: K4, P4 - repeat to last 4 sts. K4
Row 11-12: KNIT

Repeat rows 1-12 until piece measures desired length, then loosely cast off. I did 8 repeats for my cowl. Once you cast off sew cast on and cast off ends together and ENJOY!

Here's a close up of the stitch pattern, the picture's not that great; kinda hard to do it own your own with a big honkin' camera. ha ha

Feel free to re-create this pattern, post pictures for me!

**As a disclaimer, I've made this pattern on my own and I have posted the pattern on here because I'm proud to share it. And if you're going to recreate and sell it for profit or for charity all I ask is that you don't pass the pattern off as your own. Thanks.**

Tis the Season

I always tell people my favorite holiday is Boxing Day (Dec. 26). As a shopaholic it gives me such a thrill to be out and around looking for the best deals on items. I love it! But my favorite season is the Christmas season, as soon as November 1st hits I start getting my decorations out, playing holiday music, baking, and so many other things. I still remember making a mess at my Grandmothers baking Christmas cookies as a little girl. And to this day I still take time to go over and make a mess.

And even though I've been home now for almost a month I'm still not in the Christmas spirit...at least not until this morning. I woke up to S-N-O-W! I was so excited, a crisp white blanket has covered the city and it's perked me right up. So, today I've spent the day cozed up on the couch, watching movies and attempting to knit.

I've been wanting to make a cowl for myself, something big and warm to wrap around my neck for the winter. And I've been wanting to make something myself but I have been having the worse time finding a stitch pattern I love. I had this great green yarn that I used for my previous cowl but came to the sad conclusion today that it's not the stitch patterns I'm not liking it's the yarn itself. There's just something about the yarn that's just not what I want. And it's so sad because it's a beautiful, soft yarn.

I'm off to find some yarn more fitting and to make myself a nice big cup of hot chocolate. Enjoy this season and I hope you all have as many happy memories and traditions as I do.

Airplane's and Cowl's

The last couple of day's have been somewhat chaotic for me, first I came down with a cold and to add to it I flew home yesterday. I'm not a big fan of flying you see...as we took off and upon landing I wasn't sure if I wanted to scream or vomit. I even planned on doing some knitting while on the plane, I called ahead made sure my needles wouldn't be considered WMD's and everything. But I ended up distracting myself by renting a movie; which worked, I wont lie. :)

Now that I'm home however, it's so nice! My mom and brother picked me up at the airport, and as we went outside to the parking lot my brother had the nerve to complain about how cold it was...now as someone who has had the heat on since late August, has already lived through our first snowfall, and has been wearing my winter jacket most days I was not in the least bit impressed. We stepped outside and for me it was so warm out it was crazy!! I'm absolutely in shock at how different it is here in Ontario from Northern Alberta. Here, they still have fall! I barely got to experience the season this year, the trees went bare in a matter of a week. Here there are still beautiful leaves on trees and some flowers are still blooming. And the best part, it's sunny before 7 in the morning! My visit home is going to be a very much appreciated one. Especially since I'll being going back to Cold Lake in January and will get to experience -40 or colder temperatures.

Alright, I'm done with my little rant about my trip, I'll continue with some knitting...as I said in my last post I decided to create my first pattern. Well, I did! I'm so very proud of myself, I mean I used a stitch from one of my books but everything else, from the cast on to the length and finishing is all mine.

Sadly, I can only post the pictures of the finished product as Microsoft Word is being stubborn and wont let me edit my pattern....don't you just love Windows 7. So, until I get that worked out here are some pictures of my first pattern, a beautiful cowl. The top is an up close of the cable stitch. I made it from the bottom up but I like the way it looks better flipped.

A New Technique

So, I've been knitting since I was a little kid, I've been lucky enough to have my Grandmother teach me. Over the last couple of years I've become more and more advantageous with my knitting. I've gone from knitting in the round with circulars to cable knitting, colour work, all the way to double pointed knitting. Now for some that may not be a big thing, but for me it has been; all the above have been things I've taught myself from watching videos and books.

And so you may be wondering what is my next step...well that would be designing my own pattern. :) I have the book Vogue Knitting Stitchionary 5: Lace Knitting. I narrowed it down to a stitch pattern, picked the yarn and needles and have casted on.

This will be my first winter in Northern Alberta, and I've been told/warned of how cold it gets here (-60) so thought why not make myself a cowl to keep me warm. Having only 2 places to buy yarn in town (Walmart and Zellers) I'm using my favorite yarn Bernat Satin in Soft Fern. It's soft and will make for a quick knit.

Stay tuned for the results, fingers crossed it'll be nice; and I'll be able to post the pattern.