Spring Treasures

I'm so in love with the treasures I've found this week. Although they aren't what I was searching for, they are a welcome addition to my new spring wardrobe. I had originally set out to find a light turquoise cross-body purse and a thin red belt at the second hand shops in town. Although there were none to be found, that doesn't mean I came up empty handed. Feeling a bit dismayed having had a picture in my head of what I was searching for, I continued to browse around for a bit. I'm so glad that I did. First up I found this absolutely delightful head scarf.

I love the mix of turquoise, red, peach and cream, It mixes so well with everything I've been wearing lately. It's taken a bit of self control not to wear it every day.

I also stumbled on to this charming little fake Gucci bag. Yes, I'm under no illusions, and I did not purchase it in the hopes of fooling anybody. In fact, I'm almost didn't buy it. But I just love the color and style so much. For some reason, It reminds me of my Grandmother. I don't know if it's the style, maybe it's the color, maybe it's because I seem to be thinking about her a bunch lately. I don't know the reason but it does, and that makes me smile. Plus, It goes so well with the headscarf, right?

It wasn't till I got home that I realized that these two pieces go smashingly with the corduroy Woolrich jacket that I found last week at Salvation Army. Although the sun is shining more and the days are definitely warming up, there is still a bite in the air. This jacket will hopefully keep me warm until the summer weather is here and my next spring cardigan is off the needles. Here's a little sneak peak at my newest knitting project. I'm getting excited, It's almost done.

It's a Hoot

This weeks "Second-Hand-Made" outfit is really special to me. Not only did I make this amazing cardigan sweater, but I also made and DESIGNED the hat myself. I have also published the pattern as well over on RAVELRY.COM. Here's a closer look.

This cute little "Navy Boat Cap" is inspired by the Garrison caps worn during WWII by out ladies serving in the Navy. With a modern twist, you can decorate it any way you like. Making it perfect to go with a great vintage dress or modern jeans. I'm choosing to pair it with a vintage style pant and cardigan.

The gorgeous feathers on the hat were donated to me by a friend who has a huge parrot named Jake. Jake and I are not close friends, he actually scares the crap out of me, but hey the boy's got pretty feathers.

Next up is my new favorite cardigan. This is my absolute favorite cardigan that I've made so far. Of course, the newest one off the needles is always my favorite, that's the way it works, right? Anyways, the pattern is from "The unofficial Harry Potter Knits" magazine available HERE at amazon.com. However, I used a 50% off coupon at Jo-ann's Craft store, because I'm broke like that. The yarn is Madelintosh Vintage, the name of the color is Manor, it's a beautiful variegated dark turquoise color (I'm totally obsessed with any shade of turquoise lately). I cannot say enough good things about this yarn. It flows through my fingers like butter and has just enough elasticity in it to help it keep it's shape and be super comfortable. The absolute best part of this yarn though is the fact that my mother gave it to me after liberating it from my sisters stash. So, it feels like a family affair.

The body of the "Ginny Cardigan" is a plain stockinette stitch but there is this amazing lace owl panel going down the back. It's a nice little shout out to Harry Potter, but doesn't scream "Hey I'm a major Harry Potter geek" (even though I am). This is the first sweater I've knit that was constructed from the top up, knitting the sleeves separately then joining them to the body and continuing up to the collar. I did learn that my gauge was different on the sleeves compared to the body, and next time, I will go up a needles size for the sleeves. I love the bust shaping and will take this technique with me for other sweaters. The shaping is dependent of actual cup sizing and not just inches which makes it very customizable. The only alterations I made to the pattern were knitting the sleeves two-at-a-time, so that they would both be identical and I omitted the pockets on the front because I didn't think they would flatter my mid-section.

This whole out fit is "Second-hand-made", I found these great high-waist, wide-leg jeans at Salvation Army for $4.00 and was surprised that they were actually from Old Navy. I'm not usually so happy with Old Navy, but these are great and you can't beat the price. The shirt and boots were Value Village finds too. A whole outfit of second hand, and hand made goodness. I love it.

Here's yet another pic of the hat. If you like it and would like to make one you can click that little buy now button below.

Earring Rack DIY

As spring is bring more colors into my wardrobe, I've felt that my jewelry collection should grow too. However, as most of you know, my budget for such frivolous things is rather tight. Thankfully, I'm rather creative and resourceful. I've dug into my old bead stashes, gotten some feathers from a friends bird, and even raided my grandma's old button tin (Oh, Grandma, you are always with me) and have created some great new earrings.

Now I have all these wonderful new earrings and no where to put them all. I think I can fix that. I started off with the top of a shirt box, with the sides folded up all nicely to make a perfect frame and cut out the inside.

Then cut some fabric in to 3in. strips and used some Mod Podge to attach it to the frame.

Next, I took a sheet of plastic canvas, cut it down to size and painted it with a matching color. I love that the paint isn't perfect. It gives it a more shabby chic feel.

After the paint dried, I hot glued it into the frame using the sides of the "box" as a backing.

I then took about 3 feet of ribbon, tied it in a bow with a dot of hot glue on the back for stability, and glued it to the back for a hanger. And ta-da, my new earring holder.

I'm looking forward to wearing all my new earrings and making more as well. Especially now that I have a place to put them all.

Second-Hand-Made

What is "Second-Hand-Made"? It's the term I'm using to describe the outfits I put together that are made up of all or almost all hand-made and second -hand items. Over the last year I have had a major change in my income and a significant change in my body shape that has left me with little to wear and even less money to spend on new clothes. In addition, I have had a lot of spare time on my hands that I have filled with knitting and other crafts. All these factors have led me to develop a wardrobe composed of mainly second hand clothes (either purchased from thrift shops or free) or clothes I have made myself, like knitted sweaters or skirts I've sewn. I'm really loving the "new" style that is starting to develop. So, occasionally I'm going to show off some of these outfits and share some of the details. I hope you enjoy.

This week I attended the annual Denali Center Prom, a formal dance for the residents of Denali Center. This is my absolute favorite event that they do and I love getting dressed up and having a wonderful time with those who call Denali Center their home. This years dress was a score I found at Value Village. It's a 50's style shirt dress in a classic floral pattern of sea-foam and peach. I'm in love with this dress, I think I felt a tear of joy in the dressing room when I tried it on and it fit. Even if the belt is on the very last notch.

I paired the dress with a cute spring cardigan. I'd love to say that I knit it myself, but that would be a lie. Again, this little ray of sunshine came from the thrift shop and has quickly become a staple in my spring wardrobe. It fits perfectly and goes well with jeans, skirts and dresses.

So far this outfit is all second-hand and no hand-made. Well, we have to change that. So lets add some accessories. As you can see, the shoes don't exactly match the dress. In order to help them fit in, I knit up some small bows in a coordinating minty color and attached them to the tops. Ok, that's a little bit better, but something's still missing. Hmmmmmmm, oh yes a hair bow. How could I forget a hair accessory? I ALWAYS have some sort of hair accessory. So, a matching knitted hair bow was added and now it's an outfit that can be called "Second-Hand-Made".

Cupcake, my adorable little fur-baby, and I were both surprised how cute and thrifty this outfit was.

Olympic Sweaters - 3 Sweaters in 2 Weeks

During the Winter Olympics earlier this year I participated in a knitting challenge on Ravelry.com called the Ravellenic Winter Games (yes, that’s spelled right, I checked it 3 times). Once upon a time it was called the Ravelry Olympics but the IOC, International Olympic Committee, threw a huge hissy fit over the use of the word Olympics. I understand their position, but damn, that was surprising to see the IOC be completely up in arms about a bunch of knitters. But I digress. I’m not even going to try to describe all the teams and events and medals and how it’s all run, but I participated on 3 teams. The 3 teams being “Team Knit Knack”, “Team No Spoons”, and “Team Vintage Knits” all of which I got to make avatars for, that was a whole lot of headache and fun put together. For each team I did one project and all 3 projects were sweaters. In the true spirit of the games, I really wanted to challenge myself and 3 sweaters in just over 2 weeks sounded like a big challenge, and oh boy was it ever!

First came the most important sweater for me, a RAINBOW BABY SWEATER. In protest of Vladimir Putins’ anti-gay propaganda bill, which punishes people for homosexual “propaganda” and imposes jail terms and fines on those who offend religious believers, a large group of knitters decided to knit in Rainbows. Oh those kooky knitters!

I giving this to a dear friend who just had an adorable baby boy. I’m still looking forward to a picture of the little bugger in it.

Second sweater on the needles was my MAUDE SWEATER. I had been wanting to make this one for a while but was waiting till I had the right yarn and the right motivation. Thanks to my mom and my sister I got some lovely Sunshine Luxury Sock yarn that would do very well. The color is called Lone Wolf and its a grey/beige color.

I did my research on this one and found that a lot of people were having problems with the pattern with sizing and pattern construction. Thankfully, enough people had taken great notes and worked out the kinks for me. I felt confident that I could get through it without too many problems.

I did make some alterations to the pattern. After the cast on ribbing I changed needle sizes to 3.5‘s instead of the recommended 3.75 as every thing I read said that the sweater runs VERY big in the lace section. This is also why I did a size small (I am by no means a size small). I worked 2 lace repeats then switched to the 3.75 just to make sure that it would fit over my big ta-ta’s. In hind sight, I didn’t need to do that. I also continued the button band all the way down the sweater because I really like the look of a cardigan.

Overall, I’m happy with how it turned out. The top lace part does pucker in the back which is not ideal and the neckband is very wide and doesn’t like to stay in place well but I’m brainstorming on ways to fix that. Considering I made a whole top with sock yarn involving sz.2 needles (think toothpicks) in less than 2 weeks, I think this was a win. And oh my golly, I have 2 more days to bust out one last sweater.

I’m calling this last one the GRAYSON PULLOVER. It’s a modified version of a generic baby sweater made with some sock yarn I was given last year for Xmas. It’s still waiting on a button for the top, but hey baby Grayson won’t be here for a few more weeks.

Wow, 3 sweaters on just over 2 weeks. Believe me, nothing else got done in that time. I think I did the dishes once and missed out on some social events and stayed up way too late a few nights, but I made it.

Here are my medals that I earned:

A Cape full of Cables

It's finally done. I've been working on publishing my knitting patterns for a while now but have not yet had the nerve to try to sell them. Well, I've finally done it. My first knitting pattern, "Amber's Cape" is now for sale HERE in my ravelry store. It's been a long project in the making. It all started with the idea to make something for my daughter for Christmas. I wanted something with cables in it, something in a bulky weight yarn (so that it didn't take forever to make) and needed to be something she could throw on with her already stylish wardrobe. I searched and searched for the right pattern, you know, that one pattern that looks exactly like the image you have in your head. Problem was, it just didn't exist. Or at least, not where I was looking. So, I thought I'd give it a try. So, here it is, and it looks just like it did in my head.

Next I had to test the pattern out. When I design something, I just start knitting and write down what I'm doing as I go. Then I type it up and cross my fingers that it makes sense. That's worked for me so far, but considering that this is the first pattern I'm trying to sell, I figured I should ask for help. All the thanks in the world to my mom for proof reading the pattern to make sure my abbreviations are correct and terminology and format make sense. She also test knit it for me. I think hers came out even better than mine did, but don't tell her that (lol).

Next step, put the whole project on the back burner for months waiting for the stars to align in order to get some decent pictures of the project. Really, schedules didn't match up, not enough day light, too cold, hangover (not mentioning who), and completely unrelated to the hangover cancelation, there was a Jameson issue in which the camera malfunctioned due to having Jameson spilled on it (again not mentioning who). Finally, on a particularly warm day, I grabbed the boyfriend and headed to Alaska Land to take some pictures. I'm very happy with how they came out. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon out in the sunshine with the boyfriend tromping around in the snow. Even if I did get my boots filled with snow.

Sure wish the ice cream shop was open though.

So, If your looking for something fun to knit and want to support a budding designer who's currently unemployed and needs money to buy more yarn, follow the link above and help a girl out.

Ringing in the Knitting New Year

Recently I have received some wonderful yarn as gifts. Both my mother and sister have a great eye for luxury yarns and just love to buy them whenever possible. This always benefits me, especially around the holidays. With a birthday at the end of November, I consider it to be a part of the “holiday season” as well. This year I made out particularly well. For my birthday, my sister sent me a fabulous skein of MissBabs hand-dyed “Yummy” which is their sock/baby weight yarn in “Dark Oak”

. This is an extremely rich very dark purple color. It’s almost black, but when looked at it under natural light, you can see the deep purple variation. Oh oh oh, what shall I make out of this??? Well, nothing for awhile. It was the holiday season and I had about a million other projects going on at one time. So, fast forward to Christmas, and I unwrapped an absolutely stunning skein of green sock yarn from Sunshine Yarns, sent to me by my mother. Just saying that this yarn is green is a horrible injustice to this yarn. The color is called “Jade” and it is such a happy summer green. Now, I wonder what this yarn will become?

At the end of the year a lot of people come up with New Year’s resolutions. I, instead, came up with a few Knitting New Year Resolutions. Three of my resolutions are: 1) Knit more from my stash, focusing on yarn that people have given me, 2) Learn at least one new technique, and 3) Document my knitting better. So, I wanted to start the new year off with a knitting bang. I need to find a project that fits as many of my resolutions as possible. I already have some wonderful new yarn in my stash, now I’d like to find a project I can make with that yarn, that I can learn a new technique with. In order to speed my knitting skills up, I decided, I would like to learn to knit Continental style. I’m an English style knitter or a “thrower”, meaning when I knit, I ‘throw’ the yarn around the needle - wrapped with the index finger of my right hand around the right needle after the stitch has been partially slipped from left to right. I’d like to learn how to be a “picker” which is the continental method where the yarn is ‘picked’ onto the right-hand needle from where it is held out in front of the left-needle. Over the many years I’ve been knitting, I’v been told that ‘picking’ is faster and less strenuous on your hands than ‘throwing’. This is because the hands/fingers are making much smaller movements. So, now I need to find a pattern that can use 2 different colors of sock yarn AND has lots of plain knitting, perfect for practicing a new knitting style.

The idea of knitting a shawl seemed perfect, because when I’m done with it, I’ll have something beautiful to wrap around me that came from BOTH my mother and my sister. With the help of my mother, I decided on the pattern. Well, considering the pattern I ended up knitting was my mothers idea and she paid for the pattern, I don’t know that I actually decided on it. She did. But that’s okay with me. Anyways, lets get on with the show.

Here is my “Eagle Twist”, pattern written by Dennis Marquez. You can find it at my favorite online knitting community Ravelry.com. I did make some altercations to the pattern. Firstly, the pattern calls for a sport weight yarn but I was making it with sock weight. Because my yarn is finer, I thought I should also go with a smaller needle so instead of using US sz6, I opted to us US sz5 needles. Also, because I was afraid the end result was going to be a tiny scarf and not a shawl, I did a total of 7 sections of my contrasting color (the green) where the original pattern only called for 6. In the end......... IT’S HUGE!!

It took up the whole bed! Haha, of course it is. I should have known that with my very loose gauge knitting (and continental knitting is usually even looser than English) just because I was using smaller needles and smaller yarn, I would be just fine. Anyways, it’s big, but not too big and I love it.

It's like a BIG hug from two people I don't get enough hugs from. Damn it for living so far away from them.

As far as learning a new technique went, well that didn’t go as smoothly as I’d have liked. I watched a few tutorials on continental knitting over at Youtube.com and gave it a go. It was uncomfortable at first, but got a little easier as I went along. The first few times I tried to purl in continental the stitches came out twisted so I decided I would just focus on the knitting and to keep the purling in english style. After the first few days my right hand was hurting some, due to all the new movements that my hand wasn’t used to. But that didn’t stop me, it just meant that I could work on it a little bit each day and be working on other projects at the same time. I’m ok with that. All and all, I learned how to knit, but not purl in continental and it is still sort of uncomfortable, but I think I’ll use this technique when I’m working other patterns that call for a lot of plain knitting. And someday I’ll learn to purl, as well.

I think that if I do this pattern again, there are a few things I would change. I would slip the first stitch in every row, this would make a much smoother edge. Also, I do not like the YO (yarn over) increases at the beginning and end of each row. I would do a different increase, either a KFB (knit front and back) or M1L/M1R (Make one Left/Make one Right). I think this would also look a bit smoother and not leave holes in the knitting. I considered changing the increases at the center cable but I believe that changing the YO’s would make the cable blend into the surrounding knitting. The holes that the YO’s create make the cable stand out. All in all I am very happy with the pattern.