Birthday Fun

It's been a fun, yet busy, week with Naomi. She turned 6 and in honor of her birthday she got to be student of the week at school, which involves a daily activity: bring a poster to school about yourself, bring someone to school to read to the class; ... you get the idea. Add to this a music performance her class was giving on Tuesday evening; 100 days at Kindergarten on Friday day, and a Spanish festival on Friday night. Yup, quite the busy week!




I hadn't heard of the 100 days of school activity prior to this year, but essentially the kindergartners get to celebrate their 100th day by dressing as though they are 100 years old.  Typically I'd go out and hunt for something, but given the hectic schedule we went searching through the closets at home. A simple dress and cardigan and a few props later, we were ready! The plastic glasses were a party giveaway, the faux pearls from a previous Christmas party, and maybe you recognize the shawl? It is the Handspun Henslow that I made many moons ago.

On top of the school activities, we've been working on the aprons for the birthday party.  That's right "we".  I can't tell you how pleased I was that Naomi wanted to play an active role in making these for her friends.  Cutting out the sleeve/pocket pattern, measuring and cutting the ribbons, and helping me stitch (sat on my lap, her hands on mine as we guide the fabric through the machine).  I was really impressed with how she got on.









The party was earlier today and they had such a wonderful time.  If you are in Colorado/Denver area, we went to Hot Pots in Littleton, and it is a great place with the most helpful staff. The space is beautifully decorated and there is room for the kiddos to be in a dedicated area of the store. I highly recommend it.


Well, time for me to put my feet up!
Hope you had a great weekend,
Sam xxx

Children's apron

It is rapidly approaching Naomi's birthday, and we have just settled on a party idea:  Pottery painting at a local studio. If you have been following me for some time you know that:
a) I love to make party favors and gifts
b) I have a tendency to leave the making of said favors and gifts to the last minute
This year is no exception!

Given the kiddos will be painting, I thought a fun apron would be a sweet thing for them to wear at the party and take home afterwards.  I found 2 strong candidates via Pinterest:
1.  Aesthetic Nest: Children's Reversible Fat Quarter Apron
2.  Brown Eyes plus Blue:  Pinafore Apron

There's something very appealing to me about the cool and utilitarian vibe of #2, and I had a vision of how this could look with the mochi mochi dots from my stash.  However Naomi preferred #1, hands down.  And what's not to love about this bright patterned apron with the whimsical details.



So, we started with a rummage through my fabric stash and found this fabulous children's print:  It is a Kokka fabric called Hello Animals by designer Nancy Wolff.  The backing will be a solid hot pink Kona cotton.  The ribbons and pom poms were picked up at Jo-Ann fabric.



I made a couple of modifications to the original pattern:
1.  I added both pockets to the 'front' of my reversible apron, and added some additional pom pom trim detail to them
2.  I did not add a button and button hole for the neck ribbon.  Instead I cut the ribbon at about 18 inches, so that it sleeps over Naomi's head.  In fairness, this is a snug fit, so I may alter the other versions to either use a velcro closure at the back of the neck, or simply add 2 lengths of ribbon that can be tied in a bow at the back of the neck.

et Voila!  I am delighted with how the prototype turned out.  The rest of my Sunday will be in mass production :)



Wishing you a great day ahead!
Love,
Sam

Happy Valentine's Day!

There have been a number of activities at Naomi's school this last week, most notably 'Tie Dye Tuesday'.  I decided that this would be a fun opportunity for Naomi and I to work on a craft project together.  I found this great tutorial for creating tie dye with Turmeric:  Natural Tie Dye Pillow from High on DIY.  We had everything we needed at home already so it was perfect! And the color that the turmeric creates is fabulous and sings that Spring is on the way!



This project was simple enough for a little one to work on (except the boiling part of course - that was my domain). She was delighted with the end result, and shared this as her 'Good thing' at school that day. By the way, I love that her school reinforces the idea of looking for the good in each day by encouraging the kiddos to share their 'good things' with the class.

A good thing for me: I took Friday off work to go to the zoo with my family. It seems people and animals alike had the same idea - it was a perfect day to be outdoors! We got to see some lion cubs, the bears, mountain sheep, etc. etc. and feed the lorikeets.  I loved seeing the bears, but feeding the lorikeets was the highlight of the day for Naomi and I.



Other good things - I splurged on some more yarn. This is 'high twist sock' from Pigeonroof Studios. I've yet to figure out what to make with this as there are only 240 yards. I could see possibly pairing with some other yarn in my stash and use this as a border on a shawl. Or maybe use on its own to make a hat. What are your thoughts?



But for now, and in honor of the day, I will spend a little time on this Valentine's cross stitch from the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery:



Wishing you a wonderful Valentine's day!
Love
Sam
xxx

Superbowl Sunday!

Are you ready for the big game?


Each year I watch the Superbowl. I can't say I am an avid fan of American football, but I do love this event - the excitement of the build up, the shows, the camaraderie, parties, and of course this marketing gal loves the commercials. This year has been especially interesting to watch the support for the local team who have made it to the big game, and a young daughter getting indoctrinated at school, with 'United in Orange' days and other festive events. The indoctrination has worked - I have received her request that we go to a local party store so that we can decorations for the game! :)


I will also be working on a newly cast-on knitting project during the game - this is Clapo-Ktus. It is a wonderful combination of 2 popular patterns: Clapotis and Baktus.
 




I have a Clapotis that I knit many moons ago and it may be one of my most loved finished knits (and looking at the date on Flickr, my Clapotis is almost 10 years old!).  This modification of the original seemed like a fun addition to my wardrobe. It is also perfect plane knitting, and later this afternoon, game knitting!





The yarn that I am using is Skein Top Drawer Sock. Not only is colorway divine, but the yarn is ridiculously soft. It is a joy to work with.





Wishing you a great day ahead, and 'Go Broncos!' Sam XXX

All You Knit is Love

Isn't that a true and lovely sentiment since our hand crafted goods are ultimately works of love.

All You Knit is Love is also the name of a yarn store in the Barri Gotic area of Barcelona, Spain. I had the good fortune to visit this shop last week while travelling for work. It is nestled in a labyrinth of old cobbled streets, interesting buildings, unique shops and is a stone's throw from the Picasso Museum.  Knowing my free time would be limited I had done my research ahead of time and was able to spend my last evening on this trip hunting out gifts for my family and seeking out this store. I was not disappointed.

The first thing that captured my attention is the creative window display of a snowman made from skeins of yarn. Looking up you notice that the signage for the store is a play on the mosaics for which Gaudi, and Barcelona, is known. Inside is a rustic charm with a wide variety of yarns and notions, some of the brands I recognized - Koigu, Malabrigo etc - and there were others which were new to me (and naturally needed to come home with a small sampling). The gentleman in the store was very happy to let me snap pictures, browse, ooh and aah to my heart's content, while my gracious non-knitter work colleague sat cozily in one of their arm chairs and relaxed. At checkout there were additional details that made this such a gem -- the business card for the store doubles as a needle gauge, and the fabric labels that were added to my linen yarn included a handy tape measure print.







The trip included a couple of other highlights: Upon arriving in Barcelona and settling into the hotel, I wanted to check out my surroundings and stretch my legs. I headed towards Las Ramblas and wandered to a fabulous market with its colorful displays of fresh fruits and vegetables, dried fruits and nuts, chillis, seafood... A true delight for the senses with the bright colours, the smells of fresh fruits, and the bustle of people happily picking up their groceries.


The other highlight was a team building event hosted by BCNKitchen where we enjoyed spending time with our colleagues from around the globe while we were instructed, prepped and then ate this incredibly delicious dinner of a variety of tapas.  I've seen a place locally that hosts similar listen-learn-prep-eat activities and will be checking this out for sure - it was enormously enjoyable.




It was a great trip, but its also good to be back home with my lovely family.

Hoping you've had a wonderful weekend,
Sam xxx

Clementine Cowl

I hope you have had a good week? I was in Santa Clara for work and the weather there was beautiful. It made me forget that it is still winter. Reality soon kicked back in as I arrived back home to snow flurries in Denver, late on Friday night.

Before I left I was able to complete the Clementine Cowl. I think I mention in my previous post that this is a great pattern. It works up quickly and it is enjoyable to see the colours and design form as you work along. These colours are a departure from what I would normally select for myself. I'm still undecided, although they have a nice earthy feel to them. And speaking of the feel, the yarns I selected are delightfully soft. There's the 'dyed in the wool' yarn that the pattern calls for, paired with a pagewood farms yarn from my stash.

Here's my little ham modeling the final product (donning her best model serious face in the 2nd pic :))):





Wishing you a great week ahead, and a lovely long weekend for the folks in the US.
Love,
Sam
xxx

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

Hard to believe that it has been approx 6 months since I blogged. It has been very busy in my work life this past year, and although that doesn't look set to change anytime soon, it is important that I carve out time for those things that I enjoy. That of course includes crafting and blogging.

Over the holidays I was able to finish a couple of Christmas stockings for Naomi and I.


Naomi helped stitch these which means there are extra special memories built in. There was also the usual requests for felted slippers, and I was able to churn out 8 pairs of those over my Christmas break. Naomi also tried her hand at knitting by assisting me with these - a few knit stitches here and there. A great start! I'm not convinced that I have a crafter on my hands, but I do enjoy her natural curiosity and desire to have a go.

My new year project is a clementine cowl. A couple of friends have been making these, and they were turning out so beautifully that I wanted to join in the fun. The pattern calls for 2 skeins of dyed in the wool, which is an interesting fingering weight yarn that looks like a handspun.

I selected one colorway I liked and then partnered it with yarn from my stash that is deliciously soft.

This project is close to completion, so I'll have to pick a new project for my work travels this week. Probably a bertie's blanket square. Before the holidays I had received squares from Andi and Sarina... aren't they gorgeous!

As a result we are now only 4 squares from finishing this blanket... yup good plane knitting right there.

Wishing you a great week ahead, and a wonderful 2016.
Sam XXX

Gnome project pouch

It has been a good week for crafting and I've really enjoyed the project that I've been working on.  Step one was making the cross stitch gnome.  This little guy is part of a pattern that comes from a Frosted Pumpkin sampler.   The recipient loves gnomes, and I knew she was going to adore this!



But that was just the start of my gifty plan - I wanted to turn this into something that would be useful for a craft project.  So, after looking through Pinterest, and my fabric stash, I decided on a flat-bottomed, lined, zipper pouch.  The red polka dot fabric is Kaffe Fasset and the Green is a heavier weight linen mochi mochi dot.  The pouch measures approx 10in wide x 7in high. with a 3 inch deep bottom - a great size for a sock knitting project.



I am super happy with the end result on this one.  I can see more of these zipper pouches in my future - teacher gifts, travel accessories, storage for crayons, pencils, legos...





What have you worked on recently that has filled you with delight?

Hope you are having a fun weekend.
Sam x

See-me-coming Socks

I have been travelling a bit with work again, this time to the east coast.  That's a good 4 hours of knitting time right there! (Well knitting, napping and trying to catch up with emails :))

I do attribute some of that flight time to being able to finish a pair of socks in a couple of weeks (it has to be a record for me!):



The yarn is a handspun and hand dyed fiber from Sereknitty, in colourway 'Wild Side'. These bright colours make me happy. As does handspun in general. There's something very special about a handspun yarn, and the fabric it creates.  It has such an allure that there have been a number of times I have considered taking a class in spinning to see if it is something that I'd enjoy. Truly though, I really don't need another crafty hobby, or to build up more stash and tools to support another crafty hobby. Still there's that allure... ;o)
I digress.



The pattern is a basic vanilla sock, on my new size 2s. I really enjoyed working with my new signature needles - gotta be careful with those points though (super sharp). So onto the next pair of socks. This time some man socks for Joe:



Hope you are enjoying a lovely father's day with loved ones.
Sam xxx

Pink Pop Socks

The weather in Colorado has finally turned from a rather unusual gloomy and wet few weeks, to summer! (Well summer interspersed with hail storms, tornado warnings and some crazy rain!). On the sunny weekend days I've been enjoying some R&R in our back garden, which has included knitting on these 'pink pop socks' while our little water baby runs through the garden sprinklers, or wallows in the inflatable pool.



The socks started out with a really fun pattern, but I was simply too frazzled from work to do anything but a plain vanilla sock. So I ripped them back and reverted to my old faithful pattern. The yarn is from Creatively Dyed and is a lovely mix of cream, brown, burnt orange, hot pink and navy. 





As I was knitting, the dominant colors appeared to be the burnt orange and brown. Which is nice, except I was really hoping the hot pink would pop out. It was at that point I decided to add a heel and toe in a similar hot pink handspun yarn to really make that pink pop... it did the trick! Love how this turned out.

In other yarny news, I've been shopping! I should know to avoid my local yarn store because there is always something to tempt me. And sure enough there was this lovely Anzula Nebula yarn in shades of olive, some fun hot pink Madeleine Tosh, and this gorgeous gradient yarn from the Neighbourhood Fiber Co.







Lastly, I've picked up knitting squares for the Bertie's Blankets - the hospice blankets. These are a really simple square to knit from the Kraft Tanken Patches pattern - free Ravelry download. A couple of you had asked if I was still collecting squares... I'd really love it if you could donate one of these sock yarns squares for the next Bertie's Blanket. Thank you.



Wishing you a wonderful week ahead and fun summer plans.
Love, Sam xxx