blogmas 2018 :: bright new knits

A couple of cozy projects to brighten these short days of winter. The yarn is from Must Stash Yarn in the Bumbles Bounce colorway. The pattern for the blanket is Northeasterly and it is so fun & easy. I can’t wait to start on the second column and see it grow. The kid and I are having a Friday night holiday movie marathon (hubby is on a work trip to Texas). Just watched Rudolph and Charlie Brown. Next up is my pick: Little Women. The kid will probably doze off after fifteen minutes whereby I can switch to Love Actually :) Have a wonderful weekend!

color therapy

Oh November why do you have to be so moody and changeable? Sunny blue cold grey dark rainy all in one day....it’s enough to drive a knitter to wanting to cast on all the shiny things. Lucky for me I have a stash full of colorful yarns to chase away the seasonal blues. There’s even a few bright and cheerful wips hanging around requiring just a little attention before they are finished and ready to comfort with their cozy warmth, like these socks that were cast on a few months ago:



I am calling these my Sunbeams Socks because the combination of yarn (SpunRightRound in the shock star colorway) and the fun stitch pattern (from Japanese Stitches Unraveled) creates a fabric with tiny little sunbeams dancing all across it. Pure yarny happiness.



I also pulled out some pretty autumnal mini’s from hueloco for a faded Sockhead Hat:



And of course, the ultimate in woolly color therapy, blankets:



I hope that you are finding comfort in your knitting and crafting as the busy holiday season approaches.

hello september

Hi friends! Today was the first day of school for the kid. It’s been a fun and relaxing summer but I think that we were both ready for school to start again. He’s excited to be in eighth grade this year and I am hoping that the transition from vacation mode to school will be a smooth one.

We had a long holiday weekend here in the States and I spent it chilling out at home with my two guys. We were basically couch potatoes all weekend. I treated myself to three new cast ons. The first one will be a pair of scrappy Halloween socks for the #monstersockkal2018 on instagram.



This is actually my second attempt because the first one was judged not spooky enough by the kid. Who knew that he had such strong opinions on Halloween monster socks?!? Where were the zombies, blood & guts he asked. Well, his ideal Halloween would be more along the lines of the Exorcist while mine would be Jasper the Ghost. So in the end we compromised and went with skulls & crossbones.





I also started a new blanket for the Harry Potter Blanket KAL hosted by Adelaide Cottage and the Knitting Broomstick. The pattern is the Giant Square Scrap Blanket and it’s a fun one. I am currently knitting with a gorgeous mini-skein set by Adelaide Cottage inspired by the colors of the HP books. Don’t you think that she did such an awesome job interpreting the covers? Looking forward to listening to the books & watching the movies while working on the blanket. It’s a yearlong KAL so there’s plenty of time to join in. This will be my sixth blanket on the go but that’s ok. Blankets make such comforting and cozy knitting.



And lastly...more socks! It’s been a while since my last pair of Felici socks and I was drawn to this pretty colorway. The pattern (ifthen socks) works so well with self-striping yarn. Even though the colors totally scream Spring, I am enjoying knitting on them nonetheless. In fact, all of my current wips are bringing me so much joy. I hope that your projects are doing the same for you! What are you knitting on right now?

snow day

Late season snow days are one of those rare treasures that come along once in a blue moon here in Maryland. So when presented with an unexpected day free of school or work, we can’t help but savor every minute. There’s a plate full of freshly baked molasses gingerbread cookies ready to eat with hot chocolate and a pot of beef stew simmering on the stove. I am indulging in a lazy day of knitting, reading and podcast listening. I dug out all of my blankets and worked on a bit of each because all too soon, the seasons will be changing. But for right now, watching the snow fall outside while layers of cozy wooly blankets cover my lap, Spring seems so far away. And that’s surprisingly okay.

cozy december knits

yarn: opal hundertwassers werk colorway: winterbild

tiny socks (recipe here) yarn: gnomeacres holiday party #nofilter mini-skeins

pattern: mistletoe kisses yarn: turtle purl colorway: mistletoe kisses

tiny squares cozy memories blanket yarn: adelaide cottage advent

#lbkchristmasevecaston2017 yarn: a homespun house colorways: warm and toasty or cozy nights

I hope that you are all having a wonderful holiday season. Are you wrapping up the gift making/shopping? Or are you the last minute type? Just remember that it will all get done in the end and make time to enjoy yourselves. Things here have been pretty quiet. We are enjoying spending time at home and avoiding the holiday hustle and bustle. There has been lots of festive & cozy knitting going on as well. This weekend will be dedicated to some baking and lots of Christmas movie watching. Here’s wishing you all a bright and merry holiday!

summer traditions

yes, I started another blanket...more details coming soon!

It wouldn't truly be summer without our annual seaside holiday. There is something to be said about little traditions that stay with you year after year: eating at our favorite off-the-beaten track food joints, making sand castles and knitting at the same lovely uncrowded stretches of beach, resting our heads at night and waking up to beautiful sunrises from a familiar spot. It's always bittersweet to leave but there's a reassuring knowledge that we will be making the same trek next summer. Is there a summer tradition that you look forward to year after year?

easing into summer

Breathing a huge sigh of relief that another school year is over! Now summer can truly start. We've been keeping it slow & relaxed on our days off: sleeping in an hour later, hanging out at the beach, treating ourselves to Rita's in the hot afternoon heat (totally addicted to their mango ice & vanilla custard gelati) & enjoying some easy summer meals. We even recently found a hidden local gem, a secluded creek with its own tiny deserted island & a dock just big enough for my beach chair. While the guys play with their kayaks & paddle boards, I've been making good progress on my cozy memories blanket.

being kind to my future self by weaving in the ends as I go along

A blanket might not be the most ideal summer project but adding those colorful squares is addictively fun. Keeping it in a lightweight cotton project bag makes the knitting more manageable.

As far as the summer reading list goes, I have a delicious stack of novels just waiting for some attention. I am midway through this one by Alice Hoffman and really loving it. The story is set in New York City during the early nineteen hundreds and is a compelling mix of history, mystery and love story, all of which is my cup of tea.

I hope that your summer is off to a good start as well. We are heading to the ocean next week so I am counting on getting lots of knitting and reading in.

clutch knitting

Because it would be unthinkable to leave the house without some type of knitting to fill up those expected and unexpected moments of waiting, I always have a well-stocked knitting clutch on hand and ready to go. Here's a peek at what's inside:

all the tools necessary for some hexipuff knitting

Still in love with this easy and oh-so-portable project. Still getting odd looks from strangers wondering what in the world I am knitting. But that just adds to the fun! Some people have asked about how I eventually plan on laying out the puffs for my beekeeper's quilt. Maybe by color?

Or just random?

Not sure yet, but I am still a looooong ways off from having to decide! What portable project do you like to grab as you head out the door?



(linking up with WIP Wednesday)

World Traveler

Do you have a bucket list of things that you want to do in life? One of mine is to travel the world and learn new languages and cultures. Not too ambitious, right? Traveling was a spontaneous and easy thing to achieve in my twenties, but now money and time constraints make international travel more difficult. Sadly, it has been over six years since I last used my passport. Thank goodness for the wonders of the Internet which has allowed me to connect with people from all over the world and see little glimpses into their everyday life. There are so many amazing blogs spanning this little world of ours. Here are just a handful of craft blogs that I love to visit that are non-English speaking or use a combination of English and the blogger's native language. 

Please Don't Eat the Daisies!
Hand Knit Life
I brake 4 yarn
Peke-peke
In Stitches 2
the sewer cat
itty bitty blog
50 villapeikkoa
wool & cotton
See you at five
Shabby Roses Cottage

sashiko inspired hexipuffs

We are heading to the ocean to play in the sun for the rest of the week. A last farewell to summer before school starts next Monday. I am taking along my favorite beach knitting project...hexipuffs!


(joining in with all the fun at WIP Wednesday at Tami's blog)

The Poison and the Puff

Another summer, another case of poison ivy for the hubby and the little guy. So instead of going to the shore, we are spending a quiet Fourth of July at home. Which means that I can hopefully sneak in a bit of crafting time in between repeat applications of calamine lotion. My knitting has been sporadic at best since finishing the Color Affection shawl. Summertime laziness is mostly to blame. It has been so hot here that all I want to do is eat away at my stock supply of Strawberry Shortcake Icecream Bars and read. And dream about my current obsession, beach huts. I am on a campaign to convince the hubby to paint his tool shed a bright robin's egg blue and convert it into a beach hut. Never mind that the beach is a few miles away. So far, no luck. But I did end up with a beach hut inspired hexipuff.

beach huts

Thank goodness for an easy ongoing project that is well suited to summertime knitting. Here are a few more to add to the basket.

ombre stripes

heat wave

Happy Fourth of July to those who are celebrating. As always, check out the weekly WIP party going on at Tami's blog.

NYC

My mom and I had a fantastic time in NYC! We are already making plans to go back (hint hint to the hubby). It was so great to just wander around with no agenda in mind, admiring the gorgeous architecture and neighborhoods.

The Flatiron Building

We decided to skip the restaurants and just browse the different shops in Chinatown, sampling a little bit of this and that. We had banh mi sandwiches from here, then mango rice balls and sesame balls from here, then washed it all down with Vietnamese iced coffee. Sorry for the lack of food pictures, but we were ravenous after all that walking! The only things that we didn't manage to eat right away were the mangoes that seemed to be everywhere. If I hadn't forgotten to pack my utility knife, I am sure that those would have been quickly devoured, too!

As for the shopping, the variety of stores was amazing, although I mainly stuck to window shopping since most of my month's pin money was set aside for Maryland Sheep and Wool (more on that later). However, a few crafty finds still managed to jump into my shopping bag.

These embroidered silk shoe bags were a steal at $4.50 each. They are just too pretty for shoes but will make great project bags.

 I couldn't resist this silk scarf in my favorite color.

I used to have a pin cushion just like this when I was little and was sad when it was lost. The pretty flowered pouch will make a nice home for my current favorite on-the-go project. I managed to knit a few during the train ride to and from NYC.

 

Something New

In my New Year's wishes post, I deliberately kept "learn something new" open ended and vague. Why? Because in the past, when I resolved to learn how to play the guitar, learn how to quilt, learn how to bake a pie, etc, etc...my procrastination tendencies kicked in and by the end of the year, I was left with a failed resolution and disappointment in myself for not taking even the smallest steps towards completing my goal. So this year, the pressure is off and I have given myself complete freedom to learn SOMETHING! ANYTHING! How can I possibly fail, right?

Yesterday, I taught myself something that has made me ridiculously happy: how to cross stitch on knitted stockinette fabric! Dramatic and life changing it's not, but my hexipuffs will never be the same for it.

redwork heart hexipuff

The hardest part will be choosing from among the motifs in this book. Lots of wonderful embroidery and cross stitch ideas with charts for all of the motifs can be found within its pages.

In other WIP news, I am almost finished with my youngest niece's fingerless mitts. These were meant to be one of her Christmas presents, but now will make a nice little handmade Valentine's Day gift. Can't wait to get this final holiday gift project off the needles!

As always, check out all the great knitting and crochet on display at WIP Wednesday with TAMI'S AMIS.

Family Recipes

Growing up in a large family consisting of strong personalities, food was often the glue that kept us all together. I can remember many sibling arguments being resolved over bowls of pho noodle soup. My mom's philosophy was sneakily simple: keep the peace by keeping our mouths full of food. And what food! My mom is one of those natural cooks that can make a feast out of humble ingredients, adding a pinch of this or a palm full of that to a pot and having it turn out delicious. One of my goals in life is to be more of an intuitive cook like her. I know that this will take years of practice and experimentation. There will be some hits and lots of misses. But I am slowly gaining confidence every day, even creating a personal collection of recipes of my own. Some are all mine, but most are modifications of recipes collected over the years from treasured cookbooks and more recently, talented food bloggers. To make it easier to reference these recipes, I have started writing them down in a series of notebooks.

I hope to one day hand these over to my son so that he can recreate the foods of his childhood. And when my mom comes back from her annual six months vacation in Vietnam, I am going to ask her to write down what a pinch of this and a palm full of that means.

Spooky Knits

Come in if you dare...

Care for a pumpkin hex? Better be quick...

'cause Boo and Boo are on the loose...

...and they are masked and dangerous!

(come join us for the FO Friday party at Tami's Amis, halloween costumes are optional)

Missoni and Motorcycles

Just as I predicted. There were visions of hand knits floating around in my husband's head after all. But thankfully no mention of the dreaded socks. Instead, he has requested a neck warmer to wear on his daily motorcycle commute to work. It has to be (in his words) not frilly or floppy. Preferably something in a dark color and most importantly, be cool looking. So of course I had to turn to the coolest knitwear designer I know, my number one knitting crush Mr. Stephen West.

I am really loving the look of the slanted twisted rib in the Windschief pattern. Such a cool looking hat and cowl combination.

As for myself, the only visions floating around in my head this week have all had the trademark Missoni zigzags on them. Oh why oh why am I always late to the party? By the time I knew that Missoni was coming to Target, everything had been sold out! So in shopper's desperation, I went on eBay and Amazon to scour their offerings. That is how I came to find myself THIS CLOSE to bidding on a $30 coffee mug last night. Then sanity returned and I turned off the computer and made these instead:

Missoni inspired puff

(For the coolest WIP's around, head on over to TAMI'S blog)