winter woolens

conversation hearts :: king cole zig zag :: pinks

winter’s day charade :: coopknits socks yeah! :: danburite 

spring stripes vanilla latte :: must stash yarns :: theory 

Well guys, I’m officially hitting the reset button on this year since it feels like hibernation season is almost over. It’s been a rather tough winter healthwise but we are all finally on the mend. Even my laptop got sick. But today the sun is shining brightly and I finally figured out how to blog from my phone using a new to me app for blogger so now I can share all of the winter woolens completed so far.

Of course there are plenty of socks! January’s pair was inspired by the cold winter walks that were taken when we couldn’t stand to be inside all day long. After knitting with greys and blues, the next pair was a wish for Spring. Nothing makes me happier than fun colorful stripes combined with speckles. February’s was Valentines Day themed.

It’s funny how seasonal my sock knitting is. I love choosing yarns and patterns that celebrate the different holidays that are sprinkled throughout the year. So with that in mind, I decided to start a holiday sox box. The goal is to have fun knitting socks for all of my favorite holidays throughout the year with the bonus of having finished socks to wear next year when those holidays roll around again. Feel free to join in :)

I hope that you are all staying healthy and having fun with your knitting & crafting!

here’s looking at you 2018

So here we are, the last day of 2018. New Year’s Eve is always bittersweet isn’t it? We are having a quiet night at home, munching on appetizers and chilling out. I was in the mood for the classic rock music of my childhood so there’s Boston, Rush, Queen, David Bowie & Journey playing in the background as I knit on my cozy memories blanket and reflect on this past year. It’s been a fun one knitting-wise. My box o’ sox for 2018 is filled with twenty pairs of colorful socks. Plus I surprised myself by finishing three sweaters! I am hoping to knit more sweaters in the new year because there are quite a few beautiful patterns in my queue that were set aside amidst the sock knitting frenzy that occurred during the latter half of the year.

I hope that you all have a Happy New Year. Let’s fill it to the brim with lots of fun knitting and creativity!

blogmas 2018 :: festive socks

Hello friends! It’s been a whirlwind of a holiday season! I just have a few more presents to wrap and some cookies to bake for the cookie decorating party this evening. Can’t wait to put my feet up later tonight and start a new project for the little bobbins Christmas Eve cast on. Are you joining in? I’m still not sure what yarn or pattern I will be using but it most definitely will be a sock :) The festive sock knitting mojo has been strong this season and I managed to finish last year’s Christmas socks (yarn=turtle purl, pattern=mistletoe kisses) as well as a fun stripey one (yarn=Must Stash Yarn in the bumbles bounce colorway). I am also trying to squeeze in one more pair before Christmas morning arrives (yarn=rellana flotte socke in the Christmas colorway).

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas if you celebrate. Otherwise enjoy this beautiful time of the year with lots of your favorite cozy things!

blogmas 2018 :: my everyday carry

I recently bought a wallet insert for my traveler’s notebook and I love it! It’s from ThreadNPrints on Etsy. Now I have everything that I need to help me stay organized at my fingertips: wallet, bullet journal, scratchpad, planner supplies and knitting notions pouch. All in one notebook the size of a passport (although much chubbier!). It feels great to finally settle into a personal planning system that works for me, especially during the busy holiday season.

I’m making a list and checking it twice....

How are you managing to stay organized around this busy time of year?

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!

blogmas 2018 :: yarn advent calendars

Hi friends! I hope that you are having a great start to your December. Do you have any fun plans for celebrating the season? One tradition that I love is to count the days until Christmas with a yarn advent calendar. It is so fun to mark each day with a little pretty miniskein of yarn. This year, I treated myself once again to the advent calendar from Adelaide Cottage. I also bought a Christmas frankensocks kit from Havirland (thirty -  5 gram mini’s) which I put in a little mailbox. I then pull out a mini each day until Christmas. The first picture shows Days 1-3 so far. I foresee lots of cozy knitting time ahead. Planning on making some sock ornaments as well as adding to my various scrappy blankets with all this pretty yarn.

Hoping to be back soon with some more holiday fun!

autumn fade

How can it be the end of November already!?! It seemed like autumn barely arrived yesterday. We had a very quiet and peaceful Thanksgiving last week. My MIL stopped by for a whirlwind visit on her way to Florida. So we ended up eating Thanksgiving dinner twice (the other dinner was at my brother’s). I also had quite a bit of time to knit since no one trusted me with Turkey duty. Two socks have been cast off since we last spoke. Both have been my constant knitting companions this fall and were joys to knit. The other project finished was a quick Sockhead Hat using a beautiful fall mini’s set from Hue Loco. I am calling it my autumn fade hat. Quite appropriate since we are now heading into the busy holiday season. Time to cast on some festive Christmas socks!

Did you cook for Thanksgiving? Any holiday knitting/crafting plans?

spooky knits

Happy Halloween guys! Any fun plans for the evening? We are doing the usual: handing out candy to the trick or treaters and then going next door to my brother’s annual Halloween/birthday party. The kid decided to be Alvin the Chipmunk this year and the hubby is a chicken. I’m going as my usual angry 90’s grunge teen.

I surprised the kid with a special Halloween hat (although honestly, I plan on “borrowing” it to wear year round!) As you know, he had some strong opinions on the scrappy monster socks that I was knitting for the #monstersockkal2018. The skulls were his idea (colorwork chart from the awesome Alterknit Stitch Dictionary by Andrea Rangel). But I had my heart set on some cute Halloween cats (chart from 150 Scandinavian Motifs by Mary Jane Mucklestone) so we ended up compromising. One for him and one for me :) The yarns are a mix of mini’s from havirland and knitty and color. Both of these talented ladies know their Halloween.

For the hat, I decided to go all out on the spooky factor and used the Cake or Death chart from Alterknit. I don’t usually go for morbid things like the Grim Reaper but I thought this would be right up the kid’s alley. And boy was I right! He loves it and says it’s the coolest thing I ever made him. So a win for this knitting mama!

Now I’m off to decorate the gingerbread haunted house. I hope that you all enjoy a fun and safe night. Will you be dressing up as anything?

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!

#makingtheseasons

I was surfing the blogs recently and came across attic24’s post on crafting for the seasons. The plan is to work on a small creative project each month inspired by the seasons. There are no particular rules or limits as far as the type of project goes. Even baking or cooking a seasonal dish would count. How fun is that! I am looking forward to participating in this seasonal craft-along, especially since my crafting and knitting are already hugely influenced by the seasons. It will also be a great way to slow down, pause and reflect on the beauty of the moment instead of always rushing forward in our busy lives. A lesson that I find myself forgetting lately. So for the month of November and to celebrate Thanksgiving Day, I decided to knit a pair of Harvest Socks. The colors remind me of pumpkins, fall leaves, acorns and autumn.

yarn: Opal fresh & juicy colorway: juicy carrot

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving for those who are celebrating tomorrow! And a lovely rest of November to all!

whoosh!

And just like that it's another year coming to an end! Can't believe how quickly Christmas came and went. It was a pretty low key affair this year since my MIL decided to spend the holidays at her new house in Florida. I also took a nasty spill at work and threw out my back two days before Christmas. Luckily, all the decorating, baking, shopping and wrapping were done so all that was left was the fun stuff i.e. spending time with the family, watching holiday movies and eating a ton of yummy food. There was also some knitting and ornament making:

mistletoe socks (pattern: hermione's everyday socks)

yarn: knitmona in mistletoe colorway

pattern: mitten garland advent calendar

stitchable mitten ornaments by katrinkles

Wishing that I had a few more days of bed rest but unfortunately it's a crazy busy time of year at work. So heading back to the grind tomorrow morning. I hope that your holiday season has been chock-full of family, love and joy! I will be back soon with an end of the year roundup.

stripe happy

Happy last day of November! We had a lovely Thanksgiving filled with family, friends and yummy food. I had to work for part of the day but came home to a delicious dinner prepared by my sisters-in-law. One of the many blessings in my life is having family who live close by. Especially ones who know how to cook and throw a good party :)

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by! Only 3 & 1/2 weeks until Christmas! I know that a few of you have been knitting gifts year round. Wish I had the forethought to do that. There are a few gifts in the knitting basket which are underway. Just small things this year: a bunny which is currently on hold until the baby is born in January. The parents are waiting to find out the gender. As soon as that happens, I can outfit the bunny accordingly. Also some fingerless mitts and a cowl which I am still waiting on the yarn for.

And of course, there has been lots of fun Christmas sock knitting going on. Speaking of socks, I've got a backlog of finished ones to show you all. Presenting my Stripy Socks for All Seasons:

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

Spring is a plain sock with heel flaps. Fall & Winter are vanilla socks using my new favorite afterthought heel technique without waste yarn. And Summer is a scrappy monster sock with a Strong Heel.

lowbrow cowl

Lowbrow Cowl

Happy Sunday! It's been a lovely quiet one so far. Planning on catching up with my blog reading sprinkled with some cozy sock knitting and comfort food eating :) With Easter just one week away, I figured it was past time to finish the last of the Christmas 2015 knits, so I spent the morning doing just that. I love how this turned out and it was a fun project once I dedicated some time to it. My only regret (well, besides that it's several months overdue) is that I had to use a 100% acrylic yarn since the recipient is allergic to wool. Although knitpicks Brava is quite nice to knit with and is very soft & cozy. Plus you can't beat the ease of care. The cowl is a versatile size but I think it looks best worn as a single loop in order to show off the pretty leaves.

Wrapping up this project has me looking ahead to this year's Christmas Knitting. Every year I tell myself to get an early start but it never happens. When do you usually start your holiday knitting? A 100% handmade Christmas has always been a dream of mine since I started knitting again after college. Maybe one day!

here's looking at you 2015

Although I thoroughly enjoy the excitement, togetherness and fun that surrounds Christmas, it's the quietness and peace of the week after that is my favorite part of the holidays. The guests are gone, the house is still relatively clean and the fridge is full of yummy leftovers. There's nothing too pressing that needs to be done. I love having the time to reflect on the year just past and to set some goals for the new year ahead.

The overriding theme for 2015 was knitalongs. Such a surprise to see that I had participated in ten KAL's! I guess my inner social butterfly was waiting until this year to find its wings and fly :)

Also taking note of the fact that there were a lot fewer finished objects this year than in previous years. However, I can honestly say that I love every single thing that came off the needles. Both the process of making them and the items themselves gave comfort/pleasure/peace in a year that saw many personal challenges.

For 2016, I intend to keep things pretty simple: continue to whittle down the stash, knit garments that can be easily incorporated into my everyday wardrobe, dust off the oh-so-rusty crochet skills, knit down the WIP pile that's been slowly growing over the past few months:

.... and most importantly, have FUN!

Wishing you all a happy, creative, healthy and peaceful New Year! Thank you for all of your kindness and friendship!