Schwartzkatzen Sweater

It's finally finished!  My Black Cat Sweater for Lily.  I saw Annette Danielson's pattern on Ravelry and fell in love with the cute little kitties.  But the pattern was only available as a kit and isn't available at all anymore apparently.  I graphed out the kitties and put it away in my idea book for inspiration at a later date.  This last November I pulled it out again and decided to make a raglan cardigan for my niece.  She has a black cat named Riku and is absolutely crazy about anything handmade. I had hoped to have it done by Christmas.  Oh, well.  Better late than never.

It took me more than a week to graph out the raglan in such a way that the cats fit.  Many times the graph of the kitties had to be adjusted.  I have never been so frustrated with a design but finally it worked.  I started on it right away and worked diligently until the week before Christmas.  Then it became pretty clear that I was not going to finish in time.  I put it aside to work on some other items I had intended to give as gifts.  I picked it up again around the second week of January and have worked like mad to finish it today!  The clasp is the perfect finishing touch.  Tell me what you think!

DORK Virus spreading.

I need to get something off my chest.  My husband is a dork.  Not just a "Oh he wears glasses and his hair is always messy" dork but a full-blown, unapologetic, "May the force be with you," "Are we really watching 'In Search of Bigfoot' again" DORK.

Yes, that is a Goonies shirt

Sometimes this is endearing.  At other times, I get a little concerned that his dorkness is contagious and may be infecting me along with the other animals in our house.  For example, Abby, our black lab, is now a full-blown, "Daddy, everything you do is wonderful," "please pet my butt while I put my head on your shoe" dork.

"You're going to need the Force to get out of this one."

I am starting to see evidence that this dork virus is spreading into me as well.  For Christmas last year, I scoured the internet for the best deal on a Lego R2-D2.




This year I found a pattern for a Princess Leia baby hat and it instantly jumped to the top of my to-do list.  Here is my cat, Gypsy, modeling it.  Also poor kitty, you didn't really think you would escape the dork virus running rampant in this house did you? 

I'm on a Vest Kick!

I have been loving making vests lately.  They are perfect for baby boys in the spring and cool summer days.  I've been designing my own.  Some are in the local Blooming Bellies, soon to be Little Locals, and some are in my Etsy store.

 My recent favorite is my Little Fishes vest.  This design has been rolling around in my head for a couple of years.  I finally got it out but now I need to get it written down.  That's the not-so-fun part, at least for me.  I prefer to start my next project rather than write down my finished one. 

This one is the same pattern as the orange stripey vest in my last post.  Again I used handmade wooden buttons from my cherry tree.  The yarn is Louisa Harding Amitola, a super yummy wool/silk blend. 

 

Then I have my two little tie vests. This was a new adventure for me. I've never done intarsia in the round before and it took me a several tries and several fails to finally figure out how to make my vision work.

These two are done with Cascade Pima Cotton and Wendy Supreme Cotton DK. Very nice yarn to work with.

Tell me what you think!

 

Big News!

I have completed one of my New Year Resolutions and I can cross it off my list!  I now have some of my products in a local boutique!  Blooming Bellies Boutique in Kalispell, Montana currently has four of my children's shirts.  The patterns are my own and I have actually gotten them written down this time.  I think that is the hardest part of designing after all.  Sometimes I'm not quite sure how to put into understandable language exactly what I did to make something look a certain way.  It's tricky! 

 This one is my favorite. The yarn is Louisa Harding's Amitola in Marmalade.  It is 80% wool and 20% silk.  The buttons are hand-made.  Yes, I actually cut a branch from my cherry tree, dried it, sliced it, sanded it, drilled holes, and varnished them.  A lot of work, but you can't deny the results. 

The flowers on this little tunic turned out so cute. I love the simplicity and the femininity.  This pattern is a combination of crochet and knitting which is actually my favorite type of pattern.  The yarn is Cascade Pima.  It steams beautifully and has a nice finished look to it. 

 This one needs to be touched!  Too bad you all can just look at it.  The yarn is Cascade Pima Tencel and it is just yummy.  Very soft.  When I got it, the colors were limited so I will have to seek out more in the future.  These cute buttons were made from polymer clay to match the yellow stripes perfectly.  I love the two-tone ribbing at the bottom.  This was my first time trying this technique!

Aah, classic argyle.  Have I ever said that I love argyle?  This is again the Cascade Pima.  I struggled a lot with this vest.  I had to look up videos on YouTube and ask friends how to do intarsia in the round.  I think next time I may just go back and forth and seam the sides.  It's more work but will probably be faster in the long run.  The buttons (which you can't see from this pic) are also argyle.  I made a cane in polymer clay to match the design.  Isn't it more fun to make your own buttons? 

Let me know what you think!  I am so excited and I can't wait to do more!

'Tis the Season for Hats!

It's that time again.  Whatever that means...Winter, Holidays, Christmas, College Hoops, Football...Anyway, that means HATS!  As I've said before, I love hats.  They are so fun and easily customizable.  Here are some of the hats in my shop.  As always you can choose your size, color, and it's always free shipping.

Basketball and Football Hats - Share your passion with your little bundle of joy.

Football Hat

Cute Elf Hat - choose your color




Santa hat - baby to adult sizes

Pink Football Hat

Pink Basketball Hat

Now your little girl can cheer for her favorite sport too!

Alicia

Tunisian Lace Infinity Scarf

 

Yarn:  Bulky weight – 5

            Approx 100 g

            (Yarn shown in picture is Elle Rae Latte)

Hook:  Tunisian hook size N

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­___________________________________________________________

Row 1:  ch 12, pull up lp in 2^nd ch from hook and in each ch across.  Do not turn, work lps off hook.

Row 2:  sk 1^st vertical bar, (pull up lp in next 2 vertical bars at the same time, yo) across to last vertical bar, pull up lp in last vertical br, work lps off hook. 

Row 3:  sk 1^st vertical bar, pull up lp in next vertical bar, (pull up lp in next ch sp, pull up lp in next vertical bar) across, work lps off hook. 

Repeat rows 2-3 until scarf is desired length.

Join to opposite end with a sc in both ends in each st across.  Fasten off.

 

Our House is a Very Very Very Fine House....

Ok, I did it!  I took the leap.  I bought a house!  That's my excuse for not blogging in so long.  I have been having fun arranging things how I like it and planting a garden!  I think I may have gotten a little overexcited about the garden though and tried to plant too much in too little space.  Everything is so big and I am constantly trying to trim and coax leaves away from other plants so everyone can share the sunlight and water.  Maybe it is the plants who are overexcited? 

Squash, squashing my cucumbers.

I have learned in the last month that summer squash and yellow squash really have no regard whatsoever for the happiness of cucumbers.  They don't think twice of growing all over them just because the cucumbers took a little longer to figure out what they were in dirt for.  I have also learned that peas really love to climb and if you don't give them something to climb on early enough, they will just wrap their little viney fingers around everything and strangle them. 



Yes, this is one tomato plant.

So many other lessons.  Next year, I will plant my yellow boy tomato in a big 'ole barrel pot all by himself.  He just can't play nice. My poor peppers are being knocked all around.

Oh, and one other important one....when you buy cheap seeds, what is pictured on the front of the package, is not always what is in the package.  I currently have some sort of salad mix in my garden that I just really don't like.  It is quite spicy and chewy.  Thank goodness Elvis, the guinea pig, likes it and he can just eat his fill.  I won't be replanting it next year. 


Roma tomatoes.  That's why they are funny looking...I think.



My cherry tree!

I also thoughtfully thinned my neighbors raspberries and took some for myself.  (She said I could.  I'm not in the habit of sneaking into neighbors back yards and digging up their plants for myself!)  I also planted blackberries and blueberries.  They are beautiful though I won't have fruit until hopefully next summer. 






Cherries!

Oh, and I have strawberries!  Yay strawberries!  And two cherry trees.  I was hoping, of course, that they were Flathead cherries, since I am right here, but I believe they are pie cherries of some sort.  That's fine too.  I will definitely use them!  So much fun!  So glad I have summers off!