My new Business Cards!!!

I Got My New Business Cards in the mail today!  Yayyyy!!! 

Knitted Sock Monkey Jumper and hat

A long time ago I was browsing on the internet and came across this sock monkey gown and thought that it would be really cute to make a sock monkey dress for a baby girl.  Recently a friend of mine happened to give birth to a beautiful baby girl and I knew she would love the sock monkey theme so I decided to make it!  The hat and jumper are my own design; the booties are made from a free pattern I found on tlc.howstuffworks.com.  Being that it is summer and a little to warm for knit wear,  I tried to make the outfit the size that I thought she would be this fall and winter.  Having two girls of my own, I know how fast babies can grow, so let's hope I guessed right on the size.

To get the sock monkey grey marl look, I knitted Bernat Satin's Grey Mist and Vanna's Glamour Diamond together.  The Vanna's Glamour gave it a subtle little sparkle, which I really liked!

I really liked how the twisted cable pleats turned out across the waist and bottom.   They were tight to work, but the result was nice!  I love to use seed stitch in projects because it adds such a nice texture, it also makes a beautiful edge, perfect for straps.  The trim and straps were made with Vanna's Choice Scarlet, one of my favorite reds to use because it is so bold and bright.

I had to add some bows and Sparkle(Vanna's Glamour) because I wanted it to be really girly!

I love to make these simple Mary Jane style booties!  They are so quick and easy to make and just adorable.  And of course very girly!!  I made these from Knit Picks CotLin, one of my favorite black yarns because the color is so rich.

My New Knitting Tattoo!!

I got a new Tattoo last night!!  It was done by my husband, Lonnie Moon, at Anvil Tattoo.  It is exactly what I wanted and I love it!!  

Red Heart Boutique Sashay Yarn Demo

On Saturday I did a Demo at Michaels Arts and Crafts in Burlington, WA.  It was a Demo of knitting and crocheting with Red Heart Boutique Sashay Yarn .  I spent the week prior playing with this fun craft yarn.  The thing that I loved most about this yarn is that some of the work is already done for you so it makes for quick and easy projects, that even a beginner can do.  The yarn is actually not your normal yarn, it is really strips of  a lace/net material that you can knit, crochet, or craft with.  I came up with a ton of ideas for this yarn, these are samples that I came up this last week.

This is a scarf I made with Sashay(Waltz).  I made this by doing rows of
5 SC, but picking up every other loop.  Skipping a loop, made it more full
and I still got a nice length with only one ball.   I timed myself to see how
quick it really is to make a scarf with this yarn, it took 2hrs and 13 min.,
pretty fast!

I made this scarf with Sashay(Jive).  This scarf was made by knitting
rows of 6.  This time I picked up and knitted every loop across the top
of  the yarn, rather than every other.  The ruffles were less dense and I
was able to get a longer scarf from one ball, making a long skinny scarf.
This scarf was 21 inches longer than the above crocheted one, and still
only took me 3 hrs and 17 min to knit, not bad!

This is the the finished scarf, that I mentioned in my last post that I
was working on.  This one is not Sashay, it is Premier Yarns Starbella.
It is similar to Sashay, except the loops of the netting are bigger, but
it is used in the same way, by knitting or crocheting the loops across
the top of the material.  I spent another 30 minutes, working the rest of
the ball, and finished this scarf.  It has a nice fun look, and I love the
bright colors that Starbella has to offer.

After Making the scarves, I decided to do some experimenting.  I love to play with texture and stitches, some of my best project ideas have come from doing just that!  These are some of the other things I came up with using this self ruffling yarn.

Knitting every row with this yarn causes the ruffles to go in a spiral pattern, so I wanted to see the effect if worked in
Stockinette stitch (knit 1 row, purl 1 row and repeat).  The result was this really cool material, with one flat side that shows the  V's of Stockinette and one ruffled side, where the ruffles lay in a zig zag pattern rather than spiraled.

Red Heart had instructions for making a bloom by first crocheting a base and then making a chain of Sashay and sewing it in a spiral pattern onto the base.  This is the what my bloom looks like, front and back following their instruction.  It was pretty quick to make, nice and full and had a base which makes it easy to attach to a garment or pin.

I thought it might be easier to make a bloom by just crocheting in the round Rather than making a base and sewing so I made this swatch by crocheting in the round.  I did rows of 12 SC in the round, making a swatch that is 6 SC wide when laid flat.  And it looked like flower to me and was a little quicker than making a base and sewing.

These are some flowers I made by crocheting 2 rows of  Sashay in the round.  The blue one is a small flower attached to a hairpin. I found that if I folded the Sashay in half and picked up both layers of loops just below the fold I was able to easily make a mini flower.  These flowers only took minutes to make!

This kind of self ruffling craft yarn is great for adding ruffles to a knit and crochet projects, so I made some swatches of that to see how it works.  I found the easiest way to work it in is to pick up a loop of Sashay, work the stitch with regular yarn as usual, then pass the Sashay loop over the stitch. 

Sashay yarn worked into a knitted swatch.

Sashay yarn worked into a crocheted swatch.

I could see this yarn being used in other craft projects besides knitting and crochet.  I thought it might be ideal to use to add ruffle trim to sewing projects and paper craft projects such as card making.  I ran out of time before my demo to make up any sewing samples, but I did manage to whip together this little butterfly that I thought would make a cute card.  

To make this card, I cut a length of Sashay yarn and folded it inward, so the ends meet in the middle.  Next I secured the ends in place and cinched the center by wrapping some thread around the middle and tying a knot.  After making the simple bow with Sashay, I took some black yarn and made a butterfly body by making a short crocheted chain, turning and working a SC in each chain.  The beginning tail and ending tail ended up on the same end so I trimmed them and left them to use as butterfly antennas.  I glued the pieces to a piece of card stock.   From start to finish it took me about 10 minutes to make, plus drying time for the glue.  Pretty quick and easy.

As you can see I had a lot of fun playing with Red Heart Boutique Sashay.  And I had a good time meeting some new people and sharing my projects at my Michaels Demo.

This is me at my Demo table modeling my scarf and matching flower hairpin I made.

This is me Demonstrating How I made the crocheted Sashay Scarf.

This was my first in store Demo at Michaels Arts and Crafts.  I had fun and look forward to the next one!

RED HEART Boutique Sashay yarn and other projects

I have been a busy girl!  I have had a lot on my needles lately!  Since my last post I have completed a gift for my friend, who just had a baby girl.  I will be sharing and posting about that project soon; I just sent the gift off in the mail today and I want to keep it a surprise.  In addition to that project I have started a top for myself that will go with an old skirt that I plan on embellishing with some crochet.

 Top I started knitting for myself.  I am using a great quick and easy free
tunic pattern I found on Lion brand  Yarns website.

I am going to embellish this skirt with crochet to match the tunic that I
 am making.  This is the Before picture; after picture will be posted soon.

Most recently, I was hired by Michaels Arts and Crafts in Burlington, WA and will be teaching Knitting and Crochet classes there, so I have been busy trying to organize and make samples for the classes I plan on offering.  Once I get my class schedule made up, I will be posting it here on my blog.
This Saturday I will be doing my first in store Demo, featuring Red Heart Boutique Sashay Yarn.  I am excited to do this Demo because I have come up with so many possible uses for this fun craft yarn.  I can see this yarn being a great embellishment for knitting and crochet projects alike.  I also think Boutique Sashay yarn would be great for other crafts as well, such as trim for sewing projects,  card making and paper crafts, re-fashioning clothing, flowers, and the list goes on. 
The in store Demo will specifically be of a Crocheted and Knitted version of a scarf made from this self ruffling yarn.  I have decided that I am going to try to make as many samples of possible uses as I can, in order to inspire crafters viewing my Demo.   Once I got used to managing the ruffles, the project worked up pretty quickly.  The progress shown in the photo below took less than 2 hours to crochet.
***Unfortunately in my haste, digging through the bin of yarn to choose my colors I did not realized that one of the balls I chose was Premier Yarns Starbella rather than Sashay.  So the photo below is actually of Starbella and not Sashay.  Thank goodness I shared this photo with my fellow instructors online and they made me aware of my mistake, I would have felt rather foolish calling this yarn by another name :P  The Structure of (and method for knitting and crocheting) the Sashay and Starbella is similar enough that I don't consider it a total loss, it was still good practice.

This is a scarf made from Premier Yarns Starbella.

It is amazing how quickly time flies when you are having fun!  I love experimenting and letting my creativity run wild!  Hopefully, I will have some Sashay yarn projects to share with you soon.

CYCA and swatching my way to a better me!

I have been a bad blogger lately, but I have a good excuse, I have been busy finishing my swatches for the Craft Yarn Councils Hand Knitting Instructors Program.  

My swatches are finally done and blocked.  I really took my time doing these swatches because I saw it as an opportunity, as with most things I make, to become better at my craft.  Although I am happy with my creations, there is always room for improvement.   I am a big fan of multitasking, so while making these swatches I experimented a lot with my knitting style in order to perfect those little things that I don't like about my knitting.  When making projects, I have learned how to hide or compensate for these little imperfections, such as hiding loose end stitches in my seams, using selvage edges, or making stitches more even by knitting in the round.  I feel like I have made some great progress upon completion of my swatches, but I am hoping that the Master Knitter that reviews my swatches will give me some pointers and useful feedback.  I have never had a more experienced Knitter critique my work before and I have to admit I am a little nervous, but excited for some direction.
The next things on my to-do list are writing my lesson plan for a beginner class and then actually teaching.   I have come up with a project, now I just need to write my plan.  Having never taught before, I am hoping to find some friends that would be kind enough to let me practice teaching them.  The program requires 15 hours of documented teaching time in order to receive your certificate.  I think my biggest obstacle when it comes to teaching will be keeping it fun and interesting.  I am passionate about knitting and all things yarn related and could probably go on and on about it, but I don't want to bore my students.  My hope is that my excitement about my beloved craft will be contagious and inspiring.  

Free Knitted Flower Pattern

Today I thought I would share with you how I made the knitted flower for this Monkey Hat.

Knitted Flower Pattern:

Tools:  you can use any size needles, keep in mind small needles make small flowers and big needles make big flowers.  (The sample was knitted with 4mm needles)  Also, for the petals it is easiest to use the magic loop method, for which you will need the longest circular needles you have.  The longer your circulars are the easier it will be.  If you are not familiar with the Magic Loop method for knitting small diameter tubes in the round, you can find lots of videos that demonstrate it on You Tube. You will also need a set of straight needles that are the same size as your circulars, a yarn needle for sewing, and Clothes Pin style stitch markers. 

Yarn:  Any yarn will work, keep in mind the heavier your yarn the bigger your flower will be. (The sample was knitted with Vanna's Glamor yarn and worsted weight yarn knitted together)

Abreviations: 
CO - cast on          st - stitch          K - knit          M1L - make one left        

K2tog  - Knit two together             BO - bind off  M1R - make one right

SSK - slip slip Knit                         ST - Stockinette

Petals: (make 5 petals)
CO 10 sts onto long circular needles and divide them evenly, so you have 5 sts on each needle. Leave a long tail for sewing your CO edge closed.  Join for knitting in the round.

R1:  K
R2:  *K2, M1L, K1, M1R, K2* Repeat 1x  = 14 sts
R3:  K
R4:  *K3, M1L, K1, M1R, K3* Repeat 1x  = 18 sts
R5:  K
R6:  *K2, SSK, K1, K2tog, K2* Repeat 1x = 14sts
R7:  K
R8:  *K1, SSK, K1, K2tog, K1*  Repeat 1x = 10
R9:  K
R10:  *SSK, K1, K2tog*  Repeat 1x = 6
R11: K

Sew the CO edge closed. Weave in all ends, including the tail of the live stitches (except you may want to leave a long tail on the last petal for sewing later) Use clothes pin style stitch markers to secure the live stitches while you turn your petal right side out.  I used one marker for 3 stitches on each side.  Place the live stitches of each petal on a holder or spare needle, alternating 1 stitch from each side of the petal.

 Flower Center:
CO 10 sts onto straight needles
K 15 rows in ST st
BO
cut yarn, leaving a very long tail
string tail through all edge sts
pull tail tight, forming a ball,
tie off, leave tail for sewing to flower.



Finishing:

 

With either the long tail of the last petal or a separate long strand of yarn, string the live stitches of the petals.

 

Pull Strand tight, bunching the base of the petals together.

 

Tie off and weave in end.

 

sew flower center to flower.

And that's it!  You now have a flower!  You can easily change the size and look of this basic flower to match any garment you are embellishing by choosing different yarn, stitch pattern, or needle size.  And, because the petals are thick and have two right sides, these flowers can also stand alone by simply adding a stem.  Another great use for knitted flowers is as decoration for gift wrapping, hair bands, etc.