knit

Cold blooded

spaleksicLeave a comment

Hi! It’s been a while. I started a new job in January and then another new job in June. My days have been blurring together meeting new people and learning my roles within both organizations. But I have been crafting too.

I’m married and share a bed with my husband. My husband sweats in the middle of winter sleeping in his underwear, and I wear a toque, gloves, wool socks and long underwear and am still cold. This poses a little issue for us. How do we share a blanket?

I knit this 10 stitch blanket to solve my problem. It’s a blanket only for me which is a wool blend and goes only on my side.

Advertisements

Christmas Crafts – Day 12

spaleksicLeave a comment

Wow, I made it. We crafted through the 12 days of Christmas once again.  I had a little help this year from the elves. This final project was made for my husband. He was in need of a new winter hat, and with the recent snow we had here it was finished just in time.

On the first day of Christmas my true loves made for me, an Ornament Wreath.

• On the second day of Christmas my true loves made with me, Hot Chocolate Mugs.

• On the third day of Christmas my true love made for me, Plum Wine.

• On the fourth day of Christmas my mom made for me, A Nativity Scene.

• On the fifth day of Christmas a random stranger made for me, Cotton Candy Chemo Cap.

• On the sixth day of Christmas my true loves made for me, Spontaneous Snowmen

• On the seventh day of Christmas my true love made for me, Tiny Knit Scarf Ornaments

• On the eighth day of Christmas my little loves made for me, Reindeer Balls.

• On the ninth day of Christmas my little loves made with me, Dentist approved cookies.

• On the tenth day of Christmas my true love made for me, Beyblade gloves.

• On the eleventh day of Christmas my love made, a Sewn Stocking.

• On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love made…

If you want to make this hat, I got the pattern here.

That’s a wrap. Thanks for reading. Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

 

Christmas Crafting – Day 10

spaleksic3 Comments

My kids are both into Beyblades, which are essentially spinning tops. They play them at recess and apparently gloves or mittens get in the way of the fun. My youngest asked if he could cut the tops off his mittens. Instead of that very creative option I have made him finger-less gloves.

• On the first day of Christmas my true loves made for me, an Ornament Wreath.

• On the second day of Christmas my true loves made with me, Hot Chocolate Mugs.

• On the third day of Christmas my true love made for me, Plum Wine.

• On the fourth day of Christmas my mom made for me, A Nativity Scene.

• On the fifth day of Christmas a random stranger made for me, Cotton Candy Chemo Cap.

• On the sixth day of Christmas my true loves made for me, Spontaneous Snowmen

• On the seventh day of Christmas my true love made for me, Tiny Knit Scarf Ornaments

• On the eighth day of Christmas my little loves made for me, Reindeer Balls.

• On the ninth day of Christmas my little loves made with me, Dentist approved cookies.

• On the tenth day of Christmas my true love made for me…

Finger-less Beyblade Gloves.

Want to make these too? I got the pattern here.

Cuddle + Kind

spaleksicLeave a comment

If you have signed up for any retail emails you have probably been bombarded in the last few days. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, 50% off, buy one get one free, free shipping… I can hardly keep up. There have been so many emails lately about buying stuff, piles and piles of stuff. Stuff that doesn’t do much for anyone except maybe the buyer, and even then, it’s questionable.

I will admit that I joined in the Black Friday madness, and fought my way through the throngs of people with piles of bags on my arms. When I got home I began questioning my purchases because I bought so much and I didn’t really need any of it. Not one thing….well maybe I can quantify the vacuum. I am a sucker for a good deal.

Had I bought a pile of Cuddle + Kind dolls I would not be racing back to the mall making returns right now. Do you want to purchase a product that has a positive impact on the lives of others? Me too! Join me in supporting Cuddle + Kind on giving Tuesday, and every other day. Cuddle + Kind ethically produces hand-knit dolls that feed children. When you purchase a Cuddle + Kind doll, or poster you are also giving meals for children in need. How cool is that?

Cuddle + Kind produces 21 hand-knit dolls made of natural, premium cotton by artisans in Peru. They are ethically produced through fair trade employment. Every doll gives 10 meals to children in need, 1 doll = 10 meals. Cuddle + Kind has donated 1,527,878 meals in just two years!

 

 

Oliver the bear recently came to live in our “wild” house. With our wild boys. I hope he can keep up with the pace. I have one son reading him “The Very Cranky Bear” and the other teaching him how to growl. As Oliver would say “Stay wild at heart”.

I am often asked to promote products, and occasionally I say yes.  When I do say yes it’s because the products are in line with my own values and I believe in the companies that I support. Oliver the Bear came to live in our wild house courtesy of Cuddle + Kind, as did his inspirational poster. But the opinions are 100% mine.

Caron Cake Cookies Cream Shawl

spaleksic2 Comments

When I decide to knit, or crochet a new project I can be inspired by an image on Ravelry or Pinterest or by the yarn itself. Believe it or not, I am known to wonder the aisles of a craft store, so much so that I am known to the staff. One of them even thought that it would be a good idea for me to get a job there because I was in there all the time anyway. It’s logical I will give her that. While wondering I always check out the sales on yarn, and this is when I picked up a Cookies Cream Caron Cake. I know it sounds like it should be in the cake decorating aisle, but it’s yarn. Inspired by the yarn I decided to knit my first shawl.

Continue reading →

Christmas Crafting – Day 8

spaleksicLeave a comment

For a while I was on a sock knitting kick. When I determined that I had enough pairs of knit socks, I moved on to finger less gloves. Same yarn different body part. On the eighth day of Christmas my true love knit for me…Fingerless Gloves. If you want to make some, the pattern can be found here. I shortened the pattern a little bit based on the amount of yarn I had. If you want to buy these, click here.

 

Knitting Season

spaleksicLeave a comment

knitting-season-2_making-a-lifeToday is the first day of fall and the first day of knitting season. I don’t know about you but I take a hiatus from yarn based projects during the warm weather. But now that its getting chilly outside I am motivated to make things that keep me warm. I was digging in the craft closet and came out with a whole box of sock yarn, which should keep me busy for a long time.

Continue reading →

Warm and Cozy

spaleksic3 Comments

There is nothing quite like knitting a warm cozy blanket in the winter. Last week I wrote about a crochet project that I had worked on for 2 years (even I can’t believe it), in contrast I made this blanket in only a few days over the Christmas break. There are a few differences that account for the speed. This blanket is a bit smaller, and is knit with big think yarn which makes larger stitches per inch. Even better than knitting a blanket in the winter is snuggling under it with a cup of tea in a handmade mug of course and a magazine. Pure luxury!

Just for me

spaleksic2 Comments

If you have been following my blog for any length of time you probably notice that I make craft projects for other people often. Even when I decide to make something for myself frequently someone tells me how much they like it and somehow it becomes theirs. I am an advocate of the handmade and prefer to gift handmade objects.

One of my friends gave me yarn for Christmas this year with the implicit instructions to make something for myself. She knows me a little too well. The yarn that she gave me was beautiful but I was already making myself a pair of finger-less gloves. I might have to turn the yarn that she gifted me into a pair of socks. No one in my house will steal them because they will have a bit of pink in them.

If you think that these are as great as I do here is a link to the pattern. I think that I was sucked in by the pretty pictures with the pattern and I have made an effort to duplicate it but I didn’t really do them justice.

P.S. In case you were wondering those are my real hands and my nails are real. I just have to throw it out there but I take zero credit, because it’s all in the genes. Some people get skinny genes, some people get good nail genes. I only got the good nail genes.