~ spring shawls ~

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Exactly 10 days before Easter,

and the annual egg hunt at my grandparents' farm,

my mother (love her) requested shawls for each girl, in lieu of store-bought sweaters.

I have been wanting to make them a shawl each,

but with such a deadline......

I'm just crazy enough to do it!

A total of 36,000 stitches in 10 days.....I was knitting constantly!

I took a little break afterwards.....

This is the Little House Shawl from Rhythm of the Home.

Here's the Ravelry page, and my project page.

I wanted something washable, but still soft, so I chose my standby Berroco Comfort DK,

from my LYS Things Remembered here in town.

It's a superfine nylon, superfine acrylic blend. and very very soft. 

It looks more like cotton than a synthetic blend, though it works easier than cotton.

We tied the shawls behind their backs,

so they looked and wore like a little bolero.

As a testament to the shawls, they wore them all day and they didn't shift or slip from the shoulders.

And while I'm at it, I'll throw in some other family pictures from a perfect day. :D 

~carrie~

~ in the studio: messenger bag and crochet toys ~

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The first project to come out of my new studio 

is a messenger bag for me! 

I've been dissatisfied with having a purse that sits only on one shoulder, 

always feeling I need to keep a hand on it.

My friend Cookie mentioned how she felt a messenger bag simplified her life just a little,

so I decided I needed to give it a try, too! 

I haven't sewed in a while, 

and I'm so very, very pleased with how this purse turned out!

  

I used this tutorial from New Green Mama.

The print is IKEA GUNILLA in orange - it's decorator weight.

The body is the most special - a pair of so very soft wool dress slacks that belonged to my Grandaddy.

~ tiny owl knits! ~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last weekend, Stephanie Dosen of Tiny Owl Knits

(and the TOK Ravelry group) (and her Rav Designer page)

visited my local yarn shop, Things Remembered (here's the Ravelry group)

for classes on some of her patterns and of course to show off her beautiful work!

The wonderful ladies at Things Remembered had the entire shop so nicely decorated!

The displays were thoughtful and the details were not left unnoticed.

And here are her Parseltongue Hat
(and you know what, it may be the Orchids & Fairy Lights
I cannot remember - you couldn't go wrong with either pattern though!)
Heartfelt Rings (a sweet free pattern), Rosy Wristlettes (crochet) and Some Cloudy Day Legwarmers.

Her Beekeepers Quilt is so very amazing!

This is her actual quilt here - isn't that something?

On the right is her Moss and Bluebell Pocket Scarf.

I love these cute kits, all set up with needles and caked yarn!

The Manos del Uruguay yarns.....

I have two hanks of their alpaca and pima cotton blend just waiting to become a shawlette.

More Beekeepers Quilt squishiness!

Didn't I say that the Things Remembered ladies had left no detail unnoticed?!

This owl is knitting a hexipuff!

Lela was so adorable - she wanted to show Stephanie 

(AKA that funny lady from the video)

that she could cast on and knit. 

Stephanie was so very nice. 

I have to admit, that I wasn't familiar with her beyond her popular Beekeeper's Quilt design.

But you know, once you have the chance to meet someone, 

and make a personal connection, however small,

well, you become a fan. 

(She's also a talented musician, do look for her ethereal videos!)

Mr. Fox Stole My Heart

Joy is the owner of Things Remembered, 

and she reminds Stephanie that she needs to get some snacks!

In the end, I purchased two patterns:

Beekeeper's Quilt and Sweet Robin Wrist-ees.

Happily, I also have them signed! Yay!

Thank you Stephanie especially for taking the time to sit with my little girl.

They now call you "that silly lady from the video who made all the pretty knitting".

Oh, won't they be excited to see you sing, too. :D

Thank you Things Remembered for hosting this great event! 

Now I'm all motivated to cast on my first hexipuff!

If you're in our area, please stop by Things Remembered and visit!
Thursdays are Sit and Stitch gatherings, from 10am-8pm
Regular hours are Tuesday-Friday, 10am-5pm
Saturdays 10am-2pm

~carrie~

**In case you're wondering, no one asked for me to write this. 

Just sharing a fun day and spreading the love!**

wip wednesday - wintuk the puppy

This lovely stuff

is 31 years young.

 ~ if we get a dog, should i name her wintuk? ~

I say young,

since it is my mama's unfinished WiP

when I was just a baby.

She started a crochet bedspread,

very simple granny squares.

~ did they have dye lots back then? ~

It is a wounded bird, an abandoned puppy

left in her attic until she forgot

how to double crochet. 

Did I mention that it is 

only double crochet?  

I believe there is enough yarn

so this is what I'm hoping to make

instead - The Sunny Spread.

What do you think? 

Peace,

Carrie

WiP Wednesday - birthday sweater and mittens

I'm still finishing up the mittens for the girls.  These are Lela's and using her requested yarn - some Lion felting wool we dyed.  I added another strand of cream for more warmth.  These were quick and satisfying to make - see here on Ravelry.

(One of Liv's red and blue mittens was promptly and accidentally washed.  Though it is still wearable it just won't do, so there will be a 7th mitten cast on this week.)

Also pictured is Lela's birthday sweater - she will be 5 in a few short (very short!) weeks.  How does it happen so quickly?  This I will never understand. 

This Sweetheart Cardigan is on size 6 needles with Cascade 220 wool.  My friend Haley helped me (read: she did it all) adapt the pattern for the larger yarn and needles.  So even though my tiny 4#15 baby will be 5, this is the 2T size.  I hope to put up more details on Ravelry as soon as Haley tells me what she did. 

Happy knitting!

Peace,
Carrie

WiP Wednesday - Cheating and More

I remember fondly a funny post on Little Home Blessings. Despite spending the last fifteen minutes digging through her site, I cannot find it. (However, after all that digging I feel newly inspired by all her beautiful crafting!)

Anyway, the premise of post was that she had been crocheting, and was "cheating" on her knitting.

~ So, today I'm cheating as well. ~

My friend taught me how a couple weeks ago and I am just now getting around to my first project. This is going to be a hat for me - imagine that, actually crafting for yourself. I'm amazed at how quickly crochet works up.

I try to have my girls wear a hat out-of-doors when the weather necessitates it. But I cannot expect them to wear one if I never do! Crochet offers a warm-natured momma a lightweight hat. I will definitely share a finished picture of this one.

In keeping with the cruddy-picture-nice-craft theme, here's a picture of a really sweet bow that my friend made for the girls. There are actually 2 different bows, one for each girl. She did an amazing job!

~ Lela ~

~ Laurel modeling a past WiP - another completed gnome hat. ~

~ And isn't a marriage, a partnership, always a work-in-progress? ~

Yes, the Winter Beard is gone. :( To return soon, I hope!
My parents visited us for 4 days last week, and we celebrated Thanksgiving. I figured I would share those pictures in the next few days. But on Saturday night, after the girls were asleep, my mom gave us her credit card and we went out for drinks and a little food and a lot of fun. This picture that I FORCED Mike to take is probably the first one we've taken together in at least a year.
Peace,
Carrie

WiP Wednesday - Tiny Gnome Hat

Well, I really have no problem doing the same project over and over and over again. Just ask my friends how it was with the little gnome dolls. :)




I'm making this one to fit a 3-6 month old.

Peace,
Carrie

WiP Wednesday - More of the Same

Wow, two straight weeks of doing WiP Wednesday! Hillary, who has one of my favorite blogs, sweetly invited me to join the flickr group, and I believe that I will, after a couple more weeks of just sharing here. I want to make sure that I can make the time on a regular basis. :)

So here are a few pictures. This first one is actually the scarf from last week's post, being presented to Gran. Soon I will put up the pictures of the girls dyeing the yarn as well - we used the (simple and excellent) instructions from the most recent Living Crafts.

The post was titled "More of the Same" because, well, this week I'm knitting the same projects as last week!

Here, Lela is holding another elf hat from Living Crafts. I changed the increase from a yarn over to picking up a stitch and creating a new one. I'm hoping that will close the little gaps created by the yarn overs. I like those little purposeful holes on Laurel, but Liv has a bit bigger head so they seem more stretched.

Lela modelling again. This one is going to be a tan with black and red stripes. I'll be making it one more time for Lela, and altering the pattern quite a bit. Adding more stitches, changing the decreases and the increases and probably knitting it in the round.

Laurel showing the hat! I love the style of it - covers the ears and back of the neck very well. This yarn is just Lion wool, but I have some nicer yarns that I'm excited to play with. I have some that are nice, but have been reluctant to use in the past because my knitting is not where I want it to be. (It was "my knitting is only so-so" but my sweet friend Tanya reminded me that my knitting is better than so-so and that I was being too hard on myself. Love you Tanya and thanks for the esteem boost. :))

All the girls - Liv is holding another dishcloth in the same cotton colorway of purple and grey/brown. This time I abandoned patterns to create my own! I found the basic instructions from a basketweave and extrapolated, adding a border. So I guess it's only semi-my pattern, but still......

Thanks for looking!

Peace,

Carrie