A trip and more toys

Last weekend Sam and I drove down to Washington, DC for Passover with his family. I've never been to a Seder before so this was going to be a totally new experience for me. I also hadn't met all of his family on his dad's side before either. As far as all that goes, we had a lovely time and his all of his family members were very nice!

Sam was gracious enough to drive both there and back, which gave me some prime knitting time that I was overjoyed to have. We also had some down time on Saturday and decided to head over to the National Zoo.

I grew up in Maryland, just outside DC so I have some pretty great memories of going to the National Zoo. Now I have one more...

We had so much fun! We we even able to meet up with Sam's good friend from college who works down in DC now.

I have to admit, I was just super excited to get out and have an adventure. Work has been a bit stressful and it's nice to get away sometimes!

In knitting news, I've been making stuffed animals like crazy! First, I was commissioned to make a pink elephant for a little girl who will be turning one. They wanted it as a keepsake so I was happy to make it and embellish it for them. It's my first Etsy sale!

I pretty much stuck to the Elijah pattern (rav link) for this one, though the embellishments were all mine. She's one lucky elephant too, because I decided to use some of my merino/cashmere/nylon sock yarn to make her scarf!

This really is one of my favorite patterns to make because it just turns out so adorable and most people can't handle the cuteness!

Along that line, my coworker asked me to make a pig for her. I was more than happy to, but when I looked up pig patterns, there just weren't any that met my "cuteness standard." Seriously, it has to make you fall over with cuteness before I'm going to knit it!

So what did I do? I modified Elijah of course. Pretty heavily actually, but you can definitely tell that's where the inspiration came from!

I've decided to name her Annabelle. She even has a cute little curly Q tail that I added to her.

I modify the face slightly and the nose quite a bit to make it come up a little farther on the face. I made the ears up as I went along until they were perfect.

I'm quite proud of my little piggy. I hate to say it, but I think she's the cutest pig anyone's ever knit... if I do say so myself... :)

What I've been up to...

Just a quick post. I'm about to be off for the holiday weekend. Sam and I are traveling down to Washington, DC for a three day weekend. Before I go, I thought I'd check in and write a quick post (you know, to assure you all that I'm still alive!)

I've been busy working on a quite a few projects recently. One of which I was inspired to make to help take better pictures...

Yep, I made myself a lightbox. It took me all of about ten minutes and cost me three dollars. I bought some posterboard for the back drops in three different colors. So far, the white works the best, but with the right project black or blue might work.

I've also been working on some teddy bears that I'm super proud of. The pattern is loosely based on Otto by Ysolda Teague. I changed quite a few things though. The body is more like the elephant, the legs and arms are slightly different, but the ears I totally changed.

I wanted ears like a real teddy bears so I made them up as I went. My first attempt was just not right at all... but the second was perfect (at least I thought they were perfect!) I'm so proud of those ears. I get such a charge from creating something right out of my imagination! I was so excited that I couldn't wait to make something else up! We'll see what I come up with next.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and if you're traveling, have a safe trip!

When do I slow down?

Have you ever felt you don't have an off button? That's me. I've just discovered that I don't have an off button. Here I've decided to take a long break from school because I was too stressed out over it, just to spend all the extra time developing patterns and trying to get an Etsy shop running where, if I'm successful, would mean almost all my knitting time would be taken up with projects knit for other people. Am I a glutton for punishment, or do I just not function well without self-imposed deadlines and pressures?

I have noticed a huge difference between this kind of pressure and the school pressure, though. This kind of pressure is exciting to me. I finally feel like I have my creative spark back, the spark that I lost when I went back to school in the first place. All I can think about is getting back home so I can work on my projects! It's been a long time since I've felt inspired by what I'm doing. I absolutely love the feeling. What I need now is time.

When I get inspired by something, I want ALL the time to be with it. Forget about this work to make a living thing, I want to dive into my craft. Unfortunately my craft doesn't earn me a living and I do so like to live.

I suppose I just have to take a breath and know that there is plenty of time. All things don't need to be done right now. It's a process.

 In all this craziness, I managed to finish the giraffe! The recipient loved it so much!

This project was such a challenge to me to keep my motivation up. Those spots went on forever. But, I prevailed and swore to myself that I would never make another giraffe if my life depended on it. So naturally, when a second co-worker asked me if I would make one for her I immediately responded: Of course!

 Perhaps I'll make the second one with less spots...

Seeing Spots...

It's official. I'm in duplicate stitch hell. Obviously I bit off more than I can chew with this silly giraffe. Don't get me wrong, he's cute. Some might even say crazy adorable... but the spots. Each spot is duplicate stitched on and you just don't realize how big an undertaking it is until you start it! There are times I feel like I'm getting somewhere with it, only to turn it over and see all the blank yellow sections mocking me with their lack of spots.

What's a girl to do when there is a task this daunting??? Work on a pair of mindless stripey socks of course! I'm nearly finished the second sock! Two of my friends and I plan on getting together to add the afterthought heels. There's a certain amount of moral support one needs when she's about to cut into knitted fabric. Let's hope the tears are few.

It seems wrong to delve into this small-talk subject, but we have had unseasonably warm and gorgeous weather here in Central New York these past few days. Yesterday was the St. Patrick's Day parade and the weather couldn't have been nicer. Sam was actually in the parade helping a dog rescue group with their pups. He managed to get a bit of sunburn on the back of his neck....in March. I feel I need to remind myself of the month because normally we have at least two feet of snow still on the ground at this point. This has been anything but a normal year.

Daisies in the grass (Instagram)

Crocuses and bees

Pippin enjoying the sun (Instagram)

However, there are some flowers and a certain cat who are quite happy with the weird yet amazing weather. There were even bees hanging around the crocuses (you can see her hanging out in one of the flowers in the foreground)! I don't know whether to enjoy the weather, or just be completely weirded out.  I suppose since I have no control over it, I might as well enjoy it!

A whole lot of knitting over here!

Though I haven't been busy writing on my blog, I have been busy in life and knitting. I've been working like a madwoman on the baby toys.


It turns out I finished the elephant just in time for the baby to be born. As luck would have it, he was born on leap day (after 32 hours of labor, yowza!) Everyone is doing fine and if the pictures are to be believed, he's adorable.  I can't wait to meet the little guy. The elephant is pretty excited to meet him too!


I started the giraffe almost immediately after finishing the elephant. Let me tell you something, giraffes are much more fiddly than elephants to knit. Still adorable, just fiddly. You would think I would have known they would be, what with their long necks and spots... I admit, it's the spots that seem the most daunting to me. Ah well. It's a challenge I accepted!


The giraffe doesn't look like much now (in fact, I have one more leg than what the picture shows) but he's getting there.  Though it seems I've run into a little problem. I've come down with a case of startitis.  


Maybe that's not entirely accurate. I finished a pair of socks so that I could use the needles to start a new pair. That wasn't really my plan, but somehow it happened. I had a half-day of work on Friday and I sat down on the couch to relax for a bit. I didn't have anything in mind to watch when I came across the first season of Downton Abbey on Netflix. Six episodes (and hours) later, I had a completed pair of socks and a very numb butt! I just couldn't stop myself, I had to know what happens in the next epidsode!


The socks are made out of Malabrigo sock yarn in Solis and the pattern is Hermione's Everyday socks (rav link). I had to finish them because I couldn't get another pair off my mind. A friend of mine started a pair of toe-up socks in KnitPicks Felici sock yarn and they just looked awesome. I had a couple of skeins of it in my stash and they've been calling my name ever since I got them.


Last night I finally got around to starting them! I've knit toe-up socks many times before, usually by using the provisional cast-on method and knitting a short-row toe. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but last night I branched out a bit and tried something new with this pair. I have been a die-hard short row heel and toe sock knitter for years, but last night I tried Judy's Magic Cast on for the toe... my mind is official blown! What an awesome technique, I can't believe I didn't learn it sooner! I've just been too stuck in my ways. 


Not any more, look at how awesome it is! There is no seam on the inside when you're finished! It looks like, and essentially is, one continuous piece of knitted fabric. Some people are just too clever for words!


Discovering this method was a happy accident. What I really started these socks for was to try my hand at an afterthought heel. I had heard of this method before, but something about it piqued my interest now. It seems so wrong to cut into knitted fabric, but I'm going to throw caution to the wind and do it!

I have two skeins of this yarn and since I'm starting toe-up, I'm just going to knit one whole skein per sock and add the heel in later. There's nothing like learning a new technique that gets me all excited about knitting again! 


I only have-- I don't know-- miles to go before I get to try it!

An Elephant Emerges

Finally, the hats are finished!!! Not only finished, but given to their recipients! They seemed quite happy to see them, especially since we finally had some decent snowy weather that tends to require thick, warm winter hats.


 As you can imagine, I was so excited to be finished with them that I immediately cast on for Elijah the elephant. I started him (or her) on Saturday and before I knew it the head was finished...




Then, next thing I knew the body had somehow materialized by Sunday morning.















I did my normal Sunday routine of laundry, house cleaning and grocery shopping. Sam and I even managed to catch a movie which we rarely do. Even with all that, by Sunday afternoon Elijah could walk.

Currently, one arm is finished and the second arm is close to finished, but I didn't get good pictures of it before I went to bed. Before I know it, there will be ears and it'll be finished!!! I don't know what's making this project go so fast. I'm thinking it's because it's not another winter hat!