A visit to the LYS!

A new yarn store has opened fairly close to me - yay! :) Actually, they moved locations, but since I have never been to their previous location, it's new to me! It's called Artisan Knitworks and I couldn't wait to check it out.

They hosted a soft opening and so I met up with my husbands cousin and took a peek. It's a small store and was stuffed with yummy yarns. We were greeted by one of the owners, an older gentleman who seemed very excited by all the new visitors to the store. He offered us a Mimosa, which I was happy to accept. :)

We spent over an hour in the store, sipping on a mimosa and exploring the shelves, cubbies and hooks that were filled with various yarns. Our gentleman checked in on us periodically as he made his way to the various customers. The one thing is that he has reached the age where there are slightly odd remarks or jokes that could border on being slightly inappropriate, but he could get away with it because he is older and he wanted to be funny and friendly. It just makes you a tiny bit uncomfortable, because you weren't completely sure what he was going to say next, but it was harmless flirting. I run into a lot of that at work, both with some of our retiree staff/volunteers and guests. There were also quite a few women in the store who were chatting about the yarn, another owner who was excited to tell us about some of the future plans she has for the space (they have an art student who works there who is planning to paint a mural in the staircase leading downstairs where there will be class space), and a group of friends happily knitting and chatting away in the couches that are set at the front of the store looking out onto the street.

In the end I came home with a bit of yummy yarn. I bought 3 skeins of a Michigan made yarn called Shepherd's Wool by Stonehedge Fiber Mill. Its in the colorway "Great Lakes" and is a gorgeous deep teal/jade color. The price was pretty reasonable too and I love supporting a local company. I'm using it for a "Trillian" shawl by Martina Behm, which I have just cast on.

The other treat I bought was a skein of 100% mink...Oh. My. Goodness. I am still looking for a pattern to use the entire skein...something like a short scarf or cowl. Right now, I just pull it out of the bag and pet it now and then. It's incredibly soft and a beautiful light gray color. I love it.

On my wish list is some lovely Alpaca yarn that I would love for a scarf or shawl. Next time. :) My cousin did buy a skein of that and I can't wait to see what she ends up making with it. So far, she plans to make a hat, and I bet it will be lovely!

The shop didn't have a lot of brands I recognized. They had Noro, but I don't like how Noro feels...it always seems so scratchy. I liked that the shop had yarns from new companies and a variety of weights and fibers. They even had a skein of yarn that had feathers spun into it, and although the owner kept teasing me that I would look good in feathers, I passed. A conversation starter for sure, I couldn't imagine what someone could make with that! :)

I hope that the shop really succeeds...they are setting up a class schedule, and I look forward to seeing the offerings. I also would like to see more store samples made from the yarn in the shop. There were very few and it would be helpful to someone like me to see how some of the more creative yarns could be used. I expect that will come as they settle in to the space and get their stock in. Then they will have a chance to make a few things with them. Overall, we had a lot of fun checking out the store and I can't wait to stop in there again!

Follow me on Bloglovin' to stay updated on what's happening in the nest! 

 

Tangerine Booties!

 

Look what I made yesterday! Babies are arriving here almost daily it seems, and so I made these sweet little cuffed booties for the newest arrival, baby Finneas! This isn't the best photo, I had to take a quick shot using my iPhone before we went out the door to meet the little guy, but I think you get the idea of how cute they are!

 

The pattern is from Annoo Crochet, and she shared the pattern on her blog yesterday. Almost as soon as she posted it via her Instagram account, I had the yarn and hook in hand and off I went! I used a 3.5mm hook and Red Heart Soft worsted weight yarn in Tangerine. Her samples include a cute little flower, but since these were for a baby boy, I left them off. I like the cuffs for the winter, especially since they add a little strength and will keep them from coming off excited little baby feet. The work up very fast, and would be a fun project for really anyone to try!

A few yarn projects

One of the "resolutions" I mentioned in my last post was to do something creative every day. It gives me a chance to learn new skills and techniques, as well as find a little relief and "me time" in the course of a busy day.

Lately, my focus has been on knitting & crochet. It's much easier to put a yarn project in a Ziploc bag and pop it into my work bag than to gather all of the paper crafting supplies I typically need to make a card. And once I start making a card, its much harder to stop midway. With knitting or crochet, I can just finish one line of a pattern and wrap it up. That's not to say that I won't be making cards but it's been nice to take a break.

So on to a few of my yarn projects:

I made a hat & tried cable knitting for the first time! A cable needle could be useful down the road, but I just used an extra dpn here.

I'm working on my first baby cardigan as a gift for a friend. I love this yarn, which is some of the beautiful yarn my grandmother passed on to me!

Abby turned my ghetto yarn bowl into an impromptu swimming pool for her Monster High dolls. :) I should get a proper yarn bowl some time...I truly hate when my yarn rolls off my lap! This little box is working for now, though I wonder how it will look in the middle of the summer with snowflakes all over it. Etsy has some beautiful bowls, like this one or this one.

Here's a closeup of the chevron pattern on the bottom half. Pretty, no?

A view of the back of the cardigan. A few more repeats of the chevron pattern, sleeves and some finish work and it will be done!

Decided to try out another cable pattern, this time a pair of mittens! Still no cable needle, and yes, it would have been even more helpful this time since I was knitting in a smaller round than my hat. But I managed!

These bad boys are long! No worries that a draft will give me goosebumps! :)

I love them - they are so thick and warm thanks to the bulky weight yarn I used. I didn't have enough of the same colorway in my stash so I had to go to the store and pick up new yarn for these. I finished these on Saturday, when it suddenly went up to 50 degrees! In Michigan, 50 degrees in January is not glove weather! But in true Michigan weather yo yo tradition, we have a high of 25 degrees today, so they were perfect for the drive to work this morning!

Another thing that I like about them? They prevent me from checking my phone at a red light on the drive. I don't text and drive - no way! But it's become super tempting to take a peek at Facebook or Instagram while I'm waiting at a light. Not a habit I want to get into!

I made these on Sunday. My last attempt at baby booties was a disaster so I was a little gun shy about trying again, but one of the things I love about crochet is that I can rip it out to the point I need and start again. Which I had to do a couple times with these, but in the end they turned out very cute! As you can see on the right bootie, they have button holes and the flap wraps around the ankle. They are destined for a baby girl, and mom isn't a huge fan of traditional pinks (I can sympathise, I felt the same way when Abby was born. She came home from the hospital in a lovely blue outfit. But pink is her favorite color now, so that didn't last long! lol). But I have to make these a little girlie, so I'm hoping to find some sparkly buttons for the cuff. I honestly think pink rhinestone would be really cute with this soft gray, but we'll see what I can find.

I'm thinking of making a pair of baby mitts to go with these booties and perhaps a little hat too. I have plenty of this gray yarn from my stash to work with so it wouldn't be a problem to add that to the gift. Maybe add a bit of pink ribbon to the mitt cuffs or a tiny pink bow on the hat? Just a touch so they all tie in together? I guess it all depends on what I find for the booties.

All of these pics came from my Instagram account, so if you're interested in following along with the progress of these and other random bits & pieces, feel free to follow me!

It's been nutty!

When last I wrote, I mentioned that things in my tiny speck of the world have been incredibly busy. No busier than many other people I am sure, but still a whirlwind for us! :)

August & September was full of school prep for the kids. Abby started Kindergarten, which she has been looking forward to for at least 2 years (when Davin started). She was nervous and excited at the same time. No tears for my little champ...she stood proudly in line with her new classmates, said a few shy "Hellos" to some of the other children, and when her teacher came out she happily went inside with her class.

Davin started 2nd grade (oh my goodness, how is that possible already?!?!) and for him it was all "Wash, Rinse, Repeat". He was excited to see his classmates again and do "boy stuff". :) This year he is at a new door at the school so for me it was tough because I had to choose which child to stand with in line! Davin was so excited to leave me, so I went with Abby. He was in good hands with his class, and I barely got a kiss and a "Bye Mom!" before he dashed off. :) Love that boy!

This year I was also elected as the PTO President for the school. I was the Secretary last year, but as our previous President has moved on with her older children it was time for a new person to step up. Sadly, our school has a low parent participation rate...for lots of reasons I think, mostly that so many parents work and many just aren't sure how to "step up". I don't think they don't want to help, but it can be kind of scary to just jump in. It was for me. But it's an important part of our school, so when I was asked if I would be willing I said yes. Now, I also knew what the challenges would be. I work full time so I can't be at the school as often as many other PTO members, but the VP and Treasurer are closer to the school, one works from home and the other works nights, so they have been great at stepping in and filling in when I can't be there. I will say though, it's hard work! Fundraisers, communicating with businesses, volunteers, teachers, meetings, websites, you name it and we are doing it. :) I don't know if this is something that I can do for years down the road, but I hope that we can build a solid parent base who can chair projects and teams so that the three of us aren't solely responsible for all of the events and projects. And most importantly, to build "a pipeline" of future leadership at the school.

My husband finished his last season as the high school tennis coach this fall, so he was occupied for most of August through October. Practises daily with the team and tournaments on most Saturdays - oi vey! He has done it for a number of years, but after this year he decided that he wanted to step down so he could be with the kids more. With their schedules getting busier and busier it will be helpful to have the extra pair of hands! :) I love that he is so involved with the kids, and being a teacher, he is able to be home with them after school - a huge help for me, since I usually work until 6pm or so.

The fall was also full of soccer practises and dance classes. Both kids wanted to play soccer, and practise was on Tues and Thurs at 6pm, at different schools! Yikes! We (I) made it work, dropping Davin off first under the supervision of his coach until my hubby could get to the field after tennis, and I would take Abby to hers. Games on Saturday mornings and by the end of October I was very glad to wrap that up! :)

Dance class this year is on Tuesday as well, so we had to let the coach know that we couldn't attend soccer on that day. This year, she was moved up from the intro Kinderdance session to Mini, which is the first opportunity to focus on individual classes. She couldn't decide which she was interested in, so in the end we opted to try to Mini Combo program, which is Ballet, Tap and Jazz back to back. It's nice that it's all on the same night, but Tuesdays become long nights when we are at the studio for 90 minutes. I have discovered though that if you ever need to catch up on the latest teen sensations, spend time at a dance studio...I've been caught up on all of Taylor Swifts music by now...on repeat. Yay. *wink* Abby manages the classes pretty well so far...I was a little worried that she would be really tired on Wednesdays, but she seems to be doing fine so far. She is loving all three classes and is really excited that she will be dancing in three numbers at the recital in June. That also means three costume changes, but so far the studio has been really conscious about appropriate costumes for the girls ages so I am sure she will look cute. :) I still have a tough time with makeup on a 5 year old, but after seeing how they look from the audience I understand the concept of stage makeup...and at least I don't have to put blue eyeshadow on her! :) Can you tell I didn't dance when I was growing up? I was climbing trees, so this is all new to me! lol

My job has been super busy this fall too. We closed a major exhibit on September 30, which brought in a fair few folks and left us all a bit winded. :) But we have now moved on to the holiday programming and I'm just working through all of the piles that went untouched when we had lines out the door. It was a good problem to have! :)

We spent a lot of time going to see the Detroit Tigers play this summer and fall.

We were cheering them on as they made their way to the World Series. Sadly, they were handily beaten but not before hubby and I had a chance to see one of the games! What a fun (chilly!) night we had!

I interspersed that with visits to the Physical Therapist 3 times a week to work on my back issues for about 5 weeks. Ugh. I have some compression on one of my discs so it causes pain and numbness in my left leg/foot. It helped, though I think I might be dealing with this permanently, so thats frustrating. But I did love the heat packs at the end of the sessions! lol

Let's see, where does that bring us? We hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house for 10 people, and I had a lot of fun cooking and cleaning (ok, not so much fun cleaning!) for a couple days before hand. On Friday I worked, and then we dashed off to another family gathering. I was kicking myself that I didn't take any pictures, but we were having so much fun talking, eating and playing that no one remembered to take any! Good times though! I do have two pictures of Thanksgiving...of the Frozen Lemon Gingersnap Pie we made...very lemony, but very good. The kids made the ice cream by hand using this method. I also made a Pumpkin Roll, using my best friends mom's recipe - delish!

On the crafting side, I had to table a lot of projects because I was just too busy. I had hoped that I could get my Etsy shop up and running in September, but that definitely didn't happen. :) I haven't made a card in ages...my poor colored pencils and Copics have been sitting forlornly on my desk since August! I finally unearthed them yesterday when I had a chance to clean off my desk...they were buried under a mountain of things! :) I'm hoping that I can finally get back into the groove...at the very least get some Christmas cards done for my family! I have been doing some yarnwork though. Crochet especially, but also some knitting. My mother sent me loads of yarn that belonged to my grandmother. She has had to stop knitting because of arthritis so they decided I should get it. I was so excited! I will miss my grandmothers work...she was an amazing knitter and I still can't bear to part with any of the things she has made for my kids, even though they can't wear the sweaters and socks and hats anymore. I just love them too much. I love the yarn that she gave me, and whenever I open the boxes I get a lovely whiff of her house. I love it, and I hope I can do her justice with the projects that I make from it.

I was gifted knitting needles and crochet hooks from an employee last year after his wife passed away, and I prefer to use those for many of my projects because I know how much she loved them. I suppose its sentimental, but of all the people who could have recieved them, I was the lucky one. I don't think I could ever turn someone down if they offered something like that to me.

I was super excited when a friend on Facebook saw a photo I had posted of a Hello Kitty hat I made for Abby and asked if I would make a hippo hat for a shower gift. I had never made a hippo hat before, but I did some research of other earflap hats and then scaled the patterns down to fit a newborn. It turned out pretty cute I thought! :)

I'm also working on this baby blanket in teal & tangerine (I am loving these colors!):

Still working on my first pair of socks (I kind of lost steam for them, but I'm determined to finish), a scarf for myself, a winter hat for Davin, and a doll blanket for Abby:

I just finished a couple of knit dishcloths (I love those for really scrubbing things!), a few preemie hats for the local NICU and a couple of coffee cup cozies for a coworker.

I've also been doing a bit of hunting for some vintage goodies that my end up on my Etsy shop site...what do you think of these little finds?

Wow, this has turned into an incredibly long post! If you have stuck with me through it, I think you can see why I haven't been blogging much. :) I've been around though, as I mentioned before. Now that I finally caved and got a smartie phone I am addicted to Instagram and update my Twitter page more frequently than before. Feel free to drop me a line and say hello! :)

Now that Thanksgiving is done I don't have to listen to Christmas music in secret anymore and I am slowly bring out the decorations. It has turned quite cold here in Michigan, so I am stalling on putting out the twinkle lights, but it will look so much more like Christmas once we finally bite the bullet and do it. :) By this weekend, I promise. We are supposed to reach 50 degrees this weekend, so perhaps I can coax hubby onto the ladder when it isn't in the low 30's like today. :)

Crochet Bunny Peeps!

I wanted to share one of my favorite Easter/Spring crochet projects. Crochet Bunny Peeps!

This pattern is not mine, but was shared by Ryan at Scarlett Design in 2010. I LOVE this pattern - so easy to follow and the project came together for me really fast! Swing by her blog and check out her great patterns and other goodies!

My favorite yarn for this project ended up being Simply Soft by Caron...it's easy to find, has lots of bright colors (you need bright colors for that Peeps look!) and is really soft. It also helps that I have quite a bit of it in my yarn stash so it was a great way to use up some of the yarn that was piling up. I also used other worsted weight yearns...really anything will work!

For the eyes I used the plastic safety eyes that you can find at any local craft store (I got mine at Joanns). Quick tip - put them in your project before you put in the stuffing and reduce your rounds so much you can't get your fingers inside to attach the back. Not that I know this from experience of course... *wink*

Anyway, go check out Ryan's blog, which also has links to her Etsy shop.

By the way, how is it possibly only 6 days till Easter? I have done NOTHING to prepare! Work has been too crazy, but I made it through the weekend in one (relatively unscathed) piece and am really looking forward to my day off tomorrow. How are your Easter/Spring plans going?

Little hats for little heads

I've been working on a gift for a work friend. They were expecting twins at the end of January, but for some reason, she went into labor early and delivered them in early October. Such tiny little babies, the baby girl only 1 lb 6 oz and the baby boy 1 lb 10 oz.! It was a scary time...being so little there were many obsticles in their way, but miraculously both have done well and continue to grow! As a gift I made a set of little hats for them after seeing that their hospital hats were too big on their tiny heads. Once I started I just couldn't stop and put together 10 hats so far. I dropped them off yesterday and as an added bonus was able to see their mom and the twins in person! It was so exciting...I hadn't expected it since I had only planned to drop off the gift and leave, and it was great to see how adorable they are in person. Their baby boy even smiled in his sleep as I was watching him...I couldn't help but get a bit teary-eyed. :)

I have a few more done already and once there are enough for another batch I will drop them off. I made them in a variety of sizes, all using Preemie patterns, but they all turned out in varying sizes depending on the yarn, tension, etc.

It's been a great learning experience for me too. While I know enough about crochet to feel comfortable making hats, knitting is still something I am a complete novice at so this gave me the opportunity to learn how to read patterns better and learn how to knit in the round.

I have to say thank you to all the wonderful people who have posted free patterns for preemie hats. It's really heartwarming to find so many people happily sharing their patterns for such a good thing as hats for these babies who were born too soon. I have quite a few on my Pinterest board, so if you are interested in them, please stop by and check them out.

I've also been in contact with the twin's NICU and have found out that they accept donations of hats too, so I have a project to keep me going even after the twins are finally able to go home. If you have a hospital near you with a NICU, ask if they accept donations too. They may have some requirements about the materials, so ask questions. At the very least use the softest yarn you can find, nothing too fuzzy or bumpy since their skin is very delicate and fuzzy yarn can shed which they may breath in. And for preemies I read that yellow might not be the best color, since so many develop jaundice, and the yellow yarn wont  look so nice with their skin at that time. And have fun with it...preemies are so little that most clothing doesn't fit them, so providing a special hat that will fit will be such a gift.

You can also check if they accept other hats too...perhaps some full term babies or children could use them, or adult patients. A soft warm hat can really make someones day...and easily will make yours too.

UPDATE 12/12/11: I was sent a photo of one of the twins wearing one of the hats by his dad. Doesn't he look cute???

UPDATE 1/26/11: Their little boy has been home from the hospital for a few days now and doing great! We're just waiting for his twin sister to join the family at home...hopefully soon!

A very kind gift

I work with some wonderful people.

My department has basically every working age group in it; from our youngest who is 17, to the eldest in her mid 80's. It gives us a unique perspective on our guests and provides a great environment where we can learn from each other. As different as we all are, we pull together and help each other when the time arises. I love that.

I recently attended the funeral of the wife of one of my staff. Sadly, she lost her battle with cancer. Her husband is a very kind man and I know this loss has been hard for him.

I was visiting the cashier area he and others were working in and as we were chatting I mentioned that I was working on some new craft projects. I have been knitting & crocheting baby hats. He mentioned that his wife used to do the same and wondered if I would be interested in any of her supplies since no one in the family had need for them. I told him I would happily use anything he might want to give me.

Yesterday he came in with a bag. He showed me a few things inside and said I could have everything inside. Wow, what a treat! When I got home I had a chance to really look through it and was amazed at what he had given me!

Dozens of knitting needles in various sizes...regular as well as double pointed!

Lots of crochet hooks, kept in two different zip up bags:

There were also a couple smaller bags filled with other supplies like a tape measure, 3 tiny sewing scissors, pins, needles, counters, rubber tips, etc! And the tube with the red & blue embroidery in the first picture is a holder for all the knitting needles! It's packed full, and that's just with the unpackaged needles! I was overwhelmed by his kindness. I really can't wait to use some of the supplies for my upcoming projects and will think of Nancy and Dave whenever I use them.

I really work with wonderful people.