Finished Cable Knit Cowl

Well, it's finished! It took a little less than a week to complete and it was fun to make. I added some buttons along the side (or you can wear them in the back) instead of sewing the seam.

I went ahead and cropped my face out of the above shot, early morning pictures are not so great.

I cut off the buttons from one of my old cardigans that I haven't worn in 2 years. I figured at least I'll get some use out of it now. I just love the little crowns on them, they look Swedish to me.

And, in this last shot I tried to get a better view of the cable knit throughout. You can't see them as well since it's all in stockinette stitch, but it makes it lay nicely around your neck. I used Julianne's pattern here and thought it was a great one!

Half cable knit cowl

I have been knitting away this entire weekend after coming into some beige-ish, nylon/acrylic blended yarn from my Aunt (thank you!). I'm knitting a cowl since it's been getting quite chilly here in SoCal during these Fall months and I will soon be in the very chilly midwest.

I love the cable stitches that are worked throughout, it really spices it up a bit! I am using this free pattern from Julianne that she titled the "Burberry inspired cowl neck scarf". The scarf she got the inspiration from (Burberry) was $750 (?!?!?!). I personally don't know of anyone who would spend that much to keep their neck warm.

I actually don't even know if I will keep this project or gift it...I'm still deciding. It will largely depend on how it turns out (or how attached I become...ha).

I'll be sure to post some finished pictures when it's completed. I just love knitting when it's cold out!

Scandinavian Christmas 2011

Thanksgiving is almost here which means Christmas is peaking it's little head around the corner. I loved putting together the Scandinavian Christmas series last year and am so happy to say that it will be happening again this year!

Kicking off on December 13, Santa Lucia Day (!), there will be a series of guest bloggers sharing some of their Scandinavian traditions, Scandinavian Christmas crafts, and Scandinavian recipes. Prepare yourselves to get seriously Scandinavian this holiday season.

There were so many awesome guest posts last year, one even for pickled herring! I hope you stick around to check the series out this December, you won't want to miss the incredible creative minds that are participating this year!

Hat Model

Well, I finally was able to see if the hat I knit for my nephew fit his sweet little head...and it does! The only thing is that I'm not sure he's a hat-wearing kinda kid. He enjoyed pulling it off quite a bit. :)

Trying to get a picture while it was still on his head proved to be a bit difficult...

He certainly is a little cutie.

Lemon Poppyseed Tartlettes

I made these little guys this past weekend. Since I don't own tartlette pans, I just used my muffin tins and filled the dough halfway up instead. Totally works in place of the mini pans (not that I wouldn't love some cutesy tartlette pans someday...hint hint, Ryan...).

One word: ohmygoshthesearesogood!

Thank you, Martha .

Christmas E-Book

I'm happy to announce that my Ho Ho Ho Christmas Gift Bag tutorial has been featured in this Christmas E-Book! It is full of great ideas for homemade Christmas gifts among many other things. So if you're looking for some fun, free ideas, check it out!

Easy Knit Pillow Tutorial

This is the project I have been working on this past week. Knitting away during my free time, it only took one week to finish knitting the front to this pillow. And I wasn't knitting very often, it went quite quickly. I love that it is a bit softer to lay on when I'm zoning out on the couch reading a magazine (November issue of Real Simple, anyone? So good.) and they are a bit bigger than the last pillows I made.

If you don't know how to knit it's no problem, you can repurpose an old wool sweater or buy one from a thrift store. If you do knit, I recommend using larger needles so the lining fabric can peek through.

Ok, let's get started! Gather your supplies:

One 17 x 21 inch stockinette stitch knit swatch
(I used size 15 needles, cast on 65 stitches and knitted until it measured 17")
One 17 x 21 inch piece of lining fabric
(I used white flannel)
One 17 x 21 inch piece of fabric for the back
Stuffing for the pillow
Needle/thread

1. Cut and assemble your layers of fabric. Lay your back piece of fabric right-side up and place your knitted swatch on top, wrong-side up.

2. Place your lining piece on top of your knitted swatch.

3. Pin in place. Leave a 3 inch gap in the bottom of your pillow.

4. Sew around the pillow using a 1/2 inch - 1 inch seam allowance. I used quite a big seam allowance here to allow for the knitted piece, feel free to adjust accordingly.

5. Turn right-side out through the gap you left in the bottom.

6. Stuff with filling. I start stuffing with the four corners and add gradually from there. Distribute evenly and keep in mind that it will flatten out a bit after use.

7. Pin the gap closed by folding in both sides 1/2 inch. Sew either using your machine or hand stitching with an invisible stitch.

Enjoy your soft and comfy knitted pillow!

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Recent knitting project

My current knitting project is this super easy and quick knit pillow. I just started it this week and it is going by quite fast! I'm using huge knitting needs so I'm sure that helps, size 15.

I'm using a nice two-tone wool yarn of gray and white. My plan is to sew a pillow, one side solid black fabric, and the front side this knit with a lining of black or white fabric underneath. That's why I'm using such large needles, I want to be able to get a peak of the fabric underneath.

I just love quick knits.
If it turns out as cute as it is in my head then I will share a fun tutorial so you can all make your own! Here's to hoping this project doesn't bomb like the last project I attempted...

Major craft fail

I was so excited about this project before I started and then the more and more that went into it the more and more I didn't like it. I was attempting to make a Fall wreath by taking a straw wreath (cheap) and hot gluing split peas all over it. I saw quite a few like it when I googled "diy fall wreath".

So I bought some new hot glue and got started. Word to the wise, do NOT buy RoseArt brand hot glue, it is awful. I did a section with teh glue I had and it worked great and as soon as I switched to this glue things started going downhill, fast.

I started gluing the split peas on...

And one by one they kept falling off when I switched to the other hot glue.

You can see the section on the right side where they are sticking, that was from my previous glue stick (which I wish I had more of...).

Needless to say, this time-consuming project was discouraging and I ended up scrapping the hot glue idea altogether. Instead, I wrapped some white fabric around the entire wreath and will hopefully figure out an alternative idea to the whole Fall wreath idea.