Halloween Tricks!

Happy Halloween!I wanted to send some Halloween wishes your way and I also have a Halloween trick to share. I think about this one every Halloween - it always cracks me up!

Back in college one of my best guy friends came up with a simple yet hilarious Halloween prank. I was hosting a party and he came over with a dozen beautiful carmel apples to pass. I tried one and they were so good - I couldn't believe he made them himself! They looked perfect too. Later, another friend took a bit of one and immediately spit it out. YUCK! It was an ONION!

I thought mixing in a couple carmel onions to the apples was brilliant. Good clean fun you know what I mean? I mean really, the onions looked just like the apples. (so glad I didn't bit into an onion - I hate raw onion!)

So if you want a fun Halloween dish to pass you should give this trick a try!

Do you have any fun Halloween tricks to share? I'd love to hear about them!

If you are wondering the pillow in the picture is one that my mom made for me a couple years ago. I just love this pillow. She made it up as she went along and I love the way it turned out.

Hope to have some project progress to show you soon!

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Thank you all for leaving me such nice comments about my last post. I really appreciate it! And thank you for leaving a comment any time - I love hearing from you!

Who Me?

Out of the blue I get an email yesterday direct from Katie Himmelberg her self - you know, the Assistant Editor for Interweave Knits, Style Editor for Knitscene and knitware designer! - Well, this is what she had to say…

Hi Jill,

I would love to feature your gift tags in the Spring 08 issue of knitscene! Could you send me one knit and one crochet by next Wednesday?

Thanks!

My response was, "Heck Yes!!!" I sent out the package asap today!Knitscene and Interweave Knits are my favorite knitting magzines. Man, what an honor for Katie at Knitscene to contact me about my product. I'm so excited!!! Keep a look out for my gift tags in the Spring 08 issue!

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AND, I found out that my Karate Sweater was the September winner over at Twinkle's website. Check it out! Go here, then click "Twinkle's Big City Knits" then click "View Submissions" finally click "View Winners"

I wonder what I won???

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Have a great weekend!

Project Overview

How can I get anything done when I have so much going on! Lately when I unwind at night I've been opting to just sit and chill without my needles - gasp! I usually always have to be working on something, I must be going through a little burn out. Work has been so busy and hasn't left me with much, if any, creative mojo in the evenings to work on my projects.I have a lot of ideas, lot of babies to knit for not to mention things I'd like to knit (and sew) for me and now I'm starting to think about Christmas. I usually always knit Christmas gifts. I enjoy giving handmade Christmas gifts but not when I'm under a deadline for it. At the rate I'm going, forget about it… maybe this will be the year I don't make gifts. You never really know if people appreciate them anyways… you really have to be choosy as to who you knit for.

Maybe some day I'll have a monogamous relationship with my needles… ya right.

~ One stitch at a time!

Apron No. 1

I love the way my Short Pleated Apron from Amy Butler's In-Stitches turned out! So fun and easy to make I think I'll make more for gifts.I embellished the pocket with my monogram. Always wanted to try hand embroidery and this was the perfect place for it!I just love it! Especially the fabric. Even though I'm a beginner at sewing I'm afraid I'm already turning into a fabric snob - I want more of Amy's fabrics!

Also Goes By "Clover Wrap"

Check out Anthropogie's Stitch Stories. You're going to fall in love with these knits. The really cool thing is that I know for a fact you can knit two of them! I know this because I did. Remember this? (more pictures here)Anthropogie is calling it the "Clover Wrap Cardigan" but in the book Big City Knits by Wenlan Chia it's called the Karate Sweater. Another Big City Knits that Anthropolgie picked up from Wenlan is "Butter Hill Funnelneck" (better known as the "Shopping Tunic" in the book).

Anyway, I thought all of this was pretty cool so I wanted to share.

I do love my Karate Sweater. It's is my favorite knit ever! Every time I wear I get compliments. The best compliment is when people ask where I bought it - I love being able to say, "I made it." The only thing that is starting to bother me about my sweater is that the Soft Chunky yarn is great but starting to fuzz up. Do you know what I mean? I don't think there is anything I can do about it (it there?). I was even thinking of knitting another sweater in Rowan's Big Wool . I've seen people use this yarn as a substitute. Does anyone have experience with Big Wool? Dose it wear well? Does it fuzz up?

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I have a response to Knitting-Gin's question on this:

Q: Knitting-Gin said...
That does look like scribble lace! I've done a couple of scarves using it. It's such a beautiful effect and the thicker yarn will give it a really nice drape. What yarns are you using?

A:I'm using a skien of Twinkle Soft Chunky and then some mohair call Venus from Lana Gatto. I dropped a stitch somewhere in this and now it's on hold because finding a dropped stitch in mohair stinks!

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TGIF! Have a great weekend!

Couple Hats

I just sent out a couple knitted hats for a good friend that just had a baby boy. Aren't they cute!Pattern Source: "Candy Cane" from Itty-Bitty Hats
Yarn: Berroco, Touché
Size: Newborn
Notes: Done in blue and orange instead of the red and white the pattern shows. I think this pattern is my favorite. I think it's so cute on a baby!

Pattern Source: pattern based off "Dotty" from Itty-Bitty Hats
Yarn: Filtes-King Extra, 100% Merino Wool
Size: Newborn
Notes: I used the general pattern for "Dotty" but changed up the colors, did braids on the side instead of pom poms (because I can't ever seem to make good pom poms) and then used the Duplicate Stitch (or it's also called the Swiss Darning Stitch) method to create the skull and crossbones design on the front. I don't have much experience with Intarsia Knitting so this method is just easier for me. If you want the skull and crossbones graphic that I created you can get it here. I think it's really cute and just a little spooky for Halloween!

The jar that I'm showing these hats on is something my mom made for me years ago. It's a cover for a mason jar and has machine embroidered Halloween graphics on 2 sides.It's usually full of candy but lately candy hasn't survived very long in this house!

Angel Shawl

When I was at the Fiber Festival last weekend one booth had these really cool looking shawls. I'm calling them Angel Shawls because they were so light and airy. They were knit in stocking knit with a lace weight mohair combined with a bulky weight wool and done on big needles. The end result was so pretty I had to experiment as soon as I got home. That night I went to my stash and casted on…One trick is to knit these on straight needles. I guess the mohair stitches 'collapse' and get stuck on circulars. Then I had a trick of my own - to keep the 65 stitches from falling off the end of my needles. I cut up some scrap cardboard, punched a hole in them and slid them onto my 17s. So far so good - my stitches are staying put!Thanks Mary Turak of the Yarn Shop in Glen Arbor (wish I had a link for her) for explaining how you did these pretty shawls!

Great Weekend

I had a fantastic weekend celebrating my 2nd wedding anniversary with my husband (it was actually Oct. 1st). We went up north to Traverse City (one of my favorite places to go) and got to do some fun things like, shopping, wineries, dinning, casinos and of course the fall colors we amazing! There was even a Fiber Festival going on in Leelanau - talk about perfect timing. We had so much fun!

At one of my shopping stops I bought this.I love shrugs and thought it was so cool and unique. Love that the knit is combined with a cozy t-shirt material.It'd be great to figure out a pattern and make some custom ones for myself. I wonder if it'd be hard? I guess I'd need a serger huh? I think I'm going to take it to my sewing teacher and see what she thinks.

I also saw a collection of some SKIF handknits at the same boutique. I tried one on and let me tell ya, it was awesome! These one-size fits all handknit sweaters are too cool. Really unique construction. Of course I couldn't afford to buy the $250 sweater but now I really want to knit one! Luckly for us SKIF is offering some of their patterns to knit. To see them follow the "Where To Buy" links at this SKIF KAL.

Hope you had a great weekend as well and here's to a great week!

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Thank you so much for the encouraging comments on my Chelsea Bag! It was a hit. My mom loved it - now, I need to make another for me!

Chelsea Bag Finished!

Amy Butler, Chelsea Bag finished! Just in time too. This is a birthday gift for my mom and, yup, you guessed it, her birthday is today! Finished it last night and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Not too bad for a beginner eh? I did have help from my sewing teacher - the handle openings were a bit tricky.Here's the flip side…And to top it off. I followed the link from A Friend To Knit With and made one of these tissue holders from the left over fabric to go with.The tutorial from tutti fruiti is great and soooo easy!

Of course the gift wasn't complete without a new Flower-Pin Tag!Happy Birthday Mom!

Say Hello To My Little Friend

Yeah, we have a love/hate relationship…Seriously though, my sewing class is going well and I'm having a lot of fun! Even trying my 'hand' at some hand-embroidery to embellish one of my projects.Always loved hand-embroidery and wanted to try it - so far I'm Lovin' it!

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Thank you A Friend To Knit With for the tip on my Aamu. I did run a couple strands of elastic thread through the bottom ribbing and now it fits great! Thanks so much!

Weird Font?

Hi All,

Is anyone having a problem where some of there favorite blogs are showing up in this weird script font? I am, and am wondering if it's just my computer? Even when I 'preview' my post it's in that script font - but when I 'publish' it's fine?

Just wondering if I'm the only one having this issue? Do you know how to fix it? I'm hoping that one of these times I'll turn my computer on and it will just miraculously be fixed!

Have a great one!
Jill