My Week In Instagrams: July 5, 2013

Still trying to get back into the swing of things, and one of these Instagram Friday posts is definitely going to help. This week hasn't been too exciting, but I've gotten a lot of knitting done. This is a little peek at my week.

Rick came to pick me up last weekend and brought me to his place so I could go to work. It was super stormy off and on, and this was taken during a break in the down pour.

I won't be spending any more weekends in the county, at least not for a while. I finally got transferred to the store close to my parents, and I'm working a whole bunch. There is a second store a couple kilometres up the road that I have also picked up some shifts at. I was initially scheduled 16 hours next week, and with shifts from the second store, I am up to 32 hours. I'll gladly take that!

I've been earring factory-ing a little bit this week. I have a whole bunch of thingamajigs to make into earrings. These ones were made on Canada day, and I was feeling patriotic.

I am going to hold off on releasing most of my new earrings until I rebrand. Some of them will be ready for the Luv Local show in a couple weeks, but not all of them. I really need to get some yarny things ready for that show. Having loads of earrings is great, but I want something that will fill my space a little more. We'll see what I come up with.

My dad and brother were gone out of town for work this week, so it was just mom and I at home. This meant we got to have a little fun with dinner. We went for Chinese at my mom's favourite place. Chicken Soo Guy, shrimp with mixed vegetables, chicken fried rice, egg rolls, shrimp rolls (which were delicious), won ton soup, and of course, fortune cookies. It was nice getting to hang out with just her for a bit.

They're going away again next week to finish the job, so we'll probably be getting Chinese again! I can't wait.

Here is the completed Mosaic scarf! I am so happy with it. You might remember it from a couple days ago. I finished the skein off, and ended with a pretty nice looking scarf, if I say so myself. It's all in the yarn and the pattern I used. I just did knit stitch after knit stitch and let the fabric do the talking. I love it! This means I knocked another skein off for my Stash Down, and 209 yards towards StashDash2013 with TheKnitGirllls. I am going to start the second ball of this yarn soon! I'm working on a couple other projects right now, but I'll be getting my butt in gear for that. It's super easy, and so pretty!

I also finished a blanket I started a couple months back. I also finished a WET&Q scarf that finished up a skein. I'll have photos of that later on. Three balls of Wool Ease Thick and Quick gone makes for a pretty big dent in the space my stash takes. I have a drawer in my storage area that is now almost empty.

That's 4 balls down, for a total of +77. I'm making it, slowly but surely. I just need to start working with the smaller partial balls, and I'll definitely get there! Having two stash elimination goals going at the same time is really motivating me to knit more. I'm trying to end this blog post soon, just so I can get back to knitting!

I've mentioned it before, but I'm in the process of rebranding. I won't be Knit, Nicole, Knit! anymore. This has been a great journey, but I'm ready for something else. I'm using SquareSpace to build my new site, and it's a lot of fun. It has everything that I need. I can't wait to share the finished product with all of you. It's coming along quite nicely. It is a paid service, so I am using a temporary free account, which means I'll have to redo everything I've done so far, but that is alright with me. More practice means I'll be more likely to have it perfect. I can't wait to share it with all of you! I'm shooting for October to be fully functional, or maybe even late September. We'll see!
What are all of you up to these days?

My Week In Instagrams: April 26, 2013

This past week, I've been knitting. A lot. More than usual. I have a craft show next weekend, and I want to have a good stock of baby knits available. I'm considering only setting up the winter stuff that is on super sale, and then focusing on my baby knits and earrings. I'll have to see how large my space is, and if I'll have room to do that.
Anyway, this is what I've been up to this week!

Like I said, lots of knitting. I made this "baby" had in the same colours as the blanket I brought into Trinkets and Treasures (A photo of that later on in the post). It was supposed to be baby sized, but I think it's big enough for a 3 year old. Oh well, live and learn. I pretty much made up the pattern, with no idea how large a newborns head actually is, so I don't count it as a fail.
Second! Rick made some awesome chicken and rice soup this week. There are leeks and carrots in there, too, which makes it extra yummy. I think I'm going to have a bowl of that as soon as I'm done this post!
I've been eating a lot of A&W the past little while.  They recently changed their packaging, and there is this little blurb on the back of it. It's a great thought, but if the waste is just going in the garbage, which goes to the landfill, it's not going to decompose much faster than their old packaging. Great idea on paper, but in practice, it's really just greenwashing.
Last night at work, I had another Tim Hortons tea. This has started to become a regular thing for me. Which is good, I need to up my tea intake!
Here is the blanket I brought to Trinkets and Treasures. It's a pretty variegated green with a light tan. It's 20x30, so not huge, but big enough for a stroller or car seat. I have a couple more blankets in the same size that I will share with you guys on Monday.
I'm really hoping these baby knits go well. If they do, I will start making more, and then have something for spring/summer craft shows. I love knitting them, no matter if they sell or not. If I have them for an extended period of time, I will probably donate the hats to LeeLee Hats and figure out something to do with the blankets. I hope it doesn't come to that!
What are you fine ladies (and gents?) up to this week?

Some Fun New Items

Recently, I've been pretty secretive about a lot of my knits. I didn't want to reveal anything, and then have it fall through. Well, all is going to be revealed today!
I started working on props for baby photography! I'm so excited for this new project. I have a ton of yarn that is ideal for these sorts of items and I can't wait to start making more stuff! I have a little stash of items I've made over the past couple weeks that I will share as I get them photographed. Here are the first few photo collages I've put together to participate in the RTS sale. (RTS stands for Ready To Ship)

I've made several of these pixie hats out of a few different yarns. They seem to be pretty popular, and are a really fun knit. I've added a few special details to some of them, that I will be sharing another time. For right now, just the simple ones. I think I have eight of these hats made so far! They're that much fun to make. I've picked out yarn for another half dozen of them already, too. If you'd like one of these in a particular colour, just let me know!

The second item available in today's RTS is a set. A pretty yellow and cream vintage cotton blanket, with a pretty tieback head band. I LOVE this set. It was one of the first things I made, and I can't get enough of it. I have quite a bit of this yarn left, so I'm hoping this sells so I can make another set.
If you would like to purchase one of these items, check out the RTS group, called PropInsanity on Facebook. I hope to sell in other groups in the future. For now, just one is enough.

Monday Update: March 4, 2013

Just a quick hello this evening! I had a busy weekend, and I am still decompressing from all the excitement. I'll tell you all about my craft show later on this week.
The most exciting thing that happened recently is meeting my niece. Christine had little Lucy almost 2 weeks ago. My Mom and I went to visit this morning before heading to bring me back home. I gave them the blanket I'd been knitting, that you all have seen peeks of over the last couple months. They both loved it. Lucy was a little fussy when Christine first handed her to me, which pretty much caused me to panic. I'm not good with kids. I rocked her a little bit and she settled right in. I like her a whole heck of a lot, and she seemed pretty content with me. This doesn't mean I'm having kids, for all of you that are going to suggest it.

Some Finished Projects: A Baby Blanket and a Scarf

Over the past few days, I've been knitting quite a bit. With having received my nine new skeins of yarn, I wanted to get my stash down back on the rails. I knit a whole Wool Ease Thick and Quick scarf in under 24 hours. I probably could have gotten it done much faster than that, but I did spend a lot of time playing silly Facebook games, and eating.

The baby blanket for Christine's soon to arrive little one has been finished for a little while. I finally wove in all the ends tonight, and got around to photographing it nicely. The final measurements are about 26"x40" I'm very happy with that size. It was quite a bit narrower before I blocked it. I just love the way the vertical lines up the peaks and valleys of the chevrons look. I probably could have gotten the edges to lay perfectly flat and smooth, but I didn't want it to be too perfect for fear of it being somehow ruined. I always worry about this when I knit gifts. Some of the stuff I've given to people have pretty much never been worn because the recipient is scared of wrecking it. This blanket is something I want the little lady to use until it's worn out. I want her to drag it around into toddler-hood, and maybe make it into part of a blanket fort later on down the line.

The second item I finished was a basic seed stitch scarf. I used a skein of Wool Ease Thick and Quick in the "Fig" colour, and I think it's super pretty. I made it a few stitches narrower than the T&Q scarves I've made in the past. This is a more feminine colour, so I wanted the proportions to reflect that. I mentioned a while back that my stock of scarves was running low. I didn't think I'd ever see the day where I ran out of scarves. I guess it had to happen eventually, considering I knit mostly neck warmers these days. I'm going to make a few more and then return to knitting the tiny things like bows that I've been cranking out.

Keep entering the giveaway! I can't wait to see who wins the wonderful prize.

My Week In Instagrams: January 25, 2013

This past week hasn't been too exciting. I knit quite a bit, but I don't have many pictures of what I've done. I'll be posting some of those next week, though. This is what I've been up to.
-Rick and I ate some red gummy candies while watching movies. I love Hot Lips and Big Foots. We also had some Swedish Berries, but those didn't make it into the picture. I can't remember what we watched while eating these. I think I was on my computer for part of it anyway.
-Winston has been pretty good this week. He spends a lot of time napping on his bed while Rick and I hang out. He used to sleep in the bed with us, but since his attitude became an issue a little while back, he's been banished to the floor. It's helped quite a bit from what we can tell. He very, very rarely gets up onto our bed anymore, even when we tell him he can. This is a good thing, because we were able to take off the protective blankets we had on the bed to keep all his dirt and grime from getting on our nice bedding.
-One business related thing I did do this past week was add earrings to my Etsy shop. I didn't add too many, but I plan on adding more. Some of them are in multi packs that I think would be great for Valentine's Day. My next craft show is February 2, so I'm hoping to sell a few of those there.
I did sell two pairs this week, one to someone in California, and one to Greece! I thought that was pretty cool. Now I've sold to Canada, the US, Australia and Greece. I'm thinking about getting a map to put pins in with all the places my items have gone. Kind of silly, but it would be really neat to see!
-I finished knitting a neck warmer while watching some Round The Twist on my iPad. I am fully caught up with Carin's podcast, and I've started watching The Knit Girllls. I love watching videos while knitting. It makes the time pass, and I hardly notice how long I've actually been knititng, until I look down and see half a scarf/neck warmer/whatever hanging from my needles. I'll do up a post this week with pictures of all the items I've knit so far this year.
-I washed and blocked the baby gift. If you couldn't tell from this photo, it's a baby blanket. I also blocked Rick's lopi neck warmer, his alpaca blend scarf, and my neck warmer. I used some Soak in the Aquae scent, and it's absolutely lovely. The smell is subtle, but fresh and clean smelling. I will definitely be buying some of this. I also have a small pack of the Celebration scent, and I'm curious to see what that is like.
I still have to weave in the ends on the baby blanket, but I'm not in a big rush to do that. I'll probably do a few a night this week.
-On Wednesday, I went to the dentist to get my broken tooth fixed as well has have a cavity filled. It took some time to get those both done, and my jaw was getting sore and tired from being wide open. The dentist gave me a break for a while, so the hygienist brought me my knitting. We chatted for a little while about what I was making, and she thought it was pretty neat. I'll be posting photos of what these are this week as well.
-The very last photo is of something for myself. Something new that I've only done once before (the same as what I was knitting at the dentist)
It's made of Bernat Satin Sparkle in Platinum. I'm loving this yarn. Super soft, just the right amount of sparkle, and the perfect shade of grey. I went to Zellers yesterday to see if I could find more of it. They only had this yarn in ugly colours that I didn't  care for. With Zellers closing, I'm really losing out on a place to buy inexpensive yarn. The only other place is Walmart, and all they sell is crap. I'll have to start venturing into Windsor more often to hit up Michael's and get some stuff there. I could order online, but I'm hesitant to do so for the mass produced synthetics because of the cost of shipping versus the cost of just going to get it myself. Something to really think about.
This week has been pretty solid. I've been pretty productive as far as knitting goes, which is a good thing. I have two craft shows coming up that I am trying to prepare for. Work hasn't been too exciting, but that's not surprising considering the lack of hours I have. I'm averaging 8 hours a week currently.
How are all of you fine folks doing?

Welcome back, Jessyz!

Is the Easter Bunny visiting your house? What kind of treats do you hope to get?
We don't celebrate Easter, but I still like bunnies and cutely colored eggs.

What is your favourite springtime flower?
I definitely love Jasmines, after all I was named after them because my dad had a jasmine tree in their garden when he was growing up, I also love Calla Lillies, Azaleas and Alliums

Coffee or tea, and what kind is your favourite?
Coffee all the way.

What is your most exciting project this month?
I am working on the world's most color uncoordinated blanket. I have lots of leftover DK weight yarn and want to use it all up in an attempt to create more space for new yarn. But I am guessing it will take much longer than a month.

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Why Knit The Stash Is Over

Last week, I posted saying that my Knit The Stash challenge was over. I did have a good reason for this. Actually, 5 good reasons.
This isn't a very good photo, but it's four of the five GIANT garbage bags full of yarn I have received.
And, there is more to come. A lot of it is from companies that are no longer in existence, from what my Ravelry search tells me.
Somehow, my mom was connected with a woman who can no longer knit. She is in her 80s, and I believe she is moving into a nursing home.
There are bags upon bags of various yarns. From 100% cotton, to 10% angora, some mohair, a couple with cashmere, and so many more. I can't believe this! I will be passing a lot of it on to LeeLee hats, but I am keeping some for myself. I can't wait to see what else will be coming!
Also, from the same woman, I may be getting a knitting machine. Or two. I am hoping I will be able to afford them both, but I am not sure about that. I may ask my parents to purchase them for me, and pay them back. If they have all the parts, and are in good condition, I will definitely have to think about it seriously.

In other news, I finished my second baby blanket! The shower is this Sunday, so I now have plenty of time to work on other projects. More on those soon!

Self Portrait Monday: October 3, 2011

It's almost the end of Monday, and I am just now having a chance to blog. It's been a busy day today, with some errands to run, some cleaning to do around the house, and now I am at work. It's quiet now, so I have a chance to do a quick update.

I'm still working on the second baby blanket. I can crank it out pretty quickly, because it's just straight garter stitch. The only problem is that it's starting to get heavy. I have to tuck it under my arm, or knit with my hands close to my lap, otherwise, my wrists get tired really fast.
This Friday is the Fashion show, and I am really excited for that.
Rick comes back from his vacation tomorrow. We are possibly going to pick up a Kobo reader each in the next few days.
Life is great!!
How are all of you doing?

A Finished Baby Blanket!

The baby blanket has been finished! It was actually finished on Tuesday, but I've been working and puttering around, and I just haven't blogged about it.

I used two and a half balls of the pink yarn, and an equal amount of the white. I have TONS of yarn left. I was totally thinking I would run out. I probably have enough for two more of the same size. Another friend of mine is expecting, and I am waiting to find out what she is having.

I just realized this, but both of these lovely ladies are named Nicole (both different spellings than mine) Crazy, no?

The final measurement is right around 25 inches square. It is cotton, so that will definitely change.

When I do baby blankets, I do them just large enough to be used in a car seat or stroller. I don't want to do anything gigantic so the baby can't tote it around later in life. I never had a blankie, but I know many people who are in their 20s or 30s and still have theirs. I want to help comfort these babies when they start to grow up.

The final tally for this blanket is TWO balls used. Out of the NINE that were purchased. Holy moly, I was hoping I'd use more! It will all get used! Even if I have to make a million dishcloths out of it!

In other exciting news, a pair of my earrings was featured in a treasury today! It's called Let's Go Purchase Something. I am hoping people will do that!
I have been working on some treasuries, myself. I am really hoping that this will help people notice me and my shop a little more. I've joined a couple teams, and I have already gotten a few hearts because of that.

I hope all is well for all of you! There are just a couple weeks until we leave for Iceland now. I am getting really excited now!

Self Portrait Monday: August 15, 2011

It's Monday, and I'm having leftovers for lunch. Rick and I went out for fish and chips last night, and I am attempting to eat my coleslaw. I am really not a fan, but I wish I was! I also have a few fries left, so that's the other part of lunch.
This past week was pretty awful for the most part, hence the lack of blog posts. I considered just shutting the blog down entirely. No warning, just hitting the delete button. Then I realized I wasn't thinking clearly, and I am glad I didn't delete this!
I've been knitting exclusively on the baby shower gift. I couldn't keep a secret, and I showed the mother what I had done so far. She loved it!! I can't wait to finish it and give it to her. I'm two balls in for the pink, and I have no idea how many more I will be using. Another lovely lady I know is expecting. If she is having a girl, I will likely knit her a blanket out of the pink I have left, with another colour. Who knows, I might even have enough of the white remaining!
Later today, I am helping my friend Jodi paint her new office at The House. That should be a load of fun. She is the one that taught me how to spin. I am hoping to bring some of my hanks to have her help me wind them once she is moved in fully.
There are only 19 days until we leave for Iceland. I am getting nervous and excited.

Self Portrait Monday: July 4, 2011

Happy Fourth of July to my American readers, and happy Monday to everyone!
I have three more dishcloths made! The white striped cloth and the middle seed stitch one finished of another skein of cotton. I am up to 13 items made, and a net change of plus three for my number of skeins of yarn. Just one more skein of cotton to use up and I will consider myself even. The other two that I added will be used in a few weeks. They will be my plane knitting for Iceland.
I am just a few rows away from having the baby blanket complete. That's a pretty large ball of yarn, so I am happy about that.
After these are done, I will probably make some baby hats. I have quite a few skeins that I have earmarked for some charity knitting, and a lot of them are on the small side. Instant gratification!

I am getting so excited for Iceland. There are about 60 days left until then, and still so much stuff to do. I am going to try to sell some of my knitwear and earrings between now and then to have some extra spending money. I will hopefully be listing some stuff in the next week or so in my downtime. I've been working extra shifts because of our new extended hours, so my free time has almost disappeared!

Baby Blanket Progress, among other things

The blanket I posted about on Monday has grown quite large in the past few days. I knit a ton of it while at Rick's house the past few days. We went on vacation together, and I hardly did any knitting on the trip. Totally okay with that, though. This photo is another one from the market by Mark Bradley.
I picked up 6 skeins of Patons Soy Wool Solids in a really amazing burgundy/berry colour to make a shawl with. I haven't decided on the pattern yet, I'm between two right now. They're similar, but still entirely different. I also have the needles ready to go.
Later on in the trip, Rick bought me an amazing handwoven shawl from The Owen Sound Artists Co-Op. A gentleman by the name of Ken Welch made the shawl, and I am so happy with it. I think weaving is quite interesting. I'd love to try it out one day.
I also got a request for a pair of red baby booties. I picked up that yarn while on vacation, as well. Those will be made as soon as I'm done this blanket.

Overall, life is good.

The Made In Windsor Crafters Market

The past three Sunday's I have been at the Made In Windsor crafter's market in downtown Windsor. It's been going on for about a month now, and has been steadily improving every week. I didn't have my items put out to sell because I was selling some shirts for Shane. It was kind of a quiet day, I am assuming because of the Labour Day weekend. Hopefully it will be bigger and better next week.
Among all the set up and making sure everything was in order, I did manage to start a baby blanket for a gift. I got a couple inches done, and I'm super happy with it. The yarn I am using is a HUGE ball of remnant yarn from Zellers. I got two balls of it, and one should finish a whole blanket. I have no idea what sort of yarn it is, but it's super colourful and super soft.

At the market, I got three pairs of super cute earrings from someone I hadn't met before named Kelly. Turns out she is my friend's step sister, and a favourite teacher's step daughter. Small world.

I am planning on doing all of my holiday gift-getting at the market this year. I have some gifts from certain vendors already picked out, I just need to remember to bring money with me to buy them one of these days.

There was also a very nice gentleman named Mark Bradley who took some amazing photographs. He took the one of my laughing my head off at the top of this post as well as a few others that I will be posting soon.

Large scale baby blanket knitting

Here is my blanket so far. I'm 8 rows in, and I am way too excited for this thing. It is being made out of a GIANT skein of Bernat Baby Boucle in Buttercup, and one in Rosey Posey.
When I say giant skeins, I mean enormous. They are 330g (10.5 ounces). Which works out to 499 meters or 546 yards. I have nearly a kilometer of yarn here!
It's a very easy knit, I am just doing garter stitch for simplicity's sake. Two rows of each colour. I like doing striped projects because I can see my progress quite nicely.
I am going to work on weaving in ends on a few finished projects today so that I can get them ready for Made In Windsor. I still need to figure out what I am going to have in the store over the warmer months. I thought about doing more baby blankets, but I have yet to sell one there. Perhaps if I lower the price by a few dollars? I have to figure out something soon.

Start Something Sunday!

Today is Sunday! I was planning on adventuring through the city again, but the weather isn't as nice as I thought it would be, and I got called into work.
I did take the time to start a baby blanket though. I am using the same sort of baby yarn that I usually do, in a very, very pale blue. I'm only a couple rows in, but I am enjoying it! I think this is just what I need to get out of my scarf and cowl funk!
More about the blanket soon!

Culling My Stash

I have been knitting for about 9 years, which, I guess, is a long time seeing as I'm only 20. In this time, I have managed to acquire what I consider to be a substantial stash. And, if you take into consideration that most of this was given to me, it seems even larger.
I am moving out of my parents house for the first time this weekend. I have been storing my yarn somewhat sloppily in large tote bins belonging to my mother. I have tried to reorganise my stash a few times, and have succeeded, but I have always wanted clear containers to store them in.
And here comes Canadian Tire to the rescue!For those of you that don't know what Canadian Tire is, please visit the website.
I found some awesome storage containers here. Five drawers, clear, sturdy, and they have wheels! I figured I would need about 3 to house my yarn. So that's what I got. I expected to need one of those zippered Bed-In-A-Bag bags to put the small leftovers in.
Needless to say, I underestimated. By a lot. I have about half my stash in, and I didn't want to get rid of anything, because it is all precious to me, but nothing else fit!
I've buckled down and started a "give away" pile. It started out small, mostly filled with what I thought were ugly colours, or odd textures. Then it grew. And grew. And grew.
I am giving a nearly full garage bag to my local Blankets for Canada group. I have blogged about them before, and it is a charity that is easy to help. A pattern is given, but when I make my squares, I generally free hand them.
It's a great way to get rid of leftovers, and it doesn't matter how ugly the yarn is, it always looks great when it's joined into a blanket!


Just a note, since I am moving, I don't know when I will have full internet back, and I might not be updating for a few days!

A new square!

No surprise here, it's Sunday and I started something new! I finished an other square yesterday, so I had my B4C needles empty and waiting for something new. I dug through my stash and found 2 small balls of eye lash yarn in blue/green colourways. I didn't think either one would be enough to make one square, so I am striping the two. I am holding them both with the same skein of white worsted weight the whole way through. So far, I haven't had any huge issues with tangles, and I am hoping to avoid them.
I will soon post pictures of all the squares I have done so far. I am trying to make each one different, and I have enough yarn to do this for at least 50 squares! The next meeting is tomorrow night, I'm going to bring all the squares I have in and they will help make a blanket to keep a Canadian warm!

Not so much knitting...

I haven't been knitting much lately. I have been working on the B4C square, but not much else. I have, however, been sitting under my blanket. And I have had to fight with every member of my family to get MY blanket back from them.
Apparently, this blanket, even though it's somewhat small, is everyone's new favourite.
I am hoping to knit more blankets in the near future, but storage is becoming an issue. All my stash now fits in the storage I have for it. Nothing is on the floor, in a plastic bag or otherwise. And that, although nice, is stopping me from buying anymore yarn until I do have storage for it.

The finished blanket!

I recently finished my Bernat blanket and decided to keep it for myself! It's just the right size to wrap around myself when I'm at the computer or watching TV or knitting (obviously). So far, it's been keeping me just warm enough and my family hasn't tried to take it from me yet.
This is the only picture that I managed to take before my batteries died. The colour in the post I linked is very close to the actual colours of the blanket. That's where the blanket stays when I'm not using it. You can see my current yarn mess on the floor next to my laptop. (I have also started an other square for blankets for Canada) This chair is where I spend most of my computer and knitting time, which is why everything is within reach!