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?

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.

NaBloPoMo Day Eight: Awesome Thursday: November 8, 2012

For the first time in this NaNo series, I have writers block. I'm having a rough time focusing on this post, because I would rather be knitting. I have a whole pile of projects around me in various states of being finished that keep grabbing my attention. If it's not those, I start reading blogs in my RSS reader. Or I start browsing Etsy or TopHatter. I can't concentrate! Too many distractions! Oooh shiny things!

In yesterday's post, I mentioned that I was ready to cast off the teal shawl. Well, I did that not too long after finishing the blog post, and I really like how it turned out! It's a bit smaller than the other shawls, but still a great size for wrapping around your neck. You can't really see the yarn overs on the edge, but you can kind of see the open bits on the centre spine. I did the increases for this one a little differently than I usually do, which made them a little more visible. It made the knitting a little easier, and quicker, but I don't really like the way it looks. I will probably go back to the way I usually do the increases. I think I still have a couple skeins of this yarn left, and I will likely make another neck warmer out of it. I made two, and you can see one here. The other is nearly identical, and I brought it into Trinkets and Treasures yesterday.


Today is Thursday, so that means an Awesome Thursday is in order! Like I mentioned last week, there have also been studies done that have concluded that people showing gratitude can lead healthier lives with less depression and anxiety, sounder sleep and a better attitude towards others. I'm not one to argue with science, so on with the gratitude!

• I started this fun NaBlo project! I'm a week in, and doing very well, I think. I still have a few ideas of fun things to write about, so hopefully the posts won't get boring.
• On Friday, we went to the casino for the buffet. I posted about that whole day on Day 2 of NaBloPoMo, here. I had a lot of fun there, even without gambling.
• I worked like crazy on YarnYarnYarnYarn, and got nearly ONE THOUSAND posts ready to go. That number absolutely boggles my mind. I'm going to be adding a whole bunch more this upcoming weekend, when I have a day off.
• I knit a whole pile of bracelets. They come off the needles so quickly, I love them! Tomorrow, I'll post a picture of all the ones I have made so far. They look pretty awesome!
• Obama won! I followed the results online, and it was pretty nerve wracking. I am quite happy with this, as well as some of the propositions passed, and voted down, in various states.
• Rick and I went to Amherstburg to drop off stock to Trinkets and Treasures. The new store is nice, as I mentioned before.
• I got paid from Trinkets! Not a whole lot of money, but considering I didn't have a whole heck of a lot in the store, I'm pretty darn happy.
• Work today was pretty nice. We had some awesome customers come in early on, which made the slow day go by a little quicker.
• When I got home from work, dinner was almost ready. Cindy made sausage soup again, and it was fantastic! I think I'm going to bring a bowl of it to work tomorrow.

Here are today's fun facts! I'm starting to have a really hard time figuring out what to put here. I would appreciate any suggestions/questions you have for me!

25. I have a hard time choosing my favourite anything, especially anything music related. For a couple years now, I've used a service called Last.fm to track my music metrics. This has given me a pretty good idea of the bands I listen to the most often. With that, I give you my top 10 favourite bands:

1. Fall Out Boy
2. Taking Back Sunday
3. Blink 182
4. Rise Against
5. Tegan and Sara
6. Nirvana
7. The Used
8. Metric
9. Say Anything
10. Paramore

This is pretty accurate. I listen to all these bands quite often, and have multiple albums by each of them. Also, I'm not ashamed that I like these bands as much as I do. I don't believe in having "guilty pleasure" music. If you like something, own it.

26.I don't drink coffee! Until a year ago, I absolutely abhorred coffee, and anything coffee flavoured. I made it a goal of my 101 in 1001 list to learn to like coffee. I forced myself to drink it with a lot of milk and sugar a few times. I didn't mind it, but I definitely didn't like it either. Rick and I would share a French press of coffee a few times a week, in hopes of me learning to like it. It never worked. I don't hate it anymore, but I never actually buy it or anything like that. The only time I do consume it is from Starbucks, when I get a frappucino. But I don't think that even counts because of all the other stuff in with it. And, my favourite beverage at Tim Horton's is a white hot chocolate.
27. This ties in with the last one. If the idea of a certain type of food appeals to me, I will do everything in my power to learn to like it. I used to hate avocados and guacamole, for example. But I liked the idea of everything that is in guacamole, and the health benefits of eating avocados, so I kept eating it over and over again, to force myself to like it. I did the same with raw fish. And beer, actually. One of the other foods that I want to teach myself to like is hummus. I love the idea of it, and I just want to learn to enjoy it. People don't believe me when I say it's possible to learn to enjoy certain foods. It worked for me!

Two of my knitted items were featured in treasuries today! Being included in a treasury is always a nice treat, and two in one day is absolutely fantastic! The pictures are obviously very very small, so you can click them and see the treasury on Etsy, in all its glory. If you're feeling nice, you can Heart them!

Today's 365 photo is the Steam Whistle truck doing its delivery at work today. I wanted to get closer to get a better shot, but I was the only one on the tills at the time, and I didn't want to make people wait. I spent most of the day at work, so I figured something work related was in order. There will probably be a lot of work related 365 photos, so I will try to mix it up as much as possible.

The internet has been acting really goofy for me all afternoon today. Things aren't loading quickly, if at all, or the router suddenly decides I need to log into it, all sorts of shenanigans. I'm hoping this post goes through without issues. It's a little on the short side, but like I said before, the short attention span was kicking in.

This post has 1215 words.

I am at 13 000 total words for this month.

A New Blog, and A Finished Item!

It's the start of another work week! My weekend was pretty good, I had yesterday off, so I spent the entire afternoon knitting, reading blogs, and working on my newest blog project.
I love Tumblr. It's an incredibly simple blogging platform, and is easily customizable. I have Several Blogs on there, and I created a new one a couple days ago.

YarnYarnYarnYarn is the newest tumblog added to my arsenal. It's (obviously) about yarn, and yarn related crafts. Knitting, crochet, felting, dying and spinning are some of the themes I share. I worked at it for a few hours on Friday and Saturday, and launched it yesterday. So far, I've gotten a really good response. Many of the artists I've featured have shared it with their followers, which is exactly what I was hoping for. Please follow it and share for some great yarn-y inspiration.

In other exciting news, I finished yet another triangle shawl. I've lost track of how many of these I've made lately, I know it's a lot. This one is made from the red and grey mill ends I bought recently. Grey goes good with anything, but it really makes this Christmas red pop. It's another elongated triangle shape, but different than the ones I've made before. It's knit side to side, rather than top to bottom. I love the way the vertical stripes look. I'm toying with the idea of putting a mixed red and grey tassel on each point. What do you think?

The Newest Shawl Off The Needles

Last night, in my Awesome Thursday post I mentioned a shawl that recently came off the needles. It's a basic garter stitch shawl, but I really like it. It's a nice light grey, super soft synthetic yarn (I think all acrylic, but I'm not sure) that is just the right size to wrap around your neck and have the tails hang in front. I've been doing a lot of shawls with this wider triangle shape, because it is easier to wear than the right angle triangle that I used to make all the time. I have a couple very similar shawls made, and I will probably make some more the same way.
What do you think? Do you like the triangle shawl shape? What colour would you like to see?

The Finished Blueberry Jam Shawl

Pardon the dirty mirror picture. What is this, MySpace?

A couple days ago, I cast off my Blueberry Jam shawl. I did a picot bind off, which took approximately two and a half forevers, but looks spectacular. I think I should block it, but I haven't got a clue how I will do that, as I don't have pins or wires or a place to do it. I might just try to dampen it and spread it out on the bed, but we'll see.

I'm not quite sure what to do with this shawl. Part of me wants to keep it, because it feels great, but I'm not in love with it. The other part says list it on Etsy, and see if it sells. I'm planning on moving to more higher end yarns, and I think this would be a good start to my luxe line. I can offer it in different colours and materials as custom orders.

I have another skein of Ultra Alpaca Fine in the Blueberry colour, and I think I might knit a rectangular stole with it.

I'm also browsing Ravelry for some things to make with all the yarn I got yesterday. One of them will probably turn into a birthday gift for my mother in law. Her birthday isn't until October, so I have lots of time to figure that one out. Her winter coat is a bright cherry red, so any of the neutrals would go very well with it.

Self portrait Monday: January 31, 2011

Today is a big day. Well, yesterday more than today, but that's all unimportant.
Yesterday was Rick's birthday. I had the day off work and we spent most of it together. I did also spend quite a bit of time knitting.
I bound off my Boneyard shawl!!! I started it back at the beginning of November, and just finished it yesterday. If I was to dedicate knitting to it and only it, I could probably finish in two or three weeks. I couldn't be happier with this shawl. It's a tiny bit on the itchy side, but I have a feeling it will soften up with wash and wear. It still needs to be blocked, but I wore it out to Rick's birthday dinner last night anyway, and it is amazingly warm.
Forgive the morning face, and bed head, I was too excited to post about this to bother about any of that. I want to get a shawl pin so I can wear it a few different ways rather than just wrapped this way.

I've finished a few other items in the past week. The biggest one was three very similar cowls. They all use the same yarns, just in different accent colours.

It's just a simple seed stitch with two yarns held together. I think I will be making many more of these. they're the perfect length to double around your neck, as I did with the blue one. I really hope I can find more of the dark grey yarn I used because it's easily the best yarn I've ever bought in the mill end bags. I will check the Zellers I bought it from to see if they happen to have any left. I got it a long time ago, but I know they had a couple bags when I went there about a month ago.

Overall, life is pretty good. I am likely going to start posting many of my finished objects on Facebook so I can hopefully sell a few to local people and not have to worry about shipping and such.

A few more recently knitted items!

 As promised, here are a few other items I've made recently.
I'm a little new with the photo editing, so the colours are a teensy bit off. They are much closer than the original photo, though! I must be on the right track. The butter-yellow scarf was made with leftover Homespun from a baby blanket. The next one in, the purple is doubled over the "clothes line" so it's actually twice as long. The blue/grey is also doubled over. This one is SUPER thick. Next time I combine these yarns, I'll have to use slightly larger needles. The last scarf is really long. Something like 8 feet, I think? It's made from some fuzzy yarn I got in a mill ends bag. It has a lot of natural fibres in it. It sheds quite a bit, which isn't too fun.
All of these are basic garter stitch. It's awesome using slightly textured yarns in scarves; they look way more interesting for very little work!
The second photo is another hat and a cowl. The hat is Homespun, once again, held with a plan yarn in a similar colour. That is one of the best combinations for hats in my opinion.
The cowl is made from some more remnant yarn I bought. I have quite a bit of it left, even after making three scarves and two cowls from it. It's the first cowl I made in that stitch pattern. Since then, I have changed it around a bit so that the eyelets are slanted at a farther angle. It looks awesome, and makes everything I use it for more fun to knit. I am working on another neck warmer in the same pattern for an order from a friend of mine right now.

Overall, I am pretty satisfied with how much I've made in the past while. I am going to continue knitting winter accessories for a little while, and then start working on my personal projects. I have two shawls on the go, as well as my giant baby blanket that I put away at the beginning of the warm weather last year.

My return to blogging, and my 300th post!

Ladies and gentlemen, I am back! We finally got our internet hooked up yesterday, and I am so excited. We watched some Netflix movies, and I got some knitting done in the process. More on that a bit later.

The apartment is amazing! Third floor walk up with hardwood floors, high ceilings and big windows. The neighbours all seem great, and the couple that take care of the building are fantastic. There is a huge park right across the street for Winton to run around in, and a bunch of other dogs in the area for him to play with.

I still have some unpacking and organizing to do, but I've been putting it off. I'm too busy enjoying the new place.

The only knitting I got done was a couple scarves. One is in Bernat Harmony, and the other is a mystery yarn. I'm starting another in the Harmony right away. I really love that yarn.

Like I mentioned in the title, this is my 300th post! It's hard to believe I've been blogging this long. I'd like to thank everyone who has joined me in this journey, commented on my posts and mentioned me on their blogs.

Finished baby booties!

I literally just cast off the second bootie and sewed it up in the last hour. I am super happy with how this project worked out.

I am trying to use Ravelry a bit more, so I will start linking to the patterns and such on there.
I used the Eco Baby Booties pattern, as I mentioned before, and some blue Bernat Handicrafter cotton. It was one of the tiny skeins (the one dishcloth size) and I still have about 4 or 5 yards left. I'll probably use that as trim on another pair.
I knit the pattern as indicated, but went to 4.25mm needles, because I didn't have the correct size.
I will definitely be making more of these, and probably tweaking the pattern to make larger sizes (this one says 0-6 months, but I'd love to do some up to 12 months)
Overall, I'd say these are a great project for someone like me who wants to get out of the habit of knitting rectangles, or a beginner who is looking for a small challenge.

What I've been up to!

Knitting, for sure! Really though, I have finished a scarf and a cowl in the past couple days, started another scarf and finished and started dishcloths.
I started downloading podcasts, mostly knitting, but also a few others, such as green living and vegetarian life. I am definitely looking for more, so if you podcast, or have a favourite that you'd like to recommend, please do so!
I am getting all of my stuff ready for a show on Sunday. The Made In Windsor Open-Air Crafter's Market is an every Sunday thing, from now until who knows when, it really depends on the weather I guess. I am going to try to do a few of these in the coming months, in addition to the two phog shows I already have in the works.
Nothing brought into rEvolution, yet. I am going to do at least one show before I bring anything in there. I want to make sure I have enough stock at the shows before I worry about stores.
Today, I go back to work. I've had a couple days off, and been quite productive. I think it's time to go back to the grind, so I can appreciate my days off a little more.

What have all of you been up to?

Lazyness, Finished projects, Mission 101 and Other Things

I have a confession to make. It is hard to say, but it is very, very true. I don't promise to work on it, it is just the way I am... I have been very lazy lately: not doing dishes, not doing laundry, staying in my pyjamas all day, and not updating the blog regularly. Among other things. I know Rick would have some things to say about my laziness, but this is my blog, and he has no say here.
I am very sorry, dear readers, for leaving you update-less for so long. As for sitting in my pyjamas and being lazy? If I don't have to work or leave the house in general, I'm staying comfy in my jammies, and usually knitting, all day.

I have been pretty productive with my knitting as of late. I finished a couple of cowls over the past week. There is a picture of those later on in the post.
I also think I finished a few dishcloths, but I honestly can't remember how many. I have a stack of nearly finished cloths sitting on my end table, waiting to have their ends woven in and to be sent off to Made In Windsor to find a new home. Part of the reason for this is that I am trying to use up ALL of my cotton as one of the goals on my Mission 101. I am also trying to use half of my silly novelty yarn. I have a lot of fun fur, eyelash and other "fluffy" yarns that I bought a while ago, and I want to get rid of it. I would like to have that room freed up in my storage area for other, more useful yarns. I know some yarn bombs will be fluffy, and tacky and plastic, but those ones are the most fun.
If you haven't seen my 101 list, please check it out! I have been making slow progress on some of the goals. I haven't started most of them, but I will get through this. I'm having fun so far.

These are my two newest neck warmers. The one on the right is my usual Thick and Quick yarn cowl. It was made in a 1x1 rib, and is 54 stitches. The colour is a little bit off, but not by much. It's a bit brighter in person. I made it a little bit longer than I usually make this type of scarf so as to use up the rest of the skein, and not leave a tiny ball of yarn, with no where to go. It can be worn with the top folded down, as shown, or with the bottom folded up. To visualize that one, either stand on your head, or turn your computer over.
No, really! Please don't! I don't want you to hurt yourself. Ah, ok, good, now, back to yarn.
The one on the left is really neat. I made it with two strands of black sport weight (I think that's what it was. A little thinner than regular worsted) and one strand of BRIGHT! blue knitting machine yarn. I have a giant cone of it, that I got back at the beginning of December. Most of the colours are kind of "blah" but this blue is fantastic. Click the picture to see it a bit larger. As soon as it fell out of the bag, I knew I had to make something with it. This warmer is in seed stitch. That is something I usually stay away from, but the yarns needed a pattern a little different than ribbing to make the pop a little bit.
I just noticed an other warmer I made recently that I forgot to include in the photograph. It is similar to the butter yellow one I made a couple weeks back, but slightly smaller
I have started on yet an other cowl/neck warmer. This one is made from yarn I got back in 2006 from my then-boyfriend's mother, after she finished knitting an afghan. I am very close to the bind off for this one. I will probably have it done before I go to bed tonight, and blog about it when I think about it.

I am a terrible knit-blogger in this sense. So many blogs I follow have in progress pictures of all their wonderful knit items. I, on the other hand, take a less beautiful approach. I photograph an item, if I remember, once I have finished it. Rarely at any other time. I think the reason for this is that they are knitting huge! intricate! items! from patterns! And my items are usually made up as they are being knit: "Oh, I might run out of yarn a little soon, let's k2tog in this round" or "Wait, I thought this was supposed to be ribbing? Well, it looks cool in seed stitch, too, I guess." I would take more photographs of my items in progress if I was not so absorbed in the actual knitting itself.
I am going to cast on my blanket after the cowl is done. I would like to have at least half of it done before it gets too warm in the house to knit it. And then next winter, I would finish it, ideally. This will be photographed in the next few days, as long as everything works out right.

In other news, I recently purchased an iPhone. I usually get myself a birthday gift, and this year, a new phone was it! My contract with my previous carrier was very close to being up, and I knew I needed to change. I have downloaded a few apps, but I've yet to look for any that are knitting related. Is this a pointless search? Or am I missing out on some wonderful way to facilitate my knitting endeavors? I prefer free apps, but if it is essential, I don't have any issues with shelling out a dollar or two (and 99 cents, of course!)

(This post is 1005 words, and counts towards one of my goals!)