Monday Knitting Update: April 22, 2013

These past few days have been super productive for me. I've been working a bit, but still getting lots of knitting done.

Last week, when Rick and I went to Trinkets and Treasures, we stopped at Michael's on the way back. I picked up two skeins of Luxury Wool to pair with two other skeins I have, as well as two skeins of Homespun. This adds 4 skeins to my stash down, bringing me to -10. I have a few projects in mind that will finish off some skeins, so more progress should be made soon!

Mel at Trinkets has asked some of the shop participants to make baby blankets in non traditional colours. I picked up some hot pink, and bright royal blue to stripe with charcoal for some more modern blankets. I finished the pink and grey, and I'm about 2/3 of the way through the blue now. I am loving the way they're turning out!

I've also been working on props this week! The middle photo on the right is of a Wool Ease Thick and Quick blanket I made. That little tail, all 8 or so inches of it, is what I had left after the bind off. I LOVE when this happens! I didn't waste a single inch of yarn! This finished off a nice big bulky skein of Wool Ease, which means this week I am actually -11 total! The nice thing about T&Q is that they're HUGE skeins, but not a whole lot of yardage, so they make a noticeable dent in the stash when they disappear. I have another blanket on the needles using two skeins of this awesome yarn, so that just about clears out half a drawer in my storage area!

Overall, this week has been a good one. I've been talking with a photographer about taking photos of some of my items, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how that works out.

How was your weekend?

My Week In Instagrams: February 15, 2013

Friday has arrived, and I'm halfway through my very short work week. I only have a couple shifts, and they happen to fall on consecutive days, so there is some sense of normalcy in my life right now. I'm currently battling a pretty lame could/sickness of some sort. I woke up this morning and it felt like I'd eaten crushed glass. Not fun at all.

This is what I've been up to this week!

1. I downloaded Sims3 for my computer. It was an awesome deal, so I only paid $10 for it, which made me happy. I haven't played it much, mostly because my computer is quite slow, and I need to clean it up.
2. Rick rented some movies for us to watch. In addition to these three, we also got Eddie, the Sleepwalking Cannibal, as well as Celeste and Jesse Forever. I really enjoyed Perks of Being A Wallflower, and I thought Hotel Transylvania was cute.
3. I was fairly productive, and finished knitting three scarves. I blogged about these on Tuesday. I'm really happy with how they turned out.
4. Winston watched one of the movies with me. He stood a few feet from the television, and looked up in awe. Normally, he is kind of scared of it.
5. Megan of A String of Purls posted a photo of her wearing a half knit scarf on Instagram, so I had to do the same with the cowl I was working on. Go check out her blog, she's super cute, and knits some awesome stuff!
6. Tuesday was Fat Tuesday, and Rick's mom got us some paczki to celebrate. I had a custard filled one first, followed by this apple one. Those are my two favourites, so I really had to have both.
7. I photographed some items for my shop on Wednesday. I was hoping to get them all done, but Rick and I ended up going to Windsor to run some errands for his Dad.
8. We made a few other stops, one of them being all you can eat sushi (which I neglected to photograph) and another being Starbucks. This was our pseudo-Valentine's date. We also made stops at a few other places, and I bought a pair of jeans as well as some yarn (more on this later)
9. I worked last night. It was a pretty quiet night, be we had this awesome skull bottle returned to us. It's a brand of vodka which I found out is part owned by Dan Aykroyd.

When Rick and I went to Windsor, we were right near Michael's. I had a gift card from Christmas burning a hole in my pocket, and my favourite yarn was on sale. I picked up eight skeins of Homespun in all different colours. I've already started to use one of them (the light blue and white) for a neck warmer. I wanted to get mostly neutrals, but they were sold out of a lot of colours. These skeins bring my total to +16. And I have more yarn being given to me in the near future. Looks like I have my work cut out for me. I should stop writing and get to knitting!

Also, I picked up a basket and some lights to use for my craft shows at Value Village. I try to pick up things here and there to use for my shows and what not. I like to change my displays around and play with things.

My week was pretty great. Other than being sick, I really have nothing to complain about. How have all of you fine folks been?

Self portrait Monday: February 7, 2011

Happy Monday everyone! I'm in a fantastic mood, and I hope I can spread it to anyone who isn't.
Last night, I finished knitting a hat for Rick's mom, Cindy. She bought a couple neck warmers from me the other day, and wanted a hat to wear when she goes out for her daily walks. Her hat is made from two strands of Homespun and one Red Heart Shimmer, which ads a little bit of sparkle. I did it on my green Knifty Knitter loom, and it only took a couple days of off and on knitting. The brim doesn't flare out when you wear it like it does in the photo. It's such an awesome snowy-white look!

Speaking of snow, this is part of the reason I am in such an awesome mood. I just got back in from taking Winston out, and it was ridiculous. We have to cross a boulevard that is covered in fairly deep snow to get to the park that we take Winston to so he can do his business. Lately, I've been able to walk across it and the snow was almost u to the top of my boot. No problem! Today, for whatever reason, the snow was deeper. It was fine a couple hours ago when I took him out! Both of my boots filled with awful, half-melted snow. I shook them out when I was standing on the sidewalk next to the park. Winston was an angel and waited for me to tell him it was ok to play. I decided to chase after him. We have a long retractable leash that we keep him on usually, and that's what he was on today. He darted back and forth and took off to the end of the leash. And then KAPOW I was down in the snow, shoulder first! It was hilarious! My boots refilled with snow, and I got quite a bit in my pockets, my hood and somehow, my bum. Winston came back to check on me, and sniffed a couple times before I grabbed at him and knocked him into the snow. It was great. Normally, I'd be a little upset over this, but just him coming to "rescue" me made it that much better.

In other news, Rick and I are working on a new site for me! We tried launching last night, and everything went KABLOOIE. I suddenly don't have email, and everything was down until almost 6 this morning. We're hoping the email issue fixes itself (as it should) today, or at the latest, tomorrow night. In the mean time, my email address is completely down, and I'm not sure if I will receive anything that is being sent to me during this time.

More knitted shawls!

As I said on Monday, here are the rest of the shawls!
They're all folded up nicely and sitting on the table next to where my computer has been set up for the past couple weeks.
Next to the stack, I have a simple Homespun scarf that I have been working on for a couple days. It's leftovers from another project I made in November or December.
I am still trying to work out how to price the shawls. This is likely the most difficult task in selling my wares. I want to price my items fairly for myself, but not so high where no one will want to buy them. I am only working one job right now (the new restaurant hasn't called me back yet, they hired too many people before they opened) and a little extra income from knitting would really help out financially.
In any case, I knit for pleasure first of all. It keeps me from going absolutely insane on bus rides and while reading blogs and such. The selling of the items is always secondary. Sure does feel great, though!