My Week in Instagrams: Friday March 1st, 2013

Everyone is probably saying it, but holy crap, when did March get here? This week has been a fun one. I have it off work, so I've been quite productive. You can see that from the picture overload. I'm going to try to keep this one from getting too long.

Rick reheated some of the lamb stew for us. He threw and egg and some tomatoes in there, as well. WE stirred a little sour cream in there, and it made it even better.
This is Rick's mom's cat, Jazz. He likes me a lot. I don't mind him. Winston loves playing with him, they're pretty funny together.
I knit a head band for myself out of some sparkly yarn. I also have boot cuffs to match. I'm going to wear those this weekend.
I made and packaged quite a few earrings this week. I haven't done any four packs, as far as I can remember, but I loved the colour gradient I got form these pinks.
I bought a pack of lamb shoulder chops when we got groceries recently. Rick cooked us up a couple. It's been pointed out that these look like two horse heads facing each other. Now that it's been said, I can't un-see them.
With the lamb, we also had potatoes, cabbage and onions. The chops are under all that good stuff.
I bought some fun socks a while back. I really liked these orange and pink ones. Nice and bright!
When Rick brought me into Windsor on Wednesday, we went for all you can eat sushi. We got hand rolls and they were pretty good. I had a hell of a time ripping through the nori at first, but after I got past that, I was golden.
After sushi and some other errands, we went to see Warm Bodies. I really enjoyed it. I didn't know it was an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, but now that I've read it in some articles online, it totally makes sense!
When I got to my parents, my dad gave me the rack he built for my earrings. The cord in the centre is in the process of being replaced with some thin wire. The clips I have to put the earrings on there are super tiny.
My parents have a panini press, and I made peanut butter and banana sandwiches for my Mom and I yesterday.
Mom took me to Wendy's after going shopping. After Wendy's, I visited my friend Lauren of Whimsical Warmth. We got crafty and played with her dogs. It was lots of fun.
When I got home from Lauren's, I watched The Knit Girllls and worked on head bands. I forgot to take photos of those, but I made two out of the mustard yarn. That eliminated one skein!
Dad and I went grocery shopping in Michigan today. One of the major perks of living in a border city. I ended up picking up a 6 pack of another flavour of Shocktop: Honey Crisp Apple. We went to a liquor and craft beer store, and I knew I'd find something I'd like. I can't wait to try it!

Now, onto the stash down! My mom bought me three skeins of sequin yarn from Zellers. The price was great, and I'd had my eye on them for a while. I got one in silver, and two in light blue. These will be turned into boot cuffs and a head band. Hopefully each skein is enough for a full set! I also bought two skeins of sparkle yarn when I went to Joanns today. These were a bit of an impulse purchase. When I got up to pay, I found out they were on a ridiculous sale. I paid about half of what I was expecting. If I wasn't on the "stash diet" I probably would have run back and picked up some more.
This puts me up five skeins. BUT! I knit one into the head bands. AND I gave two to my mom to make  into LeeLee Hats. AND I'm giving six more skeins, and fairly large ones at that, to Mel of Trinkets and Treasures for some of her crafty goodness. It's all yarn that, although I do like, I will likely never get around to using. This means I am at minus 4 for the week! This brings me to +19 overall. I hope to make some progress on this very soon. I'm knitting as fast as I can.

How are all of you fine folks doing? What's the weather like where you are?

Say Hello to the Knit, Nicole, Knit! Sponsors!

I recently decided to bring back sponsorship on my blog. To promote this, I gave away a whole bunch of ad space. If you are interested in getting a free space, I do offer swaps. Just shoot me an email, and I'll give you the information. If you'd like a larger space, you can check out my sponsorship page Here.

The first advertiser is Anja's Arts. She's been a long time sponsor. If you are interested in her gorgeous rings or other jewelry, you can use the code "15KnitNicole" to save 15%! I have two of her rings, and I absolutely love them.

The second sponsor for the month is Evermore Studios. You know all about her from the giveaway, but in case you don't I'll tell you what she's about. Her shop is filled with gorgeous hand dyed wool based sock yarns. She does full skeins, as well as mini skeins. I got a mini skein pack back in November, and fell in love. I've been making hexipuffs out of them, and you can see those here. Overall, I highly recommend this shop if you are looking for beautiful hand dyed sock yarn. You really can't go wrong!

Now, onto the swappers! Left to right, top to bottom:

YarnYarnYarnYarn: This is my other blog/tumblr. A lot of people interested in this blog have found that one interesting, so I wanted to make sure there was a link for it here.
Glued To My Crafts: Stacey is a wife, mom, and jack of all trades. Check out her Banana Bread Cookie recipe.
Jo, My Gosh!: Jo is a soon to be wife of a sailor deployed to Afghanistan. She sends him care packages, some with home made nut mixes.
Petite Tuques: Lisa is an awesome yarn crafter. She is knitting a gorgeous shawl that I am in love with.
Artwork by Jessica Beaudoin: Jessica is an artist who lives not far from where I am. She makes some beautiful paintings and jewelry.
Koi Story: Meanz is hosting a giveaway for free ad space. You can win two spaces from me, as well as one each from three other blogs!
Sami Spoon: Sami is from the UK. She just got some freaking awesome shoes that I am coveting.
LeeLee Hats: This is the group I knit baby hats with. We're over 12 000 hats donated to date, with more coming in all the time!
Trinkets & Treasures: This local store is amazing. They sell handmade goods from dozens of local crafters and artisans, including myself.
CsqDesigns: Casey Makes some gorgeous knit and crochet goodies, as well as cards and jewelry, and other fun stuff.

Go check out my wonderful sponsors, and you just might find something you like!

My Apologies for My Apathy

First of all, the title of this post sounds like the name of a pop-punk or indie bands sophomore album.
Anyway, you may have noticed the lack of posting the past few weeks. Since starting my job, I haven't had much time or motivation for knitting, never mind blogging about it. I finished my shawl for my cousins wedding last week, wore it to the wedding yesterday, and now I just have to wait for photos so I can blog about it properly. Other than that shawl, until today, I haven't knit a thing in I don't know how long. I've been in a bit of a funk. I'm not sure if the funk is caused by the lack of knitting, or the lack of knitting is causing the funk. Either way, I want to get out of it. I have another store that is opening up in Windsor that wants a couple of my items. It's a higher end paperie and gift store, so I am trying to figure out exactly what to make for the owner. I'm hoping to get in there and check the place out the next time we go into Windsor.
I've also let many of the listings in my Etsy shop expire, and I haven't bothered renewing them. I don't have the energy to work on the shop, work at my job, and prepare items for the upcoming craft show season. I'm already thinking a few months into the future, so that I am not caught off guard when it comes time to start signing up for shows. I have a few loose plans for items to knit, and some yarn I want to use, it's just a matter of putting them all together. I really wish I had four hands so I could knit twice as fast.
I did knit a hat for LeeLee hats today. It's made of super bright, bulky yarn, and it's helped shake this down feeling a little bit. I want to start making more hats for them, as the donations go down in the warmer weather. I also started a cowl made of some Eco-Fil yarn. This yarn is 75% recycled cotton, and 25% acrylic. It's super smooth, and nice to work with.

How are all of you fine folks doing?

A Monday Update

I have been so all over the place the past little while, that I don't know up from down. From Friday to Sunday, I spent most of my time working on hats with LeeLee Hats at Carrousel of the Nations. We made over 150 hats, which brings the total made over the past two and a half years to over 6000! This is amazing. I am so happy to be a part of this wonderful project.
We decided that it would be fun to get as many "celebrity knitting" pictures as possible, to help promote our project. Our first one was Dora the Explorer, who spent some time in the children's tent this weekend.
There is so much more that I could write, but my brain is jut so full, that I could write all day, and still not even scratch the surface.
I will be back in a couple days with an item review.

A LeeLee Hats Knitting Day!

This past Saturday, I joined my friend Tracy at a library the next town over for a charity knitting day. The event was called The Great Amusing Race, and it fit the name perfectly. There were 9 teams of 4 members each who went around the county to perform various tasks to earn points. There was a scavenger hunt, belly dancing, a car wash and of course, hat knitting. Before the event itself, the teams also collected canned goods for the local food bank. I think overall, the event helped 3 different causes.
I taught the participants on my larger loom, as it was easier to see from where they were sitting, and it meant I had more stitches that I could show them before I had to start wrapping a new row. It worked out well, and I finished the project I had on that loom.

Our activity was definitely something entirely unexpected by many of the participants. We were set up in a small room at the library with our thirty knitting looms, 8 high school volunteers, and a bunch of yarn. When the teams started coming in, we showed them how to do the basic stitch, and sent them off to the races. Some of them got less than one hat done, most got about one and a half, and the winner of our event made FOUR hats. IN ONE HOUR! I can't even make that many baby hats in an hour! Everyone was super impressed. She is the one in this photo crouched down in the middle. This team made NINE hats. The next closest team did just under 7. Not bad for people who've never knit before!

These are the two hats I started and finished at the event. I also finished knitting about a dozen other hats that the participants started, which worked out to seven total hats that I completed that day.

There was a banquet after the activities to hand out the medals and other prizes. All the teams received some drink tickets, which made everyone happy, and the team with the highest number of points accumulated from all the events won a trip for four to Las Vegas! That alone makes me want to participate next year!
Overall, it was a very successful day. The food bank got a HUGE donation, the minor hockey league that this was for also got a ton of money. I can't wait to see what else these organizers come up with.

A LeeLee Hats Donation

Yesterday, Tracy from LeeLee Hats and I taught a group of Brownies how to use knitting looms. That was an adventure, let me tell you. At their age, between 6 and 9 years old, many of them don't have the attention span to make one of the hats. In the end, we had to restart most of the hats. We said we'd bring them back today for a group photo, so it was a mad hustle last night fixing them all up.
This was what was next to me for most of the night. We went assembly line style for the most part. I undid all that needed undoing and wrapped all the yarn into balls to keep them from tangling. Then I made all the hats. That's where this pile comes from. Believe it or not, this is only about halfway through. Tracy and her sister Kim kept making more hats when I started sewing the hats up.
Once they were all sewn up, I counted how many I had made from the beginning, and I was really surprised to see twelve whole hats. In just a few hours! We are definitely considering making hats like this more often.
I'm really happy with the progress I've made on my 101 project. In addition to these 12, I made another three at home in the last couple days.

Moving Forward

Sorry I missed Monday. I didn't have my computer with me, and I am just now getting time to blog.
In this past week, I have rid myself of 17 skeins/balls of yarn!! They all went to LeeLee Hats. I did acquire one ball though.
Rick and I stayed at his parents for a night, and I underestimated my yarn needs. I only brought about a half skein of Homespun, and I blasted through that really quickly. I picked up one rather large skein from Zellers. I figured it was balanced out with the one skein I finished.

I also made EIGHT baby hats! They are all different. The Homespun was turned into two teddy bear hats. They're not perfect, but I am definitely working on the pattern. I really want to make more of them. The one pictured is the first one I made. The top is a bit pointy, but I think I have that fixed.
The second, rather awful photo, is of all of them. Three all white, two teddies, a white with purple stripes, and then a black and purple, and a white and purple. As a group, LeeLee Hats is taking part in Clicks For Babies. We are making purple hats to raise awareness of Shaken Baby Syndrome and Abusive Head Trauma. I will be making more and bringing them to Tracy, hopefully before Rick and I go to Iceland.

An Update on Charity Knitting

LeeLee Hats has a goal of putting a hat on every baby that is born at Hutzel Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. With the number of volunteers that have joined this group, I can see that happening within a year.
I've been knitting with LeeLee Hats for a while, and donated quite a bit. I am up to 47 hats for the babies in the NICU. I have also donated loads of yarn, which has helped other members knit and crochet so many more. I am nowhere near as many hats donated as some of the other volunteers. They often bring in 30 hats at a time, to every meeting. There are meetings every two weeks. Some of those ladies, and their husbands, are machines, I swear!
I've posted a photo of my first batch of hats already, and it's time to post the rest.
There were a couple more that I've made, but they were grouped with some other hats knit by other members. Just pretend you see two more hats than are pictured here! I also still have about 4 or 5 hats to sew up and donate.
I am pretty sure we are over 2000 hats given so far. As soon as I talk to Tracy, I will find an exact number.
We have quite a few events coming up in the next few months that will help us get even more hats made and donated.
LeeLee Hats is at the forefront of a international day of knitting. On Friday, September 30, everyone is encouraged to knit as part of Knit-A-Thon North America. There are some really neat events being organized in different parts of the world that day. I don't know of all the details, but I do know that Ireland has something to do with it.
I will certainly be posting more information as I get it.

Self Portrait Monday: August 1, 2011

Holy flying time! I can't believe it's August. Only one short month until our Icelandic vacation!!!
But, between now and then, there is still much time.
Twenty-two dishcloths! That's how many I've made recently. I've tied in all the ends, now I just have to trim them.
About half of them are spoken for (between my Mom and Sarah) and the others will be for sale. I am still unsure about putting them in the Etsy shop. There are so many sellers that have them available, it will probably just a waste of a listing fee. I think I may just put them on the Facebook page, and they will be available for people local to me to purchase.
Since the last update, I have finished two dishcloths. One of them is the purple and white here, and the other is for my mom. That one finished up another skein. The purple is getting pretty low. One more cloth will finish it off, for sure.
I have also finished a few hats for LeeLee Hats. I think two more of those. I did finish one skein of brown with those. When I finally get to another knit club meeting, I will be donating even more yarn.
I am starting to realize how much yarn I have that I won't ever use, for whatever reason. I will donate it to this group so it can be used.

Self Portrait Monday: July 25, 2011

It's Monday once again! I am knitting at the chiropractor's office, as I just finished my weekly massage. Rick is in getting his back worked on right now. Our massages aren't the nice relaxing ones people enjoy getting... Because of the car accident that happened in May, we're both still a bit out of whack. This is to try and get us back in place.

I am working on a hat for LeeLee Hats again. I want to get 10 done total, and then go back to working on winter accessories.

Speaking of winter accessories, I am planning on approaching a few local stores with some of my items to see if they will sell on consignment. I am not completely sure on the percentage I should offer them... I will have to figure some things out before doing this, but I would really like to be in a handful of stores soon!

Self Portrait Monday: July 11, 2011

Hello Monday!! It's been a loooong weekend. I worked a food festival with Rino's Kitchen, and that just about knocked me out. I ate till I almost burst... On Friday, Saturday AND Sunday.
Saturday was my anniversary with Rick. He was at his parents because I was working all weekend, so we didn't do anything until today.
I've also finished knitting a couple dishcloths. Two more cloths added, and one skein finished. I m now up to 15 items made, and +2 as far as skein count goes. Soon, I will catch up!
I haven't been knitting all that much the last few days. Between work, the gym and the weather, I haven't really felt like doing much.
I did, however, go to the LeeLee hats knit club on Saturday. I finished half a hat, and left it there so I could continue it next time, or someone else can work on it.
I should get back to knitting. I have an order for some blue dishcloths from a friend, and I want to get them made!

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!

Progress!

As I said this morning, here is the first update of what I hope to be many in this quest.

Two dishcloths from a skein of cotton. I think I knit one more out of this skein before these two, but I can't remember.
That little bit of yarn on top is about 2 yards. Probably enough to make a little flower to put on one of the hats for LeeLee hats. Most of my leftovers will be going to that group. They are doing amazing work for the babies being born at Hutzel.

The cloths are actually sitting on a stack of library books I took out last week.
The top one is CowlGirls by Cathy Carron. There are some BEAUTIFUL cowls and other neckwear in there. I am taking bits from several patterns, and I plan on making a few pieces for the fall for my Etsy shop.

I am already starting on another pile of cloths. After I crank out a few more, I will probably work on the baby blanket I started a while back, but never got around to finishing.

Craft Show This Weekend!

This Sunday, Made In Windsor is having another craft show. I will be working that day, as I usually do on Sundays, but my stuff will be available for purchase, as my friend is going to sell it for me. I will have baby booties, earrings, bracelets, dishcloths, hair bows and gadget cozies available.
I'm still working on more bracelets. In my post about them, Joy asked:

Ah, fun! Are they i-cord? I love i-cord for its potential uses, but I haaaate making it. I once made a tank top with braided i-cord straps (so, three strands per strap), and I basically swore never to make i-cord again :P

They are in fact icord! I actually don't mind making it. The bracelets are fairly short, so it's just icord in really short bursts! I can do a bracelet in about 20 minutes, sew the ends together, and be done with it if I am too annoyed. This hasn't happened yet, so I think I am doing ok.

Don't forget, tonight is the craft in, hosted by Scootchidoo Too! I plan on making loads of bracelets, and doing some final craft show prep.

Saturday, I will be teaching some people how to make baby hats on knitting looms with LeeLee Hats! I am super excited for that, as well.

This weekend is going to be great!

Self portrait Monday: March 21, 2011

Happy Monday, everyone! I've been up for a few hours now, and my day is going incredibly well. I made an awesome breakfast wrap, and took Winston for a short walk.
I've been working on dishcloths the past few days. There is a chance I will have a table at an upcoming craft show, just before Mother's Day, and I need some seasonally appropriate things to sell. The sale is going to be on a weekend, and since I work weekends, I am going to try to have Rick or someone else sell my things for me. I want to have a couple dozen dishcloths, and hopefully have my earrings ready to go as well. I want to figure out some sort of interesting packaging for the earrings. So far, all I have is a little plastic zipper bag.
Rick and I have been watching Better Off Ted on Netflix lately. We're about half way through the first season, and I am really enjoying it. I am still working my way through season 6 of House. I'm about halfway finished. I'll probably go back to a season of Big Bang Theory after House, and then find a new show. Nexflix and downloading older episodes of television shows has been great at boosting my knitting output. It's way more mindless than reading knitting blogs. I have been saving those for when I need to find inspiration for new knitted items.

Friday the 18th, I went out for lunch with the woman that organizes LeeLee Hats so I could give her my donation. I ended up with exactly 30 hats. I am going to continue making hats for the group over the next few months. I am also working at getting yarn and other crafting supplies donated to the group. My mom knows quite a few people, and she is talking to a lot of them, as well. I have a personal goal of donating 100 hats, and enough material to donate to fill at least two large garbage bags. As it's looking now, the second part of that goal will be met very soon.