My Bowtie Scarflette

As I mentioned in my previous post I've been working on some new items for my Etsy store.  Sales have been slumping quite a bit, which makes me a bit sad, but oh well, that's the nature of doing business - you have busy times and you have slow times.  But it has given me a chance to try out something new.

This idea all started a few months ago when I went shopping with my sis and Ed.  We went to Anthropolgie because for my birthday they had sent me a coupon that gave me 15% off my purchase.  While there I came across a bowtie scaflette that had a cotton liner sewed into it.  I thought - that's brilliant!  Especially for wool items, because I know a lot of people (including myself) have wool sensitivies.

I knew I didn't want to sew in the lining by hand.  My hand sewing skills are not quite up to par.  I actually don't think I have the patience for hand sewing.  I find that when I first start off, my stitches look even and alright, but as I keep going my stitches get bigger and bigger, and then it just looks sloppy.  Yes I know, I'm impatient (couldn't you tell by my other posts? LoL).  I began to read up on how to sew items with a sewing machine to a knitted item and found out it was not so easy.  Knitted items stretch, so you have to be super careful when feeding it in through the machine. 

So a couple of weeks ago I had time to knit up a bowtie scarf - I got the pattern off Ravelry and it's quite simple really.  I bought some cotton material with a nice print, cut it to size, then headed over to my parents house to use their sewing machine.  I read on a website to use a zig-zag stitch, which I started out using, but for some reason the machine would miss some stitches and some of them turned out to be just a straight stitch.  I had the cotton material on top of the knitted material, and I think the thread wasn't catching the knitted material at the bottom.  After about 4 cycles of sewing and  ripping, I decided to go to a straight stitch - I finally had it! 

Just make sure you use a ton of pins to keep the everything together - this will also help prevent the knitted material from stretching too much.  And go slow - it's not a race! :D

My prototype turned out pretty good, but the final product turned out better.  Before I had a straight rectangular piece, but I found when I put the scarf on you could see the corners of the material sticking out.  So I ended up chamfering the corners. 

And here's my final product!

It's now for sale @ my Etsy Store

The Salad Incident

Since I started this blog I thought I would keep it just on knitting, but sometimes I find situations in my life that I would like to blog about.  I guess I could start up my old personal blog but I like to keep my life simple and sweet, meaning I'm a one-blog girl :)  So I guess I can occasionally blog about non-knitting stuff right?

Or.. mention one thing about knitting - my Etsy store sales have been slumping lately so I've been bummed about that.  That's ok, after a full holiday season of spending, 'tis the season for not spending!  I could relate - I haven't bought anything this month besides a $16 Ipod FM tuner that I desperately needed for all the road trips I have been taking for work!  This slump has allowed me to come up with more exciting new things to sell at my store... more about that on another post!

So I'm away on business tonight, and whenever I travel on my own I usually order room service.  But in the case of tonight, the hotel I'm staying at doesn't have room service.  So every time I stay at this hotel I always go to a local chain restaurant to get food.  I hate eating out on my own, so I usually go to the drive thru to get food, then eat in the semi-comfort of my hotel room.

The last time I went to this restaurant (which was last week) they forgot to give me cutlery with my order, and I didn't realize until I got back into my room.  I wasn't too happy about that.  So this time around, I kept reminding myself to ask for cutlery.  I ordered a dinner meal and a salad, and when my order came I made sure I asked for cutlery (which they forgot to provide... again!).  When I got back to my room I was so hungry I started eating my meal.. half way through I had this sinking feeling something was missing... my salad!!  I was so distracted by the fact that I might not get cutlery that I forgot about making sure everything I had ordered was in the bag!

I called the store (took me a while to get someone on the phone.. no one likes to answer the phone there!) and talked to the manager and she said the salad would be delivered to my hotel.  Now there is one thing I would like to point out - the restaurant is literally a 2 min drive to my hotel.  It took them 45 minutes to deliver a salad... AND the delivery guy forgot the dressing.  WHAT?!?!  The delivery guy said he had to go back to the store to get it.  I figured it would probably take him another 45 minutes, so I just said forget it. 

..... and to make matters worse I brought a knitting project I wanted to start and I realized I brought the wrong needles :(

It's just one of those days..... blahh!!

Men Can Knit Too! :D

I came across this interesting article about some students from a school in Toronto that formed a knitting club, and a quarter of the club are boys :)

http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/education/article/914814--students-knit-scarves-and-friendships

See....men can knit too! :D

2010 - The Year Of Adventure

On my other blog I used to write up a reflection of the year, so I thought I would continue that tradition and write it in my new blog :D 

So it looks like I'll be entering 2011 sick :(  It seems like being sick on New Year's Eve is also a tradition of mines - I always feel like I'm always sick on NYE :(  Not a fun way on spending my winter vacation :P

I would call 2010 the Year Of Adventure.

 I got to travel to two very different places in the world - Paris and Peru.  The only thing these places had in common (in my opinion) was that they both photographed very well :)  I enjoyed wandering the streets of Paris with my travel buddies & hubby, and eating macaroons and all the fantastic French cusine - c'est bon!  Peru was amazing - I will never forget the thrill of hiking the Inca Trail and enjoying the weekend park dance party in Lima.  It really made me just love life in the simplist form, and I can't wait to go back to South America for another adventure.

Another adventure was definitely starting up my Etsy store.  I never thought I would be able to make a bit of money on the side by knitting :)  My hobby and obsession has become a self-sustaining one!   

I am looking forward to 2011 - I already have my knitting goals planned out.  I hope to learn how to spin and dye my own yarn - I already bought starter kits for both projects so I'm well on my way! 

Thanks 2010 - but I know 2011 will be better! :D  Happy New Year everyone!

Thrummed Mittens

Happy Holidays everyone!  It's been a while since I blogged!  I've been knitting up a storm the past month - knitting for both my personal gifts and for my Etsy store.  I was really cutting it close!  I think I finished knitting my last x'mas gift on the 23rd :S  I was so frazzled with knitting and planning this blog post on thrummed mittens, I've forgotten to take photos of most of the items I as gifts.  I made cowl neck scarves for my BFF Rita and my sister-in-law using hand dyed yarn I purchased off cowgirlknits on Etsy, a hooded scarf for my sister (I ended up making up my own pattern - I might have to fix it though, the hood might be too small) and 3 pairs for thrummed mitts for my mom, Ed and my close friend Flo.  To make matters more stressful, X'mas dinner was at our house again for the second year and a row, and the pressure was on to cook a tastey turkey (it was delicious last year, so I had something to live up to!).  Thank God I was given Friday off :D


So, lets get to the thrummed mittens!  As I mentioned in my last post, thrummed mittens are the warmest mittens ever!  Pieces of wool roving is knit into the mitts as you make them, and in the end you get mittens with a wool lining in the middle.  They are pretty labour intensive as this involves tearing the roving into little pieces.  If this is your first thrummed mitten project I would suggest you buy a thrummed mitten kit - it usually comes with yarn and the roving.  I personally love the Fleece Artist thrummed mitten kits - I love the yarn/thurm colour combinations, and the pattern is easy to follow.

The roving comes in long piece that you'll have to rip into pieces. 

I normally rip them into 5" long by 0.25" wide pieces.  I usually rip a large piece widthwise across that is 5" long, then rip them into 0.25" pieces.  The first time I made them the lady at the yarn store that sold me the kit told me to the large pieces widthwise with a pair of scissors, then tear into thin strips, but my aunt told me it's better to just rip everything by hand because the roving will mat together better when you wear the mitts, forming a better lining.  I've done it both ways and found my aunt is right :)  Each of these strips must be teased, and elongated - so they are about 7" long.  The better you tease them, the warmer your mitts will be :)  Fold the two ends towards the middle and pinch the middle (your piece will look like a figure 8). 

Most website tell you to rip all the pieces before you begin the knitting process, but if you're anything like me, you're just super excited to get started with the mitts.  What I normally do is just rip some pieces, and when my hands hurt from ripping the roving I switch over to knitting :)

There are different methods to thrumming - ones that make them look like hearts, others that make them look like little balls.  I personally like them looking like little balls :)  Instructions are below:

*Following your thrum mitten pattern* Knit until the pattern calls knitting in the thrumming.

Insert your needle through the hole in the row below located between the previous and the next stitch. 

Take the thrum piece and fold it in half.

Taking the folded piece, fold the thrummed piece over the needle.

Pull the thrummed piece through the hole.  Knit the next stitch.

Pull the thrumming over the knitted stitch.

....like so..... :)

Pull the thrumming from the back (but not too tight!)

 And... volia!  Consider the mitt thrummed!  Continue with your pattern/thrumming.

This is what it should look like when you flip the mitt inside out

Here are a few photos of thummed mitts I made myself.  The first photo is of my very first pair of thrumm mittens I've ever made.  They're big mitts (LoL they look kinda like oven mitts!) but so warm :)  They shrank a little bit when I washed them though..

.... as for my turkey - it was delish! :D

Mentions on Etsy/Blogs

Hello blogging world!  I have been M.I.A for a bit, been knitting up a storm!  I feel like I'm behind on my knitting, although I think it's just me trying to stress myself out to push me to keep knitting!  My hands are starting to hurt!  I've been busily knitting thurmmed mittens lately and tearing the thrumming is hard on the hands :S  What are thrummed mittens you ask?  Only the warmest mittens EVER!  Click here to find out about thrummed mittens!  I will post my thrummed mitts soon. 

So I've also been busy with my Etsy store - sales are going pretty good so far :D  Over the past few days I've been mentioned in a few lovely treasuries and even been blogged about :D  I thought I would share all these wonderful links here:

Farrielle Design and Fashionista - Silver Gray Wrist Warmers featured in Farrielle's fun blog

Button up... baby it's cold outside... - Moss Green Wrist Warmers featured in wendyhammerdesigns' Etsy treasury

Have yourself a very Minty Christmas - Gifts under $25 - Mint Chocolate Cashermino Baby Booties featured in KellysKeepsakes' Etsy treasury

Knitted Gifts to Keep You Warm - Winter Blue Wrist Warmers featured in RainyDayArt's Etsy treasury

My First Dog Sweater

My very good friend, Steph approached me a few months ago to see if I could do her a huge favor.  She asked me knit her dog, Spyro a sweater.  Now those who know me know how I feel about dressing up dogs (I'll just keep those opinons to myself).  But, I agreed to because Steph is one of my oldest and dearest friends, and she was frustrated with finding a sweater that fit her dog (they were either too short or too long).

Now I have never knit a sweater before, and after looking at a few patterns online, I couldn't find a pattern that fit my vision for a dog sweater.  I wanted something that would buton along the back because I am all to familiar on how hard it can be do get a dog to wear something!   I thought it would be easier to put on if the buttons were on the back. 

I took some measurements of Spyro and based on the yarn gauge I calculated how many stitches I needed,  how many rows to knit and where to place the leg holes.  I started knitting at the collar, then increase stitches every few rows (evenly) until I had enough stitches to fit around the body.  At first I thought I would knit the item as two pieces, then stitch them together, but as I was knitting I realized I could knit it as one piece.  I even added button holes along the side. 

And here is the finished knitting result (minus the buttons)

Side profile of the sweater. 

Here's Spryo with his new sweater :)

The only problem is that the sweater might be a tad bit too small for Spryo because of al his hair!  So the seam on the back looks like he's about to burst out of the sweater.  LoL hopefully after washing and blocking it the sweater will fit better!