i {heart} handmade

If you're in the Rochester, NY area on Friday, February 1st, come check out the "i heart handmade" indie craft show at SPoT Coffee from 6 to 10pm! I'll be selling my jewelry, and it looks like there are going to be a lot of other great vendors there, so come pick up some unique Valentine's Day gifts, or just stop by and say hi! More info can be found at second storie}. See you next week! :)

no time to talk...or knit.

I've been a busy bee...work, the Etsy shop, etc. So I haven't had much time to knit...or to blog...but I would have blogged about how I have no time knit, and who wants to read about that, anyway? I was cruising right along on Patti up until a week or so ago, when I found out that I'd be participating in an indie craft show on February 1st, so jewelry making took over, and when I did finally find a bit of time to knit this weekend, Patti just required more brainpower than I had left. So I knit a little bit of a hat. Malabrigo Worsted. No pattern. More about the craft show and the hat and Patti (I hope!) later.

stella's hat

This hat has been done for about a week, but I just hadn't got around to posting it until now. Stella's Hat, by Melissa, was a quick, fun knit. (Excuse the crummy, lifeless pictures. There's just never any sunshine when I need to shoot photos. Ever.) I had to adjust the pattern to work with my gauge because I used Lamb's Pride Bulky on size 9's, but the hat came out nice and dense and warm. I modified it by casting on 72 st., and then starting with row 3 when I got to the decreases. Originally, I had wanted the top to flop over, but as soon as I started knitting, I knew that the fabric was just too dense. And then I realized I would have run out of yarn, as well. So I knit about 1.5" inches longer than the pattern called for, which allowed the quirky, squarish top of the hat to maintain its quirky squareness by extending past the top of my giant noggin just a bit and still keep my ears warm. I would knit this hat again in a heartbeat! But probably in a funner (yes, funner) color next time.

new knits for me!

I love the beginning of the new year, when I can switch gears from gift knitting to selfish knitting! I started Patti over Christmas vacation. I purchased yarn for this sweater quite some time ago, and I was a very good girl and didn't even swatch until I was finished with all my Christmas gift knitting! But I became increasingly unsure about this pattern, since the swing coat style of this sweater is kinda trendy right now. Should I spend so much time working on something that I might not wear next year? Will it even be in style when I finally finish it?? Are people going to start assuming I'm with child if I wear too many of these types of sweaters??? After pondering these important questions, I decided that not only did I get a great bargain on the yarn, but I'm always behind the trends anyway, so I should get a satisfactory return on my "investment" in this one. I finished the back and most of the left front panel. I thought the stockinette would be driving me up the wall by now, but it makes great tv knitting.

And then I decided I wanted a new hat. I think the new snowshoes that Santa brought me may have been the catalyst. I added Melissa's Stella's Hat to my queue as soon as she posted it, and when I saw Leslie's Garter Ridge Hat the other day, I decided to combine the two. I purchased some Lamb's Pride Bulky, so my gauge was much different. I cast on 72 st., and when I get to the decreases I'll start on row 3 and continue from there. I'm planning on knitting the hat longer than the 6" that are called for in the pattern to get the slouchy top portion, like the garter ridge hat, but I suspect that the bulky yarn will not have enough "flop." So I ordered some Malabrigo worsted in some yummy turquoises and greens and if the bulky hat doesn't flop just so, I'll stick to Melissa's pattern for this one and try again with the worsted yarn. I figure I should really see what all the Malabrigo fuss is about, anyway...