Bling, Bling ....

About a week ago I was looking for a knitting related iphone case. I checked through ALOT of listings on Etsy. I then perused the internet. Still nothing. Then I decided I would start by finding an image I liked first, then see if I could find an etsy seller that could make me a custom iphone case. That was WAY easier. I'm quite happy with the final results. I haven't received the case yet but I was sent a picture of what it would look like.

Photo Borrowed from Boomland's Designs on Etsy. 

They have an open listing for this design for either an iphone or Samsung Galaxy. I can't tell you how much I love this design and I can't wait to get it in the mail!

Bag Clean Up....

My name is Melissa and I have a problem...... I have WAY to many Project Bags!! I started to go through my project bags and realized that I have a ridiculous amount of bags. It was astonishing. Even I was beyond surprised. Below is a collection of the ones that I no longer use.

Then there are a few key ones that I tend to use ALOT.

These tend to be mainly bags by MisoCraftyKnits because I LOVE THEM!! Most of them have WIP's in them but that's for another post...... Far, Far in the future. I'm still in denial about my WIP status.....

There is also a few KnowKnits bags in Camo because I'm a bit of a redneck at heart ;-) The large bag is also highly convenient for the larger projects that just won't fit into the large MisoCraftyKnits bag. I also have a couple TomBihn Stuff Sacks & a Hadaki Zip Carry All Pod that I bought from KnitPicks a long while ago.

Then there are the ones that I bought because I thought they were cute or neat..... and they sat in a pile in the closet. So I decided that it's time to clear them out. I've sent out a couple emails to a few knitting girlfriends to see if they want them. I'm sure it won't be hard to get them re-homed! There's some ThreeBagsFull, some Hadaki and a bunch of misc bags that I can't remember where I got them from. So off they go :-)

And last but not least I have a pattern holder from Mad Bird. I loved it but again I NEVER used it. I always fold the pattern up and shove it into the bag. So it goes off to a new home as well :-)

Out with the old and limit the new coming in ;-) 

BABIES!!!

I'm totally loving knitting for the new babies in my family. I had finished off the first Sunnyside sweater.

Then decided that I had enough of TFA Purple Label in Garnet for a second sweater. So the first little angel will have 2 sweaters in this heavenly yarn so she can grow into it. I made one in the 3-6 month size and one in the 6-12 month size. I just need to add zippers. I'm hooked on zippers for all sweaters. Especially for babies, since trying to button a sweater with a million pearl sized buttons on a hyper squirmy baby is nearly impossible. Aesthetically it's not as pretty as a sweater with buttons but functionally it's a god send!!

Then I need to knit a couple sweaters for the 2nd little angel. I'm currently knitting another Sunnyside using a skein of Woolen Rabbit Oasis in Violette that I've had in my stash for a while. I love how it's turning out so far. I'm further along than what the photo shows. I've just finished the yoke and have divided the sleeves. So hopefully I'll have this completed shortly. It really depends how much knitting time my baby is going to allow me ;-)

My cousin also requested a stripey sweater for her little girl. So I'm in the middle of tossing the stash to see if I can find some suitable yarns. This is the only thing I'm undecided about but it will work it's self out. Choices, Choices.....

Happy Knitting :-)

Happy Monday to Me!!

Yesterday was quite an exciting day for me. I got a giant box of yarn in the mail. I was able to hit up the Tanis Fiber Arts Etsy Update on Boxing Day. Although, I missed out on my favorite colorway Crushed Berries in Green Label. I was hoping to make myself a Reverb in this colorway but I wasn't fast enough :-( Oh well that's how things go in an update. I was able to score some yarn that my friend had her eye on. She wasn't unable to attend the update.

She sent me a list of colorways she liked and what quantities she needed. Which was awesome because it was super hard to find 8 skeins of Green Label in any colorway. I was able to scoop 8 skeins of Ravine after getting cartjacked with Stained Glass and Lotus but everything worked out in the end. I was also able to get her a skein of both Tartan and Lotus in Cosmic Blue Label. I'm sure she'll love the yarn. I do. The colors are way more beautiful in person!!

After the update I decided to peruse the Tanis Fiber Arts website to see what I wanted to spend my Christmas present on. Which was a TFA giftcard!! (Yes my parents are awesome!!) I decided to buy a couple sweater quantities for myself.

5 skeins of Midnight, 2 skeins of Natural and 1 skein of Spearmint

6 skeins of Truffle

Then I went back to the TFA Etsy Store and there was 2 skeins of Fjord left over in Red label. So I totally scored those for myself. 

I'm not sure what I'm going to make these 2 skeins into but I have plenty of time to think of something. I have ALOT of knitting to do in the next couple of months. Yarn is ordered and I'm just waiting to receive it in the mail. I have to finish this obligatory knitting first before I can start my selfish knitting. It will give me some good incentive to knit up these projects fast. 

Happy Knitting :-)

Stripes for Scott

I've been pretty silent since returning from Mexico. Mostly because I had about 10 days to finish knitting some Christmas gifts. I knew it was going to be a tight finish but I was determined. My daughter had other plans. She had 2 more teeth popping out so she was FOUL! So not much got done for 7 days. I finally decided to commit to staying up all night knitting to complete the 2 sweaters I was working on. In the end I got to sleep a total of 8hrs over 2 days but both sweaters were completed.

First up is the sweater I knit my brother. He was quite happy that he got a sweater for Christmas.

He's been wearing it pretty frequently since Christmas. This was the first clear non washed out photo I could take since he got it. 

Pattern : Émilien by Ariane Caron-Lacoste

Yarn : Cascade 220 Superwash Worsted 4 balls of Navy & 4 balls of Silver Grey

This was a fairly easy knit. I wasn't fond of the cast on. At the time I wasn't sure if I wanted to do a hood but in the end decided against it. If you decide not to do a hood you can do any cast on you wanted. Knowing this now I'll do a long tail cast on for the next one. I found that the cast on the pattern calls for ends up being a little too loose so that row looks kinda messy in the end but my brother assured me that t wasn't that noticeable. Except to me. 

Also, the body ended up being a little snug compared to how perfect the sleeves fit. So I would also add more stitches to the body for the cast on row for the next one I would make. Aside from that it turned out quite well.

I'm hoping to get some better pictures of the sweater I knit my sister. Then I can do a post on her Reverb :-)

I've been super excited the last month. There has been 2 babies born in my family :-) Both my cousins were expecting this year and I couldn't wait to start knitting for these 2 darling babies :-) so right now I've got a darling baby sweater on the needles.

Pattern : Sunnyside by Tanis Lavallee

Yarn : Tanis Fiber Arts Purple Label in Garnet

I can't explain how much I love this yarn. It's so soft :-) I know that my cousin's little girl will love it! 

Happy Knitting :-)