New Pattern: Textured Triangle Scarf

Here it is! My newest pattern the Textured Triangle Scarf.  This pattern is a fun twist on a classic triangle shawl.  Knit from side to side it is an easy and interesting garment.  You can knit this shawl with any gauge yarn and needle although the pattern was designed with worsted weight yearn and size US 8 needles.  Check it out in my Etsy Shop.   

I aggressively blocked this shawl and now it it cuddly and I can't wait for the weather to be cool enough for me to wear it.!

Also, Congrats to Lee, winner of the pattern giveaway.  Email me with your choice of hat. 

Stitch Guide: Seed Sts

Seed Stitch Swatch 4.5"x4"

Seed stitch is one of my favorite textured stitches.  It is simple and only a two row repeat making it easy to remember and design with.  The number of stitches required for this stitch is a multiple of two, sometime it will be a multiple of two plus one. 

Seed Stitch (worked flat) Multiple of 2
Row 1: *K1, P1* repeat * to *
Row 2: *P1, K1*

Seed Stitch (worked in the round) Multiple of 2 +1
Round 1: *K1, P1* K1
Round 2:  *P1, K1* P1

Dress Making: The Fatina, Muslin & New Fabric

I finally finished the muslin for the Fatina shift dress.  It was a bit of a pain.  First of my fabric choice sucked but that's what I should have expected from cheapo fabric.  Second the way the pattern is graded from the waist to the hips was a bit comical.  This photo above is the finished muslin after all the alterations I had to do after I sewed it the first time.  I was going to keep this as a fun shimmery silver dress, but it would be more of a headache to finish the damn thing.  I am however thinking of turning it into a pencil skirt. 

I have finally decided on the fabric for the finished dress that I will be wearing to the wedding.

While I was at the fabric store searching for something to make that muslin out of I found this beautiful eggplant purple cotton stretch.  It's gorgeous and the photo doesn't do it justice, but the green obi belt will really stand out against the purple of the dress.  I'm planning on started today by cutting out the fabric. 

Old Curatins Become Fab Yarn

I just sewed new curtains for our bedroom and when I took down the old ones I was sad to see them go.  They were the first curtains I made for our apartment back in the day and they had become faded and worn since I first made them.  They were too faded to donate or make into a cute skirt.  I was inspired by this post on One Pear Button from February and decided to make them into some interesting looking yarn.

Shredded curtain in a sad pile on my dinning room floor.  Don't be sad old curtains I'm going to make you into something cool!

One curtain down one more to go!  When I finished ripping up the curtains I figured I had about 100 yards give or take a bit.  The curtains were two yards and in the end I had about 56 strips that I tied together.  Now It was time to knit and I, like Ali from OPB, decided on a rug. 

Pattern Giveaway

That's right, my first pattern giveaway and a sneak peek at my newest pattern.  One lucky reader will receive their choice of the Hurricane Hat or the Peaks and Valleys Beanie.  All you need to do is comment below and I will pick a winner randomly and announce the winner on Friday's blog post along with releasing a new pattern.

The winner will also receive a copy of my newest pattern The Textured Triangle (pictured above) which will be in my etsy shop on Friday. Good Luck!  

New Pattern: Hurricane Hat

What a fitting day to release this pattern, it is good weather for ducks here in Philly and a perfect day for staying inside and knitting something cozy.  How about my newest pattern the Hurricane Hat.  I was inspired by the hurricane season here on the east coast and started to dream this up during hurricane Irene.  The swilring stitch pattern is what gives this hat its name sake and makes it fun to knit up. 

The pattern was designed using a bulky alpaca so it knits up pretty fast the gauge is three stitch to the inch.  What I like most about it (other than the stitch pattern) is the slouchy shape.  You can where is slouchy or fold up the brim for a more fitted look and extra warmth around your ears.  Check it out in my esty shop with my other patterns.

P.S. I am also giving away a free copy of the Southerly Tam knitting pattern over on One Pearl Button

Stitch Guide: Stockinette Stitch

 Stockinette Stitch is on of my favorite simple stitches I love the way that fields of this stitch look in a garment.  Knitting stockinette flat can be trick for a few reasons:
1.) It curls, a lot.  The cast on edge curls up the bind off edge curls down, and the sides curl back wards onto them selves.  Because off this I suggest using a garter stitch boarder when knitting in stockinette. 

2.) You must know how to purl

3.) There is a wrong side to you knitting

wrong side of stockinette stitch, see all the purl bumps.

When all is said and done the stockinette stitch look great in sweaters and hats.  I like using in for a garment that has a public and a private side to it. 

Stockinette Stitch (flat)
Row 1: Knit all stitches
Row 2: Purl all Stitches

Stockinette Stitch (In the round)
Round 1: Knit all Stitches

Dress Making: Fatina

Fatina Pattern all taped together

 I was very productive this weekend, and managed to print and put together and cut out that pattern for the Fatina dress.  I am second guessing my fabric choice though.  Below are three differet silks.  The bright green and the bronzish one are duponi silk, very structure.  The gray is silk chine and unlike the duponi it is drape and floaty and I am not sure if it is right for the pattern. 

Some of my fabric choices.

I also need to find some cheapo cotton for a quick muslin.  The patten isn't difficult at all to make to I know I can whip my first on up in about an hour so now it's just deciding on which silk to use. 

New Pattern Sneak Peek

Here is a quick peek at my latest hat pattern.  It will be released in my Etsy store this Friday.  I was inspired by the hurricane season. 

Recipe: Vegan Brownies

Yummy Homemade Brownies.

I am by no means vegan (or remotely vegetarian), but my first roommate in Philly was.  One day I decided to make vegan brownies for him and this is my go to brownie recipe now.  (Also it's dairy free which is great since I am lactose intolerant.)  The recipe has gone through a few different versions, but this one is by far the best.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 coco powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 teas. baking powder
1 teas. salt
1 cup melted semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup soy milk (or any other milk alternative)
1/2 cup plain soy yogurt (or any other non dairy yogurt)
1 teas. vanilla 
1 medium sized banana

Directions
*Combine all dry ingredients into a bowl
*Using a double boiler melt semi sweet chips
*In a blender or food processor blend milk, yogurt, vanilla, and banana together
*When the chips are melted remove from heat and mix the banana mixture into the chocolate.  Make sure that the mixture is well combined
*Pour the chocolate mixture into the bowl of dry ingredience and mix till all ingredience are combined
*Pour brownie batter into a 8"x8" greased baking pan and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 min. or untill the top of the brownies is solid and spingy to the touch. 

Link Love

Just Sharing some Links that I Love this month.
The Purl Bee, Chevron Baby Blanket
So cute I want to make an adult sized one.

Colletterie, Fitting pants
I want to make a few pairs of pants this fall (or at least I'm dreaming about making them), and this blog post from Colette's blog really got me thinking about it.

One Pearl Button, Spool of Thread Necklace
When I saw these I feel in love.  Now I've been searching through my local thrift stores trying to find wooden spools of thread.

Offbeat Home, Knitted plant holders I want to make these for me neighborhood, but I think it will have to wait till next spring.  I have also been thinking about how to make and display a few in our apartment.

Offbeat Home, Craft Basket I need about ten of these.

Upcountry Vintage, Chalk Board Tutorial
I have a major chalk board obsession.  I have been planing on where in our apartment we could turn a wall into a chalk board.


Burda Style, Fabric covered Bangles
I have seen a ton of these around the interwebs and love them since I can't bare to throw out my fabric scraps.  I swear there will be a use of them some day.  

New Pattern: Peaks and Valleys Beanie

Here it is, the Peaks and Valleys Beanie.  It is boy approved and is a fun and simple knit.  While I designed it with my Hubbie and guys in mind anyone can rock this hat.  The design element in the hat is executed with simple knits and purls which makes it a great hat for someone new to knitting.  It also knits up relitively quickly and is a great gift knit.

The motif of the beanie is reminiscent of mountain peaks and the valleys below.  You can find the pattern in my etsy shop.

Knitting Stitch Guide: Garter Stitch

Garter Stitch Swatch 4.5"x 4.5"

Garter stitch is usually the first stitch you would learn when knitting.  It is stretchy, lays flat and reversible making it a great stitch for things like scarves and shawls or anything you want to be reversible.  It is even the stitch used in my beginner scarf pattern.

This stitch pattern can be any amount of stitches.  While working flat all the rows are the same, but when working in the round it is a two row repeat.

Garter Stitch (Flat)
All Rows: Knit all Sts

Garter Stitch (In the Round)
Round 1: Knit All Sts
Round 2: Purl All Sts

Dress Making: The Fatina

My best friend from back home is getting married and I have nothing formal enough to wear to their very formal wedding.  To solve my problem I spent at least two hours combing Burda Style for a versatile, yet dressy dress pattern.  Now don't get me wrong there were a ton of patterns to choose from, some of which I already have, but I was looking for something simple and chic.  Something I could style a thousand different ways, and make out of every type of fabric on could thing of.

At the close of my two hours of "research" I finally decided on the Fatina.  It's a simple shift dress with lots of potential.  It meets all of my requirements and I can make one to wear to my best friends wedding and I can make one to wear out in my daily life.  I can also easily alter the pattern for a different look. 

Now all I need to do is find some fabric and get sewing.  Since I am going to spend a pretty penny on the fabric I may actually make a muslin. 

Pattern Sneak Peek

Here's a quick pic of the new pattern I will be releasing this Friday.  This pattern is Simon approved, all I have to do now is convince him to model it for the photos. 

Art of Hanging Two

I hope that all the buggies are out of my computer.  This week is a busy week for me and I can't have my computer catching things, but so far things are working well. 

We have been making improvements in our apartment this month and I am really excited about this one I just had to share.  The Hubs and I have been desscusing using vertical space in our apartment since its so small.  One of the things we need to address was our surf boards, and the lack of art on the walls. 

 

 

This is what we came up with.  Simon made some racks out of scrap wood to mount on the wall to display our surf boards instead os stacking them in the corner.  

 

 

 

Here's a straight on view of our wonderful surf boards.  I like that they are a part of our decor more so than just hanging about because we have no where to store them out of sight.  Mine is the yellow one.  Simon ruined me when I went to Australia and now all I want to do is ride short board, which is hard on the Jersey Shore.  The top one is a 7'2" and my little yellow one is 5'11",  This just makes me want to ditch work and go surfing.  

 

This week is full of fun and interesting things, a new hat pattern will be released on Friday in my Etsy Shop, and I will be starting a knitting stitch guide as a bi-weekly post here on the blog.  

Technical Difficulties

I updated some stuff on my computer, or I have caught a bug and now my computer doesn't want to do anything I ask of it.

This week has been a total flop. Between my work schedule and now this I've barely been able to post anything. Hopefully I can fix this and have things ready to go for Monday, or maybe if I'm lucky tonight.

Technique Tuesday: How to Wind a Center Pull Ball

One of my favorite techniques is knitting two socks at a time on two circular needles, and while I won't be talking about this techniques today it does require me to wind my yarn into a center pull ball of yarn.

There are a few pros to a center pull ball:
1.) You can pull yarn from the inside and the outside at the same time
2.) Your yarn stays protected inside more yarn
3.) your ball of yarn will roll around on the floor less keeping your yarn clean, and it won't become tangled around furniture.

How to start

first you want to find a place to hang your hank of yarn. If you don't have a swift or a willing partner to hold the hank the back of a chair or your knees will suffice.


Next take the dead end of the yarn and making sure it is about 10-12 inches long. (Your dead end it the end of your yarn and the live end is what leads back to your hank of yarn.)


Wrap the dead end around your thumb, making sure that the extra inches are hanging down the length of your arm.


Now you will take the live end of the yarn and begin to loosely wrap it around your index, middle and ring fingers or how ever you winding a ball of yarn.

Continue to wrap the yarn around your three fingers until you see a ball start to form out of the wrapped yarn. Slip your fingers out of the ball of yarn and continue wrapping the yarn around itself, being mindful of where the dead end of the yarn is attached to the ball.

when you are finished your ball of yarn should look like this:

Ta-Da! A center pull ball of yarn.

Welcoming Fall

I am excited to be back and officially blogging again, I am also excited for fall to roll in. Cool days and chilly nights, warm cozy knits and large mugs of warm drinks. To celebrate the coming of fall I went to my favorite coffee house the other day, ordered a latte and sat in the front by the shops large glass window. They already had a pumpkin sitting on the counter.

Look how pretty my latte looked.

Here is what I am working on, a beanie that my husband approves of. Once it is finished and the pattern is complete I may let him keep it. Which reminds me next week I will have a new pattern out in the world. I have a lot of plans for the fall, some new patterns, some fun tutorials, and maybe a recipe or two. On the blog I am planning some new Technique Tuesday posts, along with new stitch pattern posts, a Fiber Friday and even a resurrection of Vintage Finds Friday.

The fun starts tomorrow with Technique Tuesday.

Comming Soon...

In three days I will be relaunching my blog. I'm super excited about this. Nothing huge has changed I've just used these first two weeks home to get things in order for great Septemeber posts.

Check back on Monday!