Chain Chain Chain

I had forgotten about these lovely, quick scarves that I made a couple of years ago. However we recently traveled to the East Coast, and I needed some quick, instant gratification projects to keep me sane. Also, I was on a plane for almost 6 hours each way. Did someone say perfect knitting time? Oh yeah! I pulled out my huge size N crochet needles, grabbed a few (ok a lot) skeins of my super-bulky lovies, and went to town.

I didn’t do anything different from the previous chain scarves I had made. In fact, I made one in my favorite color combination, Thunder and Grassy Green (I’ve probably made about 5 in this combo).

I also tried a Sea Blue-Grassy Green combo, and I love how it turned out. So very pretty, and very similar to the Thunder/Lime scarf above. Green and blue (in all different shades) look so good together!

I tried turning up the heat on the chain scarves by working with 3 colors instead of 2, in one of the scarves (it’s getting hot in here!). I quite like the effect. I think the two shades of pink and white play very nicely together.

Now that I’ve started, I don’t want to stop. I’m thinking of these color combos next.

           

  

 

                                                    

And here's the whole color palette that I have available to work with!

What colors do you think I should make for my next chain scarves? Let me know in the comments below. If I create your suggested color combination, I will send you a 30% off coupon to use in my Etsy shop!

Have a lovely week!

Evelyne....again

One of the first designs I came up with (if you can call it a design), was a simple lace scarf for my MIL. At that time I hadn't yet discovered bulky and superbulky yarn, so I swooned at the thought of all things lace! I still love lace, but the "bulkies" give me such awesome instant gratification that I keep forgetting my first love. Anyway, I just wanted to share a few pictures of this sample of my Evelyne scarf, handknit by my friend Sara (a friend I made in college in 2001!).

   

As always, I'm so grateful for my partnership with my fellow small business owner and photographer extraordinaire, Kwaku of Nkadu Photography, and my ready-for-whatever go-getter model Lilia!

I hope you enjoyed the photos, and see you next week!

Baby hat love

Recently some very close friends on the East Coast had a lovely baby girl. Very soon after that, another friend  who also owns an Etsy business had her baby and ordered hats for the little darling. What did this mean? Lots and lots of baby hats to knit! Luckily for me, I have a large stash of KnitPicks Swish Worsted yarn in child-friendly colors, just waiting to be knit up! It sure felt odd knitting with such thin yarn, since I've been living in superbulky land for the past 6 months or so. Challenge accepted!

I had been eyeing the Golden Pear pattern by Melissa Thomson, and jumped on the opportunity to knit it up in bright green and rouge pink, toned down by a light dove grey. This hat went to my little East Coast lovie.

A few days after sending this off, I heard from my friend Melissa that she had had her baby and wanted a baby hat in this same pattern! Oh there was no hesitation on my part, as I was already in love with the pattern. Hers was shades of purple, with a little grey thrown in.

Now since I was on a roll, I figured, why stop now? I pulled out another new love, the Little Scallops hat pattern by Maria Carlander, and whipped up another hat in the same dove grey and Rouge Pink (those baby hats are addictive!!).

Full disclosure - I think this year's knitting might be full of baby hats, because they are fast, super cute, and you get to try out so many color combinations and yarns. My knitter hat is jumping for joy at the thought! Hope you'll join me for this next "level" in my knitting journey. :)

A QUICK NOTE

If you received or saw the spam post last weekend, I sincerely apologize for that, and reassure you that no user information was exposed, as the blog is separate from where your email addresses for the newsletter is stored and sent from. Once again, I'm so very sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Long time no see!

I can't believe it's almost mid-February and I've barely been on here. Please accept my sincere apologies. I've done a lot of "I miss my blog" and "I want to knit" posts...in my head, but nothing on here. I'm so sorry about that. Today's post is a very, very short one, as I just wanted to show some love and share some of the hats I mentioned in my last post. So, full of photos, sparse on text. And since it's almost Valentine's Day, I'm showing only the hats with a little pink in them.

Enjoy, and I hope to have the blog back on a weekly rotation soon!

Gifts Ahoy! Part Deux

Of all my family members, I think my sister has the most handknit items from me. This holiday season was no different. I had knit one of my newest loves, a bulky slouchy striped hat (oh yes! I forgot to mention that I fell in love with hats this holiday season) in light grey and bubblegum pink. This hat right here. (I modified the Ushya Hat pattern by Jane Ellison to knit my hats.)

Missy said she wanted this very hat, and a scarf to go with it. I started a striped scarf to match the hat, but she wasn't digging the stripes, so we decided to just knit half the scarf in grey and the other half in pink.

However, after I'd finished knitting with the grey, I thought I'd add a touch of something, so I knit two rows in white before joining with the other color. Then I thought, why not add a bit more color? So in went some charcoal grey and a darker pink to round it out.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take photos of my finished experiment before she left, but the gods of winter made her town so cold (3 degrees Fahrenheit) that she had to bust out these big guns. Here she is enjoying her gifts. :)

Enjoy the rest of your week, and stay warm!

Gifts Ahoy!

I love gift knitting more than I like knitting for myself. This past holiday season, in the midst of all the crazy hours I pulled to fulfill some of my knitting orders, I was able to squeeze in some gifts for my son's teachers at his former school. They were a great bunch, and the care and love they showed my little poopoola left a lasting impression on me. I wanted each scarf to be a different design for each teacher (since they work in the same school). Armed with my all-time favorite superbulky yarn, Loops & Threads Cozy Wool, I set out to craft individual gifts for these rockstar teachers. Let's take a look.

I knit this first one using the Mid-December Easy Knit Infinity Scarf pattern from A Crafty House in a rich, Forest Green color.

I went with my trusty Procragratification Infinity Scarf pattern in Sapphire Blue for the second scarf (you guys aren't tired of seeing it yet, are you? :P )

For the third scarf, I went with a recently discovered pattern that I've fallen in love with - the Columbia Cowl by Cirilia Rose.

I chose the simple but always stunning Drop Stitch Cowl by Abi Gregorio for the fourth scarf, knit in an alluring Velvet Purple colorway.

And last but not least, the scarf that I knit last, late at night, and which I call the ToNoRi LaNiLaMi...for...Totally Not Original Late Night Night Last Minute scarf. Teeheehee. I originally started out knitting the original cowl version as outlined in the Katy Cowl pattern, but changed my mind halfway through and added buttonholes and large, coconut shell buttons. I fell in love with the finished product, knit in the breathtaking Thunder colorway, and wanted to write up the pattern and share it with other knitters. Then I discovered that I would be reinventing the wheel if I did so, because there's already a gorgeous version of it written up - The Woodland Cowl by Kalurah. I guess great minds think alike? :P I still love the pattern though, and might end up making a few more of them.

So, what do you think? I loved knitting each one of these scarves, and from the reaction of the recipients, I think they liked them too! Which scarf is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below.

Have a lovely week!

Prepping for the holiday season: A photoshoot teaser

I cannot believe that it's already October! This year really just seems to be galloping along at breakneck speed, and I find myself barely managing to keep up with it. That said, I applied for and got into the Bazaar Bizarre Holiday Fair again this year (woohoo!!), to be held in San Francisco on Dec 7-8. Please save the date so you can come hang out with me, if you are in the Bay Area! I'll have chocolates! :)

In preparing for the fair, I worked with my friend Kwaku of Nkadu Photography to get some update photos of some of my yarny lovelies, and I am so excited to tease you with a couple of these photos!

I write a lot about the Procragratification Infinity Scarf, but I have a secret love affair with it's cousin, the Pompom Hurrah Scarf that I'm happy to reveal today. How beautiful is this scarf on my stunning model?

Now I have a question for you. What other color combinations should I make the Pompom Hurrah scarf in? It's such a pretty scarf design that I want to play around with even wilder color combos! I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below. And to help, here's the color palette that I currently use for my chunky scarves.

I'm so excited to hear your color combo suggestions, and see how many of them I can actually make! Let's do this! :)

Hope you enjoy the rest of your week.

Color Flow Chunky Cowl Giveaway Ends Tonight, 11:59PM PST

I hope you are all enjoyed the long weekend and are having a great week back on the daily grind. Just in case you forgot, here's a quick reminder that the Color Flow Chunky Cowl Giveaway ends tonight, 11:59PM PST. There are many ways to enter, so go ahead and enter via the Rafflecopter widget in the Color Flow Chunky Cowl Giveaway post or the Rafflecopter giveaway below. There will be 3 winners, and each person will receive one of these cowls pictured below! So go ahead, leave me a comment on how you'll style the Color Flow Chunky Cowl, or what other colors you'd like to see them in. All the best and have fun!!

A NiseyKnits giveaway

Studio Re-organization, and giveaway update

Hi everyone, While this giveaway is ongoing, I took the opportunity to do some reorganization of our study/my "studio". Ok, I'll be honest. I planned and started this reorganization in May, but I was not able to work on it as much as I needed to, until the past week. It's been in flux for a long time, but I got the energy and motivation to work on it last week.

I have mostly the "before" and "in progress" photos. I'll update this post with some "after photos" soon. In the meantime, the Color Flow Chunky Handknit Cowl Giveaway has been extended till 9/4/2013, so please enter, get your friends and family to enter, and share with your colleagues. LOL! You want them to look stylish AND stay warm during this winter, don't you.

I have to admit that I've had a knitting mental block the past few months because everything was everywhere in the study. It has really affected my designing mojo, and I just knew that I had to clear, clean and reorganize this creative space so the creative space in my brain would also get cleared.

Anyway, while you wait to see the "after photo" (I think you'll like it a lot!), don't forget to enter the Color Flow Chunky Cowl Giveaway. I'm loving the various styling and color suggestions, and I can't wait to read more of them!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

It is...hand knit cowl giveaway time!!

I've been playing around with ideas for new collections this fall, and I think I've found one that I like. I've been wanting to create a quick accessory where I get to use a lot of different colors in my work. I'm quite excited at how this initial sample turned out. This chunky cowl slips over your head very easily, and keeps you warm and cosy without requiring multiple wraps. The color flows and changes add a touch of fun and versatility to the cowl. I'll provide the option for users to pick what three colors they'll want in their cowl. If you have a few minutes, I would love your input on this new line.

GIVEAWAY

So what do you get for sharing your thoughts with me? Once you participate, you'll be entered into a giveaway to win one of 3 prizes!! Oh yeah!! To enter, follow the instructions below. You can enter as many times as you want from 8/22/2012 to 9/04/2013. The 3 winners will be chosen randomly and informed within 48hrs after the end of the giveaway.

PRIZES

• The first sample of this new collection (pictured above), which I'm tentatively calling the "Color Flow Cowl Collection". (If you have a better name, please feel free to suggest it in the comments below.
• One of my drop stitch cowls (they are very warm, ultra-stylish, and add very little bulk to your wardrobe). One winner will get the Aster-colored cowl and another winner will get the Thunder (Teal)-colored cowl.

Thank you so much, and I can't wait to read your comments and ideas. Enjoy the rest of your week!

To enter to win this great giveaway I’ve included a Rafflecopter form below.  Give it a couple of minutes to load up if you don’t see it right away.  You have a variety of options to enter…do one or all it’s up to you.  Any extra entries simply give you more chances of winning. Thank you so much and good luck!

NOTE: You have to choose your entry option (i.e. Comment, Facebook like etc) to get entered.

A NiseyKnits giveaway