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!

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!

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

It's been a long time...and some WIPs

I've missed my blog, and you my lovely friends! How is everyone doing? I hope it's warming up wherever you are, and you can see a glimpse of summer. Woohoo! My family traveled for the whole month of May, and I had intermittent access to the internet, which is why you haven't seen much of me. As I mentioned in my last post, I hope to make it up to you soon. Now that the weather is warmer, I'm sure you are wondering how knits can still be relevant. I used to think that way, until I realized that it's a good time to knit lacy items (like some of the works in progress I'm going to show you). It's also a wonderful time to plan for the second half of the year.  The Christmas holiday season is my busiest time, as people are looking for gifts for their loved ones. Plus, it's getting cold!! Brrr!!!

Anyway, during our travels I didn't get to knit as much as I thought, but I still got a few items finished. I worked on a few Berry Lacey scarves, finished a wrap using a modification of Christine Vogel's Drop Stitch Scarf pattern, and also finished two of the buttoned infinity scarves. Here they are.

I would love to hear what  you think of these scarves. What other colors would you like to see them in? Please leave a comment below and let's have a chat. I hope you enjoy the rest of your week!

What am I up to? - February WIP roundup

It's the first week of February, so I thought it would be a great time to take stock and share with you the projects I currently have on my needles.

First up is a remix of the Scrunchable Scarf pattern which I LOVE! I've knit 13 scarves with this pattern. :) These 2 are the newest ones I've been working on. In December I got an order for an infinity scarf with buttons. The person (lovely Karin B.) had seen a similar scarf here (http://psheart.blogspot.com/2012/09/diy-buttoned-up-infinity-scarf.html) and wanted me to make one. I did, and got another order for that same scarf.

Someone else saw Karin's scarf and now I have to more orders for them. So cool right? So here they are, one in oatmeal heather and the other in hot pink (squeee!! so pretty). I'm using a chunky weight yarn (Oatmeal is Universal Yarns Classic Chunky and pink is Lion Brand Wool-Ease Chunky) on US #11(8mm) needles. To make this regular scarf into an infinity scarf, you just need to add a few buttonholes and sew on some buttons. I'll make another post later about how to make the modifications so you have your own DIY handknit infinity scarf.

And how cute are these buttons? I can't wait to finish the scarves and add the buttons.

Some of you may already know that I'm a wee bit addicted to Korean dramas. Well, since it's also winter over there, the dramas I've been watching recently are chock full of awesomely colorful, huge scarves that make me giddily happy each time I see them. I've been wanting to launch a kdrama-inspired accessories line for so long that I finally took the plunge and swatched for one of the scarves. Here's a sneak peek of that scarf.

I absolutely love how the different shades of red play on each other and add a hint of depth to the scarf. I can't wait to be done and outdoor this scarf. :)

If you are a crafter, what are you currently working on? Feel free to share your works in progress and project ideas, and pictures (I love pictures!). And whether you are a crafter or not, I would love to hear your thoughts/ideas on other colors/color combinations I can work these two different scarf patterns in.

Have a wonderful week and see you next week! 

One Day Flash Sale Happening Now!! - 40% off all items in the NiseyKnits Shop

I don't usually do this, but I thought this sale was too good not to share. All day today, all items in my NiseyKnits Etsy shop, as well as in over 55 other Etsy shops, is on sale for 40%  OFF using the coupon code XOXOSFETSY. Search for XOXOSFETSY and you will find all the shops that are participating in this sale.

I have quite a few of my chunky procragratification infinity scarves on there, as well as other chunky and lacy scarves on sale. You can also see all the other shops participating in this flash sale here: http://sfetsy.blogspot.com/2013/02/sfetsy-crush-40-off-one-day-only.html

The sale lasts all day today (Monday Feb 4th) till 11:59pm PST. You can visit my Etsy shop here. Hope you have a wonderful day!

Off to a running start!

2012 is gone and we are already 9 days into 2012. I have a sinking feeling that this year is going to just run past me and come December I'll be left standing, wondering where all the time has gone. :( I come bearing good news though! I have 3 designs in a new pattern book published by F+W Media. The book is titled "Quick & Simple Knit Hats & Scarves: 14 Designs from Up-and-Coming Designers!", is pretty self-explanatory. (And I'm getting quite a kick out of being called an up-and-coming designer. I hope I get to "be" a designer. )

Here is a cover of the book (I love the cute hat with the pompoms):

And the back cover, which has one of my scarves.

My patterns in this book are the Nautical Scarf (a whopping 9ft long! Huzzah!),

the Nautical Cowl,

and the Twisted ZigZag Scarf.

The lovely team at F+W Media gave me 2 copies of this book, so guess what? It's giveaway time!! What a fun way to start the year off, right? (by helping you break all your knitting/yarn-related resolutions. Muahahahahhaha!). I'm joking...sort of. :P

Please leave a comment about this post here on my blog, on my Facebook page or send me a tweet(@NiseyKnits) with the hashtag #Quick&SimpleGiveaway for your chance to win the second copy of this book. Fun comments will be highly valued. :)

Have a great week everyone, and Happy New Year!

New Pattern: The Lacy Cables Scarf and Hat set

Just in time for Christmas, I have a new pattern out! The "Lacy Cables Scarf and Hat" set was published by Tangled online magazine just last week. I'm so excited for it! It is a simple scarf with left and right leaning cables, with a bit of lace added for a light touch.

The hat was my first attempt at designing a hat. I really labored over it, even making two different samples of the hat to make sure that it looked good and made sense to whoever bought the pattern.

The scarf and hat samples were knit in Berroco Vintage Chunky, and I have to say that I  love this yarn! I've worked with the worsted weight Vintage, but this was my first time knitting in the Chunky weight. In fact, I just ordered the yarn in the Mistletoe colorway, which is this vibrant rich green color (almost like emeralds). I'm going to knit a set for myself! Yay!

Here are the specs for the pattern. Head over to the Tangled Website and snag a copy of the pattern for your own Christmas knitting deliciousness! Happy Knitting!

Materials: Yarn:

Berroco Vintage Chunky (50% acrylic, 40% wool, 10% nylon; 130 yd [120 m]/100 g [3.5 oz]): #61104,

Scarf, 3 skeins

Hat, 1 skein

Needles:

Size 8 (5 mm) 32” circular needle

Size 10 (6 mm) 32” circular needle

Size 10 (6 mm) straight needles

Notions:

7 Markers (m) (optional)

Cable needle

Tapestry needle