Where has the time gone?

Well it is now 2013 and I have neglected my blog.  I have been knitting and creating a lot of beautiful things.  I plan on posting them as soon as possible.  I have also decided to make some business cards (custom made of course) which I can hand out to people or provide with a knitted item in case they wish to request further things.  Since 2011 I have actually sold one item and it was awesome!  The only thing I need to decide on is what my pricing for things will be.  I always find this challenging as you cannot charge an hourly rate.  The reason why we knit is because of sheer enjoyment, so how do you put a price on the finished project?  Hopefully with some suggestions from my family and friends I will find my answer.

Purse

So I had made this purse a while ago and have been working on the strap for even longer.  I find my attention span for knitting the not as fun parts so draining.  I have completed it finally, but I have to re-sew on the strap and move it down more on the purse to try and give it more structure/strength.  I love the buttons!  I will post a final project picture when I get around to it with the strap for all to see.

Birthday Gift

I made my friend this super cute headband with a cute accent bow, and this really fun bracelet.  The head band is the same pattern as I have posted about previously, however I followed the pattern this time and used the Rib pattern as opposed to the seed stitch pattern.   The bracelet I found in one of my many knitting books which has some really great accessories and this one I loved in particular because it said to use buttons to add some decoration.  I love buttons!  I think my friend really liked them and I hope they make her smile when she wears them!

Slouchy Hat: Take 2

Alright, so with my first slouchy hat being way too large I decided to try again and this time make it a bit smaller.  I reduced the length as well as my needle size and got this; my most favourite hat ever!

DREAM TRIP

OK, for all of us passionate knitters who appreciate the art I found what is probably seen as the dream vacation.  It involves touring Ireland's finest small towns and communities learning about all the wonders of how yarn comes to be, as well as sight seeing and knitting workshops.  I would love to join this wonderful journey however sometimes vacations have to be placed on hold because of bad timing.  I hope some day I will be able to make it there some day and meet some great knitters along the way.  If you are interested in going please check out this WOOL-TYME link and get the full 10 day details and all its perks.  All in all, the price isn't all that bad, but right now for me it unfortunately is.  However I do love where I am in my life and am enjoying every moment of it!

Washing Instructions

So while reading my weekly newsletter from Lion Brand Yarn called "The Weekly Stitch", which contains some handy tips, new patterns, and some other treasures.  This week was particularly a life savor when I discovered they included a link to there website which contains the washing instruction symbols on yarn.  These could also apply to clothing but either way a great thing to have when you are trying to decipher what a circle with a line means! Click HERE to check it out!

For anyone who loves knitting this is a great newsletter to sign up for.  I have found some really beautiful patterns and some very helpful tips!  It is very easy to join and the cost is free all you need is an email address, which makes it even more amazing!  If you would like to sign up follow this LINK.

YARN!

So from other blogs I have read and even in the books I have purchased they always talk about "the stash".  What are they referring to you ask... Well that would be YARN!  Thats right, our driving desire to go into every LYS we see and physically not being able to leave without some kind of yarn.  I have 2 shelves, a basket and a note tote tub full of yarn!  It all started when I went to this store in Ottawa called Knit Knackers (on bank st).  Well they have 3 or 4 huge bins of end of the run yarn.  This means 50% discount or more on perfectly amazing yarn that simply is the last few in its colour, or dye lot.  $80 later and multiple bag fulls of yarn I was in euphoria! The rush and excitement of all the projects I could create, was making my head spin. 

Many months later my boyfriend was flipping through the paper and saw this huge warehouse sale at a LYS called Wool-Tyme in Ottawa, and showed it to me.  Big mistake!  There was so much beautiful yarn and at amazing prices.  Like 4 balls for $7!  This is unbelievable!  So me being the eager knitter I am, and knowing I want to make sweaters and blankets, decided to buy lots and lots of yarn.  For all the knitters who have not looked into sweater making normally you need about 10 x 150g balls of yarn to make one sweater.  So the next thing I knew, we were carting 4 bag fulls of yarn to the bus stop.  Again the rush and excitement was like a kid in a candy store. FANTASTIC!  I have toned down my purchasing and now do not to into LYS unless I have a specific project and my boyfriend comes with me to help monitor my spending's.  This is for the good of everybody because the next thing I realized I have a huge collection of yarn and not enough time to make all the projects I had dreamed of.  Here is a preview of some of my collection.... still missing is my note tote tub.

Yes this basket is full!

This is 1 of 2 shelves.