Cozy Things

I just stumbled upon this blog and I'm in love!  I love this blanket so so so much :).  (Just a very quick post!) Happy blog reading!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This cute Matryoshka doll was part of my Valentine's Day gift to my mom :). She absolutely went crazy for her!! Maybe I need to make the rest of her "sisters" :-D! Happy Valentine's Day!!

Fish....to sushi....to fish....to sushi....to...

Fish to sushi! Does this mean it is vegan? (it is acrylic yarn...) :)

You can find the pattern here.

Super Bowl Sunday!

First, woohoo GIANTS!!!! Way to play that game!

During the game I knit a scarf :), yep, an entire scarf!  Maybe it's good luck if I knit during the game ;).  This scarf is for my friend Lindsey who is in Japan for a year.  I made it to go along with the "Really Warm Hat" that I posted about here.  She really likes green and hot pink, so in the scarf there is green and hot pink along with some yellow and a cream.  I think it coordinates nicely :).

I also finished the pink ruffles baby blanket for my friend.  I'm totally happy with how it turned out.  Gives me some ideas for blankets I want to make and sell in my Etsy store (once I have more free time...aka when I have my PhD ;)).

Lastly, I reknit the Make-a-Statement hat for my mom.  As I thought the first one was too small for her head. Soooooo, I made this one this week during my commute :).  She LOVES it!

That's all for now! I hope to finish some more stuff as this week goes on.  I also submitted another grant proposal for my dissertation and I'll hear back tomorrow about whether or not I got accepted to another conference!  Fingers crossed for the grant especially!!!

Make-a-statement hat

Well, I finished knitting this hat on the train this morning and I'm disappointed. It's too short (I think) and sort of snug. I think I might frog and knit it again. I need to see how it fits my mom. I've a large head, but I think my mom's is larger. We will see. 

Let's play catch up....

I just realized that I never posted about the results of my Christmas crafting....or other things that have gone on since Christmas.  Have I mentioned how busy 2012 has been?  It has been AWESOME too :)!


Soooo on to some of the finished gifts I never posted about.  First we have a remote caddy that my friend asked me to make him after seeing the one that I had made back in October (I'm not sure if I ever posted the finished picture...).  So, of course, it became part of his Christmas gift!

Then I also made him a pair of fingerless gloves.  These are knit in Knit Picks City Tweed DK in "Enchanted." The pattern is from Son of Stitch 'n Bitch and is called "Beer Gloves."  Honestly these pictures don't do the yarn justice.  The color is a soft teal and the yarn is SO SO SO soft! I'm happy I have maybe 2/3 of a ball left! :)  The gloves are nice because they have a cable that runs up the back of the hand and a seed stitch palm :).  This was my first time knitting fingers and I have to say...it isn't as hard as it seems.

I also finished knitting myself a yoga mat bag.  I've been practicing Bikram yoga for maybe a year and a half if not more, off and on, but during the past few months I've gotten really serious about it.  I wasn't the biggest fan of just carrying my rolled up mat, so I knitted this bag.  The pattern is from the Lily Sugar'n Cream website and is available for free :).  I crocheted the tie and the strap.  I do recommend making the strap MUCH shorter than you think you want it to be.  I knew it would stretch, but I didn't realize how much ;).

Now on to the presents that aren't quite done yet....which I feel really badly about.  The elves got a little behind this year...and somethings just haven't been finished yet.  Like my best friend Matt's gift....that's still being worked on.  I'll say it's about 75-80% done.  I won't post a picture of it, because he only wants to see it as a finished product :).

I also didn't finish my mom's blanket....which I started in 2010 as a Christmas 2010 gift!  The pattern isn't hard...I think it is just because it is BIG and I can't take it on the train with me during my commute.  Honestly, that's one of the only times I allow myself to knit and crochet.  I have to spend the rest of my time being a good PhD student!  I think I have maybe a third left to crochet for it.  You can see it on my bed in the picture below.  It's reached my stuffed animals!!

Speaking of stuffed animals...I just got this sheep the other day :).  I'm such a sucker for a soft squishy animal, especially a sheep!  I named her Helenka after my Aunt Helen who taught me to crochet when I was 5 or 6 :).

My friend Lindsey is in Japan for a year.  Maybe a month and a half ago she tweeted about how cold she has been and I told her I'd make her a hat and scarf if she wanted.  I unfortunately got SO busy with school and Christmas that I just finally made the hat.  She loves the color green, so I decided to knit her a green hat ;) (pure genius, I swear!)  The pattern is the Really Warm Hat and it came out cute.  I cant' decide if the pom pom is too large or not.  I look awful in hats....so that's why I'm hiding behind my camera haha.

I'm also working on a baby blanket that one of my friends asked me to make over the summer.  I unfortunately can't commit to any more commission projects right now, but it will be nice to finish this one.  It is basically just a pink blanket and then it gets a layer of ruffles on it.  It's cute and simple.  Also, it gave me an idea for something I can sell in my Etsy store once I get some free time to make inventory!  The pattern is from Lion Brand, but really I am just loosely following it.

If you care for the details, I chained 100 and crocheted 95 rows of half-double crochet.  Then the ruffles will go on next.

My mom also asked me to knit her the "Make-a-Statement Hat" from Lion Brand.  It's with wool-ease thick and quick and should be a fast knit.  Something to do on the train....

Finally, I realized that I never talked about what I did on NYE!  I went out with some friends and had a FABULOUS time!  Here is me in my dress :) and heels!  I usually never wear heels because I'm tall as it is and I never really thought I should wear them.  They made me about 6'3" and I think I was the tallest person where we were.  Amazing!

Annnnnnd finally, I've been really working hard on getting a draft of my dissertation proposal done.  Yesterday I finally achieved this goal.  It needs a lot of work, I'm sure, but at least I have a draft of each section!  Here I am working on it ;).

And that's all the news that's fit to print...as my mom would say :).  I hope you have a nice Sunday!  Giants play today ;) GO G-MEN!!

Craft Goals--2012

Here we are, about 2/3 the way through January 2012, and I've yet to post a blog entry about my goals for this year.  I've done a lot of thinking about what I want to accomplish this year.  The biggest thing for me is school.  I want and need to have my dissertation proposal finished and defended within the next few months.  I also need to have a few papers written and successful conference publications.  Therefore, I must really make one of my craft goals to craft less and make use of my knitting and crochet skills purely for relaxation purposes.

So, given that, here is my list of 2012 craft goals.

1. Do not commit to projects that will be very time intensive.
2. Use up yarn from my stash whenever possible.
3. Pick small projects that travel well. (Crocheting and knitting on my daily commute is still ok).
4. Knit fair isle--probably in the form of a coffee cup cozy.
5. Try to finish up WIPs this year.

And finally....do not let anything get in the way of your dissertation progress.  You'll have plenty of time after to sit and relax with some yarn.


This year will be a year of very few projects for others.  I'll just have to deal with this :).

Christmas 2011

Yesterday was Christmas.  As you all know I've been knitting, crocheting, and other sorts of hand crafting most of the gifts that I was giving for Christmas.  I was so excited to give my mom the vest that I had knit for her!  Our family has a nice dinner and celebration for Christmas Eve, then I sleep at my mom's house in my childhood room, and then Christmas morning my mom and I open our gifts to each other and the ones that Santa brought.

So without further ado, here is my Christmas 2011 recap (and yes, my mom might not be so happy with the "Christmas Morning" pictures of her I'm posting...)

Here we have my mom's Christmas tree and the presents on Christmas morning! Yep, it's just my mom and I.....we really love each other :) (not that material items = love...just saying).

My stocking was packed from Santa!  He even wrapped these gifts in a very special way....

A lovely mirror picture of me before present time :).  I figure that if I put a picture of my mom up, I might as well include myself in my pjs :).  I love them! All of my favorite colors!!!  (Note the Christmas tree in the background....).

I just love pictures of presents up close....I love to wrap!  I wonder if you can tell which ones my mom wrapped and which ones I did.... here's a hint, I get more creative with my bows than my mom does :). I also like owls....and sparkly things :).

 

And here is my favorite picture of the day!  This is the moment when my mom opened the vest :).  As you can see, she is sooooooo excited.  (Mom, if you ever read this, I'm sorry that I posted a picture of you on the internet on Christmas morning...I love you!!)

After my mom opened my vest, I got to open my stocking.  As you can see, Santa decided to wrap my stocking stuffers with a new material this year...aluminum foil, the heavy duty kind.  While very ingenious....aluminum foil DOES NOT make for good wrapping material.  The large gash on my index finger is proof ;).

After all of the unwrapping was over, we were left with a GIANT pile of papers and other packaging materials.  (Of course we recycled what we could!)

Nothing could make Christmas better than my mom's excitement to wear her new vest!  I was thrilled when she said that she wanted to wear it for Christmas!! She even asked me to make her another one this summer in a different color!  My mom's so cute :).  She made me so happy!

After visiting family after Christmas breakfast and gift opening, my mom and I headed back to my apartment to make our traditional Christmas Day dinner.  We've been having this for years and years....I can remember how much my Baba (grandma) loved it!  What was it, you ask?  Well, we had cornish hens baked over seasoned (cream of chicken soup and italian seasoning) rice, with green beans, carrots, cranberry sauce, and an amazing jello mold that my mom made!

2011 was really a nice Christmas!  I'm super thankful for my amazing family, a mother that loves me more than I can ever understand, and great friends!  OH...and the Knit Picks harmony wood interchangeable knitting needle set that I got from Santa!

Christmas gifts part 1

Tomorrow is Christmas eve.  This year I set out to make most of my holiday gifts, unfortunately I've not been able to complete all of them yet....but I will get them done!  I'm setting a second goal of January 7th, which is technically the Christmas that I celebrate.

Anywho, since I've given out a few of my gifts, I no longer have to worry about posting about them and ruining the surprise! (And I'll freely post about my mom's gifts because she does not use the internet!)

First, I knit my friend Stephanie a "Honey Cowl" in Madelinetosk DK in "Fragrant."  It is a mixture of different pinks (her favorite color) and really came out nice!  I made the one skein version and you can wrap it around your neck twice--when you do this it is snug on your neck (which honestly I found to be very nice). [Steph really liked the cowl!]

For my bosses at my internship, knit them each a coffee cup/mug cozy and crocheted a coaster.  Each got really excited when I gave them their presents--that's always nice to experience :).

Finally, one of my mom's gifts is a set of two towels for the kitchen.  In 2009 I started making her two kitchen towels....she got them in 2010 as well and now again in 2011.  I learned a new technique of embroidering a chain stitch along the edge of the towel and then crocheting on to that.  It really saved time when making these.  (Yes, I made these today....Christmas eve eve!).

My mom is also getting the knit vest I made, which I posted about here.  I'll get some pictures of her in it once I give it to her.  I really hope she likes it....

We Love Lucy Christmas Swap 2011

This year I participated in my first "We Love Lucy" swap...which was also my first swap ever :).  This swap was part of the "We Love Lucy" group on Ravelry...we all **really** love Lucy and her Attic24 blog.  The theme of the swap was "Christmas!"--what Christmas means to you, what it's like in your area, etc.  It's an international group so you could swap with someone internationally if you chose to go that route.  My wonderful swap partner, Shanti, lives in Indiana and is originally from Mexico :).

For my package, which I posted all wrapped, I tried to get things that represented Christmas by me and also spoil my partner.  Cause really, what's better than being spoiled during the holidays? (Note that these photos are borrowed from my swap partner, I really hope she doesn't mind :)).  The package had to include yarn and something hand-made.

The item that I made were dragonflies and butterflies.  My partner makes wire jewelry and really likes butterflies and dragonflies, so I figured she could maybe use these as part of a larger project.

Here is the entire unwrapped swap package: a jewelry holder, some Christmas balls, a book I love and kind of figured she wanted, a Christmas tree ice cube tray, some socks, the hand-made goodies, a whole bunch of yarn, hot cocoa, gummy bears, beads, pom-poms....annnnnnd a letter with some recipes in it that my mom and I make for the holidays :).

Now, on to the package I got!

Every object was wrapped up in colorful tissue paper!! HOW CUTE!

And here we have all of the goodies!  Yarn, a hand-made cowl, crochet hooks, patterns, little Christmas trees, things for decorating cookies, a coaster, pens, hand-made earrings, and a lovely hand made note!  I was so spoiled!

Here is some new yarn that I've never tried or even heard of! I'm so excited! The colors are so so so vibrant!

These lovely Christmas trees found their way onto the bulletin board in my office :).

She also made me these AWESOME wire earrings! She is just so talented :).

Thank you Shanti!! I love everything!!!!