Musical Monday: Petals of Spain

And back to our regularly scheduled program!  Knitting and Crochet Blog Week was a lot of fun to participate in and definitely gave me mojo to write more, which I do love it’s just the age-old problem of finding the time. This week I’m sharing a local band that I was able to go see on Saturday:

Lady Luck by Petals of Spain

Crafting Balance

Welcome to Day 7!  Today we’re talking about crafting balance.  Now, primarily I am a knitter.  I know a few things about crochet, I use it for embellishments, etc but really, I knit.

I balance this massive part of my life with other creative and productive outlets – I thoroughly enjoy cooking, music, reading and writing.  All of these other “crafts” have a lot of the same aspects to them as knitting – creative expression, productivity, post-apocalyptic skills, all that important stuff.

Improving Your Skillset

Welcome to Day 6!  This prompt is another tricky one – on the one hand, I feel fully capable of learning anything I fancy, I know the basics, I know the way to figure things out for myself.  What I’m trying to learn now, as a designer especially, is how to communicate that to my readers/customers/fellow knitters.

the process

I like to teach, I think teaching is actually a really fun thing to do.  I really enjoy watching how other people learn and understand and deciphering the best way to communicate, teach and learn is highly interesting to me.

I’d say, as far as improving my skillset, I’d love to learn how to teach better and how to more effectively write my patterns within the next year – next Knitting and Crochet Blog Week we’ll see how well I did!

How To Make a Knitter

Recipe for a Knitter

If you feel this awesome enough to nominate for the Creative Post Vote, please feel free to but be sure to check out all the other creative posts from today to make sure it’s your fave

Crafter for All Seasons

Welcome to Day 4!  Today’s theme is a Crafter for All Seasons.

I, like most knitters, prefer to knit for colder weather months.  I love having a handmade layer to throw on over my tees and a hat to plop on my head that I know no one else has.  I find that during the spring and summer months I am still knitting for winter but I use these months to knit pieces that might take a longer period of time to complete (sweaters, blankets, lace, etc) and during the actual cold months I like to whip out quick warm pieces to be worn more immediately.

My Knitting Heroes

Welcome to Day 3 of the 2012 Knitting and Crochet Blog Week!  Today’s theme is surrounded around our craft heroes.  I’ve got a few, obviously my momma is one of my heroes, without her I would never be where I am today.  She taught my the basics of knitting and without her I’d be a muggle.

My other heroes include a few knitters who’s blogs I follow daily, Freshy and Andi.

Freshy is not only hysterical, she’s a trooper with her knitting who loves untangling yarn, will take the extra effort to frog knitting if its not working perfectly and always takes pretty pictures to share her way.  I’m hoping to meet her this fall at Rhinebeck *winkwinknudgenudge Freshy*

Andi is a budding knitwear designer who makes the cutest, most functional sweaters and also takes pictures of her process (and her pup).

I recommend you check out both of their blogs, tell them SillyLittleLady sent you!

Photography Challenge

pretty rainbow yarn

a mountain of yellows

pretty blues...hey, what is that thing in the background? she's been stalking us!

see, there she is again!

she's been sequestering all of my baby yarn balls in her cave, so that's where they went!

Colour Lovers

Welcome to the first day of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week organized by the wonderful Eskimimi!  Today we’re talking about color.  Color is a tricky thing, I love color.  I’m drawn to it like a bell-bottom-wearing-moth to a disco flame. Things weren’t always this way, when I was but a wee larvae I enjoyed my monochromatic wardrobe, my blacks, greys and the occasional brown.  I thought I was colorful with my red polka dotted shoestrings but alas, now I know the truth.

not the prettiest picture, but some really pretty yarn!

My yarns are primarily organized by color and at first glance of the stash you’ll notice I have a fair amount of brown – most of which came from a massive thrift store score a few years back that I’m still working through.  If you look at my finished projects you’ll see that I knit with a lot of blues (Scholarly Cardigan?  Deep Waters and Starlit Skies Shrug?)

all different shades of the blue rainbow

When working out new designs, color does come into play.  There’s a lot of psychology behind color.  One of the things that I strive for with my designs is wearability and that definitely takes a part in choosing my colors – do I want design elements to be the star?  or the color?  which color would get more use in my closet?

What are your favorite colors to knit with?

Breaking News

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Saturday (cough::which may usually be quiet around these parts::cough) to bring you this piece of staggering excitement:

I made the list!

Do you see that?!  This is such an achievement for me and I am so incredibly excited that my pattern was so well received!

Pattern Release: Sunny Grey Skies

I told you I had a surprise for you today!  I’m releasing my Sunny Grey Skies Shawlette Pattern on Ravelry, Craftsy and Etsy – so pick your favorite venue and scope it out

a perfect light layer

Details:

A perfect layer for when the sun and the clouds are battling it out and you want something soft around your neck and shoulders, this shawl is sure to become a fast favorite.  The lace border is knit first then stitches are picked up and worked inward to the center.  Momentum is gained rather than lost as the number of stitches per row decreases the farther in you get.

Easily sized up or down depending in gauge

Finished Measurements: 49 inches (124.5 cm) across x 18 inches (46 cm) deep after blocking

 Materials

36” US 6 (4.00mm) Circular needles (or size to obtain gauge)

500 yards of sock or fingering weight yarn in Color B

300 yards of sock or fingering weight yarn in Color A

4 Stitch markers

Gauge: 6 sts x 7.5 rows = 1 inch in stockinette stitch