Versaci Knits

Recently I told you all about a new friend for whom I have done some knitting. She has published her first E book, The Twin Rib Collection, and one of the sweaters I worked on is in the book. And....Ta Da...... she thanked me in her acknowledgements.  What an honor and recognition.

I have been basking in the glory.

I knit the sleeves and the back for this sweater. Knitting for Lori has improved my knitting. I had started a sweater before I knit for her and now I'm finishing it much faster than when I started.

Be sure to check out her great patterns on Ravelry at Versaci Knits.

My ADVENTure

I finally have some things to add to my ADVENTure basket. The first presents of 2011 !!! I bet you all recognize these from this blog. I used Debbie Bliss Fez which is beautiful yarn but a little too expensive. Currently I have no one specific for this gift. I may make more for a group of friends.

This is my husbands Christmas present. I have been working on this for ages but it is finally ready. He loves wearing his needlepoint belts and this will be great for the spring festivities. There is a tie from Vineyard Vines that will go really nicely with this belt. If he's good he may get that too. I have to say it feels good to have a few presents in the basket.

I hope you are all having a great weekend.

Happy 4th of July.

P.S. I tried to link up to Kristyn Knits but my skills failed me. Pretend I'm linked over there and thanks to Krystyn for inspiring us! 

It's All Come Together

I've been trying to think of something to tell you about for the last few days. I think I've had a touch of spring fever. Today while I was walking the dogs I realized my crafting has been like the leaves. Last week the leaves were very new. Today they are filling in very nicely.

 I actually have done a few things in the last few weeks.

I finished the next quilt square. This one was easier than the last few.

 I finished this baby present. Luckily I made a 6-12 months size because it's 3 months late.

 I finished sewing this afghan together and crocheted a border on it.

I've been enjoying the windows being open and the cool nights and warm days. We've been planting lots of flowers.

All in all I think spring fever suits me just fine.

 

Ordinary Days

The ordinary days just keep rolling along. I knit these socks for a lady I've never met. I hope she likes them!

This is the finished blue blanket. The baby has been born, baby,mother and grandmother are happy. I tried crocheting a border but this blanket screamed to me that it needed a garter stitch border. So I picked up and knit top and bottom and then knit long strips for the sides. Not the most ideal way to do things but it worked. I'm hoping that the grandmother will like it.

When I drop off jobs I always wonder how they will be received so far I think everyone has been happy.

I keep thinking about what a nice garden will be here in a few more months. I see peas climbing on the fence and bunches of fresh lettuce growing on the nice dark rich soil. I might be over in one of the chairs having a glass of coffee or wine.

It will be spring.

Ordinary Days

I recently read a favorite blog of mine talking about the post Christmas days as "ordinary times ". That is certainly the life I'm living. Nothing remarkable to blog about. Just nice cozy days at home working on All Stitched Up projects and playing with the dogs.

This is the cutest hat. It was a Tilli Thomas pattern and yarn but the little top bow was just made with i-cord loops. I think it could be added to any hat for a bit of fun.

The view from my kitchen window of all the lovely snow we've been having.

Another All Stitched Up project. Its not as hard as it looks and it's fun to sit down at night and knit for awhile.

A long red vest that I've been knitting for a long time finally went off to it's owner. She was thrilled and it fit perfect. What could be better - I had fun knitting and she was happy.

So my days have been ordinary and that's been just perfect.

Way Too Busy

I have had my fingers on all of these. I knit the hats and cowl and sewed together the sweaters.

I loved making this cowl and highly recommend the pattern. It's the Aibhlinn from www.Knitty.com. I used the SWTC Llama Luxury. I knit this every time I needed a little relaxing.

My best friend and I have a ladies luncheon every year for our friends. I made the invitations this year with my new computer skills. They still look a bit homemade but the cost savings was worth it.

I love my new dining room light and the bathroom repainting is almost done. Even though I did little work on it the mess is totally distracting. I will admit I was a little crazy to tackle this now. I'm hoping with all this behind me that this week will be a bit more relaxing.

Everything is Almost Finished

I've been trying to think of a topic for my blog. Nothing is finished right now to show off. It's too hot to show the dogs romping outside. So here's the truth of the matter - I have lots of things to do and put together. Over the next week or two there will be projects to talk about; a cute baby sweater, the 60th birthday belt, and some 4th of July cards. I like knowing that I have projects to keep my fingers and mind busy.

One More Button

I have a customer who commissions me to make baby and childrens sweaters for her. These are 1-2yr old sweaters. I bought a pack of 5 buttons and made 6 button holes so I'm off today for one more button. Some days I feel like "there's always something". I'm happy they are done and I'll mail them off Monday morning.

From Mess to Success

I have a customer who wants a logo knit into her cabled sock. So I thought and thought and realized you can't do intarsia in the round without a lot of ends. So I called the customer and we discussed a few options and it was clear she was not giving up. We decided I'd try to knit the logo part flat then return to the round and sew up a seam in that area. I was afraid it would be a mess but...

What a success ! Maybe not to more experienced knitter but my first intarsia knitting was horrible. Years later and with some prodding it is just fine. I have a new skill !!! Maybe this fall's project will have a little color work. Needless to say the second sock is going much easier. I'm going to start looking at some of those patterns I've been passing up for years. Could be fun !

Finished

This turned out very cute. The recipient was thrilled. She's a first time Grandma and can't wait to deliver it. All the ladies at the Thursday night group made the squares and I crocheted them together and crocheted the border. It was fun to do. I think group projects like this have a lot of love in them.

New Grandma Blanket

One of the women in our Thursday night group has just had her first grandchild. We got on the bus a little late so the blanket isn't ready but we are having a great time. Everyone is making 8 squares and everyone is trying to out do each other. I'll show you how great it is when it's done.

Busy

I haven't done anything for myself recently so I'm showing you some of the things I've been sewing up for other people. I knit the edging on the pink shawl. Very easy to do but looks complicated. The edge would look great on a baby blanket. The booties are from one of the "Sublime" baby books. I think they are adorable.

"All Stitched Up"

I have a small business finishing peoples knits. I think finishing means sewing seams and blocking possibly knitting a collar or button bands. I had a slight misunderstanding with this customer, she thought I meant finish knitting the remainder of the sweater. So... having said yes to the job I gave it a whirl. I am proud to say it took less than two days to knit. Friday night and Sunday. That is very fast marathon knitting for me. All it needs is a little pressing some buttons and it's good to go!

The Big Puzzle

Sometimes I get projects from people that just seem impossible. That's why I get them. This is an afghan made up of puzzle pieces. The photo of the original afghan is very perfect. I imagine almost impossible to recreate unless you are a precision knitter. So after much ado I have it all together but it does have a fair amount of lumps and bumps. It was a fun idea but...I'm not recommending anyone try.

The Big Black Hat

A very big black hat !! With all the cold weather and my new short haircut I thought it would be fun to have a hat. It's warmer now and the hat just looks gigantic. I'm embarrassed that it fits my head. I love the yarn - Blue Sky Bulky and the pattern was from a book " Hip Hats to Knit".

Store Sample Scarf

It's hard to find things to post about. Especially this time of year when some things are secrets.

I made this scarf a couple weekends ago for a store sample. It's three different kinds of yarn and it's knit lenghtwise. We used larger (size 10) needles to make it soft. We cast on 220 stitches. I was going to knit it at the store but I got so involved in what should go next and how many rows that I took it home. It's a great scarf if you have lots of leftover yarn. Somehow it always blends together.

Leslie's Mitts

I've made lots of fingerless gloves this year. I was using a Mac & Me pattern that I like but then Leslie came up with a great pattern. This is so easy and relaxing. So here goes a few more. I'm proud of myself that it is October and I'm almost done with Christmas presents instead of just starting. If anyone reading this is just starting this is the way to go!

Karma Returned

As a new blogger I was getting a little nervous that I would not have enough projects to write about. But then Sunday morning I got my Karma back. As a side job I finish knitted projects for people. For instance sew the pieces of a sweater together. It's fun I like things nice and neat. This particular customer likes to crochet strips of Tunisian crochet and then I put them together into an afghan. Layout I think makes the project and I didn't want this to be striped so after a little rearranging I came up with this plan. I think my customer will like this. Next step is to crochet all the pieces together and then make a border around the outside. I took a break for lunch and when I came back I undid the wrong thing so I spent the evening redoing one of the strips. Oh well !! I'll show you the finished product in a couple weeks.

Knitting Tip

I did not imagine I would be doing this on my blog but last night at our kntting group we heard of a new web site that I want to share with friends. It's fun, good patterns and good links. Enjoy Knotions ! I'm sure I'll be checking in often.

More Christmas Presents

I'm pretty proud of these. Just before Christmas I saw this pattern on "The Purl Bee" for the 70's Ski Hat. I thought it would be a good idea for Christmas 2008 presents. At Christmas Eve dinner one of the recipients of socks said all he needed now was a ski hat. I laughed and that was all the confirmation I needed. So by the end of January I was knitting ski hats. The neat thing about these is that the inside is a cashmere band around the ears. Hopefully all the skiers will appreciate that. I have five done and one more is on the needles. I like still having the project because it's easy and relaxing knitting but I need to finish soon so that I won't be doing it on Christmas Eve again!