new hat and cowl - the patterns

Two friends commented on the hat and cowl that I made for myself over Christmas (as seen in this photo) so I thought I'd share the patterns so others can join in the knitting fun!

The Hat:

Pattern: Selbu Modern.  (This is the link for the FREE pattern!)

Needles: 16" circular and dpn's in size 2.75mm

Yarn: Knit Picks Pallet in Cream and Pimento (one skein of each)

Total cost to make: $3.98!!

The Cowl:

The Pattern:  Inspired by the Improv Cowl from French Press Knits 

(although I modified the number of stitches and the width/amount of yarn)

The Yarn: Ella Rae Latte in Cream, 4 Skeins

Needles: Circular, US size 13

Instructions:

With the yarn doubled, cast on an odd number of stitches.  

(Somewhere between 91 and 101 stitches, depending on the length you want.) 

Note: this allows the cowl to be wrapped around your neck twice.

Join to work in the round.

(k1, p1) repeat.

Simple as that.  

Since you cast on an odd number of stitches, it automatically creates the seed stitch pattern.  Just knit in circles until you run out of yarn.  My cowl is about 8" wide but since the yarn is so soft, I'd prefer if it was even wider.  If you use a bulkier yarn you may like it a little narrower.

I also made this cowl in blue with a different kind of yarn:

Yarn: Cascade 128 Superwash, 2 skeins

Number of Stitches: 93

This one knit up much bulkier, although narrower.  The end result: comfy and warm and both are my go-to cowl's this season.

And... I can't resist posting this photo again (since I am wearing my blue cowl).  These needles and yarn at  Loopy Yarns made me SO happy!  I was also nice and toasty on a very cold and windy day in Chicago.

the house as it is today....covered in snow

We went for a walk to our new house today while it was snowing and saw (for the first time) the SOLD sign!  Grant's expression says it all.

Our house!  (and all the snow we're going to have to start shoveling soon)

Also note: the hat and cowl I made for myself over Christmas.

Back at Fischer.  Part of the walk was so I could test my new (waterproof) boots!

(almost) Homeowners

Yep, you read that right.  Grant and I will officially own this house in just a couple of weeks!

Us owning a house might come as a surprise to many since we live in a residence hall and have been dreaming about moving west or (in my case) back to Canada for a long time.  But, my time in the residence hall will come to an end this spring and Grant has taken a job as a youth minister that he loves and wants to stay in and I still have some work to do before I finish my Clinical Psychology degree.  SO, it looks like we might stay in Wheaton a while and this house is making an already good decision (to stay) that much sweeter.

More details and photos to follow... especially once we have the key!

Making millions...

I am realizing that many of my posts the last few weeks have been all about knitting.  Grant keeps telling me how amazed he is that my obsession has lasted this long.  What he doesn't realize is that I have had this "obsession" for a very long time I had just put it on hold while we were dating.  Maybe it was because while we were dating I always wanted to hold his hand and knitting is a two-handed activity. Wait, that makes it sound like I don't want to hold his hand now that we're married...  anyway...

One of the things I did over break was make a bunch of "test knits."  I think I'm going to open up a little shop on etsy and start selling some of my hand knit items.  I figure it is a way to hold myself accountable to "do something creative everyday" as Paper Source encourages us to do.  It is also a way to help fund my knitting habit, if you will.  Starting this little endeavor has also made me start designing some of my own patterns since many patterns request that you don't sell items knit from them.

As far as the store goes, I've figured out all kinds of things from the packaging to the colour of ribbon I want to get but I have one small problem...  I cannot for the life of me figure out a good name.  This is where you (my few and dear readers) come in.  Do you have any suggestions for a name?  I want it to be something fun but maybe not too punny.  I have actually grown to love puns over the last few years even though I am the last one to catch on to the joke, but I find that in knitting people are all about the puns and I want to have something more original and maybe a little more me.  This is testing my creativity, that's for sure.

Along with selling hand knits, I think I want to sell a few other things that I have made.  You see, I also have a hard time picking my medium.  Do I want to design wedding invitations?  Do I want to make cute (yet somewhat kitschy) knitting stitch markers that make you happy when you're knitting with them? Do I want to knit?  Do I want to paint?  I suppose it is a great problem to have.


In other news.  My mom has been here visiting over the past week and we had a great time.  It was a fun and relaxing visit and even though she was on her holiday, Grant and I managed to benefit from her cooking skills a time or two.  I have to say, having a very skilled chef in our little kitchen made me love the wedding gifts that were generously given to us all over again!

I instantly fell in love with these knitting needles as soon as I saw them at Loopy Yarns in Chicago.  They were a little expensive, but oh did they make me happy!

Christmas break is over already?

I can't believe how quickly this break flew by.  It was relaxing, relaxing and relaxing... just what I needed!  It was also filled with an abundance of knitting!  All of the students are back and today is the first day of classes.  Hopefully it is my last first day of classes as a student.  

My computer died just after Christmas and I unfortunately lost all of my photos.  Here are a few highlights of the break taken once the new hard drive was installed (thanks to the nice apple store people who fixed my computer even though my warranty had run out just two days prior).

We had a wonderful WHITE Christmas here in Wheaton.  It was so calm and pretty outside and very, very snowy.

I got this wonderful thing from my dad and I have been winding up a storm ever since.  Who knew that this would be so much fun?

Grant gave me a gift certificate for yarn and the packaging was perfect.  This was one of his rock climbing ropes all wound up and tied with a bow.

I made myself a new pair of Christmas slippers.

... and wound the leftover yarn for a future project.

Grant and I went hiking in the snow at Starved Rock State Park.  It was chilly but beautiful outside. 

And finally, this is Elijah.  I did not come up with the name, rather that is the name of the pattern I had to knit him.  This was a fun thing to knit once I finished all those Christmas presents I had been working on.  He is so cute!!

We have more fun things to share from the last three weeks, but I'll have to make you wait in anticipation for that.  

Happy first day of classes!