Knitting

Jun

07

Help me pick!

Knitting / Quilting & Sewing  Posted by / 12 comments

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Eek! eek! EEEEEEEK!!! Just when you thought it was all Halloween all the time around here…NOPE! IT’S PINK AGAIN!

I finally finished binding my Bear Paw BFF quilt this week! I’m crazy obsessed with it. I need to take some proper photos of it, I found a random building in Gridley that has a PINK WALL. Unfortunately it’s along the highway. And next to a Burger King drive thru. So I need to gather my courage to set up a photo shoot in such a public place. Although, there is a local photographer who I’ve noticed bringing a large ornate velvet couch to set up along side an abandoned tin building in town for photos, so maybe I wouldn’t stick out so much!

This week a little order I placed in April from The Plucky Knitter arrived! I got two skeins of Plucky Feet: Berry Cordial and Brooch. And omg are they HARD to photograph. These photos are sort of close but not quite. Why is bright pink so hard to capture?

Here is Berry Cordial according to other ravelry photos! I’d describe this color as a true hot fuchsia. Very similar to Madelinetosh Pop Rocks but more amped up and with less tonal variation.

I couldn’t find any ravelry photos of Brooch but my photo is pretty close. It’s like a dusty mauve.

Both are beautiful but I need to pick one so I can finish my Life on Sunday’s shawl! My main color is called Grady’s Grouse which is a gray/oatmeal-y color that is cozy. I love Plucky’s neutrals, they are always so unique.

I think the contrast between BC & GG is so unique and pretty! GG & B is more subtle and sweet. SO TORN!!!

So! Which do you like better? Berry Cordial or Brooch?

:):)

ps: thanks Chop for making my two photos squished into one. <3

Jun

03

Spoiler Alert!!! Through The Loops Mystery Shawl: Clue One!

Gardening / Kitchen Adventures / Knitting  Posted by / 5 comments

 

Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert!!!! Scroll no further if you don’t want to be spoiled!!!!

EEK!

A fall shawl!!!!

I think I told you guys a few weeks ago about how I really wanted some new shawls since I gave almost all of mine away last winter? Well I joined Through the Loops Mystery Shawl on ravelry!

Last summer my instagram pals Kayanna, Dianne, Michelle, Colleen & I did a mystery shawl together with some mixed results. I think we all finished but I’m not sure if anyone truly loved theirs? I didn’t love mine. Actually, scratch that out. I loved mine BUT it was incredibly small and not even remotely practical. I only recently (like last week) brought it to my local yarn store to see if I could do anything with it,. I don’t think it was the designers fault, I think I probably didn’t realize how the measurements worked out. I’m not very good at those sort of things.

So this summer! Mystery Shawl! Let’s do this!!!! I was feeling a little nervous. But I wanted to try it. I’ll be 100% honest with you guys, I joined because I loved the icon. Isn’t that terrible? Judging a book by it’s cover…joining a knit-a-long because of it’s icon! ;) I mentioned that I loved it on Ravelry and the designer said she loved Edward Gorey. SOLD! COUNT ME IN! I’M SIGNING UP!

The intro pdf made me pretty confident I made the right choice, Kristen has you pick three colors and wrap them around a toilet paper roll to see how you’ll like them together. Totally clever.

I’m using the following yarns on size 6 needles:

  • Plucky Feet in Sticky Toffee. This yarn started life as a pair of socks but I didn’t love how they fit so I frogged them. I might go as far as saying that if there was ever a color I felt was dyed for me, it would be sticky toffee. It truly glows.
  • Plucky Feet in Lonesome Highway
  • Sundara Petite Sock in Rhythm of the Saints. Ok, I *love* this yarn. It’s stunning. Photos will never do it justice. Imagine the prettiest burgundy your brain can think of, then add a tiny dash of pink. That’s this skein. The base of this yarn is different than the Plucky, it has more twist and I like the texture that it’s giving the lace.

The colors are Halloween/Autumn inspired. It’s my favorite time of year. I can’t get enough of it. I think it’s going to match my Halloween donut quilt. (side note: did you guys know there is a line of fabric called Nevermore? I want it ALL! )

On a scale of 1-5 of trickiness, I’d give this a solid 4. I sat through 5.5 episodes of NCIS, plus two hours of complete quiet for the lace section. That being said, I am *not* a very confident or intuitive lace knitter. HOWEVER! The pattern is written super well. It has both chart and written directions, plus row counts. Incredibly helpful. I was off once and was able to rip back and fix my mistake so that was cool! By the last section of repeats I finally figured out what I was doing. It only took me a full day of knitting to figure it out. ;)

It’s going to be 106 degrees this weekend, that makes me wilt just thinking about it. The only good thing about summer heat?

Summer veggies!!! My garden is already giving us generous hand fulls of these little cute tomatoes. I can’t for the life of me remember the variety but they come in yellow, orange and red. I tossed them with some spinach, pesto, eggs and homemade garlic sausage for a fast & easy frittata. YUM!

 

<3<3<3

 

(the well loved medium multibowl & tart dish courtesy of Le Creuset :))

Jun

01

I love Saturday’s!

Knitting / Random Thoughts  Posted by / 19 comments

I  love Saturday mornings. Chop goes to work for a few hours at 6 am (did I tell you he got a new job? He’s an Ag Biologist for our county now). The light was just too pretty this morning not to share. Bright mornings = best mornings!

Of course I treated myself to an iced chai, normally chai to me is a fall drink but cinnamon & cardamom just sounds great today. I went through the drive thru at 6 in my pjs, quite possibly one of my favorite Saturday activities. Who needs to be cute when you can wear leggings and a giant Domo tshirt. ;) Not this girl! I spent the morning alternating between knitting and answering emails. When you email The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, more often than not you are getting a response from me. Generally the first of the month is a busy day, lots of people wanting to change email addresses for their subscription or first time cross stitchers having questions. I try to answer all our emails within 30 minutes or so, I want people to be able to cross stitch all day happily! <3

As a random side note: it’s getting hot here! Last night I decided to get some summer clothes. I’m looking for modest & cute summer dresses. I’m not a small girl but I’m not ashamed of my size, I simply don’t think all of my curves need to be on display.  I found a *cute* maxi dress at Old Navy, it was black, sleeveless but had nice and thick straps (raise your hand if you hate visible bra straps but when it’s 115 degrees you don’t want to wrestle a strapless bra!) it fit great…but IT WAS SHEER. Completely sheer. Like, the-world-would-know-my-undies-had-flowers-on-them sheer. Total bummer. I looked at 5-6 different places and ended up with just a striped jersey skirt. I bought The Staple Dress, I need to just sit down and sew a bunch. But I’d really like some jersey dresses! I’m on the hunt!

Also: I really want pink flip flops but the practical side of me is like, just get black. I’ve literally been mulling over this decision since April. I know, ridiculous.

Random post? CHECK! ;) Have a good weekend friends!

May

29

Thank You!

Knitting  Posted by / 6 comments

Thank you guys so much for all your kind and encouraging comments on my last post! It was so nice to hear all your suggestions. Also, I can’t believe people who knit sweaters are intimidated by socks, sweaters are huge! Literally! I just bought 3 additional skeins of yarn for this sweater. Socks are just one skein. Ha!

I ended up swatching all day yesterday in between emails and work, I was so excited to get up this morning and measure them! I did the whole wash and hang them, gold star right?!

I went with the Calligraphy cardigan. I love how squishy it’s knitting up. It’s totally going to be cozy central. I’m not quite sure if it’s possible but I might not knit as much ribbing on the top, I have broad shoulders & a large bust. I fear the excess fabric will make me look like a football player. ;) Plus, to be realistic, I’ll only be able to wear it maybe 3 months out of the year because it doesn’t get crazy cold here.

Doesn’t frogged yarn look like ramen noodles? I pulled apart one of the swatches and cast on, I’m sure there is a rule against that somewhere. My stitches are a little uneven because of it but I don’t think anyone is going to be inspecting my neck up close. I don’t know any vampires that I’m aware of.

I don’t really have a set time for finishing this, although I will say there is something incredible about using size 6 needles and DK weight yarn. I’m so used to size 1 needles and fingering weight yarn! I felt like I was FLYING this afternoon! The must stash girls are having a sweater KAL that ends on June 30th which would be so cool to be able enter but I think that’s totally not achievable. So I think maybe by my birthday??! (That’s 8/8!)  We’ll see. My goal is to blog about it once a week, just so that way I work on it and you guys can see it turn into something. And so I don’t wuss out partly through. I haven’t read any of the ravelry notes on the pattern, I’m afraid I’ll start to psych myself out or tell myself it’ll look like a bathrobe on me. True story!

In other exciting news, we’ve made 1/4 of our goal for Summer Sampler sales!!! If we make it to 100% of our goal in sales by week 5 (July 18th!), the subscribers ONLY will get a bonus pattern we designed. I really hope we get there! And then this Friday we are sending out June’s Woodland Sampler pattern. This month is something I’ve never seen in real life but I *really* want too. I don’t want to give away too much but you can buy fake ones in mason jars that are pretty dang cute.

Speaking of giveaways, do you know my friend Lindsay? She is so cute and has such a pretty blog, she also long arm quilts for me! Well, she’s doing a giveaway right now that you totally want to enter, Dani generously gave her two bags that are seriously amazing. The glasses on the zippers! eep!!! I want the box bag so bad!

Anyways, thank you again for all your encouragement, I really appreciate it a ton! <3

ps: I totally just pulled my old Pfaff out of it’s case- cross your fingers I can sneak in a little sewing time this week! I’m dying to work on that Halloween Donut Quilt!

May

27

I bought sweater yarn.

Knitting  Posted by / 20 comments

Happy Memorial Day!

We visited Yosemite!

What an incredibly stunning place. It was my first time visiting and I have so many mixed feelings. I personally find my spirituality outdoors, Yosemite is truly awe inspiring. But so many of the things I saw broke my heart & we cut our trip short. If we go again, it’ll be in the fall or winter for sure!

Yesterday we hopped back into the car and ran down to Roseville to run some errands. I look forward to visits to that area because I can stop at Babetta’s! I finished the first part of Life on Sunday’s, I still have no idea what color to do my stripes! My yarn is Plucky Feet in Grady’s Grouse, I am so smitten with this color. It’s like an oatmeal-y gray. Her colors are so inspired. I saw this skein of tosh sock in pop rocks and I had to buy it. I’ve used pop rocks before and it’s one of my FAVORITES. The only thing is…as much as I *love* pink, I don’t really wear it. I do love how they look together sooo much though! Also, how pretty is this one?

Hey! Socks! Oh this yarn, how I love thee! It’s Lynai sparkle sock in Goblin. I am soooooo obsessed with this. Halloween! Sparkle! YES! I started a pair of Bavarian Cable Socks, I did one full chart repeat but I was struggling with the all the purling, I feel like I can never get it to look nice & neat. So I pulled them out but now I have 66 stitches and it feels a little tricky finding a pair of socks that works with 66 stitches, so I think I’ll pull back to either 64 or 62. Plus 66 feels a teeny bit big on size 2 needles. I got another skein of Lynai in a color called Frankenstein and I saw this shawl and totally fell in love. It has to happen!

And then I did something crazy.

I bought enough yarn (sort of) for a sweater. Tosh DK in glazed pecan. I really want a cardigan but the more I look at ravelry, the more I realize it’s a bit out of my reach. Seeing how many changes people make, how to edit patterns, gauge, math, omg. I love small projects and a cardigan isn’t. I was having MAJOR buyers remorse last night but Chop was like “it’s not like the yarn is going to expire, just hang onto it until you want to knit with it!” True, but I like to have a plan for everything and this was a lot of money for me! I’m a pretty monogamous knitter and I finish or frog everything I start, I sort of feel bad working on socks and a shawl at the same time, plus I want to do this knit-a-long in June. The thought of knitting a pair of socks, two shawls and a sweater at the same time feels…scary? overwhelming? overly indulgent?

Am I crazy for wanting to knit a cardigan for this fall? Plus knitting some socks and shawls?! Did you start any new projects this weekend?

May

22

Finished: Harvest Dew Socks

Knitting  Posted by / 9 comments

I have no idea what is going on with our weather but I am so not complaining. Tonight seriously felt like Fall. I was totally in heaven!

I finished my Harvest Dew Socks last night & I’m smitten.

I made them toe up and was helped by these notes. They came together really fast, the pattern was easy to memorize. It certainly helped that Chop & I did nothing but hang out all weekend watching movies. (Side note: I struggled with the Hunger Games series- I read the first two but couldn’t get into the third. Surprisingly I *loved* the movie!)

The yarn! Oh! The yarn! It really makes these socks. I used Miss Bab’s Northumbria BFL fingering and I think it’s one of my new favorites. I bought it originally thinking that it was the same base as Hedgehog Fibres sock yarn, wrong! I truly have no clue why I thought this! I loved how wool-y this yarn feels. My last pair of socks had cashmere and I think my hands got used to that. But please don’t read this as the yarn was scratchy because it’s not at all, it’s just unique feeling to me. I loved how the yarn has soft fuzzy halo to it, truly beautiful. I really enjoyed taking these photos as the sun was setting, the last photo shows the yarn in all it’s glory. My skein didn’t have a bunch of darks in it and I’m totally a-ok with that. At the same time I bought this skein I got deep sea jelly fish and I can’t wait to knit with it. I’d like to try the Tart base next! One more thing! Their customer service is *so* good. I had a silly question and emailed them late on a Thursday night, I had a reply Friday morning, I bought my yarn Friday at noon and by 2 pm it had shipped. <3!!!

Naturally I did what anyone does when they finish something…I started something new!

Ashleigh & I are gearing up to start pre-sale for Summer Sampler and this is a huge deal. Like crazy huge. We’ve been working like maniacs on it and I would go as far as saying that it is our best and most legit chart yet. I’m kind of freaking out about how neat it is. Our testers, our stitcher and our friends who’ve seen it think it’s the bees knees!

So today we met in Chico, I twisted her arm into going to the yarn store with me before we got to work and I got this cute little Della Q bag. It says “Knit With Love”, so sweet! The yarn I’m using is Plucky Feet in Grady’s Grouse. I have no clue what I’ll use for a second color yet. It was an impulse cast on, Ashleigh does a *ton* of computer work during our meetings and I sort of feel lame just sitting there, so I always bring a project that doesn’t require focus.

I’m waiting for some very special sock yarn to arrive this week, once it does I might tuck this away. I realized I have just ONE shawl left out of all the ones I made last fall, I gave them all away! Whenever a good friend compliments me on something I’ve been known to just give it to them. I guess I sort of feel like I can always knit it again? But I never do! Do you do this too?

So my goal this summer is to boost my shawl collection but also knit more socks. And to knit from my stash. Which is so funny to type after I just said I was waiting for new sock yarn to arrive, lol!

I hope you are having a nice week so far, today we finally got to try The Hunter & The Farmer food truck. I had a donut. A paleo donut. The first time in years I ate a donut and didn’t want to die afterwards. It was glorious. But I still haven’t determined  when I’m going to get my sewing machine tuned up!

:):)

May

15

Works in Progress: May Edition

Knitting / Quilting & Sewing / The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery  Posted by / 10 comments

I thought I’d share with you all my current WIPs (works in progress). Some of these are long term, some are instant gratification, some are work related and some are just silly.

I took my photos this morning before the sun was fully risen in our bedroom so they are a little dark but that’s ok right?! ;)

I’ll start with my most recent sewing:

Amanda from Westwood Acres very sweetly sent me some Briar Rose scraps! I knew instantly that I wanted to make the same pouch that Amy did. I made it my goal to use JUST scraps and NOT cut them. Oh and improv piece it. Those are all things I’m quite terrible at but I wanted to branch out. I’m not sure I *love* it but that’s ok! Unfortunately my sewing machine started to act funny during the quilting (ok-let’s be honest, it’s been cranky all winter). I did all the normal things: clean, oil, replace needles/bobbins/etc. Still no luck. By the time I attached the piping the machine wasn’t holding it’s tension at all anymore SO! To the dealer I will go and get a tune-up. And I think the timing is slightly off. No sewing for a little while!

Two weeks ago I got it into my head that I *needed* a new Halloween quilt. I decided to make a new Donut Quilt from my stash. I have the blocks partly done. It’ll be a fast finish once I get my machine fixed. I haven’t decided on a border fabric yet though. All I know is, that donut quilt gets SO much love around here, it’s the perfect size for me to drag everywhere. I think this might be the first time I’ve ever made a pattern twice?!

Oh these blocks! They kill me! (in a very good way of course!) They are from the Forest QAL and quite possibly my favorite things ever. However, I need at least a full day of complete quiet for each block. Not because they are hard, they are really straight forward but because I am *really* slow at paper piecing and these blocks have a ton of pieces in them. I have the feather and the woodpecker done, I’m using just scraps which is fun. It’s a little tricky to pick fabrics for them though. This is definitely my long term project- it’s special and I’m not into rushing it. I’d love to finish it by July and enter it into the fair but that’s probably wishful thinking. Also: They are crunchy & wrinkled looking because…I haven’t removed the paper yet! LOL! ;)

I’ve needed to apply the binding to this quilt since March. Eep! Lindsay did an amazing quilting job on it! But literally that’s the only corner bound. It doesn’t stop me from using it all the time though.

It’s not all sewing though…I cast on for a new pair of socks this week! I happily knit outside in Chico yesterday while Ashleigh worked on our shop! It got a facelift! And we re-released Fruit of the Month Club! Somehow in my excitement to be hanging out, I started doing the size large chart on my size medium sock! Doh! But I tried them on and somehow the pattern is still pretty centered. Maybe my feet are strange shaped? IDK! But I’m going to keep going. They also got the nickname “Cinnamon Toast Crunch Socks” from Chop?!

Speaking of work! Here is my Woodland Sampler! Even though we’ve had the full chart done & tested last year, I cross stitch along with everyone. It’s just more fun that way. Plus I can share sneak peeks leading up to the first of each month!

That’s everything! All my current WIPs! How about you? What are you working on?

May

13

FO: Zombie Girl Socks

Knitting  Posted by / 12 comments

Last week I found myself with a spare half hour while waiting for a file to download.

I did what any normal girl does…search for sock knitting blogs! ;) No but seriously, I don’t have a lot of spare internet time and I was curious if there are a lot of sock blogs out there!

A google search for “sock knitting blog” turned up My Sister’s Knitter which I happily spent my half hour reading more like 2 hours of reading but I don’t want to be a creepy girl. The prettiest photos and yarns! And then she mentions Must Stash Podcast  and bam! I was hooked!

I spent each morning watching an episode and knitting while having breakfast. I love it, it’s the cutest little pod cast, the girls are super sweet and…ok…this might be weird but I totally found myself cheering them on! Steph was making a sweater for her husband and I loved watching it grow each week, when it was done I was like YEAH GO STEPH. I know, that’s sort of strange.

But then I realized I love when I scroll through someones instagram and see the beginning, the middle and the end of the project. I want to hug that person. I think right now there is so much technology surrounding us with very little time to create something with our own two hands so each finished good should totally be celebrated. It also made me more excited to share WIPs, for some reason I always think I bore everyone with…”welp this is my 9 millionth in progress photo”. But now I don’t really care. Hahaha. I think once a week I’m going to check in and share some WIPs.

So! Hey! I finished a pair of socks! Yeah! I put all the details on ravelry, I’m the worst ravelry user ever. I started using it in 2007 but I really only started using it FOR REAL this past year. I actually have projects and part of my yarn stash on there now. Gold star!

Next socks!

I was thinking about knitting a color affection, then I saw Andi’s post about Cameo and I decided I want to knit that with my skein of Weenie! I did a little stash searching and found a skein of Plucky Hayride so I’m going to use those two together for a Halloween shawl. Soooo that meant my skein of Biker Chick was free to become socks! I think I want to make Harvest Dew because they are so pretty! The only thing is…it’s charted for cuff down! I emailed this gal to ask if I had her notes correct, she knit her pair toe up and they are BEAUTIFUL. 

Ok! That’s it! Tons of Pumpkin work to do. <3

May

07

VIDEO: Sock Knitting Needle Review!

Knitting  Posted by / 20 comments

Hi guys!

Soooo I’m pretty sure this is the most silly video ever but I really wanted to share with you a few of my sock knitting needles and my thoughts on them!

 

 

Here are some links to things I mention in the video:

I hope this helps and answers some questions :):)

May

06

Real Life Talk: What’s Your Style?

Knitting / Quilting & Sewing / Random Thoughts  Posted by / 16 comments

I’ve been thinking a lot about personal style lately.

Chop & I have a huge goal to be homeowners next year and we started a pinterest board of things that we both like. It’s been a lot of conversations such as:

“Can I put neon pom pom garland on your bear head?’

“Will you help me glue my mini figs onto magnets?”

“Wanna wrap some yarn around these antlers and spray paint them gold so we can put them on a coffee table we don’t own yet?”

“I saw this on pinterest- let’s build it” “Of course I know that aged wood that big is expensive”

“Our front door should be mustard colored!!!!”

“We need stars on our bedroom ceiling. No, not the glow in the dark sticker kind.”

“Let’s get a small marlin and hang it in the bathroom!”

“Basil Grimm Jennings is the best cat name ever right!? Can we afford adopt a grumpy little fatty within the first year? Wait…you want a dog? And ducks? Are we starting a farm?”

“I’m going to want to hang my pots & pans from the ceiling. Can you buy me a drill as a housewarming gift? Oh…I guess I’ll need a stud finder then. BUT I ALREADY MARRIED YOUUUU so clearly….!!!”

How do you blend your love of ridiculously cute and your husbands love of hunting? With patience of course. And good sense of humor. And trying to figure out what your TRUE style is. Like the stuff you actually LOVE LOVE. Not like, only kinda sorta like on Tuesdays but LOVELOVE.

My TRUE style is a whole lot of:

  • kawaii
  • cat tshirts
  • leggings
  • pink fabric (but I won’t ever wear pink. unless it’s blush.)
  • halloween! gimme the orange, the black and a million apple cider candles. and candy.
  • fruity scented body wash in the summer only
  • glitter EVERYWHERE.
  • cozy

Sooooo these are things I love…WHY DO I HAVE THINGS THAT ARE THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE IN MY LIFE?! For example, I only wear gray tshirts and cat tshirts…why does my wardrobe consist of a million dresses? Dumb! I purged my closet and donated a ton. Then I started thinking about:

CRAFT STYLE!

Do you have one? You know you do! I know you do. When I look at instagram or pinterest, I can immediately pick out the majority of my friends without looking because their style is SO THEM.

Here’s my craft style:

  • I DON’T KNOW!

No. But seriously. I like to knit socks and make little patchwork. I’ve been sorting through fabric and yarn and I realized my taste is alllll over the place!

But now I’m trying to figure out what I actually like making and what I actually just like looking at. Do you do that? Have things you like to look at but when you think about actually creating them you kind of gag a little bit because the process is so uninspiring to you?

I want my crafting time to be super joyful and I want my future home to be filled with creations that are totally rad and us. For example: this week I cut out a Halloween Donut Quilt. That’s both fun & glorious because it’s Halloween AND donuts.

So yarn photos…I decided I obviously NEED a giant color affection shawl. I’ve given away almost all the shawls I knit last year and I want something halloween-y autumn-y squishy! But I can’t decide on my third color. Last year my big birthday long term project was a pair of mittens that I only wear when I need to find something at the bottom of the freezer. SO! This year it has to be something I’ll actually use a ton. Oh AND my next pair of socks will be these pirate ones. Because I’ve had the pattern for a while and I found a good gray for them in my stash. And because they look tricky awesome!

How’s this for the most random blog post ever! What is your style? Does it transfer to your crafting? What color should I use to go with the orange and the gray?

 

ps: the winner of the embroidery book is Denica! Shoot me an email so I can forward your info to Lark Books! :):)