All Be To Galore

Heleana Cowl

2011-02-19T11:41:00.000-08:00

A very easy project for beginning knitters.

Materials: 4.5mm needles, ~150-170 yds worsted weight yarn (Patons Classic Wool used for this project)

CO 90 stitches.

Block 1 -
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: Knit

Repeat this block 3 times.

Block 2 -
Row 1: K3, K2tog, yo twice, K to end of row.
Row 2: Purl until reaching the yo. Purl only one of the yo's and pull the 2nd yo off the needle. Purl to end of row.
Row 3: Knit

Return to Block1 and repeat it 7 times.

Knit Block 2 once.

Repeat Block 1 another 7 times.

Knit Bloc 2 once.

Knit Block 1 three times.

BO all stitches.

Sew 3 buttons onto cowl in line with the 3 button holes.

*I suggest blocking your cowl for a more polished look.

Best of Ravelry: Scarves

2011-01-10T16:48:00.000-08:00

Since it's so cold out lately I've been consumed by searching up scarf/cowl patterns. Here are some favs. Click on the imgs to be linked to the pattern on Ravelry.

More great mittens!

2011-01-10T16:32:00.000-08:00

'Til the season! I keep finding more & more great mitten patterns. In addition to my first mittens post, here are some more. Click on the img to get the Ravelry link.

2010-09-01T05:42:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post this link to Tea Rose, a wonderful crafty blog. I'm procrastinating.... don't want to study for tomorrow's English exam!

What's in my queue

2010-08-26T05:23:00.000-07:00

There are so many beautiful knitting patterns on Ravelry that I can't wait to get to. Here's what I have in store:

Sprout Blanket - for our newest niece or nephew!

Fern Lace Scarf - I've got the yarn on order from KnitPicks for this; it will be for my mom for Xmas.

Farmer's Market Cardigan - If I could just get through my Xmas gifts I could start making sweaters for myself!

Faverolle - so in love with this pattern!

Claire Bennet - so cute!

Argyle Golf Club Cover

Ishbel - have the wool all ready!

Astralorp - another cute sweater from Berocco

Owls - This has been in my queue way too long! I really need to make it.

2010-08-19T09:24:00.001-07:00

Thank you so much, Mad About Pink, so the wonderful shoutout!

She made a post all about my blog! So nice.

Go check me out on Mad About Pink!!!

Ravelry's Best Mittens

2010-08-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd start posting once in a while lists of my fav patterns for different sections. Since I've been thinking about Xmas gifts like crazy lately I figured I'd post about mittens this week. They make great gifts! Here are some interesting designs. Click the photos to be directed to their patterns on Ravelry.

Some very cool peacock mitts:

Flamingoes!

Alice in Wonderland. So cute!

Beautiful blossoms:

These are too cool:

Not only are these ones beautiful but they knit up with a liner attached for extra warmth:

End of May Mittens - these are on my to-make list:

These gorgeous mittens also have a liner:

Owls! Apparently all the rage lately:

And finally, East Coast Mittens. These are near and dear to my heart since I'm an East Coaster :)

Great tutorials

2010-08-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

This post is inspired by my Tutorial Swap on Swapbot.com. I've gotten so many great craft project links that I had to share. I can't wait till I'm done this semester (only 2 papers and 2 exams left!!) so I can get to making some of these.

Possibly the cutest little pouches ever! From betz white.

I'm thinking these rope coasters from Martha Stewart would be great in a wedding gift I'm preparing (a kitchen themed basket).

Nice gift boxes, especially appropriate for weddings. Found at the Frog Prince Paperie.

I love these headbands from Smile and Wave!

Got to do this before summer ends!! An awesome moss terrarium from By Mary Jane.

Cute bottle cap thumbtacks from Martha Stewart. This would be easy with all the beer drank in my house.

Dry erase boards doubled as wall art!! Seems to me I have a few extra picture frames lying around. From paper n stitch.

I wish I could sew!! This cute bag from Martha Stewart is made from a pillow case.

Yet another reason why Martha Stewart is my idol. I think these Memory Jars are so cute.

Tea pouch from Christy's Creations! Could be a nice gift for a tea drinker.

I'm so jealous of you seamsters right now. This is the most gorgeous altered tshirt ever from Tea Rose Home. Love it.

Another reason to be jealous of ppl w/ sewing skills :) These pants, made from tshirts, from Henthorne Handmade are too cool.

I'm always looking for new, easy wall art ideas. Love this one from Tatertots & Jello.

That's it for now but please feel free to post your fav tutorial links under "Comments"! I'd love to find new ones.

Holy Guacamole!

2010-08-08T15:41:00.000-07:00

So last night was my first time making guac and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! I've never really been a huge fan until my coworker whipped some up and I gobbled most of it down. I couldn't stop myself, it was that good. So here's my sort-of recipe.

Ingredients:

- 2 ripe avocados
- about 1/4 salsa
- about 4-5 tbsp sour cream
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp red pepper flakes (I used roasted garlic and red pepper flakes)
- 1 tbsp Parmesan cheese
- about 2 tbsp lime juice

Peel and cut up the avocados.

Then throw everything else in. You can play around with the amounts. Basically, I added things here and there according to the taste. I really don't think you can go wrong with any amount of these ingredients combined... I just wouldn't put too much sour cream or too much lime juice in.

Blend it all up. I used a wand blender - worked like a charm! And then enjoy. I like mine w/ Tostitos.

Crazy for Mad About Pink

2010-08-07T15:02:00.000-07:00

I've become a little obsessed with this blog in the past couple of days.

Check it out!!!

Here are some of my fav posts from her Mad about Pink... it's going to be hard to narrow it down:

Her most recent post is called12 Easy Decor Tips. She's got tons of tips throughout the whole blog but I really like these ideas, such as the book stack end table.

Jess also has lots of freebies to download. Here's one of them that I think is great:

This girl can really cook too! Can you believe these? Check out the recipe here.

Regatta Day

2010-08-04T11:12:00.001-07:00

Today was the Regatta here in St John's. Nice to have a holiday. Steve got a ton of work done in the backyard and I wrote a whole paper so I'm happy!

Some rowers

I like making lists... it's a nice way of organizing myself. It actually helps me destress sometimes since I can see what it is I need to be doing and tick things off the list. So here we have it. A few lists that I've got on my mind and need to put down on paper.

things to be done around the house
Renos never seen to end around this 78-yr-old house

- stain the planter box and plant the hedges in it
- finish painting around the new window in the office
- put up walls, insulation and gyprock in the basement to start the storage & bathroom
- gut the bathroom & start over!!
- pick out tile for the fireplace
- new flooring in the porch
- repaint the porch
- repaint the stairs white

fun things I can do when I finish writing these next 3 papers
- read Poland by James Michener
- send Tasha & Christy mail
- read Water for Elephants
- scrapbook our trip to Bermuda
- scrapbook my trip to Poland
- make some cards
- knit up some socks (Xmas gifts)
- watch Valentines Day & Dear John

Roadie 'round da bay

2010-08-01T14:53:00.001-07:00

While I'm sitting here for Steve to finish cooking up our Sunday cooked dinner I thought I'd write a little note about our little road trip earlier on in the week. On Wed, we decided to take a spin to Whiteway, just past Dildo, to have a few swings @ Pitcher's Pond golf course. We had never been there and I'd never been past Dildo so we though why not. We hoped we'd come along some nice scenery and we did indeed!

I wish I had gotten a better pic of this. These are called "Shag Rock" and are actually pretty big. I was surprised when this was the 1st sight we saw when entering the tiny town.

Then, to my excitement, we came across this gem! I couldn't believe a little town would have a wool shop. Haha. I said "Wool and fabrics?!?! STOP THE CAR!" and Steve, knowing my obsession, actually did haha. What a great guy.

Being a little hungover and a lot tired, we were both pretty relieved when we didn't actually get a tee time. This is a view from the golf course. I wish I had better pics that actually did this town justice!

Cute wedding things

2010-07-30T17:06:00.000-07:00

Two of my best friends are getting married in the next year so I've always got my eyes peeled on the blogs & Martha Stewart's website for good ideas. Here are a few cute ones I've liked so far.

Fabric fortune cookie favours found here on Intimate Wedding's blog.

Super cute place markers, especially the shells for a PEI wedding. Found on Martha's site here.

I like these photo centerpieces alongside the flowers.

These hairpins are a must for bridesmaids! Found on a great Etsy shop here.

I'm hoping one of my friends will choose this as our bridesmaid dresses... I love it! From JC Penney.

Mmm flowers! I love cabbage roses especially. There were all found on MarthaStewart.com.

Mmmmm coookkiesssss

2010-07-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

Just made the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. I've used this recipe 3 or 4 times now so I can vouch that it works each time haha. I can't believe I'm saying this but I think the recipe actually calls for too many chocolate chips (GASP!). It's kind of hard to get the dough to stick together b/c there are so many chips (and the dough is pretty dry to begin with). Either way, though, they're delicious.

Here's the recipe from AllRecipes.com.

Xmas is coming up!

2010-07-22T19:15:00.000-07:00

So it's time to get knitting!
Here's my to-knit list:

2 pairs of thick wool socks for Steve's parents
a "dickie" for Shannon (for ski-dooing)
a baby blanket for the newest development in the Gosse family
maybe knit a hat for Steve
make as many French Press slippers as possible for friends and sisters in law
maybe a scarf for Mom

I also need to make some "handmade with love" tags with the new stamps I've got coming in.

Is this not the cutest baby blanket ever? It's the Sprout Blanket on Ravelry.

Decently productive day

2010-07-22T17:30:00.000-07:00

As I was writing out the events of my day for a SwapBot swap called "A Day in the Life..." I realized how busy I was today. Before I went to work @ the flower shop I went out to paint the oil tank the Republic colours and had begun to clean up the house. Then after work I zipped 'er over to the Habitat site to check on things. Then I went to the gym and had a great workout. When I got home I started making supper:

I threw some chicken in the oven with some poultry spice, then boiled my noodles, shredded some marble cheese and cut up some broccoli. I thew this all together in a covered baking dish, mixed in some store bought pesto and voila! Steve loved it.

So after doing a little more screwing around, cleaning up the house and whatnot, I am back behind the computer procrastinating. I did just get a bunch of work done on a paper though.

Cabled Bookmark Pattern

2010-07-19T11:29:00.001-07:00

Materials:
set of 2.25mm needles
cable needle
fingering weight yarn - I used Knit Picks Pallet
darning needle

CO 20 st
Knit 3 rows

For cable pattern:
Rows 1, 3 - K5, P2, K6, P2, K5
Rows 2, 4 - K2, P3, K2, P6, K2, P3, K2
Row 5 - K5, P2, place 3 st on cable needle, K next 3 st, K the st on the cable needle, P2, K5
Rows 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 (same as 2 & 4) - K2, P3, K2, P6, K2, P3, K2
Rows 7, 9, 11, 13 (same as 1 & 3) - K5, P2, K6, P2, K5
Row 15 (same as 5) - K5, P2, place 3 st on cable needle, K next 3 st, K the st on the cable needle, P2, K5
*repeat until desired length*

Finish with 3 rows knit
Bind off, weave in ends.
Block.

Knitty Stamps

2010-07-15T18:11:00.000-07:00

So I just looked through the new Stampin' Up catalog and was surprised, excited but a little upset to find these stamps... I wasn't supposed to buy any this month!! AGH! This made it really hard to stick to my $20/month craft budget!

How cute are these? I can't wait to attach these to my handmade Xmas gifts.

Warm & Toasty iPod Cozy pattern

2010-07-06T10:22:00.001-07:00

Materials needed:
A small amount of worsted weight yarn, I used Patons Classic Merino
4 dpns size 3.25mm, Size US 3
1 cable needle or extra dpn
darning needle

CO 40
Divide stitches so that 20 are on needle #1, 10 on #2 and 10 on #3
Join in round

To be knit in the round

Cozy opening: K2p2 ribbing for half an inch

Then move on to the body of the cozy.

Needle 1:
Rows 1-5: K4, P3, K6, P3, K4
Row 6: K4, p3, slip 3 st onto cable needle, K3, K the 3 stitches on cable needle, P3, K4

Needles 2 & 3: Knit for each row

Repeat until piece reaches 5 inches long, or desired length.

Graft stitches together
Tie in loose ends

Voila! The end.

So many things to do...

2010-07-06T08:54:00.000-07:00

Since writing an entire paper yesterday I'm feeling pretty good... and am now having a hard time concentrating on my next 10 papers that need to be written this summer. So maybe if I get all this stuff out of my head and onto here I can get back to concentrating on Canada's involvement in WWII...

There are so many things I want to do. Steve and I went for a walk downtown last night and caught the tail-end of a parking lot movie theatre showing (so cool) and I swear every 10 ft I was saying "oh, we should go have supper there!" or "ah! I wanna go in that shop!". I haven't been roaming downtown in ages... I guess that's what having no $ does to ya.

So here's my list of things I want to do in the near future, including all of those awesome things to do downtown, in no particular order.

eat @ Press & Bean
go back to the spa for a couples massage (for our 2nd anniv in Oct, maybe)
make a moss terrarium
post a pattern for my cabled iPod cozy
make more French Press Slippers
finish knitting that sweater!
unravel my shrug and redo the arms
till up the flower beds
build a deck and planter box asap!
go to The Sprout for lunch
send Christy a letter
take Steve for bagels and hummus @ Hava Java
go shopping @ Living Planet

Okay... that's enough... back to work...

My first French Press Slippers

2010-07-05T16:44:00.001-07:00

Well, this was quite the experience. I've been intimidated by this pattern for quite a while but am generally happy with the outcome.

This is how huge the slippers were before I felted them.

So, felting... that's another story. What a time that was. It took FOREVER! About 2 hours in my front-load high efficiency washer whereas my friend said it only took 5 mins in her washer! Crazy. It took a lot of water b/c every time I took them out to check the water would drain from the machine, unfortunately.

Now here are the slippers when they're still wet, not too bad eh? Now I just have to sew on the straps and find some cool buttons.

Xmas gift #1 = just about complete!