Our Day Off

Hi Knitters,

I didn't really have a day off but my daughter did so I kind of did, too. Remember Peachy? I don't write about her much on here because she doesn't want me to but today she said it was okay. She is 13 years-old and she is the only one of my kids with a day off from school today. All week she kept counting down to Friday plus she kept telling me she wanted to spend the whole day with me. I have so much work to do but how could anyone resist a girl like Peachy. It's impossible.

Right away in the morning Peachy asked if I would play Monopoly with her. Recently we got the new version of the game with a really cool calculator and credit cards. You can add and subtract and transfer money on this calculator. Peachy loves it and has to be in charge every time. This new version makes Monopoly so much more fun because it moves a lot faster without all of the paper money set up and counting as you go. I love the new electronic upgrade here. Genius.

A little later we went to the Scrapbook Superstore where she picked out stickers and paper and blank cards. She loves to make homemade cards with sweet little notes. I love her cards. She had never been to this store before and she was so fun to watch. She walked up and down every aisle looking carefully at all of the choices. She loved it. She is never greedy either. She only picks out a few things. I never have to tell her how much to pick out because it is never very much. She is content with so little.

Next we went to a swim shop so she could get a couple of new suits for swim team. Those suits start to disintegrate from all of the chlorine. She was in great need. She felt really good about that. Right near the swim shop is one of my favorite local restaurants, Villa Dolce. This means sweet house in Italian, we asked our waitress. This teeny tiny spot makes me so happy. We had lemonades, carrot bisque with a crunchy cheese bread on the side and yummy salads. Peachy loves a good salad ever since she was a little girl. As we were leaving we spotted a brand new bakery right next door, Bloom Bake Shop. We popped in to take a look.

Bloom Bake Shop, on Parmenter in Middleton, is really interesting and adorable. Take a look at their site to read about the pieces they gathered to put in their shop, all recycled, reused, locally made and it looks like it is straight out of a movie. Their boxes are biodegradable with ribbon made out of recycled plastic bottles. Their ingredients are seasonal and locally and organically grown. Little did we know that the bakery had opened its doors for the first time only a couple of hours before we walked through the door. It was packed full of customers but Peachy thought we were the only non-related customers, I agreed. She is funny how she notices things. The owner was the cutest thing. She was bubbling with excitement as she told us all about her shop. She was so proud. This is a little shop on a mission.

When Peachy and I got home we got the tea pot fired up and made some hot chocolate to go with our Bloom Bake Shop cupcakes. If you look at the menu on the site you'll see how cute the choices of cupcakes are. We each got the Be Silly cupcake which is banana chocolate chip with cream cheese frosting. Oh, was it delicious. Really. Can't stop thinking about it type of delicious. We picked up a Be Decadent chocolate cupcake with blue frosting for TC. We couldn't leave her out. That wouldn't be right.
Peachy also got a hair cut at Cost Cutters and then I gave her a blow dry and flat iron treatment at home. She loved it so much. We asked about the getting her hair styled at the shop but it would have added about $45 to the cost. That seemed a little steep for a 13-year-old.

We continued our Monopoly game along with The Collector because she came home from school by this time. Monopoly is a looooong game so we eventually called it quits. It was really fun. It was a busy and full day of activity. Peachy asked me what was my favorite part of our day off. Being with her. Easy.
My son is swimming in his last high school swim meet tomorrow. He is a senior so this is his last year. Last night he came home with a mohawk with a star cut out in the back all done by a team mate. Tonight he will come home completely bald. It is sad to think his swimming will be coming to an end but he is so happy that it makes it all feel okay.

There is a lot going on around here right now. I will probably end up working tonight and off and on all weekend to make up for my day off but it was worth it. I love my Peachy. She gets her braces off on Monday, too. Another count down has been going on for that event. This is big time stuff.

On another subject, Knit Circus Magazine just came out with their first online magazine. It looks fantastic! This is a Madison based magazine and I met the editor Jaala at the Madison Knitters Guild meeting. She is wonderful.

Click here to check out the new Knit Circus online magazine. The articles and recipes are free and the patterns are for purchase. It is a lot like Twist Collective. Knit Circus is well-done and the patterns are fantastic. I love the new online version just as much if not more than the paper version.

I've gotten a lot of questions about the pattern or how I made the kitchen towel bags. I honestly didn't use a pattern but to learn how to make a basic bag I love and recommend the book, Sew What Bags by Lexie Barnes. There is a basic tote kind of like the versions I made. I added a rounded gusset at the bottom so the bags would stand. The width of the bags I made was determined by the towel size. I like a longer and thinner handle so I made my extra long, about 28 inches or so and about 1/2 to 1-inch wide.

Have a good weekend everyone!

best, susie

Towels to Bags & a little door prize

Hi Knitters,

At Christmas time I stopped into Williams-Sonoma to pick up a few gifts. I saw and bought a couple sets of kitchen towels to have on hand if I needed an extra gift or two. I wasn't sure if I would end up gifting or keeping the towels. I ended up not needing the towels for gifts and then kind of forgot all about it. Recently, I ran across these towel sets and decided to whip them up into tote bags instead of using them in the kitchen.
The first bag is made from two kitchen towels, one for the outside and one for the lining. I used some green fabric from here for the pockets and straps. I also included a magnetic snap in the inside to keep the bag closed.
Every part of the bag has interfacing so it has a nice sturdy feel to it. I love the way the border of the towels worked out as an edging for the opening of the bag. Slick and easy!
For the second bag I used some linen-y towels adorned with chickens. I used a beautiful red fabric from here for the edging and the pockets.
For the straps and bag lining I used a natural cotton. I love the colors together. Boy, do I love to sew, especially when I don't have to use a pattern. I like the making things up part of that.

There's a quick show and tell for you today!

One more opportunity I don't want you to miss out on is that there is a new Ravelry group called, Friends of Spud & Chloë. If you join the group before Feb. 12th you are eligible to win a fabulous door prize from Spud & Chloë! You won't want to pass this up, the door prize is really good and plentiful. To join you just follow the link below and then click on the "join now" button toward the top of the screen. The winner will be selected and announced on Feb. 15th by the group moderator, Pixie Purls of Petite Purls.

Click here to visit the Friends of Spud & Chloë page!

You can check out the door prize here, too!

Good luck on winning the door prize if you decide to join our new group on Ravelry.

Have a good Thursday, Knitters!

best, susie

Skating Anyone?

Hi Knitters,

Gotta love that cooooold Wisconsin weather when that's where you live. The Collector got ice skates for Christmas this year. She is so excited about them. My husband decided to make our own backyard ice rink in honor of the new skates. He did a bunch of research on how to make your own ice rink. He went with three of the kids over to Home Depot and gathered all of the materials which included a huge tarp, wood for the edges and brackets to hold everything together. My son and a couple of his friends worked on it one afternoon and made good progress. My husband then finished it up.
We have a cement basketball court in our backyard so that's where it made the most sense to put the rink. They filled it up with water over a week ago, maybe even two but it just finally froze hard enough to get a good smooth sheet of ice. For the past few days The Collector has been skating and skating and skating. Our neighbors have been over skating and they even made up a skating routine for fun. It has been hours of outdoor fun.
This morning is the brightest, coldest day and TC has already been out for hours on her rink. This afternoon her cousins are coming over to spend some time skating. I think that calls for some homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate! I need to get busy with the baking.

The Collector is wearing one of my favorite knitted hats, The One for All Hat. This hat has a knit in lining that is so simple and extra warm. The hat has one of the cutest ever pom-pom sets on top, too. I love this hat and have never really gotten a good photograph of it. When I saw The Collector had it on today for skating I thought I would try to capture a better shot of it. The back shot above is pretty good. The One for All Hat is a great first cable project to boot!

You can purchase the pattern for the One for All Hat here in my pattern shop!

Here is the Ravelry page for the One for All Hat!
Outdoor winter fun is always good when you live in a cold climate like we do! Being outside, even when it's cold, just makes you feel better all around. I hope the backyard skating rink becomes an annual event. The cute dog next door, Maddie, enjoys the skaters, too. She stands there patiently watching as they go by. Occasionally the kids take a break and give her some love which is what she is waiting for.

My sister lives on a lake so she has a backyard skating rink all of the time. Do any of you have a backyard/homemade skating rink?

Hope you are getting outside a bit on these bitter cold winter days.

Talk to you soon.

best, susie

Brrrrr.

Hi Knitters,

I want to share one more of my new patterns that was recently released. It is the pattern for the Spud & Chloë pattern line called, Three Brrr Bears! Isn't that a cute name? I didn't come up with it but I am glad someone did. These are some fun polar bears to knit. I know this for sure since I knitted all three in the photo above.

Last summer I worked on the set of polar bears during the worst part of my home renovation. I remember it well. When I finished the largest bear I had it sitting in my studio. The main contractor came in my studio to discuss some house-related question and he asked, "Awww, are you making a bear?" I simply agreed. He had no idea what I was doing. I didn't even want to get into explaining it. I think he thought I sat around and knitted bears for fun all day.
Anyway, this pattern is so cool, literally. I had this idea to knit the same pattern with the three Spud & Chloë yarn lines, Outer in Soapstone (super bulky weight), Sweater in Ice Cream (worsted weight) and Fine in Popcorn (sock or fingering weight). Love those yarn color names. By simply changing the weight of the yarn and the needle size you get a different size bear in the end. I adjusted some of the lengths of limbs and the body for the different weights of yarn but that's it. The stitch counts and pattern is exactly the same for all three. It is so fun.
I started with the Outer bear. He is huge! This is the biggest bear or any sort of animal I have ever designed and knitted. It was a challenge to design a toy this size.
The Outer Brrr Bear sits on your lap like a big baby. The enormous paws and legs are knit in one piece. I am really pleased with the way they turned out.

There is a little polar bear tail and a big slouchy back to pat.

The Collector was taken. She had a hard time giving this one up.
Here he sits waiting to be stitched together. Here is the Brrr Bear whipped up in Sweater, the worsted weight yarn. This is still a good and hefty size toy that sits in and fills up your lap nicely.
Here is the littlest Brrr Bear worked up in the sock weight yarn, Fine. He is very sweet. I have never seen another toy pattern where you simply knit in different weights of yarn to get three different sizes. It is a trick I love to do with toy knitting. You could do this with Itty-Bitty Toys, too. The only catch is that you may have to do some length adjustment occasionally. Trust your eye if you do it.

Anyway, if you want to check out the Three Brrr Bears you can look to a bunch of places. Have fun!

Here is the Ravelry page!

Here is the Spud & Chloë website information page!

You can purchase the pattern here online among many other online shops and here on the phone (801 466 1811)and here on the phone (608 232 1500). Anywhere you purchase the pattern you can also purchase the yarn so be sure to ask or look!

Quick change of note, I have been receiving some of the nicest, sweetest emails and gifts in the mail from people lately. I always try my hardest to respond but I want to tell you here as well (Linda, Michelle, Kathy, Amy, Judy, Kay (2), Renee (2), Sooz, and Gabi to name a few) how much I appreciate your effort to contact me to say kind and encouraging things, to send fun photos of your knitting accomplishments and to send me links of fun stuff. I love all of it.

A person doesn't get wealthy in my line of work but I am certainly rich with dear people like you by my side.

Thank you.

best, susie

Hop

Hi Knitters,

Last May I designed and knitted a new bunny pattern for Blue Sky Alpacas. The pattern is now available and is called, Hop. Honestly, I had no idea what Hop would end up looking like when I started. I had a couple of ideas in mind when I began. One was that I wanted to knit the bunny in one piece with no seaming. The other idea was that the bunny should have a vintage feel. When I looked at some vintage toy images I gathered a couple of consistencies that ran throughout. Many of the fabric toys and dolls were long and many were flat. I liked this shape because a lot of the toys I design are round and chubby. This would be different and a fun challenge.

The image above is from the Blue Sky Alpacas photo shoot and it is the photo on the pattern. Isn't it beautiful? The photograph tells a story. The storybook quality is priceless. It's so moody. This photo tells more than a story, it could be the start of a novel.
The following photos tell the story of me in my living room with a finished bunny and a camera. It's not quite as intriguing. The bunny is knit in Blue Sky Hand Spun which is a huge treat. It is one of my favorites because of the homey hand spun feel. It is bumpy and sweet and organic and fantastically vintage-like in itself.

If you aren't sure how the construction works to knit a toy in one piece here it is kind of spelled out. You start knitting at the first toe and continue on to knit the leg. Set aside. Knit the second foot and leg. Join the legs together on the next round and begin to knit the body up to the underarms. Knit the arms separately starting at the hand. Join the arms to the body on the next round. Decrease for the shoulders and neck. Increase slightly for the head. Separate for each ear and knit to the top of the ear. You are done! There are only a couple of little gaps that will need closing up with a couple of quick stitches at the end.

What a fun little knit. You see the bunny come to life as you work.
I decided Hop could use a sporty sweater with a carrot applique and...
... a hole for the bunny tail to peek through. The sweater is knit in Blue Sky Skinny Dyed Cotton. It is knit in one piece as well, no seams.
I added some sweet whiskers to give Hop a distinguished look.
He looks sort of book smart to me and sort of soulful at the same time.
I love the over sized feet. Anyway, this pattern is an accomplishment for me. Creating Hop pushed my knitting in new ways. If you make Hop for yourself or a friend or loved one, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Here is the link for the Ravelry page for Hop.

You can find out all of the information for Hop here.

You can purchase the pattern here among many other online and local yarn shops.

You can purchase the yarn for Hop here and the yarn for the sweater here.

It's the perfect season for some serious bunny knitting with spring on the way soon. For some reason I love knitting bunnies. Here are some other bunny patterns I have made: Bunny, the free Rabbit pattern, the Oh, Bunny! washcloth, the easiest ever garter stitch square Bunny & Chick, the Organic Cotton Bunnies in One Skein Wonders, the Chubby Bunny, the Bunny Rattle, and the Bunny Tail Hat.

Phew! Maybe I should do a whole book of knitted bunnies. That would be fun.

Always remember that somebunny loves you, especially a knitted somebunny. (I'm such a nerd.)

best, susie

Hodge Podge

Hi Knitters,

I am lining up some yarn for a few projects today. Above is a fresh and spring-like pair of colors, Spud & Chloë Sweater in Pollen and Firefly, that will be whipped up into a new toy for an upcoming project for publication. I am nearing the deadline on this particular project so I really need to buckle down tight over the next few weeks. All other non-related projects have to take a backseat until I get things tied up and finished. Dig in and get things finished!!! That's my motto.
The Spud & Chloë Outer is going to be whipped up into a fun stocking hat that I have been planning for awhile. It will be an incredibly fast knit on size 15 needles. Bold, wide stripes will rule the roost! Look for this free pattern soon on Spud says! I will keep you posted.
The Collector is loving her new Slip Hat. It is a good hat to wear with curls I guess. It is soft and big enough not to crush your hairdo. I have no hairdo so crushing doesn't matter much.
Here is The Collector with her curls in the school spelling bee. We were proud. The boy in the green jacket seated behind her won.

Last week was incredibly busy and hectic. I felt like every day there was something or other going on. I am hoping for a quieter week ahead. How about you?
This is actually The Collector's new hat in the making. I tried it on because our heads are practically the exact same size with only 1/2 inch difference. She picked out the colors in Spud & Chloë Outer and she had some specific details she wanted. I later added earflaps, a fleece lining and some braided trim and ties. It is super, super cute. T.C. wore it the entire day yesterday and already has it on again this morning. It looks way different than in this photo and way cuter on T.C. I'll share more on this later with better photos of the finished project.

This is going to be another free pattern coming up on Spud says! I will keep you posted when I get it available. Again, it is so fast knit up on size 15 needles. We are talking about an hour or so for the hat.
Remember those marshmallow snowmen? This is the thank you note I got from T.C.'s class for sharing them with her class. Her teacher is adorable and creative. She has had all four of my kids and I am a lucky, lucky mom. The kids loved the snowman treat and I love that fact.

Okay, Barb Yerke may be the next cutest thing on my list. She fell in love with the movie Julie & Julia. She was inspired by Julie Powell's adoration for Julia Child and her cooking and blogging her way through Julia's cookbook. Barb is taking her own twist of an adventure and knitting her way through the Itty-Bitty books. Isn't that cute and wonderful? Please hop over and give Barb some love. Her brand-new blog is here: Knitting Thru the Itty-Bittys. She's off to a good start and I'll be cheering you on, Barb!

I posted a sweetheart of a little project for a Heart Tape Measure. It's a free pattern! Don't miss it. The Ravelry page for the tape measure is here.

I gotta scoot! We are going to the tooth fairy movie. Can't wait. I love Julie Andrews.

best, susie

My Little Corner

Hi Knitters,

No matter how hard I try to keep my tiny little studio space clean and tidy it never lasts long. Piles start forming on the floor, needles are strewn about, yarn and yarn labels are everywhere. And there I sit in my little corner of the world, smack dab in the middle of the mess working away like mad.
A short while ago I bought a pack of three canvas bags at Jo Ann's. I thought it would be fun to take a cheap canvas bag and turn it into a mini-work of art. I have a bunch of stacks of fat quarters that I ordered from here and some other odds and ends of fabric. I get to visit Spool which is right next to Loops in Philadelphia in March. Can't wait!
I made pockets and lined the inside of the bag. This is where my measuring skills leave something to be desired. The lining turned out a bit shorter than the canvas bag. I turned my error into a really cool design feature. I found a piece of coordinating fabric and I folded it in half. I ran stitch lines across and down to create a fun texture. I stitched it on to the top of the lining so it would stick out of the bag. How cute is that?
It looks so cool. I cut the measly original straps and covered and added on some fun fabric straps so I could wear the bag over my shoulder. Before I put in the lining, I sewed a checkerboard pattern with a pink thread on the canvas. Also, I cut out a few squares and stitched them on the thread pattern. The edges will fray with time, which I adore.
I have to have pockets no matter what. I added two good sized pockets in opposite fabrics on each side of the lining. As I was sewing I noticed my studio getting messier and messier. Sewers must have a lot of mess to keep up with. How do they do it?
The bag stands up so nicely. I love the little gap at the sides, it gives it a little character. The canvas forms like an outer shell.I love the mismatch of it all. Always will. The only time I don't mind ironing is when I am sewing.
What is it about canvas? It's so clean and natural and blank.

Stay tuned to see what I whipped up with some adorable kitchen towels...
On a side note, we made our annual marshmallow snowmen for The Collector's class. They are so fun. 3 marshmallows stacked on a sucker stick, dipped in melted white chocolate (the kind of chocolate discs from Vanilla Bean (Madison people) that melt in the microwave).
Mini-chocolate chips for faces and buttons. Fruit roll-ups make the scarves and a Rolo with a Peach Ring adhered with white frosting top it all off.
We wrapped up the treats in cellophane bags with a golden twisty tie.
Someone was very pleased which makes it all worthwhile!

Have a good rest of the week.

best, susie

Winner of Mad Hungry

Hi Knitters,

I randomly selected a winner this morning for the Mad Hungry giveaway. Elissa will need to email (my email is always on the blog sidebar) me to provide her mailing address. If I don't hear from Elissa in a couple of days I will select a new winner. Congratulations, Elissa! I know you are going to love this book. Thanks to all who left a comment and I loved reading about all of your Mad Hungry houses! We are not alone.

Here is the winning comment:

Elissa said...

this book looks fabulous and if i don't win, i for sure will check it out anyway! my boys are still only little and tend to have only spurts of mad hungriness, but i KNOW in a few years we're going to dealing with mad hungry all the time! thanks for the chance to win!

January 15, 2010

I hope you all had a good holiday weekend. It was nice to have that extra day. One exciting thing of note is that Stitchers Crossing in Madison has just received a boatload of Spud & Chloë yarn!!! Madison finally has Spud & Chloë in person!! I get so many questions about where to get Spud & Chloë yarn and products locally and now we have it available. Thank you to Stitchers for bringing in these great yarns. Let's be sure to support their effort!

I worked on Spud & Chloë Outer yarn all weekend long and it is a dream, just look at the photo below. This new color is called Cornsilk and it is a beauty.

Have a good day, Knitters.

best, susie