Valentine's Day and a New Pattern

I usually give Valentines to a couple of my friends each year, and this year I decided I wanted to knit or crochet a little something to go with them. I found these free printable Valentines from the blog on Post Stitch. They all have dorky knitting jokes, and most of my friends knit as well, so I think they will be appreciated. I found a free pattern on Ravelry for a crochet heart which I’ll attach to the front of each Valentine. I don’t crochet much so the heart took a couple tries to get right, but after that I could whip them up really fast.

I also put a new pattern up for sale this month! The pattern is for my Blizzard Cowl, and if you decide to try it out you’ll get to try out doing cables together with stranded colour work. The outcome looks much more complicated than it is to make, so I encourage you to give it a try. You can find the pattern on my Ravelry store!

Printable Valentine's Day Cards: http://www.poststitchbox.com/blogs/news/18721791-valentines-day-cards-for-knitters

Crochet Heart Pattern: http://www.crochetleaf.com/basic-crochet-heart.html

Blizzard Cowl: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/blizzard-cowl

A New Year

A little over a year ago in the midst of my knitting obsession I decided I wanted to start writing my own patterns. I had so many ideas in my head of things I could knit but I couldn’t find a pattern for most of them, so I while I was writing my New Year’s resolutions down I decided I would try to write and publish a pattern every single month of 2014. Now, a year later, I’ve only grown more in love with knitting, in love with figuring out every little detail that will make a pattern exactly how I imagined it. I never published all 12 patterns, some ideas were started and dropped, some are still on my needles right now and some never even got started. Thirty days was not long enough for me to go through every stage of the design process properly, so this year I’ve halved the goal and I’m already working hard to get my 6 patterns finished.

I also want to focus on this blog, saving money, and all the aspects of my well being. 2014 was a beautiful year and I look forward to seeing if 2015 can top it. What goals have you set?

Christmas Knitting

This year is the first that I’ve made knitted Christmas gifts for my family and friends. I actually thought to start early enough this year so I’ve had time to knit for pretty much everyone on my list. I also bought some presents to go along with what I made, but I’m most excited to give the gifts I’ve been putting so much time into. 

For my friends I knit socks. I had a sock phase earlier in the year after I learned to make my first pair during the summer, and even though I haven’t made myself a pair yet I made a pair for each of my close friends. Now that I’m done my Christmas knitting though I’ve finally cast on a pair for myself, so hopefully by the new year I’ll get to put on my first pair of hand-knit socks.

For my immediate family I knit matching hats with our last name sewn into them. This is actually a pattern I’ve been working on the past couple months and it will be released in a couple days. I knit my grandparents a santa ornament for their tree and I’ll be wrapping my partner’s present in a hand-knit stocking this year.

This year I decided to wrap everything in simple kraft paper. I used gold ribbon, pinecones, and bells to accent the presents and I really like how they all turned out. I would love to hear about what you knit your family and friends for Christmas this year!

Knitting for Others

When I’m watching a movie and I don’t have the mental capacity for the process of writing my own patterns I love working on quick projects that I don’t have to think too hard about. Right now  I’m working on making baby hats and since I don’t have a baby myself (and if I did it definitely wouldn’t need this many hats) I’m going to be donating them to the hospital in my area. I like working on projects like this because I find knitting multiples of a pattern relaxing, and it feels good to know that someone in need will be getting something that was handmade with love.

My grandma used to knit pneumonia vests for children in Africa, which were used to keep sick children warm. I remember she would send them off about once a year, and she would have about 50 of them to send off which I always thought was really impressive.

Some other projects I’ve heard of are knitted hats for soldiers, warm clothes and winter accessories for local shelters, and even knitted jumpers to protect penguins from oil spills. The penguin jumper story went viral a while back so they put an announcement up saying they didn’t need any more, but I do understand why so many people wanted to knit cute little jumpers for penguins.

Have you knit any projects similar to these ones? I’d love to hear about them!

Newborn Hats: http://www.themakeyourownzone.com/2011/03/knitting-newborn-hats-for-hospitals.html

Hats for Soldiers: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ribbed-watchmans-hat

Penguin Jumpers: http://penguinfoundation.org.au/about-the-penguin-foundation/wildlife-rehabilitation/

Notions Bag

After carrying various Ziploc bags full of random notions around with all of my projects I’ve decided it’s time to make a permanent toolkit. One that has everything I need for every project, so I can grab it along with whatever project I decide to work on that day. I’ve been using this one for a couple months now and I haven’t needed to add anything, so it feels complete for the time being. I thought I’d empty it and let you know what I’ve been taking everywhere with me.

Bag: The clear bag is from KnitPicks. It works well for me because I’m not digging around looking for my smaller notions, I can see everything and grab exactly what I need. I also like the way all my tools look in the bag, because I think some of them are pretty cute. $3.99

Pens and notebook: I use this little notebook all the time, for jotting down pattern ideas and also for making notes about where I am in a pattern. Sometimes I’ll change a pattern as I’m knitting to suit my needs, so I like to keep track of those sorts of things.

Scissors: This pretty pair of black scissors is from Lantern moon. Scissors are definitely my most used item here. $19.95

Stitch markers: I keep a tiny bag of stitch markers with me. The duck ones are from Lantern moon and they make me so happy when I use them. I also have a couple other random markers that I carry, including a removable one. $11.00

Repair hook and finishing needles: This is the first repair hook I’ve had, and it pretty much works the same as a crochet hook does. I mainly use it when I drop stitches. I got it from Lantern Moon and it came in a cute little pouch, which I store my tapestry needles in as well. $10.50

Needle point protectors: I only really use these when I’m bringing a project(usually socks) on the go with me. When I’m carrying my project in a soft cloth bag they keep the needles from poking through the material. These ones are from KnitPicks and they come in a pack of four. $1.19

Interchangeable needle cable ends: I use the interchangeable knitting needles from KnitPicks, and they come with these twist on caps, so you can keep a project on the cable and use the needles from that project for something else. To be honest I’ve never used these, but I keep them in here just in case the time comes.

Knitting gauge & ruler: I picked this up at a dollar store near my house, and it’s definitely a tool I recommend every knitter gets. When I started working with DPN’s and circulars, I realized not all needles are nicely labelled, so it’s great to have this for reference!

Stitch holders: Again I picked these up at a local dollar store. They come in handy so I would definitely recommend getting a couple.

Cable needle: This one is from KnitPicks. I haven’t actually knit a project with cables in a while, but I keep one in case the feeling ever hits to cable something! $4.49

Crochet hooks: I like using crochet hooks to do certain edges and to pull in loose ends, so I always keep a couple sizes with me.

Measuring tape: This one isn’t a necessity, because the ruler is usually long enough for most projects, but sometimes I have bigger things to measure and a 6-inch ruler just won’t cut it for me. This sunflower one is from Lantern Moon and I love how cute it looks. $12.10

Do you keep a similar bag to this? I’d love it if you let me know what you keep in yours below!