A Snowy NY Day

Last Saturday was a lovely snowy day and a good 15 degrees warmer than the rest of the week.  A perfect day to meet up with a friend and wander about.  First stop was a place I have been meaning to visit since I saw a DIY project on Pinterest, Guerra Paint and Pigment, 510 East 13th Street between Avenues A and B.  This place was love at first sight.  Shelf after shelf of jars full of pigment, metallic pigment, interference pigment, glitter of all sizes and the paint and binders to use with them.  The presentation is very no frills, simple jars, which frankly make the product even better.  The girl who helped me was incredibly nice, showed me things she thought I would like but wasn't pushy.  If you are someone who loves a good art supply store you should definitely stop by. 

A wall in Guerra

The next stop was the Strand.  I met up with my new-to-the-city KDrama friend who had not been yet.  Luckily Saturdays are very crowded so I was unable to gather a stack of books the size of a small child like I've been known to do.  My TBR pile is far too large already.  I will share my all time favorite Strand find though, an out of print Dolly Parton biography that I found on a very high (I needed a ladder and I am quite tall) top shelf.  When I took off the dust jacket the book was shiny gold and silver.  

Next we walked through a much smaller than normal green market in Union Square.  Apparently most of the vendors packed up early due to the snow but a few vendors stuck it out and their booths looked ridiculously pretty.  I love the Catskill-Merino stand.  Their yarn is not heavily processed, still smells a bit like sheep, and is full of lanolin so it feels really lovely to touch.  If I am ever having a bad day, I like to loiter around their stand because it smells like Rhinebeck. 

A warm glowing produce stand.

That will be all for today.  My list of favorite places is long and growing and I look forward to sharing more of them.  I will leave you with a few pictures of a snowy Union Square.

Pollen and Bubbles Revisited

 I am super excited to announce that this month the Pollen and Bubbles hat pattern is being included in the KnitCrate Int/Adv box.  For anyone unfamiliar, KnitCrate is a knitting subscription service, like magazines but you get yarn, patterns and other goodies.  They have a bunch of other different subscription options like Beginner, Indie Dyers, Baby, Sock, and ect.  It's such a great way to discover a new products.  I especially like the mini skein option.  There is also a gift option available in case your loved one knows you love yarn but doesn't know how to shop for you.

Anyway, I thought I was a good time to revisit and beef up the Pollen and Bubbles pattern a touch.  The initial pattern was one size only and required 2.5 skeins of yarn.  The new pattern includes additional sizing info and instructions for a hat that takes exactly 2 skeins of yarn (one of each color).   If you have already purchased the Pollen and Bubbles pattern then you will automatically have access to it in your library.  It is called Pollen and Bubbles 4.0.

If for some reason you have stumbled onto my blog, like the hat, but don't knit, I have put some of my latest samples in my Etsy shop.  

Scenes from another CO Christmas

Instead of a big snow there was a heavy frost that coated absolutely everything in a thick layer of sparkle.  I think I may have actually preferred it to the messy snow.  There was no shoveling to be done and everything still glittered.

 This tree in the front yard used to be about 6 feet tall and looked like the Charlie Brown tree the year my mom first decorated it.  It's grown significantly.  

Stella, my sweet deer friend, was back with some friends.  She is the sweetest of the bunch.  The presence of deer is a lot more charming after moving to the city.  Deer>cockroaches.  

The following 2 pictures are father and son. 

Darling Mermaids

I am very happy to announce the release of my latest ebook, Darling Mermaids.

This ebook was inspired by Pushing Daisies, many hours spent on the beach, and fondness for all things mermaid.  It started as a cowl pattern and because I liked the motif so much, quickly snowballed into a hat, mitten, and baby blanket ebook.

 The ebook is available through Ravelry for $11.00.

The hat comes in 2 sizes, 19"/ 48cm in circumference and 22"/ 56cm in circumference.  It is knit using sport weight yarn.

The cowl comes in one size, 32"/ 81cm in circumference, and is a simple tube.  The chart is repeated 6 times around so the cowl can be adjusted to be more snug.  It is knit using a fingering weight yarn.

The mittens are one size, 9.5"/ 24cm from palm to fingertips and 8"/ 20cm in circumference around palm above thumb.  The measurements do not include the ribbed cuff which can be adjusted to personal preference.  The mittens are knit using a sport weight yarn.

The baby blanket is one size, roughly 1 yard/ 91cm square.  The example was knit in a rectangle and does not perfectly reflect the pattern.  It is knit using worsted weight yarn and the back is lined with fabric.  This is the hardest pattern of the bunch.  In order to make the blanket you should be comfortable with steeking and hand sewing.

Darling Mermaids Sneak Peak 2

Second sneak peak from the Darling Mermaids Ebook which will be releasing on Tuesday, Oct 1st in my Ravelry shop.

Darling Mermaids Sneak Peak 1

I have a fun new ebook releasing on Tuesday Oct 1st.  This is the first sneak peak.

Darling Mermaids Cowl

Uh Oh!, She's Fan Knitting Again

What happens when a girl spends some time cruising around the foreign TV sections of Netflix and Hulu looking for Scandinavian crime dramas (because I heard that's what British people like) but stumbles onto some Korean TV instead?  A full blown, all consuming obsession of course.  It didn't even start small.  One day I was watching a bunch of British stuff, the next day (and everyday thereafter) it was nothing but Korean: Korean TV, Korean star tumblr searches, Korean news.  I thoroughly confused my friends and family with my wild change of interest.  I was suddenly unable to participate in water cooler conversations.  Now, 4 months since watching the first, countless shows have been watched, Level 1 of Talk To Me In Korean has been learned, and I have 1 new hat pattern designed.  Luckily subtitles were only a hinderance to knitting for the first 10 hours, after that you pick up on enough to fill in the gaps when you need to look down at your knitting.

 Anyway here is the 1st Korean drama inspired hat...

*The name is a hint to the drama that inspired it.  Some of the KDrama Addicts Ravelry group members already know (shhhh).  If you can figure out what drama I am referring too by the name or the picture alone, then we should be friends. We can knit on the beach and talk about why I can't stop following JGK/JKS even though I find him kind of weird.

This hat is an easy one compared to my normal colorwork.  I have slammed out 3 in the past month even while working on other projects (Baktiari cowl!)  The hat is mostly ribbed knitting in the round.  The two tricky aspects are the purled cable stitches on the portion of hat that gets folded out to make the oversized brim and making the giant pom pom.

The pattern includes a template to make the giant pom pom but the instructions can be found in my flickr account.  Flickr has revamped their format so make sure to click on the pictures to get the written instructions that accompany each picture.

Luckily this hat is relatively normal compared to my last foray into fan knitting, the Cylon hat.  You don't have to be a crazy KDrama fan to want a big cozy hat with a giant pom pom.