So Much Knitting! The Yarn Carnage...

I can honestly say that I've never knit this much in my life...and I love it!  Of course, I've also developed a bit of a shoulder issue (due to the way I hold my knitting needles), but nothing a good stretch won't take care of!

Here's the rundown of everything I've whipped up in the past two weeks alone:

•  Black and white diamond patterned gloves: The black and white looks great whether in houndstooth or in diamonds.  I may have to try a few more combinations with these colors!
   
• Heather and white houndstooth: Who knew the heather and white would look so nice together?  Someone knew and requested a cute pair of gloves.  I was happy to oblige.
   
• The Courtney, short: I love this pattern and they look adorable in the shorter length!
  Charcoal had with a wide brim and a crocheted red flower.

• Reversible houndstooth infinity scarf in navy and burnt orange: This was done for a Chicago Bears fan.  Great fun to finish up and I love the different color choices that I'm getting the opportunity to try out.
• A hat shaped like a Christmas tree!

Okay, enough out of me - I have a number of orders to complete over the next couple of week.  Expect more pictures later!

It's All About...Color Combinations!

So, my friends have been after me to branch out and try some new color combinations.  Taking their advice (and their list of suggestions), I've finally gotten around to making some new gloves featuring the Diamonds are Forever pattern that I use.

First up was the Crimson and Gold:

I actually really like this combination.  I got them done quickly and posted to the shop, so if you are interested, they are ready to ship!  I also got a nice reprimand from Etsy for tagging these gloves with the Washington mascot's name (which I will not repeat here).  The funny thing is, I hesitated to tag it that way to begin with since I hate the word as well - but it is used widely by fans and I wanted to make sure fans found them.  Alas, I had to remove the tag to keep the posting, so I did right away.  I then re-tagged with FSU and just Washington.  Lesson learned!

Since I had the gold out, I decided to do the next color combination on the list: Purple and Gold.

This combination worked too!  I did these with the longer gauntlet since I think I will be sending these to my cousin as a gift one day (and that was the length I know she wanted).  But right now they are available for sale in the shop!

And since I was in such a knitting mood, I finished a cute ear flap hat and fingerless mitts set for a friend who wanted something custom:

I liked it so much I picked up some similar yarn (just a different color) and plan to make another set later this week!

But right now?  I'm working on a leopard print pattern - hoping it turns out nice enough for the shop!

Gloves and Hats...Hats and Gloves!

With cold weather coming and the holidays upon us, the orders have really started to pour in!  I've been knitting up gloves as fast as I can and also trying to come up with some new designs (in between my course work, of course!).  My most recent hat was a variation of the treetops baby hat.  A friend ordered one for her daughter and I got to make it in gray, pink, and white.  I think it turned out great!

Hopefully it fits and I'll get to see a picture of the baby in the hat!

I hope to have more pics to post soon - especially of the newest glove design I'm working on.  Off to knit (what else would I be doing?)

"It's Been a Long Time...I Shouldn't Have Left You...Without Some Knitting News!"

Sorry for the silence - so much has changed in the last 3 months!  I'm now based in Denver working towards my PhD in Research Methods & Statistics.  I had to take a bit of a hiatus from knitting for some time to take care of packing and moving. But now I'm here and I've actually been busy!  Orders started coming in about two weeks ago and now I feel as if I have steady side work to keep me busy (and to keep me from stressing about school!)

What I'm Working on Now: A beautiful houndstooth scarf for a customer in Canada (my 2nd international customer!).  She actually bought the gloves first and decided she wanted a matching scarf.  I'm working on it now.  I really appreciate the business and feedback I've received from my last few orders.  Such nice people on Etsy and I'm so glad that I can make things for them that they like! 

Bama Vs. UT: A Knitting Rivalry

The Pattern Just Gets Bigger!  After the success of the Houndtooth-themed scarf, I was asked to make something even bigger: a Houndstooth-themed baby blanket.  As you can imagine, this was a big undertaking since it would need to be double-sided as well. The only good news was that I was able to use larger needles due to the different yarn I used, so the knitting went much faster.  I even thought about getting really fancy with the pattern, and considered putting the Alabama "A" in the middle of the red side.  But the requester wanted simple (and we were under a time crunch).  It took me over a month, but I managed to get it done on time (and the recipient reportedly loved it!).  Here is what it looked like (with a little help from My Fair Teddy):

Biggest Sellers Vs. Most Popular: As expected, once my friends saw me making Alabama themed items, I had requests for other alma mater themed items.  I took on UT next since I actually grew up in UT country and once worked for the University.  Plus, they have the distinctive checkerboard pattern which most fans recognize at once.  So I set out to make some gloves with that pattern on them.  They didn't turn out so well - they are wearable, but the pattern causes strange ribbing and makes the gloves not as flexible and easy to wear.  I'll have to work on perfecting the pattern a little more.

I decided to moved on to the hats to see if they would turn out better, and low and behold - they did!

Cute, huh?  Well, it was so cute, it yielded my first international sale - someone in Australia wanted one.  I learned a lot from that transaction (like the fact that they are pretty patient about how long it takes for things to get from the US to Australia...19 days!), and that the US Postal Service doesn't offer tracking for first class mail sent overseas...at all.  You have to send it priority at a minimum, and depending on the country, priority express may be the only one that offers tracking options.  Go figured.  I updated my shop to reflect the new shipping information - I want to be able to continue sending items internationally if I can, but I want the buyers to know about the shipping woes.

So, which ones have sold better?  So far Bama is still in the lead due to the number of Houndstooth gloves I've made, but UT is making a push.  We'll have to see at the end of the year!

And So It Begins...

Hello Knitting World!  Though I've been knitting for a few years now, I'm still very much a neophyte.  Like many, I started out with scarves, but immediately decided to jump into larger items, such as afghans and baby blankets.  Now I spend my time challenging myself to create something new and different.  Luckily for me my friends have been helping me with that, by asking me the "can you make this?" question. So far, the answer has been yes!  So this blog will be designed to help me chronicle these challenges and also to help me feature my new creations.  Up first: Knitting and Football.

Houndstooth and The University of Alabama: I grew up in the SEC, so I know all about rivalries.  I also know about team colors, mascots, and symbolism and in the SEC there is definitely one symbol that stands out, and that is the houndstooth pattern.  For those who need a crash course on University of Alabama history, Bear Bryant, and the history of houndstooth, there is a nice article online here.

Though I didn't attend Alabama, I have a friend who did and she gave me my first real challenge of 2013: "Can you make a pair of houndstooth patterned fingerless gloves?"  I had never actually made fingerless gloves before, nor had I tried the houndstooth pattern, but I was game, so I gave it a try.  The result?  A very interesting pattern and a few happy Alabama fans!



Here is the result of my foray into the fingerless gloves world.  Not bad for a first try!

But of course, that wasn't enough for me (or my friends).  The next step (request, challenge) was to see if I could turn the pattern into a nice scarf.  Now, this has been done before (I've seen patterns online), but I wanted to see what I could create for myself. 

I immediately ran into an issue: the pattern is not naturally reversible.  For those who are knitters, you know my dilemma.  No one wants a scarf that they can't flip around or turn upside down, especially if its an infinity scarf.  So I had to figure out what I was going to do to work around this.

My first thought was to double knit it.  It's a technique I've used but I'm not strong at it.  It also tends to take a lot of time, but it would create a nice and easily reversible scarf.  But then, my friend challenged me again:

"Can you make the other side red?"

Red?  Really?  Sure, why not!

So much for double knitting - I'm sure there is a way to double knit and have one side switch between colors, but it was a technique I wasn't ready to try.  So instead, I decided to just knit a separate red scarf and attach the two together.  Here is what I learned from the process:

1. Knitting an infinity scarf in houndstooth that will loop twice takes a bit of time!
2. The houndstooth pattern is in stockinette stitch, so it rolls up a bit.
3. Knitting a 6 1/2 foot long second scarf on size 4 needles will also take some time. :-)
4. Attaching two scarves together is not easy, but seeing the come together is awesome!

Here is the final result of the houndstooth scarf knitting attempt.  We'll see if it's as popular as the gloves!