elliebelle

Little hats

Surprise surprise, I am back already today!  haha, I can't believe it, I'm actually blogging 2 days in a row.  I've got to keep this up.

I have another little finished project to show you.  One of Joe's very good friends is expecting a baby in April and we've been invited to the shower in 2 weeks. (a quick side note: it's a shower for both men and women, has anyone ever been to one of those?  I haven't!  For a wedding I have, but not for a baby.  But I'm glad it will be fun!)  I can't go to a shower without making baby hats.  It's one of the most rewarding projects because you can make it in an evening!  So I made 2 hats with some leftover yarn and they are just darn cute!

I bet you can guess what the gender of the baby is! ;)

I think pompoms are so cute, and using the Clover pompom makers, it is so fun and easy!  This one is made with the smallest size pompom maker.  

This yarn was left over from an old project that you probably don't remember as it was one of the first things I showed on my blog over a year ago!  This hat is a little bigger than the purple one up above, so it will be for the baby when she is just a little older. 

Isn't the texture of the yarn great?

So that's another little thing that I've been up to lately.  Next time I'll be showing a work in progress!

A shawl to keep me warm

So here I am, finally...I keep letting my blog slip!  UGG!  I'm not sticking to my resolutions.  I do have some pictures stocked up though, so for sure this week I'll have at least 2 more posts. Yay!

First up, thanks again for all the nice comments everyone keeps leaving.  It is really a treat to have such a lovely online community.

Now onto a finished project...

I finished this shawl a while back, and I LOVE it! I can't believe how often I find myself throwing it on when I feel just a little chilled.  It is the perfect warmer.  The yarn is Stone Mountain, it's 50/50 Wool and Acrylic.  I love the way it self stripes.  So fun!  Though, my shoulder got a little sore from all of the purling action to get the stockinette stitch.  I don't know the correct "way" of knitting between English and Continental style knitting, or whatever the right names are, but I knit one way, and purl another, and apparently the purling action puts a little strain on my shoulder, and it felt just slightly sore when I worked on this shawl for a long time!  It's kind of weird...

But needless to say, I'm glad I made it, and I can definitely see more shawls in my future!

And the back...

I had Joe take a couple photos of me wearing it.  Don't mind the mismatched outfit...heehee, I live in Pj pants at home so I'm often in a hodge podge outfit!

and the back on me...

As you can see the edges do roll.  The edges are garter stitched to help prevent some of that, but it still happens.  Obviously, I have not blocked this.  Does anybody have any good tips on blocking?  I've never really done it.  I feel like I don't have the space to block something big like this.  Do you just put it on the floor or are you supposed to have a board or something to put it on?  Any advice would be helpful.

Oh, and guess what!?! I ordered some fabric today...yes, I know.  I shouldn't...but I just can't help myself.  There is such an abundance of beautiful fabric out there, I feel like I'm missing out if I don't have any.  How do you all deal with your fabric addictions?  Or is it yarn for you? (I have to say, I am more restrained on my yarn purchases...thank god, otherwise you wouldn't be able to even move in my sewing room/extra bedroom - it is already totally sound proof from all the fabric in the room! haha!)

I'd love to hear about your fabric stashes and addictions...and if you have a photo of it, send me the link, I'd love to see it.

Ok, off to help with dinner.  I will be back this week, I promise! :)

I'm a lucky gal.

Joe was very sweet to me this Valentine's.  Saturday night Joe and I went out to dinner (our usual Saturday night routine) and on our table in the restaurant was a big beautiful bouquet of flowers.  (Joe's parents and aunt and uncle own the restaurant, so he has the ins...)  It was really a lovely surprise.  So I have to share a bunch of pictures.  Flowers in the dead of winter are so energizing!

Here I am when we got home. (I totally need a new haircut...)

They are SO gorgeous!!

A purple iris, my favorite!!!

And here's Chelsea checking out the flowers..."Hmm, should I eat them?  They don't smell like a burrito, so maybe not..."

And here is Joe with the present I got him, a stuffed gorilla.  The heart the gorilla is holding sings, the little mouth moves to "Hooked on a Feeling."  I thought it was funny.  

And one last photo, of us.

Hopefully I didn't bore you too much with all these pics!  I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day.

Hoot Hoot

First, I'd like to thank everyone for your kind thoughts and words that you've shared throughout my last few posts.  I've been meaning to say thank you for a while now, as I feel like everything you comment on is so sweet and thoughtful.  I read each and every comment and really appreciate them all!

Second, I have a fun little project to share that I made last weekend for a very good friend of mine who happens to have a birthday tomorrow!  The last time I visited her (she lives in the Minneapolis area) we made our regular trip to Target and we both bought the cutest fleece blanket.  Here is a picture of part of it.  (it actually has lots of adorable motifs on it - owls, birds, trees, hearts, cupcakes...)

I decided she needed a pillow to go with it!  So I traced one of the owls, made all of the pieces into felt appliques, and added them to a piece of fabric with which I covered a pillow form.  And ta-da!  A super cute decorative pillow to match.

Apparently her 3 year old daughter has claimed it.  Big surprise, right? haha, but she was told that she must share it.  I am glad it was a big hit.  It was really fun and super easy to make.  I've only made a few pillows in my life, but I should make more, they are quite rewarding in that you can really spice up a room with just a simple little pillow! 

Wrapped Up

Well, that was a bit of a hiatus there.  Sorry about that!  I think it may have to do with a bit of the winter blues.  I didn't feel all that motivated to take pictures of the things I've been working on since it's dark at 5...  But I made myself take some pictures tonight, even without natural lighting! ha!  And, I made myself play in photoshop a bit, and I'm glad I did because now I have something to share.

I've always loved scarves and wraps.  I love the idea of having that little something extra that takes your outfit up a notch, and keeps you warm!  I also love soft jersey knits, so I took some jersey fabric, cut it out, did a rolled hem along the sides, and a slightly ruffled rolled hem along the edges.  And here is what I came up with.

I made two of the white and cream striped scarves but gave one to my sister Toria.  She's a vet student in Madison and I told her she could have one as long as she told everybody where she got it and that she was taking orders! haha!  I'm thinking the basic scarves would sell for $9.

Here's another basic scarf.  This one is a little wider so it can be worn a couple of ways.

or like this...

I even made one with a touch of embellishment, and I think I'd sell these for $12.  What do you think?

I love the red rick rack against the light gray background.

These are of course, for my hopeful party at my friend Kate's sometime early this summer.  I keep plugging away at projects that I am planning for our little home sale party.  But I also keep getting cold feet about the idea...will I be able to get enough projects done in time?  The worst part about having a deadline or more of a "should be doing" mindset, makes me NOT want to work on projects! ugg!  I am so great at making goals, not so great at following through.  I feel like I should make myself have this party, even though it freaks me out a little.  Just to push myself to really get out there.  But I also wonder, why wait?  Should I just open an Etsy shop and start that way?  Will anybody find my shop in Etsy?  I mean, there is SO MUCH competition and SO MUCH talent on Etsy that I fear I'm a needle in a haystack there and possibly just a mediocre shop.  What do you think?  I know many of you out there have an Etsy shop.  When did you decide you were ready to open your shop?  How do you work with getting yourself known on such an enormous website?  I'd gladly take some advice from my fellow bloggers, if you have any. :)  Thanks for listening, and I hope you are having a good Monday. :) 

And Oh!  This is totally random, but if you have a chance to go see "He's Just Not That Into You,"  you should, it's great fun!!!  I went on opening night and the theater was packed!  It's a great feel good movie, with fun actors, fun fashion, and a cute story line.  A little 2 cents from me to you!  :)

Clemence

I've been knitting away lately.  I think it is the winter, it just makes me want to cuddle in, put a movie on, and knit.  Oh, and I went to knit night last week at my LYS, which was quite fun, and quite productive.  So here I am showing you my Clemence cowl to match my Toast with a twist armwarmers.

My yarn is thinner than what the pattern calls for so I cast on for the larger size (99 stitches) and used size 5 needles.  Instead of doing the lace pattern twice, I did it three times to get the height I wanted in the cowl.  I love the way the ripples turned out.  I must admit though, this was my first time knitting lace and knitting from a chart, so I had to rip it out half way through the first lace portion, then I got the hang of it and it went pretty smoothly from there.

This yarn is just so lovely and soft.  And amazingly stretchy and sort of spongey (does that even make sense??) in this knit pattern.

I know there are a few mistakes in there, but I'm pretending they aren't there! :) heehee.  And it doesn't matter really as it gets bunched up when it is worn.  It is a great little warmth adder to a regular shirt without a collar.  The cowl fits tightly, like a turtleneck, so it is not bunchy or in the way when I wear it.  This is something I'll definitely get use out of.