Getting My Hands Dirty

Yesterday, I planted flowers in the boxes and pot on my balcony. Flowers make me happy.

Sandy Beaches

When thinking of making my new hat, I pulled some inspiration from Project Spectrum: Elements. I knew I wanted a summery hat, something to wear when it scorching hot. I also wanted it to be loose fitting, so I can stay cool, but tight enough that I can tuck all my hair up into it when it starts to drive me nuts. I came up with a mesh of two hats, which I'm going to call my Sandy Beaches Hat- a little rasta, and perfect for summer: I totally love this hat! Some stats for the knittahs out there: The pattern for everything but the brim is the Topi hat. The brim is from the Cabled Newsboy Hat in Stitch n' Bitch Nation. I love the brim, it was exactly what I was looking for! I used Lamb's Pride Cotton Fleece, just over half a skein, in the "Antique Lace" colorway. May I just add that this yarn is awesome? I love the way it knits up, I love to softness and sheen, and I absolutely love the drape. I'll definitely be using more of this! (I'd like to see how it handles cables, though, being mostly cotton- any of you guys out there have any experience with that?) All in all, a great knit, and I know I'll get a ton of use out of it this summer. What are your plans for summer knits?

Buh Bye

I shipped off my scarf (finally! Jeez, do I put things off too long.), all blocked and fringed and pretty, to the Knitter Project: I'll miss it, but I should get it back well before it's cold enough to wear it. I love how it came out! In other news: Today is my blogiversary! Two whole years of blogging. (I've actually been blogging a bit longer, but I'm not counting the Myspace crap.) Woo! The Ten on Tuesday today was "Ten Things You'd Fix in Your Home (If you had the Time and Money)". I live in an apartment, so not much for that list, really. So I'm just not doing it this week. Next week! Hubbster is at his first day on the new job- yaay! I'm finally getting back in my routine, and going to set some "rules" for myself. Mainly, eating well and exercising. I've got a vacation to Minnesota in about two months, and there will be beaches and pools. That means swimsuit wearing. And that means, I want to start losing weight. We'll see how it goes! The next phase of Project Spectrum: Elements starts today. The element of focus for the next two months is Earth. I've got some plans! Woo! I've got lots of great earthy colors in my stash, from great greens, to earthy neutrals, and even a bit of metallics. We'll see what this brings!

Project Spectrum: Elements

Another round of Project Spectrum began at the beginning of February. I've participated in the two previous ones, and am pretty excited for the third. These have always been a lot of fun, and a great inspiration to branch out in my color choices, knit something new, and explore new things. This time around, the idea for color choices is fresh and fun. Each two month section will have a focus in one of the four elements- fire, water, earth, and air. I love this idea, and I think it allows for a textural influence as well as colors. I'm hoping to be inspired to take some more pictures and try some new things, as well as play with the colors and visual impact of the elements in my knitting. It's taken me a while to find the time to start a project for this part of PS:E, which is focusing on the fire element. Reds, pinks, and oranges are some of the color suggestions. Thinking about it, I knew I wanted to use this yarn for something. It's only about 140 yards, so I had a hard time finding a pattern. I eventually settled on doing this with it. I knew that the thick and thin yarn would look great in the stitch, and that this yarn would make a super cozy scarflet. Not wanting to take the wedding shawl to Stitch n' Bitch (it's too much for my brain to handle there), I had to think of something quick to grab last Tuesday. I decided to finally start this project! I absolutely love how it's knitting up: She called the color "Neopolitan", but to me it screams "campfire!". I absolutely love the colors, and love it in this pattern. It's super sqooshy, and will definitely be quite the cozy knit! I'll leave you with a close-up shot: