seafoam green wrap

I have started the seafoam green wrap, which doesn't seem like it'll take me too long. cheers! and working with seafoam green is so fun, it's such a delightful color.

I must confess that I did have to re-start this one as well. the seafoam green yarn called for size 8 needles, but my accent color is thicker yarn and calls for size 10. i knit the last wrap in size 9 becaue the purple yarn i was using called for nine, so i thought that was a good comprimise this time as well. but the seafoam green was knitting up much too loose. to offset the difference in size I added three stitches to the rows, it looks about right, and I should measure, but I'm confident. and wraps don't really need to be a certain size.

i've also almost memorized the lace pattern for the bottom of the wrap, and doing mostly stockinette with a little lace at one end is just the perfect amount of complicated, pretty and soothing to make knitting these things almost theraputic. and almost theraputic was right up my ally today.

anecdote from real life: I was at the local Joann's a week or so ago, stalking around the yarn department, when two older ladies with a foreign accent - something like indian - were talking an isle over. one says to the other, I was having this very stressful day and I just sat down with my needles and yarn and knit up and down a few rows and I felt so relaxed after just a few rows.

i thought it was so cute. not only is buying yarn sooo fun because of the colors and textures and the fact that the "pricey" stuff is $6 a skein, but you get to hear cute little things like that and realize that at it's simplest, knitting is really, really comforting.

yay knitting.

plum blossoms

i'm at it again - trying to make the perfect plum blossom for my banner and to sell. and although it's not quite what I had in mind. what I just made, is pretty dang close. it's a plum blossom inspired flower. I have given up on making it perfect. i'm not God. only God can make plum blossoms. but, I can make a pretty cute flower based on his design, and I have finally achieved something that doesn't make me disappointed.

now, I have to make more. at least 4 more, and a few to sell. I could sell one of my original 5, however, then I wouldn't have them if I wanted to use them for pictures or if I ever go to a craft fair. so, I gotta keep them.

I'm happy, cause this knitting goal has been hanging over my head for quite some time, and to have it done, well that'd just be awesome.

plus- i'm re-thinking my ideas for flowers. maybe less true to life colors and more muted colors that people actually wear. not everyone in the world wants to dress bright like I do, and so, I'm going to tone down those colors a bit. the colors in my plum blossoms are truly perfect, it'll just be getting from real life to picture that concerns me color wise.

new things

so, i finished my wrap. it. is. amazing. maybe I'll get jer to take some pictures of me in it. i love it. and I was wondering what to do with this purple yarn that I bought myself over a year ago, and I found the perfect thing. My family thinks I can sell them for around $70, they take two and a quarter skeins of yarn and, now that I know what I'm doing, will be fairly uncomplicated to make. I'm excited. I currently have the stock pile to make a taupe one and a light teal - almost a periwinkle colored one.

I also have been working on knitted lace a-fix to bottles. it sounds strange. but, it will be amazing. and since I can use recycled salsa jars, liquor bottles, jams jars, just anything glass really, it'll be really fun locating interesting bottles to embellish. I'm also going to a-fix pearls, because I LOVE pearls, and maybe eventually ribbon.

In my head, my store style is pretty concrete today. but that doesn't reflect on-line or here, so I need to put up more inspiration photos and set up a good little studio situation for taking pictures of my pindles and what-nots. I think the setting up of the studio - procuring the correct accessories and backdrop materials will be one of the hardest things. although, I do have some of it already. like silver platters. thinking of which my mother has a bunch in her garage that were her mothers that she said I'm welcome to have. I just have to wade through the gobs of junk, bugs and dust to get to the box that has all these platters and bowls and silver bits.

today, today is a good day in knitting land. I'm looking forward to two unique ideas that aren't on etsy anywhere - the style of wrap I've done and embellished bottles with knitted lace and pearls. it's nice to have unique ideas. pindles are not entirely unique, but I'll still be making them, because they are fun and have received a little bit of hubbub, which is kinda awesome.

more inspiration

maggi will know the one at the bottom, it used to be my wallpaper for my computer screen at work

inspiration

I need things that inspire me. fabric, pictures, colors, yarn, flowers. a feel. so, I'm posting pictures here that I find on the internet, not too many at a time, but some.

inspirational thing #1: tea dresses

oh blah

my store and my stuff is in some serious need of uniqueness. like, a style, everything going together and coming from the same person.

it's like self identity. but, i need not to see it that way.

so. i gotta pick something, and stick to it.

the wrap

the wrap is more like a capelett or a wraplett. one of those. and it's about 1/3 of the way there. I'm excited. Knitting in stockinette is sooo quick. i have missed it. i'm going back to knitting and watching pillow talk with doris day and rock hudson, because it's completely freezing, i can't feel my toes and the baby is sleeping.

but i'm thinking, that if i have a section devoted to these things I'll call it the Capeletts and Montegues. it's silly, i like it.

gauge

so i thought i could make the wrap even though I was bigger than gauge. I really did. and then I realized that the piece that I was working on was 15 inches when it should have been 12 inches which is quite a large difference.

so, i'm ripping it out again. maybe I'll use smaller needles, maybe I'll just use less stitches since the pattern is rediculously easy. whatever I do, I hope the fourth time is the charm.

a wrap

so, i know my goals for the week mentioned nothing of a wrap, but i've been staring at my three skeins of lavender yarn for quite some time, and well, i couldn't help myself. I also found a way to incorporate some lovely creme yarn i picked up a while ago as well.

so far I've only ripped out the stitches and started again twice. the problem was that the original lace pattern i had picked out for the edge came out looking like I had made repeat mistakes and not an actual pattern. and then the second edging I chose was based off garter stitch and looked really lame at the bottom of my stockinette panel. but now I adjusted the second edging to stockinette and it's looking a lot better. I'm excited about it. it's just two big rectangles, so construction should be really simple and quick, which I'm happy about.

no more lace for a while. I'm still bitter about how the end was no where in site for the longest time. It's like trying to sail over a lake, and you keep thinking, it's just a lake, the shore will be coming up any minute now, and well, it takes a lot longer, but after every little swell you are still looking for the land. I anticipated lake perris, i got lake erie. at any rate, this should be around clear lake status.

anyways, aside from dreaming about being able to take day trips again when I'm not pregnant, this wrap should be fun, and it's bloody cold, so hopefully it'll go fast so i can wear it soon.

this week

This week, I'm setting myself a goal. ok, so three goals:

-finish 5-7 plum blossoms for banner picture and possible for sale
-make a pink hydrangea pindle
-start and complete spanish lace purse

i think this is doable. I hope, I hope.

and now...?

my store looks pretty snazzy. and I really did just want ten items on there before I advertized. but, now that the 10 items milestone is here, I still feel understocked. it's probably because my pindles need a good cardboard resting place with the name of the store on them. and I need to rethink my shipping materials. and, well, I want an arsenal of pindles AND knitting accesories like purses, scarves, hats, pillows, head bands, wraps. and all that takes none other than, time.

so, i'll just let the store run the way it is. advertising is for a time when life will not completely change for a year or so, an epoch, in my life, of stability. nothing is stable right now. I'm hopeful, but kinda sad that my big store dreams wont be realized for a while.

but, the big reason - helping Jer out with things and not feeling like a loafer/moucher and using my creative talents have already been accomplished. jer and I are both excited. and in light of the excitement I have a lot more ideas to be cranking out this week and next.

this being creative thing and then, [shocker] DOING SOMETHING WITH IT, is so awesome.

I'm being a good steward of my natural gifts, abilities and likes. three cheers for doing what you love!

tah dah!

Jer and I spent at least two hours taking pictures of all my stuff and now I'm posting it! I'm so excited! The calla lily and daffodil knit up so fast, it was awesome!

A New Day

I'm residing myself to the idea, that, although it'll be hard, we may be residing at the inlaws for q while longer.

with that, i'd really like to put up a little cork board in the room we refer to as the 'baby lounge'. it has our big, comfy couch, my writing desk, a changing table and a dresser full of luxy's clothes. it truly is a 'baby lounge', we can take care of the baby AND lounge on the couch or leisurely read/write/study at my desk. so, there's a big of unclaimed wall space and I'm thinking that I could move in a bit of my knitting stuff, and put up a cork board to attatch little inspirational bits, like pictures of flowers, pieces of fabric, words, art, ya know - stuff. Have a tiny space that'll be like my 'studio'. like a four foot space, really. but it would work out I think.

and other than that, I'm REALLY close to finishing my bougainvillea pindles. There are three, which i can't decide if I want to sell as a lot of three flowers and then make a fourth to sell as a single, OR sell each on separately. we'll see.
I'm also dreaming up how to knit a calla lily. Which I may try today after I finish the bougainvillea flowers. And in the very distant knitting future I see daffodils and possible camilias. who knows, it's a lot of fun though. and my purse is done and I have two more lined up. as soon as i get a few more flowers done I'll start on those.

it's so fun to have projects and be creative. I like it. A lot.

OH! and the biggest news! I now have a plumblossomknits business debit card which is funded by non other than.... My Sales!!! wooo hooo! so, I have to get posting some more stuff so I can get some of the things I want. Like:
-cool cardboard backings for my pindles
-some cardboard tags that say plumblossomknits on one side so I can put the materials used and washing instructions on the other side and a-fix them to all the things I sell.
-business cards
(-a cork board? a nifty big basket for my stash of yarn? a rad little crafty box for my pindle creating bits?)

oh, and I really need some really pretty smelling tea candles for - ok so i just spent twenty minutes of my life looking for a picture of a tea light holder that Kim bought me for Christmas, and I just can't find it. BUT be assured, it's really pretty and I love it. and I use it daily and i'll soon be running out of tea lights.

hurumph.

i'm going back to knitting, it's cold, i might also drink tea. maybe.

adios!

score!

I finished my lace scarf. It's an absolute dream. but is it my dream? not really. I'll try selling it. I could see someone, somewhere, wearing it all the time and thinking it was THE best thing ever. but I fall in love with dresses, and big overcoats, not scarves. so, this will be moving on.

AND since this is finished, I'm making another scarf out of the purple yarn I've been staring at.stairing at?stareing at? for a while. Puxatawney Phil said I've got 6 more weeks of scarf season, so I'm taking advantage.

and I still have purses and pindles and wraps and hats and pillows and socks and gosh. a lot of stuff in my head. a lot of stuff that WONT be made out of lace no matter how triumphant the other side of knitting lace mountain may feel. I'm working with chunky stuff for a while. till I get another hankering and then maybe i'll change to medium a 2 light weight instead of lace thread. seriously. I just knit over 400 yards - that's 4 football fields worth of yarn. and it's so thin it always looked really small, like the end was close. but no, four football fields is a lot of yarn over, slip one, knit one, pass. it's a rediculous amount even. and it wasn't mindless because of the slip one and the pass.

man, today has been a hard day. screaming baby for over an hour. knitting the end of that scarf because it looked like I only had a few more rows to do, but it looked that way all day untill, upon casting off, I was actually SHORT yarn. no kidding.

I'm trying to get all this out before jeremy gets home and he will be home any minute now. he's officially four minutes late actually.

and althought today was difficult and triumphant at the same time, I still don't have our room clean, the laundry done/started or dinner started. at least chicken pot pie is easy. it's a bunch of small, easy steps.

ok. gotta go. jer's home. bye!