Happy New Year!

If I don't make back here in time for the 'ol switcheroo...Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Many blessings, adventures and great joy to you and your family.

  

 

Here's a parade of the "BEST of 2012" craftiness from this blog:

(in no particular order) 

I won an award!

I was just notified through www.allfreeknitting.com that I am one of their top 100 free patterns that they offer! That just made my day! The most popular patterns that I've given them are: "$5 in Paris," (the top-down raglan) the  "Dummy Clap Shawl," "Lightning-Fast Slippers" and the "Double Looped Scarf."

I spotted the "Dummy Clap" there while going through the top patterns list!

I'm very honored to receive this award and to display it proudly on my blog! All of this has made me curious to see the statistics of who's coming into my blog from THAT specific website since blogger started offering this ability to track audiences (I'm not sure if this is since 2011(?), or if it really is since 2008):

 It's a little creepy in a way to see what devices are being used, but it's fascinating nonetheless...

Merry Christmas, 2012!

I know, I know, I know,... I haven't posted a darn thing since Cyber Monday...and I can only say that we were busy making Merry (or preparing to Make Merry) this month for Christmas, and any extra time I've had I spent playing piano, studying a Music Composition Book and even composing original piano pieces. Don't get too exited...one's half done and the other that is pretty much done still needs to be tweaked. I also plan on working with my husband who (occasionally) plays guitar, so that we can record a guitar (him) and piano/vocal (me) recording of a few songs like "Thousand Years," "Cold" and "Fields of Gold." It will be fun. It's something that I've always wanted to try. Who better to do it with, than my own husband?

But, in hopes that you forgive me, here's some rather cute photos of my boys helping me cut out sugar cookies, and some scrumptious pictures of my homemade kalachkie cookies.

Jake rolling out....flour.

Sam touching the rolling pin, but who is just actively eating the flour. Guilty as charged, dude.

Oh the mess! Flour, flour everywhere!

Oh mon dear!

Delish.

One lucky family. Kalchkies (strawberry, apricot and even almond) dusted with a snow of powdered sugar.

 Do you remember these little guys? That was only two years ago!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas filled with joy, laughter and love. I will see you after the New Years.  The world didn't end, so now you can feel okay about picking up those needles and finishing those WIPS for your gift recipients.! ;)

Happy Cyber Monday!

The KUAS shop is back, after a long hiatus!
To kick off cyber Monday, I am running a 15% off sale on ALL merchandise! That's huge!!!! That includes hand-knits too! Just use the coupon code "KUASWINTER" at the checkout. This sale will run until Sunday.

Check out the shop to see hand-knits from this blog, KUAS yarn, stitch-markers, and more! I think you'll find that most of the yarn and hand-knits are affordable, for being handmade. Do you have any knitter friends or family? Maybe some of these would make great gifts!

Twilight Themed Yarns (what are left after the Craft Show):
-Twilight (lace, fingering, worsted, bulky)
-Bella ( alpaca fingering)
-Alice Cullen (worsted)
-Renesmee Cullen (lace, worsted)
-In the Meadow (alpaca fingering)
-On the beach with Jacob (bulky)

P.s, I'm "Knittyknitter" at www.knittyknitter.etsy.com.

Thanksgiving

Our family is grateful for many things: a supportive and helpful family that lives very close, that helps play or watch the boys while I teach, a home with heat (our furnace broke a couple of weeks ago! Right when it started getting cold) and a father (mine) that knows how to save us hundreds by installing the part himself, healthy boys, daily comforts and love...

I am also thankful for YOU, dear readers. I enjoy hearing how your projects turned out, or if you enjoyed a post or photo. It always makes me smile. I am very grateful for all of your support and interest in my work and blogging. I may not be the best at keeping up with blogging nowadays, and so I am happy to know that people return to visit when a post eventually makes it way into cyberville.

We enjoyed our Thanksgiving at both of our parents houses. I didn't think to capture any photos, but here is what I did with the boys (well, mostly me just tracing their hands and doing everything else myself because I personally am not ready to clean up a bottle of sprinkles all over the floor!): HAND TURKEY COOKIES! Yumm!

MATERIALS: sugar cookie dough or mix, sugar sprinkles, sugar dots, pen & cardstock paper.

Trace hand. One of my toddlers is a lefty, so I drew each hand in their writing preference. I know, I know, I had to straighten mine out as I cut!

After the dough is rolled out, cut out the template with a sharp knife.

Sprinkle each feather with a new color. Add eye dots. Sprinkle body with black or brown.

The Craft Show went fine. Ok, it was slow. VERY, painfully slow! I only had 1 customer (a lot of lurkers though!) at the beginning, and I am very grateful that she bought several skeins from me. Thank you, thank you!! It at least payed for the booth cost and some of the 5 hours of my Saturday staring at the other booths around me getting decent sale action. Most of my conversation consisted of  "Oh, that actually belongs to my neighbor, and it's $5..." when they inquired about the half crocheted towels that sat next to my merchandise (despite the fact that we had different table cloths, our tables were pushed next to eachother by the craft show committee and it was confusing to some). Those towels sold like hotcakes.
         It really was hard to see people around me with constant sales while I stood there doing my best to smile while people glanced at the table and walked right on. I did prepare myself for not having a lot of action, but really, I thought there would be at least a few costumers. I really low-balled the prices, but I had to face the fact that this isn't the place were it is appreciated. One lady actually told me that her granddaughter knit socks and she couldn't see why anyone would take the time to do that when they could but it. Walk on, lady.
         Yours truly needs to buy silk scarves to dye...obviously that's what the people want, and it doesn't take hours of hand-knitting. I've already found an online venue to purchase the blank scarves. It seems like a lot of fun!

Oh, and I'm planning on resurrecting the 'ol "KUAS Shop" on Etsy to sell what was at craft show. FYI, there will be Twilight themed yarns and also the hand knits as well. All yarns come with a free stitch-marker.

 Something just got off the press. Care to venture a guess? It's fairly obvious, I guess.

Craft Show Saturday!

After hours and hours and hours and hours...and more hours of prepping for this, the Craft Show has finally arrived! If you live in the Chicagoland area, please head on over and visit me at my KUAS booth sometime between 9am-2pm. 

WHAT'S BEING SOLD:
-Dozens of Hand-knits that you've seen from this blog (the previous post "Sashay Shawl" will be among them)
-LOTS and lots of yarn! Almost half is TWILIGHT THEMED, and I gotta say, I'm in love with the Bella alpaca blends that I have. If those don't sell, I might just save them for myself...
-Patterns
-Stitch Markers
-Owl Jewelry
-A few mini-cards

I would take a picture of the lot, but some of it is separated, and between working every second of today, and teaching and the extra stress of managing the boys all week with my husband out of the country...my stomach is in knots and I'll just have to take the photo tomorrow at the booth. I don't even think I'll eat dinner. Maybe just tea. I just have some more stitch markers to make. Maybe.

Spiral Sashay Shawlette

 

The Spiral Sashay Shawlette is complete! It came out beautifully and I plan on selling this as one of the showstoppers at my KUAS knitting booth Nov. 17 at the Craft Show. This pattern was inspired by Karinknits' Kelp Forest Shawlette, that really is nothing more than knitting with the Sashay Yarn in a circle (or spiral). I took some liberties of changing how to start the beginning of the spiral because my yarn brand was different and it formed more of a "basketball hoop" than a shawl when following her instructions to a "T." I spaced out which holes to knit in and which yarn loops to use as the spiral grew. 

Pattern: Modified Forest Kelp Shawlette.

Needles: US 11's (but the size is not crucial to the shawl, so much as to which loops you use from the yarn).

Yarn: 2 skeins of Red Heart's Sashay Yarn.

 

If you really like this yarn, and plan to use the Sashay Yarn rather than the "Katia Triana," here's what I jotted down on my Ravelry page:

"Using Sashay instead of the designer’s yarn throws the pattern off a bit, and can land you with a narrow tube for the beginning, even following the pattern/video tutorial to a “T.” Here’s my hints, after dozens of failed “tube” attempts:

At the beginning, spread open the lacey yarn and fold the beginning of the yarn in half lengthwise (hotdog style) so that the “wide band” edge is to the left. Only cast on 3 sts along the frayed edge of the eyelet fold to reduce bulk. Make sure you don’t cast on right at the frayed edge, but along the row under it…you don’t want to have those stitches ripped out by over-fraying. Then do your bind-offs to reduce it to one stitch, like the pattern asks you to.

IMPORTANT: For Sashay yarn, don’t use the very next “thin lacey loop” as working yarn. Use the second loop and later the third loop once your diameter is larger (about the 3rd bind off ring) This helps reduce rufflage. At least for my shawl. Also, bind off very loosely.

To start, I completed 13 sts worth of skipping every other “wide band” hole (if you have no clue what I'm talking about, one side is "lacey," the other side is a thicker "wide band")  instead of doing that for 10sts of every other hole.

Then I worked in the 3rd “wide band” hole for 26 sts.

Then I worked in the 4th “wide band” hole for 52 sts.

Then I worked in the 4th-5th “wide band” hole and started using the 3rd “thin lacey” loop (working yarn). Continue working the 5th "wide band" hole and 3rd "lacey loop" until you run out of yarn. "

The effect is beautiful. It's a bit of an "acquired taste," what with all of the ruffles...but even if you don't wear it, it looks beautiful drapped over something in your room (or craft room, if you're that lucky)!

BSJ 4: Halloween

Good news: the BSJ 4 is finally finished!
Bad news: Halloween is over, I only have one of these, and it fits perfectly this year!

So, it looks like I might throw this in with the other Craft Show goodies that I plan on selling. That makes around 12 hand knit items that I plan on selling!

It's a little bittersweet because I've been saving this colorway for a while and I couldn't seem to find any more of it when I went to the store a couple of years later. It really does look striking on a toddler.

Pattern: EZ's Baby Surprise Jacket (slightly tweaked)

Needles: US5 circular needles

Yarn: almost 2 skeins of Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn: Ombres" in the "Halloween" colorway. 

Mod's:  sleeve extension. 20 rows of 36 (next time: 38) stitches.

I also did some rows of solid black, but they were useless in the end. To sew the sleeves and shoulder together, I crocheted along the top (which I usually do to finish my BSJ's). It gave it this sharp black edge that's a little different than just sewing it invisibly.
Call me weird, but I think it looks kind of cool on a baby or kid.

Front View

Back View

Extended Sleeve View

My camera is much too slow, and my kids much to resistant to take a nice photo shot of mommy's hard work. Figures. Sam's pose below is actually him throwing himself on the floor in protest, in a toddler tantrum fashion. Hey, it you're down and still, mommy is going to take a shot with or without a smile!

Model: Sam

Hmm, mommy sneaks around to take a shot of Mr. Sammie playing nicely or sitting still on the couch. Quick, take a shot!

Mr. Jacob No Pants wants to get into view.

Where is Jacob in all of this? Well, Mr. No Pants would have non of this sweater-photo shoot action.  If he's not going to wear any bottoms, he's not going to put an extra layer on top.  I'm just lucky he isn't trying to remove the onesie at the moment...We've been having a lot of "accidents" lately.

Jake: Mmm...good enough to eat!

Maybe I should just use a pumpkin head as my model next time. Mr. Pumpkin doesn't move, doesn't whine and makes for a nice shot! :)

Craft Show Vendor

Saturday, November 17th, I will be one of the vendors at St. Paul's Annual Craft Show (Gurnee, IL). If you live near the Chicagoland Area, come check us out! It runs from 9am-2pm.  And guess what, a lot of items that you have seen on this blog will be for sale! I'm deciding that it's time to make room for future items, and since I haven't used these...I might as well give them to a good home (I usually just keep them around unused just in case I need to get specs on gauge or such for the pattern).

Modular Vest front: view

I plan on adding two barrel-like buttons on the top half to close the vest.

Modular Vest View: back

Sweet as Candy Baby Cardigan--I had boys. Enough said.

Wedding Shawl that I planned on wearing for my own wedding, but never did. Blog post on this from 2009.

Winter Princess Shawl (Youth to young adult size) with Kid Mohair and Malabrigo Lace.

NY Wrap featured from a 2008 KUAS club (KUAS "NY" colorway,  Fingering weight yarn in Merino Wool).

Doubled Loop Scarf- brown

Doubled Looped Scarf- off white/light blue hue

Stitch Markers in various shades and shapes.

USA colors in Fingering weight (Merino and Peruvian Wool).

Most yarn will be at a discounted rate of $18, and should be 440yds or more.

Lace Skeins (100% Merino Wool) in Spring, Twilight Book theme, Mocha, etc.

Fingering Weight Blends of Merino/nylon or Merino/silk and Merino/alpaca in all sorts of shades, including Bella Swan and Twilight Book theme color.

 There are many more items for sale that I have not listed, and the yarns being sold probably equate to 30 or so.  There's also other Twilight themed yarn skeins and bulky & worsted weight skeins that I haven't shown that I was planning on selling a long, long while back.

I've got a long way to go labeling and figuring out how much this stuff is worth, let alone what I should price it at so that some one will walk home with them. They will probaby be a steal!

Look at what I bought so that I don't just accept cash only: a Square Card Reader for my android phone. Don't you just love technology? They do take something like 2.73 percentage off your profit, but sales should be up because you're not limiting payment to only cash. And it's hard to trust checks not bouncing around this season.

Give me a shout if you live close and think you might be able to make it. It would be cool to see a blog friend there. :)