In which I begin to donate knit items

Sorry for the bad picture quality--I had to take these at night + we have terrible lighting in our house...daytime or not!

I am a bit shamed to admit that I have yet to donate a knit item to charity since I took up the craft.  But, in honor of full disclosure, there's the truth.  Numerous times I have thought about it, planned to do it, but have never followed through.  Well, let 2012 be the year this begins! 

I saw a request for knit scarves for the Vermont Special Olympics through a local craft store called Creative Habitat.  The S.O. was looking for knitters to make solid red or red and white scarves, so I decided to join in.  I got inspired through numerous Ravelry (are you a member?) patterns, but ended up choosing a ruffled scarf.  I found some modifications that I liked through a fellow Ravelry member's project and used those modifications on the pattern.  

I love the way it turned out.  It was a relatively quick knit and it was fun to watch the spirals develop.  The only weird thing was that you knit it length-wise, so you end up with a ton of stitches on your needles at one point.  Thank goodness for circulars!  

Christmas is almost here...

...so I thought I should blog about Thanksgiving ASAP!  We woke up to snow, which is ironic considering I don't think we'll even have a flurry for Christmas.  The holiday weekend was spent with Mr. P's family in Springfield.  We rocked out (correction, I rocked out) to Christmas carols on the way down, then ate lots of good food and hung out with fun people.  Including our super cute 1 yr old niece!  (For which you'll just have to take my word considering I didn't take one picture of her the whole time we were there!  (Bad auntie!)

View down our driveway

Car ride fun

Christmas Trees on the move 

Recent Knits

These are some recent completed knits.  The scarf was started in July when Dale and I were living at the summer camp and all my other yarn was in storage.  I found a yarn shop in Rutland and this pattern online--it was really fun to knit!  The lace came out so pretty, but if I were to make it again, I would definitely use at least a skein and a half.  This scarf is almost a tad too short. 

This second pattern was one that I picked up at the Vogue Knitting Conference I attended in NYC last winter.  The yarn is a soft alpaca and I couldn't resist rubbing it against my face while I was working.  It is multi-purpose in that you can wear it as both a cowl and a head covering.  I think it will be especially useful here in VT this winter! 

Has the cold weather got you knitting up anything lately?  Which of the above would you prefer to don?  

  

Sweater I've been meaning to blog about...

I finished this sweater back in April, but have been lazy about posting it.  It is called the Oatmeal Pullover and is designed by Jane Richmond.  She is a young, hip knitter/designer with lots of fun patterns.  I have many of them in my Ravelry favorites! 

This sweater was fun to knit, but I did have some issues with the sleeves.  They don't quite fit 100% right at the shoulder, and then I didn't quite knit them as long as I wanted.  I also didn't knit the body long enough either.  Normally I have issues with garments being too long in the torso and then they create a big bulge over my jeans/belts/etc.  Ugh...I hate that!  So I decided to knit this to the right length for me, but it ended up too short!  However, for my first adult sweater, I guess it didn't come out too bad.  At least I love the color.  I would definitely try this one again, but with a different yarn.  I wasn't a fan of the way the Lion Brand Chunky came out in this pattern.  

Here are some pics:



Trying it on for size...before sleeves were added



Completed!

And here is another blogger/knitting superstar, SouleMama, who also made the Oatmeal.  I LOVE her version--I find myself coveting the color and the yarn. 

Snug as a Bug Sleepsack

One fun thing about knowing lots of people having babies is that I get to try out all of the cute new baby knitting patterns that I find!  This Snug as a Bug pattern came from the blog minimalist knitter.  This blog is a part of my Google Reader.  The patterns and philosophy of Robyn, the author, are great --buy yarn only when you need it for a project; use up the leftover bits to make squares to send to a charity that turns them into blankets; knit projects to donate; etc.

 

This was a fun pattern and it used up some of my leftover bits of yarn from other projects.  I absolutely fell in love with the color combination that was used.  And so did Mr. P--he even (gasp!) requested a sweater out of the colors!  (gasp!)  This from the man who never wanted me to make him anything.  Guess I have a summer project. 

 

 

 

This particular sleepsack was given to my cousin Amy (and husband Eric) to welcome the arrival of their new little boy, Lucas!  His pics show him to be a cutie, but I'll have to verify that one for myself (such a hardship).  :) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny...

Some friends of ours from church just had their baby, but quite early.  The little guy was under 2 lbs!  I can't imagine how itsy bitsy he must be!  To keep that baby boy head warm, I made this:



Etsy Shop

New photo notecards and flower pins are being uploaded to the Etsy shop!  Come take a peek at the new offerings: 

Contemporary Pluss Creations Etsy Shop



Burgundy Fingerless Gloves

I'm loving this most recent pair of fingerless gloves that I knit up (although can you call them "fingerless" if they have a thumb hole?  or is that ok since a thumb is a thumb, not a finger.  can anyone weigh in on this?)
Anyway, back to the gloves.  They are a deep maroon and I'm loving the color and style so much.  This pair is for a co-worker, but I've got a plan in the works for myself in a light grey.  Can't wait to see how they pan out.  Am in love with the extra length on the arm.  The pair that I made in the fall, while still useful and sylish, seem to end up bunching up around my wrist (kind of like knee high pantyhose around your ankle).  I think these will work out much better. 

ETSY opening

Did you all see the announcement about the opening of my Etsy shop?  You don't want to miss out on the discount.  It only lasts until Saturday!!!

ETSY!!!

I'm very excited to announce....

the opening of my ETSY SHOP!!!!!!

Check it out at http://www.etsy.com/shop/contemporarypluss

This is cause for celebration, folks!

And for you, the loyal reader, I'm offering the following deal:  from now through Saturday, receive 10% off any item in the shop by entering the coupon code "SHOPOPENING" at checkout. 

Happy Browsing...and Shopping!

*Continue to be on the lookout--more items to come*
  

Off the needles

An overdue update on some of my Christmas knitting... 

Here are some other projects that became gifts:

This is our niece Madeleine sporting her new wrap sweater.

This was the year of the cowl.  I made one for several of the lovely ladies on my list. 

Recent knits, not associated with Christmas:

 Made to order mittens to match the fruit hats

 Fingerless gloves for a co-worker's daughter

New hat for me; also made a matching cowl after I had fallen in love with the Christmas present ones

Another hat and cowl set (again for me) made from yarn bought in Switzerland!

**Still need to post the pic of Mr.P's new winter hat, but I haven't been able to take it hostage long enough to snap a picture.**



Vogue Knitting

Going HERE this weekend. 
       Did I mention it's in NYC???


Should be a blast. 

Get to hang out at my bro and sis-in-law's. 

And see my puppy "nephew". 

Learn new knitting tips and tricks.

And meet up with an old friend! 

Will have an update upon return.

Plus I still owe you a Switzerland update...and Christmas gifting update...looks like you'll have a lot to read over the next week!

Did you know it must be conference weekend?  Some of my other favorite bloggers are going to conferences as well:  Marta, ALT Summit; Katie, Blissdom. 

Are any of you going to conferences?

Have a great weekend all! 

Do tell, what are YOUR weekend plans?

Santa Baby

This is our new niece Riley who was born in November.  She is stinkin' cute, especially as Santa.  This was her Christmas present that I knit for her.  It looks cute here.  But in real life, if you don't fold the top of the hat over, it starts to look a bit strange.  I invented the hat as I went along.  Not such a good idea.  I decreased too much too soon and then knit a really long top piece.  This will definitely be amended if there is a Santa Hat number 2!!