Author Archives: kimidawn24

Sep 06 2012
1 Comment
Antics, Dogs, Family, Hats, knitting, Music, Texas

Hill Country Holiday

Joey is recording the new Israel Nash Gripka album so we are out in Texas Hill Country for the week.  There are eight of us holed up in a big ranch house surrounded by tree-covered hills and cacti for miles.

The cathedral-ceilinged living area has been turned into a recording studio, where the music goes late into the night.  Last night I sat in a hammock on the patio and listened to the sounds and watched the moon rise.

I have some knitting- a simple slouchy hat- but like me, this knit is taking it easy this week.  There are good times to be had, pools to swim in, trails to explore, and music to be made.

 

Aug 29 2012
4 Comments
Antics, Books, crochet, Dogs, knitting, The Beekeeper's Quilt, Yarn

Stash Party

I woke up Saturday morning dreaming of yarn.  I had an overwhelming desire to go through my yarn stash for inspiration, so I decided to do a little reorganizing while I was at it.  I usually keep everything in shoebox-sized boxes from ikea inside my armoire, but keeping everything contained in boxes makes it easy to forget some of the goodies that lurk under those lids.

I still have some yarn in boxes (the brown and white  flowered boxes in the background of the top shelf), but I decided to display my favorite yarns front and center, so I can be inspired.  I open these doors every day and smile while contemplating what I want to knit with each skein on that shelf.  I have many colors of Palette, which are lined up and at the ready for all the hexipuffs I’ve been knitting for my Beekeeper’s quilt; a skein of Shelter, leftover from the Guernsey Wrap I knitted last year which is dying to be knitted into a tweedy beanie; a luscious skein of Jade Sapphire cashmere, waiting for something that is worthy of cashmere; and lots of soft wonderfully tweedy Rowan Felted Tweed, which I am completely in love with and can’t wait to knit with again.

The bottom shelf holds the fabulous crocheted Henry that my sister in law made for me and the panda bear I made after I forced her to show me how to do amigurumi.  I have a basket full of hexipuffs, and some of my favorite knitting books– lots of Elizabeth Zimmerman and a few Vogue Knitting Stitchionaries for good measure.

I’d love to know what yarns and books you’d bring to a stash party.  Please let me know in the comments or post a link to your blog post if you’d like to join in and share.

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
Aug 18 2012
3 Comments
Antics, knitting

The Little Things

My Joey has been working really hard to accomplish one of his dreams- he’s building a recording studio with one of his close friends- and it’s ALMOST finished.  My favorite part is the interior walls, which are covered in reclaimed wood from shipping pallets and planks of cedar.

I’ve been dreaming up ways to get some knitted goodness into this studio, so when Joey asked me to knit some coasters I jumped on the chance. I looked around on Ravelry and decided upon the pattern Calla Coasters by The Purl Bee. I knitted these two with simple Sugar ‘n Cream cotton and sewed faux leather on for the backing so that they’ll look right at home in this wood-filled studio.

 

Tagged , , , , ,
Aug 05 2012
1 Comment
Antics, knitting

Mug Shot

Image

My new favorite “sunday morning coffee and knitting” mug.

Jul 23 2012
2 Comments
Antics, knitting

Bunny Watching

Its been bunny-watching central around our little house lately.  I had to pause before pulling the car into the driveway the other evening to let two silly buns chase each other across the street and I usually get a cute bunny-grass-snarfing glimpse or two any time I peek out the little window over our kitchen sink.  Joey and I have taken to sending each other text message updates on what the bunnies are up to when one of us is not at home. “Bunny is out front” was one I got the other day as he was leaving for work.

Bunny-watching, it seems, is pretty hard work when it comes to capturing and sharing these sweet little moments with others.  I tried so hard to take a video to send to Joey when he was in Sweden a few weeks ago.  Two buns were just chasing each other in circles around our back yard for almost an hour.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t get close enough to capture the cuteness.  And wouldn’t you know, even knitted bunnies are hard to snap shots of.  I was only able to get two quick pics before these little buns hopped off a new home with my niece and nephews.

The one on the right thinks he hears a camera clicking in the distance

Hightailing it outta there

Pattern: Tiny Baby Bunnies by Anna Hrachovec of Mochimochi Land

Tagged , , ,
Jun 24 2012
3 Comments
Cowls/Scarves, knitting, Yarn

Ships and Seaside Cowl

As the sidewalks here in Texas start to sizzle, I begin to prepare for cooler days which seem so far away.  Cooler days when my beautiful new Ships and Seaside Cowl will keep cool breezes from chilling my bones.

I chose colors that have me envisioning walking along a foggy beach in late fall as a salty breeze has me snuggling just a little further down into this warm wooly cowl.

Knit with Rowan Felted Tweed DK in Camel, Clay, Maritime, and Seasalter

a Tiny Owl Knits pattern

May 20 2012
7 Comments
Antics, Dogs, knitting, The Beekeeper's Quilt

Latest and Greatest

I’ve been embellishing a few of my hexipuffs and thought I would share my latest and greatest of the bunch.

Image

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
May 13 2012
7 Comments
knitting, NYC, Texas, Uncategorized

The Fiver

Well hug your hanks and snuggle your skeins because I have a surprise finished knit to show you!  May I present The Fiver:

When it comes to a sweater that was five years in the making, all I can say is that this baby has some stories.  I cast on back in March of 2007,  thinking it seemed like a million stitches since it was also my first time working a big project with fingering weight yarn.  I knitted slowly through the bottom portion of the sweater over the next few months, but eventually got bored with it and put it aside for newer, easier-to-finish projects.  When we moved to NYC that next summer, it was boxed up with my yarn and made the journey with us.

I pulled it out of that box just after Christmas 2008, at a time when all I wanted to do was knit on something, but I couldn’t afford to buy yarn for new projects.  It was our first winter in New York, and it was a cold one.  I remember sitting next to a space heater with Henry, knitting away at the sleeves, wondering if I would ever finish it.

I did finish the sleeves that winter, but I was never happy with my attempts at seaming and kept ripping it out.  The sweater and sleeves went back into a box and were ignored for many more months.  Again, they were boxed up with my yarn and made the journey with us back to Texas last fall.

I was chatting with a fellow knitter one day at work and happened to mention this project that  I was always agonizing over in the back of my mind, that sweater that was completely finished except for a few buttons and some shoulder seaming and she just looked at me and said “I’ll seam it for you.”  And sure enough, she did.  And just like that, this sweater that I had put so many stitches, so many hours of my life into was finished.

I used to be more of a product knitter than a process knitter, but it seems the tides are turning.  I really like the idea of looking at a knitted piece that took a long time to complete and remembering all the moments of my life that have been knitted into every stitch.

Apr 07 2012
2 Comments
Antics, Cooking, Other Crafty Things

Naturally Dyed Eggs

I found a way to make beautiful, naturally-dyed eggs.

Take some small cuttings from around your home- I found lots of clover and little blooms near mine.  Make sure to use small plants that will flatten easily onto the eggs.  I dampened my eggs so that the leaves would stick nicely. Use raw eggs, as they will cook and dye at the same time.

Cut a small square of pantyhose and stretch around your egg, wrapping the excess fabric with a rubber band.

Cover the bottom of a stock pot with the outer peel of a few yellow onions.  Carefully lay your eggs on top and cover with another layer of onion peel.  Add enough cold water to cover the top of your eggs, add a few tablespoons of vinegar and a few shakes of paprika.  Heat until just barely boiling- you don’t want your eggs moving around too much, and simmer for fifteen minutes.  Remove from heat and let sit for another fifteen minutes.  Rinse with cold water and carefully remove the wrappings.

Share with someone you love and take time to notice the beauty that this time of year brings.

Tagged , , ,
Mar 25 2012
4 Comments
Antics, knitting, Texas, The Beekeeper's Quilt

Puff ‘n Fluff

One of my favorite things about being out of the city is enjoying all the woodland creatures that inhabit the area around our little house.  On any given Saturday morning, you can sit by my living room window (while knitting, of course) and watch all sorts of squirrels running back and forth between our big tree and our neighbors’ trees.  Those squirrels get up to all sorts of mischief, and they’ve even worn a little squirrel path through the grass in our yard.

But as cute as those squirrels are, they’ve got nothing on the bunnies.  Oh, the bunnies!  I can’t tell you how cute these little brown bunnies are.  I see one or two almost every night as I let Henry out before bed.  They usually scamper about when I open the door, but that just means I get to see their fluffy white tails as they hop away into the darkness.

Speaking of fluffy puffy cuteness, I’ve been quietly working on lots of little hexipuffs for my Beekeeper’s Quilt, and they’re multiplying like…. well, you know.

Tagged , , ,
← Older posts
Newer posts →