crochet | Love Is All You Knit

Feb 17 2013

Knit Spotting

Joey and I went wandering around town after brunch yesterday and happened upon a vintage shop that had tons of knitwear. Here are a few of the pieces that caught my eye.

As a child of the 80s, I can’t see this sweater and not think of Nintendo’s Duck Hunt game. I think you could have a lot of fun with this sweater vest if you had enough moxie to pull it off, though I’m not sure I would be confident enough to do it.

This sweater caught my eye because of the bold graphic diamond and zig zag patterning. I’m not so sure about what the checkered finish line and puppy dogs have to do with anything, but there they are. This one was rightly tagged as a “fun Cosby sweater.”

I love the red and grey and white combo and the nice slim silhouette of this sweater. Its a vintage University of Alabama sweater. (definitely had to google that.)

Off the wall? Off the planet more like. The label reads “Expressions by Campus” which is a fashion label from the late 60s early 70s and it seems they had a lot of interesting knit and crochet sweaters.

Jan 05 2013

2 Comments

Antics, Books, crochet, Yarn

FO: Chevron Rug

I fell pretty hard for the recent chevron trend and decided I needed a little zig-zag décor for my house. Using a rug from West Elm as my inspiration, I decided to crochet a rug.

This was my “back-burner” project over the summer as I would pick it up in between some of the other projects I had on the needles. It took a long time for me to finish something so simple, but it came out really cute. I used cotton/acrylic yarn, so it will be easy to just toss in the wash when it gets dirty…. cause somebody around here loves to dirty up my rugs!

Pattern: Slightly modified version of Sahara from the book 200 ripple stitch patterns by Jan Eaton. I crocheted 6 pattern rows before changing colors.

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease, in colors grey and white

Hook: size G 4.25 MM

Tagged acrylic, chevron, cotton, crochet, rug, zig zag

Nov 18 2012

1 Comment

Antics, Books, Cooking, crochet, Embroidery, knitting, Music, Other Crafty Things, Yarn

Pom Pom Quarterly

Have you heard of the new knitting/craft/food/drink/music/art magazine Pom Pom Quarterly yet?

I came across Pom Pom on Ravelry and was instantly smitten with what these lovely London ladies are doing; this is a beautifully designed/laid out/photographed and printed magazine that is so different than your typical knitting mag.

The patterns are interesting and ones that you’d actually want to knit AND wear and they are photographed and styled so beautifully. Plus, there are food and cocktail recipes, a bit of music love and some great articles that you want to read while snuggled under your favorite knitted throw. (That’s what I did!)

There is a lot more to this great new publication, but I don’t want to show you everything here, because I think you should hop on over and buy an issue or subscribe and support what these fabulous ladies are making. Something this great doesn’t come along too often, but I’m very glad to see that it has.

Tagged art, cocktails, cooking, crochet, embroidery, fashion, graphic design, indie, knitting, magazines, music, photography, pom pom, pom pom quarterly

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 amigurumi, elizabeth zimmerman, felted tweed, knitting, palette, rowan, shelter, vogue knitting stitchionary, yarn

Mar 04 2012

2 Comments

Antics, crochet

Sneek Peek

A little glimpse of something I’m crocheting up for my bathroom floor:

Inspired by this rug from West Elm:

Dec 04 2011

The Crafts of Others

Being back in Texas, I am around lots of crafty ladies that I haven’t seen in a while. I thought it would be fun to share with you some of the craftiness of others around me.

First up is my mother in law. She recently started making wreaths and centerpieces that are just stunning. I was the lucky recipient of this wreath. She let me pick out the baubles and then she whipped this up in an afternoon:

Next up is my sister in law, who started knitting not too long after I did and has also found her place in the crochet world. One of her specialties is customized amigurumi, and I once challenged her to make a basset hound (Henry, specifically) and she knocked my socks off with this:

And then there’s my Nana, who inspired the beginning all of my crafty endeavors. After reading my blog post where I talked about her teaching me to embroider when I was young, she was inspired to pick up her embroidery needle again. She very sweetly gifted me a set of pillowcases that I will treasure always:

My mom was also inspired by that same blog post– she found the piece of embroidery that was my first foray into all things crafty. The piece of embroidery that I wasn’t sure still existed. I’m sure glad she saved this for me.

I love having inspiration everywhere, and inspiring others in turn.

Jul 25 2010

3 Comments

Books, crochet, Dogs

FO: Market Bag

I finished off the crochet market bag last night and decided to take it for a test run to the coffee shop this morning filled with just the essentials- plastic baggies for doggie doo-ty, keys, wallet, sunglasses, and a knitting book. I haven’t tested it yet with heavy grocery items like fruits and vegetables, though I know it will stretch a little more when filled with those items.

Pattern: Rust Goes Green by Jill Chatelain (slightly modified)

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cotton DK, four balls

4.00mm crochet hook

Overall, I think this turned out pretty well. It was a quick and fun project, perfect for the summertime and I think it resulted in a pretty cute bag.

Jul 11 2010

2 Comments

Antics, crochet

Market Flop

I finished the body of the crochet market bag I’ve been working on, but I don’t really like it as much as I thought I would. I added in a few single crochet stripes before the large single crochet border and somewhere in those stripes, I must have added stitches because the top of the bag flares out in a way that really bugs me.

I’m thinking about ripping back a few rows and just doing the solid top single crochet border without the stripe rows. I think I’ll use the bag more if I’m not concerned about all the extra flared floppiness.

In sweater design news, I’m currently contemplating exchanging some yarn I bought a while ago with a different pattern in mind. I have 14 balls of Knit Picks Swish Superwash, but they’re in two different colors. I think I want to send them back and get a non-superwash yarn for this sweater. Might be time to try out their City Tweed.

Jul 03 2010

2 Comments

crochet, Yarn

Waiting For Inspiration

Do you ever have that feeling where you want to create something great, but you just can’t seem to wrap your head around what exactly? I’ve been having that feeling the past month or so. Lately I’ve been too busy apartment-hunting, then packing/moving/unpacking to spend much time knitting. But I’ve definitely been thinking about it.

I’m sort of tossing around the idea of designing my own cardigan. And by “designing” I mean just making up a pattern for a basic wear-with-everything cardigan. Maybe something with a deep v-neck and some waist shaping. Nothing too complex for my first foray into knitting without a pattern. I’m still waiting for that “this is it moment.” Until then, I’m keeping my hands busy with a little warm weather appropriate cotton and a crochet hook.