Spring is in the Air!

The weather has been so perfect lately in Vancouver, 15 degrees and sunny! Couldn't ask for a better way to spend the long weekend. I took my knitting and crocheting outside for the first time this year, sat in the garden with a lovely cup of tea. In doing so I was inspired to finish a tea cozy that I had been slowly plugging away at. I turned the tea cozy into a rose garden using crocheted roses and a green, knitted cozy body. I'm officially bi-craftual! Combining both knitting and crocheting, who would have thought! My inspiration led to the completion of this lovely tea cozy.

 

 

The pattern is based off of the Seed Stitch Cozy pattern by Churchmouse Yarn and Teas. The roses are based of a tutorial that was completed by Annies Attic

Tea Anyone??

I decided to try making a knitted tea cozy the other day, i'm a very new knitter (as in.. a month) but I was feeling ambitious! So I looked up a pattern and fell in love with one by Churcmouse Yarns and Teas. It is a lovely seed stitch pattern with a cute little I-cord top. I purchased the pattern and realized I didn't have the right needles for the project, I needed a set of DPNs (Double Pointed Needles). This started to make me nervous, I had never used DPNs before and if you aren't familiar with them they are pretty intimidating... But I was determined to make this pattern so I walked up to my local yarn store, Three Bags Full, and picked out gorgeous hand-dyed yarn and the appropriate needles. I'm happy to say that my mission was a success and I was able to produce the cutest tea cozy I have ever seen. I couldn't be more excited, I think it kind of looks like a delicious blueberry. What do you think??

Hairband Phase!

So I've been on a real hairband kick lately. They work up so quickly and feel so 'springy'. I saw a pattern designed by Yuliya Tkacheva and I fell in love. Her designs are so beautiful, but many of them a slip-stitch crochet, something I haven't yet ventured into... Seeing her designs has inspired me though and I may just have to give it a spin.

Anyways, on to the patterns! So far i've made 2 of the 4 Easy Headbands and they have turned out really cute. I've been using a 2.75mm hook and some light weight cotton, crocheting really tightly then lightly pinning/blocking the finished product. Used elastic cord to close the headband and voila! The perfect spring time headbands. How cute are these??

Guess Who's Knitting?!

That's right, i'm learning to knit! I'm teaching myself continental style knitting using youtube videos and ravelry as my resources. I've finished my first 'real' project and i'm pretty stocked about it. I love how it turned out! This cowl taught me how to knit and purl in the round, how to use circular needles and of course how to fix dropped stitches. The pattern I used was the Purl Ridge Scarf which is perfect for a new knitter! What do you think?