*Insert big girly scream here*

I recently got engaged to a very awesome man. I'm so lucky, and very excited! To make for an interesting story to tell people a postal worker stole my engagement rings out of the mail. I decided to use the incident as an excuse to knit (because I really need a reason...). Until the new rings arrive (sometime in October hopefully), I knitted myself a placeholder. I used Habu textiles %100 Ramie, and 0000 needles.

Above are the rings we're waiting on. The Garnet is my engagement ring and the Onyx one is for funsies. We ordered the ring in the inset image later to stack next to the garnet, to make it asymmetrical. They were designed by Blanca Monrós Gómez, a designer I've admired from a far for a while. She has been really great through the whole ordeal. She FedExed James the wax molds and sent an image of the rings she had taken prior to shipping, for him to have something to propose with.

Berry Hats

This pattern is a mash up of Michele Sabatier's Berry Baby Hat and the Greenleaf Baby Hat, by Evelyn Uyemura. The purple one is toddler size and the pink one is for a newborn.

To combine the patterns I used the instructions for the Berry Baby Hat up to the last 4 stitches. Before I started the icord, I K2tog one more time to end with 3 stitches on the needle. Then I proceeded with the 1/2 inch icord and the greenleaf pattern to finish. Voila!

Exposing my yarn in public

From waiting in line at the DMV to Stern Grove concert series, San Francisco provides many opportunities for knitting on the go.

The picture on the left was taken in Sonoma. Our friend Robin, she's a crocheter, visited and requested a trip to wine country. Beautiful scenery, great weather, good company and tasty wine plus knitting?!? I could have stayed all day.

The picture on the right is from our favorite seasonal concert series in the city, Stern Grove. Robin was gracious enough to teach me some of her crochet skills while we baked in the sun waiting for the show. That piece ended up being a little basket. I want to create more out of some different materials. The one above was from some remnant linen I had lying around. I'll post them eventually.

Off to school

A friend of mine is headed off to grad school next week. So, I'm sending her off with this pencil bag to remember me by. Even though she's only going to school down the road, I have a feeling we will see a little less of her for the next 2 years. Good luck Jillian!!

I used a tutorial, by Anna at twelve22, to make my bag. I sketched the pencil on the bag using a fabric marker before embroidering it. I cut the fabric before embroidered the pencil, and though it worked this time I will probably embroider then cut next time.

For the new Veselka

Finally, something knitted on my knitting blog... This is a blanket for my cousin's new baby. I found the pattern, by Genia Panck, on Ravelry. The yarn is Lion Brand Cotton-Ease which is a poly-cotton blend that is machine washable and dryable. The final measurement is about 36" in diameter. This project would be great for a newbie knitter if they could get a little help with the first few rows. The blanket is a cinch to knit from there.

The border is 2 rows of seed stitch then a row of YO, k2tog. Then 2 more rows of seed stitch and binding off in pattern.

Renegade Craft Fair: San Francisco

I attended the Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco for the second year in a row this past weekend, and saw lots of new stuff and talent as well as some favorites from last year. I purchased more this year than last as well...

Above are some of the standouts, and are things I would have liked to purchase or did. Regardless I will definitely be keeping my eye on them for new stuff.

Baby showers

Above is a baby shower invitation. The event is going to be held at the Chocolate bar in Houston, Texas. Yum! The babies room is going to be safari themed. Congratulations Kay!

Albright/Wamsley Wedding

Below are the invitations and various collateral pieces I designed for the Albright/Wamsley wedding. Not only were the bride and groom awesome clients, the bride is also my sister.  They wanted "rustic elegance with a laid back feel", and they achieved it beautifully. My part in the wedding, as well as from Maid of Honor, was designing anything that needed to be printed. Aside from illustrating the birds which remind me of my sister, my favorite part of the project were the place cards which doubled as wedding gifts. 

All of the pictures below were taken by the very talented wedding photographer Laura Burlton. Check out her stuff!

Save the Date (magnet)

The photo for these save the dates was taken by the grooms mother, Nancy Wamsley, who is also an artist. I created the artwork.

Invitation 

RSVP 

Rehearsal Dinner Invitation

The rehearsal dinner was at the grooms parent's house. BBQ was the main course. 

Programs

The programs were printed, cut and drilled by Copy Dot Com, then hand assembled. Copy Dot Com did a great job and were really easy to work with. 

Place Cards

The leaves for these were cut from a template I designed. The names and numbers were hand written, then assembled.

Cake Art

Bessie's Bakery used some of the artwork from the invitations on the cake. The cake was carrot cake with cream cheese icing, and it was DELICIOUS.

Hey there cupcake!

Making this card was a lot of fun, and creating it reminded me of a fuzzy memory from my childhood of cards that had images on them and pre-punched holes that we could "sew". 

Project notes: When I make cards like this in the future, I will construct them a little differently the inside paper was too thin to glue of the back of an embroidery piece. 

Apron Daze

I have been working on this project for a while now. I worked with Cayson Designs to first, create the print for the aprons, then to design the promotional postcard. It's been a shift from my usual work and I love it. 

Magical Mittens

I made these for a friend who requested a pair of "magical" fingerless mitts after she saw my last pair so she too could painlessly detach her thumb. I included instructions for how to detach the digit w/ the mittens

I created the pattern, and used some yarn from my stash.

Fingerless mitts

Fingerless Mittens. Really easy project. I used the decrease bind off method on the hand part for a little more elasticity. These are based on Vanilla fingerless mittens by Elinor Gray.

The grey yarn is Blue Sky Alpaca, Alpaca and Silk, from a previous sock project, and the pink, I believe, is a Rowan yarn, that was a gift from a friend. Thanks Abbey!

Clapotis

My mom bought me some Alpaca yarn for Christmas last year from the Ranch of the Oaks farm. I spent over a year trying to find the perfect project for it, and I finally found it in Clapotis by Kate Gilbert on Knity.com. I decided to make it a scarf instead of a shawl. The finished piece is 60" x 9", and is full of twisty stretchy springy goodness.

Orange study

It was a busy Christmas

The "Mustard Scarf" by Jane Richmond was a gift for James mother. It was a fun project and quick to knit up and I used Malabrigo kettle dyed wool. The hats are the "Really warm hat" by Melissa LaBarre. These were also a simple project that were fun to knit up.

For some of our friends we made a mulled wine mix based on a recipe by Ina Garten and, tied it to a bottle of wine. These were easy and created the need to buy a Clover pom pom maker. I now have one in almost every size. Pom Pom makers are easy enough to create at home with some cardboard, but I felt for the quantities I was making the store bought version were worth the extra cost to save a little time.

When we watched the Family Guy rendition of Star Wars with my sister she found Cleveland's character R2-D2 particularly entertaining. So for Christmas I embroidered her this picture and stretched it over a canvas to make a wall hanging. My favorite part was creating his 'fro out of french knots. I used a screen shot from the movie, traced it and transferred it on to the fabric using a heat transfer pencil then retraced it with a fabric marker.