Daisy Hats

Spring is coming or at least I really want it to! And it's probably this wishful thinking that produced these hats: Mom's former assistant just had twin girls this past week and these cute little numbers were there to welcome them into the world. I knit them in Knit Picks Comfy worsted and Knit Picks Main line. I don't usually like cotton yarns, but the hint of acrylic in comfy actually makes it easy to work with.
The pattern, however, was not very fun to knit. I really don't like projects with a lot of sewing or finishing and this one required that the petals be knit separately and sewn onto the top. It was a bit of a pain for little kiddie hats and I don't think I'll be making them again. At least not in the same way.

They are awfully cute, though. Color is truer in this second picture.

In other news, Walker and I made it to NC only this past weekend. The snow storm the weekend before prevented us from getting any further south than Baltimore. Not a good omen, in my opinion. Last weekend's visit was much more positive, however. Charlotte was lovely, and we did make some important job connections, but it doesn't look like there will be any openings for us in the immediate future.

We're going to keep plugging away at it, of course, but for right now, we think we're going to stay in the Portland area. Rather than beat our heads against a brick wall in NC, we think we'll continue to gain experience here and take a couple of accounting or investment classes to increase our marketability. It's a little disappointing, yes, but much much better than rushing into something that coule turn out to be a terrible mistake.

Who knows, though? Next week I could find some perfect opportunity at a bank in Charlotte and we'll move in April, but the chances are much better that we won't move again until fall.

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

-Allie

Things are changing

So by now I'm sure most of you have heard that Walker and I are trying to orchestrate a move to North Carolina. In fact, this weekend, we're flying down there to scope out a few apartments and meet with some job contacts. If all goes well, we'll be down here in March, which is really really coming up fast. If all doesn't go well, then I don't know what we're going to do, so keep your fingers crossed.

As far as the job things go, Walker is still looking to pursue a legal career (which is one of the reasons we're looking to move to NC now rather than later). But, as I'm sure you've all heard, I've been turned off quite a bit by the legal profession and am looking to transfer into the financial sector. Wish us luck--we're probably going to need it!

And now, knitting news. I know I neglect this blog and I'm really sorry that I do. I think the reason is that I wait until I have pictures to show and since I'm often way too lazy to take pictures, the projects pile up and things get rather daunting. So I resolve to update this thing much more often, with or without pictures. Also, no more than one project per post. It's getting out of control. Further, once I come up with a new name, I intend to move this blog. Blogger won't let me change the user to my new email address and it's a bit of a PITA to keep logging into old email. I'll let you know and leave the forwarding information on this blog when/if that happens.

Progress toward the etsy shop is plugging along. I hadn't been very inspired lately, but I have 2.5 hats that I think might sell, so hopefully soon I'll be posting about my Grand Opening! This is another incentive for switching the blog: I hope to link the two in a feeble attempt to generate sales. We'll see how that goes...

Today's project: Spiral Boot Socks!

I finished the first one ages ago and set the other aside so that I could finish my Christmas knitting. I really like this yarn, Lion Brand Superwash Merino. It's about the only Lion Brand yarn that I like and it was a royal pain to acquire, but for these socks, it was worth it.

This pattern was a joy to knit. Easy, but not too easy and kept me interested the whole time. The only problem is that I wish instead of the lacy edging that I had used ribbing because they have a tendency to fall down. Maybe the boss is right and I am too skinny. If my calves were meatier, I wouldn't have this problem...

They are super soft, though and I love wearing them. I may make them again, just shorter next time.

Happy New Year!

Sorry I've been so late with this post, but here, finally, are our Christmas stockings:
They are mostly based on designs by Judy's Colors, but since she charges $82 for a kit and does not sell the patterns separately, I was forced to improvise. Using an online chart maker, designs from Judy and some Scandanavian mitten patterns, along with alphabet charts from this blog, I made my own stocking pattern.
I made Walker's first, using his favorite green as the main color. For the yarn, I used Knit Picks Swish DK, a very soft merino yarn. I figured since we're going to be using these for a long time, I could splurge a little.
I really love the way the trees turned out. They look great in white on the green.I was not as happy with the way his name turned out. "Walker" was just too long for the space provided. I probably could have gone with a different script look, but I really liked this font. Oh well!

For mine, I used MY favorite color as the main color and made it kind of the opposite of Walker's. Where he has snowflakes, I have trees and vice versa. I really like my snowflakes, but am not as happy with the way my foot turned out. I should probably have just striped it the way I did Walker's. It wouldn't look so uneven.That said, I love love love the way my name turned out. "Allie" was just the right length for the space provided and I think it looks great!I finished them both just in time for our trip to GA so we were able to use them on our first Christmas morning as a married couple. This was also my first Christmas away from my family, ever. I was a little worried about how I would handle it at first, but I had a really good time in GA. Walker's family tried very hard to make me feel welcome and at home there. I am very lucky in the in-law department. I had a truly blessed Christmas with them.

One quick afterthought: It's been getting very cold here in Maine in the last month or so, what with all the snow and everything. I decided that I didn't like the hat I made for myself last year, so I frogged it and used the yarn to make another Jacques Cousteau hat for myself.It fits me much better than the previous one did, which is importand to keep the snow away from my little ears! It's also made of my favorite material, alpaca and silk, so it's super soft!

Since I'm all done with Christmas knitting now, I am starting to think about opening an Etsy shop to market my skills. I've been reading a lot about it and many of the people say that it's a lot of work to get your name out there and make a living. I don't know how much energy I'm willing to expend tweeting and the like to get an Etsy shop going, so for now I'm going to work on making an inventory and then seeing how far word of mouth can go. I'll let you all know how that progresses and when/if I make my grand opening! I guess can be one of my New Year's resolutions: try to market my knitting skills to make a little side cash. Wish me luck!

-Allie