Before and After

Our cabin is ready and mostly on budget! We closed on it in November and have finally updated it. It took a while with two kiddos and a dog getting in the way. We finally split the final duties and B went up one day and I went up the other because it is too impossible lugging all of us up there. It would seem I'd just get into a project and MiniMe would ask me for a snack and then I'd have to nurse. IMPOSSIBLE. B spent all day yesterday finishing up and I spent all day today cleaning. Here are some before and after pics. We tried to keep the colors neutral as possible since we're going to rent this in the summers to vacationers.

Master Bedroom Before:



Master Bedroom After:




Guest Bedroom Before:



Guest Bedroom After:




Kitchen Before:





Kitchen After:





Living Room Before:



Living Room After:



Bathroom Before:



Bathroom After:




Whew! We're tired. This transformation took 14 trips through the long canyon to deliver new furniture, paint, dishes, pictures, beds, mattresses, etc. Our goal was to be done by the new year. We made it!

And now, just because they're so adorable to me, here are my precious little kiddos this am. Don't they look so much alike? They are so sweet and happy. I wish had some pjs with feet. Too cute.

Felted Purse #3

Hope your Christmas was very merry! We had a wonderful one here. We have a lot of snow, which normally wouldn't bother me but it is kicking my booty to have two little ones now. I absolutely dred the smallest of outings--bank, grocery store, post office. ARGH!!!! MiniMe stained her cute corduroy pants while trying to get in the car by setting her knee down on the oily side of the car. And I almost slipped while carrying MiniB while trying to hold MiniMe's hand and some packages. It is enough to make me avoid going out altogether. How do people with 3+ kids handle it? I shouldn't complain because we have 300+ days of sunshine here but that is probably why I'm so grouchy. I am not used to having to bundle up so much to go out with the kids. And it is so cold that our dog's paws freeze when he goes out. He crouches down and won't get up poor guy. I had a brilliant idea to put some socks on him. Uh, duh, he lost my socks in the snow. What was I thinking? I thought they'd stay on his feet. You can imagine what my husband said when he saw our dog wearing socks. I should have listened.

Ok, as promised, here is Leslie Anne. A tall purse, Leslie Anne is a snap to knit. I have visions of using Leslie Anne to carry my baguette, cheese, grapes, and wine to a wonderful romantic picnic. Ha! For now Leslie Anne will have to hold diapers, wipes, and diaper rash cream. Leslie Anne is the outcome of my original idea from this post.

Ok, I'm off. Have a good New Year. Go USC! Fight On!

Ruby

This is Ruby. She's named after my great grandmother who lived to be 93 years old. Because miters are a timeless classic, it seemed a fitting name since my grandma was too. I have quite a few memories of her. She died when I was seven.
You might recall my miter phase where I was going miter crazy along with everyone else following Cara. Anyway, one night while knitting miters and watching tv with BigB he asked me if I was knitting a miter purse. It had never even crossed my mind! Inspiration! I wasn't sure though how I could make the miter my own. I had been using MDK's pattern. I've worked in publishing for more than a decade now and I absolutely support the pursuits of designers who want their design ideas not to be copied. It's very controversial and there is such a fine line in knitting. I had to adjust the miter square pattern anyway because it was too small for the size of bag I wanted and I needed more stripes. But I wouldn't feel good about incorporating my adjusted miters into purse form until I went to the source. So, I wrote Kay Gardiner at MDK. She was very helpful and informative. She said she didn't make copyright claim to the miter as they've been around for quite awhile in many forms. She agreed that there is a fine line but said that fashion design is all about recycling, reinterpreting, and reapplying a limited number of elements that are out there in the world and in effect belong to everybody. She also said that she was glad to see that I felted the miter because she was unsure whether they felted square and was glad she now had the answer (I had emailed her some images). So, I could proceed and sleep peacefully at night.
As with Ashley, I knit Ruby in sections. So, again, more lengths of #7 circulars are required. But I've used my #7 in various lengths for so many baby blankets that I don't have to make any apologies about owning so many.
I've made Ruby in black too. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new Grayson E. leather handles that are out there now (wish I had a link but don't). Take a look at black Ruby.

I call Ruby the hip hippy bag because it has that hippy boho kind of look to me. Ruby is a very roomy purse. I love the size. You can find the Ruby pattern at Stripes-N-Polka Dots.

The Ashley Bag

Ashley is cute. Do you think so too? The idea for Ashley stemmed from all the emails I received saying how much you liked Sophia Cate but did I have another round purse. I also get a lot of compliments on my ruffles. Wa la! Ashley.

Ashley is knit in sections. I think I've stumbled on some unconventional knitting practices in developing Ashley because in order to connect the sections you do have to keep one section of Ashley on the needles while knitting the other section, which means having more than one set of circulars in one size. But it offers you the excuse to get different lengths of the same size and who isn't looking for another reason to get more Addi Turbos? I will take the blame if you have to explain to your husband why you need another #13 Addis. I personally have #13s in 16", 20", and 32". It's my favorite size. It's my favorite brand.

Have you used Brown Sheep Shepherd Shades yet? Ashley was knit in Shepherd Shades. This is my new favorite yarn to felt with. The outcome is, well, fabulous. Go get yourself some Shepherd Shades. When I visited Brown Sheep in early summer, I was introduced to SS as it was brand new. I just love the wrapper--all shimmery and sparkly.

Tommorow's post.....Allison!

Big Purse News!

Ok, settle in because this is a lenghty post. I've been sitting on this news for a while. I just relased 6 new purse patterns on the Stripes N Polka Dots site! Here are a few images of the new designs. So, what I've been up to and have had to keep quiet about is that I've knit two of each of my designs for Brown Sheep to take to the TNNA show. From there these babies will hopefully be on the road at different trunk shows around the country. I haven't shared much news about this because I actually wasn't sure I'd be able to finish them all and didn't want to share until I knew I'd accomplished that goal. Whew! They're done and the site has been updated with the patterns. Remember when I wrote previously that I never wanted to knit again? This is why! My greatest desire is that hopefully the exposure at the show will cause some knitting stores to want to purchase my patterns. But for now that remains to be seen. If anything, I'm just so gratified to hear from you all that you like the designs. Thank you for your emails of encouragement! Please do fill me in on what you think of these too. It is always scary to put your work out there. Like anything else I create, I wonder if maybe it just isn't as nice and maybe I've got a skewed sense of what is fashionable or cute.

These designs are a long time coming. I had so many sleepless nights early in my newborn's life. It's amazing what crazy crafty ideas come into your mind when you're sleep deprived. After the release of my first four designs, I worried that I wouldn't have any new ideas. But, the ideas came on their own. And some not successfully but that is part of the process too.

Now that they're done and the patterns are complete and edited and posted online I have that creeping fear arising that now the creation process must begin again. But as soon as I feel that I supress it and tell myself that I am going to take a break and sew for a bit. My process for creating a new design is not just trial and error. Well, it is and isn't. I really try to research what is out there. I find shapes and designs at Norstroms and other major department stores. I look at trends and colors. I do a lot of sketching and thinking about how I can accomplish certain looks. I will then knit a tester and write notes as I go. Usually the tester is a dud and it takes a few more tries before I have a prototype. Then there is the writing out of the pattern and going back and knitting it all again to look for errata and try to take exact measurements and counts of skeins, writing down which size needle, etc. And all that just for one purse!

I must admit that some of my designs are kind of unconventional in that the purses are knit in sections and the connecting of these sections is very different. I know there are probably hard and fast rules but I decided that I don't have to pay attention to those rules. The outcome produced a cute funky round purse that could otherwise never have come to fruition if I didn't think outside the box. Now just because I said that, don't let that scare you. These are easy, really they are!

I'm starting to venture out and create fabric purses too but it will be awhile before you hear more from me on that subject. There are so many wonderful fabrics out there, how can I not give that a try?

Anyway, here they are. I'm going to pick one design per day and talk about it at greater length. Each one is so special to me so I want to tell you about them individually. And since I haven't posted much or any FOs, I am going to drag this out!

One more thing, this blog is getting a new look soon. To be continued.....

Monkey Business

My family is sick. BigB can't get past an infection and spikes fevers off and on, MiniB is teething. and MiniMe threw up everything in her little body last night. I'm that person that the second I hear someone throwing up, my own gag reflex kicks in and I'm useless. My poor husband (remember he's sick himself) has to step in to take over. It's bad. I want to get past it. I try. I give myself the mean coach type peptalk, "Come on Carolyn. You can do this! Get your butt in there and help your daughter." Meanwhile as I say this to myself, my eyes water and I'm gagging. ARGH! I was able to pull the sheets off her bed and run them under the water with a towel over my face and breathing through my mouth. I remember when I was little and sick, my mom was so loving and was at my side when I'd get sick. That isn't me. I want it to be.

On a totally different subject, Mini Monkey from The Cute Book is done. He serves no purpose. He's just, well, cute. He's not sick.

Me Time

Ineeded some me time. What better me time than strolling the aisles of Barnes and Noble with a caramel apple cider in hand? I made sure to bring those oh-so-gross teething biscuits that end up in my son's neck and every other crack and crevice. He was quietly sucking away and I was able to curl up with some craft books.
Found this lovely little book for making cute little felt dolls. MiniMe will love them. She loves to bring little dolls in her "purse" or play with them in her dollhouse.

I No Longer Heart Yarn

Hopefully this is a temporary situation. But I never want to pick up a pair of ciculars ever again. Even if they are a brand new pair of Addi Turbo #15s. Nope. Nothing makes me want to cringe more. I've just completed knitting and finishing 16 felted purses. Yes, 16. They are off to Brown Sheep to be a part of the display at TNNA in Long Beach. I knitted two of each of my newest six designs. And then four from my last line. I'll be posting them on the SNP site in the next week so stay tuned. I'm so proud of these creations. I really put my heart into them and a lot of these designs were thought up in the craziness of my sleep deprivation when MiniB was brand new. I'd be nursing at 2am and an idea would come to me and I'd do a quick sketch after I lay him back down just so I wouldn't forget. I can't wait to update you but more on that soon.

So, while I get over my aversion to the fiber, I will be making myself a quilt. Sewing baby! For a while now I've been eyeing all of the wonderful new fabric I've seen on other blogs and some craft mags. I bought some yummy fabric from the Joel Dewberry collection--The Aviary line. Here is the colorway I went with:












And the above finished product is from the pattern I will follow (Quilts and More, Winter 2007). It is supposedly Super Easy. I don't know though. I'm confident in my sewing skills but I will go ever so slowly with this as the fabric is so precious!

Gingerbread Fun

MiniMe and I took a Gingerbread House class at Jo-Ann's today. Here is our finished project (she's very excited and wouldn't pose). I think we'll make this a new tradition. I was totally into it but I also didn't want to take over the project and get all OCD on MiniMe. It was her house and I wanted to let her have her crafty moment. It was fun to watch and help her. She does good work. I have great ideas for my house for next year. I'm seeing visions of fences made of candy canes and marshmallow snowmen. Oh what fun!