NiseyKnits

A few weeks ago I received an invite from the Craft Fair Organizer at the Milpitas Christian School to participate in a craft fair on April 21st. I was so excited and nervous that I held off from sending in my application until two weeks after I had received the email. Here is a link to the fair announcement in case you are in the Bay Area and want to check it out: http://events.mercurynews.com/san_jose_ca/events/show/251893364-spring-craft-fair  Now that the fair is almost here, I find myself quite nervous about all the preparations I have to do for it, and all the non-knitting details I have to take care of to make my stall a success. (BTW I'm currently exploring inexpensive display ideas for my scarves, hats, mitts and shawls, so if you have any suggestions, please feel free to share them in the comment section. Also ideas for where to print a banner would also be gladly welcomed.) In addition to prepping for the craft fair, I also have some designs that I'm working...

I am singing with the Christmas Choir at my church this holiday season, and the colors we will be wearing are black and white with some gold or silver accent. As the knitting gods would have it, I had just attended the Interweave Knitting Lab held in San Mateo from Nov. 3rd to the 6th, and had just snagged 2 balls of Lana Grossa Lace Lux Yarn in Bronze Colorway from the Jimmy Beans Wool booth. I promise you that I had no knowledge of the color choices until AFTER I had bought the yarn. I got the yarn on Saturday and the first choir rehearsal was Sunday. I realized that the knitting powers that be had decided that I should FINALLY knit something for myself, so I set off to look for the best pattern to showcase this beautiful yarn. My search for the pattern that would work well with this yarn brought me to Xenia by Vanessa Smith. I have purchased one other pattern by this designer and although I haven't knit it yet, I am in awe of the stunning detail and simple twists sh...

I hope everyone got the chance to enter into the recent Moebius cowl giveaway . You still have till 11:59pm PST today to enter, so just leave a comment on that blog post, follow my blog, like my Facebook page, or favorite my Etsy shop. So easy, no? :) For this week's post, I wanted to give you a quick update on the giveaway shawls. I'm almost done with Shawl #1, the Snow Drops and Snap Peas shawl by Kirsten Kapur in the original Quince & Co Chickadee yarn Snap Peas colorway for Anjali. Here are a few progress pictures of the shawl. I also cast on Shawl #2 last night, the sunset version of the Moody Kerchief also by Kirsten Kapur. I'm knitting this shawl in KnitPicks Palette , using the Sweet Potato, Orange and Serrano colorways to create a sunset-like effect. I hope it works. :) This shawl is for Veronica.

NOTE: Please make sure to read all the way to the bottom of the post for a birthday surprise!! One of my work colleagues saw the Little Wisp of Smoke I made for Marienell and asked for one in the same color. I used Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in the smoke colorway, but I cast on fewer stitches than I did in Marienell's version, so this shawl is actually the same size as the one in the original pattern by Cheryl Niamath. I was hoping to take pictures earlier in the day but time got away from me, so I improvised and took pictures in the dining hall where the lighting was better. It came out so light and airy that it was hard to photograph. While working on this wisp for Jessica, I started a quick scarf project that I could take along to meetings and doctor's appointments etc. I settled on the Scrunchable Scarf pattern by Susan McConne. It's a lovely, simple pattern that works in all different yarn weights. I made the scarf with two skeins of Lion Brand W...

I know I promised in last week's post to put up the pattern for the Megdans shawl. However, a submission call for a new magazine in the UK came out and I thought I'd try my luck and send the pattern in. So in its stead, I'm going to share pictures of my newest finished project, a grey version of the Wisp stole (by Cheryl Niamath) for my friend Marienell. It was a quick knit, and the pattern is just lovely. I used Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud yarn in the smoke colorway (hence the blog title). The pattern is very aptly named Wisp because the finished stole is so light and airy it's barely there. I took the pictures hurriedly as I wanted to deliver the stole to Marienell on the same day. I used Picnik to edit the photos a bit but they still aren't awesome. I promise you I'm learning and I will get better at the photography thing. Enjoy this little wisp of smoke. :)