Quince & Co. Striped Cowl Revisited

A few years ago I saw this striped cowl at Vogue Knitting Live and thought it was amazing!  The pattern is from Quince & Co. and can be found here.  They have some amazing patterns and yarn and are definitely worth checking out.

Picture from Quince & Co.

And while I was at Vogue Knitting Live I bought this yarn to make said striped cowl:

I know it's not very easy to see here but this yarn is THIN.  I'm not sure why I thought this would work for the cowl but I was determined.  I tried following the pattern numerous times and couldn't get it right (because I needed so many more stitches than the pattern was calling for because the yarn was THIN) so I put the yarn and pattern away and forgot about it.

This last fall I was in Home Made in South Jersey and saw some yarns that made me remember this striped cowl and I couldn't resist purchasing them.  And thus the Striped Cowl made a comeback!  Here's my new yarn:

I don't know if you can tell but this yarn is much thicker than the previous yarn!  This is Blue Sky Alpaca Melange yarn.  And so far the cowl knitting has been AH-mazing!

I'm hoping this project is done soon so I have the chance to wear it during this frigid weather (it was 9 degrees last week).  Have you ever had a project that you were so excited about that came to a screeching halt because of incorrect supplies?  How long did it go unfinished?  Let us know in the comments!

Wishing you big waves and an artful day!

~C

Weekly Inspiration Linky Party

Nini's Weekly Inspiration

I got a text message from my sister a few days ago, stating how cute this cowl was and wouldn't this Burton Bear Cowl by Heidi May look adorable on our own Miss Ken Ken. How could I argue that? I made a quick search of Ravelry, a free site for knitters and crocheters for the knit pattern, it wasn't free, but sometimes you have to pay up for such cuteness!! I highly recommend this pattern for knitters with just a little knit and crochet(very little) experience. I decided to add a bow from this tutorial from Creating Laura Blog to Kenadie's, and a bow tie to Brayden's. I've made more than one they are that easy!!

My sister also sent me a picture of a not as cute cowl in a catalog for kids that wasn't as chunky or cozy looking, but it had a bow tucked up on one of the ears, which made it look so cute and feminine that I thought ours needed one too! I found a tutorial on Creating Laura's blog that is perfect for it. I added the bow where the button is on the boy version and right at the ear for the girl version.

I have a friend Helen, who inspires me regularly whether it's with her blog, Till We Quilt Again, or just following her around soaking up the creativity she oozes. She recommended this book, she was right this book is full of inspiration for living a good, healthy, creative life! Now I highly recommend it too!

Steal Like an Artist

Austin Kleon has the coolest black out poetry for sale on his blog. I find him so inspiring, I hope when we're in Austin in February for QuiltCon we soak up some of his inspiration too!

Show us what's inspiring you by linking up below! Grab our weekly inspiration linky party button on our sidebar!

Go make something!

Nini~

An InLinkz Link-up

Little Ol' Lady Dish Rags and Pot Holders!

I am obsessed with knitted dish rags! I love how they feel in my hand. I always thought knitted dish rags were for lil ol' ladies, but I'm rethinking that!! The weight is just how I like my rags! I made them black or brown because my white dish rags were a nice shade of dirty and I bleach them til they shred. I use the Lily Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn that comes in yummy colors if you prefer another color dish rag. Am I overthinking this?!

These are my dishrags that have been washed and dried for a few months now...there's some fuzzies on them but they are presentable unlike my other "white" rags.

These are Chelsey's pot holders and dish rag, I love the colors. They definitely look like they belong to a young lady!!

I also made crocheted pot holders out of the same yarn. I've never crocheted anything so I thought this was a good place to start since it's one simple stitch over and over.  I notice my hands and arms were sore after crocheting.  Apparently it uses different muscles than knitting!

The potholders are two layers of crocheted yarn so they are pretty effective for keeping the heat away from your hands.

If you wanna give the dish rag a try, below is the pattern I use, it's passed down from a friend who doesn't know where the pattern came from she's had it memorized for so long, neither one of us is claiming ownership of the pattern, we're just sharing it!

Knitted Dish Rag Directions

Yarn  1 skein of Sugar'n Cream cotton yarn. If you buy the smaller skeins, 2 oz, you'll get one and a lil more  dish rag out of it. If you use the bigger skein you can get two dish rags.

Needles size 7 10 inch,  gauge isn't important

Cast on 4 stitches

Row 1  K1 row
Row 2  K2 YO into end of row
Repeat row2 until there are stitches the entire length of your needle, you will have 1/2 of the dish rag knitted on a diagonal.

Then you start decreasing:

K1, K2tog, YO, K2tog, K to end of row. Repeat until 4 stitches left on needles, cast off.


That's it! It takes me about 1 1/2 hours or so to make one.  They are good to take to work on when you'll be waiting somewhere for a long time since it isn't a lot of supplies to carry and it's lightweight.

Now go make one!! I'd love to hear how it turns out!

Go make something!

Nini~

Our Little Left Handed Mermaid Learns to Knit!

We have a big problem in our family...boys. We have an abundance of them. My generation was all girls.  We didn't know much about boys, but we learned quick when my first nephew was born.  Then came Chelsey and we could do girl with our eyes closed in this family!! Then came boy, after boy, after boy! When all was said and done there were 5 boys and one girl in our next generation! And when that generation started having kids...there was boy after boy after boy!!!

We were hoping for a chance to buy some pink, ruffles, and sparkles eventually! We waited and waited 21 long years for our next bundle of pink.  We were overjoyed 6 years ago when Kenadie was born!

This is her "don't break my concentration face".

Last Saturday she told me she wanted to learn to knit a blanket!!! So we had our first lesson on Sunday. She is an amazing lil girl and she picked it up pretty quick. She knit 3 rows of 10 stitches those lil fingers had some trouble but she figured things out. She's left handed and I'm not! So I taught her right handed knitting. She said she'd do more next week, she liked it!!

Pretty amazing!! Of course we used pink sparkly yarn!

She's going to make a blanket for her doll before we tackle a bigger blanket. I'm so happy to be able to share my craftiness with our next generation and spend time with someone so special!

"Nurturing the good in this world is nothing short of a privilege." 
~Katherine Center

I'm feeling pretty privileged.

Go make something!

Nini~

In Your Words...Blog Hop!!!

In Your Words...Blog Hop Schedule

In your Words Blog Hop starts today! I'm so lucky to post my project the first day for my first blog hop!!! Here's a list of all my compadre's who are also posting today! Please check out all the fun projects and let your muse run free!!! She'll thank you I'm sure! I know you'll agree there's a lot of talent and great ideas to see....sew, HOP to it!!

Monday, January 7, 2013

Stitch, Stitch, Stitch, Stitch  

Kwilty Pleasures  

Debby Kratovil Quilts 

Sew Darn Quilt  

Mary On Lake Pulaski  

Traveling Quilter  

Just Let Me Quilt 

Vroomans Quilts 

Cate's Linens 

Nini and the Sea      

Sew Much 2 Luv 

I love text fonts, books and words, so this was an easy project for me. I know I really didn't use words for this project, but letters...same thing right? I also want to clarify, this project speaks for my daughter, Chelsey. It's a knitting bag for her, she lives in NYC and loves it. I like to visit and love to get back home. So for me, the bag should read "I love (someone who lives in) NYC"!

Here is my creation, I'm pretty proud of it...I think Chelsey will like it, how about you?

This is Chelsey's Knit Bag.  It has plenty of organizational features inside to help make her knitting time all about the stitches, not worrying about her yarn getting away from her or where her needles are.

This pocket on the back makes for easy access to your cell phone or personal items you need while knitting.

The NYC and heart fabrics are from the City Quilter Quilt Shop's City Collection fabric line. The strap is a leather belt repurposed. There are plenty of pockets and storage for your needles, yarn, wallet and cell phone. I think I covered all the bases!


Chelsey and I discussed the perfect knit bag must haves, how it should work and look. So I pondered, perused and planned. I found a great tutorial for inspiration for the right shaped bag, ...thanx so much! I used a pattern I had for a pouch purse to help me with making the pockets inside and out. I designed a strap, inside tabs and pockets for storing knitting needles and yarn, and the layout myself.  I used paper die cuts for the letters, traced them onto the fused fabric and cut them out by hand.

My words....or letters.

The heart is old New York Times headlines from The City Quilter "City Collection" fabric line.

I used an old leather belt for the strap, it wasn't quite long enough, so I added black fabric to the ends, it made it easier to attach to the body of the purse I'm sure!

I used more City Collection bagel fabric from The City Quilter for the inside organization of needles, patterns, scissors, and yarn, etc. 

A peek inside. The tabs help keep the yarn and the needles secured in the bag.

I am really eager for Chelsey to use her new bag and give me a review. I hope she likes it as much as I do.

Don't forget to visit all the blogs participating today, you will be amazed at what we've come up with!

Thanks for hopping by, don't forget to visit the other blogs!!

Nini~

Foster Care to Success

I'm packing up my red scarf and heading to the post office today to send my hand knitted scarf to the Red Scarf Emergency Fund, who continue to support and nurture foster care children as they head off to college and are no longer receiving benefits from the foster care program. This charity holds a special place in Chelsey's and my heart, having seen first hand how important the foster care system is for keeping children safe when they need it the most.

“Your hands are a window into your heart and soul. There is a piece of yourself in every project you make; there is love in every stitch, and a handmade scarf is like a hug. Foster Care to Success’ Red Scarf Project gives us each an opportunity to show that someone out there, even a stranger, truly cares about our foster youth.” -Master Knitter, Lily Chin, Red Scarf Project spokesperson

        If you'd like to help out with a donation, click here.

My contribution

Chelsey's Contribution

Here's to helping whenever you can,

Nini~

The Red Scarf Project

Here at Nini and The Sea we love to give back!  Whether it be through an art project or monetarily, we always try to help someone out in any way we can.  This fall we are once again donating to Foster Care To Success through The Red Scarf Project!

Foster Care To Success is the oldest and largest nonprofit that works directly with college bound foster care children.  They offer not only tuition help to these students but also a text book fund, help with living expenses, and an emergency fund.

Every year Foster Care To Success promotes The Red Scarf Project in which scarves are knitted or crocheted in red yarn and placed in care packages.  These packages are delivered on Valentine's Day and become valuable items that students can use year after year!  Last year I made this ridiculously bright red scarf for the project:

This year I knitted this slightly less obnoxious scarf:

This was the first time I attempted to knit a cable scarf and I'm so happy with how it came out!  I found the pattern on Ravelry and it turned out to be free! You can find the pattern here.  So easy, I can't believe I avoided cable stitch for so long!

If you would like to make a scarf to donate to The Red Scarf Project, click here for more details.  If you don't knit or crochet, you can make a monetary donation to Foster Care To Success here. 

I love encouraging and supporting people who are working hard to get an education and Foster Care To Success does just that!

Wishing you big waves and an artful day!

~C

Do you have a favorite charity that you donate an art project to?  Leave a comment and tell us about it!  We may feature it in a post!

String

String is a knitting shop I discovered last week right in my neighborhood!  I searched online for a shop in my area of NYC because I snapped one of my wooden knitting needles in two.  I know, I know, how could I break a knitting needle?  Well, it was shoved into an overnight bag that had plenty of room  until I added a beach towel.  Then it was sayonara knitting needle.  And now for a moment of silence.

Anywho, this was my opportunity to find a knitting shop on the Upper East Side.  I only went in for needles and ended up with 2 skeins of yarn and a length of ribbon type stuff to make a scarf as well!

I actually love the new needles I bought.  They slide better through the yarn than the previous ones!  The brand name is "Addi" and they are made in Germany.

String has all kinds of soft, chunky, sparkly, fancy shmancy yarns. You can check them out here. I can't wait to take my mom when she comes to visit!  I love when a problem leads to finding something unexpected and awesome right in your own neighborhood!  Where is your favorite knitting shop?

Wishing you big waves and an artful day,

~C