If it Could Only Last All Year....

Ah, how I love Autumn. Most certainly, my favorite time of the year.

Words seem to fail me when I think of how to describe how I love crunching through the leaves on a brisk fall day, with one or all of my dogs toddling along with me (covered in leaves themselves because they are a bit short and their hair is like velcro). I just love it, and make sure to take a long weekend at some point every October to soak in the weather and color.

Anyway, since words fail me, I invite you to take a look at some of the pictures I've taken the past couple days:

Visit here to see more :)

Why Do We Clothe Our Cups?

Like many people, simply stated, I love coffee. 

But why do many people feel the need to dress their coffee? I mean, sure, people tend to like clothes. We like to dress in clothes, we like to dress our pets (I mean, what's cuter than a little fluffy dog in a little cozy sweater?)... but why do we also feel the need to dress our coffee cups?

I mean, sure. Cup cozies keeps our hands from burning a little when we hold the hot cup. They also probably keep the cup a little insulated. 

But, that isn't the only reason I make cup cozies... I like them because they look cute, too. 

Example: I made this one last night for my new glass travel mug.

I mean, it slides around on the cup, even though I made it smaller than the cup so that it wouldn't fall off. But the superwash (and super soft!) wool has no grip on the cup. But man is it cute, and will make all the other coffee cups jealous. 

I think that when I walk past other people with coffee cups in had, little naked cups, that the little cups get a little embarrassed. And they have no hand (no hands!) to cover their little naked selves. So they just blush and try not to make eye contact with my snazzilly clad cup.

So, please, don't let your coffee go out in public naked. 

Yarn is Knitpicks Swish DK in Lava Heather.

So I Knit Me a Floopy Hat

I know, I know.... grammar... *grumble grumble* but that's how the title hit me, so that's how my fingers typed it ;)

The title describes it pretty well. I fell in love with the fun look of the Floopy Hat designed by Alexandra Tinsley a little while back. I kept holding back making it, all kinds of silly reasonings popped into my head that kept putting me off.

I'm in my 30s, not 12. I can't pull off wearing this hat in public. 
Ok, so I don't care if I dress like I'm 12, where will it be practical to wear it? 
Even if I did make it out of super cozy, cooshie, warm yarn... won't it always be falling off my head *pictures myself being dragged lightening speed through the woods by my 3 crazy dogs, and my hat being a mile behind me, lost forever*
Then I thought... do I really want to spend the money on yarn for a hat I might not wear for real? Even if it is fun?

But that hat kept popping up in my mind, I kept going past it in my favorites on ravelry, and then that sneaky little hat made it into my queue. And then, wouldn't you know, I found super squishy, super cozy, baby alpaca yarn.... on sale.

See, it's totally a serious, grown up hat.
See me all deep in serious thoughts?

And then I bought the yarn.


And then I printed the pattern.

And then I knit that super fun, squishy hat over this past weekend. And you know what? I don't care at all that I might look silly wearing it. I'm not worried about it falling off in the woods... I'll do my best to keep one hand on it, lol.

Turns out that I didn't totally figure out my yardage right.. I figured since I found bulky yarn I'd be ok (pattern is knit double stranded). I was ok until near the end, and even though I knit faster, the end of the skein was catching up with me (why, oh why, do we feel that knitting faster will make us somehow finish before running out of yarn?). So I did alter the decreases near the end (cut out about 10 rows in the middle part of the end of the pattern), and in the end all was good.

The pattern is fun and quick (I knit it up while watching Buster Keaton 2-reelers, in the end probably 4 or 5 hours of work), and according to my fashion sense, for all ages. 

My Floopy Hat ravelry page

Yarn! *Squish!*

Ok, so I wish I had created this blog back when I was first learning to knit. But here I am 1 1/2 years into knitting, so I can no longer post about learning for the first time, and excited over making my first scarf... unless I lie and make it all up.

So instead, I will share a yarn company I have recently fallen in love with, Green Mountain Spinnery. 

I recently completed a sweater out of their Maine Organic yarn, which is just lovely. It's organically processed wool, which comes from organically raised sheep. The small company resides in Vermont, and is owner operated (from what I've read). I wish I were closer to them to be able to visit the spinnery myself (and to hug all the yarn!) as it seems they offer tours of the spinnery (how fun would that be?!).

me, "dancing" wearing my sweater knit in 
Green Mountain Spinnery's Maine Organic,
 in colors Dark and Grey.

The yarn, being organically processed, has a sheepy smell to it, which I call "rustic". It's not unpleasant, unless it's wet.. then phew (I held a wet swatch up to my dog and he snorted and shook his head)! And I personally loved finding little bits of hay twisted into the yarn. I felt like I should have been knitting in a log cabin with a cozy fire going.

My load of Maine Organic Dark, 2 sweaters worth!

Some people I read saying this yarn is good for outer layers because it's scratchy, however I found after a good soak it is not unpleasant against the skin. While this particular sweater was knit with being layered in mind, I would not be opposed to wearing it on its own.

If you love local companies (local to me in this case meaning you are in the US), organic products, and natural un-dyed wools (oh, how I swoon over naturally colored wools!), check out Green Mountain Spinnery, they have a great selection of "Greenspun" and organic yarns. 

For ravelry users, you can find the pattern for the sweater here and my project page here.

So.....

Firstly, I would like to welcome my favorite season.... Autumn!

So... without boring people with too much information, a little over 2 weeks ago I rescued a pigeon. 

This pigeon (who has recently been named Scuttle, 2 points and a Dinglehopper if you know where I got the name) turns out to be a little bit of a ham for the camera. Last night I taped a large piece of glossy paper (cover stock, acquired it when I worked in a magazine bindery)  to the couch, and let it hang down onto the floor and set the little pige on it. After taking a bunch of pictures, the little thing just sat there like "What, no more?"

Anyway, here's a sampling from last nights photoshoot:

You can go here for the story on how I came about having this little guy.

This blog won't be all about Scuttle. I plan on it being whatever strikes my fancy at the moment. I knit... a lot. I enjoy photography, and my crazy pups give me some adventures, too. So, yeah. Welcome to my blog :)