Malcolm and Marcus Designs-free knitting patterns & knitting tips, Seattle knitting blog

Fair Trade

I love art and have always wanted to have original art around my home - but I'm broke. Luckily a very talented friend of mine offered a trade.

This hat:

 

For this painting:

Pretty awesome huh? I'm so excited. Doesn't it look great on my orange walls?

Michelle Khazak is a very talented artist and has a bunch of beautiful paintings for sale at really awesome prices. You can check out her gallery here and her Etsy store here.

I designed the hat for her based on some pictures that she sent me of hats she liked. I might offer it up as a free pattern - I'm debating between this hat and another that will be in my next post. It's a pretty simple knit and makes for a nice, slouchy hat. It fit her perfectly - which is where I can have problems in hat making, so I was very happy.

I love making trades. I will definitely have to do more!

Sun..Surf...Knitting?

I've been away for a bit. Why? I've been in Maui! Yay Me!!!

This is seriously my first grownup vacation - yes, I know I'm turning 30 this year and that's a bit sad. But travel to the islands is super-cheap right now, so my girlfriends and I decided to go for it.

It was so wonderful - truly. We hiked, boogie-boarded, snorkled and did our fair share of partying. I'm definitely going back and plan to take the boys when they're a little older. I've got a bazillion more photos on my other blog: here and here.

Now I didn't do any knitting on vacation. I was too busy rolling around in the sand and it was like 90 degrees which doesn't encourage picking up wool. But I was feverishly working on this scarf for Marie until about 5 minutes before I left home for the airport.

I thought the color would work well for her and I thought it would be good for multi-season wear (we all love to layer). She seemed to like it, but we were rushing to the airport and it was 7am, so it was hard to tell. It's a pretty simple drop stitch scarf with seed stitch panels. It's a very quick knit and I love that it's completely reverseable. It's rare that I make a long scarf that isn't.

Ijeoma: 1, Scarf: 0

You thought you had me beat.

You thought that your billion rows of garter stitch would overpower me and my knitting ADD.

You thought you would be thrown in the UFO pile - forever an 8 inch something.

You thought you would get to hang with the baby blanket, cream sweater, and peacock shawl in the party of Never To Be Finished Objects.

For three months, you laughed at me.

But You Misjudged Me, Swiss Cheese Scarf.

You misjudged my need to look fashionable in this scarf-loving fall.

You misjudged the amount of entertaining movies and tv shows I would find on the internet.

You misjudged the power of wine to calm my garter-stitch-hating nerves.

You misjudged my love of Merino Sock.

Look At You Now Scarf.

Yes, I almost gave up. Yes, I wanted to stab myself in the eye with a knitting needle. But I won. And now you are mine.

Now go tell your UFO friends. They're next.

$35 CSN Stores Giveaway!!

The folks at CSN stores.com contacted me and asked if I wanted to offer a $35 gift certificate on my blog. Being a fan of all things free, I jumped at the opportunity to share a gift with my readers. You know you love free! Now, I did some research on CSN Stores before deciding to do this giveaway. They have over 200 stores with just about any kitchen and dining supply that a foodie like you or me could think of. Their customer feedback seems solid as well. Click here to take a look around their stores and imagine what fun you'd have with an extra $35. How To Enter This Giveaway:

1. Click HERE to Follow of my food blog (click the "Follow" button on the top right) and
2. Leave a Comment on that post about the kitchen tool or appliance that has helped you the most with your healthy eating goals.

This giveaway will be open until 10pm pacific time on Thursday, September 16th. The winner will be picked randomly on Friday, September 17th Wednesday September 23rd. Good luck! Please note that the gift certificate does not cover shipping and handling fees.

Nice Summer = Very Little Knitting

I know I haven't posted much lately, but honestly, I haven't been doing all that much knitting. The weather has been fantastic here in Seattle (I know, right?), so I've been too busy outdoors enjoying it all to pick up needles.

Check out my other blog if you want to check out more of my non-knitting pursuits.

It hasn't been completely knit-free, of course (it will take a lot more than nice weather to get to that!). I have been slowly working on the Swiss Cheese Scarf.

I really do love this pattern - I think it's going to turn out great - if I don't run out of yarn! You can get the pattern for free on Ravelry.Thanks Winnie Shih for sharing such a great pattern!