Knit Bow Ear Warmer With Pattern/Tutorial

Last week I discovered a new-to-me blog, and completely fell in love with it. It's Rebekka's blog, Dear Friend (found via Stephmodo). Go check it out! You will not be disappointed. Rebekka writes in such a sweet way, and she has beautiful photos. In addition to that, she has started to knit, and knits up the most wonderful things. On Friday, as I was looking back through her archives, I saw this bow ear warmer that she had made:

Photo from Dear Friend, used with permission from Rebekka.

I just knew I had to have one for myself, but there was no pattern to go with it, so I made one up. I thought I would let you know how I did it, in case you would like to make one, too! (And I heard from Rebekka that so many people wanted to make it, that she's writing up a pattern for it and is hoping to post it soon. I wonder how similar our patterns will be?)

This is one of those projects that is so satisfying. As soon as I saw the photo, I looked through the yarn in my stash, and grabbed this one. Then I knit here and there over the weekend (by the fire...), and then had my guy take photos of the finished ear warmer for me on Monday. So quick and easy!

I didn't think to take photos of the process until I was almost done, but I'll do my best to explain what I did. The yarn I used is Vintage Chunky by Berroco, and the color is 6165 (if you're local, I'm pretty sure I got this at The Yarnery. I just had one skein - if I remember correctly, it was an impulse buy. I just couldn't pass up the color!).

If you want yours to turn out with a similar look, you do need a chunky yarn. Mine called for size 10 needles, but I used size 11 (when I went to grab my 10s I only found one. Not one pair, just one. And I couldn't wait to start the project, so I used 11s).

The main difference that I see between mine and Rebekka's is that I knit a decorative edge on, which you can do or not. Basically, I purled the first stitch in each row, and knit the rest. So here's what I did:

Cast on 16 stitches.
Row 1: knit 15 stitches, slip remaining loop onto needle holding previous 15 stitches.
Row 2: purl first stitch, then move yarn behind needle so it is ready to knit. Knit 14 stitches, slip final stitch onto needle.
Repeat row 2 until your desired length. You want it to have to stretch a little to go around your head. I just kept holding mine up to see if it was long enough. Once you reach desired length, cast off.
[If you don't want the edging I did, skip slipping the last stitch and purling the first, and just knit all stitches.]

I then used a tapestry needle to sew the ends together.

This is what it looked like when they were sewn together - then flip it so the seam is on the inside.

To make the bow, I just took a long length of yarn, and wrapped it around the band over and over, then sewed the ends in. Originally, I thought to wrap it around where the seam was so that it wouldn't be visible, but the seam was a little stiff and didn't gather well - but you could definitely try it on the seam and see if you have better luck!

I've never written a knitting tutorial before, so if you have any questions or if anything is unclear, let me know in the comments.

Also, if you are interested in a photo tutorial for the edging, let me know. I'm visual and learn better if I can see what I'm supposed to be doing, and I would be happy to put that together if anyone would find it useful!

Do let me know if you end up making one of your own.

Happy knitting!
xo

Fourth of July

I hope you all had a happy Fourth if you celebrate, and a great weekend if you don't!

Strawberries from my friend's garden.

Things have been busy around here, and I had a jam-packed weekend (no pun intended, though the weekend did include some homemade strawberry jam). ;)

My long weekend was full of family, friends, and food. We celebrated my dad's birthday (happy birthday, Dad!), I had a very good friend in town visiting, and there were several gatherings, most of which included delicious food consumed outside.

I also spent a lot of time berry-picking, all in my own backyard.

And of course, I love the chance to dress with a theme! Here's my outfit for the Fourth of July:

Outfit details:

* Dress and shoes - thrifted from Everyday People.

* Belt - from Rewind Vintage.

*Clutch - inherited from my grandma.

This little heart-shaped leaf makes me smile.

Sweater # 4

With all the Christmas-gift-making that has been going on around here, I haven't had much time to make things for myself. But I set aside a little time at a craft day my mom and I put on a few weeks before Christmas, and rather than only working on gifts, I also made my fourth sweater.

As with the others, it was a pullover sweater that had been in my pile of clothes to get rid of.

before

For this particular sweater, I also took an old shirt from the same pile. The shirt had decorative lace and sequins along part of the neckline, which I carefully cut off. I was able to still donate the shirt, minus the lace.

Then I cut the sweater up the middle (no need for hemming!), added the lace to the collar, and sewed on a gauzy ribbon to tie it together.

after

details

I'm loving this sweater as much as all the others!

[And on a cool side-note, a friend of my family's was at the craft day, and asked about how I was making the sweater. A few weeks later when she came to my annual holiday party, she was wearing a sweater that she had updated. She had been planning on getting rid of it, but once she saw how easy it is to create something new with old clothes, she fixed hers up and it looked beautiful! So much fun to see that thrifty craftiness being passed on. Wish I had a photo of it to share here!].

What have you been making?

A Wonderful Weekend

Happy October to all of you! It is definitely feeling like fall around here, and I'm loving it!

I could not have asked for a better weekend to start off this month. I work a few jobs in addition to teaching, so I frequently work at least one day of the weekend. But this weekend I didn't have to work at all, and it felt rather indulgent to have two whole days to do whatever I wanted! Saturday was packed full of things I love:

The leaves have started to change, and we had glorious weather. Perfect for crunching through leaves that have already fallen!

My first stop was The Red Balloon, a fabulous children's bookstore.

I went to see an author I absolutely adore - Patrick Ness. If you enjoy YA lit, or have a teen in your life, please, please check out his books. He is amazing. It was incredible to meet him, and he was so nice! He signed all my books and we got to chat a bit.

Then I figured since I was in the neighborhood anyway, I better stop by a few of my favorite shops. Just down the street from The Red Balloon is Cooks of Crocus Hill. Can you see their colorful window display?

I better show it closer! I love Le Creuset, and seeing it lined up together in all its rainbow-y goodness makes me so happy!

Next stop, just half a block up, is The Yarnery. More beautiful rainbow colors!

I couldn't resist a little yarn treat for myself. I even got to wind it all on my own, for the first time ever! I was thrilled to bits, probably more so than I should admit...

Then a stop at Bread & Chocolate for refreshments - I needed a break from so much excitement! ;)

I had their Fabulous Fudge bar (it does indeed look fabulous, doesn't it?) and a chai tea latte while I read my current book.

After my little break, off for a bit more shopping along one of my favorite streets.

I just had to stop in at Everyday People:

But my main reason for heading over to these cute little storefronts was that my friend J was having the grand opening for her new clothing store! It was so wonderful, and she has done such a nice job that I think it may deserve a post of its own.

Finally, I finished off the day with a walk by the river with my guy, admiring the gorgeous fall colors.

Today was great, too. Not as exciting, perhaps, and certainly not as indulgent. But it was wonderful to spend the day at home, working on the house and yard, and fitting in a lot of reading, as well.

I'll be back soon with more photos of the goodies from this weekend, and the beautiful fall colors. See you then!

Sweater #2

You saw Sweater # 1 and Sweater # 3 in previous posts. Here, finally, is the second sweater I made. Again, it was a pull-over sweater that I had in a pile of clothes to get rid of, because I didn't ever wear it anymore.

before

I started by cutting it down the middle in front again, to make it a cardigan. Then I hand-sewed on a yellow ribbon to tie it with, and I sewed a circle pin from various fabrics and felt. In the middle of the pin is a button (that I actually received on a package from another blogger, and which you've seen before in this post!).

after

The pin is removable if I don't want to wear it, or if I want to switch it out with something else. But I have yet to do that - I absolutely love this sweater!

[As you can see, these are old photos. I know Minnesota has snow most of the year, but even we don't have it in August! It's just taken me awhile to share these with you...]

This is definitely my favorite sweater of the ones I've made, and I wear it a ton! But I have more sweaters planned, so it may have competition soon... ;)

Sweater # 3

You may remember sweater # 1 from this post. You haven't seen sweater # 2, because I haven't posted about it...yet. Still need to do the photo shoot (and it's my favorite, too! Soon, soon...)

But on to my third sweater. Here it is, pulled from my to-get-rid-of-because-I-never-wear-it stack of clothes:

Again, I made all the alterations with supplies I already had. I simply cut it down the middle, marked where to sew the ribbon on, and then did the sewing by hand. Since the sweater and ribbon are very fall-ish colors, I decided this would be a good Thanksgiving sweater. So I whipped up a little turkey pin!

I totally forgot to take pictures of the process, but it was very easy. I traced two body shapes by using the bottom of a glass. I hand-drew one feather, and then traced it onto the felt so all the feathers would be about the same. The legs are actually one piece of felt that is connected inside the turkey; I thought it would be more sturdy that way. Everything on the turkey is felt, except for the tiny bead eyes.

To assemble the turkey, I simply sandwiched the feathers and leg piece in between the two body pieces, and glued them together. The head and face are also glued on. The whole thing has a pin back so that I can take it off and wear the sweater for more than one day of the year. (I'm thinking of making another pin to go with the sweater - I've worn it a bunch with just the ribbon as decoration, but I like it with that extra bit of craftiness!).

Here's the Thanksgiving outfit (that ribbon is really a bright orange/white check, it's just not showing up in the photos). And a little closer, to show off my turkey:

Wrist Warmers

When I wrote about my sweater, I promised pictures of the wrist bands, so here they are:

You'd think they would have been extra easy; just snip it off the sweater and it's done. Only I cut up the seam first, and then across. I figured that I would do a better job cutting the wrist part off the sweater if I was only cutting through one layer at a time. It didn't occur to me until after I'd made the cuts that I could still use the wrist parts, too.

But it was just a matter of sewing up the seam again, and then good as new!

[It feels sort of '80s, but I like them, and I've worn them].