DIY Watercolor

I don't post many DIY craft projects around here, largely because I don't actually do too many of them. My mom has always been very crafty, though, and recently created a sweet watercolor portrait of Millie.

The process she used to make it began with a photo of Millie (her all-time favorite):

Then she used the Sketch Me! iphone app to turn the photo into a drawing:

After printing it out on watercolor paper and painting over it in a bold color scheme, it was ready to frame:

The simple process would be fun to try on other types of pictures, like a house or an interesting landscape. This one, though, will have a special place in a future wall grouping in my apartment.

Wrapping Up

If you'll excuse both the seasonally inappropriate topic and the terrible bathroom mirror iPhone pictures, then I thought I'd share the last knitting project I finished, a shoulder cozy from a pattern by Churchmouse Yarns & Teas, an incredibly charming looking shop on Bainbridge Island, WA.

It can be worn pulled down around the shoulders like a wrap or draped around the neck like a cowl.

Now I'm thinking of trying this wrap from Purl SoHo the next time I'm in the mood for a big project.

My First Sweater

What I'm about to say may sound like a humble brag. And, okay, it kind of is: I didn't have any chance to do any knitting posts over the past winter because I was too busy finishing my biggest knitting project to date- my first sweater.

I made it during the course of about six weeks as part of a free workshop at Lion Brand Yarn Studio (which I'd highly recommend if you're in the NYC area and have any interest in knitting).

There were definitely some ups and downs along the way, including having to rip out and redo quite a few rows of the eyelet pattern near the neck.

The end result came out looser and with a much wider neckline than the pattern intended, but I actually kind of like the slouchy fit. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. It's not perfect, but it's not too shabby for a first attempt (humble brag #2?).

And just because I can't resist, here are a few pictures of the sister beagles during their second visit with each other:

Sea Urchins

I tend to be the opposite of a fair-weather knitter. I pick up my needles in the winter, when the cold weather makes it cozy to stay inside with a project, and then cast them aside when the weather gets warm. I need to work on being more consistent throughout the year, but since spring's approaching, I figured that I should probably share what could potentially be my last project of the season.

This is the Sea Urchin cowl, made from a pattern I found on Ravelry and likely named for the way it looks like a little rounded sea creature when stood up on one end. I made the cream one first and liked it so much that, despite not having quite enough yarn, I managed to reduce the size a bit and eek out the green one. It has flecks of navy and yellow running through the dark green that remind me of the colors in a tartan plaid.

Cutest Model Ever

Here's Millie modeling the sweater I knit for her. I have to tweak it a little as it's a touch big on her, even though I already reduced the pattern smaller than the extra-small size.


It's from the Martha Stewart "Sharkey" pattern by Lion Brand Yarn.

(Turns out they also have a Martha Stewart "Coming Home" poncho, based on the one she wore when she was leaving jail!)

Craft (and Cupcake!) Crawl 2010

This past weekend, my friend Lara came to visit me and we undertook our much-anticipated, first-ever Craft Crawl around Manhattan. Our goal was to hit as many craft supply or craft inspired places as we could. We had one baking supply place on our list too and, of course, since I was involved, I had to add some cupcake stops into the mix.

First, we hit the 25th Street flea market. I have to say that this was my least favorite stop of the day. It was a little disappointing and didn't inspire either of us to dig through the jumble to stuff to hunt for hidden gems.

The most interesting thing we saw there were these boxes of old slides. Their hand-written labels said things like "Sturbridge Village, 1962" or "The girls at camp". I'm sure they'd be really interesting and kitschy to look at for any vintage voyeurs who still have slide projectors.

Then we got thirsty and stopped for a little refreshment:

(Just kidding.) Our real next stop was NY Cake and Baking Supply, which sells every kind of professional baking supply item imaginable, including racks and racks of cookie cutters and shelf after shelf edible flowers for cake decorating. According to the store's celebrity photo wall, Martha Stewart, Paula Deen, and Tyler Florence have all made stops here.

All of the baking supplies made me crave something sweet. Luckily, our next stop was the 18th Street branch of The Cupcake Cafe.

Before we even got to the cupcakes, I was surprised and thrilled to discover that it's actually attached to a lovely children's bookstore called Books of Wonder that could practically be the real-life version of The Shop Around the Corner from You've Got Mail. How did I not know about this?

Besides new children's books, they have a section dedicated to vintage editions of children's classics, which were really fun to browse through. I would have loved to buy a vintage edition of Anne of the Island, if only it wasn't $95. (Although that seemed like a bargain compared to the $2500, locked-behind-glass set of original Winnie-the-Pooh books.)

The Cupcake Cafe portion of the store was situated just as a Starbucks Cafes would be in a Barnes and Noble, with the addition of these giant flirty, dancing cupcakes:

The cupcakes are all lavishly decorated with flowers. I tried a vanilla and a chocolate, and Lara tried the maple. The verdict: beautiful to look at, but not the best tasting. Sweet and Magnolia both beat these out in terms of taste, which was okay since we made stops at both of those places too.

After chowing down on cupcakes, we headed up to the Garment District. We hit Mood, where we'd been before, but didn't find anything to "make it work" this time around.

Then we hit M&J Trimmings, where there are walls and walls of buttons, ribbons, appliques, lace, beads, tassles...you name it.

The last stop of our day, and the one I'd been most looking forward to, was Purl SoHo. This was my first time visiting the shop since they'd moved their tiny store into a bigger location.

The new store really is nice, albeit still cramped on a crowded and bustling Saturday.
Their sewing and knitted supplies are now combined into a single shop.

Their Liberty fabrics were gorgeous, both for sale on the bolt and on the wall as decoration. I even spotted a couple of patterns that were part of the Target collection way back when.

Of course, I was most interested in the yarn and picked up some skeins to use for new projects.

After seeing Lara off on Sunday, I capped off the weekend with a stop at the Lion Brand Yarn store, where I took advantage of the Birthday Week discount they offer. My weekend yarn purchases include the makings of two hats, a cowl, and a dog sweater:

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. It was even rounded out by some celebrity and pseudo-celebrity sightings- Brooke Shields, walking down the street, and the guy who is dating one of the Kardashians, waiting on a long bathroom line at Le Pain Quotidien.

Wedding Craftiness

Over the weekend I got to help my friend make decorations for the church for her upcoming wedding.

We used silver and white craft paper to make cones that will each be filled with a fresh green hydrangea and hung on the end of each pew (the white door is filling in for them in this picture). I can't wait to see how they look when they're all hung up together.

Another Hat

I just finished my second hat, the mushroom hat from Purl.

When I first started working on this, it seemed like a hard project because the yarn was finer and the needles were smaller than anything I've done before. Once I got the hang of it, though, it wasn't bad at all. I'm pretty pleased with the way it came out and really like the overall pattern on the top part of the hat. It's a very slouchy hat, so it might take some time for me to get used to wearing that style.

The Hat

As promised, here's the hat that I made with the yarn I got from Purl:

And, even though I'm a bit reluctant to post a picture of me wearing the hat, here it is on:

I like that the shape of it is a little reminiscent of a 1920's cloche. I can channel Zelda when I wear it (minus the craziness). I also completely love this yarn- it's the softest and coziest I've ever felt. I could even imagine that it would be possible to try the hat on after finishing it and then fall asleep and take a nap while wearing it. Not that I would do something like that, of course.

Now for my next dilemma- what to get when I go back to Purl. Do I get more of the same yarn in a different color to make some kind of scarf? Or do I get the yarn to make this mushroom hat from their website?

Big Scarf

After looking at some of the chunky knitted items in this Etsy shop, I was inspired to make an oversized cowl that could also be pulled down over my shoulders as a little shrug/poncho hybrid. I found this Lion Brand pattern for something similar that seemed like it would work:

I was a little uncertain as I was knitting it. It seemed like it might be too stiff and bulky to work out, but I'm actually pretty happy with the finished product:


I'm imagining wearing this as a cozy bit of extra warmth, even when I'm just sitting around at home.

Trip to Purl

My friend Lara gave me a lovely gift for Christmas- a gift card to Purl yarn shop in Soho! Yesterday after work I made my first trip to the store, a bright blue little shop in the middle of a dark street.

I wish I had taken a more centered shot. It's a tiny, tiny store and I felt like I had to be stealthy with my picture taking.

Inside the walls are lined with shelves of pretty yarn.


They had this display showing different project ideas. They were also selling these really pretty shawl clips. I may have to get one if I can think of a good project to wear it on. Luckily, (and uncharacteristically) I saved some of my gift card for a future visit.

I came away with two skeins of purple lupin colored baby alpaca yarn for a hat. Pictures to come once I finish! Thanks again, Lara!

(Note the vintage knitting bag that my mom gave me,)

Owl I Want for Christmas

Oh, I just can't resist a good pun! Especially one that's related to a cute Christmas craft project. This one was based on a pattern to make paper owls that my friend Lara had tucked into my birthday package. Those owls come out like this:

They inspired me to try to making some of my own, with a holiday spin. I traced the pattern onto some metallic Martha Stewart craft paper, then assembled the owls and added some glitter to the ears, beaks, and feet.

I think they're cute and could make good ornaments or package decorations.