Stitch Rabbit

My Kitchen Table

From one end to the other...

 

Choosing buttons for Frankie's french cardigan.

 

Freehand stitching winter goodies.

 

Growing a triangle scarf.

 

Loving winter evenings.

 

 

 

The Beginning of Winter on The Inside

It may be dark and dreary and not even a little bit snowy outside, but you'd start to think that winter was here already inside our house.

A little bit early this year - and I have only pulled out a few winter decorations, I swear.. but I just couldn't wait to get festive in here. We were away last Christmas in sunny Florida, which is a long, long ways away from the winters of Oh, Canada... I wasn't complaining while lying on the beaches watching the kids play in the waves, but I did really, really miss the spirit of the Canadian Christmas last year.

With a few little winter reminders around the house, the pile of yarn and fabric and embroidery hoops and empty canning jars is next on my list. Tis the season for the handmade.

It's time to get making...

 

 

Keeping It All Together

I spent a good day organizing my knitting and sewing notions and materials and I wanted to show you a few things that keep me organized so I spend less time looking for scissors and more time click-clacking the sticks.

 

My studio is downstairs, in the one sort of finished room in our unfinished basement. It's where I sew and keep all my sewing and crafting materials. It's also where I store the majority of my yarn stash.

But I don't knit downstairs. I knit upstairs in our life, in my bed, on the couch, in the yard, in the car, at Frankie's school... knitting is part of the every single day.

So most of my knitting and notions are upstairs. And it can get a little yarn-crazy. The kids know Rule Number One is don't touch Mama's knitting. I keep it stashed in baskets all over the house. I like orphaned wire ones the best, I find them often...

 

Some baskets are knit themselves. I have a tutorial like this one that I made, or if you really screw up a hat in a heavier yarn and it's too big, just turn it over and stuff it with some things. Works like a charm!

 

I keep my most-used needles together with this really awesome needle case I made a few years back and store the rest in jars. I also use the amazing Addi Click circular needle set and I love, love the interchangeable needles. Projects get put into individual baskets around the house to keep them separate from each other.

 

Notions!! I keep all my notions like stitch markers, pins, darning needles, scissors and everything else you could possibly need for knitting stashed in a couple of zippered bags and usually tucked in one of my knitting baskets.

 

 

Probably my favorite wire basket of yarn is the yet-to-be basket.. the inspiration... the most recent "lost yarn that I found and brought home" basket. If it doesn't get used for a must-make-right-away-because-this-yarn-is-so-nice project it goes downstairs to the (ahem) bigger stash for when I need a specific yarn for a pattern I fall in love with.

I get the feeling I'm sounding a little crazy...

Anything else I buy and love but don't have a use for yet usually ends up on display somewhere in the house... like these buttons I picked up last week... as long as they are out in plain sight they keep me thinking on the perfect project to use them for.

 

Quick Cowl For The Kids

Very simple cowl, knit in the round to keep the kids cozy this winter. It's the yarn I want to talk about!! I picked it up at a yarn shop in Toronto called The Knit Cafe earlier this year - I only bought one skein. It was pricey but I was not willing to leave the shop without it! It's Anzula's For Better or Worsted and it's so, so nice to knit with. If you see it, I suggest you pick some up. Feel free to drop a skein or two at my door while you're at it.

 

Dipped Mittens

 

These were so much fun to make!! I used the Debbie Bliss Como I had and a pattern called HipCat Mittens from Ravelry to whip these up. I used a bit of red to dip the finger tips.

These are super easy mitties, and I think my new favorite winter gift idea.

Though I think I'll keep these ones for my own two hands.