Colour colour everywhere

Beauty and colour are everywhere.

what better inspiration than the beautiful natural colours found in nature? I am heavily into rich, saturated greens at the moment, and have been having a little bit of trouble finding ways to combine different colours with green in my knitting.

Going out into nature is a great way to remedy this problem. I immediately found many different and beautiful natural colour combinations right in my beautiful back yard (Lynn Valley)

How many colours can you see? I see red, green, orange, brown, black

green, brown, yellow, grey,

a more subdued offering of grey, green, brown and black

Its incredible how easy it is to forget how beautiful your local environment is. Inspiration can come just as easily from the urban environment as the natural environment.

Granville Island

I love the bright blue building, yellow sign and rich red of Jaruwan's dress in this photo.

Crafty Thursday!

After an incredibly long craft related dry spell, this week has proven to be particularly fruitious.
I had a fun afternoon the other day fooling around with a new style of professional salon hair clips I got at the beauty supply store, some flowers and other bits & bobs and a fantastic hot glue gun.

These hair clips will be shipped off to my sister, her friends and some of my own friends to get some feedback regarding durability, cuteness and other factors before putting them out for sale.

If anyone out there in the webisphere wishes to test out my wares, drop me a line with your mailing address and I will send you a sample (while supplies last!!)*

* sample will not include hydrangea flower with leaf, Canadian leaves, or any in the "vintage" catagory (those are my faves and i'm keepin' em!)

Hydrangeas:








Daisies:

And Other odds & ends

Vintage:



A Peony!



Happy Canada Day:

Whew after all that, even Scruffins is tuckered out!

Back soon with more crafty goodness!

back again + hilarious....

i am back again, and this time i mean it!

how many times have you heard; nay, have I said, that i would be back for good with many tasty treats for you to enjoy? far too many.

After a long delay due to family hilariaty and joy (my nephew being born and being generally awesome eating all my mental time + family visiting from Thailand + weddings + more awesome...) and being sick for almost a month, i finally can dedicate myself back to this kickass blog.

Ok... it is a lame blog, i will give you that. it is boring with few updates and even fewer helpful entries (i think the current count is 1).. but! i have high hopes that it will change/expand/improve/etc and the future will hold many a beautiful blossoming of creation, fun and exploration into the multimedia world of knitting, art and general enthusments..

here we go with photos to catch up:
my nephew in his rain poncho:
(dont worry all you safety freaks - it was a well monitored five minutes during a monsoon)














Girls Night Out:















Who says the recession hasn't hit North Vancouver?
line up for hiring fair.
















Lastly I will leave you with a video of hilariousness thanks to our ever lovely You Tube:

New Budget in the works

Budget Budget Budget and other things...

This time of year gets me really thinking of what i can do to help myself for the future. its between two major spending times for me: Christmas, & Birthdays (most of my family's birthdays are between January & July). This year i am beginning a new forage into Frugal Living, or Tightwadiness... whatever you call it, i've started something that i thought would never see fruition: A Budget. A real official separate-envelopes-and-everything Budget. I've got 6 envelopes:

• Food -$50/week = $200/month
• Clothing & Shoes - $50/month
• Makeup & Accessories - $20/month
• Entertainment - $25/week = $100/month
• Fun - $30/month
• Misc. Expenses - $100/month

Total Expenses: $500/month

Long Term Savings: $1000+/month
Short Term Savings: $100+/month

I have the tremendous luxury of my rent & utilities being currently looked after by my most amazing family. We are all trying to be super penny-pinching to get to our individual goals. So, instead of putting my extra $$ into an "entertainment" or "fun" envelope, i am instead rolling it into a long-term savings account. This will be new to me, this whole, limited spending thing. I have been feeling overwhelmingly consumerist as of late. Knitting related stuff will come out of my Entertainment & Fun catagories, depending on if it is a planned expense (entertainment) or a total splurge (fun).

Progress this month:

Entertainment: $100 - entire budget. gulp. spent on: gardening supplies, this totally awesome and worth it book that i've been searching for for years, & the latest Interweave Knits. I will be living entertainment free for the next 2 weeks ;)

Fun: $30 - entire month's budget: spent yesturday on Sushi ($21 with tip, yummy but expensive downtown location) & bus fare (day pass - $9)

Clothing & Shoes: $50 - entire month's budget: spent yesturday on a purse + spent too much on makeup so had to take from this account

Makeup & accessories: $20 - entire budget: MAC lipstick + lip stain from Urban Outfitters.

Miscellaneous expense: $50 - half my budget - this will be left for my trip to Victoria on the weekend.

Long Term Savings: $500
Short Term Savings: $50
Previous Savings Account Balance: $350 - sad, i know.

but we're on the way up, so i introduce to you: my new progress Ticker!

oh yeah, did i mention the goal in all this is to save $10,000 by the end of December this year??

:)

wish me luck!

not knitting, but hilarious just the same

Since i've managed to only knit one 3"x4" swatch & cast on 216 stitches for my sisters baby sling blanket, i haven't much to show in the way of my supposed "knitting-intensive holiday" I brought enough yarn & projects to occupy me for 3 months, let alone 3 weeks.. oh well. :) Here is something else entirely that i find endlessly amusing.

Hurricane Hat Pattern!!

Hurricane Hat
Copyright sunshineknits, Andrea Goutier 2008. For
private, non-commercial use only.


Materials:

Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted, Pearl #36
Needles: 16" Circular Needles 4.5mm, set of 4 DPNs, 4.5mm
Gauge: 20 stitches & 28 rows knit in Stockinette Stitch

Sizing Note: Pattern is adjustable for sizing by altering how
many inches you work in pattern before beginning your
decreases. The suggested 5" will give you a med-large size.


Instructions:
Cast on 81 sts in the knitted on cast on method.
Join in the round, knitting first & last stitch
together to eliminate jag. Total 80sts.


Brim: Work in K2, P2 Rib for 1.5”. At the end of
final row, M1 stitch. Total 81sts


Body: Work in K9, P1 for 5” inches.


Decrease Rounds:
Round 1: *K7, K2tog, P1* 73sts
Round 2: *K8, P1*
Round 3: *K6, K2tog, P1* 65sts
Round 4: *K7, P1*
Round 5: *K5, K2tog, P1* 57sts
Round 6: *K6, P1*
Round 7: *K4, K2tog, P1* 49sts
Round 8: *K5, P1*
Round 9: *K3, K2tog, P1* 41sts
Round 10: *K4, P1*
Round 11: *K2, K2tog, P1* 33sts
Round 12: *K3, P1*
Round 13: *K1, K2tog, P1* 25sts
Round 14: *K2, P1*
Round 15: *K2tog, P1* 17sts
Round 16: *K2tog* 9sts


Break yarn & run through remaining stitches. Pull tight & secure. Weave in all ends.

and then there was...

Gooey Eyeball Neckwarmer Pattern
copyright Andrea Goutier, sunshineknits 2008. for personal use only.

For use with Vitreous Humor yarn. approx. 60yds (70-80yds per skein from insubordiknit)
needles: size 13s & 19s 16" circs

pattern:

-cast on 35sts using smaller circular needle-
-work back & forth in garter stitch for 3 rows, slipping last stitch of each row-
-switch to larger needles-
-work in stockinette stitch for 5"-
-work in garter stitch for 3 rows-
-bind off really loosely-
-push eyeballs through the stockinette stitch as buttons to fasten-

Ta Da!

now run off and scare your neighbors.