Tuesday, November 29, 2011

new patterns

Well, I know I switched addresses on you and told you we are now at redribbonfox.blogspot.com, but I thought I'd update you here with a couple of new patterns and also remind you to follow me at the new address. I hope you'll join me there, but in the meantime, check out the new cowl and fingerless gloves patterns :) xoxox


New Northwest Red Matching Mitts pattern available now on Ravelry and Etsy. Yay! This is a very easy, quick pattern. You can make BOTH pairs in one day, easily! What a great way to knock out a couple of gifts on your list at once. They are so fun and fast...I hope you'll check them out :) Happy Knitting!






Here's the newest Red Ribbon Fox Knits design: The Sienna Cowl. It is knit from less than 1 skein of Malabrigo Worsted yarn (color shown is Ronoake). 

It's available for purchase on Etsy and Ravelry: 

This pattern is a quick, interesting knit that results in a cute cowl that can be worn pinned, as shown above, unpinned, or as a cute head scarf to keep your ears warm, as seen below.

ALSO, if you are new to knitting charts and want to learn to read them, this is a great pattern for you! The chevron seed stitch border is presented in a simple, easy-to-follow chart. Trust me, you can do it! It will expand your knitting horizons to be able to knit from charts. Seriously!

I hope you'll try this pattern. Isn't Malabrigo just the best??!!





Friday, November 18, 2011

New blog location: redribbonfoxknits.blogspot.com

Don't forget to join me over at our new location! New posts and knitting lovelies. Please check it out here:

http://redribbonfoxknits.blogspot.com

xoxoxo

Monday, October 24, 2011

We're all turning into foxes...

SO...after much, well, some, ok ALOT of deliberation, I've decided to unite my design and knitting world under the same, sweet red fox. So the address of this blog is moving! Please visit:

http://redribbonfoxknits.blogspot.com

Yay! It will look VERY similar :) I just thought it would be nice and clear and uniform to have things with a similar brand. I'm very excited about the change and so is Mr. Fox. Here is his new look for all things knitting!

So, pretty please update your blog subscriptions and I'm very sorry for any inconvenience, but now we will have even more fun with Mr. Fox as our guide!! xoxoxo

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

New purling method for continental style knitting

So, I have wanted for a LONG time to start knitting continental style, 'picking,' rather than the English style, 'throwing,' that I learned a long time ago. Because I've done some stranded colorwork and have learned to hold one color in each hand, I have become comfortable knitting continental style. BUT, purling has always been a pain for me to do...too slow and cumbersome and not worth giving up the speed I have with English style.

A friend at a knit shop tonight showed me how she purls. I also learned this evening that it is the Norwegian method of purling and that it is used because in Norway they do lots of colorwork knitting in the round. This method allows you to keep your yarn at the back the whole time, so you're not moving your yarn in between your stitches, from the front to the back. It seems like a lot of movement when you break it down slowly, but when you try it out a few times you will definitely pick up speed. If you've ever done a rib cast-on then you may feel that this method seems familiar.

Seriously, why have I never seen this before! Anyway, I'm working on a LARGE cowl neck for the sweater I'm making right now and it's all 2x2 ribbing. This new method may just safe my life and save my elbow! See what you think about it and let me know. Here is a link to knittinghelp.com's video:
Norwegian purling method

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

oh, hi again :)

I found a lovely for you this morning. Beautiful cast silver real knitting and crochet stitches. Isn't this lovely? I am in awe.

Cast Silver Knitting and Crochet article

Today is my first day of a silversmithing class here in Portland. I am so excited! Multnomah Arts Center offers many cool classes and I have ALWAYS wanted to learn metal smithing. I will let you know how it goes. Super excited. Are you learning anything new this fall? So far I've learned Tunisian crochet and natural dyeing. I think I wish I was really going back to school :)

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Flock Together Mitts - new pattern

So, I've gotten the designing bug. Here is my latest pattern, Flock Together Mitts, for sale on Ravelry and Etsy. They are super quick to make and would be a great gift :) Feathery goodness for your fall season...


http://www.etsy.com/listing/82679705/flock-together-fingerless-mitts-pattern

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/flock-together-mitts





Sunday, September 18, 2011

Tea Latte Cowl pattern!

Well it's about time I had a new pattern. Here is the Tea Latte Cowl...a cozy, chunky cowl knit in a herringbone stitch on large needles. This is lovely and warm in a wool roving yarn by Patons, but it could work with a variety of chunky yarns. I've always admired the herringbone stitch. The stitch has such a classic look, but the chunky yarn adds a modern feel. I hope you'll try it out! Available for sale on Ravelry.



Saturday, September 17, 2011

inspired

My last post inspired me to get started. Here is what I came up with today:

to do

I've been in the mood to do more painting lately. I want to start painting more patterns and small simple drawings, etc. I have been doing a tiny bit of it, for some of my wedding invitation designs:







I'd love to do more though. For some reason I have always been drawn (no pun intended!) to illustrations of food and recipes.  Here is some inspiration I've gathered on Pinterest lately, mostly found in Etsy and Pinterest.





And some fashion from Samantha Hahn - adore it

What inspires you right now? Do you have anything you're dying to get into this fall? A new hobby or something you've not done for a long time? It seems I have a need to learn a lot of new things right now. I'm taking a dyeing workshop next Sunday at the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival. I'm starting a 10 week metal-smithing class at Multnomah Arts Center in October and I'm taking a Tunisian Crochet class this Wednesday at Twisted yarn shop. Whew! Now that I've listed it all out I can really tell my need to learn! I guess that comes with this season :) Happy Weekend! I'm off to do some creating...

Thursday, September 15, 2011

another photoshop tutorial

I just tried this and it is super fun. I also learned a few new things about Photoshop in general, which is always handy. Here is my original photo:

Here is one I created using a block of text, following the tutorial:

And here is one using painted text. This was fun! It takes a little practice for sure, to get it exactly like you want it. Also, next time I will use a larger image with more detail, but what a fun idea to do for someone's birthday card or as a gift or something. Love it!


Here is the link to the tutorial. I hope you'll try it out and share your creations!!

http://layersmagazine.com/photoshop-cs4-a-picture-worth-a-thousand-words.html

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

weekly update

Hello! Today I am busy cooking in the kitchen, so I thought I'd share what I'm making because it smells amazing, I have to say. First of all, in order to eat more veggies, I think I need to just keep some dishes prepared in the fridge, cooked or chopped up or however. So today I roasted some root vegetables, as pictured here: carrots, parsnips, and yellow beets.


Just chop them into chunks that are all roughly the same size, toss in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and cook them for about 35 min. on 425 degrees. Check them to make sure they're not dried out, but that the veggies are tender and easy to cut. Mmm. They reheat well or you can just add them to a salad, with goat cheese. YUM! Dang, I forgot goat cheese at the store...

Also today, since I have knitting group kinda early (6pm) and I'm always starving by the time I get home around 8:30 or 9, I decided to make dinner early and eat before I go. I found this on Pinterest and thought I'd try it out. It smells amazing. I believe the only difference in my ingredients is that I didn't have chipotle chili powder, so I used regular chili powder, but I DID have smoked paprika, so I used that instead of regular paprika. We'll see!  BBQ Pulled Pork Recipe


Lastly, no photos, but thanks to my friend Shayla I made some Pumpkin Spice Creamer today. Mmmm! It's only a slight pumpkiny flavor, but definitely adds some fall flair to your coffee. You could experiment with the amount of pumpkin and spice. I might add a bit more cinnamon or something. I'm not sure where the recipe came from, so if you know, feel free to post a link.

Pumpkin Pie Coffee Creamer
1/2 - 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 3/4 cup half and half
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Blend this all in the blender and store in the fridge in an air tight container. It's yummy! 

You probably want to add some sugar to your coffee to bring out the flavor. I usually just have coffee with cream, but this was better a little sweet. You could probably add it to your creamer if you wanted.

Enjoy these yummy fall-ish dishes. It's getting gloomier here and cooler now, but this time of year I kind of welcome that type of weather. Lots of knitting to be done!!!

xoxo

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

today's goodwill finds

So, after seeing this cute idea on Design*Sponge this morning, I was inspired to stop by the closest Goodwill on my way home earlier today. Look at all of the great things I found! All for $20 :) Gotta love it.

Vintage pillowcases for my cocktail napkin project (see above)

A cool wall hanging handmade in Peru!

Awesome green glass dishes... set of 4 for $12 :)

A lovely painting of a giraffe. He is so handsome!


A great Ball mason jar with a glass lid


Thank goodness for thrifting. It's so inspiring. I didn't find what I was looking for, an enamel pot for my yarn dyeing, but I sure found really cool stuff for 20 bucks. Amazing. Now I need to go search out the other places. I think there are some good ones down the street...and one really interesting place that's only open on Saturdays. I need to be sure to TAKE some loads to the thrift stores, too :) I found this great coat and this awesome skirt a couple of years ago at a thrift store in Nashville.  What are your favorite thrifting finds?

Monday, September 5, 2011

on the needles and off of the needles

Happy Labor Day! I hope everyone has had a fun weekend with friends and family. We just returned from a 3 day camping trip/family reunion with my husband's mother's family. This Labor Day tradition has been going on for 58 years! What a great thing to have in your family. We had a great time doing a little fishing, a little pot-lucking and a lot of hanging out. I LOVE camping in the Pac. NW. Hot during the day, but still in the 50's at night :)

So, I realized I hadn't posted about knitting in a while. I wanted to share some photos of finished projects as well as what is now (or about to be) on my needles. Here goes:


Westknits Earth & Sky Mystery Shawl: This was my first mystery project and it was fun! I am happy with how my colors worked together. It was fun to work on a small project that you didn't know what the finished piece would look like. I used Malabrigo Sock (gold), Koigu KPM (pale pink), and Shibui Sock (gray).


Stripe Study Shawl from Veera Välimäki. This was a GREAT knitting group project. I used 2 colors of Sanguine Gryphon Sock on this project. 




Bias Wrap Scarf. This was a pattern I picked up free with purchase at my new LYS, Close Knit. It is called the Firefly Scarf on their pattern, using Classic Elite's Firefly yarn. I used Baby Llama Glow from Plymouth Yarn Co. I modified the end of the scarf to have 3 button holes and a garter ridge so I could button it instead of just ending it in a point like the other end. I LOVE this yarn. It has a tiny bit of sparkle and is SO soft.



Chili Bean's Dress. The final finished project of late is a little crocheted dress I made for my sister-in-law and her baby girl that is due anytime now. It's the Mina Dress from Alicia Paulson and what an adorable pattern it is. It took me only part of a day to make and I can't wait to see it on our new niece. My sister-in-law has 3 boys already, so having a little girl will be so fun!

I'm working on these 3 projects right now:


Berrocco Ristretto. This one in a soft grey green color of the same yarn the pattern calls for.


Berroco Farrah. I'm doing this in the mustard yellow color of the yarn, Glint.


From Norway with Love. I LOVE this hat. I'm doing it out of a pale gray with the hearts in the Baby Llama Glow of my previously mentioned scarf. It's turning out fun so far!

Whew. So glad I posted some knitting stuff on my knitting blog ;) I've been back in the swing of things lately in the knitting world, so I had a fair amount to catch up on with you all! Fall is slowly approaching here in Portland. It's still nice in the evenings, but we finally have a summer during the day now. I'm still excited about these fall evenings that are inevitable soon. Preparing the closet with freshly knitted jumpers is always a knitter's favorite thing about fall! xoxo

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Tuesday Tutorial ♥

Here it is, again! I am loving this week's tutorial. So I know this is kind of a knitting blog, but being overall crafty and designery myself, I thought I'd share something, again, that's not about knitting. I've been designing a LOT this week as I got my Etsy store up and running (yay!), so I'm quite in design-mode these days. Here is a really great tutorial for creating your own repeating patterns in Photoshop. Will be using this one a TON. Enjoy! I promise to post some knitting related items soon. Maybe even later today I'll show you the things I've finished recently and what's on my needles now. Yes, I think it's time for another of those posts. In the meantime, have fun creating some great patterns.

Foxy shoes

Foxy shoes by elletrain
Foxy shoes, a photo by elletrain on Flickr.

So, Tuesday Tutorial to come later, but I had to share my new foxy shoes :) Yay!!

(from urban outfitters)

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

aMAZing site "Closet Visit" - so inspiring!

SO, here's my new favorite fashion site. I don't look at a ton of fashion sites, but lately I've gotten into Polyvore.com and THIS ONE: http://cargocollective.com/closetvisit. Oh my it's beautiful and such a great idea. I may do a little closet visit of my own and photograph some of my favorite items :)