Socks of Istanbul

One of my great friends, Lauren, studied abroad last semester. While abroad she got me a present from Istanbul. They are these amazing sock/boot things. They are just amazing. They are super comfy and the colors are just incredible. I've wanted to learn how to do color work in knitting for a while. This might be a sign that I should learn. ;-) it's not cold now but I'm still wearing them. I can't wait for winter when I can wear them all the time!

Dinner Last Night

Last night we made the delicious dinner of Mac n Cheese Grilled Cheese! Basically, you make a grilled cheese sandwich but instead of just cheese you add Mac n Cheese. We used Velveeta brand. It was super good!

MochiMochi Friday!

I still love MochiMochi's. Sadly, I have been very busy and not able to make some lately. So, to get my Mochi fix, I'm going to post some pictures about ones that I made a couple weeks ago.

A gnome!!

This a little blue monkey with a banana. 

Little cupcake. Colors picked by my sister Kristie

I recently ordered and received a bunch of yarn from www.knitpicks.com. I got a whole bunch of colors so I can make more little mochi's. Now that I have a ton of colors I can get to knitting more cute mochi's

Hat for a friend

I love hats almost as much as I love scarves. My friend Gwen asked me to make a hat for her. We made a deal if she bought the yarn and found a pattern I would make her a hat and that's just what we did. The pattern I used can be found HERE. It was a pretty simple hat if you've had experience knitting with double pointed needles. Here are pictures of the final product taken and modeled by the lovely Gwen Parker.

It was a very fun project and is going to keep Gwen's head nice and warm in the winter.

More MochiMochi's!

I have so much fun making these little toys. They are adorable and don't take that long to make. Here are some pictures of some the first ones I made. It takes practice the only way to learn is to try. Again these are all from the MochiMochi book that I got for Christmas. I plan on designing some of my own soon. But, I'm not that good yet.

A little island of paradise. I made this one for my Mom.
She keeps it on her desk at work.

A sailboat. This one is very easy to make!
I'm going to make a ton in more colors!

I had a little trouble with this one. It's suppose to be an air plane.
It currently has a mini gummy bear riding it. I will have to attempt
this one again.

They are so fun to make! Also, they are having a give away for Lion Brands new mini skeins. Just go to www.mochimochiland.com and comment on the blog post. You could win some yarn to make more little toys! 

Scarves!

I loooove scarves! They are one of my favorite things about cold weather. For Christmas I made a bunch for gifts! I found patterns and just knitted forever. I started in October. And it took me all 2 1/2 months to make these scarves. I made them for my fiance's family. His grandmother, mother, sister and sister in law. They all loved the scarves and I loved making them. 

I found this pattern here http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/free-scarf-knitting-patterns4.htm. It was very simple yet classic.

I found this pattern at my local yarn shop. They had some free patterns available and I took one. It's an infinity scarf with some texture (you can see in later pictures)

Same scarf as above with different color.

This is a close up of the infinity scarf. Looks complicated but it a very simple knit and purl pattern.

This scarf was very fun to make. It is just three strands and you just braid them together. I found the pattern here http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/free-scarf-knitting-patterns5.htm. It's very simple and looks very cool.

They make great gifts and keep you warm in the winter!

Paper Flowers

Speaking of wedding...

I found these beautiful flowers on pinterest. And I loved them. I found out they were made of paper and I immediately loved them more. So, I plan on using paper flowers for my wedding. 

This is one of my first attempts. I used THIS tutorial to help me make it. I used a card stock paper instead of just text weight paper. I love the texture of it and the color. I loved them so much that I made more!

I tried different sizes and different types of paper. I found a lot more tutorials and my mom got me a book that she found at the half price bookstore that is all about paper bouquets. 

I think it adds a lovely touch to the wedding and personal feel. I'll need help making all these flowers hopefully my bridesmaids will be up for the challenge. :-)

Guest Post: The story of Michelle's engagement ring!

Step 1: Learn what she wants, Make a plan

Michelle had told me early on she did not want to go the traditional route for her ring.  Since her favorite color is blue, I started there and worked on a plan to create her the perfect ring. 

Step 2: The stone

I contacted a sapphire mine in Montana and had them ship me raw, unmined earth.  I panned through it myself until i found the perfect rough sapphire.  I knew it was the one as soon as I saw it: a radiant light blue color.  I sent it out to be cut and polished into a ring-worthy gemstone.

Step 3: The setting

I took the stone to Distinctive Gold Jewelry and worked with Tony D'Ortenzio.  He was committed to making this ring special, with a story worthy of Michelle.  We talked about different metals and their pros and cons.  Michelle likes a more industrial look, so we decided on Palladium. (see photos).  For such a unique stone, a custom setting would be the right choice.  Tony walked me through the steps and let me choose how involved in the process I wanted to be.  I chose to draw it up, and build a 3d model of it on the computer myself and send it to him.  It was a very simple, geometric form with elegant clean lines.

Step 4: The Ring

Throughout the process, Tony was incredibly patient, helpful and informative.  We selected a band, and he built the ring.  It came out perfect- more beautiful than I ever could have imagined.  And more importantly than how much i like it, Michelle loved it.  It's perfectly tailored to her, and it fits Her personality in a way only custom can.  

-Mikie Smit