long overdue...

Why hello there!  Long time no see!  I know this is my excuse for everything but school really has been very busy!  Midterms, papers, quizzes, assignments, there has been a lot going on.

Anyway, here are some photos I took while I was home for reading break a couple of weeks ago.  I'm still learning how to use my film camera so please excuse the gnarly colouring in some of the pictures...  All of these were taken on a very windy day at Crescent Beach, one of my most favourite places on earth!

Although we're a few days in to March, which should mean spring is on its way, it certainly doesn't feel like it.  Two days ago snow covered the ground at home while Victoria was getting pounded with rain.  Since then the rain has not let up and everything has a soggy feel to it.  I am definitely ready for some clear, warm weather!  Hope your week treats you well! Tomorrow is Wednesday which is halfway through the week, so basically the week is almost done!

Coffee Cozee

The other day, roomie and I made tea before heading out to school.  Having just purchased our reusable Starbucks cups we were quite excited to put them to use.  We boiled the water, put the tea bags in and poured the tea into our new cups.  We finished getting ready, grabbed our cups and HOLY SMOKES were they ever hot!  Too hot, in fact, to even hold them without some sort of buffer.  We grabbed our mitts and headed out the door.  Thinking about a way I could make the cups more comfortable and useful, I came up with the idea to make a cozee!  Any excuse to pull out my knitting needles or crochet hook.  So that night I got busy making something that would protect my hands and keep my drink insulated!  Win, win, win!

So here's the (very rough) pattern:
Yarn: size 4 or 5
Needles: honestly not sure... my nana gave them to me and they have no markings on them but I would recommend using whatever size needle your yarn calls for.

Cast on 28 stitches
Knit one row, purl the next.  Repeat twice.
Begin working in the colours using the fair isle method and continuing with the knit one purl one rule.
Continue until all the letters are complete.
Finish off with 4 rows of knit one purl one of the solid colour you started with and bind off.  Voila!

This project was a real learning experience for me.  I'm not exactly thrilled with how it turned out, but hey, it's functional.  If I were to do it again (and I most likely will) I would probably do a number of things differently...  For example, when working the colours into the letters, rather than doing each stitch twice (once as a knit and once as a purl) I would only do each stitch once.   This would probably result in a smaller cozee unless I added more of the plain colour at both the beginning and the end.

So if you make this, let me know what worked for you, what didn't and what you would do differently!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

fingerless mitts

I have been crocheting up a storm lately!  Pretty much everyone I know will be getting a crocheted gift of some sorts.  Most will be getting toques since until recently that was the only thing I knew how to make!  (My favourite pattern can be found here)  But last night that all changed when I came up with my own fingerless mittens pattern.  I had done some looking on Pinterest and the web but couldn't find a simple one that I really liked so I took bits from different patterns and came up with a very simple pattern that I thought I'd share!

ch - chain
sc - single crochet
sl st - slip stitch

hook used - 5 mm
yarn used - Patons ColorWul

ch 20 (or until the chain reaches around your four fingers).
sl st ends together.
sc in each stitch around continuing until the rectangle measures about 1.5-2 inches.
ch 6, skip 4 stitches on the rectangle then continue to sc in every stitch around.
Once you get back to where you did the ch 6 skip every other stitch for three stitches then continue to sc in each stitch.
sc in every stitch until you are happy with the length of your mitt.
tie off the ends, weave in the tail and cut it if necessary.
sc in each stitch around the thumb until it measures about 0.5-1 inch.

weave in all the ends and trim the tails if necessary, slip on your beautiful new mitts and admire how freaking gorgeous they are!

**this pattern is for personal use only**

take time

Exams are done and life is good.  I'm home for the holidays and taking some time to take care of me and spend some much needed time with my family.  I hope that wherever you are you, too, are taking care of yourself and doing things that make you happy!

December! (and our first snow!)

It's December!!!  What does that mean?  CHRISTMAS! SNOW! HOT CHOCOLATE! CHRISTMAS CAROLS! FAMILY! BAKING!

My excitement for Christmas has been coming in waves.  Somedays I am over the moon excited and other days not so much.  I have a lot to get done before Christmas gets here so maybe that's why I haven't been ecstatic every day..  Finals season is here so that means studying and reading and writing annnnd procrastinating (what I'm doing riiight now).  But today something very exciting happened and I simply had to share... WE GOT OUR FIRST SNOW!  We get so little here usually that snow is kind of a big deal.  I am in no way a Lorelai Gilmore when it comes to snow but I sure do love the way it coats everything in a blanket of white and how the world feels a little more magical when it snows.
I hope that wherever you are you are feeling cozy and warm and happy :)

Knitted Hats

It's winter.  Get ready.

{all pictures found on pinterest except top right}