Artist: Cassia Beck of Lola's Room Photography

Check out this beautiful vintage-y photography by Cassia Beck of Lola's Room. I love the faded color palettes. Darling! See more in the Lola's Room etsy store and on Cassia's flickr and blog.

No work on Christmas = Legwarmers

I hope everyone had a great holiday! I was getting really burned out before Christmas, so once I finished up a couple of lingering freelance jobs, I called it quits for doing any work on Christmas and the couple of days surrounding it. That was the BEST thing I did in a LONG time! I must've watched about 12 movies, cleaned up the house for a fresh new year start, and sat on the couch and knit on random projects that were completely non-work related. I knit several washcloths out of yarn that I made from a few old t-shirts, and I knit the little black legwarmers in the above pic. I wanted to make some legwarmers for a while, there have been so many cute ones on Etsy lately and my legs have been FREEZING every time I go out. I also wanted an excuse to learn how to continental knit (thanks mom! link) and wanted to get more comfortable using double pointed needles. All I have to say is that continental knitting has changed my knitting life! Once you get going it's just so fast and relaxing. I'm in love! Any beginner or "throwing" knitter should really check out this vid. It really broke things down for me. Below I've written up my directions for the legwarmers in case anyone else wanted to make some. Happy knitting!

Simple Legwarmers:

I used black, sport weight, blue sky alpaca yarn, but you can use whatever yarn you'd like.

First you'll need to make a quick gauge: Cast on 10 stitches in stockinette stitch (knit a row, purl a row) for 10 rows total. Measure how many horizontal stitches in an inch. Then measure the number of inches around the largest part of you calf. Use those two numbers to figure out how many stitches you'll need to go around your calf.

Figure out the number of stitches it takes to go around your calf (instructions above) and cast on the closest multiple of 4 to that number. For my legwarmers I cast on 36 stitches.

work in the round

(k2, p2) around for 15 rows

k 50 rows (or to your desired length)

(k2, p2) around for 15 rows

bind off loosely.

There you go. Super easy, no frills, but still cute.

Artist: Tina Kügler

Check out these super darling illustrations by Tina Kügler. I love how happy all the characters are! And another bonus, Tina is from Wisconsin, yay! Gotta give an extra shoutout to my Wiscony and Minnesota peeps. Check out more of Tina's lovely work on her website, flickr and blog.

Artist: Janelle Songer

Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous! I love these ceramics by Janelle Songer. They look almost too pretty to use. I love the pink flower tumbler in the first image. See more lovelies in Janelle's etsy store.

Artist: Christopher Koelle of Sweet Ride

I'm loving these drawings by Chris Koelle of Sweet Ride. They're inspired by vintage photographs. I love the addition of the hand drawn type. Too funny! You can check out more of Chris's work in this year's Poppytalk Holiday Marketplace, his website, blog and etsy store.

Artist: Pilli Pilli Handmade

These little fox scarves are so cute I can hardly stand it! They were designed and crocheted by Pilli Pilli Handmade. The back of each fox head has a button that can be hooked into the scarf to hold it in place while you wear it. LOVE it! See more in the Pilli Pilli Handmade Etsy store, blog and flickr.

Artist: Warm 'N Fuzzies

I made a quilt with my mom for my No Coast backdrop and now I have quilting on the brain. Check out these darling Miniature Cathedral Window Pillow Pincushions by Warm 'N Fuzzies. I love the colorful batik fabric inserts. See more in the Warm 'N Fuzzies etsy store.

No Coast.

Phew, I made it through my first craft fair! I had a booth at the No Coast Craft-o-Rama and had a great time, that is if by great time you mean super anxious and stressed and excited, heh heh. It was great to meet all the artists and shoppers and to share a booth with the lovely Kristin from Doodle Bird Design. Thanks to everyone who came out to see us! It really was a great experience and I really appreciate all your support and nice words!

I'm at No Coast Craft-o-Rama today. Come visit me!

Hey all! I'm at the No Coast Craft-o-Rama this afternoon and tomorrow, and I'd love to see all of you! It's at the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis. I'm sharing a booth with the lovely Kristin from Doodle Bird Design, and it's the first craft fair that either of us have participated in. Eeeek! I'm nervous but also really excited. I'll share with you tons of pics from the show early next week. Wish me luck! :-)

Artist: Paola Zakimi

These little illustrations by Paola Zakimi are super inspiring. Aren't they just lovely! They make me want to draw and paint all day long. Too fun. Check out more of Paola's amazing work over in her Etsy store.

My first No Monster Here book readings.

I have to apologize again for not posting anything last week. I feel like I'm having to apologize a lot lately for that. Well, at least this time I can claim a holiday as an excuse. The real reason is that I've been up to my eyeballs in work. Most of the work involves getting things ready for the No Coast Craft-o-Rama that I'm participating in this weekend. It will be my first craft fair. I hope people like my work, eeee, I'm nervous for this weekend, but it'll be tons of fun too. I'd love for you to come if you can and introduce yourself! (more info here). I worked all last week and over Thanksgiving getting my products finished and displays ready.

Besides getting ready for No Coast, last week I also had my first couple of book readings of my new childrens book, No Monster Here. I did two readings at the Marian University preschool in Fond du Lac, WI and then I did three readings at the UW Oshkosh preschool. It was such a fun experience reading the book to the 2-4 year olds. They were really interested and excited about the book which made me really happy. All of them were looking for the monster. Too darling! Afterwords we did an activity with the kids where they got to draw what their idea of a monster is. They all had such great ideas. One kid drew a monster with 10 eyes, and another drew a monster holding a jar of mustard. Heh heh, craziness. I'll share some more of their drawings soon. For more info on the book check out the No Monster Here website.

Artist: Jesse of All Things Small

Check out all these lovelies! They all were created by Jesse of All Things Small. That little bear with the coloring set is just darling. I love it! Check out more in the All Things Small etsy store.