When the workplace and hobbies collide

I recently got the chance to use my knitting skills for a projects at work. During one of our slow days my manager and I were talking about ideas for photos. She said "I really want hats for infants" and showed me a few pictures of what she had in mind. Almost immediately I offered up my services. Two days later I had these...

Originally my manager had asked for a gender neutral infant sized hat, but that plan had to be scratched. When I went home and looked at my inventory there was little in the way of gender neutral yarns that I thought would photograph well and/or was willing to part with. In the end I decided to forgo neutrality in favor of vibrant colors and fantastic textures.




The first hat is made from Moda Dea's "Cache" (2355 siren). I whipped it up on size 8 dpns, guessed the amount of stitches that needed to be cast on and was actually correct on the first go, . I then proceeded to K1,P1 in the round until it measured 5 inches in length. I used the ever so handy kitchener stitch to bind off then sewed my fun and sassy tassles on . Can I just say how much I love the texture of this yarn when its all knit up?



Hat #2 was also worked up on size 8 using Lion brand suede yarn in teal (the darker blue), and mystery yarn puchased from goodwill several years ago. Same process as the hat before, only the ribbing on this hat is K2,P2 and has pom poms rather than tassles.

So far I've only seen the pink hat in action and it looks great against our brown minky baby blanket, once halloween is over and people start wanting winter pictures, they'll probably get more use. Just wait till the matching scarves are finished!

A few days after bringing them in I was asked by a coworker if it would be possble to knit hats for all their family members. They understand the specialness of a hand knit hat and are willing to pay actual money for it so yay!

Heads Up

A quick little post about a cute new accessory of mine. If you noticed, I've chopped off a lot of my hair, at least 6 inches, which leaves me in dire need of something to control my no longer weighted down locks. I managed to whip this up one day before an evening shift at the studio basing it off of a head band I bought at H&M a few years ago but can no longer find.

I loved the bright cheery yellow plaid, so summery, so perfect, well almost. It needed something... buttons!

Red and blue buttons placed on the right side of the headband with one cutesy blue button with a smiling yellow airplane (which you can't really see in the photo). Hey, I work with primarily kids at the studio so I'm allowed to let my inner child express itself sometimes.

Mini vacation plans

Today is the first of my four days off from work, which is music to my ears and sewing machine. Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy working at the portrait studio, but Valentines day was ridiculously busy and left me longing for some nice, personal, quite time at home.

So what to do? My main goal for this mini vacation is to make a shirt for work, most likely using simplicity 3790 since it comes together so quickly and easily. No interesting fabric choices, just some stretchy knit black fabric that will suit the studio's dress code and cover my backside while bending over.

Lately I've really been aching to show off what I can do, what I can create. I love being asked, "where did you get that" and being able to proudly respond "I made it". It's the best ego boost ever. A co-worker recently complimented me on one of my fabric cuffs and suggested selling them. Oh if only...

I can't deny that the thought hasn't crossed my mind, or that I've designed logos and such for my potential entrepreneurial endeavor. It's just that there is a lot of paperwork and legal things that need to be considered beforehand. It takes time and money, both of which I seem to be lacking an excess of.

Ah, to dream

{ The Complimented Cuff}

I gots mad skillz

Lately I've been working on honing a few skills before I tackle my next pattern project, mainly my button hole making skills. There have been a few semi successful attempts in the past, but I figure a little practice couldn't hurt. At first I was practicing with scraps, but I figured why not try to make something useful in the process. After a little brainstorming and an afternoon all by myself this adorable plaid cuff is what I came up with.

{ All done up}

{Stretched out}

In hindsight I think I should have made the button holes a tad bit bigger, I've already stretched them out by constantly taking it on and off. Other than that they've held up quite well. As for design aspects of the cuff I kind of went wild with the sewing machine and made a neat loop-de-loo design just for fun. I definitely had fun making it and I can see making a few more in the not to distant future.

I would also like to point out that I'm trying my best to work on delivering better quality pics (through better camera work and digital editing). What can I say? I've been working at a portrait studio for the past three months, something was bound to rub off on me.