Rebecca Danger

Friday Favorites: Digital Media Downloads

Ok, a little corny coming from someone who sells digital media downloads, and I think I have already done this, but.....

Holy cupcakes, I LOVE instant download pdf patterns. I bought the newest issue of Knitscene this week, plus another pattern or two all as downloads. I can't even believe how much I love being able to see that Knitscene is out, and immediately having it on my ipad. 

Do you guys get the same feeling? I can't even describe to you how awesome it is that I had yarn lying around, found a pattern for exactly that yarn, downloaded it, and got started on it immediately. I guess I am just that instant gratification.

Oh well. I guess I am in the right line of work!

 

Friday Favorites: Using Up the Stash

Its a weird one this week, but I think there is really no better feeling than using up yarns in your stash. You know what I mean? (Not that buying new yarns to add to your stash doesn't feel good too....) But it is such a sense of accomplishment to see yourself going through projects, right?

I big time splurged at Fibre's West a couple weekends ago and bought enough Sweet Georgia Superwash Worsted in Orchid (pink!) to make myself a Storyteller hoodie. It is just such a cutie-cute hoodie and I know I will wear it all the time (since it looks like several things in my closet that I wear all the time already), and in that yarn? Yum.

But, though I now feel like jumping in, throwing all other responsibilities to the wind, and knitting it, I decided I should really show some self-restraint and finish a couple other projects I have had the yarn sitting around for for much too long already. 

Though initially after telling myself this I threw a hissy fit, once I have started in on some of these projects I have had sitting around, I must say I am really enjoying getting through things! Funny how that works, right? I don't know, not only am I coming out with cool, useable items, I am feeling like I am accomplishing things I set out to do a long time ago, which is always a good feeling. I mean the thing is, I was excited enough about these projects at one time to go out and buy the yarn for them, so I am getting that feeling again with every (ok, almost every) project I am starting and finishing. AND, I am feeling like after splurging, I am on a yarn diet and need to not purchase new yarn for any projects for a bit. So, feeling good about the projects I am working on, feeling good about "saving" money by making up what I already have lying around, feeling good about getting through the stash, and at the end, I get to make up my sure-to-be gorgeous sweater! And, no more guilt when I go look at my to-knit pile in my studio. Definitely the favorite thing of the week, no matter how odd it may seem putting it as my weekly favorite....

 

Friday Favorites: Madelinetosh

I know I said yesterday, but I am having a Madelinetosh moment right now. Though I had the best of intentions of snapping pictures of my finished watershed in Tosh DK and current project in Tosh Merino Light (see the yarn here...), here it is after 8pm and I am just getting to blogging, so it didn't happen today. 

I love Madelinetosh yarn, it is so yummy and the colors are flipping amazing. If you haven't knit with it before you should go buy some right now. Seriously.

I don't know how long this Madelinetosh moment will last though! I am going to Fibres West tomorrow where I plan to hit the Sweet Georgia booth first thing. It just might be a Sweet Georgia moment after tomorrow...

 

Friday Favorites: Coffee

I know, I know, I have already used coffee as my favorite of the week. But this week would not have happened without a whole lot of coffee. So I am using it again.

This last week has been a whirlwind. My first draft of my manuscript came last week, so I spent Thursday through Sunday this last weekend editing. Yikes, this is the photo-less version and definitely not my favorite part of the book writing process. Then I was working hard on a new project, which has been very fun but is taking a lot of work. Then we had a photoshoot for the book yesterday. See why coffee has been my favorite this week and I have been silent on the blog front? I think I am through the majority of it all at this point though and life should return more to normal. I sure hope so at least!

So coffee, thank you. You make it so I can get everything done I need to! 

 

Friday Favorites: Knit Style Guides

I was recently suckered into buying this issue of Knitting Magazine when I was at Joann's since it promised me retro knits. I am a sucker for retro knits, and it had several designs in it I am excited about. Upon digging through the magazine I was pleasantly reminded that Knitting Magazine has a little styling guide in it where it shows some of the knits in the issue in different colors and with different clothing items it might look good with. I love these things! I also remembered White Lies Designs tends to do style guides with her patterns on her blog, too. 

I just feel like knitting a sweater is such a huge time commitment it is nice to be able to see different ways to wear it and get a little more insight into the designer's inspiration for the garment. I wish all knitting patterns came with a styling guide! Where other than toy ones, since most people don't tend to wear those. I did decide today to make one of my soon-to-be-released patterns into a hat, but that was because I was being goofy and entertaining a certain baby and husband. Know any other good styling guide type things for knitting I should check out?

Friday Favorites: Pink

Holy pinkness batman, I've gone crazy over pink recently. Everything is pink right now: my nails, the new water bottle I just got, the shawl I just finished, and apparently all the yarn I am buying. I did a trip out to Wear on Earth yarn shop in Lynden this week and came home with all pink:

It all started because one of my friends got me a skein of that amazing Madelinetosh yarn in pink for my birthday. I sat and stared at it for hours and decided the project I wanted to make with it would need a second skein. So I headed to the yarn shop and when I got there I found that Fixation in pinks. I already had a project in mind for Fixation, so I grabbed it. Then as I stood there and pondered getting more Madelinetosh since it is so flipping amazing, I looked up and spotted that pink Namaste bag. Since I had admired that style several times in the past, when I saw it in pink I knew it was meant to be. 

Phew, pink-obsessed much? I feel like I am going a little pink crazy. Maybe it is because having a baby boy all I ever see is blue!

 

Friday Favorites: Baby Legs

Alright, to fit with my legwarmer mania theme that seems to be happening around here, this week I am in love with baby leg warmers! We have 2 pairs:

Images from Amazon.com

I adore these things! When The Kid was a tiny, tiny baby nothing fit him, so he was in baby leg warmers and a onesie most of the time. Now they are perfect for crawling knees, and closing the gap between baby socks and pants (since let's face it, all baby pants turn into shorts). They're really great.

I know there are a bunch of patterns to knit them out there too, but I have not managed to cast on for any. Seeing as I just queued up all my projects and there are about 15 ready-to-go, I don't think a pair will be happening anytime soon, either. Though, I do love these:

Image from Ravelry.com

So there we go, more legwarmer love. The Kid is even being included in this craziness! Or, maybe his baby legs are what inspired my own legwarmer obsessiveness.