on the needles...and...the belly!

Woo! Got the knitting bug back, last night. My friend Gwyneth was talking about this pattern, The Cowboy Cowl, that I've wanted to make for ages. I decided I'd cast on right then! Very excited about wearing this soon! It's so so beautiful.

I'm using Madelinetosh 80/10/10 Worsted in Antique Lace for this project. It's a lovely fawn brown/grey. I believe it'll take 2 skeins. It's so soft and squishy and gorgeous. I love Madelinetosh. I would highly recommend joining their biannual sweater club if you haven't yet. I have a great stash of their yarn now in different weights and in sweater quantities, all because of the club. They let you break out the payments into a monthly payment over 6 months and you get 3 sweaters-worth of yarn per club membership. It's fantastic. Check it out here... The current club is closed, but if you sign up for updates you can get notified when the new one opens. 

In baby news, I now have a proper bump. Wow. It really just showed up this week all of a sudden. Maybe it was all of the indulging in Thanksgiving deliciousness, but I think it's actually a baby in there and it's so weird! And amazingly awesome, all at the same time. Here is proof:

Wow! And people are actually excited about seeing my belly...it's crazy, and flattering, and yes, still weird, but lovely. See the fuzzy fleece I'm wearing? Apparently baby bird is addicted to fleecy sweaters because I have purchased 2 in the last week...things I would not really have worn before, but they ARE. SO. COZY. I also scored a lovely Brigger rocking chair today for a steal at the most amazing thrift store ever near my house. It is a nice wooden, modern rocker with a light grey wool seat pad and pillows for your lower back and head. Love. it. More to come on baby in the near future, I'm sure :)

Until then, happy Christmas decorating! I'll show some lovelies I found for our tree soon...

little blanket, coming right along...

Pattern: Square Target square from Jan Eaton's 200 Crocheted Blocks
Yarn: DROPS Alpaca 

create your own font

Good morning! I wanted to share a fun new activity I've been a little obsessed with the last few days. I saw Elsie's post, over on A Beautiful Mess, about an iPad app that allows you to create your own font. I tried it out and have been having a blast! I wanted to share it with you. The app is called iFontMaker. 

You can easily create fonts with your finger, but Elsie suggests using the Bamboo stylus for iPad so, being the designer I am,  of course I had to order one and try it out. If you really get into this I definitely suggest the stylus. It makes things much easier to control. The fonts only take about 30 minutes or so to create, maybe even less. That's what's so nice about this app is that they make it super easy. When finished, you publish a .ttf file that is easily imported into your fonts on your computer. 

Here I added some text to a picture of my sweet sleeping pup. This font I created is called Quirly. 

And here is an example of a photo of mine using one of Elsie's fonts she shared on her site. 

Lastly, here is a photo that I added text to with just my Bamboo stylus and tablet, done in Photoshop, ie. this is freehanded and not my actual font. I wanted to show the difference. I love both, but this photo took me twice as long to create, so if you're illustrating many photos it is so handy to have your own personalized font!

I'm still having fun playing around with my font creations. If I come up with some I'm really excited about, I'll be sure to share them with you! Enjoy and happy weekend!

almost have the knitting bug back...

As many of you know, the first trimester of pregnancy can be, well, icky to say the least. I was fortunate to be able to eat ok through my first 13 weeks, but I sure did feel carsick most of the time, woozy and a little dizzy. Needless to say, that cut down on my desire to knit, considerably. As I start to feel better though and look at adorable little patterns, I'm noticing the growing desire to have something on my needles. I'm thinking I'll start with these two lovely patterns and go from there :)

Little Baby Sweater from Purlbee

Wool Leaves from Brooklyn Tweed