FO: Jaywalker Socks.

I first casted these socks on in June of 2008. I frogged them once and forgot about them for a while. I tried again in April of last year and they were still far too small. The leg opening wouldn't stretch to fit my really weak ankles. I don't know if I was doing something wrong or if the pattern was just written on the small side. My gauge was on, but the sock was not.

After adding a second "V" to the chevron pattern and being coached to knit a little looser by Will, I finally ended up with one sock that fit. I tossed it in my knitting bag and left it there for a little while.

Eventually, I kicked the S-S-S (second sock syndrome) and forced myself to finish the second.

And there you have it, a fun pair of socks!

Project Particulars

Pattern: Jaywalkers (free download @ Ravelry)

Yarn: Spaghetti by Chewy Spaghetti

Needles: Addi Turbo US Size 1 circulars (magic loop method)

Cost: Free! The yarn was a gift!

Time: We're not going to talk about it.

Notes: These ended being very small (3 times)! I finally decided to modify the pattern to add an extra "V" to the chevron.

Have YOU finished anything lately? Leave a link in the comments, I'd love to see!

Guest Post: Aminah of The Thrifty Gypsies

Hey Kids!

School started this week, and I knew it was going to be a little hectic around these parts so I'v asked my friend Aminah to jump in and do a fun guest post for you! I'm so thankful to have such a great group of readers and pals that are willing to help out when things get crazy!

After spending the past three weeks in my own kitchen preparing meals for the 28-day challenge, I've noticed that it maybe time for to spruce up the place! Aminah has curated an amazing collection of vintage goodies for us to swoon over.

Enjoy!

Hi KnitXcorE readers!

I’m Aminah from the Thrifty Gypsies! My business partner Jessi & and I run the Thrifty Gypsies together - where we sell great vintage kitchen items from our Etsy shop! So great that we actually love displaying a lot of the pieces in our own kitchens until they’re sold!

So of course it makes sense if this post is all about retro kitchens and how to get the look!

There’s so many small(ish), great items that you can get that will instantly transform your kitchen; these are just a few!

and how lucky are you that (almost) everything shown here is available on Etsy?

1. (Time for a little shameless store promotion!) Our love for vintage coffee carafes is a new one but its a great one - Carafes like this one look so great in any kitchen, people are definitely sure to talk about it!

2. I have a serious love affair with aluminum canisters. I’ve mixed and matched two sets for my own kitchen and I get the most compliments on those than anything else in my kitchen!

3. The colour! The chrome! The design and shape! Everything about this mixer screams retro. Practical and cute - that’s a great way to justify purchases to your significant other, I use it every weekend!

4. Could these look anymore retro?? These dessert bowls are just adorable, even if they were the only retro thing in your kitchen, they would still make it work!

5. Even if you don’t want to shop vintage, but want the retro look, there’s lots of great stores that do a fantastic job of making retro looking modern kitchen ware. Like these primary colour (Pyrex-y looking) mixing & store bowls from urban outfitters!

6. This set of spice shakers is so adorable! Again, instantly add a little retro spice to your kitchen with something as easy peasy as a set of retro spice shakers!

7. Love these! These are in one of my favourite shops on Etsy, and even if you aren’t going to use them for oil & vinegar, they’ll look great on a shelf or with other ingredients in them!

8. This cute yellow dining table is not only retro looking but it’ll instantly brighten up any kitchen!

9. EVERYONE needs a retro wall clock in their kitchen. My step dad is an avid collector and every time he comes over, he tries to steal my retro clock that hangs over our stove.

What’s your favourite piece of a retro kitchen?

Thank you so much to Robbie for having me and thanks to everyone for reading my post!

wip wednesday.

Even after a marathon of Christmas crafting, I still have a pretty big pile of projects waiting to be wrapped up before I start my still top secret reallybigimportantproject. I figured that I would list them here, both so you could see them and I could get an idea of what I still have to finish. Sound good?

-Jaywalker Socks

-My Softies for Mirabel Submission

-Restore Vintage Stuffed Rabbit

-Pile Of PomPoms for Rin's Wedding

-Gifts for Oh Strumpets! Valentines Swap Partner

-Clay Mushrooms from Martha Stewart

Not too bad! There's an end in sight... sort of.

What are you working on?

Vinyl Monday: Talking Heads.

*YAWN*

Such a long day!

I didn't even realize it was Monday until about twenty minutes ago.

Tomorrow is the first day of the Spring semester and I'm totally geeking out over "Intro to Ceramics". I can't wait to get my hands in that clay.

I'm gonna take the Instax with me to take pictures. I don't really want to lug around a giant DSLR all day. Don't worry, you'll get a full recap :-)

I'd better go to bed early, so I'll be bright-eyed and bushy tailed in the morning, huh?

Enjoy the Talking Heads, while I get some beauty sleep!

Photo Friday!

These photos are all so great that I've been considering buying a Bamboo tablet! I saw one on Stela's blog and I can't stop thinking about how cool it is!!!!

Etsy Seller: RubyChicOriginals

Katie Sokoler

Dorothy Fu

Have you ever used one? Is it worth it?

Get Healthy!: Week 2 Wrap Up

This week, we really dropped the ball. The 28 day challenge began to hamper our already sad little social life, as it became insanely difficult to have lunch dates with friends or each other. On Friday, we threw caution to the wind and joined some friends for dinner at a burger joint and it just went downhill from there.

We ate a little fast food here and there, and I succumbed to the siren song of a super dark bar of chocolate. I was so upset, but also so satisfied.

I began to think about whether the cleanse was right for us. I almost threw in the towel. There were a few times where I bit my tongue about the wrong food decisions we were making.

Throughout the week, I started feeling really strong anxiety at meal time. Was the food I was eating okay? Would I just drop dead if I ate a croissant?

It really didn't seem worth it.

However, we discussed our weekend binge on Monday and evaluated the challenge while still considering our lifestyle. We came to the conclusion that AT HOME we would stick to our planned meals (from the magazine) but if we were out that we wouldn't be the obnoxious friend with tons of self-imposed dietary restrictions.

Luckily, this week's recipes were much more exciting and we've enjoyed eating them. The Lentil Soup and Baked Sweet Potatoes above were spot on! Really great!

It sounds like I'm just making excuses for our lapse of judgement and our lack of willpower, but honestly we just needed to approach this plan more realistically.

So far we've learned about making the right choices, how certain foods make us feel, and their functions in our diet. Who knew that apples make you poop or that parsley was an antioxidant treasure trove? Not me!

Resolution #3: Dress Better!

So here's the thing: I don't feel like I necessarily dress badly, but in a lot of situations I still feel like it's not good enough. I mean, I regularly wear actual shoes and button down shirts or whatever but it's sort of become a "uniform" for me. I don't feel particularly special or creative in my current wardrobe. It's definitely not fun. There are days where I feel frumpy or out of touch, just because my shirt fits too big or my pants are too long.

I buy things on impulse, or things that are on sale (just because they're on sale); without thought really. I'm not good at waiting for the perfect thing. I end up settling for something because I want to have "something" right away; fully knowing that whatever I bought isn't perfect for me. The fit is weird, or the color is wrong and I just suck it up. I'll wear the awkward piece here and there to justify the purchase, but eventually it ends up in the part of the closet that I never look in (all the way up in the front).

I don't know where my sartorial discomfort stems from. I have good clothes. I have things people would love to own. Still, I toss on the same western button down and jeans day after day. I feel comfortable in these clothes but I also feel like I could be doing so much more.

I stopped doing "What I Wore" posts because after taking pictures of the new "outfits" I'd come up with, I thought who cares if I'm wearing jeans and a tee shirt. I don't, why should anyone else?

I look at blogger's like Colby and Raphael, and I feel like crap about my mundane wardrobe. Don't get me wrong, I'm not writing this to get pity. It's more just me being honest to myself (and to you) about why I feel so stressed about getting dressed. Hopefully, it will force me to evaluate my purchases more thoroughly and also inspire me to purge the things that I don't love.

It's going to be a tough resolution to follow through with, but sharing things on this blog always makes me feel more dedicated to the action. Your support means a lot!

gettin' crafty: pom-pom flowers!

I guess it's only fair to share what sort of crafty exploits we were up to last night! Inspired by the super cool pompom flowers at Ivey Handcrafted, we decided it would be fun to make smaller ones on bendable pipe cleaners stems.

Honestly, ever since I bought these little pompom makers on Amazon, I've been looking for excuses to use them. I know. I know. It was reckless to spend money on a little piece of plastic. I can make pompom just fine with a piece of cardboard. It's a very "noob" looking device used to do a simple task.

Here's the thing: My homemade pompoms consistently look like crap. I end up trimming them down until there's almost nothing left. I'm wasting entire skeins of yarn to get one good pompom.

This isn't just another tool. It's a necessity. It produces a perfect pompom EVERY SINGLE TIME. There's no way I can ruin them.

After maikng a handful of perfect poms, I twisted some pipe cleaners up and jammed them into the center of each one. I didn't even glue them.

Reckless.

They fit perfectly into this little gnome vase a friend gave me for Christmas! Love it!

What's your favorite craft tool right now?

crafternoon playlist.

I didn't have the opportunity to take pictures for Vinyl Monday, because I was busy gettin' crafty with my bestie. Instead, all I have to offer is a playlist of the actual music that we listened to tonight.

I'm awfully tired, so I'm going to feed our little zoo and head to bed.

Enjoy!

valentines for the rest of us!

I am beside my self with happiness after finding these perfect Valentine prints at Little Bird Big City!!!!

It's honestly the first time that I've ever seen Valentine's that recognized alternative lifestyles.

Kudos, Brooke!

Get cards @ thelittlecanoe on Etsy and prints and other goodies at Brooke Weeber's Society6 shop!

dream studio @ boopsie daisy!

It's not secret that I've been researching studio spaces. I really am trying to pull mine together!

The sad reality is that a majority of the creative areas that I've found have been frighteningly sterile; think hospitals of institutional kitchens. People can't possibly be making anything exciting in an all white room with grey accents. These spaces just seem so droll.

The one above is one of very few that I actually liked. It's visually exciting, kitschy, and still organized.

While I know that I won't have something like Boopsie Daisy's studio, it's still a goal that I can work towards!

Get Healthy!: Week One Wrap-Up.

Tonight is the last night of week one in our 28 day cleanse!!!! I couldn't be more excited to finally eat some protein (besides nuts and seeds).

Week One had it's highs and lows. The first day was intolerable. I was cranky and I slept most of the day. Neither of us really did much of anything. As the week progressed daily activities became slightly easier in our new, light bodies. Eating clean and eating less actually provides you with an almost euphoric feeling (that may have just been hunger).

Last week's comment about the apples was well received, there was a day were they were completely necessary to "move things along".

It was pretty easy to avoid temptation because we got rid of almost all of the bad food in the house. At work I ate the food I brought with me, or I picked up some fruit or nuts from the coffee shop near our store.

The juices were my absolute favorite part. They were such a great start to the day. I don't really like eating in the morning; I just don't feel hungry before lunch. So the juices and smoothies provide a nutrient packed liquid breakfast that didn't leave me feeling forced to choke down oatmeal or eggs as soon as I wake up. Hopefully, I can keep the ball rolling as far as they are concerned.

Some of the recipes were just plain awful, which isn't anyone's fault but my own, but we still forced ourselves to eat them knowing that they were important to our health. The Kale Slaw and the Beet + Garlic Soup really didn't agree with our palettes at all. I ended up having to eat most of the kale all by myself. I took it to work for lunch twice and ate it at home for lunch twice! That's a lot of raw kale.

Tonight, we're having the butternut squash soup again because it was our favorite of all the dishes so far.

During the entire week, I only "cheated" twice. I had a handful of M&M's before I realized what I was doing on Tuesday night and today Dave and I had a lunch date where I opted for some white rice and a piece of grilled chicken. Not too bad, right?

I've noticed that my skin feels smoother, I finally have more energy, and I just feel "happier" in general. Pretty good for just eating a week's worth of fruit and vegetables, huh?

This week's meditation focus was to evaluate our relationship with food, and to separate nourishment from emotional eating. I think that this week we learned a lot about making the right choices both at home and in public, and I couldn't be happier about it.

Here's to an even more successful Week 2!!!

P.S. Don't forget to swing by "Say It Ain't So", to offer words of encouragement to Rae and Travis, my detox buddies!

Resolution #2: Get Organized!

There's a lot of discussion about the "authenticity" of blogger's lives lately; do they really dress like that everyday? are their houses perfect? do they ever fail at a crafty pursuit?

Of course, we only show our best sides; our hippest outfits, our cleanest rooms, and our flawless projects. I think that as bloggers we're held to a different standard and I don't really mind that. I love looking at pictures of Danielle Thompson's perfect home and Elsie Larson's too cool for school vintage outfits because they INSPIRE me. They inspire me to vacuum the rugs now and then and to possibly even iron my shirts.

Hopefully, I inspire people to live creatively and to enjoy the process as much as I do. This holiday season was a perfect example of just how much I enjoy making things (and giving them to other people). Unfortunately, in order to finish all of these projects in time to wrap them up by December 25th, I had to let something slide.

My studio is disgusting! There's tape on the walls, stacks of books and tissue paper taller than I am, and piles of unfinished crafts in every corner. It's truly in-navigable!!! There's about three feet of walking space from the door to the work table. I can't find anything. I'm stepping on pins every time I walk in the room. I can barely get to my hamster's cage to feed him. It really is that bad.

And so, now I will look to those A-list bloggers to inspire me once again; this time to finally get my studio organized. I have a very exciting long term project coming up, and I need things to be in order. I can't possibly function in this room in this state. It really is UNACCEPTABLE.

So, this is my honest portrayal of my studio. I didn't move anything or stage any of the pictures (OBVS). It's a mess.

How's that for authentic?

Where do I even begin to tackle this mess?

vinyl monday: joan of arc.

I've had the past two days off from work to wind down from all the tumult of the holidays and I've spent a majority of the time lounging around on the couch reading Deepak Chopra books and making smoothies for our 28-day challenge(Rae of Say It Ain't So joined in on the fun, too. Be sure to root us both on!!!). Eating only fruits and vegetables can be a shock to the system after years of chowing down on carbs and fat, so I haven't really had the energy to do much more than loaf.

I'll update you on our success on Thursday, so keep an eye out for that! It's not too late for you to take the challenge yourself! If you're interested you can read about it at Whole Living.

Won't you join us?