This Ain’t Your Momma’s Trend Alert.

image via chartreuse & a twist

Fashion is constantly re-writing and breaking the rules. Wearing white after Labor Day is no longer a fashion no-no, mixing plaids with stripes is perfectly acceptable (and encouraged!) and now wearing navy with black is on trend. And it’s a trend we are loving! Especially with the pops gold and cream. It’s sophisticated yet approachable and a trend I know I’ll be trying out on my next project.

This Trend Alert yarns are featured from Jimmy Beans Wool – recently featured on Vogue Knitting FB top yarns for 2012

1) PARCHMENT : Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light Yarn

2) GOLD : Artyarns Mohair Splash Yarn

3) BLUE TWEED : Cascade 220 Yarn #9494

4) NAVY : Cascade Magnum Yarn #8393

5) BROTHERS GRIMM : Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light Yarn

Hey girl. Ryan understands you.

Unless you’ve been living in cave OR haven’t yet gotten your invite for Pinterest, you have no doubt seen the hilarious meme “Hey Girl.” featuring various images of Ryan Gosling and incredibly spot on quotes that all start with “Hey Girl.”; connecting to the plight of being a strong, independent and crafty woman. Our favorites have to do with knitting and crochet, of course (but the one about the mason jar lamps is pretty damn funny too!).  This meme is not new, but because of Pinterest it has had a resurgence of followers creating a whole new wave of images of Gosling and relatable crafty / DIY quotes. Click here for the original tumblr to get all the Ryan goodness you can stand. Here’s some of our personal faves:

Handmade Holiday Gift Recap

We all do it.  Sometime in the summer we declare:  ”I am going to make all my Christmas gifts this year!”

I think we all know how this sad story usually turns out.  However, Brandy and I did pull it together in the very end, and I am proud to present to you…

The Festival of Handmade and Somewhat Appreciated Gifts!  

I can tell you that the first item, a fantastic crocheted Hello Kitty scarf for my sister, wins, hands down.  Theresa, my sister, loves Hello Kitty.  She is also a FANATICAL University of Washington sports fan (hence the purple and gold).  I really thought she was going to cry when she opened this up.  Made by Brandy, with her mad crochet skillz, of course.  Hello Kitty diagram can be found here.

(She’s sporting some toasty fingerless gloves I made as well…)

Continuing on the University of Washington theme, I made my sis a striped phone cozy, and a warm and a toasty basket weave border hat.  I wrote the pattern down somewhere for the hat, if you are interested let me know.  I held two strands together for both the cuff and the body of the hat.

I slaved over this slouchy beanie concoction from Caron for Brandy.  I used Lion Brand Amazing yarn in Pink Sands.  This was a nail biter, down to the wire.  But it turned out really cute and she loves it! (at least she says she does!)

Brandy came up with a great idea for two of her male friends who are from Viking heritage.  She found this awesome pattern and knocked out these two crocheted Viking Hats.

Brandy made me the most beautiful ripple patterned crochet cowl!  I have worn it pretty much every day.  I have asked her to make me another one immediately!  :)  I forgot to take a photo of it – my bad!

We also made a slew of other items – see the photo montage below – crocheted cowls, knit beanies, bow headbands, and more.

Now that the holidays are over, it’s back to knitting and crocheting for ourselves – Brandy is working on a bobble bunny hat.  She is now talking about bobbles non-stop.   I finally finished my Twinkle Printmaker’s Pullover, which I had mentioned awhile back.   It looks great on my dress form, but I haven’t gotten around to wearing it yet.  And I just started designing a dress/tunic inspired by the shape of this Pinterest find.  I am doing a top down, circular construction.

So for all you gift knitters and crocheters, our hats (no pun intented) are off to you!  Did you finish in time?  What is your next craft adventure?

Until next time!

M and B

Holiday Trend Forcast: The Ugly Sweater (Party)

There is so much fugly great Christmas sweater inspiration out there it was hard to decide on just one to focus on for color and trend inspiration. Much like my research on the Cosby Sweater, the more I dug into the history of the Ugly Christmas Sweater the more I became lost in a sea of images, blogs and books paying tribute to this fashion atrocity. The growing trend during this holiday time is to have an Ugly Christmas Sweater party (Google it, I promise you won’t be disappointed). There’s even a trio of dudes calling themselves “Ugly Christmas Sweater” (Team Ugly for short) who literally wrote the book on it. It looks like so much fun that Mary and I have decided next year we are hosting one of these parties!

image via Google search (can’t find source)

The first collection is by far the most popular choice when choosing to “don your gay apparel”. Bright color, crazy images and the more appliques and Bedazzled goodness the better. You wear one of these fine specimens you are sure to be the ugliest belle at the ball!

1) BROOKLYN : 100% superwash merino worsted / Cake Walk Yarns via Etsy  (go to Tangled Happy for a discount code and giveaway!)

2) GOLD : acyrlic & metallic polyester mix / Vanna’s Glamour via Lion Brand Yarns

3) FLECKY SWEATER YARN : recycled yarn from actual Christmas Sweater! / SmartMonkey via Etsy

4) CHRISTMAS TREE : silk, wool & glitz rayon mix – art yarn / Scales and Fins Yarn via Etsy

5) CHRISTMAS GREEN : 100% Peruvian highland wool / via Purl Soho

image via Google (again not sure of the source)

The second collection is inspired by those that choose to attend an Ugly Sweater Party with no intention on actually participating BUT the price of admission is one Christmas sweater SO these party goers cheat the system by wearing a traditional and now chic holiday sweater. (aka killjoys)

1) NATURAL : 100% pure virgin wool / Fisherman’s Wool via Lion Brand Yarns

2) CANDY CANE : silk, wool & glitz rayon mix – art yarn / Scales and Fins Yarn via Etsy

3) STERLING : acrylic & polyester blend with sequins / Sequin via Bernat Yarns

4) DEEP SEA : 100% acrylic / Vanna’s Colors via Lion Brand Yarns

5) MIDNIGHT HEATHER : 100% pure new wool / via Purl Soho

image via Craft Stylish • click the photo for upcycled dog sweater pattern

The third collection is what you do after the party… after your hangover is cured and you realize you are now the proud owner of an Ugly Christmas Sweater. Some hipsters may continue to wear it into the new year (making others scratch their heads) but you know better and it’s either figure out something to do with it or it’s off to the Good Will.

1) HOLIDAY YARN : 100% merino wool with beads – art yarn / Wool Wench via Etsy

2) ECRU : 80% wool & 20% silk / Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool XL via Webs

3) TOPAZ : acyrlic & metallic polyester mix / Vanna’s Glamour via Lion Brand Yarns

4) ESTES : superwash merino, cashmere & nylon / Cake Walk Yarns via Etsy  (go to Tangled Happy for a discount code and giveaway!)

5) GREEN : 100% cashmere recycled yarn from actual Christmas Sweater! / Sentimental Valu via Etsy

Matt Damon via The Today Show (check out more fun celebs & their sweaters here)

Happy Holidays from Rewind Knits & Crochet. Mary and I will be “away” for the rest of the year, busy cranking out our Christmas presents! After the first of the year we’ll be posting all about our handmade holiday gifts along with a giveaway of a Eugenie prize pack.

3 New Patterns… and… It’s Here! Crocheted Version of the Center Row Lace Headband / Neck Warmer! AKA PATTERN-PALOOZA!!

After many requests, we have finally perfected and patterned up a crochet version of our most popular pattern, the Center Row Lace Headband / Neck Warmer.  The dimensions of the finished product are very close to the knit version, and the look is almost identical.  I hope that you crocheters out there are happy with the results.  This pattern comes out just in time to stylishly fight off that winter weather!

We’ve also been hard at work creating the patterns featured in our last post!

Post Halloween, Pre-Turkey Day Update

While Halloween at Brandy’s house wasn’t as busy with kiddos as in years past, we definitely had more time to focus on a few new projects.  The weather has turned here in the PNW, and the last few weeks I have been focused on gloves and mittens.  One, their quick, two, sizing really isn’t too much of an issue, three, I’m thinking holiday gifts.  I came up with two easy options that are NOT knit on DPNs.

The first ones are some cute cable wristlets, with the thumb added after you sew them up.  I wore them for about a week before I decided to add the thumbs,  so you can go either way.  Pattern will be posted next week.  This is some super soft bamboo hand spun yarn I got off of Etsy over a year ago, and I was happy with the results.

The second ones I think I will call my Dishcloth Candy Cane Wristlets.  These are the easiest things ever.  I came up with these for a friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) who is convinced the only thing she can knit is dishcloths.  Again, knit on regular needles and then sewn up after the fact.  You could even do these in school colors (my sis is getting some Purple and Gold ones for Christmas in honor of our U of W Huskies!).  I used Vanna’s Choice yarn.  I am going to get the pattern written up for you next week on these as well.

And here is what Halloween looked like at Brandy’s house.  We went with a funeral parlor/graveyard theme.  I was D. Eadly and she was D. Ceased.  Please note that we hijacked our store mannequin and planted her body parts in the lawn.  I was worried her leg was going to get stolen, but she is all back in one piece now.  We watched Anchorman, knit and crocheted between ‘customers’ and I tried to not eat all the Smarties out of the candy bucket. All in all a successful evening!

Terror-ific FREE Halloween Patterns

Halloween is here again and with exactly 16 days remaining until the big night Mary and I have a lot of crafting to do to be ready for trick-or-treaters. This year we’ve decided to decorate my home as a haunted or un-dead funeral home. I live in the suburbs so I always get tons of trick-or-treaters but this will be the first time I’ve decorated the exterior of my home. We are going to pull out all the stops. We’ll be turning our cars into hearses, using mannequin parts for victims and putting fresh graves on the lawn. Don’t worry, we’ll post pictures!

In celebration we’ve gathered some of our favorite internet craft freebies! Who doesn’t like free? Click the picture to access the pattern.

KNIT:

Decorate with singles or put 5 or 6 in a jar for instant science lab! OR string together for an eye-popping garland. (we just can’t help ourselves!)

This pattern is for adult & child matching hats BUT we love how it turned into a yarn-bombing opportunity!

These are cute as-is OR swap googley eyes for buttons and they would make great tawashis!

Great pattern to customize to look like your victim of choice…

CROCHET:

Eye always look out for the crocheters, we wouldn’t leave you out…

Severed finger chapstick cozy! You had me at severed finger.

Yana Knits also provides the pattern for a cozy web for your spider to live in. Add a red hour glass to it’s back and make it deadly.

It wouldn’t be a Rewind post if I didn’t link to some amigurumi! Look at these cuties…

SEWING

We just had to include this. It’s a fan fav on Pinterest and for good reason! A great way to use up lace bits you may have around your house… or is that just me??

Please refer to each of the blogs linked in this post for the credit due for each craft. 

Free Pattern Alert! Misti Net Scarf

Even though it is 80 degrees today, you can count on two things here in the Pacific Northwest:  cold dreary weather for a good 6 months out of the year, and the need for an awesome scarf.  Today we bring you a free pattern from our friend Karen over at Knit 1 LA.  We are digging her chunky aesthetic, and the fact that it is a quick and fashionable knit makes it all the better.

She has other free patterns on her site and some wonderful patterns for sale, all very reasonably priced.  We especially love the Magnum Reversible Wrap.  We are hoping that you won’t need the scarf for awhile, but we all know fall is ’round the corner!

Winner! Winner!

Thanks to those of you who participated in our 100,000 Views Giveaway!  And our winner is… comment #14 who is Lizz, who is new to the wonders of crochet – what a great way to keep her going (and to start her yarn stash!).  Congrats Lizz, your items will be coming directly from Lion Brand.

100,000 Views Giveaway – Sponsored by Lion Brand Yarn!

Our friends over at Lion Brand Yarn, who have recently discovered that we have a stalking issue passion for all things Vanna, have generously offered to sponsor a giveaway in honor of our 100,000th blog view which was on 8/24!

You can win two skeins of Vanna’s new Colors yarn  http://www.lionbrand.com/yarns/vannascolors.html , and a Lion Brand tote bag!  All that you need to do is comment on this post within the next two weeks and let us know what project you might make if you won!  Winner will drawn at random.

Don’t forget to check out Lion Brand on Facebook too,  www.Facebook.com/LionBrandYarns.

Cheers,

M&B