Monday, May 31, 2010
Socks and Such
-Kala
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
Pink Bunny Project/Gift Bag:
Seaside Floral Project/Gift Bag:
Yarn Ho Stitch Markers (these are new!)
Queen of Hearts Stitch Markers, these are new too!
So what are you guys up to this weekend?
-Kala
Friday, May 28, 2010
Day Trip: Stillwater
One thing that I've loved since I was a wee girl is taking fun day trips to small, quaint, offbeat, or even blatantly touristy town. My dad always loved piling my mom and I into the car, picking a direction,and just driving until we found someplace worth checking out. My husband is a lot less spontaneous in that respect, he needs at least some idea of where we'll end up - a goal if you will. And since marriage is all about compromise, I oblige (most of the time) and don't insist on too much random wandering.
The goal for today's day trip was to visit Stillwater Minnesota and check out the new yarn store in town - Darn Knit Anyway. I'd heard a few rumblings that it was worth checking out and since I'd never been to Stillwater I thought we could make a fun day of it. When you pull into town - at least from the direction we came - Darn Knit Anyway is one of the first places you hit. Nestled in an historic brick building, the shop's modern style is a nice contrast to some of the quaint surrounding ships.
More than just a yarn shop, Darn Knit also carries handmade gifts (I recognized the work of several Etsy artists), fabric, and sewing supplies. The yarn selection isn't huge and the vegan selection is teeny tiny. I'm always hoping for something new and exciting, something that can't be had at my lys, but I was disappointed with the selection. They carry some very nice fabric - lots of modern prints and Amy Butler - but nothing that you can't find at Treadle or Crafty Planet. Overall, I'd visit the shop again on another trip to town, but I wouldn't drive out there just for that shop in particular. The shop girl was great though, she was able to read the customers, giving lots of help and attention to one lady who needed it and letting me shop in peace but making it clear she was available to help if I needed it.
Our nest stop on our stroll down the main drag was The Chef's Gallery - a huge and awesome kitchen supply store that tempts the eye with everything from baking supplies to grilling tools, and everything in between. We didn't end up buying anything there, but it was just fun for the eye candy.
A short walk down from The Chef's Gallery, we found my favorite stop of the day - The Stillwater Olive Oil Company. I'm a huge olive oil fan and could practically live on fresh bread dipped in extra virgin olive oil and hummus so I was in heaven. The shop is set up so that you can easily help yourself to samples of every olive oil and balsamic vinegar they carry. Shane and I tried tons of varieties, some of my favorites were the blood orange balsamic vinegar, garlic olive oil, and blood orange olive oil. I ended up buying a medium sized bottle of the garlic oil and can't wait to dip it with some crusty bread or drizzle some on pasta - yum!
If you love antiques, then Stillwater is the town for you - there are countless antique malls and shops that could easily take hours to peruse through. We only stopped in one, a huge antique mall that was jam packed with treasures. Luckily for me, Shane shares my love of poling around dusty shelves for odd treasures and even found the best thing in the shop - an Ewok glass! I'm not a huge Star Wars geek, but Ewoks are adorable so I just had to have the glass.
By now, we were starting to get hungry for lunch so we stopped at our best bet for good vegan chow - the local natural foods co-op. I had checked the town out on Veg Guide like a good little vegan and wasn't impressed with the few restaurant choices. But luckily, the River Market Community Co-op was wonderful, much more vegan friendly that even some in the twin cities. The vegan ready to eat food had bright orange "vegan" stickers on them - love that! I got a delicious bean, veggie, and salsa burrito and Shane got a hummus veggie wrap.
Now that we were done with the main part of town, it was time to hunt down a quilt shop. I'm always on the lookout for fun fabric for my shop, so little fabric shop trips are a must. Charlotte's Quilting Web - nestled in a typical suburban strip mall - is a small shop but has a nice selection of different styles of fabric. A traditional quilter would be just as happy as someone looking for a something a little more bold. I settled on an adorable bike print and a vibrant coordinating fat quarter.
So if you're a Minnesotan, consider a nice day or weekend trip to Stillwater, being a tourist in your own state can be a lot of fun on the cheap! I'd love to hear about the fun places you guys like to visit for day trips, comment and let me know!
-Kala
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
The Kitties Need You!
-Kala
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Things I Love - Trinknitty on Etsy
Color Party Stitch Marker Necklace - it's a necklace with fully functional stitch markers that you can use when you need them, genius!
4 Vintage Buttons and a Bit of Fabric - this is a cool resin necklace, I've never worked with resin before but I'd love to.
So there's just a little sample of what she's got available in her shop, hop on over and then let me know what your faves are, I'd love to know! Oh, and don't forget to check out her blog too :)
-Kala
Monday, May 24, 2010
Hedgie Winners!
Thanks to everyone who entered my Hedgehog Pin contest, it was fun reading all of your entries! I decided to choose two winners, one would go to the person chosen by random number generator and one to someone who had the same answer I would have given. So, by power of random number generator, the first winner is......Roni of Daisy Wares, yay!!! And since my dream vacation would be a trip to Japan, the second winner is.....Hannah from Bittersweet!
thanks again everyone!
-Kala
Sunday, May 23, 2010
FO: Mendocino Dress
The pattern is both free and awesome, it's the Mendocino Dress from Heather Ross. This dress has been 90% done for a while but I've been dragging my feet on the whole hem thing. The disturbingly humid weather finally motivated me to get this little number done and I'm glad I can finally wear it! It's a strapless dress which is weird for me, but I think I'll get used to it. I got the pretty purple (looks better in person!) fabric from Treadle Yard Goods on sale, I got all of the fabric and elastic thread for the dress for under $20, gotta love it! The dress itself was actually really easy to sew, the top bit with the elastic thread took forever and a day, but it was super easy. I'll leave you all with this dorky pic:
-Kala
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Giveaway Time!!!
Cute, right? There are many ways to earn entries, please leave separate comments for each entry and make sure I have a way of contacting you if you win (rav name, e-mail, etsy shop...) Ok, here's how to enter:
1. leave a comment telling me your dream vacation spot.
2. become a follower of this blog or let me know if you already follow (or subscrible via google reader or other reader).
3. post about this on twitter and let me know.
4. post about this on facebook and let me know.
5. "like" Vegancraftastic on Facebook and let know.
Good luck everyone, entries are open until Monday, May 24th!
-Kala
Thursday, May 13, 2010
One is the loneliest number
Ummm, and there are two more that a yarn company will have until TNNA so it looks like I have 8 lonely sad little single socks. Is that a lot? I know there must be people with way more, right? Right?
-Kala
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Cloudy With a Chance of Fiber
-Kala
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Happy Mommy Day!!!
I hope all of the mommies out there are having an awesome day today filled with cake, hugs, prezzies, and more cake! To celebrate this day, I'm having a special sale in my Etsy shop, and it's not just for moms :) Today only, take $5 off any order of $5 or more by leaving the code "moms rock" in the message to seller area - I'll refund the $5 via paypal after your order is complete. I wish Etsy had an automated coupon code option, but they don't so this is how it has to work. Here are some of the new goodies I have in the shop:
Large Queen Bee Project Bag - also available in the smaller size:
-Kala
Saturday, May 08, 2010
Winners!
Thanks everyone for entering the contest!
-Kala
Friday, May 07, 2010
He really does wear them!
When I noticed that he was wearing the Boys of Summer socks the other day, I made him sit out of the front steps of the building so I could take a quick picture :) I also made him pull his jeans up so you could see the socks, tee hee!
-Kala
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Contest: Boys of Summer Socks!
I really love how these came out, especially the fun bit of colorwork on the heel. I designed the Boys of Summer Socks for my husband, he loves handknit socks and I love making them for him :) The pattern is available on Ravelry right now, thanks to my awesome test knitters! I used Panda Cotton (big surprise, right!) in Jet Black and Blueberries Grapes for this pair. I'm still deciding what colors to use for a pair for myself.
To celebrate the release of the pattern, I'm giving away two pdfs of this pattern to my readers! To enter, leave a comment telling me what colors you would knit these socks in and leave me your Ravelry name or email address (youATwhereverDOTcom). If you blog, facebook, or tweet about this contest, let me know in a separate comment for extra entries. Contest is open until this Saturday, May 8, 2010. Good luck everyone!
-Kala
Monday, May 03, 2010
Homemade yumminess
We cook all the time around here, usually the husband makes the savories and I make the sweets, unless he's working late. Here's the slice of awesome we had last night:
We made the cheeseburger pizza from La Dolce Vegan (great book by the way!) and it came out super yummy. It's topped with cheddar Daiya, homemade tempeh sausage, tomato sauce, onion, jalapeno, and on Shane's half only, sliced pickles. For dessert, I made peanut butter and jelly ice cream from The Vegan Scoop:
This ice cream was AMAZING, so cream and yummy, I'll totally be making it again!
-Kala
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Treehouse Socks
Aren't those cables gorgeous? They really pop with the yarn I used, the New Blues shade of Panda Cotton. These Treehouse Socks were a test knit for the awesomely talented Christabel Seneque. It was my first time cabling without a cable needs so that took some getting used to, I'm still not sold on the technique but the instructions were so clear that I didn't need to look anywhere for help or anything, nice! So if you like these socks, please check out her pattern, it's amazing and she's donating all proceeds to Kiva.org, an organization that helps impoverished entrepreneurs across the globe with micro loans.
-Kala
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