Crafty things I'm loving this week:

Charming felt flower sachets from Purl Bee - Who doesn't want to whip up some cute little gift for friends or simply to have on hand

Pink Grapefruit Mitts by knittedblissJC - Just the name alone makes me love them & the luscious color doesn't help either. Plus in Seattle you can pretty much wears these types of gloves year round. Win-win.

Felted Knitted Basket from Martha Stewart - Another way to reuse older knitted goods. Always good to give beloved knits a second life!

Mr. & Mrs. Gnome from Wee Wonderfuls by Hillary Lang - I love the book Wee Wonderfuls, full of such sweet charming dolls. This happy couple isn't in the book but part of the website. I must get these soon. Very soon.

So much wonderful craftiness out there... not enough time.

What are you crafting these days?

F.O. Breckenridge Cowl & a weekend away

Somehow from all my blissed out relaxation time I forgot to blog about my knitting weekend retreat with my knitting group in early May. It's our annual trip to Port Townsend to stay in the officers housing at the military base of Fort Warden. (For all you movie trivia buffs, this is where they filmed an Officer and a Gentlemen. I should really watch the whole thing one day.)

It was a great time with great friends. A lot of knitting was done. I also went on many walks along the beach (basically right outside our front door!).

I think the pictures speak for themselves. 

We had a knitted gift exchange this year. The theme was an accessory that has cables or lace. Since I'm anti-knitting lace, I opted for cables. This is Breckenridge Cowl from French Press Knits. It was for Cara who loves jewel toned colors. Plus I thought it would look great with her beautiful red coat.

Erin had my name and I received a beautiful pair of pink cabled fingerless gloves which I don't have a picture of. You'll have to take my word that they are just lovely. 

As you can see, it was the perfect weekend for knitting and relaxing!

FO: Poppy Cowl from Pepperberry Knits

I just finished this luscious Poppy Cowl from Pepperberry Knits. 

It's from her handspun cashmere yarn in bulky Honeycomb.

It is as soft and delightful as it looks!

And because I live in Seattle, and because it's Memorial Day weekend (which means it's raining), I can wear this right away!

Ravelry details can be found here.

Vogue Knitting Live: Seattle

Last weekend Vogue Knitting Live was in Seattle for their first show in our area. It was full of classes, lectures, fashion shows (in true Vogue fashion) and of course, a marketplace.

I met up with some dear friends for an afternoon of catching up, knitting and yarn "browsing." Upon our arrival, Rebecca and I quickly decided we need to walk through the entire venue before making any purchases. A tactic employed by our friend Monica - who shows great restraint at all yarn shows for day one. Then on day two - stand back and just take it all in. It's that impressive. So we decided to try "The Monica" and wander and just marvel at the soft, pretty yarn.

That lasted maybe 20 minutes before one of us broke down and bought something. (It was Rebecca).

I at least waited about 30 minutes and 10 minutes of knitting before dashing back to the Cascade 220 booth for this beauty.

It'll be turned into this beauty.

I also learned that Cascade 220 has a huge inventory of lovely and FREE patterns on their site.

Knitting shows are so educational.

Then, after another 10 minutes of knitting I returned to the Cascade 220 booth and took advantage of their special: 4 skeins of Cascade 128 Superwash for $25!

Yeah, that's right...no typo there! That's enough to make this coat for Ruby that's on my knitting list.

(For great pictures of VKL Seattle, check out Rebecca's blog. I had my camera but was clearly mesmerized by all the pretty to take any pictures.)