Valentine's Day approaches... Handmade gifts, to me, are especially meaningful for a holiday that's all about the labor of love, so I'm knitting up something special!

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I know there's a lot of people out there that don't really like Valentine's Day for one reason or another. I, however, am not one of those people. I'll take any excuse to do something special, especially if it's for someone I love. When I was a kid I tended to make valentines for my classmates instead of buying the fold-and-tear variety, and it's a tradition that's carried over to my adult life: I'm knitting a little something special for Johnny this year. (Don't worry, he knows!)

He found this fantastic cowl, made buy Susk and Banoo, on my Pinterest and asked me if I would make it for him. The moment I said yes he emailed me the link and bought the same yarn that was used for the one above! (Which, by the way, is Rowan Cocoon in Mountain. She used only 2 skeins and it looks like I'm going to need 3 to finish to the proper dimensions.) 
I can't help but swoon for a man that buys yarn and looks up his own patterns! Susk and Banoo called their version "The Hemingway", and it's made from the Purl Bee's "Lovely Ribbed Cowl" pattern. I'm very nearly done and we're both incredibly excited for him to wear it.

If you've been following my Instagram, you'll know that he's taken up whittling recently, and a little birdie told me that I am getting something very painstakingly hand-carved as my gift this year! And on the actual day we have plans to make each other simple embroidery floss friendship bracelets before we head off to a romantic dinner!

Last year I made Johnny a piece of embroidered art, shown above on the bottom left. I used navy embroidery floss on an open-weave muslin with bits of my favorite vintage fabrics to freehand a Venn Diagram about us. I was inspired by Lisa Hannigan's sweet song Venn Diagram and I have some sketches for other graph-type designs to complete a series in the future.

Also, just a bit of news: my first-ever baby cardigan pattern is in the testing phase, so hopefully it will be available to buy very soon! I'd still be interested in taking on one more pattern tester, anyone want to volunteer?
Location: Campbell, CA, USA

Comments

  1. Unknown7:59 AM

    I posted this on my pintrest as well , a great project ,looks really warm!
    i'm sure he will love it...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown8:09 AM

    p.s. love that photo of you guys!
    and can't wait to see the baby stuff you made ...
    are you selling the patterns for them ?

    ReplyDelete

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