it's been a while...

It's been a while since my last blog post, but that does not mean I have not been knitting. On the contrary, I finished a few fun and challenging projects this fall/winter. I've also been working on a new layout and branding for my blog that I am excited to share with you soon. As always in website design (and knitting!), everything take longer than you think it will. But I have been learning a lot and enjoying the process.

So, what have I been up to since my last post? Well...

I knit my second sweater (see my first sweater here)-- baby sweater for my cousin's daughter.

Pattern: Camilla Babe  by Carrie Bostick Hoge

Yarn: Quince & Co. Lark in Glacier   

And then my third-- the Hancock cardigan from Knitbot's Home and Away for me.

Pattern: Hancock Cardigan by Hannah Fettig

Yarn: Quince & Co. Finch in Iceland 

Traveled across the country to San Francisco,

and across the world the Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Ate some delicious food,

and felt the Bern.

Pattern: Cup cozy by anna knits, etc.

Yarn: Cascade 220

Pattern: based on Tiny Obama by Jill Borders

Yarn: scarp yarn, including Bernat Boa in white

More crafting and other adventures to come. In the meantime, you can always see what I'm up to via Instagram: @annaknitsetc. And check back on the blog soon soon for a new look!

anna travels - hawaii 2014

Last week I escaped Boston's frigid temps for the warm beaches of Hawaii. I saw beautiful sunsets, got to swim with turtles, and ate some delicious Lilikoi Shave Ice (yum!). With 20 hours of combined flight time, I was also able to get a bunch of knitting done. Can you guess what I'm making in the picture on the left? Here's a hint. 

anna travels - saratoga weekend

Last weekend I had the chance to go to Saratoga Springs, New York with some friends. We strolled through the town and saw a yarn-bombed bench (part of the knitting store Common Thread Saratoga!), wore fun hats to the races, and cheered on our favorite horses. It was a really fun and different trip for me. The Saratoga Race Course is celebrating its 150 year of racing, so it was an especially exciting time to be there. You can read a little bit about Saratoga and the races in this recent New York Times article.

yarn, etc. - purl soho

I was in NYC this past weekend, and had the opportunity to visit Purl Soho-- an amazing yarn and fabric shop.

Knit sushi!

The store also has a great knitting blog called The Purl Bee, which has lot of beautiful (and free!) knitting, crochet, and sewing patterns. If you haven't check it out yet, I highly recommend it!

anna knits - fair isle cowl update 1

For my trip to Iceland last week, I brought along a new knitting project: a fair isle cowl. (Read about how I pack for air-travel knitting here.) A few months ago I made fingerless gloves with the baby alpaca yarn from Block Island's North Light Fibers that I got for Christmas. I have been wanting to make the matching cowl for a while now, and since I prefer travelling with projects on circular needles - you can start and stop much easier than with regular knitting - I decided to start the cowl for my trip.

Knitting outside:

The matching gloves I made a few months ago:

The pattern is Adelia Cowl by Tanis Lavallée, and you can download it via Ravelry.

It is going to be harder to finishing knitting the cowl now that I am back in warm Boston, but hopefully I can finish it soon!

anna travels - icelandic yarn stores

I am back from my visit to Iceland! It was a short but wonderful trip. We ate great food, toured downtown Reykjavik, relaxed at the Blue Lagoon (a geothermal spa), and saw many natural wonders, including an active geyser and a waterfall bigger than Niagara Falls. Fares on Icelandair (from Boston at least) are very affordable, and you can even stop over in Iceland on your way to Europe at no additional cost!

I could talk about Iceland all day - if you have a specific question, please leave me a comment! - but let's get down to knitting. Iceland is full of its own knitting traditions, and even has a unique type of wool called Lopi, which is specifically made from Icelandic sheep. You can read more about Lopi here.

My frist day in Iceland, I visited the knitting store Storkurinn located in the heart of Reykjavik. It was a very cute store that reminded me of knitting stores in the US. There was a nice selection of yarns from all over the world, including Icelandic Lopi.

The next knitting store I visited was Álafoss wool factory; an outlet for Lopi located about 20 minutes outside of Reykjavik.  

Check out this cute yarn-bombing in the town:

At the Álafoss wool factory, I bought this gorgeous yarn from the Icelandic company Kambgarn. The colors are Kambgarn (Rosebloom) and Kambgarn (Glacier Green). I think I will use it to make a pair of mittens...

Iceland has so much to offer knitters. I would love to return and visit yarn stores on the northern side of the country. It would also be cool to take some knitting classes while there, which are offered in most of the yarn shops. I hope to go back and perhaps take a class on traditional Icelandic designs (see some of my favorite here) using Lopi. 

anna travels - iceland

I leave for Iceland tomorrow, and I am very excited! Among other things, Iceland has a rich knitting history and tradition. I hope to visit some yarn stores while I am there. The Fancy Tiger Crafts blog has a nice overview of yarn stores in Iceland.

I love Icelandic knitting designs. Here are some of my favorite examples:

Sweaters

Shoe inserts 
(pattern available in Icelandic Handknits: 25 Heirloom Techniques and Projects)

Icelandic stars and roses

Hopefully I will come back from Iceland with some new knitting inspiration!

anna crochets - flower granny squares 2

I just got back from a week in Europe. It was a wonderfully relaxing trip, filled with great food, art, and company. While I do tend to get stressed from the actual travel part of travelling, I have learned to enjoy airport and plane time as a chance to sit down and do some knitting/crocheting.

This trip, I brought along my flower granny square project. I packed a little yarn bag for the flight equipped with yarn, a crochet hook, a tapestry needle, and carry-on approved scissors. (You can read a post I wrote about travelling with knitting here.)

By the end of two long plane flights, I had amassed eleven squares.

Only 77 more - or so - to go before I can stitch up my blanket.

See my progress, and get the pattern I used to make the flower granny squares here.

anna travels - paris

Tomorrow I'm getting on a plane and going to... Paris! I am so excited. I'm bringing my granny square blanket to work on during the flight, and then I'll have a week of relaxation, good food, and art.

I won't be updating the blog much, but follow me on Instagram (@annaknitsetc) for travel pics.

À bientôt!

Photo by MICHEL JEAN SICOT

knitting, etc. - ponies in sweaters

Ponies in sweaters! Brought to you by the national tourist board of Scotland.

That is all.

anna travels - 2013 inauguration

Sorry for the delay in new posts! I have been in DC for the past few days attending the presidential inauguration! It was lots of fun, but the chilly temperatures reminded me that I need to finish my knit gloves asap!

(pre-inauguration Mall)

Get the free pattern for this Obama cup cosy here. 

See more Obama inspired knits here. 

anna knits - extra yarn scarf update 2

My extra yarn scarf is coming along.

I packed it up for my trip to New Haven so that I could knit on the ride. You can read my post about packing a knitting bag for travel here. 

I still have a way to go, because I want it to be very long. Luckily it is a fun project!

anna parties - welcome back diy

Today my boyfriend comes back from Brussels, where he has been doing an internship for the past two months. To celebrate his arrival, I made a quick Welcome Back banner and cookies. I like the homemade look of the banner, and the rainbow sprinkles on the cookies match nicely.

I cut the letters out free form from construction paper, and then punched holes in the letters. I strung ribbon through the letters to hang them. I didn't have enough ribbon to make a second row, so I tapped the next row of letters to the first row.

Welcome back, Jake!