Alison at the House of Moss blog (and creator of these adorable felted seedlings) asked me to be a part of a great series showcasing Portland's creative community. I was so honored to be included and share some of my thoughts about our lovely city.


You can check out my interview on her blog, along with the full series of posts with other awesome, inspiring Portland artists.

Grey is always a very popular color in the Neeka Knits shop. And I know why! Of all the neutrals, it's my fave - not quite as sleek as black but not as earthy as brown - it looks great with all the bright colors in your wardrobe. And I think we all know how I feel about bright colors.

I've been out of grey yarn for quite a while now, but I finally have some back in stock. Just in time for some lacey knit legwarmers....

I've been running into some cool conceptual knits online recently. Like this awesome Sky Scarf project by Leafcutter Designs. It's made by knitting the color of the sky each day for a year! I have a feeling I would end up with a very grey scarf.

Slightly less cozy is this giant knit credit card by Dimitri Tsykalov that is slowly unraveling. If only debt, like knitting, could be erased by frogging.


These projects definitely make me think about what I would knit if I saw knitting as a way to communicate ideas rather than the usual cute, cozy, fun wearables. Maybe upcoming International Yarn Bombing Day would make a good debut for a little knitting installation art!

I'm not much of a fashionista. I like my clothes comfortable and able to encounter the occasional food spill without costing me an entire paycheck. But, I do admire the craft, skill and creativity that goes into a lot of couture, even if most of it would look incredibly silly on me.

Then along came this collection, blowing by my computer screen one day...and what can I say? I'm quite smitten.
I didn't even know Burberry had a Prorsum or what that means, but this skirt and top combo might just be the most deliciously wearable outfit I've ever seen walk down a runway....and it doesn't even have anything hand knit in it. Shocking!

With the warm weather a-coming, it's time to start knitting pretty little headbands again. I'm looking to get a good color palette going for summer. Let me know if you have any color favorites!

I'm trying to get an early start on my veggie garden this year. This means I've actually been going outside in the mornings when I usually would be inside hiding from rain. I noticed a few colorful beauties as I was working....

I think this means spring is already here. Good news for my current color obsession (p.s. I think a colorful striped project is not far away in my future). Nature is quite adept at coming up with color palettes, don't you think?

I'm not the biggest fan of Valentine's Day - a fact I commemorated in video last year. I think it's silly to devote only one day of the year to loving somebody. So while I've long ago removed the pressure or need to be romantic on February 14th, I've decided it's not a bad idea to use today to celebrate things I actually have taken for granted the rest of the year.

While I'm not a fan of heart-shaped chocolate boxes (really, those chocolates are so nasty!), I am a huge fan of love letters. In the age of Facebook and texting, the love letter might quickly become a lost art, so why not celebrate today with a love letter, a written by hand on actual paper love letter. It can be written to anything that you love but take for granted. In fact, I've chosen a rather unconventional recipient for my love letter today and wrote it in my journal for safe-keeping. I've transcribed the letter below because I'm thinking there might be other recipients out there to whom it applies. Enjoy!



To my sweet and lovely Hands,

I am so grateful for everything you do for me.

I love the way you squeeze exactly the right amount of toothpaste on the brush in the morning, and how quickly and effortlessly you circle a spoon in my mug to stir my tea, or pinch the edge of a book to turn the page.

With you, I can cook dinner for a friend, or plant a tree in the garden, or draw a silly picture, or knit a scarf to keep me warm. You don't just make all these things easier, you make them possible. So thank you.

I promise to protect you from the cold and wind, to keep you safe from knives and scratchy things when I can, and nurse your wounds when I can't, to wash you with sweet smelling soap and pay extra money for the good moisturizer instead of the cheap kind, and to give you breaks and let you rest when you are tired. Mostly, I promise to stop taking you for granted and to tell you more often, as I'm telling you now, how amazing you truly are....

Love,
Your Brain

Today was one of those rainy days where I find myself perusing my photo stash for pictures of sunnier times. If I don't, I find I can forget what the sun actually looks like. Luckily, I didn't have to go too far back in my camera to find some lovely reminders!


In December, we went on one of our many Coast excursions, but this one was unique in the amount of pure unadulterated sun we enjoyed. Of course, our sidekick was with us too, soaking up all the rays she could find...


Me and my camera, meanwhile, enjoyed the many textures of the coast. The twigs and leaves poking towards the ocean....


But best of all, the thing I will remember most from this trip, especially in the damp, blanketed gray of winter, was the sunshine....


It was a sun so bright it reflected off of every surface, turning your vision into a stark contrast of black and white. It was the kind of sun that wasn't even sunshine, it was just pure light, clear and clean and capable of drying anything out, even my cloudy, soggy winter heart...

Good old 2011 went a little fast for my tastes, but other than that it was a pretty great year, especially on the knitting front. I came up with lots of fun new knitwear designs this past year. Items like these fun mitts....







Or my new winter fave for those classic Portland days, the hoodie cowl....

 These are just a few of the cozy little things that seemed to fly off my needles without giving me a chance to catch up with them. In fact, I'm just realizing now with a vague sense of shame that 2011 was rather paltry in the pattern writing department.  This year does seems to have zoomed off at the same alarming speed as the year before, a fact I'm doing my best to ignore. However, while I'm no fortune teller, I do believe 2012 will still be a year chock full of knitting patterns. How do I know this? Well, because I have some lovely knits already waiting for the proper treatment (see above).  And while some of these are items you may have already seen, like these trendy little mitts.....


...most of the knits whispering in my ear these days are the ones that are dying to get out and meet people. Knits that I've been selfishly keeping to myself, like this multipurpose shawl....


This lovely has done me right this winter, but she doesn't even have a name yet. She will, however, have a pattern very very soon, along with her friends.  In fact, if I weren't totally superstitious of myself, I might just call it a New Year's Resolution of sorts. I have to be careful with this kind of language, since I spook easy when it comes to long term promises. So let's just say, here's to 2012!

We threw a little party in our house for our friends. It wasn't a New Years party but it did celebrate something new! In case you can't tell, there was also a rainbow theme involved complete with lots of bright colors and streamers and an adorable bunting I made out of those paint sample squares they give away for free at hardware stores. Those things are a goldmine of creative fun, I tell you. They can only be topped by the pure joy I get from arranging flowers...



While, I'll keep the party itself a mystery, I will tell you that in honor of the new year, or maybe to counteract the colorlessness that is winter in Portland, we're keeping the festiveness up in our house, at least for as long as it lasts. Annie already has her eye on those shifty balloons....

Wowsers! It's been quite some time since I've posted here. The cold weather showed up and Knitting Season 2011 took off with a vengeance! I've been a little more obsessed than usual this year, but I've still managed to get out and enjoy my favorite season...

Here's my pumpkin interpretation of my family (you can see who takes dominance in my house!)
I actually wore a costume this year too! My sister, husband and I went as cute cold weather animals, a polar bear, seal and a penguin. I would provide a picture, but I don't think that kind of black mail material really needs to be out there. You can just use your imagination as to which one I was - hint, I was rather soft and cozy :), which I think might just be my goal for the rest of the autumn too....

Neeka Knits was featured on the Front Page of Etsy today!!

This probably means nothing to anyone except fellow Etsians, but let's just say it's something I've been secretly hoping for since I opened my Etsy shop. I feel strangely "legit" now.  Here's the lovely treasury itself from dewigirl007...

I really love the pretty soft feel coral color featured here, such an unusual color for fall. I guess I'm used to more traditional rustic versions of autumn like this one from WildWildernessPhotos....


Sigh...have I told you how happy I am that fall is here?

Today was strange. Some bizarre kind of water just started dropping from the sky. I think it's called "rain." I think in Portland it might also be called "The Official End of Summer." Oh well, I'm surprisingly ready to move on into fall. I had such a great summer - full of sunshine and swimming and tropical drinks - and I've accumulated a good enough tan to keep me from looking like a vampire until, oh, October...maybe....

If I had to pick a summer highlight though, it would be my vegetable garden for sure! We tried planting a veggie garden in our backyard a few years ago but a certain furry sidekick ate all of our vegetables! This year we decided to reclaim the backyard from her and put a fence up to keep her out of the good stuff. To make living with an ugly wire fence in our yard a little more doable, I decided to add a little yarn bomb action....

I think our garden appreciated the attention and responded with some bombs of its own. This is the bounty from one day last week!


Oh, fresh garden tomatoes. I'll love you forever and ever and ever.

I hope you all had a spectacular, veggie-filled summer!

First off, I must apologize for disappearing for so long. I've had one of those months where all kinds of things, good and bad, have conspired to keep me away from the computer. Which isn't really all that terrible, if it weren't for the fact that I have so much to share with you!

 Also, if, like me, you live in Portland and yet you've never been to Multnomah Village, you should correct this rather soon - preferably on a nice day when you have an hour or two to kill looking at books and sipping a drink at a sidewalk table. It really is a charming little old-fashioned village, and if the sun is out you can convince yourself you are in a different state entirely, enjoying life vacation-style. Though  now that I think about it, in these days of the rapidly disappearing portland summer, sunshine alone is excuse enough for a vacation in my book.

From Aldoaldoz Flickr

 
Best yarn scrap idea so far....why hello yarn lanterns...you, me, backyard picnic party right now! Actually, I found these yarn balloons hanging out at this INSANE rainbows and unicorns party.  So.... what do you think the age limit is on unicorn cookies for your birthday? Just wondering....

Okay, so these handwarmers don't actually look all that high-tech. In fact, they look like pretty basic little mitts, the kind I made six years ago when I was just getting into knitting. But, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Depending on how much of a hardcore knitter you are, this secret might potentially make you lose respect for me, but here goes.....

These handwarmers were knit on a MACHINE.

That's right. My knitting has gone robot style these days. I've been taking a Machine Knitting class over at Portland Sewing and, I have to say, these machines have surprised me. I thought using one would feel all factory-ish and industrial and totally separate and alienated from the cozy feeling you get from something handmade. But really, using one feels kind of like using a sewing machine. Sure, there's a big crazy machine helping you out, but it's still ultimately all about craft - about your hands, your materials and your desire to make something. Just like a sewing machine, the knitting machines can't knit all on their own, and even if there are big, fancy ones out there that can, they still need someone to tell them what to knit.

Still, what really amazes me is just how big and complicated these basic machines are. There are all these elaborate tools and needles and carriages just for some plain old stockinette. When I sit down to knit, I hardly ever think about what my hands are doing. It's like breathing. They just lift and lower and follow the rhythm. Spending time with these machines has made me appreciate just how brilliant and amazing my hands are. When I'm struggling with all the strange tools you need to use - needle pushers and transfer tools and claw weights - my hands get all annoyed and haughty. They sigh and say, "I could do this soooo much better....." And they're probably right. I'm biased, but I do still think knitting by hand is better. It is certainly SIMPLER. However, machine knitting is easier and FASTER, two things which, unfortunately, are the most valued in these modern times.

These handwarmers are what came off the machine. Basic stockinette, seamed up with a hole for the thumb. They were INSANELY fast to make. And they are functional. They work. But still, there was something missing, some kind of specialness.  So I let my hands take over. I gave them some yarn, a crochet hook, a sewing needle and thread, and stood back in awe watching them do what they do best. They are HANDwarmers after all.....

YARN BOMB GANGSTA HANDS!

I probably should be more "anonymous" about this, but it's Portland and I seriously doubt anyone is after me. In fact, while we were yarn bombing plenty of people came by to talk to us and not one of them asked a single question about what we were doing with the yarn and the scissors and the camera. Nope. All they were interested in was our dog, Annie. Oh Dog-loving Portlanders. I think yarn bombing is pretty darn cool, but I suppose Annie can be cooler. Especially when she decides to drink bomb water fountains.....