What's Happening?

As predicted, with OOAK around the corner (42 days ahhhh) the poor blog gets neglected because I've been too busy getting all my ducks in a row. I'm very glad I took a week in January to just think about it.

What will my display look like? What's my budget? What about packaging? How much should I make? What should I make? Should I use a new sign? Should I get new business cards? (Yes and yes.) What do I do about bringing my own seating? Who can I enlist to help me out?

You get the idea. A lot of thinking.

Once I got my inventory plan sorted and initial supplies purchased (round two happening this weekend!) then I really got to work. My goal was to leave weekends free for friends, supply shopping, business card designing etc. The reason for this is that I am notorious for wasting weeknights and now is the time to change. I will totally go home, change into pjs and just eat and watch TV all night. Especially in the winter because when I come home it's dark and I'm tired so there. But with OOAK looming I knew I had to get my act together so my plan became: only sew on weeknights. And it's working! I am making my weekly goals no problem by dedicating a couple hours a night to sewing. It's been tiring still, yes, but it's really working out so far.

Week 1: complete.

Week 2: cutting day.

Week 3: a mishmash of stuff.

I am in the middle of week 3 of my 8 weeks of sewing (leaving the last week of for moving in, grocery shopping, etc) and so far I don't feel stressed at all (knock on wood)! I went to an information session for OOAK back in October before I applied and people asked how much inventory to bring. Of course there is no set number. The organizers just said "make as much as you can" and that's exactly what I'm doing. That's all I can do!

So with my business cards ordered, a display plan in place, my inventory well on its way, I am feeling pretty great about the whole thing.

More updates to come!

DIY Easy Knit Turban Headband

I've been making a lot of headbands lately. I made a bunch as Christmas gifts but then never really stopped! They're just so fun! I had been seeing this style of headband around and thought, "I could make that!"

This is an insanely easy pattern. Spoiler alert! It's stockinette stitch with one cable. It follows a simple formula so whatever yarn or needles you want to use, you can easily amend the instructions.

Here's what I used for mine:

Yarn: Bernat Roving (surprised?) in Plum
Needles: US 13

CO 14

Row 1: P1, K12, P1
Row 2: K1, P12, K1

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you are halfway done your headband.

Best practice is to measure your head first and divide the number by two. For example, I make my headbands 18 inches long so when I got to 9 inches I stopped. (Make sure to stop when you've finished a purling row so you're ready to cable.)

Cable Row 1: P1, cable 12 forward (slip 6 stitches onto your cable needle and hold in front, K6, K6 off your cable needle), P1
Cable Row 2: K1, P12, K1

Continue repeating the original rows 1 and 2 until the headband is long enough to fit comfortably around your head.

Bind off.

Use a yarn needle to seam the ends and weave in the tails.

HOW TO ADAPT IT:

This pattern is easily adaptable so you are free to make this whatever width with whatever yarn you want. It might take a few false starts to get the width right (this pattern took me 3!) but this is such a quick knit it's worth the extra time to make sure it's perfect!

Always cast on an even number of stitches. Subtract 2 for the knit edges and divide that number in 2 for your cable row. For example for thinner yarn:

CO 20

Row 1: P1, K18, P1
Row 2: K1, P18, K1

Cable Row 1: P1, cable 18 forward (slip 9 stitches onto your cable needle and hold in front, K9, K9 off your cable needle) P1
Cable Row 2: K1, P18, K1

Or if you have really thick yarn on really fat needles:

CO 8

Row 1: P1, K6, P1
Row 2: K1, P6, K1

Cable Row 1: P1, cable 6 forward (slip 3 stitches onto your cable needle and hold in front, K3, K3 off your cable needle) P1
Cable Row 2: K1, P6, K1

You get the idea! Any questions, leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading!

Shop Update: Ikat

It's certainly been a while since I've added things to my shop. I had an explosion of inspiration lately so I can assure you that this round is just the beginning!

Click here to check out the new goodies!

Here are some of my favs:

Hope you like them! More to come in a couple weeks ;)

Itching to Knit

With the cooler weather comes the uncontrollable urge to curl up with a cup of tea to make cozy things with colourful yarns. Last year I made seed-stitched cowls, cabled boot cuffs and braided headbands. What should I do this year? I am leaning towards stocking up on pillow forms, thick yarns and whipping up a batch pillows for my bed, but for now here are some fabulous patterns I've come across lately that would make amazing gifts:

Devonshire Cream pattern by Laura Aylor

Chic Easy Shrug by Fine Craft Guild (sign up to view the pattern)

Herringbone Cuddler by Kara Mayfield

Follow me on Pinterest to see more of my favs!

Summer Hiatus

We all get restless. Myself in particular. Like one morning I decided 10 years was long enough to have stretched ears. Or the time I threw out my coffeemaker and switched over to tea. It's become quite clear that I am giving owlswakeup a break for the summer, and that's totally okay. I can't pressure myself into thinking that I should keep going when I am genuinely not in the mood to do so. So a vacation it is.

However, a recent fabric shopping trip got my head filled with all sorts of new ideas. SO. My new plan is not to try to be as productive as I was in the spring and feel sad when I fail to do so, but to get ready to get back into it in the fall. My plan for now is to plan.

Until then.

Jam Day

Over the past weekend, my friend Stephanie and I made strawberry jam. This was our second year making it and I gotta say, we're pros! We used the no-nonsense strawberry jam recipe from Canning For a New Generation that we had used previously. It's straightforward, low(ish) on sugar and, most importantly, delicious. Stephanie has a massive kitchen and lives near a fabulous market so it was an easy choice whose home to base our jam camp in. ;) We gathered our supplies, donned our aprons and soon reeked of hot fruit.

This book has been wonderful. Interesting recipes, comprehensive instructions,
thorough background information.

Our supplies. Ready to go!

Tag team strawberry choppin'.

It's amazing how this much fruit makes so little jam. (This is half a flat.)

Someone always has to be watching the pot!

SO FROTHY! Letting the berries and sugar simmer releases
a crazy amount of juices.

Then we temporarily drain out the juice and boil it for 20 minutes
in order for it to thicken. This is not the best time to walk away
from the stove, as we have learned :)

See? Two jars! For all those berries!

It was our duty to sample the jam with tea biscuits. And it was divine!

In the end, from a flat of berries we got about four 500ml jars. It can be a pricey, time-consuming endeavour but if you've ever tasted homemade jam you'll know that it's more than worth it! Next up: blueberry!