Links and Such

Happy Thursday! Happy Links and Such!

Artist takes cut flowers to the next level
A home that makes the Old Masters come to life
I really like these earrings
and these vintage 1940 floral earrings
cute handmade toddler toggle coat
DIY car detailing
mess free finger painting
origami star tutorial
Valentino and the NYC Ballet
love this set of 3 bud vases
what did the 5 finger hand say to the face? SLAP!

What I've been knitting: a Striped Wedding Blanket

One of my cousins got married this summer in Napa Valley. Sadly we couldn't go to the wedding, but in keeping with a tradition I started a few years back, I knit them a blanket to mark their nuptials! The happy couple are in Chicago for the next few years while my cousin is in grad school, so a thick wool blanket is sure to help with Chi-town's cold winters! This blanket was very fun and easy to make, so I thought I would share a little how to for those who might be interested!

As many of you may know, I love working with Cascade's eco wool yarn. You get a lot of bang for your buck (400+ yds of yarns for around $20) which is perfect for large projects. Plus it's super warm, and smells great. Since I'm not too familiar with the couple's specific decor aesthetic, I wanted to keep the blanket slightly neutral and modern with a few pops of fun color here and there.

My inspiration behind this blanket was the Purl Bee Easy baby blanket.

Only to get the desired larger size, I set out to knit 11 stripes as opposed to 7.

I used 7 colors,  and in the end only knit 10 stripes since it got too massive! The finished measurements are 57 x 72. I'm happy with the result. Big projects like this are always an interesting feat, they literally travel with you for a few months. This blanket came with us on our trip to Maine, and on countless trips to the seashore. It's always a little bittersweet to part with such an invested project, mostly because I really need to knit one for myself some day! 

and a few goofing around pictures to illustrate the scale and why I opted out of the 11th stripe!

this is my gangstah, super cozy bag lady pose.

So a very happy and warm winter to the newlyweds!

It's feeling like Fall... our first fall-esque weekend, a recap

Consider this post my Love Letter to Fall this week! We had a great weekend as a little family, tooling around, soaking in the sights and adventures that fall has to offer, and I wanted to share with you some pictures. It's rare when we have an entire weekend with the husband around, since he usually works on Saturdays, but due to all of us being "under the weather" this weekend, he took Saturday off... so it's bitter sweet, but provided enough R&R that we are all back on our feet.

ABOVE: our little one is very into "Ribers" i.e. Rivers and playing in them is always a welcome treat. This time we went to the Delaware Ashland Nature Center, which was perfect since The Brandywine park was sooo crowded with two separate highschool cross country meets.

Saturday was rather warm and in the 70's but the river was very chilly. Once we all acclimated to the water, we had a fun time walking around, slipping on the rocks and getting wet, and watching little dog try to avoid having to swim anywhere.

This weekend we made homemade Miso Soup, perfect food! The little one helped with the seaweed part, although her definition of helping always requires eating. We have a seaweed thief on our hands! get some!

On Saturday we also picked beets. "Beets hea-bee". We still have quite a few left that should be picked this week since some little white thing is starting to eat them. Gross and not cool!

And who needs a stuffed animal when you can play with a beet in the driveway?

she's an odd one alright! ; )

And little dog is not too keen on the cooler temps and open windows, here she is smashing her nose into her bed as best she can without cutting off her oxygen supply.

On Sunday we met our friends at Linvilla. That place is INTENSE. We went there over the summer for the strawberry festival, but this was our first time for pumpkin season! Pretty intense compared to our New England low key apple pickings...

The little miss on a large pumpkin...

(too bad about the glare on this one)

such pretty blue skies

picking apples with Dad's help

victorious!

And with her little friend, pulling the little red wagon through the orchard.

Since our toddler is actually mobile this fall, we are pretty excited to take her to other fall fairs and the like. So I've been doing a little research for more local fall activities we can do as a family. I'll be sure to report back!

have a great start to your week!

NEW Hand Knit Scarves for your little one at UrbanKnitFits

Hi friends, well I'm very excited to share with you my little line of hand knit scarves new to UrbanKnitFits!

They are the perfect accessory for your little one, making them look dapper, pulled together not to mention cozy and warm! Our daughter wears her scarf both indoors and outdoors!

This is my little boy inspired scarf (but looks sweet on our daughter too!). I wanted to make a more masculine scarf that didn't finish in a point. I might have to knit one for myself!

NOTE: The scarf loops through itself - assuring that it will stay in place and not get lost! Plus this design makes the scarf snug and warm!

seen here in Heather White

The scarf is available in custom colors, such as these seen above... but feel free to message me should you have any other color in mind!

Have a great weekend!!

Links and Such

Well here it is Thursday again, and here is this week's Links and Such blog post... just some things I've found this week of interest to me. Might have to make that White Pizza Grilled cheese this weekend! hmmmm

have a good one! ; )

article: my message to Dr. Sears
More added to "Put an Egg on it"
wooden bowling set
Free cross stitch pattern of a Matryoshka Doll (could be used for knitting: a pillow, or a sweater!?)
Polka Dot Vintage enamel milk jug
recipe: White Pizza Grilled Cheese
A bottle cap covered house
How to make a bear shaped cake (same principle would apply to any shape you wish)
15 fine art projects for kids
DIY: birch bark covered notebook
gorgeous public restrooms around the world 

Announcing the Return of UrbanKnitFits, my ETSY knitting shop!

Hey all, it's that time of year when the temperatures start to dip and we turn to warm accessories! Thus I wanted to reopen my ETSY knit shop, UrbanKnitFits to offer some knit goods for you all!

At the moment I'm listing a few classic UrbanKnitFits designs made to order, along with gift certificates. More knit goods will arrive to the shop by the end of the week and beyond! Plus I'm always happy to work on a custom order for you. Just message me to get started on your wooly dreams!

Now back to knitting!

~abs

A Love Letter to Fall

Hey there, how was your weekend? Ours was nice and mildly productive. I took the little one to our local orchard and farm stand on Saturday where we checked out the pigs, bunnies, ducks, chickens, peacock, ponies and goats... plus a lot of huge pumpkins. It was fun to start to sneak in some fall-esque inspired activities. So on that note, here is this week's Love Letter to Fall. Enjoy and have a great start to your week!

(sources)

Links and Such

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hey, hey, hey... Here's this week's Links and Such Post! Hard to believe it's already Thursday!!! Enjoy!

Portrait of a mother... traumatized yet blissfully happy
How to freeze heirloom tomatoes
Rocket Mass Stove: A cleaner, more sustainable way to heat your home?
DIY your own mosaic tiles
Recipe: "Killer" Artichoke Bread
Enjoying this Mix on Songza today
DIY Fabric wall decals!!!
darling crochet necklace
How to Raise Grateful Children


And in Case you missed it:
NEW Halloween Decorations up at my Shop
Beekeeping: Harvesting our first honey!
And this Season's First Love Letter to Fall

New Halloween Decorations at GrayDayStudio

I love Halloween, and I'm not talking about the Halloween where people use it as an excuse to dress up slutty... I mean the spooky magical Halloween of my childhood. When my Mom would make us elaborate costumes and we would venture off of the farm to go trick or treating in my grandparent's neighborhood. I love their house with it's neon 60's and 70s Halloween decor. Some very classic images of Halloween.  

Thus I wanted to offer some festive neon inspired Halloween Decorations at GrayDayStudio.

Here is

Neon Candy Corn Bunting

Blue Moon Halloween Garland

and

Day Glow Halloween Garland, with a black moon

The last image shows all three garlands hung together!

 Remember you can save 10% when you order more than 3 garlands with code "3Garlands" at checkout!

Happy Halloween!!

Beekeeping: Harvesting our First Honey

As some of you may know, my husband and sister-in-law started keeping bees this spring. And after adding new boxes at the beginning of the summer, the bees were pretty much left unattended to do what they do best- pollinate and make honey! It's pretty common to not harvest honey the first year, since the bees need as much honey as possible in order to survive the winter. BUT, that being said in the middle of August, we decided to check in on the bees and have a little taste of the honey while we were in there! Here are some favorite pictures from our most recent beekeeping adventure.

*above: I changed in to more "Beekeeping appropriate" footwear (it's very rare that I get to participate in this hobby since I'm usually in charge of keeping the toddler from charging the hives! so this was a fun treat for me!)

The beekeepers about to enter the hive.

After smoking out the bees, we find a nice portion of honeycomb, this hive is doing really well!

So we decide to cut a portion to sample the bee's hard work.

The most unbelievable honey I have EVER tasted. There was a lot going on in the flavor department. And we put on our best wine connoisseur voices as we commented on the notes of the local hydrangeas off of route 52, or the neighbors flower trees are really prevalent at the end, yadda yadda. ; ) but it's kinda true, there is a lot to taste.

Capped broods where the eggs are placed and new bees hatch.

And we found a new bee hatching out of the comb! See it on the top left corner?? Its little head and wings poking out, it was pretty cool to witness.

The hive closest to the house is rocking it... but the hive you see Cameron checking out, is not as productive, not nearly in fact. We wanted to discover what happened but unfortunately a thunder storm rolled in and we had to close up shop. My sister-in-law and brother think that perhaps a portion of the bees swarmed and left town, which would explain the tiny population and lack of honey and broods compared to the first hive. Maybe this month we can venture back in and get more clues.

But all in all, it was a fun day to check in on the bees!

A view of our honey from the inside of my beekeeping hat.

We did a little honey taste test against the store bought brand, sorry nature's promise- no contest our honey is rocking!!!