Painted Letters...

I'm sorry I haven't updated the blog in awhile. We've been busier than normal and most days I don't even have a chance to turn the computer on. I've made lots of progress on my current projects and will be posting pictures throughout this week. I finally ended up painting those wooden letters for Victor and Ella's room. I am so pleased with the way they turned out. Using only blue painters tape, acrylic paint and a few brushes they were done in no time.

Using a four shaded color scheme I gave every letter two coats of Anita's All Purpose Acrylic Craft Paint in 11001 White to start. When dried, I started taping sections off with the blue painters tape making sure that the edge to be painted was pressed down firmly. To make it go quicker I placed two sections of tape on each letter creating three empty areas to be painted. I painted each of these areas a different color. If you look closely you'll notice there are two sections of the same color in each letter. These are the areas where the tape was placed first. After a few coats in the three sections and some drying time, I then taped off the next two areas to be painted leaving some white on either side for the striped effect. For each letter the color that you paint these last two areas will always be the color you haven't used yet.


These are the colors I used.

Ella's Color Scheme:

Anita's Acrylic Craft Paint
11090 Melted Butter (yellow)
11170 Hot Pink (pink)

Folk Art Acrylic Paint
633 Baby Pink (lt pink)
526 Soft Apple (lt green)

Victor's Color Scheme:

Anita's Acrylic Craft Paint
11009 Medium Blue (drk blue)
11064 Morning Blue ( lt blue)
11056 Ocean Blue (drk green)
11036 Seafoam Green (lt green)

I truly love the look of these for any baby or children's room. They add just the right amount of personal touch to any decor. If you have any questions about the process to make these send me an email or leave a comment and I will try to help. Hope everyone is well and enjoying this new autumn season.

The Fruit Cloths...

This past weekend got the better of me and they're a few days late but I'm so pleased with the finished pattern. A lot of hard work went into these and it's been difficult to get everything together while taking care of our home, the kids, and the new construction at the apartment. I'll probably be taking a few days off and then start the next set right away. Also, I've added the "Apple Cloth" from the School Set in case you don't have it.


This pattern is available as a PDF download and priced at $3.25. There are nine cloth patterns in this set. You can purchase this pattern if you are a Ravelry member by clicking the "Buy Now" button below the pictures. The Fruit Cloths are also available in my Pattern Store here as a Ravelry Download. There are 6 pages total and the download is sized at 5MB. If you have any questions about the pattern or payment options, please feel free to contact me via email at kris@krisknits.com or on Ravelry: KristenKnits.

Heres a link to the pattern page on Ravelry!

Lily's Sugar'n Cream Solid:

Strawberry - 01740 Hot Pink (Pink)
Pineapple - 00082: Jute (Tan)
Grapes - 01317 Hot Purple (Purple)
Watermelon - 00084: Sage Green (Green)
Cherry - 00095: Red (Red)
Apple - 00095: Red (Red)
Banana- 00073: Sunshine (Yellow)


Peaches & Cream Solid:

Orange - 11 Sunburst

You don't need a Ravelry account to purchase the pattern. Ravelry will re-direct you to paypal and will email you a link to download the pattern.

I made each written pattern with a corresponding chart for the dishcloth. From the sets that I've already made, I've managed to get about 2-2½ cloths out of one ball of Lily's Sugar'n Cream Solid Yarn. Though you can use any kitchen cotton you prefer.


I have to start and finish a baby shower gift by this upcoming Saturday. Still undecided on what I should knit for the baby girl. I wish I had enough time to design something elegant and original but that might have to wait until she's a teeny bit older. I won't post any pictures until after the shower because my girlfriend does check my blog regularly. I really want the item/s to be a surprise even though now she'll know that I'm knitting her something. If anyone has any suggestions I would gladly appreciate it. I guess the knitting is somewhat time sensitive. I can't obviously finish a whole blanket in two days. Though I have tried, it was horrible.

Another Blanket...?

When you have two babies your going to have to make two blankets. I woke up early this morning and started working on Ella's blanket before the kids got up. When Victor finally came into the living room he asked me when I was going to make him his "Birthday Blanket". My heart melted and I promised that I would make him one as well. After we all had breakfast he sat on my lap and we went through different patterns on Ravelry. He was so excited to see that they had a fish blanket. We had to run some errands today so I stopped by our local A.C. Moore and we picked out some big boy colors. At this point I wish I had a few extra hands to knit these things. I'm using a US size 6 and looking at 50+ knitted fishies.


I also saw these wooden letters that were on sale. They're about 5" high and couldn't pass them up. I know after I paint them they'll be perfect over the toddler beds.


I pulled out some of my mural paints and brushes when we got home. I had really forgotten how much I had. I haven't painted one in over a year an a half. Most of my brushes and paints came from an artist's garage sale. One of my luckiest finds, half of them have never been used.


The kids want me to paint them each a scene on their bedroom walls. Victor wants a whole Disney's Cars theme and Ella can't get enough of Dora the Explorer these days. It should be a lot of fun and I can't wait to show you the progress. The floors are going down today in the apartment so I can start sketching the walls next week.

What We've Been Up To...

I can't believe that it's already September! Where has the summer gone? I guess time slips away when you're working towards something everyday. Entire weeks go by and not much gets finished. Though I'd say we're about 80% done with the apartment by now.

Lately I've been keeping my hands busy with little projects here and there. I've started one of two Shedirs that I'm knitting for some friends before it gets cold. I went to a yarn store while on the Island this week and was hoping to find some Rowan Calmer but they didn't carry it. I wanted to start the hat right away so I settled for some Filatura Di Crosa Zara Solid in a light beige. They didn't have a dark grey that my other girlfriend asked for in Zara but they did in Zarina by the same brand. Zarina is more of a true sport weight rather than the dk that the pattern calls for. After checking my gauge it seemed to be working out so I casted on. After about 3 pattern repeats it's very stretchy and I think it will fit well. Fingers crossed!

My daughter had asked me to make her a blanket for her birthday on October 6th. It might be finished, it might not. I haven't made a granny square blanket since I first started learning how to knit and crochet. I wanted to make this one very special and decided on colors that will grow with her. This is a quick picture taken at night, my white balance is off so the colors might not be as true as I'd like but I'll keep taking pictures as I work on it. Each square is about 3"x 3".

The Fruit Cloths are all knitted up and blocked. All I have to do is take some photos tomorrow morning and design the pdf file. They might be up late tomorrow evening if I can find some help with the kids. Either way they will definitely be availible by Sunday. They are fantastic!


I feel like I've been trying to take on too much, hence the absent posts lately.I have tons to knit for baby showers, birthday gifts and charity. I can't even think about Christmas yet. I think this year I'm strictly going to gift to family. This way I can still find some time to design. I've been working on a calender for 2010 and hopefully a book by the end of next year that will cover knits for the whole family and home. I'm very excited and can't wait to devote some much needed kniting time.