Link(s) to Love: Golden Easter Eggs

I'm so happy that it's finally springtime.

The weather is getting warmer, my return to Denver is drawing nearer, and there's Easter candy in the grocery stores.  What's not to love?!

I'm also enjoying all the ways that gold has crept into the latest Easter egg decorating trends.

Images via Go Make Me, Studio DIY, and Camille Styles 

Go Make Me has a tutorial for using 3D paint and spray paint to make totally believable-looking gold bullion eggs.

Kelly is embracing the confetti over at Studio DIY with her flashy confetti dipped easter eggs.

And for the adventurous egg decorator, Camille Styles has instructions for cement easter eggs that you can use year after year.

What are your egg decorating plans this year?

Whatever they are, happy dying, dipping, and spraying!
xoxo
Laura

Link to Love: Penguin Sweaters

This week got away from me (as far as blogging was concerned).  My mom and her mom were visiting me onboard the ship all week, which was great.  Unfortunately, they're flying home today and we're all heading back to reality.

Luckily, I found the cutest thing ever on the internet just now...

Image via ABC Melbourne

Baby penguins in sweaters!

It turns out that the Penguin Foundation is asking for sweater donations for poor little penguins who got caught in oil spills.  The sweaters don't just keep them warm; they also stop the birds from trying to clean off the oil using their beaks.

For more info, check out the full ABC Melbourne article about it, and The Penguin Foundation's website.

The Penguin Foundation even includes a free penguin sweater pattern on their website.

I'm totally going to make one.  What about you?

xoxo
Laura

Link to Love: Knit.fm Podcast

Images via knit.fm

I recently discovered knit.fm and I'm loving it.  It's a podcast by Pam Allen (whose lovely designs are available through Quince & Co) and Hannah Fettig (author of Knitbot) that's all about knitting.

I started with Episode 5: Yarn, and I learned things that I didn't know I didn't know.

For example, I prefer to knit with the softest yarn I can find, so if I'm going for natural fibers I usually gravitate toward baby alpaca.  What I didn't know is that 100% alpaca has a tendency to stretch out and droop over time.  That's why it's often blended with wool.  The wool provides a nice shape-holding elasticity while the alpaca provides the softness.  Pretty cool.

I'm looking forward to popping on my headphones tonight and listening to more knitting talk while I do a little knitting myself...

Happy listening!
xoxo
Laura

Link to Love: Sheepish Heart Bomb

Looking for a little knitting project to get you in the mood for Valentine's Day?

Why not join in on the One Sheepish Girl 2nd Annual Heart Bomb?

Image via One Sheepish Girl

The basic idea is to get people all over the world to make a heart, attach a nice note to it, and leave it somewhere in public.  Hopefully you'll be putting a smile on the face of whoever finds it.  The more people who participate in the yarn bomb, the more smiles will be created.  Head on over to One Sheepish Girl to see the details.

I participated in the heart bomb last year by making some hanging hearts and leaving them on my friends' doors on our ship.  This year I'm thinking of leaving some hearts outside the ship in either St. Thomas or St. Maarten.

I'll post some pictures when I've completed the project.

Happy heart knitting!
xoxo
Laura

Link to Love: Knitting for Charity

Now that the holidays are over, it's that funny time of year where it's easy to lose knitting motivation.

First of all, it feels great to take a break from knitting after the holiday rush, and second, there's a lack of people to knit for now that you've already given presents to all your friends and family.

Charity knitting is a great solution.

One option that sounds fantastic is Halos of Hope, an organization that donates hand-knitted hats to cancer patients nationwide.

Image via Halos of Hope

They have donation centers in various locations across the country, or you can mail your finished hats to their main address in Arizona.

I discovered Halos of Hope on She Makes Hats, an inspirational knitting blog that features a whole list of charity knitting options.

Do you already knit for charity?  Which organization(s) do you donate your knits to?
xoxo
Laura

Link to Love: The Best-Ever Knitting Advice

For the past few weeks, the blogging world has been filled to the brim with posts about New Year's resolutions and goals for 2014.  Personally, I really like reading all those posts.  They tend to humanize the blog authors of the world, and I like thinking about how even the writers behind some of the biggest, coolest blogs on the internet are regular people just like me who have goals that are similar to my own.

This year, my absolute favorite post in the New Year's genre is "At the top of the year" by Glenna from Knitting to Stay Sane.  Rather than listing specific resolutions for the coming year, she made an insightful list of knitting advice that will be just as relevant in June as it is in January.

Her words that resonated with me the most are "Recognize why you knit, and for whom. Allow yourself to stop knitting on projects that don't match those reasons."

Those words really got me thinking about my reasons for knitting, which I've never spent much time exploring before.  Then today happened, and the answer became quite clear.

I often talk about how much I love skating in shows, but show life (like every kind of life) isn't always perfect.  Being a principal pair skater is fun, but it also comes with a lot of pressure.  In our solo in our current show, my partner and I do 11 difficult tricks in a very short period of time, and some of those tricks are high-risk release elements (a.k.a. things that might make me fall).  In our second show today, I fell on our throw jump.  The ice was quite choppy because it was almost the end of the show, so I stuck to the ice instead of sliding across it, which is as painful as it is embarrassing.  The audience emitted a collective gasping noise.  I was not pleased with myself.

When the show ended I went back to my cabin, applied several bandaids to my arm, then sat down with my knitting.  As I knitted, I stopped beating myself up about my poor performance in the show; I pretty much stopped thinking about anything, and it felt really good.  Suddenly I realized this is why I knit!

I knit to relieve stress.  I knit because it's something constructive to think about.  I knit because I genuinely enjoy pondering stitch counts and gauges and knitting-related math.  I knit because it gives me a sense of accomplishment.  I knit because I like knowing I'm making something completely unique.  I knit because I like giving those unique objects to the people I love.  I knit because it makes me happy, and I like sharing my happiness.

Why do you knit?
xoxo
Laura

Link to Love: Arm Knitting

Arm knitting is exactly what it sounds like: knitting with your arms instead of needles, and it's been all over the news lately.  The two largest newspapers to cover the topic were The Wall Street Journal and The Times.  You can click here and here to read those articles.

I think it's really cool that knitting is making the news in general, and I also think it's cool that the whole arm knitting idea is being referred to as a "craze" and a "trend."  The fact that knitting is capable of having trends points to its continuing upswing in popularity among the younger crowds, and I'm all for it.

Arm knitting projects are also showing up on Ravelry these days, which means that this trend is being embraced by the online knitting community, and not just novice knitters who like to browse Pinterest.  (Not that being a newbie is a bad thing; I'm happy that there are more and more new knitters these days and I hope they stick around and become a solid part of the community.)

Of the arm knitting projects on Ravelry, I think that Simply Maggie's Arm Knit Blanket looks the coziest, don't you?

Image via Simply Maggie on Ravelry

Anyway, all this arm knitting buzz has piqued my interest, so I've come up with my own arm knitting project idea and I'm going to start working on it this afternoon.  We'll see how it goes...

Happy knitting (with or without your arms)!
xoxo
Laura

Link to Love: A Non-Stocking Christmas Knitting Pattern

Looking for a quick and different knitting project to get you in the mood for Christmas?  I know I always am.  Stockings are cute and all, but I get excited when I find a knitting designer who's thinking outside of the box.

Amalia Samios's adorable Christmas Lights Knitting Pattern fits the bill perfectly.

Image via Amalia Samios on Ravelry

Wouldn't these look fabulous strung up on a mantle along with some Christmas stockings?

I'm still elbows-deep in my Christmas present knitting, but if I finish that with time to spare, these little lights will definitely be the next thing on my needles... we'll see!

Have you found any other cute Christmas knitting patterns?  I'd love to hear about them.

Happy knitting!

xoxo

Laura

Link to Love: Speedo Yarn Bomber

Image via The Denver Post

When my friend, Karleen, posted this yarn bombing picture on my Facebook wall, I nearly died laughing.

I love a good yarn bomb, and this one goes above and beyond with the funny factor!

The man behind this amazingness is Kyle Williams, and you can read all about his crochet creation in this Denver Post article.

I think my favorite part of the whole story is that a policeman watched the entire installation process and didn't intervene.  I guess the Denver Police are a-okay with yarn bombing.

Have you seen any other good yarn bombs lately?

Happy reading!
xoxo
Laura

Link to Love: Marathon Knitting

Did you see this story that was posted online in the sports section of the New York Times on November 1st?

It's all about two knitting runners who have been breaking each other's world record for the longest scarf knitted while running a marathon.  Yes, that really is a category in the Guinness Book of World Records.

I love this story for two reasons.  First, I'm amazed that someone even came up with the idea to knit while running.  That's some serious creativity right there.  Second, I think it's awesome that the two knitting runners in the story became friends over the internet.  It speaks to the strength of the online knitting community, and it makes me feel good about being involved in the world of knitting bloggers.

So what do you think?  Do you think you can run and knit at the same time?

Happy reading!

xoxo

Laura

Link to Love: Baby Halloween Costumes

Have you ever typed random search terms into Ravelry's pattern library just for fun?  If you haven't done it before; I highly recommend it.

The search that really got me smiling today was Baby Halloween Costumes.

It renders 3 whole pages of adorableness like The Very Hungry Caterpillar Halloween Costume by Shayna Denham.

Image via Shayna Denham on Ravelry

The knit and crochet baby costumes pretty much max out the cuteness scale.

If you've already checked that out and you're in the mood for more, the Pet Halloween Costume search will also make your heart smile.

Have fun browsing!
xoxo
Laura

Link to Love: A Cozy Sweater Pattern

I'm back in the Caribbean again.  It was all very sudden.  We were planning to leave for our next skating show a bit later, then there was an injury in the previous cast, then we got a phone call saying we'd be leaving the next morning.  That's show life!

I'm happy to be here, but I had really been looking forward to spending a little more time with my friends and family at home in the crisp fall weather.

Luckily (if you look at it the right way) the ship we're living on is super air conditioned so it's like fall weather all the time when you're inside, and fall weather is sweater weather!

I've been browsing the internet for sweater knitting patterns and I think I've found a great one: the Ease sweater pattern by Alicia Plummer.

Photo via Alicia Plummer on Ravelry

I love how cozy and laid back and sweatshirt-like it is.

There's also a really adorable kid-sized pattern to match called Abate.

Do you have a favorite sweater knitting pattern?  I'd love to hear about it.

Happy knitting!

xoxo

Laura

Link to Love: Amanda McCavour

I love Amanda McCavour's work.

She creates stunning pieces of hanging 3-dimensional art (like the steam pump pictured below) out of thread.

Image via Amanda McCavour

Incredible.

I find the construction of her work fascinating, and her reasons for creating each of her pieces is interesting as well.  The steam pump she created is based upon a turn of the century steam pump she found in Dawson City, Yukon, left over from the gold mining days of yore. McCavour writes about her creation, "I hope to contrast the heavy machine with delicate thread work to render this machine as delicate and ghostly."

She has also made a floating garden, hands working with thread, and a recreation of her old living room, among other things, all of which you can check out on her website.  There you will also find enlightening blurbs about how and why she made each of her pieces.  I found her artist's statement to be particularly eloquent.

Head on over to her site!
xoxo
Laura

Link to Love: Embracing the Dropped Stitch

When I knit, I knit carefully.  I prefer a slow tempo that yields precise stitches, and the precision of those stitches makes the perfectionist in me deeply happy.

If I drop a stitch (gasp!), I hold my breath while I carefully pick it back up again with a crochet hook.  Tiny beads of sweat appear on my forehead.  I scrutinize the picked-back-up stitch for evidence of the train wreck.  I only breathe again when I'm sure everything's back on track.

Perhaps I cling to knitting perfection a little too tightly, but I can't help myself.

Are you the same way?

Prepare to have your mind blown by this knitting tutorial from We Are Knitters!  Seriously, click on that link.  It's a technique where you drop a stitch on purpose and then pull on your work so it ends up looking like this:

Image via We Are Knitters

Cool, right?  I can't wait to try it.

Embrace the dropped stitch!  (Eek!)
xoxo
Laura

Link to Love: Daniela Edburg

Artist Daniela Edburg has used knitting as a central component in an entire collection of haunting, surreal photography.

Image via Daniela Edburg

Isn't this piece remarkable?  I love how it conveys a feeling of haste set against a serene natural backdrop.

Check out Daniela Edburg's website here.  All of her work is striking and unsettling and visually appealing.

My favorite pieces are in her Knit series, about which Edburg writes "This series portrays intense characters dealing with their restlessness and the passing of time.  The element of knitting is a constant, as a form of occupational therapy or channeling an obsession."

My favorite photos in the collection are Picnic (pictured above) and The Interruption.  What are yours?

Happy browsing.
xoxo
Laura

Link to Love: Creativity Sparkers

Do you ever find yourself clicking from blog to blog and wondering how all those people sustain such high levels of creativity?  I know I do; and I especially wonder about those bloggers who work full time, raise families, and write craft blogs all at the same time... what?!? They are endlessly amazing to me.

The key to my creativity is simple: I have a job with a large amount of down time that I like to spend knitting and brainstorming craft ideas.  For me, those breaks in between our shows are like blogging gold.

So how do non-professional show skaters do it?  The Huffington Post sheds some light on the issue in their post (which is today's Link to Love):  5 Unexpected Ways to Spark Your Creative Genius

I thought their point about writing by hand was interesting, and I'd love to get one of those Aqua Notes pads to write in the shower.

I was a little bit scared by what they had to say about watching TV, though.  Here's a snippet.

"Though we all feel inexplicable inspired when watching bachelorette meltdowns, this kind of mindless activity is not one that fosters brilliance.  One study reveals that watching such low-brow (sorry) entertainment actually makes us dumber."  

I'm sorry to say that I'm guilty of watching Dance Moms way more often than I should admit.  I guess that's a habit I might want to think about breaking.

One area where I'm definitely not failing, though, is liberating my mind to wander while doing monotonous activity.  We've performed our ice show 170 times so far this summer.  I can basically do it in my sleep at this point, and I often catch myself thinking through knitting patterns while I'm on the ice.  I really do try to focus on the show, but maybe it's not such a bad thing that my mind wanders from time to time.

What do you think of the Huffington Post article?  Do you already do the things they suggest? Do you have other ideas for sparking creativity?  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Happy reading!
xoxo
Laura

Link to Love: Stitched Magazine Covers

Have you heard of the artist Inge Jacobsen?  She's cross-stitching and embroidering magazine covers and other cool photographs.

Today's link to love is her website.

Wondering why someone would go to the trouble to recreate these photos with thread? Jacobsen says "With the over saturation of images in our world today, this is a way for me to 'hijack' this overwhelming consumption from the mass produced and alter it to create something unique."

Image via Inge Jacobsen

Pretty cool, huh?  Check out her website for tons of other cool images and a much more in-depth explanation of her work.

Happy reading!
xoxo
Laura

Link to Love: Knitters of Cool

Here's today's link to love:  Wool and the Gang blog

They are a London-based knitting company that sells knitwear, yarns, and knitting kits, but above all, they create an aura of "cool" around knitting that I've never seen before.

Their manifesto states "We believe in fashion that's #madeunique, with love and never from a factory." Yes, they do have a hashtag in the middle of their manifesto.  You can read more about it here.

I've always thought of knitting as cool and it's so nice to have some reinforcement from these guys.  Wondering what their cool tactics are?  They sit on windowsills with a brash disregard for safety.  They collaborate with trendy yoga gurus (pictured below).  They revere vintage icons like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis.  They are young and beautiful.  They knit.

Image via Wool and the Gang

Happy browsing!
xoxo
Laura

Link to Love: Knitting Brainwaves

What happens when knitting and science collide?  Neuro Knitting!  Bam!

The short version of the story is that two artists and a scientist came together to create scarves that depict brainwaves.  Actual human brainwaves.

Image via Mar Canet on Flickr

The long version of the story is today's Link to Love:
NeuroKnitting by Varvara Guljajeva, Mar Canet, and Sebastian Mealla

Make sure you watch the video; it's really cool.

Happy reading!
xoxo
Laura

Link to Love: Blogging for the Right Reasons

I'm kind of freaking out.  Creating Laura had over 50,000 pageviews in June!  I find that to be mind boggling.  Honestly, I was boggled when the blog hit 40,000 pageviews the month before.  Thanks for reading my blog!

Now that I'm blogging more and more and liking it more and more and having more and more people visit the site, it feels like the next logical step is to look into advertising.  Nothing too sell-outy, just some cute little ad spots on the sidebar for pretty, on-topic Etsy shops and other things that I think my readers would actually enjoy.  With this grand plan in mind, I perused Joy Cho's fabulous book, Blog Inc, and was (and still am) completely overwhelmed by all the business and banking related things that go into starting an ad program.  Even a cutesy little ad program that's just intended to look nice, link to some cool places, and provide a little yarn-funding.

Have you already gone through this process for your blog?  Was it as hard as it seems?

Anyway, with such big things on the blog horizon, I kind of froze up and got all weird about my blog for a few days.  Am I heading down the road to selling out?  With or without taking this big step, is my blog still as real and honest as I want it to be?  Why am I sitting on my couch at 1:00am, eating Nutella with a spoon and worrying about this?  Aaaaaah!

So anyway, last night I was browsing Joy the Baker's (awesome) blog, specifically her post Sixteen Things to do when you're Bored.  From there, I clicked on a link to Helen Jane's blog and man was I glad I did.

So here it is, folks, this week's Link to Love:  On Dance Floors by Helen Jane.

It's an honest, thought provoking piece about blogging.  It gets a little sad about halfway through, but keep reading, because it ends on a decidedly positive note.  It sums up all the feelings I've been having about my blog's future and if you're a blogger too, I guarantee it will do the same for you.

"When we share our realities, the truth we're experiencing right now, our collective wisdom, dreams and connections, we crack open the REAL opportunity of the internet," she writes.

Eureka!  That's what this always has been and always will be about!

I want to write about my real life and the crafty things I really honestly do like to make, just like I always have, and that's not going to change regardless of how my blog grows in the future.

Do you ever have moments of doubt like mine?
Let's crack the internet open together!
xoxo
Laura