Knitting the afternoon and night away!

So much has been going on, it's been hard to keep up with the blog here. But I should, because tonight starts some knitting fun!

Loops by Keri has partnered with Emma Made to teach sewing and knitting and other crafty classes to the children, teens and adults of Huntington NY and nearby towns! We'd love to have you in our classes, where we focus on the process, not just a product.  You can keep up with our schedule by checking out

 http://www.emmamadeworkshops.com/

March is Craft Month! And today we start our new knitting classes! Super excited to teach children and adults alike my favorite hobby, KNITTING!! 

We still have some spots available and if you can't make it tonight, but want to join our next session on the 15th, that's fine with us! Just leave a comment or send me a message :)

Get Your Knit On!  

Adult class. Come learn to knit in our relaxed environment while meeting some new local moms. We’ll teach you how to cast stitches on the needle, how to knit and then bind off your completed scarf!  Perfect for the new knitter or if you need to relearn some long lost skills.

2 part class

Sat March 1st and

March 15th from

8pm-10pm

Supplies and snacks are included in price of class. Bring your own beverage of choice.

$85

Kids Knit Too!

Come learn to knit in our relaxed environment. We’ll teach you how to cast stitches on the needle, knit and how to bind off your completed scarf! Perfect for the new knitter. Ages 7 and up

2 part class 

Sat March 1st and March 15th

4pm-5:30pm

Supplies and snacks are included in price of class. $60

Here's some pics of some new hats to get your inspired! Much more to come!!

Craft on everyone!

Do not doubt the determination of a 7 year old

My daughter was home sick with me for a few days in December and what did she want to do? Have me teach her how to knit a hat to give to her Grammy (that's Grandma to you ;) for Christmas.

Now, she learned how to knit last summer, and made herself a cute scarf but didn't have too much knitting time with school and all. She recently wanted to try to use my "fancy thick and thin yarn" which is challenging to knit with and keep even tension. (and it's expensive, but she was so passionate about trying, I thought we'd give it a go)

WELL!

She learned to use circular needles (knitting in the round) AND then she switched to double-pointed ones - which means she was using 5 needles at once. And look at her go!

Her tension is incredible (tension is a good thing, non-knitters- it means keeping your stitches even, which is no easy feat on this yarn, not to mention when using 5 needles at once!)

For you knitters that haven't tried knitting on double points- SPLURGE on wooden or bamboo needles! It makes ALL the difference! The yarn sticks to them more (a good thing when you have so many needles going at once!) Metal doublepoints had me completely frustrated when I first learned to use double points! They kept slipping and dropping to the floor! 

And then she picked the perfect button to accent it and sewed it on herself. 

I could BURST I am so proud of her!

And then she made a matching scarf out of the same yarn on giant size 17 needles ( Her Grammy actually commissioned her to make a scarf for her- amazing huh? First commission at 7! But my little miss O wanted to make her Grammy a surprise present too, hence the hat!)

She got to deliver them in person to her Grammy when we went to visit over the holiday break! Look how excited she is to tell her Grammy that she has something else for her….

Ta-Da! Here is the finished set!

I honestly don't know which of the three of us is more proud. I do know that Grammy has been wearing this non-stop (thank goodness for that cold spell, otherwise she might be melting in it!) I have to say, she wore it when we were together visiting and numerous people stopped her to compliment her on it and she happily regaled the story of how her then 7 year old granddaughter made the ensemble for her. A knitter who heard the story told us, "I've never tried double points, I've been too scared. But if your 7 year old granddaughter did it, I am going to try it too!) Way to inspire, LMO! 

After finishing her hat, my daughter asked me when she would be old enough to have her own label. 

I think I have given birth to my competition. : )

The lesson of the day - Share your passions with your children and if they are interested in something else, let them try it! You NEVER know where it will take them. 

And let them use that expensive ball of yarn! 

Welcome 2014

Wow! Has a month really flown by since my last post? I guess so! It's been quite a crazy few weeks with the holidays, gatherings, ballet programs, school concerts, trip to see family….whew! Not to mention, lots and lots of knitting!!

This week has been especially nutty- kids had school Tuesday, only to be sent home half day due to snow and a snow day yesterday. They have parent-teacher conferences Friday, so today is their only full day of school this week! While I truly love having them at home, it does throw things into a bit of disarray. I was supposed to work yesterday, but everytime I snuck away to do it, somehow I was urgently needed. But that's ok.  I enjoyed our extra snuggle time and family game time. But now I had better get working, so…quick catch up and then back to work…

Here's some of the fun knits that have been flying off my needles as of late….

Some special ponchos for some awesome girls. They waited patiently for me to make these after they choose their yarns- amazing hand and kettle dyed merino wools. I've mentioned my love of ponchos before on the blog. They are the perfect accessory in my humble opinion!

You can see how much they love them by the looks on their faces!

A few other things I've finished in my blogging hiatus… Some tassel hats in new color schemes!

LOVE this tricolored one. Just because you don't know if baby is a boy or girl doesn't mean the hat has to be blah! 

And don't you LOVE the hot pink with the charcoal? So chic and so fun for baby!! I think I want a grown up one!!

Here's a quick pic of the cat and mouse set I made for some cuties for the holidays. Just LOVE the pretty kitty hats and to have a sister cat and mouse due is just awesome!

More pics to come. Have been working on LOTS of fun knits!!

Stay Warm all!

Create Holiday Arts & Crafts Fair THIS Saturday Dec 7th

Hello All,

This blog will be short and sweet as I have LOTS of knitting to do tonight. Tis the season! :)

If you are around Saturday December 7th, come join us at the Create Holiday Arts & Crafts Fair from 10am-3pm at Five Branches Wellness locatated at 430 Main Street, 2nd Floor in Greenport!

Have been working on lots of knits….the latest….sparkly cowls and headbands! SWOON!

Will have lots more, come on by and see!

Would love to see you so come on by & do a little local shopping!

Off to knit! Hope to see you soon!

Cooking with the kiddos Barefoot Contessa Style

We often bake together as a family, but we don't cook together as much. That all changed with this cookbook book report they were assigned at school. They had to choose a cookbook, read through it and choose some dishes to make. Have I mentioned HOW AMAZING their school is?!

 My daughter had to choose 3 dishes while my son, who is older, had to make 3 balanced meals.  It was an amazing experience for them and they loved being in charge of the menu. And the best part- they tried everything!!

They chose Barefoot Contessa cookbooks to work from. Ina Garten's cookbooks offer beautiful photos, clear directions and is approachable, even for the under 10 set! This was fitting, as Barefoot Contessa was truly the first show my son really watched. He wanted to be a chef at 3 1/2 and even dressed as Mario Batali for Halloween that year, orange crocs and all. And yes, people knew who he was!

My daughter used her newer book, Barefoot Contessa: How Easy is That? My daughter loves to try new things, so she loved the creative items in the book.

 She choose couscous salad, which she liked, but we'll make next time with fewer onions.

Wild rice salad: which has oranges and grapes and pecans in it. Isn't it pretty?

BUT HER FAVORITE was the smoked salmon deviled eggs with caviar. Yes. This was her choice to make and her favorite, by far! But that's not the most impressive part...

 Just look at the photo she composed with my husband of her favorite dish. Looks like something you would see in a magazine, no? SO impressive. You can tell from the other bland pics that I took those. Ah well, food styling is not in my future…

My son used her Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, which I think is the first one. He wanted to make breakfast, lunch and dinner, which sounded great to me!

His dinner he made first and it was a doozy! Homemade applesauce,  fingerling potatoes, roasted carrots and meatloaf! It was all delicious!

For his lunch, he made roasted tomato basil soup and it was completely restaurant worthy! Gotta love a boy who can work a food mill right?

His breakfast was granola and though it was not technically difficult at all, he never eats dried fruits or nuts, so I let him have at it. And he ate it! It wasn't his favorite, but he ate it. Not to worry, we found someone else who enjoyed it very much, so it was all eaten!

I LOVED this project and so did they and I know we are going to keep it going. Just yesterday, after all this was complete, my daughter wanted to make cupcakes, so we did. Ina's red velvet cupcakes, although, we had to sub purple food coloring, so they were purple velvet. And we made them dairy free, but they were still delicious though! 

Thank you Ina Garten, for all the fabulous food memories! If you ever need some helpers for your show, we are close by (and we have some friends in common, which is kind of fun!)