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Dishcloth Diva & GIVEAWAY

I don’t know if I would classify myself as a diva, but I am someone who is very passionate about utilitarian splendor and kitchen makes, quality over quantity, and the simple life choice that I want to wake up and fill my day with beautiful things that bring me lots & lots of happy.

Oh how I love the composition of the Organic Dishcloth, worked in simple straight rows, cleverly placed knits and purls transform it into an angular chevron of magnificence!

I don’t think practical knits like dishcloths are always given the admiration they merit, they don’t have to be ugly or boring to be useful and they don’t have to be store bought!

They can be durable, well made, extremely ornate and lovely or basic brawn and beautifully simple. Worked in lush colors or clean neutrals all while doing a pretty fantastic and far superior job scrubbing off the supper muck or tenderly wiping sweet baby cheeks!

When I was asked if I would be interested in reviewing Deb Buckingham’s newest book Dishcloth Diva (Here is the Ravelry link as well :) I couldn’t pass it up, a book dedicated to dishcloths, with a foreword form Kay Gardiner, yes please! Ok, maybe I have a secret desire to be a kitchen diva!

I couldn’t wait to look it over, I have always been impressed with Deb’s fresh modern style of designing and can completely relate to the love of home knits.

The book is bursting with artistic structure and visually engaging patterns, 20 original cloths with classic simple combinations of stitches, that produce deliciously bold textural wonders, all while remaining stylistically clean. They have the perfect combination of contemporary elegance and farmhouse charm.

The thing with handmade dishcloths, you either get it or you don’t. I hope you get & I hope you get it real bad!

The most inspiring and marvelous reason to knit everyday useful objects is that with my hands, a ball of cotton or linen and a few hours of pleasure, I end up with something you can’t buy in a store, in the colors that are perfectly me. I will always have the best gifts, the cleanest dishes, the softest washcloths and the soundest mind.

GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED The very generous (awesome and all sorts of good) publishing house that is Cooperative Press has offered up a FREE digital copy of Dishcloth Diva to one of you! So if you would like a chance to get in on the show, this is how it will work, leave a lovely comment or favorite story about (me & my blog, the book, dishcloths, or life the universe and everything) from now until midnight (central time) Friday Nov 16th 2012 and you will be entered in the drawing! (I will announce/email the lucky winner on the 17th !)

P.S I am going to refrain from replying to your comments to avoid messing with the random number thingy ..but just know I am reading them & loving it!

11-17-2012
Congratulations RaeA, random chose you! I have sent an email to you asking where you would like to receive your ebook! (The message went to the mail account you used to leave your comment) You can just respond to that email, send another (by using the contact button), or even message me on Ravelry (chalklegs). I look forward to hearing from you and hope you love the ebook!

A BIG Thank You to all who played (my first giveaway ever!), your lovely comments & stories were wonderful and helped me to realize I wasn’t the only dishcloth freak, or the only one reading this blog ..lol

Stop by anytime, it’s good to have you here ♥

The Little Prince

“I thought that I was rich, with a flower that was unique in all the world; and all I had was a common rose. A common rose, and three volcanoes that come up to my knees-and one of them perhaps extinct forever”…

…if you please-draw me a sheep… ♥

Made as my costume entry for the Halloween doll show. The knit green jumpsuit is a modified stickatillbarbie abba jumpsuit (#794) tailored to fit a 27cm obitsu (omfg so many the bity stitches!).

The crochet wig tutorial was so incredibly simple and turned out so very sweet looking. I knotted 2 strands of yarn per loop at the crown for a nice full top and then went to 1 strand per loop down the sides. Bow tie & waist sash were improvised.

P.S… why yes I did draw the asteroid B-612 scene on a chalkboard!

chalklegs ♥’s chalkboards

Making Babies

I really don’t know what came over me, but I just knit a baby! ..not a funny shaped amigurumi baby, not a tiny toy baby, but a real full size creepy cute flesh baby with a belly button and a sweet little bum!

I joined in on a knitalong using the brilliant and delightfully beautiful Constance pattern from Rhiannon McCulloch (on Ravelry) also of Theatre of Yarns.com. I loved knitting this up, the design is easy to work, with amazing details. Short rows give baby contours and top stitches bring out the features. The pattern even includes instructions for the diaper.

She is worked flat and then seamed together, I will admit I felt a little daunted at the idea of seaming her up, what if she’s all wonky, what if I totally screw her up ..well it wasn’t bad at all once I got on with it, I just went through the instructions row by row and it was so doable not dauntable.

At some point during construction, my Constance became a boy, he looks like a little bald Benjamin Button / Charlie Brown block head and is so utterly & completely adorable.

All together it used roughly 450 yards of light worsted weight recycled cotton yarn, worked with 3.25mm needles and measures right around 23” from head to toe.

His name is Herbert ..herbie, bert or herb for short. ♥