Knitted Headband with a Twist and Reading On - Blogmas Day 18

Hello Friends,


I hope you are doing well. It is Blogmas day 18 today and that sounds even closer to Christmas to me. 6 more days until Christmas now! Last night I finished knitting the headband with a twist from Mirella Moments on Ravelry.  I like the finished product, it is cozy and soft and looks really nice. I am so used to wearing hats, but this headband would also be nice to wear as well to keep your ears warm. This was also a quick knit and can be a quick gift to knit up for someone on your Christmas list. It took me about two nights of knitting to complete it. Also I used a chunkier yarn so it knitted up faster. I used size US 8, 5.0 mm circular needles to knit up the headband. I am not quite sure what type of yarn I had it in my stash, it is a worsted weight yarn. I am thinking of gifting this to my sister for Christmas. This was one of the knitted gift ideas from my post called Ten Gift Ideas to Knit for Christmas. I posted on December 6th. It was definitely a quick knit and fun once I got the hang of the pattern. I enjoyed that I could knit it up while watching shows and vlogs.

The twist was made by sewing up the two ends together 

Close up of the twist

I am still currently reading Better Than Before by Gretchen Ruben and I have been making more progress lately. I started reading before bed as well so I read at night a bit and in the morning for about 10 -20 minutes each time. I did the miracle morning routine for the first time in awhile and it felt good to meditate again and journal. I didn't have time to read though, so I want to read more tonight before bed.

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Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting my blog today for Blogmas! I will see you again tomorrow for Blogmas Day 19 when I share how my Christmas village came together.

Have a great day!

Knitting an Ornament and Reading On - Blogmas Day 10

Hello Friends,


I hope you are doing well. I have been busy and this time of year can get hectic with several things happening at once such as year end at work, Blogmas, and Christmas quickly approaching. I am so excited for Christmas and it is only 15 days away now! I am doing a daily countdown on my Instagram stories and I started yesterday. I have also been posting stories each day related to my Blogmas posts on my blog and also will be doing extra videos here and there related to Christmas.

I started knitting an ornament from Patons Merry Fair Isle Knit ornaments. It looks good so far and is very small. I used a size needle a bit lower than required I used size US 3, 3.25 mm double pointed needles so it might turn out smaller than they usually are. I haven't really knitted in fair isle for a project before, so it is a fun new challenge for me. I have practiced fair isle in the past to carry the yarn along and make a design, but never as a project. I am looking forward to seeing how it turns out! I just finished row 8 of the pattern and starting to see some of the fair isle design. Sorry for the photos they are dark because I took them this morning before work at 8 am.

I have been knitting the casual knit lace shawl pattern found on Ravelry. I had to frog some of it as I saw some errors. It is coming along, but I have been working on the Christmas ornament the past two days

I am still reading Better Than Before by Gretchen Ruben. I am really enjoying it so far and think it is a very interesting read. Habits are a really fascinating topic because we have daily habits that keep us organized and we don't really realize it sometimes. As I have become more in tune with my habits and how habits can help you go about your days, I have been working on adding in more positive habits that help me to do the things I need to do more seamlessly throughout the day. It comes more naturally without much thought which increases the chance I do these things more often that are positive in my life.

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Scarf Knitting Progress and Reading On

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I have started getting into the Christmas spirit even more now. This year I thought about Christmas a lot more and I was getting excited way earlier (September too early?). I am so happy that it is now the Christmas season. I have already gone to a Christmas parade, decorated my parent's tree, and gone to our annual Christmas shopping at a mall to get ideas and start shopping together. Last weekend we put up our Christmas tree and I have decorated our tree. I have also bought decorations and ornaments. I will share all this with you next week for Blogmas I can't wait for Blogmas, it is only 2 days away now! It is on a Sunday which is the perfect day for the start of it because it is not a work day and I can get into the spirit and work on blogging and getting ready for a busy and fun month of posts. If you are also participating are you ready for Blogmas? Leave links to your blogs below and I be sure to visit your blogs this holiday season.

I have still been knitting the candy cane scarf. I found the pattern on Ravelry by Kristen Retigg. I used US 9 knitting needles and used Red Heart Supersaver yarn in white and red to knit up the scarf.

Modeling the scarf in progress

I haven't knitted more of the shawl because I have been busy knitting the candy cane scarf so I can finish it and enjoy wearing it during the Christmas season. I am really looking forward to getting back to it soon. I am using size US 6, 4mm circular needles and the yarn I am using is Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in the color of dusty green.

Shawl in progress

I am still reading Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin. I am loving how she focuses on the main habits that we should work on and and that improve lots of aspects of our lives.  Some important ones are getting more sleep, moving more, healthy eating and drinking, and living more cluttered-free. I have been recently working on getting more sleep and going to bed earlier in order to get more sleep during the week.

Currently reading: Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin

Joining along with Frontier Dreams for Crafting On and As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I want to wish everyone in the United States a happy Thanksgiving and hope you have a great time spent with family and friends.

Family time, Knitting, and Reading On

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I have been busy with work, I trained on a new task to take over for my coworker in a different role while they are away. I have been doing the task for a couple of weeks now and maybe next week for a third. It was good learning something new and challenging myself.
I went to the Santa Claus parade last weekend with my family and we had a wonderful time I love this tradition we share every year. My sister and I used to go just the two of us, then once I moved out and life got more busy, my parents also joined in and we all started going every November. We also have the tradition of decorating my parent's Christmas tree the same day and it was fun to look at all the decorations that we put up every year and they bring back fond memories. We drink eggnog and eat chocolate and cookies and listen to Christmas music. My sister and I made up funny dance moves to some Christmas songs and we laughed at ourselves. It is a wonderful time of year. I love the family time spent together most of all. As I get older, especially this year I am thinking how I don't really need gifts I just love the traditions and the time spent with my family and Liam's family and it makes it so special. As you can see our cats were also interested in the Christmas tree and Moo enjoyed going under the tree.

Moo investigating the new tree

Roo just likes to be with my dad

Santa! I know him!

I have been knitting more of the candy cane scarf the pattern is found on Ravelry. I really wanted it to be done in time to wear to the parade, but I didn't knit it up in time. I will have it ready for the rest of the year's festivities and next Christmas I can wear it to the parade. It is a fun pattern and I love how the stripes are looking and are on an angle.

I got the needles I was waiting for in the mail last week and shared it on my Instagram story as some of you might have seen. I was so excited to get them. I ordered them off of Etsy, they are ChiaoGoo brand needles and are apparently make of surgical-grade stainless steel, they sounds pretty durable and good quality to me. I started using them to knit some of the shawl again and really liked using them they are flexible and lightweight and I like the feel of them. I will really enjoy using these. I am looking forward to knitting more of the shawl now that I have the needles. I got them from the FibreArtStudio shop on Etsy. They shipped from Vancouver, British Columbia. I ordered the 40 inch, size US 6, 4mm circular needles as the pattern calls for this size, but a shorter length. I went for longer needles to accommodate bigger projects as well in the future.

ChiaoGoo needles

I am currently reading Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin and really like it so far. I like how she describes the different types of people when it comes to habits: the upholder, questioner, obliger, and rebel and how people fit into these four categories. So far I think I am an obliger and I am looking forward to reading more.


Joining along with Frontier Dreams for Crafting On and As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday

Thanks for joining me this week and hope you have a good day!

Blogmas 2019 Announcement!

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I am excited to announce I will be doing Blogmas again this year. Blogmas is a challenge for bloggers to post daily on their blogs for most of the month of December starting the first day of December and posting everyday leading up to Christmas. Last year was my first year doing Blogmas and I had a great time coming up with topics to cover and patterns to try out for Christmas. You can read last year's posts by clicking here. I wrote about goals of mine, knitting projects, ideas,and  books I had read and plan to read in the new year. I will be including some of the same types of posts as last year, but also writing some posts on new topics and trying out some new patterns and including gifts ideas. It will be so fun and I am already excited for it.  This is both a writing challenge and a knitting challenge for me as posting daily requires you to write each day and also to come up with more creative ideas and some projects to share. I remember last year it was a bit of a challenge at times to post daily, but it was also interesting what posts and ideas come out of that daily challenge. I posted some posts such as wellbeing at Christmas and 'quick gift ideas to knit or crochet in time for Christmas' last year which I wrote on the day and were written from inspiration by participating in the challenge. I am so excited for Blogmas it is such a fun time of the year and I love sharing it with you all.

Want to join me?
If you would like to also post blog posts daily for Blogmas, let me know in the comments below. If I have enough interest I will start daily link up parties so we can share our posts. I will be hosting daily link parties where you can also post your Blogmas blog post at the bottom of my posts so we can all share our posts each day.

I am currently still knitting the candy cane scarf using the pattern from Ravelry called candy cane scarf by Kristen Retigg. I have to knit more to have the scarf ready in time for Saturday's Christmas parade! Think I can finish it? I am still waiting to get the circular needles in the mail to work on my shawl. I started reading Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin, it is so good so far I am excited to read more. 

Making more progress on the scarf!

Joining along with Frontier Dreams for Crafting On and As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.


Thank you for visiting my blog today and I am so excited for December to come and to share in all the joys of the holiday season with you. Sorry the photos are so dark I had to take photos tonight to share this post!

Knitting a Candy Cane Scarf and Reading On

Hello Friends,

I hope you are all doing well. It has been getting a lot colder here in Toronto. It is also getting so dark now earlier at night after we moved the clocks back with daylight savings time on Sunday and it feels a lot later when heading home from work. Wedding plans are going well and I signed a contract for hair and makeup and will have a contract for a florist soon, then we are done signing contracts and have all of our main vendors, that is so exciting. I am really looking forward to our big day now as it gets closer.

I have started knitting a candy cane scarf by Kristen Retigg found on Ravelry. I am still going to be knitting the casual lace knit shawl, but I had to order larger needles so that is on hold for now. I was so excited to start the shawl project that I started without long enough needles and planned to buy some eventually. I picked up the needles again to knit this scarf last night to work on while I waiting for the needles and to also knit something fun for the holidays. It is knit in all garter stitch and by using some increasing and decreasing each right side row by knitting two stitches together and a knit front to back increase. This candy cane scarf is such a fun and festive knit to make and wear at Christmastime. I was thinking I can wear this scarf at the Christmas parade and markets to look and feel festive. I am knitting the scarf on US 9 needles and I am using leftover yarn Red Heart Super Saver red and white yarn from knitting last year's Santa gnome. I had a lot left over and enough to make a scarf and maybe some other fun things for Christmas.

Pattern: Candy Cane Scarf by Kristen Retigg

I just finished reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg this week and will start reading Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin. As you can probably see I am really interested in reading books in the self help and self improvement category. I am also listening to the audio book of  The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. It has been a great companion on my drives home from work and so informative and I love the lessons I have learned so far. All the books are to promote positive habits and I am a big believer that we can really change our lives by changing our habits as all three of these books demonstrate. I have been starting some positive morning habits and weekly habits and can see how they are improving my life already.

Joining along with Frontier Dreams for Crafting On, As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday and Small Things for Yarn Along (November)

Thank you for stopping by! What are you working on and reading this week?

The Shawl is Growing

Hello Friends,

I hope you are having a good week so far. We ordered the save the date cards for our wedding on Monday and now we are waiting for them to come in the mail. I will have to ask our parents for addresses then get them sent off soon. It is a big first step to getting the wedding one step closer to happening in 6 more months.

I have knitted more of the shawl and am loving the detail of the K2tog, Yarn over, then purl the other side  that I did for four rows.As you can see in the photo there is not a lot of room left on the needles to grow this shawl, so I am planning on moving the shawl to bigger needles soon. This is such a fun shawl to knit and I like the pattern a lot so far. I am using the pattern Casual Lace Knit Shawl by Purl Avenue and you can find the pattern on Ravelry. I am using size US 6 circular needles and using Lion Bran Vanna's choice yarn in the colorway 'Dusty Green'.

I am still reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. I have been listening to the audio book 168 hours by Laura Vanderkam, but I am not enjoying it that much and I'd hoped. She focuses a lot on career choice and talks about not thinking anything you do in your job is "work" unless it gets you farther in your career or you love doing it. A lot of people do work at their jobs that are not self serving for their careers so I don't agree with that. Also I was hoping it would be more focused on planning your time outside of work and it isn't so I will move on. I will instead be listening to the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R Covey. I am looking forward to listening to this popular book and hope to learn a lot and be inspired. 

Joining along with Frontier Dreams for Crafting On and Unraveled Wednesday with As Kat Knits.

Thank you for visiting today and have a good day!

Knitting a Shawl

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. This weekend I have been busy seeing friends and doing some work on wedding planning by choosing our save the date cards. I chose four photos I liked from our engagement shoot and I can't wait to order the cards to send them out to everyone. Today has been a good day for getting things done at home. I need those days once and awhile to get some projects moving along and to accomplish my goals.

I also got a lot of knitting done today on a new shawl I started last week. I am knitting the Casual  Lace Knit Shawl by Linda Thach that was published in Purl Avenue and her pattern can be found on Ravelry.  I am using Vanna's Choice yarn by Lion Brand in the colorway of 'dusty green'. So far I love how the shawl is turning out and I like the simple pattern consisting mostly of knits, yarn overs, and purling the other side.

I am still reading the Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. It is an interesting book and really makes me more aware of how making positive habits can change your life. I am also currently listening to the audiobook 168 hours by Laura Vanderkam and it inspires me to make the most of my time and put it towards actions which bring me closer to achieving my goals.

What are you knitting and reading?

Thank you for stopping by today and hope you have a great day

Knitting a Turkey for Thanksgiving

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I have taken today off work and it feels so good to have time to myself. I decided to take a few days off work around my birthday this year to give myself time around one of my favorite times of the year, which is right around my birthday, Thanksgiving, and fall. My birthday is tomorrow, I will be 31 years old. Turning 31 makes me reflect on how fast time is going by. I think of how life is going to change a lot in my thirties with getting married next year,starting a family, and buying a house. There is so much to plan and do right now with the wedding coming up and the year coming to an end. I have also become very consumed with knitting and reading lately and this could take up most of my days easily. Today I met up with my fiancé Liam during his lunch near his work and I have done a workout, knitted, read, and chatted with my mom. I did a lot of knitting today on the new project I have started.

I am knitting another wine bottle topper, this time it is a turkey! I am knitting it as a gift for my future mother-in-law and will be giving it to her on Saturday for Thanksgiving  on top of a bottle of wine. I hope that she likes it as much as she liked the bunny wine bottle topper I made her for Easter this year. I have a couple of days left to finish it. So far I have the body done and am starting the head and the beak of the turkey.

I have knitted the body of the turkey in the seed stitch pattern to give the body of the turkey some texture to resemble the feathers they have on their bodies. As seen in the photo above, the head of the turkey is going to be simple knit stitch in the color red. The beige stitches are the start of the beak of the turkey. I will be knitting some wings also in the seed stitch to give them texture. I drew up a diagram of the turkey plans as this was something I did not find online. I find it fun to make my own patterns and I am using some of the design from the bunny topper to guide me with the body and the head decreases. I will share the pattern with you all when the turkey is complete in the next post.

I am still reading the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. It is so interesting to learn about habits and how they affect our lives and how we go about our days. Another book about habits that I will be reading next and might have taken a peak at already is called Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin. My sister read it and loved it, so I am so excited to read this one next.


Joining along with Frontier Dreams for Crafting On and As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting today and I hope that you have a wonderful day

Knitted Pumpkins and Reading On

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I have been busy with work and wedding planning tasks. I can't believe my wedding is only seven months away now. There is still so much left to do, but we have a lot of it planned now and I am getting excited for the big day as it gets closer. I am also happy that it is Fall now and it is getting chillier. I love the cooler air when we can wear sweaters and dress cozier which is perfect for inspiration for knitting and knitting some projects like scarves, hats, mittens to keep us warm. I also feel inspired to knit pumpkins this time of the year for Fall and Halloween. I found a pattern for knitted pumpkins on Ravelry by Katrina McNerney. I knitted two pumpkins, one in orange and one in white and they were so fun to knit.

Pattern: Knit pumpkin by Katrina McNerney

The knitted pumpkin looks like the photo below as you are knitting a tube shape in the round to make the pumpkin. The photo below was taken last night before I filled it with polyester stuffing and closed up the top and bottom of the pumpkin.

This pattern was easy to follow and makes for a great quick knit to make something festive for this time of the year. I used orange and white yarns to knit the two pumpkins. The white pumpkin was larger because the Loops & Threads Select Wool in the white colorway was thicker than the  Loops & Threads Impeccable orange yarn. I love how they turned out and I also knitted up the i-cord stems in brown cotton Bernat yarn to top it off.

I have been reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. I think this book will help me to understand how habits that we form make our lives flow better and so far I learned that there is a part of our brain that actually works to help us to remember how to do things so that we can have more time and brain capacity for other thoughts and actions. I am trying to get into creating more positive habits in my life especially when it comes to getting ready for work so I am more organized and just do what I need to do to have a good work week instead of rushing around to get things done. This will allow me to take the guessing out of my schedule during the week and follow a schedule so I can be more receptive to new opportunities at work with less thought and just the use of habits helping be to be more successful.

Joining along with Frontier Dreams for Crafting On and Small Things for Ginny's Yarn Along.

Thank you for visiting my blog today! I hope that you have a great weekend

Finished Knitting Patons Spiral Socks and Reading On

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I finished knitting the Patons spiral socks using the spiral socks pattern by Patons found on Ravelry. I love the look of the socks and the Patons Kroy sock yarn in the colorway of coastal stripes. The self- striping yarn looks great and it is so fun to knit with to see what pattern emerges as I knit on.

 They do not have a heel in the pattern, but you can always add a heel if you prefer to have the heel. Without a heel, they look like my socks below straight swirly socks that you can pull on in any direction.

The two socks do not match exactly due to the self-striping yarn which makes them look so fun and unique.

The pattern creates zig-zag stripes up close that you can see them when you pull the socks tight. It also makes it easier to see if you are on track with the pattern and doing it correctly by checking to see that they have equal length of stitches until the next switch every 5 rows.

I will be knitting a turkey wine bottle topper soon as a gift for my fiance's mom. She received the bunny wine bottle topper last Easter from me, loved it, and wanted me to make another one for Thanksgiving. So I will be working on either finding a pattern or developing my own pattern for that soon and will be sharing the progress. I bought some small balls of Bernat cotton yarn on my last trip to Michaels and will be using them to knit the Turkey.

I have been reading the Miracle Equation by Hal Elrod, and so far it seems so much like reading The Secret. He talks about having unwavering faith and applying extraordinary effort in everything you do and these two combined will bring you success. My loan for this e-book is up at the library now so I will hopefully get it back soon. In the meantime I will be reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg which I borrowed from my sister. I am excited to read this book because lately I have been working on cultivating some positive daily habits to help me to be my best self and to accomplish my goals. I finished reading The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory. This book was so sweet and fun and I loved the characters. I really want to read more from Jasmine Guillory I love her writing style and her attention to the little things and creating characters that you are routing for. I am also currently listening to the audio book of Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis. It is so empowering and motivating to listen to. Rachel is very passionate about her work and really helps you want to be  your best and go for your dreams.

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Joining along  with Frontier Dreams for Crafting On

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I hope you enjoy the rest of your week!