caffaknitted

Summertime!

It's summertime, and believe it or not, I'm still in school. There's no rest for x-ray students. Nevertheless, I have managed to keep on knitting. Can't stop, won't stop, knitting tiny things. Here is my latest piece. A friend commissioned a tiny knitted cello!

More Tiny Things!

School keeps me busy! But I do have a lot of breaks during the day, which makes small projects easier to carry around. I'm actually getting a lot done!  There's a miniature show coming up next week here in Boone. I've always loved doll houses, so I thought why not knit some tiny housewares, like this armchair and tv.

Also this record player (chick is there to demonstrate scale and to dance to records)

And at Dave's request, a tiny Telecaster!

 

More soon! Happy Spring!

Available Work

Thanks to all my friends and supporters who came out to my show last weekend! It was wonderful. I've had several requests from folks asking what work is still available. So here is a pricelist. If you're interested in a piece, shoot me an email at ktboyette@gmail.com. I can give you a shipping estimate. I'm also available for commisions, if you have something particular in mind.

Needlework:

• "Birdcage"
• 22" x 28"
• $250

• "Weight" SOLD
• 12" x 12"
• $100

• "Frog Travels"
• 12" x 12"
• $75

 

Knitted works and Knitted Toys:

• Bear-pocalypse
• 12" tall, mounted (lasers are not real :)
• $130

 

• "Turnip"
• 11" tall, blue $40
• 8" tall, orange felted $30

• "Concertina"
• Knit to scale
• $150

• "Doodle" SOLD
• 10" tall
• $40

• "Lov-bots" SOLD
• 6" x 8"
• $50

• "Pickle" SOLD
• 9" tall, removable hat and scarf
• $40

• "Knitted Gas Masks"
• Life-size
• $85 each

• "Plush Argus C3"
• 10" x 14"
• $80

• "Knitted Monster Alphabet"
• Letters are 12" tall, all letters available in any color
• $30 per letter

• "Fair Isle Cow"
• 16" tall
• $50

• "Pablo"
• 8" tall
• $20

• "Joe the Shark and his little friend"
• "13" long
• $50

• "Matilda" SOLD
• "10" tall, felted
• $40

Concertina

I'm currently knitting a series of musical instruments. First up...a concertina! 

AHHH!lphabet

Sophia and I have begun a very exciting project...a monster alphabet! Sophia is doing most of the designing, and I'm doing the knitting. Look at her sketches. Isn't she good?

We've finished A, B, and C. I'll post the additional letters as we go, and publish the patterns as I finish them. I'm planning to sell each letter pattern individually, or if you can wait, I'll be  selling all of them together in a digital booklet when the set is complete. 

Katie's Spring Update: Chicken Edition

It's been a while since we had a chicken update, and in early spring, so much of my focus turns to the chickens. In mid February, the chickens get busy (if you know what I mean). Kenny Rogers, our rooster, has turned out to be the best rooster I've ever had. Isn't he handsome? He's an Easter Egger. The girls have been laying lots of lovely blue and green eggs.

For Christmas, Dave got me a new incubator. I promptly used it to hatch a mixed batch of Marans. Here is a White Marans chick. Look at his lovely feathered feet. Too bad he's a rooster. 

 

Yesterday I set 2 dozen green eggs to hatch on St. Patty's Day. The chicks will be a mix of Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers. So cute!

Coming soon...more chicken pictures, and even more knitting projects.

The Love You Save

When I was a kid, I loved Valentines Day. I loved the decorated tissue box full of store bought cards. I thought Valentines Day was a day for secret declarations of love. Every year I excitedly went through my box of cards from classmates, awaiting the box of conversation hearts with a note that read, "Dear Katie, I love you. Will you go with me? Love, Scott". Scott was the unknowing recipient of all of my affections from grades 2-8. Scott never did give me that box of conversation hearts. And who could blame him? (see exhibit B)

Look at this poor naive mullet headed child. This is me grade 6. Fortunately, time passed. I discovered hair stylists and found some courage (liquid courage). Many boyfriends, missteps, heartbreaks, and years later, I find myself here....

With Dave.

Dave is simply the best ever. He is kind, talented, funny, and sarcastic. Life with Dave is peaceful and happy. Plus look at those  muttonchops! I mean really? Could he be any cuter?  He is my Valentine. I know a lot of folks think Valentines is lame and overly commercial, and they're right. But I'm not going to let the jewelry store commercials and pandering romantic comedies stop me from celebrating my love. So you guys go ahead and sit at the cool table drinking your haterade. I have a holiday to celebrate.

This year for Valentines I baked Dave some Mocha Shortbread Nutella Sandwich Cookies. I also knitted him a guitar strap! I hope it is functional. I'd hate for him to drop his guitar in the middle of one of his rockstar performances. Pending the functionality, I may publish the pattern soon.

I hope you are all having a delightful Valentines.

La Maison Bisoux

One of my projects received a very flattering nomination for Best Knitting of 2012. If you look at the nominees, you'll see I'm in very talented company. There are some really beautiful projects. Have a gander, and vote for one if you feel inspired:

http://lamaisonbisoux.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/mejores-proyectos-de-punto-del-2012-nominados/

Crewel

I can't believe I made it through all of January without posting. I've been too busy trying to stay warm. 

That's not really much of an excuse, but things have been busy. After 4 years as a member of the Nth Degree Gallery, I've decided to move my studio to the house. This wasn't an easy decision, and I will greatly miss all my studio mates. On the other hand, it's a lot easier to work here at the house, and even though my new studio is technically the laundry room, it actually has a lovely view of the river, and smells like fabric softener. The Nth is in an old building that mostly smells of mold.

Since I've finally settled in here at the house, and reorganized my tools and supplies, I've gotten back into a little crewel work. Her are a couple of new pieces:

I'll be exploring this medium more this year. I have a solo show scheduled for December. This will be my first solo show, and the gallery space is pretty large for my small work, so I better get busy if I want to fill it!

How to not be a boring gift wrapper:

Are your presents boring? Do you want to trick your recipients into thinking they're not? Have a little fun with your wrapping.

Here are the tools you need:

-multi-colored contruction paper or cardstock

-gluestick

-double-sided tape

-scissors

-wrapping paper (plain colors are good, but patterns can work too)

-imagination

Really you can make your gifts look like anything, but I like to start with the box. What are the proportions? Does it remind me of any particular object around the house?

Here are a few gifts I've wrapped this season:

Mixed Tape and

Record Player

In this case I tried to pair the object with the age of the recipient. When I made the tape, my daughter replied, "What is that supposed to be?"

Transistor Radio

There are some really cool looking vintage radios.

Cameras

Like radios, there is an endless stream of amazing cameras to base your creation on. This package actually contains a knitted hat. He'd probably rather get a camera.