AmandaV Custom Owl - Chapter 2

Sorry for the recent absence. Without boring you with the details, the hubs and I have been wrapped up in an apartment search for the past few weeks, which has limited my posting & knitting time. I hate when real life interferes with my knitting!

Anyways, we spent the weekend in Rye with the hubs' middle brother and his family. I was able to get the front piece of the owl finished thanks to a few free hours by the pool and tennis courts (photos to follow once I get it blocked). I think it's pretty darn cute so far!

Next up will be the wings. Very exciting~!

AmandaV Custom Owl, Chapter 1

I was so excited to get home last night to start on AmandaV's custom owl order.  After skeining the yarn on the subway (yes, people stare), I was ready to go.  I got the back piece finished this morning and am pretty happy with the shape.  I'll know for sure if it's perfect once I get the front piece done and attached, too.  I thought it looked pretty good, but of course I'm always looking three steps ahead and visualizing the piece as a part of the whole.  My husband, who doesn't share my vision, said it looked like roadkill.  Fair enough.  

Friday Farm - Birthday Edition

Sorry for no post yesterday.  I actually took the day off for a long birthday weekend.  The hubs and I took the ferry to Ellis Island for the day and walked home over the Brooklyn Bridge.  Here's your belated friday farm...the infamous turtle!

Darren has one magic trick. He can make things disappear. Well, it's less of a magic trick and more of a nifty little pouch in his shell. It snaps shut and is perfect for keeping little treasures safe. The pattern can be made for either a boy or girl turtle. 

It's a Miracle!

The commemoration of three separate miracles took place for me this week. First was the Passover Seder at my sister-in-law's, retelling the miracle of the Jews' freedom from slavery. Tomorrow will be Easter brunch with my in-laws, marking the miracle of the ressurection of Jesus Christ, and today, just now, in fact, I turned my ravelry status bar for my never-ending turtle to COMPLETE, a personal knitting miracle marking an individual victory over the projec that would never end......halleluiah!

I kid, I kid...certainly two cornerstones in two of the world's major religions bear much more importance than a dumb stuffed turtle, but it's my own personal celebration (and during such a miraculous week, no less).

Photos of the new Surcie Gasparro addition to follow once I return to Brooklyn from LBI....

Turtle Shell Version 1,549

I'm stuck in a severe case of knitting block. I think I have revamped, reknit and refiddled my turtle shell at least seven times. I know what I want it to look like, and I can't say I'm far off, but something about it is just not quite right, and I can't decide if it's a design issue or an aesthetic one. Either way, it's got me a bit fatootzed. I'm eager to get it done with (as I already missed Friday Farm because of it) but no matter how many hours I put into it, I don't seem to get any further. Maybe my new knitting circle will help get me out of my funk. It will be nice to commiserate with a group of people who can sympathize with how frustrating it is to rip out knitting.

Custom Order! - DianaDew

I have my first custom order, from Etsy user DianaDew. I will be tracking her order here, giving updates on her one-of-a-kind Surcie creation. To the right you can follow the overall progress with the status bar, plus I'll be posting pictures as her little bunny comes to life. It should be fun to track the beginning to end process here on the blog!

She has purchased the custom order for her best friend's daughter, Laura, who is expecting her first child this fall. The bunny color has been chosen (butterscotch, to match Laura's pet rabbit from childhood). The outfit style will wait until Laura finds out if she's having a boy or a girl. The same goes for her label. So fun!

Below are photos of the color palate she has selected. Stay tuned for additional updates!

Friday Farm - Family Edition

Two for One!  Thomas and Sarah recently moved to New York from Smithfield, Virginia, the ham capital of the world.  So far they love New York, most especially their newfound kosher friends.  

Friday Farm (Early Edition)

I'm off to Florida for a few days of knitting beachside, so here's an early edition of Friday Farm. See you Monday!

Russell isn’t like most foxes. For starters, he’s a vegetarian. Secondly, his best friend is a chick named Gimmie. Instead of raiding hen houses for eggs to eat, he and Gimmie comb the garden for ripe tomatoes and fresh arugula to make salads to share with the ladies in the hen house. The mother hens are so enamored with Russell that they knit him this sweater for his birthday.

holiday babies

This past Friday was my sweet sister Jello's birthday. It was an extra special birthday because it was Friday the 13th, as it was 39 years ago on the day she was born. There's no term for this type of coincidence, although there should be (like your "golden birthday" - the year you turn the same age as your birth date - turning 17 on the 17th, for example).

I doubt anyone really cares or gives it much thought, but I guess I'm interested because I share the same peculiarity with my dear sis. I was born on Easter, which is only fitting considering my dad was a preacher at the time. My mom told my dad that she would give birth to me on Easter, even though my due date was four days earlier on April 15th, so that my dad could finally have a Sunday off. And my mother, being the superwoman that she is, delivered. (ba dum ch!)

On the rare occasion my birthday falls on Easter, I feel doubly celebratory, and not only because I get birthday cake and peeps on the same day. There's something magically nostalgic about having a birthday that so closely mirrors the day you were born, something I would doubt you are ever aware of if you were born on just a plain old Tuesday, but I could be wrong.

Anyways, all this rambling brings me to knitting. I especially love Easter (all that resurrection and personal salvation stuff aside) because I think of it as my second birthday. So I'm finishing up my Easter themed project tonight and will post photos once complete. No, I didn't knit a Jesus. It's a baby chick and his best friend, the fox. Sneak peek....

Friday Farm

it's that time again....introducing Hanna!

Hanna is the free-spirited artistic type. She loves poetry, daffodils, and all things color. She, unlike most New Yorkers, hates black and doesn't own a single item of clothing that couldn't pass for Joseph's technicolor dreamcoat. On the weekends, Hanna likes to hang out at NYU or photograph cool graffiti.

Reveling in Ravelry

Thanks to Kris (momtourage.net), I'm officially up on Ravelry! Bravo, Jessica and Casey, the two smartypants who created the site. It's one of those things that you can't believe hasn't existed forever because it just makes so much sense! I'm excited to dive deeper into all the site has to offer, but one thing at a time. Between getting Etsy up and running, proofing patterns, writing new ones, and exploring Ravelry, I've got a full dance card. If you're on Ravelry, drop me a line! My user name is (as always) SurcieGasparro.

Friday Farm

It's that time again....Friday Farm!

happy as a pig in snow

Isn't it strange how some things you never outgrow? Sunday night, on the eve of a predicted big snow, I found myself practically giddy with excitement. Even the hubs got in on the action, insisting we order pizza (a rare but much appreciated indulgence) because of the impending snow storm. Or maybe he saw the glimmer of "yes-to-anything-you-might-suggest-right-now-because-i'm-so-excited-for-snow!" in my eye and decided to take advantage. Either way, we both went to bed happy and stuffed even though neither of us would have the luxury of staying home Monday to revel in the snow. Even my little pig got in on the action. I'll save the rest of his pictures for Friday Farm, but I couldn't resist posting his cute mug now, before the snow turns brown and mucky and everyone is over it.

What a Fox!

My newest project is (drumroll please) a fox. Probably not the most popular animal for knitters, coming in leagues behind a bear or a bunny, but foxes need love, too. I figured the trickiest part would be the head, given the semi-canine snout and lean head shape. All my other animals have pudgy, round heads, so I knew this would be a new kind of shaping. After a head that looked like a penguin, and a "good, but not great" head, I finally whipped up this bad boy, which I'm pretty satisfied with. My favorite part is the wispy looking white stitches under his neck...it almost looks like you could pet it. Next up is replicating the wispy fluff for his ears.

a knitting adventure

yesterday I started my day planning to spend it here (on the couch with a hot bowl of oatmeal, my favorite coffee mug and a big pile of knitting), but by four o'clock I found myself here - two hours away, knitting fireside at a lodge on the top of a mountain. My husband woke up with a moderate to severe case of cabin fever and all but threw me in the car with only moments to spare (in which of course I grabbed my most essential knitting items. And oh yeah, a toothbrush).

It was a wonderful, spontaneous treat, and I still managed to spend a good part of the day knitting. I was hoping to snap a few shots of my current project (which I'll keep under wraps for now), but in the fracas of fleeing the city this morning, I didn't grab my camera battery charger, so we're out of luck.

Coming this week...A PIG! IN OVERALLS! and my first foray into selling actual stuffed animals on etsy. Stay tuned!

Friday Farm

I'm starting a new post for Fridays....Friday Farm! I'll post new animal photos to kick off the weekend. Today, c'est Henri le Mouton!

Here's his blurb from etsy...

Henry is studying abroad in Paris. He loves eating croque monsieurs on the steps of the Pantheon, bicycling through the Luxembourg Gardens and being called Henri. As much as he loves all things French, he still gets blue when he misses his flock back home.

Bonne weekend!

its alive!

so as of yesterday my etsy site (http://surciegasparro.etsy.com/) is up and running! i've had two sales to date, both very very wonderful people. I have four listings up, and a few more to go. Check it out!

rest of the photo shoot...

photo shoot

The hubs and I took Rickson to the Red Hook beach for a little exercise. With my Etsy site constantly on my mind, my first thought was that I should take the opportunity to shoot a few pictures of my most recent pattern, the big (and as of now nameless) elephant due to the large red anchor on his sweater. It was windy and frigid, but all in all successful. My only regret is that you can't even come close to making out the Statue of Liberty in the picture. If you squint at the green blob in the middle of the picture you can pretend to recognize it.

knit-somnia

It's 10:15. The hubs and Rickson (the dog we often watch when his mom is in LA) are both asleep snoring, the hubs on the couch and Rickson in our bed. I am rarely the last one up (and even more infrequently up past 10 o'clock...I know, I know, lame), but tonight I'm no where near ready for bed. I just had my first "photo shoot" for the etsy site I'm putting together.

Here are a few sneak previews of the two I did tonight. I'm hoping to have my elephant done in time to shoot him tomorrow after work.


I was able to make a lightbox out of a few random items I picked up at Staples today, including a file box, a magnetic whiteboard, foamcore & magnet clips. I'm feeling like cross between Patrick McMullen and McGyver.


More photos to follow as I edit them....

shh...don't tell carter

By way of quick introduction...I like to knit.  I'm not a great knitter, probably adequate at best, and there are more things I don't like knitting than things I do.  The one thing I can't seem to stop knitting, however, is stuffed animals.  I knit standing on the subway to work every morning, sitting on the couch at night and pretty much anywhere else I can spare a few minutes throughout the day (although I haven't yet become so brazen as to take my knitting to the bathroom with me).  

At the moment I'm halfway through a project for my friend Kerri's son Carter.  I'm knitting him an elephant which is half celebration for his arrival and half apology to Kerri.  In high school, I sentenced her to four years of useless elephant tchotchkes (running the gamut of figurines, t-shirts, earrings) after telling everyone she collected elephants, which she didn't.  I still think she harbors an unspoken resentment towards me for it, so I'm hoping this will be the last elephant she ever receives and the first she will actually want.