FO: Ryan’s Europe Hat
My amazingly talented friend @ryanscottlum of Creative Guerilla Marketing is leaving tomorrow morning for a two month excursion in Europe with one backpack and his own two feet. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to knit up a sturdy wool hat that would keep his head warm at night.
Pattern Name: Station Hat
Needle Sizes: US8, 5.0mm/US 9, 5mm
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy
Colorway: In Vino Veritas
Yards Used: 0.6 skein/ 150 yards
I searched many a patterns. The request was simple. A simply slouchy beanie. Oh man- that’s a knitter’s nightmare! There are hundreds upon hundreds of patterns out there! I wanted something manly, simple, but not boring to knit.
I had to make sure to find the perfect pattern. I was going to be his first knitted gift after all, which just adds even more pressure! The Station Hat was the perfect fit. It was slouchy and beanish, but interesting enough to keep me entertained.
Picking the yarn was easy! Ryan’s favorite color is red so it was a great excuse to head over to my local yarn shop. I walked it and slowly looked around for something to catch my eye. I saw her right away: Dream in Color Classy in the lovely In Vino Veritas. In Vino Veritas is Latin and translates out to the Greek phrase, “In wine there is truth.” Ryan will be stopping in Greece during his trip…it was perfect.
I love the brim of the hat, and I chose to knit the criss cross top instead of the swirl because it felt more “manly” that way. The pattern was awesome, because once you finish the stockinette brim line, you just flip your project inside while knitting in the round, and start knitting the opposite direction! That way, to achieve the garter stitches, you still get to knit stitch in the round! Genius! It was a pleasure to knit. I highly recommend this pattern, and I may knit one for myself with the swirl top and in some yummy Malabrigo yarn!
Have a safe trip dear friend! I hope your new hat keeps you warm and safe. You will be missed by all. We will all be here when you get back so you can tell all of us your tales of adventure and glory!
He also designed the most AWESOME logo for Mother Daughter Knits. See what I mean about talented? If you are interesting in more of his work, check out his website. My mom and I love love pandas, so this little logo is the starting point of us re-vamping the shop‘s look!
Until next time!
Do you know what a vlog is? It is a blog, but in video form. It’s cleverly named huh…haha. ;) Well for the past 30 days, I lived and breathed the word vlog. I ate, slept, and dreamed about vlogs. I was a vlog. I participated and completed the 30 day vlog challenge created by the extremely talented (and attractive hehe) photographer Tim King.
Here is my first video:
Pretty typical and normal. I just tell you what will happen. You see…when I started I kept a little notebook with all of my plans for each video for the next 30 days. I would research, plan, and even write a script! So optimistic was I! You are more than welcome to watch all of them here, but let me share with you some of my favorite videos. :)
The Knitting Curse:
I learned A LOT from researching this video. You see, this curse has haunted me for years, and I honestly thought it was a curse that I bore on my own! I was wrong, this curse is legendary, many knitters share my pain. Thanks to this video…I know I am not alone. One day I’ll find my prince charming and that knitted sock will fit juuuust right. ;)
Knitting Lingo:
Oh boy! This video started a wonderful thing. Everyone and their mom started calling each other “knitta”. It was amazingly awesome. Haha I especially love my fellow 30day challenger champions. You guys are my knittas for life. :)
Bloopers Make the World Go Round:
My bestie Amanda cracks me up. Whenever we hang out, it’s laughter the entire time. We say and do the darndest things, so I had to include her in a video! We had SO much fun with our video making…it produced an entire blooper video on its own! If you didn’t know…by this time…no more scripts, no more plans. My vlogging was beginning to evolve and become more natural.
Have you met my mom? 
Of course we are Mother and Daughter Knits…I had to actually prove to you guys I had a mother!! Haha Just talking in front of my iphone wasn’t good enough for me anymore. I had to add dramatic entrances and lame editing effects by this week. Haha
Knitting in Public:
A video where I don’t have to talk and all I have to do in be in my natural state? More of these please! Special thanks to my brother (AWSoy Productions) who wrote the awesome music.
The Relay For Life:
This is not knitting related, but I felt like it was important to share a little bit about my life in general. My mom is a breast cancer survivor, 6 months so far! We are so fortunate to have her in our lives. There is a history of cancer in our family. This video was just so fun to film and edit
A Song from Me to You:
Another little piece of Emilee that is not knitting related. A vlog everyday sometimes is hard on a tired brain…good thing music soothes the soul.
A Knitta’s wRAP- The Finale!
I grew up on Will Smith and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire! I just had to do this. Writing the lyrics was just plain fun and my little brother helped me by coming up with the video concept and filming it with his fancy smancy camera stuff. It was the perfect ending to a daunting challenge.
So…what now? From this challenge I learned a lot about vlogging, about myself, about friendship, and about dreaming big. I’ve picked up photography because I have been so inspired by my fellow photog vloggers. I have HUGE plans for me and my mom’s store: Mother Daughter Knits! I have a TON of new videos in store for my knitting channel! I also plan on starting a second channel MissEmileeWong, where I will be doing videos of just ramblings, beauty product reviews, and just…randoms about me and my life. Oh- and knitting!! I plan to do a lot of that!
I just need to survive this last couple weeks of classes, and then the summer is all mine. I’m going to dominate my dreams and accomplish all of my goals. If I can vlog for 30 days…I know I can do ANYTHING my heart sets its mind on.
Thank you Tim King for making me realize my full potential and help me step away from Netflix…and step towards my future. :) Haha Also, love out to my fellow vloggers whom I’ve learned so much from and created strong friendships with. You guys are most definitely my knittas FOR LIFE. ;)
Living life one stitch at a time…
Hello my lovely fiber lovers! My mom and I had a wonderful opportunity to travel to Santa Clara for the Stitches West Convention! We met so many amazingly knowledgable and sweet people at the convention. Also…the knitting eye candy was amazing. If you would like to see the video log of our adventures, check them out above!
On the way to the convention, my mom and I noticed this HUGE flock of birds and had to go and investigate! The site was surely something to see. There were so many birds! They seemed to be taking turns sitting and flying because large groups would take off into the air at a time. I had this crazy inckling they were going to see us, turn their heads to look at us, and then start screaming “MINE MINE MINE!” like in Finding Nemo. Haha Luckily…we made it back to the car unharmed.
At the convention, my eyes immediately gravitated towards the Malabrigo booth. All that smooshy, squishy, vibrate kettle-dyed color to behold! Mal has to be one of my favorite brands, especially their sock and worsted weight. I have enough worsted to make a bright green sweater…I should get on that!
Kelsa was the sweetest spinner. She allowed me to record her as she worked magic with this wheel! Rumplestilskins ain’t got nothin’ on her! ;) She said she typically spins DK/Fingering weight yarn. I can see how spinning can be such a calming and relaxing process. Too bad I don’t have $450 dollars to get my zen on…I could always start with a drop spindle though! Knitting…is just the gateway drug to all the other fabulous fiber addictions out there…
There were so many beautifully displayed booths at the convention. If I could have, I would have purchased a little sampling of everything…haha. This yarn display was adorable! They placed table settings and plates with needles so you could “sample” each one of their yarns. It was a “yarntasting cafe” by Artfibers! Just too cute and creative! There were so many button booths and other knitting notions. The beautiful needles tops in the upper right hand corner are finely crafted glass by Shelia and Michael Ernst. Aren’t they just beautiful! You can find them at Glasspens!
This crazy knitted piece of art (I called him Knit Man) was at the Lion Brand booth. My mom and I had turned the corner and it startled me! I was a bit uneasy because I was not positive Knit Man wasn’t going to stand up and dance! He does make me want to knit myself some awesome crazy rainbow knee high socks though. What do you think? I must say…he had super soft arms. Haha
It’s time for the….WHEEL OF FIBER! ::crowds of excited applause:: Haha, just kidding. It was a wheel you could spin at the top of the hour to receive a discount on Kollage patterns/yarn purchase. It was a wonderful marketing strategy…because it sucked us in to their booth- and mom walked away with two shawl patterns because she won 50% off of one. Haha Who doesn’t love to here the sounds of a spinning wheel? (Did you notice the play on words I did there…spinning…wheel….? Hahaha I crack myself up!) ;)
So many beautiful colors! The fiber braids on the left are dyed by Wonderland Dyeworks and I just loved how their booth was set up! Doesn’t the photo on the right make you want to just curl in a cubby of soft smooshy colored bliss? ::sighs peacefully::
On top is a picture of the wonderful Kristen from Knitred and Jimmy Beans Wool! She was a gem in my video because she was so clear and personable, even though the interview was completely on the spot! Make sure you pre-order a copy of the Knit Red Book in which she has her first printed pattern!!! The website says, “This book contains 30 fabulously red garments and accessories designed and donated by celebrity designers who openly share their personal experiences with Heart Disease and tips on how they stay heart healthy!” A book with a mission! I love it!
If you don’t know who my mom and I are standing with on the bottom…you are MISSING OUT! That is Alana from Never Not Knitting. My mom and I are HUGE fans of her blog, her podcasts, her patterns, her book, and her knitting skills. When I grow up…I want to be just like Alana! Hehe ;) She is just as sweet in real life as she is in her podcasts! I think my star-strucken excitement might have been a bit overwhelming…you see…she’s like a huge celebrity in my book! My heart was pounding when I was meeting her! Haha Man…I’m such a fiber nerd. >_<
I’m going to cast off this blog post with one of my favorite characters…Lamb Chop! I grew up with Shari Lewis and her friends Hush Puppy, Lamb Chop, and Charlie Horse. I remember the episode in which Lamb Chop had the hiccups and was trying to store them into her hiccup box…but it was opened up and then the hiccups went everywhere! Everyone had the hiccups! That episode was epic. Lamb Chop/Shari Lewis…you will always have a place in my heart. :)
My mom and I had just so much fun at Stitch West! We met so many wonderful people…and will be definitely going back again next year! Okay, I’m off to knit a beret of out some beautiful yarn I bought at the convention! I’ve been challenged…and I never ignore a challenge!!
Living life one stitch at a time,
