Let littles stay little…

So sorry I haven’t posted in a while…we had, um, little children and computer related difficulties. Needless to say, no children will be near the new computer. EVERRRR.

I have been busy buying American products that I’m so excited to share with you, and I’m starting in one of my favorite categories: yarn!

I think too many of the clothing items out there for little girls are too grown-up. Cropped shirts, miniskirts…all these things are advertised in the popular stores, for children my daughter’s age. (She’s 3!) And yes, that is an awesome handmade triangular longhouse in our yard. All the pictures were taking by my good friend Maria Valeriani.

I wanted to design something fun and functional for my daughter now that spring is here, but I wanted it to be childlike and magical too. Hence, Spritely, a sweet little capelet reminiscent of Red Riding Hood and fairy tales was born.

You can find that pattern here: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/alicia-plummer

But there’s more to the story! Let me tell you about the yarn. If you’re not a knitter I expect you’ve tuned out by now…

I spun up some wool for my friend Sarah. As a thank you, she mailed me an absolutely gorgeous skein of sock yarn. Her etsy is here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/soccerchic21

The colors are amazing, and the softness is incredible. This one reminds me of the hot summer sun-

If you buy a skein of her sock yarn, I will gift you the Spritely pattern for free!

Anyways- she is a great example of a hardworking mom. She’s sweet, and everything is done right at her house! If that’s not putting American dollars into the pocket of American workers, I don’t know what is.

Pattern Giveaway Winner

Congratulations, Jules AND Bonnie- you both won!

Please find me on ravelry under AliciaPlum and send me a PM so I can gift you the pattern!

Happy Knitting…

Dancing in Puddles/ Pattern Giveaway!

Happy First Day of Spring! It’s gorgeous here in Maine and the snow is almost gone. I remember last year it was still freezing…

So, maybe you’re one of the knitters that follows my blog. And maybe, just maybe you’ve got some worsted yarn kicking around. Not enough for a sweater, though.  It’s getting too warm for scarves and you really might be tired of socks. Especially the foot part. Meet Dancing in Puddles, my latest design. They’re stirrupped rainboot liners for spring. They add the cutest pop of color for those dreary days, and the bottoms are open so your feet don’t get too warm in those boots. Think legwarmers that stay put.

By the way, head on over to the pattern page on ravelry, like and queue this pattern, then comment here that you did and I’ll enter you to win a free copy of the pattern! If you share this with someone else (via fb or ravelry forums) I’ll enter you twice Just make sure to post here that you did!!!

Antonio over at Malabrigo (www.malabrigoyarn.com) was kind enough to send me two gorgeous, velvety skeins of superwash (re: machine washable!) merino in Rios.

And Nichole, my dear friend who is a wonderful dancer, was kind enough to model them for me: Photo credit to Maria Jane Photography

Tags: dancing, malabrigo, puddles, rain, rainboot liners, rainy days, Rios, spring, superwash, warm

And the label almost frightened me into not purchasing it… (also known as Alicia’s accidental happening into the no-poo craze)

Ok. Flat out.The label on a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s castile soap is unnerving, to say the least. It’s half rap, half crazy mishmash of religion and strange promises. There are 2 things though, that did appeal to me.

1. This truly is a multi-tasker, and a gentle one at that. I can do laundry, clean counter tops, wash my face, shampoo my hair, mist my dog (that’s not a reccommended use, but Cooper now smells like peppermint) shave my legs, or wash dishes. Remember that not all of these uses are full strength, so one bottle goes a long way.

2. Obviously, the big one: Made in the USA!

I think it’s great to be able to read and understand every single ingredient on the list, btw:

Saponified Organic Coconut, Organic Palm and Organic Olive Oils (with Retained Glycerin), Water, Organic Hemp Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Salt, Citric Acid, Vitamin E.

So on my local grocery trip I picked some up in Peppermint and was excited to try it out at home. I’ve used it in all the manners I listed (not brushing my teeth with it. some of the recommended uses are just plain nutty) but I did shampoo with it. It left my hair clean and fresh feeling.

Upon doing research, I found out that it’s actually a great segway into the No-Poo movement (more about this next post, but I willsaythis: I’m 6 days in right now. Pictures coming soon…it’s interesting. We’ll see if it’s worth it!)

Pure Maine.

Don’t worry friends, I haven’t forgotten about you and the American Economy! I have lots of fun new things to post about, but things have been pretty hectic around here.

One thing I HAVE done lately is write some more knitting patterns. “Pure Maine.” is the answer to the handspun simple hat in fingerless mitten version. Every single yarn in these pictures is handspun. The first hat is my friend Catreading’s handspun n plied, the blue mitts are my handspun n plied, and the yellow is my handspun double plied. My friend Maria did the photography (http://www.facebook.com/MariaJanePhotography) and we had a blast! I won’t mention there’s a loose lemon somewhereinherhouse. The kids got ahold of it! Without further ado, a long stream of pictures:

Simple.

Meet Simple.

My latest hat pattern. I was spinning up some merino on the wheel, and it was just gorgeous! Unfortunately, there were really no hat patterns out there on the market that would showcase how beautiful handspun can be in sportweight. Thus, Simple. was born.

Sized for newborn to adult, and sure to flatter everyone. Happy knitting! <3

And of course, the rav link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/simple-2

 

Victoria’s Secret Exposed

Okay- I know, I know. Victoria’s Secret doesn’t need ANY more exposure than they already have, both in media or on the models themselves, but I found something surprising during my last trip in. (CanIjustsayIlovegiftcards?)

Many of their beauty and perfume products are made and manufactured here in the US. I honestly didn’t expect to find ANYTHING from the US in this store, to be honest. I’ve seen enough tags on my bras to know that they prefer India and Indonesia for their clothing.

But who knew about the fragrance? I picked up a plumping lip gloss (that workes very, very well incidentally) and an eyeliner both from here in America.

If you head to VS and are looking to find US made things, one word of advice: check your labels. One eyeliner is produced here while another is overseas.

Finding American products in big chains like VS gives me a lot of hope. What about you? Have you been surprised to find something made here that you didn’t expect?