How to Knit a Summer Beach Tote

Summer is upon us and we don't always think about knitting in relation to the summer months.  But I have a perfect Summer knit for you that you will reach for over and over again.  I'm calling it a beach tote but it could just a easily be used as a shopping tote, farmer's market tote or in general bag.  I've linked below a video tutorial to assist you in the finer points of the bag.  It also contains some basic knitting concepts for beginning knitters.  In the pattern I've noted the time stamps of the video that correlate to that portion of the knitting process.

Materials: 

2 balls of solid color cotton yarn and 1 ball of varigated cotton yarn - I used Peaches & Cream
24" size 8 circular needles
Stitch markers
Tapestry Needle

Pattern:

Cast on 168 Stitches onto 24" circular Needles - 5:37
Round 1 - Knit - 9:31
Round 2 - Pearl - 14:00
Repeat Rounds 1 & 2 once more
Round 5 - Knit 30 Stitches, Bind off 54 Stitches, Knit 30 Stitches, Bind Off 54 Stitches - 15:37
Round 6 - Pearl 30 Stitches, Cast on 30 Stitches, Pearl 30 Stitches, Cast on 30 Stitches - 20:51
Round 7 - Knit
Round 8 - Pearl
Repeat Rounds 7 & 8 once more
Rounds 9 - *Yarn over, Slip 2 Stitches, Knit one Stitch, Pass Slipped Stitches over knit Stitch, Yarn Over, Knit one stitch* repeat to end of round - 25:26
Round - 10 - Knit all stitches
Round 11 - *Yarn Over, Knit, Yarn Over, Slip 2 Stitches, Knit one Stitch, Pass Slipped Stitches over knit Stitch* Repeat to end of round - 28:30
Round 12 - Knit all stitches
Rounds 13-80 - Repeat Rows 9 - 12.  Change yarn when you have 12 inches left in the ball you are working with - 29:57
Round 81 - *Knit 1, Knit 2 Together* Repeat to end of round - 32:36
Round 82 - Knit all stitches
Round 83 - *Knit 2 Together* Repeat to end of Round - 34:50
Round 84 - Knit all stitches
Round 85 - *Knit 2 Together* Repeat to end of Round- 37:08
Round 86 - Knit all stitches - 38:49
Round 87 - *Knit 2 Together* Repeat to end of Round - 41:00
Round 88 - Knit all Stitches
Cut 12" tail and using a tapestry needle, run the tail through the stitches on the cable and remove cable - 41:58
Weave in all ends and you are finished! - 43:52

"Snowbanks at Night" Manicure/Tutorial

Products Used:

Sally Hansen Double Duty Base/Top Coat

Julep - Lacey

Sally Hansen XTreme Wear - White On

Julep - Mia

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat

Dotting Tools

Video Tutorial:

"Preppy Peach" Manicure/Nail Art

I recently received an email from Julep with some "preppy" nail art photos in it.  I saw one similar to this and thought, " I've got some colors like that and this should be pretty simple".  And, it was!

Products Used:
Sinful Colors Base Coat
Sinful Colors - Hazard (coral/peach)
Sinful Colors - Unicorn (yellow stripe)
Zoya - Pandora (on ring finger)
Kiss Jet Dry Top Coat

Super Easy Nail Art

So I've been having more fun with my new polishes.  I watched some easy nail art tutorials that MissJenFaboulous did on youtube and had to give a couple of them a try.  Here are the manicures I tried out this week:

Products Used:

Sinful Colors Base Coat

Sinful Colors - Unicorn (yellow)

Sinful Colors - Hazard (coral)

Sinful Colors - Skinny Dipping (blue)

Kiss Jet Dry top coat

Products Used:
Sinful Colors Base Coat

Sinful Colors - Tempest

Sally Hansen XTreme Wear - Deap Purple

Sally Hansen XTreme Wear - White On

Kiss Jet Dry Top Coat

"Star Spangled New Year" Manicure/Tutorial

This manicure is so sparkly and fun and sooooo easy to do.  You don't have to be great at painting your nails, there is no precision in this manicure, you can be rather sloppy and still get great results!!  Let's get started:

I started by painting one coat of Don't You Wish by Pure Ice over my entire bare nail:

Then I painted Dark Navy by ELF just on the tips of my nails.  It really doesn't have to be neat or a straight line becuase the edge gets covered.

Next I took a wet makeup sponge and painted a bit of Celeb City by Sally Hansen onto it and lightly dabbed it onto the center of my nail.

 

 

I stippled on a bit of Rockstar Pink by Sally Hansen.  It doesn't take much of this glitter polish.  It's very opaque so I just lightly dabbed it on.

Using Bundle Monster plate number BM21 I stamped a star design onto each nail with Black Out by Sally Hansen.

After applying Sally Hansen Dries Instantly Top Coat and clean up, we're all done!!  Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!!

 With Flash

Without Flash



Nail Art of the Week - Gunmetal and Purple

Once again I have drawn inspiration from ChalkboardNails blog.  I swear that blog is like crack for nail addicts!!! LOL.  Truly a great place to get inspiration from and get great reviews and swatches of the latest nail polish on the market.  Here is my take on one of her recent designs.  She used a true silver polish with a holographic bar glitter in it.  Here is the link for her Original Post.  When I looked thru my nail polish collection I was struck by how nice this Gunmetal grey looked next to the purple so I decided to go with that color combo.  I painted my nails first with a coat of Sally Hansen Miracle Cure as a base coat and followed with one coat of Sally Hansen XTreme Wear in Gunmetal.

Next I applied a stripe down the middle of each nail with Wet n Wild -Wild Shine polish in Eggplant Frost.

I then painted a glitter polish - NYX Nail Polish in Dynamic Glitter over the Eggplant Frost. 

Finally I followed with my favorite top Coat - Sally Hansen Dries Instantly Top Coat.

Simple yet stunning results and I love the way the colors look together!  Thanks so much for reading!

Fishtail Manicure/Tutorial

 

I saw this manicure on ChalkboardNails blog and thought it looked fantastic but simple to do and thought I'd give it a try using colors I had on hand.  She used a different pink on each finger but I chose to go with the same pink on all fingers.  I thought it turned out pretty good!  Here is the link to her blog post - Pink Fishtail Ombre.  Keep reading for my version of it.

 

Paint nails with one to two coats of a neutral polish.  I used Zoya in Pandora .

 

Next, paint a curved diagonal across your nail from about 2/3 of the way up your nail toward the tip in a dark pink color.  I used Elf in Hot Pink.

 

Do the same thing on the other side of the nail to create the fishtail shape.

 

Repeat the process with your darkest color.  I used Sinful Colors in Rich in Heart.

 

Finish with your favorite topcoat, I used Sally Hansen Dries Instantly Top Coat , and you're all done!!

 

 

 

 

Easy Halloween Manicure

Products Used:
Sally Hansen Miracle Cure
Sally Hansen Hard As Nail Extreme Wear: Sun Kissed
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear, Crushed
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear, Black Out
Nail Art Dotting Tools
Sally Hansen Dries Instantly Top Coat

How to do it:
One coat of Miracle Cure as base coat.  One coat of Sun Kissed with one coat of Crushed over that.  Using a medium sized dotting tool and Black Out, make polka dots on thumb and pinky. I used the same dotting tool to spell out BOO on my middle three fingers.  Follow with one coat of top coat.  I used the two oranges to acheive the shade of orange I wanted.  You could mix up your polka dots with different colors like white or green.  There are so many ways you could adapt this many to suit your personal taste and the polishes you have on hand.  Have fun!

Stiletto Nails Manicure/Tutorial

Products Used:
Wet N Wild Nail Polish - Burgundy Frost
Avon Nail Polish - Night Violet
Sally Hansen Dries Instantly Top Coat
Aver 3/4" Round Labels