FOs! (Bet ya didn't even know I was working on them)

I have two FOs to show ya! First, I test knit for Sylvie's Cactus Mittenettes. I love this pattern, and these gloves! They are SO EASY. SO QUICK. And I don't even have to say "SO CUTE," because you will see that shortly! I knit these in less than a weekend (really, less than 2 hrs/mitt, I think), in worsted Plymouth Galway, some green color I had lying around. The green is actually much brighter than the picture. I really recommend this pattern; I think it will make great last minute gifts, and not to mention very nice for those balls of splurge yarn! The Galway was a little scratchy, but softened up nicely after a soak in hair conditioner. I probably have half a ball left... definitely enough for another pair. My non-knitting roommate admired them, and I think I may whip her up a pair. Anyway, on with the pics! Please excuse the poor quality, as I took these with my camera phone... my digicam needs batteries.



The next FO is a hat I started awhile back. It's a pattern made up by a member of LJ's Knitting community, and the pattern can be found here (scroll down to the comments to find it). I used a random yarn found at Goodwill, it had no label but I'm fairly sure it's 100% acrylic. The color is very pretty, and it was $.50, so I had to get it. I wanted to make the hat longer than in the pattern, but I started worrying that I wouldn't have enough, so I didn't. Turns out I had plenty left to do a few more rows, but oh well. It covers my ears if I pull down hard enough, and the yarn is not very warm anyway. I'm happy with it. It's nice for cool, but not cold, days, and for bad hair days as well. If I knit another, it will be in a nice, warm yarn, and I will make sure it covers my ears. I'd love another, but knitting the dream swatch for 18 or 19 inches on size 2 needles seemed to take FOREVER, which is why I started this nearly the day the pattern was posted, and just now finished it. As usual, please forgive the lack of makeup.


Also, anyone want to get rid of their copy of the Nov 2003 Spring IK? Hehe. I really want to knit the Remembering Honey sweater in there!

In the sewing news, I got this pattern. It reminds me of the Kara Janx Kimono Dress. If only it had the fantastic sleeves! Now to find fabric to get that look!

No longer MIA

Sorry it's been so long since I updated. I've been pretty busy, and actually have some finished projects to show!

First, I want to show off some new jewelry. These are creations of Lauren at Cult Designs. Aren't they adorable?

Kissing Kiddie Earrings


Message in a Bottle pin


I just adore them!

Now, for the things I've been making.

First, for my mom's Christmas gift, a hat and scarf set. The scarf is, I think, Paton's Pebbles. The hat is crocheted in good ol' Red Heart, and edged with the yarn I used for the scarf.


Scarf and hat set for my sister-in-law. I don't recall the name of this yarn, but it is so soft and cuddly. It was hard to give away, but worth it!


I finally tried my hand at making cards. I did some Christmas cards, for Dusty, his parents, and grandparents. I used cardstock, those cute lil scrapbook thingys, and construction paper. I printed words out from my computer. Sorry the pictures suck. I am a poor photographer, and I always seem to have trouble with things reflecting the light from the flash.


This is the one I made for Dusty's parents. I think it's soooo friggin' cute! Yes, I'm that modest.


I did this one for Dusty's grandparents. I just love that Santa!


Here's the one I made for Dusty. I am very happy with how it came out!


I loved making the cards... cute, fun, and not very time-consuming. I can easily see how they COULD be, but these didn't take me too long. I need to work on things to put on the inside of the cards. I had no ideas for that, so I just cut some of the background paper, printed out "Merry Christmas" or the like, and wrote a note in them. I definitely want to make more cards in the future... though I will still buy cards from the store as well.

For Dusty's mom's Christmas gift, I sewed this purse. I think she was pretty happy with it. She didn't realize I'd made it until Dusty told her, so that's good!

The pattern is Indygo Junction's Metropolitan Handbag. I'll review this pattern at PR, and link to it when I do. The fabric is an Amy Butler print I thought would be perfect for her. The fabric flower tutorial can be found here. I love the flower... so cute and easy to make!




Of course, I had to make something for myself, too. I used the cloche pattern from Lion Brand, written specifically for this yarn. Now, I don't know if my head is small or something, but the hat, knit to gauge on the specified needles came out WAY TOO BIG. I wish I'd taken a picture of it... it was really funny! I decided to be lazy, and instead of undoing the whole thing, and re-knitting it, I decided to try felting. I know, stupid. I should have realized that the added structure felting would give would be a bad thing for this hat. Anyway, I felted it and it still sucks. I thought it would be super cute, but it just looks super silly. I think it looks better in these pics than in real life. I have an idea on how to save the hat, but it will be very different from this style. We'll see if it works... nothing to lose now! That will be awhile, since I'm leaving for Kansas soon and didn't bring the hat with me.





I'm still working on Gatsby Girl, and since I only brought that and the Pomatomus, I should start really making some progress on it.

Edited to add: The link to the pattern review is here: Bag pattern review.

Edited again to add: I got the AB fabric from Fabric.com. Has anyone else had problems with their design wall? I got another fabric to use for the band originally, but it turned out to not be a match at all, though it looked very nice together on the design wall. How dependable is it really?

FO - Short-Row Hat

Wow, I can't believe I've finished another project! Quickie projects are great, though I really would like to work on and finish something more substantial. I actually had a reason for knitting this hat, though, since it's been pretty chilly around here and all the winter hats I made last year were left at home. Figures it would have been warm today, since I'd finished the hat and could have worn it.

I have yarn for a couple of hats, but since I decided I dislike the beads I bought for my Odessa, and can't find yarn to match my Silk Garden for the entrelac hat, and I had some more Paton's SWS just waiting to be turned into another hat, I went ahead and started on the Short-Row hat from IK's website.

This pattern confused me at first... I'm sure if you had done short-rows quite a bit, it would be no problem for you, and though I've used the short-row technique twice before, I still don't didn't totally understand it. I'm not sure that I could use short-row bust shaping for garments yet... I think I am going to have to work a pattern that includes them to see how it works. But this was really good practice, although my turns are not very well hidden. Some of them look pretty good, but there are some pretty big gaps between the diamonds.

Also, there is a pretty obvious mistake I made, and didn't notice until after I'd not only seamed the hat, but felted a bit and blocked it as well! I don't know whether there's a way to fix it, since I obviously can't rip. This pattern goes really quickly, and definitely does not get boring! The SWS yarn looks beautiful with the diamonds, too.

And didn't I mention somewhere that I felted the hat a bit? Yes, I did... and no, it's not called for in the pattern. The hat came out a little too big. I carefully felted a little bit by hand, trying the hat on in between. It's still a little longer than I like my hats; if I had my way, I'd remove three or four of the garter stitches in the band, since I have to fold them under now anyway. I had to stop felting because it was getting too tight. The felting did another nice thing, too... it made some of the gaps from the short-rows a bit smaller. The hat is very warm (I'm sure that's due to the slight felting), and overall, I'm pleased with it. Despite the obvious mistake I made, I think it will get a lot of wear this year.

Also, I didn't knit the "nipple" at the top, because Dusty looked at the picture of the pattern, and said, "Why is there a nipple on the top of that hat?"

Pattern: Short-Row hat from IK website
Needles: recommended size (7?)
Yarn: Paton's SWS, Natural Geranium, ~1.25 balls
Mods: felted a little, left off the icord thingy

I know, I know... quit babbling, you nut, and show us the pictures!!

Here they are... aren't the color changes beautiful?






This is my attempt to show how much the wonky part sticks out. It's actually in the back of the hat, but I turned it so it would be easier to get a picture.


Here is a close up of the mistake. I don't know what to do about it, other than pretend it's not there. It's pretty noticeable, but since I worked pretty hard on this hat and don't know how to fix it, I'm choosing to not notice it. Haha. Unless you have a suggestion that doesn't involve ripping.

I have one skein left that I am going to use for a scarf. I really do love this yarn!

Oh, and finally fixed the cables on Gatsby Girl. Yay! Now I won't dread picking it up and working on it a bit when I have spare minutes!

FO: Kirsten Dunst Spiderman 2 "Pithy" Hat

I finished the second Kirsten Dunst hat I was making, the Spiderman 2 "Pithy" hat, also from Littleturtleknits. I think it's pretty darn cute! I used the new Paton's SWS, in Natural Geranium. I modified the pattern, by not knitting as long, and doing the decreases a little differently - I did one row of decreases, did the purl row, then did the next row of decreases, worked a couple more rows in pattern, did a final decrease and another row, then closed the stitches as instructed. I thought it might help shape the body to more what I wanted, and it does look pretty good, imo, so I guess it worked. I do think that it looks a little funky from the side and the back... so I'm not completely sure about this hat, either.

This yarn is so nice and soft! It is also sort of "slippery." I will definitely use it again. I would not, however, ever use it for making a sweater/vest/anything of the sort - it fuzzes up way too much. My hat is already very fuzzy. As you will see in the pictures below, it does stripe very nicely. I love the pinks/plum/blonde colorway. I have two balls and a little bit left, which I am going to use for a scarf. I think this yarn would make a beautiful clapotis.

I need to start putting on makeup before I take pictures modeling my fos.

Several pictures below:







Oh! Edited to say that I now really understand how people can be so nervous about working with dpns. Using dpns with this stitch pattern was a _itch, at least for me... if I knit too tightly, the k2tog tbl were almost impossible to do, and if I knit loosely, I was constantly dropping stitches, and even needles a time or two. NOT fun, especially when trying to find where the yarn over was.

FO: "Elizabethtown Pithy Hat"

I set aside GG for a more "instant gratification" project - a hat, of course! I love hats, and I particularly loved this hat from the moment I saw it in the movie. The movie wasn't bad, but the hat was awesome! A search brought up a pattern, so I decided to give both this and the Spiderman hat from the same page a try. I went for the Elizabethtown hat first because the other will be in Paton's SWS, and I don't want to frog this yarn much - it's very nice and soft, in beautiful colors, but it's also loose and only one ply - not fun, at least imo, to rip. I didn't know whether I'd like how this hat turned out, since pictures of it completed were hard to come across and most people seem to have modified the hat to be close fitting. I wanted the hat to look as much like the one in the movie as I could; I can knit a "skullcap" with my eyes closed, but this hat needed to be MORE! It needed it be fun, happy, bright, and unique to capture the spirit of the hat in the movie, and I still feel mine falls short of the mark. The shaping isn't right, somehow... but I like it ok. I also feel this style works better on a girl with bangs, which I don't have or plan to get.

I used the pattern from here, and used Swish Superwash in Red Pepper, on size 4 and 8 dpns.

The first two are pictures from the movie for comparsion, followed by two pictures of me in my hat:

Why I Am Not Trendy

Today, on a post in the Craftster forum, I read that the new style, which is predicted to be around for 10 long, horrible years, will be tight, straight legged pants and loose blouses. What is wrong with clothing designers and fashion gurus?! Didn't this look awful during the 80s? Why would it be any better this time around? Seriously, I adore much of the music and even some of the tv shows from the 80s, but please, please do not bring back the fashion! What else will this new trend include? Perhaps using a whole can of hairspray every time you fix your hair? Whenever this style begins, I will whole-heartedly revolt. I REFUSE to wear blouses that make me look like a cow, and I don't see that tight-fitting, straight legged jeans will do anything to flatter my short, dumpy curvy figure. I can barely pull off the current fashions!

Anyway, the left front of Rambling Rose is nearly complete. I think I'll finish it tonight or tomorrow, and then take a break from the sweater for just a few days. I need to do a quick, little project.

I'll post something interesting eventually. I promise.

Edit: I went ahead and put Rambling Rose down for the day, and tried messing with the hat I've been working on for my nephew Dustin. I still don't know how I feel about what I came up with. He made such a difficult request to such a newbie!



What do you think?

An introduction and some piccies!

Well, basically I am just copying previous posts from my crafting livejournal account. I discovered I couldn't use the cute lil progress bars on there, and I can on here (mind you, I don't actually know how to put them in yet).

Most importantly though, I got this blog to participate in the Delphine Wilson knit along. I'm excited because this will be the most difficult thing I've ever attempted, and I have never done a KAL (that's shorthand for knit along) before. The people are so nice and have already been tons of help! Although the Delphine sweater still looks daunting, it now seems very possible.

My yarn for the sweater came in a couple of days ago, and since I have to go to Monroe tomorrow anyway for a dr. appt., and since I have some crap I need to take to mom's anyway, I can pick it up then. I'll be using Wool of the Andes, from Knitpicks, in the color Fog. I hope it is as light gray as it appears; the photo on my monitor looks almost silver. I didn't want to use white because I can't stand dingy white, and I couldn't imagine trying to bleach this; I'm pretty sure that would have bad results! This is my first Knitpicks' order and I am pleased with their fast shipping. Their site says 5-14 days, but it was definitely closer to 5 than 14. I didn't count, but I'd say 6 at the most. I also got some lilac sock yarn (I've never tried socks before!), and some yarn to dye using Kool-Aid (that will be fun!). Oh, and I also got some WotA in their Hyceanth (or however you spell that) color. I'm not normally a fan of really dark colors, but on the webpage, this deep blue appears to have a strong purplish tint to it, and it reminds me of the beautiful blue-purple color used in What Dreams May Come. I've wanted something in that color since I saw that movie. I can't believe how cheap their yarn is! I'm also excited because it will be the first 100% wool yarn I've worked with, I think. I've mostly messed with acrylics, cotton, and acrylic/wool blends.

Ok, so now from the LJ.

WIPS
Ella Scarf - crochet, using Lily's Sugar and Cream (~ 40% complete)
Americana hat - crochet using Red Heart Worsted, to match the scarf I made my grandma for Christmas (she loves the patriotic things)(~20% complete)
A hat for me - crochet, using Lion Brand Homespun, Red Heart Light and Lofty, Red Heart Worsted, and crochet thread (~80% complete)
DNA scarf - knit, in Caron's Simply Soft (no dye lot, because I want it to be longer than pictured, and don't know how much extra I will need) (~ 10% complete)
Small flower - crochet, in crochet thread (~ 70% complete)
Fabric-knit purse - knit (~10% completed)
Delphine sweater - knit, in Knitpicks' Wool of the Andes. Currently, I am only working on constructing the pattern for this sweater. Don't expect this to be finished any time soon, it is the most complicated project I've worked on. Yay!

To-do list (someday)
Soon - Hat for my nephew Dustin - knit, Red Heart Worsted?
This silk corset top - knit, in Knitpicks' Shine? I'd love to do it in silk, but it will only cost about $25 to make it in Shine, double-stranded. No one has told me how this would work for this top though.
Something for my boyfriend's mother, she is so sweet! I saw a clapotis knit in beautiful recycled sari silk, and I think that might be a wonderful choice for Mrs. Nancy.
Something pretty and lacy for my elementary G/T teacher, Mrs. Knight... she was such a great teacher.
A sweater for my mom
A knitting bag, - knit, felted or cotton with fabric lining
A knitting needle case - knit, felted
A felted cloche like Ann Darrow wears in King Kong, if I can ever find or design the perfect pattern
A fish bag from Folk Bags
Kimono Sweater from Knitpicks
The Lion Brand Incredible ribbon shrug and camisole in the Spring/Summer '05 issue of Knit.1
This wrap from the same mag.
The ballet wrap from Interweave Knits Spring 2005. If anyone has a copy of this issue he/she would like to get rid of, please let me know! I think it's still available from the site, though.
The beautiful butterfly jacket from Noro Knits. I don't have this book yet either, so again, if you have knitted everything from it you want, and want to get rid of it, contact me. Right now, I'm planning on buying it from the linked site, but if you know of a cheaper place, tell me. :-)

There are tons of other stuff I've found and love, but those are things I will definitely make eventually. I have a lot of schoolwork on my plate though, so I won't be diving into any new projects soon. I also have some scrapbooking pages to complete.

Some completed projects

Crocheted hat made of Moda-Dea Dream and edged with Lion Brand Trellis, plus a flower pin of crochet thread and scarf made of Berroco's Medley. The flower is not supposed to be in the middle, but I didn't check it before taking this pic.


One button cardigan from Spring/Summer '05 Knit.1, in Lion Brand Homespun Coral Gables


Hat I made for my nephew Jeremy, my first 2 color work, in Red Heart, modeled by my sweet, handsome, and silly boyfriend Dusty


Short row scarf made for mom as a Christmas gift, Red Heart in Farmland colorway


Slightly modified Candy cardigan from Knitty.com, in Moda-Dea Dream


Here is my first "knitting mistake." Actually, it's crochet, and it's a hat. I saw this beautiful hat made of yellow, white, and pink/coral bulky handspun yarn, with a huge flower on it. Then I lost the link to it, and couldn't find it again, but thought ok... I can crochet, too, so I will just replicate it. So, in order to get the unique look of the yarn, I used yellow Red Heart Light and Lofty in the Citrus Shades colorway, Lion Brand Homespun in Coral Gables, Red Heart worsted in white, and a really pretty sparkley white crochet thread. Well, the results were nowhere near as pretty as the original hat, and I actually think it looks pretty horrible. But anyway, here it is.


From the side


Ok, here is a hat I whipped up in just a couple of hours. It's knit, made in Lion Brand Homespun, Mardi Gras color.


Some of the flowers for the Ella scarf


Some little flower pins I whipped up. These are really easy and quick, and if any of my friends would like one, I don't mind making them.


Not a finished object, but I just love this yarn. It's Moda-dea Cache, and I believe it wants to be wristwarmers, since I only picked up one skein. It's so beautiful!


Here is the first thing I ever completed, another hat crocheted in the Dream yarn.


Here is a closeup of the purple hat I mentioned in my last post.


And here are more flower pins


I made this over MLK weekend.

I got the pattern from bhg.com. This one is really small, but I am going to make a large one soon. I think it turned out so well!! :-D

Today, I finished all of the flowers for the Ella scarf. Now I just have to crochet the borders and join them together. Yay!

I've almost finished my grandmother's hat. I may not have it done tomorrow, but I'm hoping to, so I can leave it with mom, who can give it to grandma.

Other artwork can be viewed by clicking on this link