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I’ve been on a weaving kick lately, which is unsurprising since it’s still fairly new to me. I’ve got plenty of scarves already and I really don’t need any more so I’ve just been weaving up fabric. And with it, I made a couple of bags.
The fabric was made with a ten dent heddle. The warp is Brown Sheep from a gigantic cone and the warp is a grey wool/nylon blend recycled from a thrift store sweater.
The lining is some mystery fiber fabric I bought at the thrift store a while ago. This is currently housing some shark mittens because they seriously never end.
This one was woven on a six dent heddle. Warp is some recycled cotton/linen blend and the weft is a skein of Wool-Ease I got at a thrift. Much thicker fabric, but.excellent way to use up Wool-Ease. I will definitely be doing it again.
The lining is the same as the first one.
The weaving on the second bag I made just a little too long for a good draw string bag, so I cut off the excess and made this little pouch:
No closures or anything. And the lining fabric is the same.
Not sure what I’ll use it for. Maybe I’ll sew a loop to the back and use it as a belt bag.
I’m thinking of getting into the knitting bag trade through my etsy shop with these woven numbers. What do you guys think? Would people be interested? I’d have to make a bunch more before I could update the shop anyway.
As for knitting: I’ve been doing it. I’ve finished or almost finished a couple of things, but they’re costume parts for Katsucon and I want until they’re finished and I have pictures of the costumes before I show them off. And there’s mittens, always.
Sooo back in October, I apparently decided I had the time to do a test knit of a sweater knit in fingering yarn. Because why the hell not. Cut to several weeks (and several shark mittens) later and I’ve finally had the time to finish it up. And now I have a finished object that is also my first sweater of the year (cause of course I’m doing thatagain):
Pattern: Sort of Danish Summer but then I just made up the top as I went.
Yarn: Recycled cotton/wool/nylon
Needles: US 4/3.5mm and maybe 5/3.75mm?
Mods: Totally changed the top to what I felt like. I also added little sleeves.
Appreciate my sleeves here, people, because after I finished crocheted around each one, I had about a foot of yarn left. I’ve got more of the yarn, obviously (it came from a gigantic American Eagle sweater), but I didn’t want to wind a whole other skein for a couple yards. And I just made it. HELL YEAH.
I’m not sure how I feel about the bottom lace part. It sits kind of funny. It is, however, super comfy, so I suspect I’ll get a lot of wear out of it when the weather warms up again. Which will be nice, but I am enjoying some cozy sweaters. (But no snow because the weather hates me)
I do really love the cut of the front and the back though. I modeled it on the original pattern, I just didn’t follow the directions as given (I left out a twisty bit and finished all edges with single crochet).
The back isn’t as deep as it appears here, but it is way too cold to take a picture of a short-sleeved top on me. So Elizabeth II it is. Yay.
Hey, so remember when I had that blog and I updated it and told everyone about the stuff I was making? And then I apparently fell of a cliff and never got around to posting for like a month? Yeah. So hi. It’s my birthday today (I’m 23), so I guess you guys get the gift of a post today. I don’t know. Anyway.
I’ve been hella busy recently. I went up to visit the boyfriend’s paternal folks for Thanksgiving and as such spent several days in New York City. There are no pictures, but we played a lot of Scrabble and other tabletop games and also there was food or whatever. Every side of the boyfriend’s family is awesome and it’s totally not fair.
On the crafting front, I have been knitting like a madwoman, but almost entirely shark mittens for Etsy. And I still have like five open orders because I apparently hate knitting anything for myself ever. Anyway. One of the Etsy things I made was a matching set of mittens and hat. Stegosaurus versions! So have some pictures:
Pattern: Jurassic Mittens (Steggie version)
Yarn: Cotton/acrylic blend. Broke my sweater fast for the yarn.
Needles: US 8/5mm
So now that I’ve actually made the Steggie mittens, I’m going to update the Jurassic Mittens pattern with more pictures and fix everything up and what all.
Here’s the hat:
There’s no pattern cause I made it up as I went along, but I’m pretty pleased with how it came out. The boyfriend reminded me about the little spikes at the end of a Steg’s tail, so I included them on the hat. Perhaps I’ll write it up. I haven’t done any pattern writing in a while.
I’ll try to get back on the posting ball, but I’m mostly just making sharks here. And I rarely photograph them before I send them out. Plus I’m going down to Virginia Beach on the 19th and spending Christmas in Florida, so I’ll be busy. But I’ll try.
In book news: Joe and I read Outgoing Flight, which was AHH AMAZING and I totally worship at the church of Timothy Zahn. I’m currently reading Spinneret, a book of his I bought on Amazon’s black Friday sale. ALSO did you know that there are Stargate Atlantis books that follow the show cancellation? OF COURSE I bought those suckers. I finished the first one. For more book news, you can follow me on Goodreads here.
I’ve got a couple of things on the needles and in the works currently. I haven’t done much knitting in the last few days as I’ve been kind of busy. Working, halloween, random get-together at a friend’s. So yeah. But here’s what I’m working on:
There’s a Carousel sock in Red Heart Heart and Sole:
I’ve got deadline knitting preventing me from working on these too much, which is too bad because I love them and I need more socks.
There’s a pair of dinosaur mittens for Etsy:
These are much further along now. I will try my hardest to snap a picture before I send them off. I usually forget.
I’m also working on a test knit of a sweater pattern.
I’m a bit further along on this too. The deadline is November 14 I believe and I should be able to have it done by then. It’s a short sleeve top and I’m almost to the underbust.
Hopefully more interesting craft things to report soon. In fandom news, I am almost through reading the Courtship of Princess Leia with the boy and it is cracktastically awesome except for the purple prose and occasional lack of continuity. In life news, Tuesday is election day for Americans, so get out and vote. I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m hella liberal, so, y’know, go ‘Bama. But seriously though? VOTE.
Okay, first off: I’m fine, my folks are fine. We’re in DC and just got some rain. Never even lost power. My heart goes out to those in NY and Delaware (including the boy’s folks and my aunt) and everywhere else and I hope everyone’s okay or at least doing the best they can.
In lighter knittier news, I knit a scarf. It’s for Ongoing Wish Swap, which I got around to rejoining. It’s a super simple scarf–just knit length-wise in garter.
Pattern: I CO like 175 and worked garter stitch
Needles: US 8/5 mm
Yarn: All the leftover bits from shark mittens. As you can see, shark mittens have been many shades over the years.
It has fringe. I’m pretty chuffed with it. Sort of displeased I have to send it away, but I think I’m going to make a similar one for myself with the various other wool scraps I have kicking around. I’m thinking rainbow colors. Fun.
I took a picture of this the other day intending to do a WIP post of everything I’m working on, but I realized I was only a couple of rows from the end, so I just finished it and photographed the finished scarf. I will have a WIP post up soon as even though I’ve been remiss about posting, I have certainly been knitting and working on lots of things.
If you’re on the East coast, stay safe and dry. I know I got super lucky but a lot of people didn’t.
Ravelry tells me I started these socks on September 12, so I am super pleased to get them off the needles.
(Yes I know they don’t match. Apparently the yarn was not all the same colorway. I didn’t buy it; I just worked with what I had.)
Pattern: It’s a toe-up sock with Wendy Johnson’s gusseted heel. Wedge toe.
Yarn: Sidar Crofter DK, three skeins
Needles: US 2/2.75 mm
Sooooooocks. I love socks. I love handknit socks. These are pretty fabulous. I love long socks. There isn’t too terribly much to say about them other then they are very long and I like them. I don’t know much about the yarn, but it’s 60% acrylic, so we’ll see how it wears. I have other socks mainly composed of acrylic that I’ve purchased and they’re not too bad. So we’ll see.
In fandom news, I am on book 7 of the Star Wars X Wing series. I just today started Solo Command, the third Wraith Squadon book. I kind of love it. It’s super fun. After this is the Courtship of Princess Leia because I have fallen HARD for the Star Wars extended universe. Expect crafts about it. And, of course, you can follow my progress here
Also, I signed up for another swap. This one is Sherlock-themed, but nothing with that will happen for a while. I’m trying to do another round of OWS but I’m not sure what’s happening there.
In other knitting, I recently purchased this ebook and OMG LOVE. It’s so pretty. I’ve already cast on for the Parquet Underbust Corset and I plan to make like nine other things. I’m feeling a bit of cast on mania, but I’m trying to curb it. I’m thinking of ripping the Pfeiffer Falls scarf I started ages ago and working the Legacy Frock Coat in the scrummy worsted cashmere.
As promised, here’s what I made for the Doctor Who Swap on Craftster I participated in:
Pattern: TARDIS socks
Yarn: Lion Brand Sock Ease and some white and black scraps
Needles: US 1/2.25mm
Modifications: Well, they’re mitts and not socks soo….
I’m pretty chuffed with how they came out. They were a bit large for my hands, but I have small hands.
I made this zipper pouch, the fabric of which you will recognize from the drawstring bag I made myself.
This drawing of the Doctor’s name from his cot in “A Good Man Goes to War” (the second part; can’t remember what that one’s called). I actually traced it from my computer screen, though I did sketch it out more fully on my own.
I painted a notebook to look like River’s spoiler journal and coated it with mod podge. I drew this on the inside front cover:
It says “Spoilers” in circular Galifreyan. I love it.
I also made a card, but I don’t have a picture of it. I signed my name in circular Galifreyan thought. : ) My package should arrive sometime next week (excite) and I will definitely show that off.
Next time: What I received in the yarnies vs. hoopers swap. Because it’s awesome.
Well it turns out that thanks to all the secret knitting I’ve been doing (which has all been received) I have quite the backlog of FOs to show off. This first one was made for a Yarnies vs. Hoopers swap on Craftster. I was a yarnie (obviously) and this is one of the things I made for my partner:
Pattern: Mandrake Plant
Yarn: Recycled cotton/linen blend and various green cotton scraps.
Needles: US 2 maybe? I sort of just grabbed some dpns.
Modifications: Knit the body in the round and pretty just made up the leaves/twigs as I went.
The face details are made by sewing a ridge into the fabric of the face, which was interesting to do. You can also see in the above picture that the head is a little misshapen. For some reason I got a big, thick trunk-like protrusion, even though I (am pretty sure I) followed the directions. Ah well. It’s a convenient grip point. And also, it’s like a tree? Anyway.
I’m pretty pleased with the leaves though, even though I had to sew them all to the body of the thing and I’m sure there were about a million of them. More like 18ish BUT STILL. There were many.
I made one more thing for this swap which I will show off next time. There’s also the Doctor Who swap. And you know I’ve been knitting and casting on.
Soo hi there! Sorry for the radio silence. Anyway, I can finally show off one of the super secret projects I’ve been working on. This past weekend the boy and I traveled up to Pittburgh for our friend’s wedding. And I, being the crafty sort, made her gift. It is totally geeky, like the newly weds. So yeah.
Pattern: EXTERMIKNIT
Yarn: 50/50 wool/acrylic blends recycled from sweaters in pink and black. Also some scraps of grey and a tiiiiny bit of blue.
Needles: US 8/5mm
Modifications: I started with the base then switched to pink to work from the bottom up. I also knit icord for the plunger and gun arms. My bobbles are also a bit smaller than written. There is floral gauge wire in the appendages. Oh, and I used slip stitches in the neck stripes bit to make it look more like a classic Dalek.
I’m kind of inordinately pleased with the eyestalk and the little blue bit. Yay.
If I were more clever, I would have included on the care tag (which I made later and did not photograph) some sort of “Exterminate” or Dalek pun buuuuut I’m not so I didn’t.
I also sewed up a drawstring bag to package everything in. Because wrapping paper is for people who don’t sew apparently. IDEK. Anyway.
So yeah. Wedding present times. Whoo! More knitting/crafting FOs soon, I promise.
As much as I would love to show off some FO pictures, most of the things I’ve finished recently are either super secret or swap stuff. Or shark mittens that I keep forgetting to photograph anyway. But I’m trucking along on some not-so-secret knits, and that stuff I can show you.
First, the lace sweater, which I’m calling Diamonds in the Rough:
I’m actually a bit further along than this– I finished the collar and am working on the sleeve cap shaping. I’m attempting a seamless set-in-sleeve and it has occurred to me that I possibly should have tried to make a sweater with seamless set-in sleeves, something I’ve never done before, in stockinette before I attempted it in lace, but oh well. It’s a learning experience. And the body fits pretty well:
The sleeves are going to be wide and I’m not sure what I’m going to do about that quite yet. I’m going to work the sleeve cap on both sides and then go from there.
The other non-secret thing on the needles is a pair of socks:
Well, one sock anyway. I’m using Sidar Crofter DK on US 2 needles. Toe up, obviously. Wedge toe. Will probably attempt a toe-up flap and gusset heel. I have three skeins of the yarn so I’m going to try to make them as long as possible.
I DID send my package for a Doctor Who swap yesterday, so when that is received, I can show pictures of what I sent. So stay tuned. : )
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 