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So as you know, I was flaked on for the Rainbow Swap. : ( Fortunately, hippiejo74 volunteered to angel for me, making me an amazing package of rainbow goodness:
A rainbow stamp, some perler coaster things, an AWESOME perler tree (that glows in the dark!), a trivet/potholder, two handkerchiefs, a lunchbag (made of totally sweet rainbow colored fabric that says “All you need is love”), the extra fabric, and an AMAZING messenger bag, into which I JUST transfered all the stuff in my purse cause this one is so much more awesome (and also more summery than my previous dark brown one).
And I’m NOT EVEN DONE YET. It wouldn’t all fit in one photo.
Rainbow arrow crayons, a cute little box, and YARN! I love yarn. She said she thinks it’s a cotton/silk blend and I’m still not sure how much there is, but I’ll figure out something to do with it.
Anyway, yes, hippiejo TOTALLY SPOILED ME, and this package was TOTALLY AWESOME and as soon as I get a spare moment, I’m definitely sending some awesome rainbow stuff her way.
So I joined a new kind of swap called the Ongoing Wish Swap on Craftster. It’s like a chain: person A posts a list, person B claims to make something from A’s list and proceeds to post their own list; person C comes along and claims something from B’s list. I claimed a couple of people, but they haven’t gotten their packages yet, so I’ll post what I made for them when they get there. It might be a while cause I had to send one to Canada.
But I did receive one of my packages, from Craftster user mcook72677. She claimed me for soaps and scrubs, and this is what I got:
Two tulip-scented soaps, a lavender soap, a sweet grass soap (not pictured), and pikake salt scrub. The scrub smells AMAZING. So does the sweet grass soap. : )
The sweet grass soap isn’t in the picture because I got the package while I was at work. I needed my sister to bring me something, and she asked if I wanted my package too (of course), and I used the soap when I got out of the pool and took my shower. : ) It smells amazing, and I love it.
At long last, the items for the Craft my Wish Swap on Craftster have been sent and received by the intended parties, and I have finally received my final package from sg1psychopath, which came all the way from Great Britain and somehow managed to do that is less time than it took for Nikimac’s package to get from Virginia to Washington. *shrug*
Anyway, here’s what I got from sg1psychopath:
Sweet buttons (the red ones will probably go on my version of Lilith, which I think I’m just going to design myself), a phone holder, which I will make an honest effort to use, a bookmark, a little box with shells (which she didn’t make but had around) and a pillow cover, which doesn’t have a pillow in because she (understandably) wanted to save on shipping, and one of these days, I’ll just haul my ass to Michael’s to get my own pillow form.
And here is what I made for my partners:
For Nikimac:
A little itsy-bitsy sweater for her baby due in July:
I’m so excited I got to make this. : ) I used Lion Brand Cotton-Ease, US 10/6mm needles and the 5 Hour Baby Boy Sweater pattern. It’s so tiny and so cute! Now I want to make a ton of baby sweaters. : )
Also, this little earflap hat for her two-year-old son:
I freehanded the pattern top-down using US 7/4.5mm dpns, red Ella Rae Class wool, and blue Lion Wool. The earflaps were picked up after casting off, and there’s a border of single crochet around everything. I love this hat too because it’s cute and tiny.
And also this kickass apron:
Oh my God… This apron. It is my opus. Okay, not really. But it WAS extremely frustrating and turned out extremely AWESOME. I am kind of sad I don’t cook and therefore have absolutely NO use for any such thing because I really love it. Niki really loves it though, so that’s good. : )
I was going for a retro sort of look, and I think I got it. I found the fabric at Walmart on the day before send out (yep, I did this all the night before, as I do everything) for $1.50 a yard and bought a yard. And I used every inch. The white bits are pieces from various t-shirt scraps. The ruffle at the bottom was extremely frustrating and I did not enjoy sewing it on and poor Mary, my sewing machine, did not enjoy sewing it on either. She does not like knit fabric. Nor did she like this this, seersucker-ish fabric that the main bit of the apron is made of. But she pulled through like a champ, and it looks awesome. I am SO SO proud of this thing.
For JanelleJ:
Amigurumi Fruits and Veggies:
With faces! Cute. Had to put these off til the last minute because I lack food-colored yarn at school. Fail. I actually intended to make many more of these than I actually did, but I ran out of time and also desire. And food colored yarn. So I have a pear, a lemon (which I made up and did NOT use a pattern for, even though there’s one on Ravelry), and an orange which actually looks more like a peach and I guess it doesn’t matter which. Pretty basic patterns.
A stuffed elephant:
I improvised this design using Vanna’s Choice, left over from Talia way back. It’s based on the crochet elephants I used to make, and I definitely like the knit design much better. Mostly because I prefer knitting and find it’s much faster and much less annoying. *shrug* I think this little guy came out looking pretty cute though. : )
Headbands for her two-month-old:
Basically some elastic and some fabric scraps. These were definitely a last minute decision, and I, of course, made them Thursday night. I like how them came out though. They were very simple, and I would definitely make them again given an occasion.
Decorated Notebooks:
The smaller one I got in a previous swap but knew I would never use, so I slapped on a carrot (one of her desire themes/motifs) and called it a day. The other one I am MUCH more fond of, but I went through a couple different octopuses before settling on that one. I think that one is adorable though. The paper inside of it is the innards from a small notebook that was missing a cover. So I glued some black construction paper to the spine, slapped on an octopus, and called it a day.
And because I didn’t make anything large like the apron I made for Nikimac, I also threw in two skeins of Bernat Matrix and two spools of ribbon. You don’t need pictures of those.
I’ll be honest. I picked the Matrix because I wanted it out of the stash. I have no regrets.
So my mother is a frequent yard sale shopper. I occasionally like to go with her, but this morning I had to work so I did not go. Fortunately, my mother kept me in mind and picked up a gallon-sized ziplock bag of buttons! (It wasn’t full, but still.) Many of them were the extra buttons you get with clothes with buttons, and while most of them were boring two or four hole flat buttons, there were a couple of really cool shank buttons, brass with vaguely nautical themes:
But my favorite of all the buttons is this tiny little heart-shaped one:
So now my button box is almost full! Here’s a gratuitous shot off all of my buttons:
And now for some actual knitting content. I have two projects on the needles currently, because you know, I thought I’d just keep the project orgy going. Yeah. Anyway, I have a DROPS cable bag and the Climbing Vines Pullover from the winter IK. Both are slow going because they’re either cables/ribs or require me to follow a chart. I prefer to knit on the pullover because, as I am using Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, it is lovely to knit on, and the pattern is challenging and interesting (even though I hate charts). I am knitting the bag because I really would like to have the bag, not so much because I enjoy knitting it. I am using Red Heart Super Saver because I wanted something cheap and easy to wash, though in retrospect, I should have just sucked it up and gotten some Plymouth Encore or something. *shrug* I’m slogging through it, bolstered by the fact that it’s really cute and I have adorable pink lining fabric.
More details on those will come later, when I get a little further into the construction. I mostly just wanted to show off my buttons. : )
So I had to work (I’m a lifeguard/swim instructor) from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. today, and that kind of sucks. But the day had a fantastic endcap: My last class of the night was cancelled due to thunderstorms and also lack of participants AND when I got home from work, on my bed, I found a package. I proceeded to squeal in excitement and tear it open:
My Knit Picks Options! And pretty fast shipping–I ordered them late Thursday night so they got the order Friday morning. Go Knit Picks! Anyway, I immediately put together the 24″ US 7/4.5mm needle because it’s the size I’m using for a string bag, and I was previously using a Susan Bates needle, and the cable is constantly all twisty. But look:
Not twisty at all! Eeeeee! I’m so excited about these needles. In my last Knit Picks order, I ordered US 6 and 7 16″ fixed and I haven’t gotten a chance to knit with them yet. : ( But I have PLANS. For HATS. And it’s going to be awesome.
Oh, and as for actual knitting progress:
Started a washcloth because I need one. And because this one is cool. And because this yarn is awesome (Lily Sugar and Cream in Playtime which should really be called Sunset). More deets later when it’s done (probably tomorrow if I can get all this swap done in time).
Or maybe it’s just me that thinks so. Regardless, Craftster User Kittykitty made the coolest mittens EVAR:
TEEN GIRL SQUAD! If you don’t know about the wonder that is TGS, please visit this link and watch in amazement.
And/or if you’d like to make these mittens yourself, Kittykitty made a tutorial/pattern from them, which is located here. I know that I am all over these mittens, and will DEFINITELY be making a pair for myself in the future. I’ll just have to work on my embroidery skillz first.
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 