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So I don’t remember if I ever told you guys this, but I’m totally obsessed with the tv show Battlestar Galactica. The boyfriend and I watched all four seasons over a couple of months over the past year, and I got HOOKED. It’s a very gripping show.
Anyway, I joined a swap on Craftster that was Battlestar themed! I had such fun making the items for my partner AggiegirlKatelyn:
First, I dyed up some wool I harvested from a thrift store sweater:
Now it’s my Eye of Jupiter yarn! I dyed up two skeins: one for her and one for me to keep. : ) Not sure how it will knit up, but I do like the dye job. The blue part is a little purple cause my blue dye was a little light and I wanted to darken it up (which happened to debatable success). I like it thought. : )
Next, I embroidered a panel and turned it into a tote bag:
Guys, I totally love this thing. I have a ton of tote bags, but I desperately wanted to keep this one for myself. I didn’t though, and sent it off to my partner, who specifically requested something with “Frak off” on it. This is probably the closest to quilting I’ll ever get (I had to center the panel in four bars of the grey fabric) cause I totally lack the patience and precision, but I LOVE how this bag came out. It looks great and totally professional. Even my line of top stitching around the top is even and wonderful.
I also made her this kickin’ card:
I cut out all the yellow pieces then glued them on, did the detail work in black pen and applied a layer of mod podge. YES. It’s bitchin’. I know.
Seeing as I don’t have anything finished to show you (yet), I thought I’d show everything I’m working on. There are several things, none of which are particularly close to being finished, unfortunately.
First, there’s a cross stitch project:
I’m working on filling the background with a million little black x’s, and they’re taking forever.
Next, there’s a knitting project:
That would be a beautiful turned hem (god, I love turned hems) for a pair of Lakeside socks for a trade on Ravelry. They’re knit in Fleece Artist Nyoni and in return I received:
a skein of DIC Knitsophy (bottom) and a skein of STR Silkie (top).
Last is an embroidery project. Just a little teaser of this one:
It’s for a Battlestar Galactica swap I’m doing over on Craftster. I’m really pleased with how it’s coming so far, and I can’t wait to show you all when it’s finished.
Hopefully tomorrow or the next day I’ll have pictures of a finished sewing project to show you. Also, don’t forget to enter the giveaway!!
(Though I wrote this post before I left, when you all read this, I’ll already have been in DC for a few days. So greetings from DC!)
So I signed up for a swap on Craftster that is Dollar Store themed–that is, participants must spend between five and ten dollars at the dollar store (or the equivalent of such for other countries) and craft at least two items for their partner. Well, my partner was A2JC4life, and here’s what I sent her:
Out of two dishtowels, this bag:
Out of some wedding favors, some ribbon, and scraps from the bag (as well as some stash buttons), these pin cushions:
(The button one also has a fabric bump for pins, it’s just lower in the bucket.)
Out of another of the wedding favors and some more ribbon, a little container for storing small things:
And finally, out of a piece of flour sack cloth, this little patch, which she can sew on whatever she chooses:
Another bit of embroidery! I love it. I was going to sew it into a zipper pouch, but then I realized I would have to use a bunch of non-dollar store stuff, so I just left it as a patch. It’s pretty though. : ) I used a pattern from Jenny Hart’s book “Sublime Stitching”, which I borrowed from the library (I just put the cloth over the pattern and traced it with a disappearing ink pen). I shall have to make myself a zipper pouch with a bit of embroidery.
For more dollar store crafts, the rest of the gallery is here
I finished the Monkey socks I was knitting for a swap. : )
Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A.
Yarn: True Love Fibers merino superwash sock yarn in “Further Under the Sea”
Needles: US 1
Mods: None!
Okay. Guys. I’ll talk about the patttern and the socks in a sec, but first: This yarn? AMAZING. Holy crap I loved knitting this yarn. Squooshy and plump and wonderful. And soft! I generally think socks in 100% merino are a bad idea (cause that’ll wear through in a hot second) but this yarn is so wonderful and lovely. I’m so happy I have more to knit (I received a skein in a reddish pink in return for knitting the socks.
Sadly, these are currently en route to their owner and not in my sock drawer. Sad. Because they’re lovely. The pattern is great too–this is the first of Cookie A’s patterns that I’ve knit, and it was great. The pattern was simple and easy to memorize and these socks flew by. I love ’em. Sadly… not for me.
These socks were my first top-down and my first flap/gusset heel. It went pretty smoothly. I can’t say I really like the plain stockinette heel (I think I’d just continue my pattern down the heel flap) or the way the heel turn fits, but I may be able to fine tune that. I don’t really knit top-down socks that often, but I’d love to find a good tutorial on how to knit a flap heel toe-up, if for no other reason than to play with fit issues.
Anyway, if you’re reading this, I’m hopefully on my way to DC. : ) On Tuesday I’ll have a post about some swap crafts and after that? Who knows….
Remember the bird swap I mentioned a week or two (or three or something) ago? Well, I received from my partner PinkChick today!
She sent me a t-shirt with this pretty embroidery:
and some lovely earrings:
I love them! For more bird goodies, check out the gallery.
Now, on a different matter, I’ll be going out of town on Sunday (no use trying to rob me; the rest of my family still lives here). I’m spending a wonderful two weeks in DC with my lovely boyfriend, during which time my access to internet and my laptop will be somewhat limited. I’ll be doing my best to continue posting what I’m crafting (and perhaps some nice pictures of the city and such), and when I get back, I’ll have a nice big post about my trip. And then back to regularly scheduled posts about things I made. I have a few things to post yet, so that’s two posts I’ll schedule before I leave, but after that, it’ll be more sporadic.
So the other day I received an OWS package from one of my favorite OWSers, PheonixFireDesigns. She claimed me for a wisty surprise, and sent me a GORGEOUS necklace and a rubber stamp:
I also made a necklace of my own:
Basic necklace chain from AC Moore (usually a dollar, on sale for Memorial Day for half off), some thin wire, and some buttons from my stash. : ) It hangs a little funny, but I do like it a lot.
In other craft news: I’m expecting a swap packing round Thursday, I’m hard at work on more swap socks, and I have been working on another swap. So stay tuned for lots more crafts. What are you guys working on?
Yay, I finished my first socks for my outstanding sock trades!
Pattern: Skew Socks
Yarn: Regia Nation Colors
Needles: US 1
Mods: None!
So… I am disappointed these socks are not for me. Because I love them. And the recipient even has my same shoe size. So I’m totally jealous. They’re totally great socks. And the pattern is wonderful and fascinating. They knit up pretty quickly, and even though they’re stockinette socks, the increases and decreases keep you interested. Fun and wonderful for self-striping yarns. I’m totally going to make another pair from this pattern for me at some point.
I love the way the stripes swirl around the heel. : )
I’ve started, by the way, the second pair of swap socks, and they are wonderful. The yarn is SO NICE to knit with. But more on that later. : )
While I have in fact been doing some knitting and spinning for me (sort of–the spinning may eventually turn into a gift), I have also been knitting for other people. Sort of. Like the mittens I made, I am working on socks for Will Work for Yarn trades. The first is a pair of Skew socks in Regia Nation Color. I finished one sock:
and started the other. In return for knitting them, I received three skeins of Aslan Trends Santa Fe (two in Jungle and one in World’s Ocean):
It’s pretty pretty–squishy and wonderful. : ) It’s a two-ply so I might have to do contrast heels and toes, but it does have nylon in it.
Once I finish the Skew socks, I have another pair lined up. I received these two skeins
of True Love Fiber hand dye in Further Under the Sea (for the trade socks) and Happy Lipstick (for me).
I’m not really sure what socks I’m going to knit for this trade because of the variegation in the yarn and because the person I’m trading with didn’t have a specific pattern in mind. It’ll be a couple days because I get to them because I have to finish the Skew socks first, so I have some time to think about it.
I received a couple more swap things this week! First, from leighi123:
Two pretty zipper bags and some very pretty cotton fabric that will most likely become a skirt or summery dress. She also sent a sheet of shrink plastic, some pretty sparkly thread, and some chocolate (which I gave to my brother as I’m not a fan of dark chocolate). Yay! The bags are lovely and large and while I’m not really sure what I’ll put in them yet, I’m sure I’ll think of something. The thread will probably be used to ply handspun, maybe.
I also received from bkrenning4
I like it a lot. It fits and it’s pretty and will be perfect for wearing over less-than-presentable pj’s. So win!
Recently in the mail I also got some yarn for some swaps, but more on that later. : )
For Ongoing Wish Swap! I love that swap, guys. Anyway, I claimed lindyv321 for an address book, some inchies, and a wisty surprise. The wisty surprise didn’t really work out, but the address book is really cool (and probably took over two hours anyway).
First, the inchies:
I’m quite proud of these, actually. They’re very simple–a background and words or picture. I like ’em. Especially the stripey one. I also included a few extra bases (newsprint and striped scrapbook paper) cause I didn’t want to make more, and she had inchie bases on her list.
Now, here’s the address book, which is Alice in Wonderland themed:
(front, and it actually is square and not trapezoidal)
(back)
It was a ton of fun to make, and I like it a lot. For the front, I found an image of the Cheshire Cat online and drew it out myself, referencing the image (and I did the same with Alice on the back, only that was harder). I stamped out the quote on cardstock (the one on the back I just wrote out), then covered the whole thing with Mod Podge and glued on a stretched out piece of tee shirt for a closure.
The base book is just something I found at the dollar store. I had previously found a smaller one that I liked a lot better, but it disappeared somewhere in the house and I had to get a new one. This one (which is binder style) was the only kind they had, much to my chagrin. Still, I think it came out totally awesome, and I’m super proud of the Cheshire Cat.
I also included this card:
I like it a lot. Just a cut out of cardstock, which I spot printed with a green ink pad.
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 