Stitch, Brinn, Stitch!

FO: Striped Pullover

September 12, 2010 in knitting | Tags: finished object, FO, knitting, stripes, sweater, vest, wool | Leave a comment

So I finished that pullover I was working on. Mostly because I decided it was a vest.

Pattern: None, I made it up as I went.
Yarn: Plymouth Galway (grey) and a wool/acrylic mix I frogged from a thrift store sweater and overdyed from pastel pink to purple-ish.
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm

So yes, the striped pullover is now a striped vest. Which I may or may not write up a pattern for (I probably will). I really was going to knit a proper pullover with set-in sleeves and then I screwed up the armscye shaping, ending up with something like a racerback and the sleeves would have required some serious short rowing to fit in the holes. So I said “Fuck it!” and went with the vest.

Which I am actually very very pleased with. It’s hella cute over short-sleeved blouses and this way it won’t be so hot to wear indoors. Pullovers with sleeves are great when it’s 30F and I have to walk a mile to get to class but not so awesome when the inside temperature is like, 70. Yeah. So vest!

I can’t wait til the weather cools down and I can wear it with that blouse and some dark-wash skinny jeans. And my awesome cowboy boots. That is an outfit I will be ROCKIN’ in the winter time.

A Jewelry FO!

September 10, 2010 in jewelry | Tags: earrings, jewelry | Leave a comment

So remember the diy jewelry kit I got from that kit swap? Well, I finally had a chance to make the other earring:

Jewelry is hard. It’s fiddly. It’s got small parts. I am not very good at it. But I’m going to try to get better cause I do love pretty dangley earrings, and it’s easy to find old jewelry to take apart and make into something else. I don’t know that I have much of a knack for designing jewelry, but I thought that about knitting at the beginning too, and now I’ve got like, six patterns under my belt plus I have a page of designs in my notebook. We’ll see how it goes.

For now, I’ll just follow other people’s directions. I think these earrings are great:

Can you tell which I made?

Sewing FO!

September 7, 2010 in knitting, sewing | Tags: bags, knitting, sewing, sweater | Leave a comment

So, does anyone remember when I made this tote?

I made it out of a t-shirt and some canvas fabric like, two years ago, and listed it on my Artfire shop. Well, it sold yesterday! I didn’t even know Artfire listings stayed up that long, but apparently they do. Whoo! I take any excuse to make cute cards, so I’m including this in the package:

In other news, I did some sewing the other day. I needed another project bag because while I am mostly project monogamous, sometimes I have a couple, so I needed something to store the one I’m not currently knitting.

The outside is part of a dinosaur sheet I bought at the thrift store, and the lining is part of a pillow sham. I’m a big fan.

It’s currently holding the beginning of a sleeve (of the grey/pink striped pullover). I’m not done with the body yet (I just finished the waist decreases and will start the bust increases shortly), but the long rounds were a little boring, so I started the sleeve:

The sweater will probably take another couple of weeks (possibly less), especially since I have swap stuff too. : )

Bookmark Swap

September 5, 2010 in embroidery, other people's crafts/cool things, swap | Tags: beading, bookmarks, embroidery, paper craft, sewing, swap | 2 comments

I recently participated in a swap on Craftster themed around bookmarks. It was a group type swap–you’re put in a group of five, and you craft four bookmarks to send to your groupmates and receive four different ones in return. It took me a while to decide what I wanted to make, but in the end, I decided on embroidered corner bookmarks:

(If you recognize the book, I’ll love you to death. It’s my favorite.)

I really like how they came out. I used a dollar store flour sack towel for the base, and the embroidery took next to no time at all. The sewing up was also very simple. Cute. I like ’em.

I also really like the bookmarks I received in return:

The one with the key is currently marking the correct week in my planner. The beaded one was residing in the novel I was reading (And Another Thing by Eoin Colfer), but I finished it and started re-reading HP & the Deathly Hallows, and that’s a big book, so I’m going to replace it with the green corner bookmark. The other ones will probably take up residence in my various school textbooks–one will probably mark the current reading in my Norton Anthology for my British Literature class, at least.

WIP: Striped Pullover

September 3, 2010 in knitting, swap | Tags: FO, knitting, life, swap, sweater, wip, work in progress, wwfy | Leave a comment

So I have not been blogging as much as I would like. Part of that is that I was sick in the middle of this week and wasn’t sleeping (four hours of sleep over two days is… fun. Not.), but also I’ve not quite settled into the swing of things back at school, and once I do, it’ll be easier to blog more often.

I have, however, been knitting. I recently did a swap on the Will Work for Yarn group on Ravelry for some swatches (for photographing jewelry) in return for a shawl pin and some leftover Malabrigo:

The darker swatch was knit it Malabrigo, so it’s more like in return for a shawl pin and a bit of yarn, I got to knit with Malabrigo, which is almost just as much of a reward as the first two things.

I have also been working on that sweater I mentioned before. It currently looks like this:

I’m up to some waist shaping at the moment. It’s working up at a fair clip–worsted weight and two-row stripes will do that. I think I’m going to love it when it’s done, thought I still haven’t decided if I want to .do a v-neck or a scoop neck. I’m currently leaning toward scoop (I do love me a good scoop neck), but I could still be persuaded otherwise.

I also just finished up a swap, but I’ll talk about that another time so I can show you all the pictures for it at once. I also think I’m doing another WWFY swap (involving WOLLMEISE, which I’m pretty stoked about), so that’s pretty exciting. I have lots of things planned for the near future (birthday present for boyfriend, capelet that I’m designing as part of a Halloween costume (and also just to wear) but for which I also have to dye some yarn). Stay tuned!

Wicket and a Birthday

August 30, 2010 in crochet | Tags: crochet, embroidery, ewok, life, toys, wicket | Leave a comment

So Thursday was my friend Jon’s birthday. He is obsessed with the ewoks from Star Wars and is definitely craft-worthy, so this is what I made him for his birthday present:

Pattern: Wicket the Ewok, mostly.
Yarn: Cascade Ecological Wool (brown), cream wool from a thrift store sweater, and red-orange vintage wool that never ends.
Hook: 3.75mm (f) and 4 mm when I misplaced the f hook.
Mods: I didn’t really follow the pattern for the body or the arms and I didn’t use it at all for the head or ears (though the pictures were instrumental in my figuring it out). I followed the pattern for the hood, but I had to modify it so it fit my Wicket (it would have come out WAY too big).

I happen to think he’s adorable, even though my embroidering on yarn skills are… somewhat sub-par. But Jon loves him, and that’s what really matters. : )

OWS FOs

August 28, 2010 in crochet, knitting, swap | Tags: crochet, finished object, FO, hat, knitting, ows, slippers, swap, wool | 2 comments

So my first week at school has been pretty busy, hence the lack of posting. That isn’t to say I haven’t been crafting–I have definitely been crafting. And organizing. My craft area sort of looks organized (which if you know me at all is something of an accomplishment). I’ve been busy knitting for swaps (and as I mentioned before, I started a sweater for me). I recently finished two items for an OWS claim:

Pattern: Mary Jane Slippers for what seems like the hundreth time.
Yarn: Vintage wool, which I’m trying desperately to use up since I’m not crazy about it.
Hook: 3.75 mm (f)
Mods: I don’t think any.

I’ve made this pattern so many times I sometimes forgot it’s not my pattern. I don’t usually repeat patterns and certainly not to the degree of this one, so I sometimes forget I’m not just makin’ it up. : )

Pattern: None; I knit the brim flat and picked up stitches for the top part of the hat.
Yarn: More of that vintage wool. I’m down to less than 50g I think.
Needle: US 7/4.5 mm

This yarn frustrates me (nothing wrong with it; I just don’t like the color and I had a lot of it), but I like how the hat came out. It’s cute. I love seed stitch. : ) Not much to say about it; it was pretty easy to make.

In other crafting news, I recently received a crap ton of fabric from an OWS claim, but I’m waiting on one more OWS package, so I’ll just show you all at once. I’m also knitting up some swatches for a WWYF swap (one in linen stitch ❤ and one in stockinette) for which I received a lovely shawl pin. I'll show you that when I show you the OWS stuff. I also recently finished a thing for a friend's birthday, which I will try to show you on Monday. It's super cute.

All Settled In

August 24, 2010 in life | Tags: college, life | 2 comments

As the title says, I am all unpacked and moved into my apartment at school. I have so, so much stuff, so it took a while to get everything unpacked, but I’m finally pretty much done. The apartment is really nice: very spacious and open (though currently, the front room and hall are very bare. We do have a lovely view of the courtyard of the apartment complex:

I’ve been decorating a little bit (but I need to get some more picture hanging tabs before I can do much more):

(There are lots of very blank white walls.)

And my desk is all set up and mostly ready for paper writing and studying (not that I do a whole lot of either despite being an English major, but the thought is there):

(You can see the sweater I mentioned last week, though it’s currently on pause while I work on some swap stuff, as well as some more artwork that needs to be hung.)

I’ve even set up a craft corner in the corner of the living room. The vast majority of my possessions are craft-related (supplies, books, works in progress, etc), so it’s nice to have a central location for them all:

The iron usually sits on the table and I use the purple thing as a bench as the table is rather too short for most chairs. The only thing that’s not stored in the craft corner is my two Rubbermaid bins of yarn because A, there isn’t really room for them over there and B, I go into my yarn stash a lot less often then my other craft supplies (just when I need to start a new project, mostly, since I tend to stick with one at a time. One of these days I’m going to take everything out of the bins, air it out, and sort it by weight (sock and lace in one, worsted, bulky in another. Haven’t decided where to put sport weight yet since I don’t have very much).

I’m highly pleased to have a space to sew though. I don’t do a great amount of sewing because I’m not very good (though it’s more accurate to say I’m not very precise), but it’s nice to know I can use the sewing machine at two in the morning and not really risk waking up my roommates.

Anyway, now that I’m mostly settled in, I should be back to regular blog posts. I’m only taking four classes this semester (I’ve been having issues with scheduling), so I’ll have a lot of free time (though I’m going to very vaguely look for a job).

FO: Sassy Stripes Socks

August 20, 2010 in knitting | Tags: finished object, FO, knitting, socks | Leave a comment

I finally finished my ribbed socks!

Pattern: None. It’s a ribbed toe-up sock. With a gusset/flap heel.
Yarn: Cascade Sassy Stripes yarn, two skeins
Needles: US 1 circular (for two at a time magic loop)

They came out pretty well and were fittingly mindless to keep in my purse. I liked knitting them. As I said, I’m not crazy about the colors, but the yarn was cheap and they’ll go in my shoes. One of them is a little snug in the leg because I accidentally decreased too many to make the ribbing work above the heel, but it’s not so tight I can’t wear it. They’ll be perfect come winter time.

Speaking of winter, my next project that I’m about to cast on for is a simple pullover for winter–grey and purple two row stripes, short v-neck, seamless set in sleeves. I also have a couple of swap stuff for OWS coming up, as well as a possible personal swap on Craftster and my boyfriend’s birthday present. Which is largish but doesn’t need to be finished until December, so I’ve got plenty of time.

In other news, I am moving back to school TOMORROW. And I’m totally thrilled. Especially to set up all of my crafting stuff in my crafting corner, which I will totally show you all pictures of when it’s all set up.

It’s Wednesday!

August 18, 2010 in knitting, life | Tags: giveaway, knitting, life, sheep, socks, wip, work in progress | Leave a comment

Which is two days after the pattern giveaway closed! And we have a winner! Congratulations to commenter number five, Lorraine! Look for my email so I can get that pattern to you!

If you didn’t win, don’t fret too much–I’ll definitely be hosting another pattern giveaway soon. : )

In other knitting news, I’m still working on my Sassy Ribs socks. They currently look like this:

I still have about a plum-sized ball (2 inch diameter) of yarn to go on both socks (I’m trying to use up allt he yarn). I’m not crazy about the colors in the yarn, but it was super cheap (like $6.50 for the pair) and they’ll be nice and warm for winter. And they’ll be mostly hidden in my shoes/under my jeans anyway.

I’ve made a good bit of progress on them mostly because I took them with me to Busch Gardens on Monday and knit on them in line. I stuffed them into a fanny pack, so I could take my “loose object” in line for roller coasters and such.

Busch Gardens, by the way, has sheep. Scottish Blackface Sheep, to be exact. They’re over by the Clydesdales and the sheep dogs and the park does Sheep Dog/Herding demonstrations every couple of hours. I didn’t get to watch one, unfortunately. I think it would have been pretty cool.