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Or: THEY’RE DONE THEY’RE DONE THEY’RE DONE!!
Pattern: Lakeside Socks from Knotions
Yarn: Fleece Artist Nyoni
Needles: US 1
Mods: None? Maybe made them a tick longer? I think I mostly knit them as written.
Holy crap, these socks took so long. But they are DONE. I actually really enjoyed knitting them–the pattern was simple and easy to memorize, and the shaping was pretty intuitive. I’m still not sure how much I like knitting socks cuff down as opposed to toe up, but these actually went by pretty quickly, even though Ravelry tells me they’ve been a wip for about a month. But now they are done! And I can knit other things! Like the other WWFY trade I’m working on. : )
As for the yarn: I did enjoy working with the Nyoni. It’s a little think/thin, but it’s pretty squishy. I don’t know how much I’d like it for knee socks (it’s a little itchy on my calves, but who knows, that may come out in the wash). The colorway is GORGEOUS though, and I love it a lot.
Currently, as I mentioned, I am working on another WWFY trade: a lace ribbon scarf in Malabrigo lace (LOVE). I have some Mal lace in my stash from my trip to Fiber Space that will eventually become a Featherweight cardigan, but it’s nice to get a feel for the Mal in something smaller first. : ) I’ll show you pictures of the scarf a little later, but it’s looking great so far.
I received from my Battlestar Galactica swap today! I was in a round robin, and the crafter of these wonderful items was the swap organizer, LimeRiot, who is totally wonderful. Check out what she made:
A sweet embroidery with a cute lil toaster. : ) Frakkin’ Toasters!
An AWESOME painting inspired by Starbuck’s paintings.
And two felted bowls, inspired by the Cylon Centurions and Caprica Six’s red dress (which, btw, I totally love). The larger Centurion bowl will be perfect for a key bowl to keep by the door of my apartment next year, and the smaller one will probably hold odds and ends around my craft space.
I TOTALLY LOVE eveything Lime sent me, and I can’t wait to display it in my room in August. For more Battlestar-inspired crafts, the gallery thread for the swap is located here
So I received in the mail today possibly the most awesome knitting-related thing ever:
It’s a book of stuffed dinosaur patterns. AND THEY ARE AWESOME. It includes a pattern for a 15-inch high Parasaurolophus:
I discovered the booklet while browsing for stuffed animal patterns to make for Sarah for her cousin. I put out a quick note on the ISO/Destash books forum and within a couple hours, I had a reply from someone who had a copy, so I bought it from them. And, to reiterate, it is AWESOME. Much dino knitting will be happening.
In other news, I’ve been knitting. As I mentioned before, I finished the first Lakeside sock:
I also started another swap project, a Ribbon Lace Scarf in Malabrigo Lace (which is hella soft and wonderful):
I’m also working on stuff for another swap, but I’ll tell you about that when it’s all finished. : )
So I recently claimed gatheredthreads for a baby sweater on Ongoing Wish Swap on Craftster.org. She sent me links to a couple sweaters she liked, but I ended up making up my own pattern:
Pattern: My own, which I’m considering writing up if anyone’s interested.
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft Tweed, about 2.5 skeins.
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm
So I like how this came out. I ended up knitting too many rows above the sleeves, resulting in a cute little foldover collar. And open cables! Guys, I LOVE open cables. LOVE THEM. It took a bit to figure out how they worked, but once I had it, they turned out fantastically. Love ’em. Not sure how the sweater will fit or how it will look on the kid, but hopefully it fits well enough.
If I do end up writing this up it won’t start testing until my current test is done (the Green Leaves tank), but since it’s a fall/winter garment, the timing will work out well. If you ARE interested in maybe testing this when I’ve written it up, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. : )
Also, in case you were wondering, I finished the first Lakeside sock! It’s done! I still have to knit the whole other one, but I’m officially half done. *dance*
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.
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. : )
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 