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My partner, TwistedTruth, received her package yesterday so I can FINALLY post about the completely awesome things I made her. I have been DYING to show you guys this stuff since I started. I am completely thrilled with everything I made. So here’s what I made:
First, the card:
Paper cut out, gold cardstock and black sharpie, covered with mod podge. Seriously, you guys. I need to do this paper cut out/pod podge delio more often because I really enjoy it and the results are usually pretty good.
Then a cross stitch bookmark:
I used the pattern that’s located here for the Professor then sewed some red felt on the back. My partner does a lot of ATC swaps, so I figure this could be a fabric ATC if she wanted.
Then I did some drawings, which isn’t a thing I usually do because I generally consider myself non-artistic. But I can copy an image pretty well:
Colored pencil and sharpie on card stock. My partner said she likes Pazzuzzu, the professor’s gargoyle. I thought this was a cute scene to sketch. I left the color testing on the side because I find that sort of thing interested, but she can trim it off if she likes.
Next is a somewhat more ambitious art piece:
Sharpie on card stock. Based on this toadily (yes, I went there) bitchin’ image here which is, of course, based on this iconic Obama poster. I am completely, utterly thrilled with how this came out and I am considering making another for myself. Because seriously, I’m toadily (yes, again) chuffed with it.
Last and not least (greatest, actually) is the pis de resistance, this fantastic stuffie:
It’s a knitted Robot Devil! Made in recycled wool. A pattern I made up as I went and which is probably entirely too complicated for me to want to write up. He has cardboard in the larger shapes and 18 gauge wire in the limbs so they can be posed. He doesn’t sit up very well but I think it’s a pretty good likeness.
Look at his little fingers!
I can’t wait to see what my partner makes for me but I’m so excited about the things that I made that getting stuff in return is just icing on my crafting cake.
So that mohair wrap sweater I’ve been working on? It’s totally finished and in the mail to its owner.
(The recipient is bigger than me so I’ve got Elizabeth II on a larger setting.)
Pattern: Airy Wrap Around Lace Sweater by Stephanie Japel from Fitted Knits
Yarn: Knit One Crochet Too Douceur et Soie held double
Needles: US 11/8 mm straights and a 10.5/6.5mm circular for the sleeves
Mods: Added a slit in one side and made one front wrap shorter, as requested.
I really like this sweater a lot, and the fabric the yarn made is super soft and nice. The sweater’s recipient seems to like it thus far; I hope she likes it when she actually gets it. It was actually really fun to knit and working on 8 mm needles made it seem to fly by. It actually took about a month, but I was knitting other things at the same time.
Incidentally, this makes sweater number one for the year. And yes, I’m participating in the 12 sweaters/12 months challenge on Ravelry again this year. I made it to ten last year. I’m thinking I can probably make 12 this year but I probably don’t need 12 sweaters. Maybe I’ll make some for other people/swaps. I probably have 12 sweaters I want to make for me though.
I really think I might make a version of this sweater for myself out of some recycled merino/angora/nylon/cashmere. I’ll probably make a few changes (make the body longer, forgo the cables, full sleeves, more stitches for the fronts for better coverage. I think I’ll have enough yarn. And I really love wrap sweaters.
YOU GUYS YOU GUYS YOU GUYS! I received for my Doctor Who swap and it is the BEST THING EVER and you should all be jealous. SERIOUSLY.
!!!!!! Tiny Ten!!!!
He stands on his own! His glasses are removable! He has shoes! AND LOOK AT THAT HAIR. He has the most adorable little cowlick thing that Tennant rocks. I made some ridiculous noises when I pulled this out, let me tell you.
But also there were stitch markers! That are adipose!
Also, remember that Weeping Angel I crocheted?
I’ll make a proper TARDIS one of these days but for now, the note card was a perfect stand in.
So basically, I incredibly love dragonflyducky/Kerstin, and she is the best ever. (Seriously, did you see his little hair?)
For more Who crafts, the gallery is here.
As I’ve mentioned before, my love of a fandom is cemented when I craft for it. Well, I recently participated in a Doctor Who swap on Craftster.org. It’s a OTT thing swap, wherein you make one tiny thing based on the theme. I am super super proud of what I made. (dragonflyducky, if you haven’t received yet, no peeking!)
It took me a while to decide what I wanted to make, and I finally decided on an embroidery. And it’s great:
(It says “The angels have the phone box.”)
Check out those o’s! They’re so neat and even! For the angel, I found a picture of a Weeping Angel, then traced it from my monitor onto some tissue paper. Then I taped the tissue paper to a sunny window and traced the design onto my fabric. Yes, it was quite a few steps. Yes, it turned out awesome.
I also made a completely awesome card/bonus art thing.
The pieces were individually cut out of cardstock and glued down. There are a couple of pen lines but the majority is just bits of paper. The whole thing is coated in mod podge, giving it a sort of artsy feel. It’s kind of amazing. You may recall I made a similar card for my BSG swap. It’s a somewhat time-consuming process but the final product is so cool. I should do more art-type things.
I’m also currently involved in a Futurama swap, a hat swap, and I’m still working on the mohair sweater for WWFY. I like swaps. Also, yes, I’m a huge nerd. : )
So it turns out that a stockinette sweater with two strands of mohair knit on 6.5 mm needles goes really quickly. When I last showed you this sweater, I hadn’t separated the sleeves yet. It currently looks like this:
It’s fast. I started that sleeve last night. And I went to work today. And it’s almost done.
And I really do like working on this sweater. I’ll be sort of sad to give it up, but I did get some lovely yarn in return (Noro Aurora and Interlacements New Mexico) and I’ll definitely be making one for myself. At some point. Eventually.
I also have a scarf on the needles out of birthday yarn I got from my boyfriend. Also, I’m knitting one more pair of shark mittens. I know.
Soo I’ve been knitting my little fingers to the bone recently. I’ve finished some shark mittens, am partway through a second pair, and have two other projects in the works.
First up is a Pfeiffer Falls scarf in some delightful recycled cashmere:
That’s a terrible picture and it’s not that far along, but it’s delightfully soft and I love the puffy cables. Unfortunately, winter has been really warm this year and I haven’t even needed to get out my wool peacoat. I’ve been wearing my red cotton H&M trench and that’s been perfectly sufficient. Not that I don’t have plenty of scarves already, but I wish I had some cold weather to inspire me to work on the scarf.
The other thing I’ve been working on is a mohair wrap sweater from Fitted Knits:
This is for a WWFY swap. I frogged the Lacy Ribbons sweater I was working on and started this wrap instead, working two strands of lace weight mohair on size 11 needles. It’s going really quickly and even though it’s not for me, I love working on it. I might make one for myself but not in mohair. Probably lace weight cashmere held doubled or tripled.
I meant to photograph the sharks I just finished but then I forgot and you guys have seen sharks before. Perhaps I’ll remember to photograph the pair I’m currently working on, which (fingers crossed) should be the last pair. I have one pair of dino mittens that was returned (size Child large, 7″ length). I’m going to put them on Etsy, but if anyone here’s wants them, let me know. They’re ready to ship and will be $34.
Also, my lovely boyfriend Joe will be in town tomorrow sometime for about a week, so blame him if posting is erratic.
Dear blog:
I’m sorry it’s been so long since my last entry. Clearly I failed terribly at NaBloPoMo but in my defense, my boyfriend was in town and now I’m up with him, doing relatively little knitting and certainly not taking any pictures.
I could show you this yarn I dyed last week for a WWFY swap:
It’s Sanguine Gryffon Bugga Skinny and I used black RIT dye. As an aside, I’ve never seen yarn suck up dye so fast. I usually dye wool and it takes a good 30 minutes. With this, I dunked it in the bucket for 30 seconds and it was already darker than I would have liked.
I could show you the haircut I got last week, which is super short and pixie-like:
Or I could show you a picture of a kitty:
None of which happened in the last five days or so. But I am knitting some things (spats and sharks for Etsy) and I’ve been finishing things (my garter belt, which works with thick knit socks but I need to find a better holding mechanism for lighter ones).
Hopefully I’ll be back for more posts this week (I’m going hiking at some point and I should definitely take pictures of that).
So I finished up that second pair of Baby Fan Mitts. They look exactly the same as the first pair:
I believe I’ll be mailing them today. I also finished up the grey mitten part of some sharks, so I rewarded myself by casting on for a new project (more on that later).
GPoY stands for Gratuitous Picture of Yourself. GPoC stands for Gratuitous Picture of Cat (says me). I think I introduced Stretch a week or so ago. This is why he’s called that:
He sleeps on his back, spread-eagled. Frequently in the middle of my bed, making it awkward for me to get into. I’ll let him though since he usually sleeps snuggled up next to me, and that is super cute.
First: A small clarification. When I say I participate in NaBloPoMo, I mean unofficially. I didn’t sign up anywhere; I just want to try to post every day. Apparently the official NaBloPoMo is located at BlogHer this year (a site for female bloggers), but the point is all blogging, not just female bloggers, so… Unofficial. Feel free to unofficially blog every day with me!
For today: The projects I currently have on the needles:
The second pair of fingerless mitts for WWFY, same yarn, same pattern.
Shark mittens for Etsy.
And my Karlsro, which I worked on for the last couple of days and is now about halfway done. There are a couple of other things on needles at the moment, but I’m not actually working on them. I think I have a total of five wips at the moment, which is more than I’d like. Guess I’d better knit faster.
Today Tomorrow is November 1st. That means the beginning of NaNoWriMo and also NaBloPoMo, which I will be attempting this year. I’m actually working now which might make things difficult (especially for pictures), but I’m going to do the best I can. So look for new posts every day this month! First up: A knitted thing.
Pattern: Baby Fan Mitts
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in Rosehip, about half a skein.
Needles: US 4/3.5mm
Mods: None, knit exactly as written.
I made these for a WWFY swap (along with a second pair I’ve started) in return for two skeins (different brands though) of wool/silk yarn and a skein of baby alpaca yarn. Which I have pictures of. Tomorrow! For additional blog fodder.
Anyway, happy November (tomorrow)! Anyone else doing NaBloPoMo?
ETA: I’m dumb and published this post instead of saving it for tomorrow. So um, yeah. Happy Halloween! Have some candy. See you tomorrow for NaBloPoMo.
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 
