Christmas Print 2015!

Every year for the last several (8?) years I have made a Christmas print. They often contain cats or snowy scenes. Generally they have the year as part of the print, and red, black, light blue are common colors I use.  Hopefully when we unpack I can find copies of the previous prints, and next year find a good way to display them at Christmas time, with room to add on.

They are generally block prints, but some years have been screen printed. Here is last years which was a screen print. (I hand painted the stencil).

2007 & 2008 block prints...

This year with my screen printing stuff packed up, I decided to go with block printing. I sketched many rough designs, trying to come up with a good idea. Three Little Kittens? A Loon? Owl? Elephant? A print with multiple ornaments? I had originally thought of a simple fireplace print. Then when we had more house drama and I thought we may never close on the house I gave up on the idea and then started trying to come up with others. Now that we officially got the house, I decided to stick with the fireplace. To add the usual Upsidedown Cat charm, I added a bear in a winter sweater and some Christmas decor on the mantle (Stay tuned for a later post.,,!)

Anyway. In the midst of deep cleaning the house, I knew I had to get this print done because we give it to family and friends as our Christmas card. So.. I started carving, and today with a free afternoon, I printed the red. This block was a little bigger than some cards I have made. It was a little bendy and my brayer is smaller than the block so I had to be more careful about inking the block to make it even.

Color two, the black layer, was hard to line up... I was feeling really frustrated with the first several prints (Hint: use your more messed up first layer prints as practice prints with the 2nd layer!). I traced around my block on a piece of white paper, cut out the rectangle and carefully used the paper frame as a pretty close guide of where to place my block, trying to match two corners as best I could before letting the block touch the paper. It worked well and I'm pleased that most of the prints turned out well. In printmaking you generally lose some prints with each new color/layer you have, and plan accordingly so hopefully you will end up with the amount you want. I did not count them yet, but I think I printed about 50.

Here is the final result:

Perhaps some day if I have free time (haha, so many quilts on my list), I may get inspired to make some cards to sell. Could be a cool Upsidedown Cat merch item and something I could maybe sell online. We'll see... It would be good if I did something related to printmaking, since I took a lot of classes, and it can be used in so many ways.

Stella Sweater

Stella Sweater progress. I think I will need to do Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind-off, since I bound off the sleeve, and it is so tight for being such a wide sleeve. I also may use the tiny amount of yarn I have left to lengthen the body. 

It is going pretty well and I may do this pattern again. I know a lot of the people who have done the pattern say that the neck is really wide. not sure how to fix that. Can't wait to see it when it is all blocked!

A Little Sweater

 I finally uploaded a few photos from my digital camera. Here is a photo from I think May, when we went to Cannon Beach.

 Here is Stella  One of my friends hand-dyes yarn. Her brand is Bumblebirch. I have hung out/helped out during a few busy times. Anyway, I was trying to find a really good project for this yarn. The colorway is called Innocent and it is a light pinky purple. Very pretty. I decided to try to make Stella and so far it is going pretty well. I am making the 12 month size. I did have to start over once, but now I am even further than these photos show. I am pretty excited, especially since we are going to the beach next weekend and I should get some extra knitting time.

Sweater & Socks

Two finished projects!

Baby sweater, I finished it a while back but had to block it and get better photos. It is so cute, I would like to make another one someday. (This photo is after it had been folded for a while).

The buttons are grey.  

Here are the rainbow toddler socks. I know I made mistakes, but the pattern helps hide them. I think one is also a little longer than the other, oops.  I may make another pair, I have a lot of rainbow yarn left. I think in a more solid color or even bigger stripes, it could look really cool. 

We have been busy packing and cleaning our apartment, in two weekends there will be an open house, so everything has to be in tip-top shape. Not a lot of crafting has been happening. 

I have finished another project but it is a surprise so I cannot share it quite yet. 

Almost finished sweater!

Yay! I finished the knitting for the Baby (and Child) Sophisticate sweater. The collar was cool, though a bit tedious to pick up all those stitches. I had never done EZ's sewn cast-off, but it was definitely the right cast-off and I will use it again for projects. I think I will use these gray buttons but I need to tighten up some loose spots and finish up tying in the ends. I will also block it of course.

Sweater update

Baby Sophisticate sweater. First sleeve complete. I know it will have the big collar but right now it looks small. 

My big project should be hemming two new pairs of pants I got for work. 

Not so craft related: we have been watching agents of shield. (Sometimes I get some knitting done). Also house hunting at our budget (including a studio space) is hard. We heard it was rough out there, but just recently experienced losing a house we thought we would like. Hoping there is something better out there. 

Springtime knitting

Here are some current photos of two projects I am working on. Knitted socks for me.

              Please excuse the basement apartment lighting... I'm sure I have said before, this is my lunch time knitting and keep-in-my-purse knitting. 

Baby sweater for a friend. Using the Baby Sophisticate pattern for worsted yarn. It is a really pretty navy (not so dark as the photo). It looks small but I realized the collar will add to the width around. I am doing a 12 month size, but I know my yarn is considered a light worsted.

Other news of sorts. We are trying to buy a house. We have to move soon from our current spot. And my husband has to move his small business. So we are trying to get a house to combine it all. We have one in mind but are not sure if we will get it. If we do It needs a ton of work, like redoing all the flooring and removing wallpaper etc. lots of painting, of course. I am excited and nervous at the same time!

Catch up 2: The list so far..

Remember this list? See part 1 if you wish... Here's what I have finished lately!

In threes sweater. Made for a sweet baby yet to be born. I have friends in mind but we don't know the gender yet so I figured make it anyway and save it for another baby if they have a boy. I may make the baby sophisticate if they have a boy. I do like personal gifts so it feels a little weird to make a random sweater, but I think since I have some free time, I should just make what I can before our lives are so busy. I have done this pattern before, in this color. It is such an easy and satisfying pattern I want to make them in tons of colors. I use cascade 220 superwash.

Here it is getting washed.

Blinded by the light!!

Pretty bad photos, but here is a pair of reflective mitts I made for my mom. They walk a lot and she has made at least one sort of arm band that reflects. When I saw this yarn i thought of her and I had to buy it. They are made so she can wear them over other gloves and hopefully the cuff will stretch enough to pull over coat sleeves.  

These socks are not yet on the list because I am not done (though I am further than this photo) I am doing the classy slip up pattern. With an after thought heel. I am past the heel and I think soon I will stop and do the heel so I can have a better idea of how long the foot will need to be. It is my lunchtime knitting! I generally have at least 30 mins to knit which helps me de-stress and I can at least get a little bit done every day.

Photos of a pretty small rag rug. I started it years ago. It took forever because the fabric strips were too thick, it was pretty hard to knit and hurt my wrists if I did too much at a time. I think they were 1& 1/2 inches and I should have just done 1. Anyway. I finished it just so it could be done and gave it to a friend. It is so colorful and cushy. (They currently have it on the seat of an old chair) I love rag rugs as a way to finish up bits and pieces of fabric. They have so much history of the various projects the fabric was used in originally.  But they can be a lot of work. I started cutting 1 inch strips to crochet a rug. It is less heavy to crochet it, and I have a bigger crochet hook than I have knitting needles. 

No pictures yet of the cowl I made. More on that later!

Ps: maybe someday I will learn to link things better. Use google or Ravelry to see the original knitting projects if you wish.