Craft Party

I had a few friends over to knit and chat today. It was so fun. Not everyone could make it and I also couldn't invite everyone I wanted to, due to our tiny apartment. Anyway, I often do crafty stuff by myself and it was fun to have the chance to get together and talk about knitting and various things. I hope to do a few more parties in the future.

Projects in the works still (pictures sometime, I promise!): Green and blue socks are nearing the toe. I think I will start decreasing in less than half an inch. I guess it would be good to finish the toe and cast on the second sock before my work week starts on Wednesday. 

Gray fingerless mitts. I am on the second one, past the thumb, working on the palm of the hand. Then I will do all the half-fingers at the same time for both gloves. I hope to have enough yarn to do two pairs for both my brother-in-laws. 

Just now cast on for a baby boy sweater. Baby Sophisticate (the worsted pattern). The color is navy and 12 mos. size. Though it is cascade 220 superwash which I have heard is a light-worsted, so it may end up smaller. So far the fabric seems okay. I pretty much never swatch. It's bad, I know, maybe if I make a sweater for myself I will. Something where I am investing a lot of money. 

Back to knitting!

Altering

Here is what used to be a dress. From Forever 21, a sort of short dress. (Not sure why i bought it, it is probably for teenagers to go dancing and meet boys)... when I bought it I altered it by adding (old T shirt) triangles on the sides to make it a little less hip-hugging. It also has a see-through pattern in the fabric (which I thought was cool), so I had to wear a slip. Anyway I think i wore it maybe three times and then realized it really was too short for my age/personality.

So. It has been sitting around for a few years, waiting to be given away. A few weeks ago I realized I could crop it to a tank top and solve two problems (I also never have enough shirts.) So here it is, with a little blue lace at the hem just to try to finish it in an interesting way. The only kind of weird thing is it has a zipper down the back. And I do of course have to wear a tank top underneath. Anyway, I was glad to resolve the problem and make something wearable! It only took altering it twice.
Part of my problem is seeing potential in things and then never fixing them or taking a year to do it. Right now I have a sweet home-made strawberry pattern dress that is sadly sewn a little crooked and makes me look bigger than I am. Perhaps I can make it into a skirt? I also have a blue and white floral polyester dress that I started changing the neckline on and need to finish. And a purple jersey dress I was going to try to turn into a top... and one of mike's button ups to hem.

Sock update

Last night I started on the heel of my sock and finished it  today and it turned out pretty well! Now I get to continue on the foot!

Red Cowl

This is a reworking of a previous red cowl. It was pilled and I'd gotten to the point where I didn't want to wear it. It had a few cables but was unevenly patterned. So I ripped it, got the yarn wet and let it dry. The yarn was worked double, it is thinner, maybe a sport weight? I had done this pattern for another cowl I made. Barbara I believe is the pattern. It is a fun slip pattern that is easy to learn. I didn't have quite enough yarn so I finished it with the reflective yarn I used for those mitts. It is stIll a little tighter than I like (it may mess up my hair), but I'm sure it will stretch over time. And pill more. The black yarn is bulkier and so it is a little uneven. Anyway here are some photos. Including me... Ha.

Knitting of the Past

Well, along with recent organizing of project documentation, I just updated a few projects on my Ravelry page. I have done so much knitting in my life and I have so few projects up there. I know I need to go through my digital camera and see what is on that. Also I'm sure I have at least a few photos I can scan someday of projects I made in high school.

Part of this whole blogging thing is getting photos to load from various things, ipad, phone, camera, etc. I spent a while today trying to figure it out.

anyway here's a photo for fun! I'm sure it is on my old blog. It's a knitted TV. I know, right. i think i made it in like 2007.

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.

Catch up?

hi readers.
Well. I magically got an iPad. Mike being in the right place at the right time. Yay. So maybe it will help me blog more often? I also started a list. Oh how I try to keep track of  my projects past present and future. But half the time maybe I don't take photos before I give them away. And I had a book I started working in trying to keep lists but then time would pass and I would change my ideas for the yarn or fabric or just decide it wasn't worth making. I had it organized by separate pages for sewing and knitting.

The yellow ones are finished. Anyway, there are several pages, but I had a hard time keeping up with it sometimes. A few weeks ago I started a new page in the book that may help me organize only the finished projects. (I can always do a seperate page for projects I'm planning on making.) It also helps me see If I have a photo and if I have blogged about them yet. And if I keep up with it it will show me my progress over the months.  Good!

 

So. Here's hoping it is helpful and sticks, and makes me take more photos. I'm sure these iPad photos won't be the best, but at least I may have more photos or even a visual record for me. I blog for myself most of all, but also like sharing stuff, if friends care to join me. 

2015!

Well. It is 2015. Crazy.

I'm not the best at resolutions (and keeping them) but here goes... Not in any order:
- I got a Wii U Fit and have been doing a small amount of exercise (vs almost none before) and I want to keep it up. It also  has a pedometer which is fun to see how many steps I am taking!

- I would like to do more music. I would also like to be more active looking for new bands. (I used to spend a lot of time looking up obscure norwegian myspace bands etc.)

- I would like to read my Bible more.

- It may be less of a year of sewing because I am losing my sewing space, but I hope to make up for it by knitting more and possibly sewing smaller projects. I have a friend who wants to learn to sew better, and I look forward to helping. I did get some sewing tools/fabric $ and I do hope to keep up with it.

- Learn to cook better for my husbands food allergies. A recent success: Homemade Brown Rice Tortillas. We have been missing tortillas for so long.

- Maybe to learn to type better/faster. It would be helpful for my job and I have never taken typing classes and could be much better at it.

Okay six is probably too many. So I will stop there for now. And of course I would hope to blog more/take better photos/do updates that actually show the progression of projects.. but who knows if that will ever happen.

Here are a Few Christmas gifts: (photographed in our dark apartment...

 A Joy tea towel for my mom. Just look at alll that stitching!

  A Day of the Dead themed tea towel for Liz. Picture the sculls right side up.

 A cabbage patch themed ornament. I guess I probably failed to get photos of all of the awesome ornaments I did.

 Our Radio-Cat themed Xmas card that I silk screen printed (Hand-painted stencil)

1. 

 And I made a few bunnies. Super cute and not too hard to make. I made a cream one also, and am halfway through the 3rd one. I made them have four legs instead of two.

 I also hope at some point to upload photos from my digital camera and perhaps will unearth more project photos from the past.

Sewing machine cover

I made a sewing machine cover! It is from a tutoril online I promise I will link to it soon! (Currently posting via my phone).
Anyway, i had seen the tutorial a long time ago, finally a few months ago i printed it and today i got the chance to sew it! I spent the afternoon today looking through all my sewing stuff and trying to sort it a little. (Mainly dreaming about projects).

I also finished a project from a long time ago... it was a dress i think or shirt that i cut the top off years ago. I made a sash and made it into an apron. Not that i need any more aprons, but they fun.

Also i cut a few triangle squares for a future quilt(?). Basically most of my fabric is in small amounts, a lot just scraps. Quilts are one way to use it up, also rag rugs and the like. I have some pieces maybe 2 yards or so of nicer stuff but i need to find the right patterns for them.

Holiday Making

Every year I hope/try to make gifts for family and friends. For many years I have made a Christmas print, usually cat themed. (I of course have not yet figured out this years print.)
Some years I have more sucess. Often I have too many ideas and they do not all get finished. Here are some fingerless mitts for my friend. I also have a knitting project started, embroidery project started and some ornaments in the future. There are some people of course I will buy things for. But I do love making presents and also trying to be resourceful. Currently I am trying to use yarn and fabric I already have, only buying new stuff if I need something specific to finish something.

Speaking of using things up... I am losing my sewing studio space soon. Honestly the amount of hours I spent there is probably not a lot over the last year or so. Life has been busy and I prefer to do handwork at home if I can. But, it was an amazing floorspace. I finished 2 quilts in that space and did some other smaller projects and day dreamed about being better at sewing. I do need to sort through everything and see what I can pass on to people/use up. Also I do not know where my furniture will go.

There is change once again in the air and I just have to trust that things will turn out well. Mike's studio will either move soon or be put in storage for a while... we just have to be grateful for the time we had and be more creative/ save up for paying rent somewhere else.

Anyway, I have to get back to crafting or I will never finish!

PS: Here is a photo from our beach trip.