Baby Cardigan Finished

I finished a sweater, but it wasn’t the one I was hoping to finished.  I haven’t had a chance to block my father’s sweater…hopefully I will do that soon.  In the meantime, last night I finished the sleeves of the baby cardigan I was knitting and then today sewed the buttons on.  There are two small errors on it, one is in the back on the bottom trim and the other is in the front next to the garter stitch trim…can you seem them?  Both of them are just one stitch mistakes…oops, sometimes I make them.

I was going to knit the baby sweater for my cousin.  She is due at the end of May.  She is having a boy.  I was given the TLC Baby blue yarn in the Magic Yarn swap, so I thought this would be perfect for the sweater for him.  However, after I got the main part of it finished, I realized the fancy stitching around the yoke looks too girlish.  I asked Tony what he thought and he agreed.  I even left off the decorative stitching on the sleeves and I still think it is too girlish.

I still am going to finish the baby blanket for him.  So I took the sweater to work so it will be a sample to help attract people to my classes.  It is definitely cute.   I wish I would have taken a picture of the yoked crocheted cardigan I made out of SWS a few weeks back.  It was so beautiful.

Today we worked out in the garden again.  My lavender came back.  We cut off all of the old dead branches and there is a nice new bush underneath.  I weeded around it and it is good to go, smells, awesome too.  I bought a $4 lavender from Target a week ago and am ready to plant that.  I think I should plant it by my front walkway all of my flowers from last summer have died.  It gets a lot of sun there.  Tony thinks we should plant sunflowers there, but I think they will fall in on us when they get heavy.

I am almost ready to plant my vegetable garden.  We filled up the whole lawn container with weeds and tree branches (the berry branches are gone!!!)    Tony finally pruned them.  I need a little bit more work out in the backyard, including putting down some spider spray.  When I get Tony to help me we get a lot of work done.  Sometimes it is hard for me to get him to go outside since his allergies are so bad, but I think he enjoyed it.  It is a family project.

Finished Socks

Pattern:  Basic Sock pattern with 2×2 ribbing, short row heel, and a regular decreased toe.  Next time, I am going to try the short row toe.

Yarn:   Trekking XXL in colorway 133

The yarn has been raved about all over the internet, and when I bought it I kind of thought it felt rough and thin.  It doesn’t have the softness that some of the other sock yarns I have used.  However, the thinnes makes these socks great for wearing inside shoes and they really fit my feet like a glove.  I am hoping after their first washing they will soften up a lot.

These socks are pretty basic.  I started them back in August and put them down for awhile as knitting on size 1 needles gets a little boring for me.

I don’t get stuck with having the one sock problem that other people have because after I finish one sock I immediately cast on for the second.  Then, I have been telling myself I can only have one pair of socks going at one time.  Or atleast one pair per needle size.  I am sure as life goes on I will continually make exceptions to my silly rules as I always do.

I am happy to finish them, especially since I haven’t been feeling well lately.  Last night was particularly bad.

Well, I will continue trying to clear my plate of all my WIP’s.  I really don’t have very many left.  Yay!

Quiet or just busy?

Both…I am fighting a sinus infection. My thyroid still isn’t making enough hormone so I just got a higher dosage and hopefully that will help increase my energy. I am up to 150mcg and that seems like a lot considering I still have a thyroid.

I have made a few things, but can’t show them here…because you know, Christmas is around the corner. If you are part of the Fiber Freaks bulletin board I have been posting pictures there. Anyone who is a knitter, crocheter, weaver, or spinner is welcome to join. Our KAL’s and CAL’s are hopping!






I am almost done with Brea Bag. In fact, I am finished with the knitting, just need a button, a leather strap, and fabric for the lining. This bag really doesn’t need lining, but I think I am going to do it because I am getting better at lining and so the bag will last longer.

I used Cascade Sierra (cotton wool blend) double stranded and size 9 needles.  It was hard to get good pictures of the deep navy blue color and the detailed cable and stitching.  However, this yarn is perfect and the bag turned out way better than I had expected.

I didn’t do the reverse sc as the pattern suggested, instead did regular sc.  I tried the crab stitch, but it didn’t look very good, kind of sloppy with this yarn.  The regular sc border looks very neat.

I really enjoyed the pattern.  It took me 3 days to make it.  One day for each side and one day to knit the gusset, which is roughly 34 inches…or more, I don’t know, didn’t measure the final piece.

The socks are knit with Patons SWS in natural earth colorway.   I really liked the socks that AJ made and so decided to make myself a pair.  I used this pattern (warning, pdf) Easy Worsted Weight Socks.  I used size 8 dpn’s.

The socks are a bit big, but I think of them as “slipper socks.”  They will be perfect when I go visit my parents at the coast and need a warm fuzz pair of socks to put on.  They are thick enough where walking around the house with them on will not put holes in them.

I am still trying to finish my Trekking socks, a drop stitched scarf and a few other random projects.

Angelica Tunic

Pattern: Angelica Sweater
Yarn: Berrocco Cotton Twist
Overall I am happy. It is a bit heavy, but not bad, really. The yarn has a fancy shine to it that is really nice. It was a pain in the but to work with as it splits and the rayon is just very plasticy. I don’t know if that is the right word. I don’t think I will use this yarn again, not sure. I think my body would look better in something not variegated. I have made note of that for any future projects. The low v-neckline actually looks good on me. I don’t know if I like the arms. I love how they bell by the wrist, but I don’t like the bagginess under the armpits. I have looked at the picture of the original pattern and it looks like that is part of the style.

In the future, if I ever decide to make this again, I am going to make a longer waist and modify it so that the armpit isn’t baggy. I love the detail around the keyhole neck. This is the first top I have made for myself. Most all of my knitted and crocheted stuff is always for my kids. I am pretty happy with it. To think I learned to knit a little over a year ago. I am proud of myself. Hopefully I don’t end up being on some “fug board.” I love the Orange and think it is perfect for October-wear.

Pumpkins already!

Here are some pumpkins I made, one crocheted and one knitted. Also, some fabulous “Halloweeen” sock yarn I found at my lys.

Knitted Scarf

Knitted scarf – picture clickable

Pattern: John’s Birthday Scarf from Strings ‘n Things
Yarn: Cascade Quatro 100% WW wool

Needles: Size 6

This is a pattern I tested for Ev. It is a seaman style scarf and the pattern is pretty easy to remember. I think the scarf looks like it has faux cables. Ev knitted hers in a DK cashmere. I didn’t have that yarn, unfortunately. However, my dad has been wanting a scarf that is thicker around the neck and warmer then the last one I made him, so I thought this WW wool would be perfect. It doesn’t have the same drape as cashmere, but honestly I am pretty happy with the scarf. Thanks Ev for letting me test this for you! I hope John had a great birthday.

I might try to get a closeup picture tomorrow, but my camera isn’t working so great.

ps…should be in bed…blah…

oh…and pss…scarf looks blue, huh?

Wool Soy Scarf Finished

Wool Soy Scarf

Pattern: St st with garter boarder

Yarn: Patons SWS Soy Wool Stripes (70% wool 30%soy)
Needles: Size 9

This is the beginning scarf project I am going to present at my interview tomorrow. It can be changed so that the person who can’t get purl will still have a nice garter stitch scarf. The yarn is so easy to work with, it is a real dream. I would love to have a sweater in this yarn.

It is super soft and look at how wonderful those stripes are!

I didn’t get time to work up a crochet project for my interview. I gathered up tons of my knit/crochet stuff to bring in there tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Lied

Rarely it happens, but I lied. I didn’t go to bed like most sane people would do (ps..I never said I was sane, remember I was the “crazycrafter.”) Instead, I got some type of second wind and in the midst of a bad toothache I did the dishes and finished the Jaywalker socks I have been working on.

Thanks again Sara for sending me this gorgeous yarn that you dyed. I absolutely loved knitting these and the colors never bored me, not once. Sometimes I thought the colors reminded me of a Mary Engelbreit Garden. Sometimes it was pure Christmas spirit.

Here is an inprogress picture of a scarf I am test knitting. This is where I was on Sunday. I am a bit further now. School might slow me up a bit, but I should have it finished by this weekend.

Do you ever wish that people would call you and start hounding you to finish your WIP’s? Okay, maybe that is pretty extreme…I guess I am feeling like I need to be accountable in finishing all that I have started.

Socks on my mind

I tried to post a few days ago, but my computer was being strange and kept shutting itself down whenever it felt like.  After some detective work, Tony found out that it was our CPU overheating and in an attempt to save itself it would shut down the computer.  He vacuumed out all of the dust and added more thermal paste and it hasn’t shut down, since.  Yay!

I finished my mom’s socks, here.  

I didn’t block them.   My mom came this weekend, put them on, they fit perfect and she shoved them deep into her bag so she wouldn’t forget them.  Before she left I had her dig them back out for a quick pic.  They are a very simple sock pattern, co of 60 with 2×2 ribbed cuff and short row heel.  My mom likes the fit because she says they will fit in her shoes better.  I like the short row heel.

So, I casted on jaywalker in the yarn that Sara (topperarnold) sent to me.   The yarn reminds me of a spring garden.  When I got to the heel, I decided I liked doing the short row heel over the heel flap and so that is what I did.  I tried the sock on and it is good to go!  There is nothing like getting the heel done and trying the sock on to realize your foot won’t make the corner…nope, nada, not in this case, it is perfect.

Jaywalkers finished

Pattern: Jaywalker, largest size
Needles: size 2

Yarn: Claudia’s Handpainted yarn, color purple haze (which does not photography well.)

The color of these socks are an electric purple and a reddish/orange. There is black in there too and really these socks remind me of lava. I absolutely love this yarn and will be buying more of it one day in the future when I have money again.

I have organized my crafting space and am very happy about it. I put my ball winder to good use and I wound up lots of remnant balls of yarn. I am amazed on how much yarn I have that isn’t a full ball of yarn. These are all from projects that I have finished which didn’t require the whole ball of yarn. I need to think of creative ways to use up this yarn. Maybe I need to try intarsia or something that incorporates various colors of yarn. Also, I have been winding up projects that I started that I won’t finish. Some of these are knitting projects that when I started them I was inexperienced or lacked the right tools so just tried something that I thought would work but didn’t. It is a learning process and I am comfortable with reclaiming the yarn and using it for a project that I am happy with. Also it makes my WIP’s much smaller.
I am not done with my crafting area as I really could use a couple of shelves, but it is a start. My goal right now for this blog and for my knitting/crocheting is to have one finished project per week.

I know some people have more but I think this is something I can manage.

Current WIP:

Clapotis w/ sari silk yarn. (I looked at this and I wound the sari silk into balls and man it is dirty. I am not ready to start working on this. This could be something I don’t look at until after the first of the year, I don’t know.)

Socks – basic ribbed sock pattern

Sweat Pea Shawl – crochet project, near complete but am blah about the yarn choice. It isn’t yarn for me, but maybe someone else will like it.

Angelica Tunic – I have one sleeve to complete and then I need to pull out the bind off of the body and add a few more inches as I think it is too short and needs a longer body for my body type. I have kind of stalled on this as I realized that varigated yarn does not look good on a big body. I should have chosen a color that was a solid color. I plan on finishing this within the next few weeks, whether I like it or not.

Sierra is sick, cough, sore throat, 101 fever. It sucks and has kind of messed up my day today. I know that is selfish but in the past year I have had to cancel more stuff because of her or Madeleine getting sick. It is frusterating. Building better immune systems, right? I think I need to make her wash her hands more often.