Friday, September 30, 2005

Isn't she just too cute?

Just had to share this picture of my sister's cute little pup Emi. Like the collar? Her "auntie" made it for her!

Monday, September 26, 2005

This is getting bad...

My obsession with knitting lately has increased. Maybe it's that I'm finally moving on from rectangular forms or perhaps that I have a craft room now, and more time on my hands (don't ask me how). But this weekend I finished a hat in one night and one wrist warmer the other. Of course I don't have pictures yet, so I'll have to add those later, but for now, here are the patterns I used. I've taken a short break on the Blackberry. It's going pretty fast, but I'm used to super fast projects and have a case of knitting ADD lately. I used the brown chunky Red Heart yarn I originally got for the sweater for the ribbon cloche I gave to my sister for her Birthday. She looks really cute in it!

I'm using my Knit Picks kool-aide dyed wool for these cabled wrist warmers and hopefully will have enough left over to make a matching button neck warmer as well. Today at the bus stop was pretty cold. I'll need these soon.

Update on the Phildar Sweater:
Dang I just wrote this and then it deleted it! Oh well. Basically I've decided to make my own pattern (my first time!) since it's only in French, I have no money to get it right now and I want it (I'll share the pattern if it works out)! So I downloaded a sample of the Knitware program, plugged all my information into it and I think it's going to work! The only thing now is to figure out exactly what kind of a stitch it is. It might be a mesh stitch or a lace ribbing, but since the lace pattern looks to be lined up I might try something like k2, *yo, k2tog* with a kWS over an even number of stitches. I'm working on knitting up a sample right now, so we'll see how that goes. I might have to go back to the library to look up more stitches. Thanks for everybody's comments!

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Sweater Obsessed

Ok, so now that I've finished a sweater (well a mini one) it's all I want to do now! Here's a picture of the finished minisweater from Glampyre. Again it didn't turn out exactly as I was hoping, but I still like it, and I wore it last night to Institute!



So now I've started on the Blackberry. I've frogged at least three times now, but I think I've finally figured out what I'm doing. I changed the yarn I'm using to a worsted weight on size 10.5 US needles because I want it to be more of a snug shrug. I'm doing the size small (which when done with the chunky yarn was HUGE) and I figure if it's a little too small I can block it into a bigger shape or just add more ribbing around the edges, since that's what makes it meet in the front anyway! So here's the progress on that so far, I started with the sleeves this time since I was anxious to do the cables:



I've already got a few projects lined up that I'd love to do, all sweaters of course. The top of the list is this gorgeous open knit scoop neck sweater from Phildar, but the problem is the pattern is in French and mine isn't so great anymore... There are other great patterns in the magazine so I think it might be worth it to buy it if I could decipher how to do it.


It's the one on the left.

I also really want to do this hat and this sweater from Vogue Knitting.

I went to the library yesterday and photocopied a bunch of pages in knitting books of different stitches (who knew there were so many things you could do with k,p, yo, etc.!?) and some patterns. So basically I've been a little obsessed lately, but hey if it keeps me away from the mall I'm all for it!

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Bottlecap Books

Here are photos of the Bottlecap books I made for the final project in my Beginning Letterpress class last semester. It's an edition of 50, so I have about 30 left still, they will be up for sale when I have finished assembling them. I'm really happy with how they turned out.



Monday, September 19, 2005

I am a knitting machine...

Since I've moved into my new place and gotten a "craft room" I've been one crafty person. The minisweater is off the needles! I'm not 100% happy with it and am still trying to figure out what to wear under it, but I'm glad it's done. It seems to fit a little strangely. The top of the neck is really close and tight, but then the bottom is too loose and gapes in the back. I overlapped the front just a bit to make up for this, but it isn't helping much. The sleves are also quite interesting, maybe my yarn it too thin and it's made it a little too drapey. I finished it before my blind date on Friday night and was going to wear it, but then couldn't figure out what to wear under it. So it's going to be just a bit before I find the right shirt to go under it and can wear it. But maybe sometime this week I'll get some pictures taken.

Blackberry is on the needles, but now I'm thinking of frogging... I have the back done and am going to move onto the sleves next, just for fun. It's going really fast, but it's also getting really thick. This chunky yarn is *really* chunky. It would make a great substitute for a jacket, but I want something soft and moveable, so I might get some thick worsted weight yarn and try that. Or I could do what someone in the KAL did and frog a thrift store sweater. $1.99 for all the yarn for your project is a GREAT deal! Since it's just a brown blob right now I didn't take any pictures, but maybe when I figure out what yarn I want to use I'll do a picture update.

Other crafty plans include cutting out my pirate costume. Horray for Halloween, I'm going to be a purple pirate! I want to have a big Halloween party at my new place this year and am planning on having a rockin' costume. I'm using this Butterick pattern:



I got some really great dark purple fabric for the vest that has gold "embroidery" on it and then some perfectly matching satin for the skirt. I think it will be a fun costume.

I'm also planning on making a duct tape dummy of myself instead of buying an expensive dressform. My sister is going to help tape me up this weekend while her husband is at the football game. 3 hours in a tight duct tape dress is going to be exciting... but it will definitely be worth it since it will help so much in fitting. Maybe I can even fix my Jane Austen dress! I think it will be really helpful to have a dummy of myself. There are some great tutorials on this site, with a few different ways to do it.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Allmost a sweater

I've almost finished my minisweater from Glampyre. Last night I finished the body and almost finished one sleve. I just have to seam the right sleve and then do the left and I'm done. I misread the dirrections and had to undo a few rows, but it didn't do any harm, I just hate putting stitches back on the needle after frogging. It's a little gape-y in the back like a lot of peoples, but I figure I can just overlap the front a bit with the button and that might make it better. Oh yeah, gotta get a button.

I was planning on starting another One Skien Wonder, this time in yellow, and I'm planning on doing a little bit bigger size this time, but instead I think I'm going to start Blackberry from the new fall Knitty!




This is such a cute sweater/wrap and it will be more appropriate for the winter months we're going into. Just need to find a good substitute yarn and get started! I'm thinking either KnitPicks Sierra or Lion Brand Wool Ease Chunky. Need to go to the LYS and see what looks best. Oh yeah, this will also be my first time doing cables, I'm a little scared, but after reading this great tutorial, I think I can handle it. I'm not going to do the bobbles on the sleeves though, I'm not a "bobble" person. I started a KAL on Craftster if anyone wants to join!

Monday, September 12, 2005

Harry Potter Rocks!

Well you can almost rock out to it now, thanks to iPod. Oh, how I want this...



How cool would a Hogwarts iPod be?


In other iPod news, they've discontinued the iPod mini (how could you do this to me?) and have relased the new iPod Nano. Looks awesome, scratch that, gorgeous! I'm glad I got a pinkish/purple one while they made them, but tiny and a color screen? How can I resist?!

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Katrina Disaster Relief



The crafters of the web are coming together to raise money to donate to the Red Cross! Your help is needed in this venture by purchasing the items donated to the online craft store Etsy. Please visit the store and help the victims of Katrina.

Crafters United