Spring Break 2012! March 18, 2012

Our family visited my parents in sunny California for spring break this year!  (Actually, it rained almost the entire time we were there… but it was fun in any case.)  When I visit my mom, I get to work on sewing projects that have been sitting around gathering dust for a while.  This trip, Mom and I finished up this lap quilt for my brother.  The denim is cut from old, worn-out jeans, and the fabric is just something that caught my eye.

The squares are 12″ and the quilting is in channels row-wise, with the diagonals stitched in a pattern, as well.  I also added a couple of details to really make it original: an iguana, a treble clef, and two gold stars:

Tidying the stash February 16, 2012

I’m working on Mom’s second knee-warmer, but it’s drudgery, so I’ve been taking breaks to tidy my stash: de-tangling, rolling, discovering old, forgotten projects.  I stumbled upon these purple granny squares from when my mom taught me to crochet 10 years ago–I still have this yarn and love the colors.  What should I do with them??

Baby Valentines (with owl puns) February 14, 2012

Last week I got a note in the diaper bag–with a list of the names of Ryan’s playmates in the infant room–so that we could bring valentines to daycare today!  He’s 13 months old, so I hadn’t expected to do valentines, yet… But what the heck!  I love a project.

So I picked up a sheet of sparkly owl stickers at Joann’s and scheduled a crafternoon with my friend who owns a Cricut cutter.  It was fun!  I’d never tried a Cricut before.  First we embossed the background hearts, then we cut the hearts and message space for the foreground.  A little glue stick and voila!  Owl valentines.

The finishing touch was my list of owl puns:

• Owl love you!
• Owl be your valentine!
• Whooo will be your valentine?
• You’re a hoot!

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Finished the Sheep Hat February 12, 2012

I finished knitting the sheep hat last night–it’s super cute.  I followed the pattern at gauge, but it looks a little bigger than 6-month size.  At least it’s not too small!

I only used a tiny bit of green and brown from my stash (no need to buy new skeins)–used a good amount of the tweed, though.  My stranded knitting skills could use some work; the legs stick out from the grass.  I guess I was pulling the to hard on the twisting when switching colors.  Fortunately, the puffiness looks good on this project!  I used four different strands for the legs, even though the pattern called for only two.  I didn’t feel comfortable pulling the strand all the way across the center green between rows.

The trinity stitch was a little bit of a pain in the butt, and doesn’t look as cute in the tweed as I think it looked in plain white (in the book).  In the future, I might just knit this hat in stockingette.  (I also saw someone on Ravelry used bobbles!  A good idea.)

In the end, a very cute hat.

Love the neck-warmer hat February 11, 2012

Last week I finished the neck-warmer hat and I LOVE it!  I’ve worn it every day since it’s gotten cold.

I followed the pattern exactly and the hat turned out perfectly.  No need to block.  The striping turned out well despite my previous doubts.  The only bummer is that it took just a tiny bit more than one skein to knit up, so fell just short of a one-skein project with this yarn.  I love how I can wear a ponytail and have my hair hang out of this hat, instead of having a lumpy head.

I want about 15 more of this hat.  Love, love, love it!

Couldn’t resist a new project January 30, 2012

Yeah, I know it’s mega-project-finishing time, but my friend is having a BABY!  In two weeks.  So that’s a good excuse, right? Right?

In any case, I don’t normally derive so much inspiration from a ball of Vanna’s Choice, but look at this color:

It’s called Oatmeal, and I’m super-excited about it because I’ve been thinking of knitting up this Sheep Hat for the new baby and I love the idea of a tweed sheep!!  The baby’s due in February, but the pattern is for a 6-month-size hat; we never know how a baby will grow, so I’ve been thinking all the wool in my stash might be inappropriate, since we don’t know what season baby will fit into the hat.  Hence, the acrylic.  (Yes, it’s ironic to knit a sheep from acrylic.)  And I love the color!  I’m using some wool-ease from my stash for the grass and legs (which, turns out, is only 20% wool, so probably okay for a spring/fall hat, too!).  That’s in this next pic, along with my new and exciting purchase, a Snapware Yarn Tainer!  I’ve wanted to try one of these for a while.  So far, so good.

In a totally unrelated note, I’ve been working on a Christmas cross-stitch for six or seven years now. (!!)  Last November, I finally got excited to finish her up, so I went out to price a custom frame (it’s an odd shape) and found that the cheapest frame at Michael’s–WITH a 60%-off coupon–was going to be $60!!  Unbelievable.

So I lost all inspiration to finish said cross-stitch.  Until last week, when I found a frame that LOOKED properly sized at our local re-use store, Creative Reuse, for $1.  It fits!  I’m going to finish this project, after all! (Well, probably not until closer to Christmas again.  But eventually!)

Still knitting on that cowly hat… Hope to finish in the next few days!

Finished the baby mittens January 21, 2012

I finally finished the baby mittens!  Gosh, they were a drag.  The main problem was the pattern called for worsted weight yarn, I wanted to use DK to match the baby bee hat, and I was too lazy to change the gauge on the pattern!  So, the thinner yarn in combination with the tiny circular knitting meant the needles were constantly falling out of my work… ANNOYING!

They did turn out well, however!  The one change I made to the pattern was to knit the i-cord after the first mitten, so that I could transition directly into the second mitten without cutting the yarn.

Up next: I think I’ll work on my neck-warmer hat.  It’s getting near the end!  I don’t like how the yarn colors have come out–too much dark in the middle–but I’m hoping that more of the lighter colors will come out in the end.