Craftiness

Work in Progress: Brownstone

20150101-brookstoneAs mentioned in my last post, I’ve made sufficient progress on my Brownstone sweater that I’ve reached the end of the first 10 skeins of yarn purchased for the project. (I also ran into a problem that involved unknitting and reknitting 10 rows or so, but I’m now back at the ‘ready to start the next bag of yarn’ state.) This seemed like a reasonable time to provide a new status photo, complete with Smaug for scale.

The sleeves (knit first) have been joined to the body. There are, however, no shoulders yet. Those will be coming up very soon, after a few more rounds of stockinette. (I do find it somewhat distressing that, at this late point in the game, I’m still only on page 7 of 12 the pattern.)

This won’t be my first finished project of 2015, though. The Flore should be finished up this weekend. (Pictures once it’s complete.)

“Don’t ever buy ninja yarn.”

20141231-yarn_ninja

(The only image I could find for ninja yarn was an animated GIF, which didn’t work well here. So, instead of ninja yarn, you get a yarn ninja.)

A few days ago, I was working on the sweater, and was reaching the end of my skein when I realized that I was actually reaching the end of of the first bag of yarn I bought for the project. The following conversation happened on IRC. (more…)

Ask the Knitters: Which yarn should I get?

20141229-sanquhar_cowlI posted about the Sanquhar Cowl by Wendy D. Johnson a while back. Even though I’ve been obsessing about it ever since, it hasn’t hit my needles yet, for two reasons. First, I’ve been working on other projects. Second, I haven’t had the available funds for the yarn. Well, progress is definitely being made on the existing projects, so the first reason may not be a factor any more. And, some wonderful friends gave me a gift card to WEBS for Christmas, so I may be able to afford a bit of a yarn shopping spree.

I’ve narrowed down the yarn options to three potentials, and now I’m stuck.

This is where you come in. (more…)

Work in Progress: Flore: Sad panda edition.

Hark! Meaningful milestone! All of the knitting is now complete!

20141226-flore_progress

Smaug has, at this point, had just about enough of being a hat model. Sauron and Toothless find the entire process endlessly amusing.

Unfortunately, I think I discovered an error in the pattern. Furthermore, I didn’t discover it until it was going to be remarkably difficult to go back and fix the issue. So, the hat does not look right. Sad panda. (more…)

Work in Progress: Flore Hat

I’ve spent the day knitting and watching movies. Careful observers might note that this is not fundamentally different from any of my other days off, really. (Except, of course, for the lovely lovely presents sent by G’s family, all of which are going to be put to good and frequent use.)

Smaug is no longer certain that he wishes to play a role in the hat display process. Sauron, on the other hand, is pondering a tower cozy.

Work in Progress » Flore.

Insomnia + knitting == more progress on Flore! Third segment (out of five, including the ‘cap and stem’) complete.

I had to change dragons because Toothless was getting lost in the hat. That, and Smaug was getting chilly.

Work in Progress: Flore.

Despite the migraine, the hip pain, and the weird sleep patterns, progress has been made on the Flore hat.

Saturday was not a success.

From a purely “getting things done” standpoint, I cannot really call Saturday a success. After a generally quiet and lazy morning around the house, G and I ventured out into the (rainy) world with three goals: get lunch, mail 2 packages at the post office, and go to Target for prescriptions and a few basic groceries.

(Y’all see where this is going, right?) (more…)

Such pretty colors!

While the sweater is still going strong, I’ve reached the point on the body where every other row is p200, which takes forever. So, to break up the tedium, I’ve case on a new project, a ridiculously cute hat. I’m knitting this for a friend whose hands aren’t so happy with the idea of knitting anymore, but who wants to give this hat to her daughter. Proxy hands to the rescue! (more…)

Speaking of learning new skills, and a question for the people who sew.

In addition to pondering an adventure in intarsia, I think I’m going to take another sewing class. This time, I’ve got my eye on how to connect a zipper to fabric without 1) sewing the zipper shut, and 2) sewing myself to the fabric. (Lofty goals, but a girl can dream.)

For the people out there who aren’t sewing challenged: What are some good “My First Sewing Project” projects that I could tackle? I foresee making more tote bags, and probably some drawstring project bags (sewing for knitting, like that wasn’t predictable). Clothes are probably right out for quite some time. Pillow cases? That seems boring, but good skill-building for that whole ‘straight line’ thing, I guess.