Handmade Christmas, part 2

This post definitely isn't very timely, but seeing how it's posted within one month of Christmas itself, I'll call it a success in my book. :)

Anyway. I made this scarf for my niece, Stephani, as a Christmas/birthday gift. Last year (I think it was), I knitted scarves for my sisters, and my sister Cheryl (Steph's mom) uses hers all the time (yay!). Stephani asked that I make her a red scarf that was similar, so I was glad to. I love anyone that appreciates my handmade gifts!

I wasn't crazy about the yarn that I used -- Lion Brand Homespun -- because it was really splitty to work with, but the finished product turned out really pretty and soft, so that's the important thing. I made the scarf so long, it took almost two complete skeins of yarn! The pattern was just an easy K2, P2 rib, and it turned out plenty squishy but still laid flat.



This marked the end of my Christmas crafting this year. I really wanted to make more, but 2011 was not my best year as far as planning ahead and getting stuff done early. I was working on this project right up until Christmas eve! Next year will be better, I promise!

Finished (a few weeks ago)

I've really been working along on a variety of projects lately, but sadly neglecting my blog. Anyway, here's a look at the entire order of dishcloths I finished a couple weeks ago.







I really had fun making these and have since made two more. And (what is common behavior for me) bought enough cotton yarn for several more. I'm always like "WHEE! So fun! Must knit hundreds of dishcloths, so will buy enough yarn for all of them now!" Then a day later I get distracted by another craft project.

Lending a hand. Or a neck.

I finally finished my latest pair of hand-knit socks - seen here inside this bag and again here when I found them amongst my widely strewn craft projects. They turned out perfect and fit so well! I haven't yet taken a photo of the finished pair, but plan to soon.

Anyway, since I can't seem to go a couple days without starting something new, I am ready to tackle my first knitted shawl. I'm planning to do this one called Cladonia, designed by Kirsten Kapur. I think it is so, so beautiful, but not super dressy, which is perfect for me. I think the stripes make it a bit more casual, but with just enough lace to get your attention.

Before I can really begin though I have to wind my yarn hanks into center-pull balls so they are easier to use. I have a yarn winder, but no swift, so I have found a perfect stand-in.

Martha.



She's the perfect size to hold a hank of yarn, keeping it tangle free while I wind it up. And she is super cuddly and cute as well.

I'm dyeing again!

I'm so happy to report that I've got my dyeing mojo back again! It's been months since I've done any yarn dyeing, mostly due to the fact that I only have one skein of undyed yarn left and I am trying to sell some more of what I've made before I buy more.

But then I actually got around to doing what I've been planning to for ages ... start dyeing some of the yarn I've recycled from sweaters. And with as many of the great sweaters I've found at Goodwill, not very many have been white or cream. So I'm trying to get creative.

My first experiment looks awesome! It's the sleeve from a 100 percent wool medium gray sweater. I am using it like a sock blank. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, thinking that maybe the gray was too dark to allow much color to be noticed. It's lovely though ... a heathery rainbow. I have another I dyed very similarly, but it's still pretty wet. I can't wait until this one dries all the way so I can measure the length of the yarn (I also got around to making a homemade niddy-noddy this weekend - it's about time) and then put it into a center-pull cake. And then find a project to make. Yay! The last time I dyed sweater sleeves into sock blanks, I got both socks out of one arm, so I'll be interested to see how this one works out.





p.s. I also found the Ziploc bag that contains my one green rainbow sock and the yarn for the other. I have been looking for it for a while, thinking it was a lost cause.

In progress

In an effort to blog more often (did you notice it hasn't been over a month?), I'm going to try to post more projects that are in progress, rather than waiting until everything is finished. Heck, even if I posted all completed projects rather than posting about every fifth one it would help make my blog more interesting.

So anyway, in honor of Sock Saturday (ha, I love alliteration!), here's a pair of socks that are half-finished. These are Sheri's Posies Socks from the book "Socks From the Toe Up" and are made out of my own hand-painted yarn.

I had to temporarily put these aside because I misplaced my copy of the pattern. I have since started another pair of socks because I was in the mood to knit. And then I promptly found the pattern to these. Oh well. I hope to get back to these shortly and avoid the dreaded SSS (Second Sock Syndrome).







I love knitting socks! And wearing hand-knit socks is so awesome.

Quilt and sock progress

Remember this quilt?



Well, I finally went out and bought backing and binding fabric for it. All of the top is made from charm packs from the Wonderland line by Momo. When I bought those, though, I didn't buy any backing fabric. It was kind of hard to find a coordinating fabric that I liked, since the colors are kind of muted, but I picked these up at Joann's. The aqua is for the back, the dark brown w/ polka dots is for the binding.



When I was visiting my parents over Easter, my mom even helped me get it pinned. If only I could motivate myself to get the quilting started.

On the knitting front, I finished a pair of socks! I finished sock two from the pair that I posted about previously. Check out the finished product - definitely cankle friendly!



It was weird how they knitted up. The yarn pooled quite differently from foot to foot.

Left:



And right:



And that is just a small tidbit of my exciting craft adventures. More coming!

She lives!

So have you ever gone so long without posting to your blog that you're almost embarrassed to post again?

Me neither.

Yeah, so I'm back. Obviously quite a bit of time has passed since my previous post, but I'm not going to dwell on that. I don't feel like going into a long explanation about everything that has happened in the last month (at least not right now), so I'll just post a few random thoughts and then try to do a better post soon.

- MRI and appointment with the neurosurgeon didn't go great, but not horrible. Just more confirmation that I am pretty much broken for life and there isn't anything surgically that can be done to help. The good part of this news is that I'm not getting a lot worse, and therefore don't need another surgery to fix a new problem. Kind of a glass half empty & half full at the same time. I haven't seen my pain management doctor since those appointments, but I have one scheduled on Monday. It will be interesting to see what she suggests for the next step.

- I turned 35. I am old. And feeling old. It's weird to think I am almost twice the age of the college freshmen on campus. No wonder I got called ma'am the other day in the elevator. Egads.

- I got a really cool wall decal at Target today. It's all black and is a leafless tree with lots of birds in it. I really like it and have stuck it on the wall by my bed. I think it's crooked though, so I will have to try to rearrange it tomorrow. I also hope it doesn't give me any nightmares a la "The Birds." That was a creepy movie.

- I am trying to decide if I want look for another place to live. One of the windows in my apartment leaks pretty seriously. It's been leaking for years and I've been complaining about it for years. The apartment management refuses to do what it takes to fix it for good. I said I may not re-up my lease if they don't promise to take care of it, but so far that's not really helping. I've been living here for almost 5 years though and don't really want to move. I like the location & some of the apartment features. It's really hard to find what I need (2 bed & 1.5-2 bath) with a W&D that also is wheelchair accessible. Just because units are on the ground floor doesn't always make them OK for me.

- I am so looking forward to spring! I love springtime.

- I bought an awesome bright-colored big umbrella today at Target! I have a normal-sized one, but when it rains I am always forced to make a decision to keep one half or the other of me dry. Sitting in the rain = more body surface to protect. I got drenched Thursday afternoon when I was out waiting for the bus for about 40 minutes in a downpour. I was putting off getting a new umbrella because I wanted something cute and really didn't want to get a big umbrella that wouldn't fold down. Luckily I found a really pretty golf-size one that collapses to the same size as a regular umbrella. It also has a carrying loop so I can just loop it on the back of my wheelchair and take it with me easily. Nice!

- My mom has been visiting, but is going to leave tomorrow. :( I love my mom - she's the best. It's been nice to have company in the evenings.

- I've been completely yarn obsessed lately. I have been knitting like crazy and have been experimenting with dyeing my own yarn. It's so fun! Right now there are two skeins sitting in the kitchen - one is a big skein of lace weight yarn dyed in reds & pinks that I heated in the crockpot and another is a skein of fingering weight dyed in pink, red, green & blue that I heated up in the microwave. Last weekend I dyed two other skeins. The first was a really ugly worsted weight wool that I ordered on the Internet that REALLY didn't look like it did in the picture! It was cheap though, so that's the only upside.

Here's the before:



During:



After:





That was overdyed with berry blue & grape Kool-Aid and a little bit of sky blue Wilton's food coloring gel. I'm calling if Forest Moss. (Did I ever mention that I'm obsessed with moss?)

Here's the sock yarn (this started with a white superwash wool (with a bit o' nylon):

During:



After:





That one had a lot of different flavors of Kool-Aid, including lemon lime, strawberry watermelon, lemonade, orange and either cherry or fruit punch. I can't remember. I named this colorway Rainbow Sherbet.

- And speaking of dyed yarns, when I went to ball up that green and brown dyed yarn, it tangled to an extreme. It took me FOUR hours to get it untangled and rolled up. It's lucky I didn't throw it in the trash.

- I'm also continuing to push myself to learn more knitting techniques and I am so glad. I made my first sock last week! I decided to look for a pattern I could do in worsted weight because I thought it might be easier & quicker than trying something with uber tiny needles and skinny yarn. Reading the instructions was kind of confusing, but I just jumped in and it started to make sense. Now I just have to make the second one! (It is weird shaped in the photo, but it actually fits pretty normally.)

Armed with a new camera

Thanks to my sweet husband, I once again have a functioning digital camera! Yay, much excitement on the home (and craft!) front.

I've been busily crafting away and getting much done, including finishing some projects. It's such a great feeling to be able to step back and know that something is finally finished, especially after it's been hanging over my head for a while.

I was so happy to finish the My So-Called Scarf with the beautiful yarn I bought when I was visiting my sister in Illinois. I finished it about 3 or 4 weeks ago, but of course, I'm the laziest blogger ever!

I've loved this pattern for months, but seriously thought it was way beyond my skill level. After I figured out the stitch pattern, it didn't even take that long to make. The yarn was awesome to work with, I just wish I had more of it since I love long scarves. I really couldn't justify buying two skeins though!

While I do not like thinking of cold weather coming back, I'm kinda looking forward to wearing my scarf.

Who knew - I had a productive weekend

So not only did I finish my orange quilt this weekend, but I finished my latest knitting project, a scarf I've been ogling for months.

I bought the yarn, a Noro Taiyo skein, while I was visiting my sister a couple weeks ago. I knew what I wanted to make before I even picked it out, and just hoped there was enough to get a decent length scarf. I could have used another skein just to make it longer, since I am a fan of long scarves, but I couldn't justify spending that much money for a scarf. It was hard enough to shell out the money for one skein, but I adore it so much!

Ugh, I miss my camera so much! In lieu of a real photo, here's links to the scarf pattern and the yarn that I got (and the shop I went to!). It was awesome to get into the yarn shop, since the one here in town has steps. :(

This is a link to the pattern I used, and here is the yarn I bought.

Too bad it's too warm to wear it! Maybe by the time it's cold out again, I'll have figured out how to do a hat or mittens.

Valentine's Day inspiration

Happy Valentine's Day! I love this holiday ... I love the flowers, the candy, the colors red and pink, the cute cards and all the cheesiness that goes along with it.

After finally finishing the Christmas/Valentine's Day scarf for my sweetie, I've been wanting to try something more challenging than basic scarves. I really have never made anything more complicated and was kind of worried about having to keep track of a pattern and/or counting, since I am a notorious multitasker, usually watching TV, being online and crafting at the same time.

But, I just finished my first project from a pattern - a dishcloth with a heart pattern on it, just in time for the holiday. I was hoping to start some dishcloths earlier in the week, because I thought they would be a good way for me to practice more complicated designs without getting sucked into something that would take forever to make. When I started looking at patterns though, they all suggest all-cotton yarn, of which I don't have. :( I was bummed, but figured I would buy some while at Wal-Mart last night. I bought four skeins there, two in a red, pink and white scheme, two in black, white and gray.

I was able to finish one dishcloth in less than one skein, so they end up being cheap and quick. I think they will look better in a plain color, especially the ones that have designs on them. I did find one skein of plain white cotton, so I'll use that for my next one - a Snoopy design! I was so psyched to find a pattern online and also to find a Woodstock one. I can't wait to try those.

I am so getting ready to take a nap now ... I have the worst headache. Even my scalp hurts when I pull my hair back, and that's a challenge not to do, since I almost always do that.

At Wal-Mart I also found the perfect fabric for a quilt I was thinking about making, so that made me happy. I'm trying to decide on a pattern now.