One Stitch at a Time

It's been a little while.  I needed to take some time away from blogging over my semester break to take care of my family.  I finished one Christmas gift over break, but neglected to take any pics of it.  Other than that I've been working on a few random projects, mostly of the portable variety.

Earlier in my break I had been searching some sweater patterns on Ravelry and then several blogs and searches later I found some beautiful images of granny square afghans.  

I also had some scrap yarn all sitting next to each other in these pinks and mauves and browns that looked really pretty together.  Thus, another project was born.

Of course, I have had to buy a bit more filler yarn to pull it together and to ensure I had enough.

They're REALLY addicting.  

I've been carrying this basket with me all over the house in my free moments, trying to whip up just one more... I've got quite a stack going at the moment.

I'm hoping this will be an easy project to just work on a little at a time, whenever I can get to it.  On Monday I start my last semester of school and between classes (including my master's project), a new assistantship, my internship and my family I am really not sure how exactly I'm going to pull it all off.  I think I will probably working basically 6 days a week to pull it all off.

So if you don't hear from me much over the next few months you know why. 

Little Red Sweater

This sweet little number was another ravelry find.  It's the Chevron Lace Cardigan and the pattern was free.  And for you die-hard knitters out there - don't freak out - it's crochet. 

Generally, I think that knitting makes for prettier stitches, particularly for clothing.  But I have to say that I love this pattern.  In fact, after finishing this one for myself I made a couple other version for kids which I'll share in later posts.  I actually haven't been knitting for all that long, but I've been crocheting for a loooooong time.  It was the first craft I really took to for no particular reason that it was the first one that I really learned well enough to read patterns.  At any rate, when I found this pattern on ravelry I was hooked (ha!) since I am WAY faster at crochet than knitting.


I used Bernat Satin in red.  I've been trending away from acrylic yarn in general, but I really loved this particular shade of red and I made the sweater because I needed more red in my wardrobe because I have a couple pairs of red earrings that I had nothing in particular to wear with.

Anyway, it was a fairly straight-forward pattern... top down construction and easy instructions.  I made it in the 42 inch bust size and it fits nicely (I'm generally a medium).

I went for the gold buttons because they worked best with the earrings I was trying to get more use out of.  I love the collar on this sweater...

I'll be linking this up at Met Monday and a bunch of other awesome link parties...  go ahead, check 'em out! 

Gaia shrug in Kashmira

This was a very rewarding little project.  I found this pattern on ravelry... it's the Gaia shrug.  I have to admit that I didn't buy the pattern... I looked at it generally got the idea of what she'd done and just took a chance.

I used three skeins of Kashmira yarn by Sensations held together.  I really like this yarn - it almost has a springy quality to it.  It isn't quite as lacey as the original is, but it has a lovely drape all the same and wears really well.  I knocked this out in two days on vacation and would definitely make another in a heartbeat.  Fast and easy.

I crocheted the decorative edge, basing it off another pattern I have.  It's super cute on and a pretty flexible piece.  I've worn it alternately over a tank top and a long sleeve t-shirt, depending on the weather and found it comfy either way.  Love it!

I'll be linking this up at Met Monday and a bunch of other awesome link parties...  go ahead, check 'em out! 

Basketweave Knit for Baby

This little number is where the bulk of my spare minutes in July were directed.  I carried it with me back and forth to school or whenever I went somewhere that I wasn't driving and would relax to a few rows in the evenings.

I came up with a fairly straight forward basketweave knit pattern and did the borders in a seed stitch. 

I used size 9 circular needles (36" because of the size of it) and Sensations Simplicity yarn in Cream (3 big skeins). 

It's a little bigger than a square yard and it turned out super soft.  I'm kinda in love with it.  It has a lovely drape to it and it washed perfectly.  And the project really turned me back onto knitting, not least of which because it seems easier to steal a couple of minutes here and there and on the fly with my schedule than it is to get into my sewing room.

This one is also for a boy, but hasn't been gifted yet, so I can't say more than that.  Can't wait to get it in the mail!  I'm linking this up to lots of the fab parties in my Link Parties tab, including Met Monday!

Wading in W.I.P.s

Five weeks into summer and I am just hitting my creative stride.  And I am up to my ears in W.I.P.s.  

Urban Utility II has been sitting around for the moment.

I plan on giving this lifeless sweater dress a face lift.

The as-of-yet unnamed art quilt is in a holding pattern because I need to basically take everything off from this point and start adhering the bigger pieces to the fabric so I can start sewing them down.

My top secret handmade gift exchange project is in the works.

And this is a sneak peak at a project for my son that I will hopefully be able to post later this week.

And this... *GASP* ... is what my sewing room looks like at the moment and that's a problem (BTW, don't start cleaning and reorganizing unless you can do it all in one shot because walking back in on this is daunting). 

It's a problem because I start class again tomorrow.  And I should have a minimum of 200 pages of reading and a paper to write every week.  And my internship is about to ramp up in hours.  And not yet on my WIP list is the 400 baby quilts I need to make for all the pregnant women in my life.  And the only thing I want to do right now is anything on that WIP list and NOT the readings I am supposed to be doing for the first day of class tomorrow. 

Ugh.

Scrappy Afghan

I finished my son's afghan last week, but am just now getting the time to post it.

It turned out to be a great stash-buster and my son loves it.  

He's had this Spongebob blanket that has been his comfort blanket since his first birthday and as soon as I finished this one he decided that he wanted this one with him at night instead.  Quite an honor, let me tell you.  :)

I just love the way all the random colors came together.  Looking at all that leftover yarn I really didn't think it would turn out as nicely as it did.

And since it's all acrylic yarn it washes beautifully and is surprisingly soft.

Update:  You can find more about the pattern I used to crochet it here.  Basically, it's a (slip stitch followed by a double crochet) repeated all the way across one row; then you double crochet in every slip stitch and slip stitch in every double all the way across the next row.  And repeat!

I'll be linking this up to a few of the great parties in my Link Parties tab as well as Met Monday!

An Update on Life and Projects

A couple weeks ago I decided I would crochet a blanket for my son that would use up all of my worsted weight scrap yarn.  Here is where I am at with it so far.

Lately, school has been pretty intense and it looks like it will remain that way through this semester.  Originally I planned on basically closing down the blog until May, but I think for now I will leave it up.  I just don't have the time to craft like I would like, but that said I do have projects in the works and things to share.  I just won't be able to post quite as often and will have to rely on scheduled posts and older projects I haven't shared.  And I also expect that finished projects will be few and far between over the next few months.

At any rate, this is a nice low maintenance project that is a great use of yarn that wasn't going anywhere.  The pattern from an old Leisure Arts crochet pattern book of mine called Afghans on the Double.  All of the patterns in the book are based on using two balls of yarn at the same time.  For this afghan I am just using one at a time because I don't need it to be super big.  The pattern is called "Fireside Throw."

I have one other Leisure Arts crochet book and they are basically how I taught myself to crochet when I was in college.  The back of each book has detailed pictures explaining each stitch which made it super easy to teach myself.

By the way, the reason I have time to post today is because most of Chicago looks something like this...

Even adults enjoy a good old fashioned snow day once in a while...

Hat & Scarf

I finished the hat that I knit to go with this scarf... now I have a set!

No pattern.  I just looked at a bunch of patterns of hats and just sort of winged it.  At one point I realized it was going to be too huge so I had to go out back and rip out a few rows to reduce it, but now it fits me perfectly.  It just covers my ears and fits loosely enough that it doesn't destroy my hair for the rest of the day.

Love, love, love this yarn.  I have one ball of it left.  Still not sure what I'm going to do with it...

Knit Cowl

  

So I've been a little behind with blogging lately, but here is the cowl that I knit up with that lovely Spring Garden hand spun yarn I bought from Zibeline Knits.

I love the way it turned out.

No pattern, as usual.  Just knit in the round on circular needles, size 15.

Just love the texture and feel of this yarn.  Couldn't be happier with it.  And not only is Keya's yarn fabulous, but she's got a great blog too.

Ruffly Scarf

I finished this ruffly scarf that I started for myself.  I made a matching hat for it as well, but haven't had a chance to get pictures of it yet. 

I found this yarn at a knitting shop in Breckenridge, Colorado and it was love at first sight.  I'll get picks of the finish set soon.  I may even knit up a pair of wrist warmers too... I think I might have just enough left.