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! 

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...

For the Love of Wool

After months of drooling over the amazing yarns in Keya's shop, I finally broke down and made a purchase from Zibeline Knits.  Don't you love her labels?  The top yarn is a sock weight yarn called Marina.  I plan on knitting a scarf, hat, and socks for Kenny from them after the holidays.

Love the colors...

And this one is called Spring Garden.  I am swooning over it.  I love the combination of the yellow and deep periwinkle blue.  The wool came straight from the sheep, then she spun it and dyed it.  This type of thick and thin yarn is my favorite... they produce such beautiful textures.

When I was done winding it into a ball that I could knit with, I noticed my hands had a fine layer of lanolin on them.  I wish I could afford to knit with such pure wool all the time.

It will probably become a scarf sometime after the holidays, although I'm still thinking about it.  At this point, my craft room is stacked with Christmas gift projects.  I hope to post an update on those in the next couple days - it'll probably make for a long post.  :)

A Feature, Some Fabric and a Future Felt

My button jewelry was featured over at Pinkapotamus today!  Thank you!  Amie Ann started a new Monday party a few weeks ago... you should check it out.  I added her super cute button to my Features page...

I also keep forgetting to mention that I actually won something from the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  HOORAY and super huge thanks to Amy for hosting the festival!  I won a $20 gift certificate to Pink Chalk Fabrics.  It's a lovely online fabric store and I have to admit that I've been struggling to decide just what I want.  I think I will probably get 4 charm packs of this fabric collection...

It's called Dream On by Urban Chiks and I kinda like it.  It's sort of retro/happy/sweet and the colors are great.  I think with four packs I could make a decent sized quilt with some sashing or something... what do you think?

I've been tossing around lots of ideas for quilts lately, but have had no time to make any serious progress in that department and won't for a few more weeks.  Ugh.  But I have finally acquired all of the things I need to get started on my Christmas tutorial for Haul Out the Holly.  Now I just have to carve out a little more time...

And I have made some progress on my felting project.

Clearly, it's not felted yet, but it will be one day.  I still need to make it about 3 times the size it is now.  My intention is to make a messenger bag styled back pack.  After I make this one big long piece, I will felt it, sew on some sides, add a lining and straps and some buttons and hopefully it'll all work out.  I'm positive that doesn't make any sense without a pic, but I have to get back to paper writing so a sketch will have to wait.  It looks great in my head!  :)  LOL.

Dining Room Update

My dining room is coming together. After the walls got a couple coats of "spiced butternut" paint, some fresh artwork, a new chandelier and a new table centerpiece, I have to say that my dining room is coming together splendidly.

Here is the only before picture I could find, just to give you an idea of what I was starting with. The day we painted, I took some "before" shots of both my dining room and kitchen so I could use them in posts, but they managed to get deleted from my camera prior to getting them onto my computer. :( So much for big plans, eh?

Here is the same shot taken this morning...

You can see that I also changed the direction the table was sitting... it really helped to open up the room. Here are a few more pics...

The pitcher and goblets are the same ones that I picked up at the thrift store the day I found the vintage chandelier. A great day at the thrift store, if you ask me.

I really don't think I can express in words how happy my new chandelier makes me. :)

I decided to crochet the flowers in the vase. That way I could both have total control over the colors I was adding to the room and also I think the crochet look ties in with the 60's glassware and chandelier. If anyone out there wants the pattern for the flowers, just holler and I will write it up you.

Here are a couple shots of the room at night.

I still have some more plans for the room though. I have an idea in mind for making placemats and a tablerunner. My mother-in-law also has a set of dishes that should go perfectly on my new table... can't wait to get the rest of it together.

May I introduce you to...

Gloria, the glorious hippopotamus! Gloria enjoys '80's music, frolicing at her lakeside retreat, and holding her breath for long periods of time.

She also enjoyed a brief and glamorous modeling career, but has since then decided to leave that all behind her to enjoy a more humble position in childcare.

And I have to say I am officially "hooked" on amigurumi.