Jelly Roll Race Quilt!

I broke in my sewing machine!

I've been obsessed with this pin for a few weeks. It seemed easy enough- buy a Jelly Roll (precut quilting pieces measuring 2.5" by 44"), sew ends together to make a long strip, fold strip in half & sew down the long edge, repeat fold/sew a few times & voila! Quilt top!

I headed to Fabric.com in search of a Jelly Roll that would make a good quilt for the soldier. I'm headed up north to visit him in a couple weeks and needed a housewarming present. He's very encouraging of me & my crafty ways. Plus, his mom is a seamstress, so a quick quilt seems like a great idea. I searched and fell in love with Bali Pops Blueberry.

I got it a couple days ago and in the few hours I wasn't at the hospital visiting my aunt, I made this:

Not too shabby! Now I just need to get some batting & backing fabric from Joann's tomorrow. I thought about doing a "frame" kinda thing around it to make it bigger, but it's a pretty decent size so I think it's fine. Not like Queen size, but a good wrap-around-yourself-on-the-couch size. 

Yay! What have you been making lately? Any quilt finishing tips for me?

Yarn Along: Vite Cowl

Yarning Along with Ginny

I fell in love with Vite Cowl but, of course, I'm on a stash down and didn't have any super bulky yarn, so I had to improvise. I'm holding THREE skeins of Knit Picks City Tweed DK together. The yarn is soft but not too fluffy. Holding it three together makes for a nice squishy cowl so I'm really happy. I also felt pretty awesome bringing home size 13 needles. I even found 14 inch ones because the 10 inchers seemed out of proportion and those kind of things bother me. This led to an interesting conversation with my father.

Dad: "What on earth?!"
Me: "They're very large knitting needles."
Dad: "For knitting very large things?"
Me: "Well.... for knitting with very thick yarn. Or... you know... to prepare myself for the zombie apocalypse."
Dad: "Oh. Are they silver?"
Me: "You're thinking of vampires."
Dad: "I thought vampires were a wooden stake through the heart."
Me: "They are... but also silver bullets. I think zombies you just cut off the head or something."
Dad: "Cut off the head? Wouldn't they just be headless zombies chasing you around anyway?"
Me: "Hmmm... maybe."
Dad: "Well maybe they won't chase you because you knitted them a very warm hat with your gigantic vampire killing needles."
Me: "Yes. Of course."

The First Book Of Modern Knitting has nothing to do with the cowl nor zombies. I really love the Azalea Design and plan to make a baby blanket out of it. It's one of those projects I plan to hold on to for my sister's first... or maybe my first... or in this particular case I might also be willing to give it up as a baptism present should anyone pick me to be a godmother. In any case, I keep reading through it, loving all the designs and contemplating my stash to see if there's something I can use to make it now or if I'll treat myself post-stash down to the perfect yarn for it. We shall see.

What's on your needles today?

Yarn Along: Secret Project

Joining Ginny for her Yarn Along

I have a secret project going. It's one of those "Oh my gosh! I didn't think this would be needed so quickly!" kind of gifts. I wish I could say what it was and who it's for and why I'm so excited I could burst, but I can't. 

Thankfully, I had already purchased the yarn in anticipation of one day maybe needing to make this particular gift for someone very special. 

We find out tomorrow if this gift is actually needed. Stay tuned for possibly very exciting news.

Yarn Along: Hippo Hat & Gonna Be A Movie Read

LOOK! I'm posting early for Ginny's Yarn Along!

I'm making a hat for my little friend G. She turned one year old today, so I'm a little late, but I'll call it a Valentine gift. :) Designing as I go, but I hope it looks like a hippo face. I don't know what's wrong with me lately, but I had to redo this hat 3 times before I got a size that I liked. Frustrating.

I ordered The Knitting Circle after I read that Katherine Heigl is going to be in the HBO movie. I don't always love her movie choices, but I do love Katherine. I'm LOVING this book. It's speaking to me in ways I didn't expect and making me think about my knitting and mourning in new ways. While reading it I realized after Mom died I started crocheting LIKE MAD and then taught myself to knit and haven't stopped. Now it's a really weird day if I don't knit or crochet for at least a little while... and often it's for hours at a time. 

Meanwhile, the support the people in the knitting circle give each other is reminding me a lot of my "home" Ravelry group. The Organized Knitting Club may only meet online, but we've bonded really well. It's a pretty awesome group and it's been so great getting to know them while also using my stash and feeling more productive. YAY!

WIP Wednesday- The Wall

I've missed a few weeks, but it's Wednesday and time for Ginny's Yarn Along.

So that means I'm supposed to show you what I've been working on, right? Ok. Are you ready?

Are you sorry you asked? 

I've hit something of a wall, people. I wish I could be like The Bloggess & steadily blog through depression, but my weeks of relatively silence suggest otherwise. I have, instead, tried to knit my way through it but my propensity toward crafting ADD has gone into overdrive. What you see above is multiple WIPS, some new, some old and some about to be thrown the eff out. And yes, they are all laying on my tile floor because that's pretty much how I feel about them right now. I may or may not have kicked some of them into place. They may or may not still be laying there as I type.

I'm not reading anything. I'm just getting through my own day. I know that I feel a sense of accomplishment when I finish a project, so I'm hoping I have SOMETHING to show you by this weekend. 

In the meantime, I'm taking a very basic Intro to Sewing class on Saturday with some friends. I'm excited about this as my father gave me a very beautiful sewing machine THREE Christmases ago, which is still in its box! Sewing projects are more "immediate gratification" so I'm hoping that will help me get moving on some FINISHED projects. 

What are you working on? Do you recognize any patterns you've made in my pile o' WIPs?

Yarn Along

Ginny at Small Things hosts a "yarn along" every week. She shares a photo of her current knitting/crocheting project with the book she is currently reading.

I'm in the midst of a massive project and a really busy time at work. This quick post idea seems like the perfect way to share the happier, more peaceful moments I manage to grab! :)

I'm using remnants from Jack's hexi-blankie to make these little elephants, which will become a mobile for over his crib. I'm so late finishing but I plan to give it to him & his mommies this weekend. Meanwhile, I'm just starting the 3rd of the Mysterious Benedict Society books. I love this series. It's written for a 4th-6th grade level, I'd guess, but it's really interesting. I'm so happy Prisoner's Dilemma is finally in paperback!

Be sure to check out this week's Yarn Along post to see what others are working on/reading & share your own!

On another note- Please pray for my little friend Abby (2 yr old daughter of one of my NET brothers). She's having a surgery on her bladder/uterus on Wednesday. Thanks!!

The Owl Saga

I'm making an Owlet. This is slightly insane because I've only made one other knit sweater (which had horrible mistakes) and I've never done any cabling. But I'm doing it.

I've had minor issues the whole time. The sweater looks huge and will probably have to wait to be worn for an entire year. I had to redo one sleeve when I got ahead of myself. But then this weekend I made the HUGE mistake.

I was watching a Scream marathon with the mommies of the giftee, so I didn't want to show the pattern. I would sneak glimpses of it to make sure I was doing things right. I finished the second sleeve during Scream 1. By Scream 2 I was connecting the sleeves to the body & feeling pretty good about myself. During (the horrendously awful) Scream 3 I started the short rows on the back. Then, as per the pattern, I switched to my smaller needles and.... wait... start the ribbing? That didn't make any sense. Where are the owls??

The instruction "Here come the owls! Follow the chart for 19 rows!" is in bold at the top of a page. But it's the only line above a huge photo, so when I snuck a peek at my pattern and stuffed it back in my bag before the mommies could see I totally looked past it to the decrease rows. When I got home I seriously considered frogging the entire sweater, but it's Comfy & it tends to shed.. so I frogged only back to the main body. Only...

(Click to enlarge)

I ripped back an extra row in the front of the sweater somehow, so I had this long loop of yarn connected to each armpit. Afraid to further screw things up I decided to try to work from here.

You can see here, on the right you have the yarn I'm supposed to be working the next row with, but on the left in the same stitch is the yarn for the row I shouldn't have ripped out! I have no idea if what I did is right, but here was my process:

Knit one with left side yarn

slip stitch back to left needle

knit one with right side yarn

repeat across until I got to the end of the accidentally ripped row

It was fairly easy. I'm not sure it saved me any time, but it felt safer than ripping back another half row when clearly I'd already screwed up.

I'm on to the cables now and it's not too bad. Hopefully I'll have a final product to show before the week is out!

The Internets Are My Friends

Someone on the Ravelry forums recently asked how social media has influenced our craft-lives. First, I found it hilarious that many early posters claimed they don't consider Rav "social media". I think SM gets a bad rap. People think it's only myspace, facebook & twitter... and that none of those sites have any real value.

So my answer? My answer was that:

• I read blogs (SM1) that inspire my creativity
• I finally taught myself to knit using youtube videos (SM2) I found on Lunch (SM3)
• I use Rav (SM4) for inspiration, guidance, venting & sharing
• I share my projects through facebook (SM5)& have discovered other crafty kindred spirits amongst my friends
• I find & share inspiration on pinterest (SM6)

I'm sure if I thought about it more I'd find even more ways.

Here's my current issue: I'm wondering if all this inspiration is to my detriment. You already know I'm totally failing at the whole "don't buy more yarn" bit. As you can see in my side-bar over there, I'm also totally failing at the whole "finish your WIPs" thing, too. The problem is that I see new projects and HAVE TO make them NOW. So I buy the yarn & it sits in my stash.

I current have 6 WIPs-- 4 of which I could finish up rather quickly if I just stuck to my guns. I've decided to take next week off from Ravelry in an attempt to use my stitching time for actual stitching instead of browsing. We'll see if this helps!

An Old Skool Christmas

My WIPs are out of control, but I had an overwhelming need to make something very Christmas-y with an old, vintage-y vibe.

What I came up with is just about done after just a day. I'll have completed pictures sometime this weekend, but in the meantime here's a sneak peek...

Oh Lion Brand Wool-Ease in the evening light, how I love thee.

WIP it. WIP it good.

I am currently working on....

1. a Hexagon Blanket for one of 2 babies on the way
2. a crocheted scarf in the evil superwash wool that makes my finger peel
3. the Christening outfit that I have no reason to be making.
4. finding my cord that allows me to upload photos of the above from my camera

Where My WIPs At?

Look over there!! To the right!! I have progress bars!!

They link back to my Ravelry account, so you can check out pics and such. YAY! The two girlie dresses are stuck at 90% because I HATE doing the button, ribbon, etc finishing they require. Soon. Soon I will do it. And then I'll have room for MORE projects. :)

WiPs

For those outside the online crafting community: WiPs = Work in Progress!

This is what's in my WiP basket at the moment:

Big Ol' Bear- I'm not sure who this will belong to eventually. It's gonna be BIG. I'm about half way through the height right now and including his little legs he's about a foot tall already. He's also rather heavy. This is a toddler gift at least... maybe an older child.

Fingerless Mitts- LOVE this pattern. I made a "trial" pair for myself with my never ending stash of varigated Patons Decor yarn. I love them. I'm now making a "real" pair for my friend's great aunt Maybelle. I love hearing stories about Maybelle. The most recent was that her hands got cold during a visit and she put on latax gloves! Apparently regular gloves don't give her enough finger mobility. :) Hope she likes the fingerless ones.

Granny Square Blanket- This project is eating my life. When I started out with the Patons Decor stash I decided to make a blanket. I picked colors that would match the varigated. Now I don't have enough of a coordinating color and have to buy more yarn. I refuse to calculate how much this damn thing is costing me- neither in time nor money. Ahhhh.... a work of love. Bastard better appreciate it.

Grannies for Haiti- This project started yesterday and will be done this weekend. Click the link in the sidebar for more info. I plan to send at least 10 squares... maybe more if this weekend finds me sick of working on....

The Soldier Scarf- Ok, this is actually ever in "the basket". It's always in some sort of project tote. It's so repeatative that it makes the perfect knit-while-visiting project. It's been busted out at many a Starbucks, several friends' homes, my car and in line at a film festival. It feels like it's NEVER going to be finished but it is growing slowly but surely.

I also kind of started a little shrug for myself but I think I'm going to frog it. We'll see.

Pics coming I swear!!