Crowning Achievement

A friend asked if I could make some baby crowns for her photographer aunt. I had the desired colors in stash and figured, why not?

Pattern: Improvised (Ravelry 1 2 3 4)
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool, various colors

Hook: 5.5 mm/USI to start, 5.0 mm/USH

 Timeframe: November 22, 2013
Mods: None because it's my pattern!
Problems: I was hoping to use a machine washable yarn but went with what I had on hand. I hope they fit and look as cute as anticipated!

She showed me a picture of one on eBay and I pretty much took that one and ran with it. I did a quick search for baby crowns on Ravelry but didn't see any that were as simple and quick as what I came up with, and since it was a very close replica of the desired one on eBay, I'm happy with them!

Done On Time!

I finished the project for the excellent phlebotomist:

 Pattern: My own

Fabric: 16 ct. Aida in Antique White

 Thread: Mix of threads from old projects, mostly DMC with some cheap no-name as well

I forgot to take a picture of the back and didn't want to pull it back out of the frame to do so. So that's all you get. It seems a touch small in the frame, like it needs a mat or could have been made larger, but I'm pretty happy with it!

Sing it, Britney!

When will knitters (I) learn to listen to that little nagging voice that says "you're doing it wrong, go back and check again"? Apparently not anytime in the past few weeks. I remember picking up the heel stitches and thinking, "Wow, this is a lot of stitches for a heel flap." Then I kept knitting.Then I wondered at how rippled the heel flap was. "The other one wasn't like that," I thought. Yes, the other one. The one I carried with me at all times. The one I brought out to show people who wondered what I was making. The one I did correctly. That one. The one I could have checked at any time to see if I was doing the same thing with the second.

I wasn't.

You can't really tell, but the two socks are lined up on the top. That's over an inch of additional fabric there. The stripes end up lining up towards the end, but they certainly do not for a good three inches.

The top one is the wrong one. See how it ripples? I picked up two stitches for every slipped stitch (2 rows) on the heel flap. It's supposed to be three stitches picked up for every two slipped stitches (4 rows). Oops. I did it again.

The Magic of Backstitching

I love backstitching. Sometimes it's unnecessary or doesn't add all that much to your project. Sometimes it takes the project from a formless blob of colored stitches to an actual image. Like this one, a formless blob that you can kind of tell is Mickey Mouse in firefigher's gear:

To an adorable Mickey holding an axe and ready to save the day (or something):

This is a project for a friend. I've been involved in a food study where I get poked and prodded all Saturday during study weeks, and there's one phlebotomist that manages to make it mostly painless and mostly stress-free for my sometimes difficult-to-puncture veins. He was commenting on my Mickey and the Fireman cross stitch while I was finishing it up one weekend and keeps asking me when it'll be framed and ready to hang in his office. That one's going to my grandfather, but since he's such a nice guy I figured I'd make a quick(ish) 5x7 for his office. My last session is this week, so I'm trying to get it done by Saturday or Sunday morning for him. Now, do I sacrifice sleep or paper writing to get it done on time?

Christmas Hat

I finished a thing and took pictures of it and I'm going to blog it!

Pattern: Nine Dwindling Cables (Ravelry, mine)

Yarn: Patons Classic Wool in Plum Heather

Needles: US6/4.0mm and US8/5.0mm

Timeframe: October 14 - 21, 2013

Mods: Ribbed brim and I cut out the first 8 rows to conserve yarn.

Problems: Didn't need to conserve the yarn, but outside of that, none!

Due to the intended shape of the hat, I blocked it on a dinner plate. To keep the bottom from getting crushed, the plate is put on a mug while drying. The mug I used was so perfect I just had to get a picture of Maleficent wearing the hat! One Christmas gift down, a bunch more to go!

Oooh Shiny!

I'm a bit overworked and overtired at the moment. I haven't made it to knitting group more than once this semester. In my haze, I opened my night table drawer the other day. The night table drawer holds the next few small cross stitches I intend to work on after I get the Christmas and new baby gifts knit. This was a mistake.

Through the haze, a shiny cellophane package winked at me. "Open me," it whispered. "You know you want to," it cajoled. I was weak. While ignoring the huge pile of WIPs that just need ribbons or buttons, I opened that package. I promptly started it, not realizing that the plastic was rectangular and that the image was also rectangular. I didn't notice until I'd worked about 50% of the design that I should have turned it 90 degrees before starting.

Luckily, the design is at the last possible square before I'd have to either modify the design or rip and re-do.

 

Back to your regularly scheduled blog silence. I have papers to write, meetings to attend, readings to reflect upon, and an ever-growing pile of sad nearly-finished projects that just need finishing work to ignore!

October Update

I could have sworn I'd have more of a decrease than I did. I did buy some yarn for holiday gifts and haven't quite finished some high-yardage projects. Must. Knit. More. (and not buy more)



I've purchased 7.8 miles of yarn this year. I've used 7.4 miles of yarn this year. Just keep knitting, just keep knitting, knitting, knitting...