Showing posts with label knit and crochet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label knit and crochet. Show all posts

Friday, February 15, 2013

happy feet

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I've actually knit my first complete pair of socks!  I've tried knitting socks before...and it ended in disaster.  I had taken a sock knitting  class at Joanns a few years back, and my dog ate my knitting homework.  Even though the awesome teacher was able to fix my dog eaten sock, it was just never the same.  I think that half finished sock is still down in my sewing room somewhere.  

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Anyways, this sock knitting experience was much more successful and enjoyable.  I started with purchasing Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up, googling the Magic Loop Method and Judy's Magic Cast On, and me and my Addi Turbo circular needles and sock yarn I grabbed from my local yarn shop were off to the races!  Now, that's not to say these socks aren't riddled with mistakes, because they definitely are...and one is definitely a little bit bigger than the other, but that's ok, because I still love them.

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I knitted these on size 2 circular needles, and they ended up being a little too big.  I breezed over the step of knitting a swatch to obtain the right gauge, and in looking back I wish I would have slowed down, and not breezed through that step.  I was able to put them through the wash on a hot cycle and let them tumble dry, and this shrunk them enough for them to be wearable, but lesson learned.

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After reading about Amanda's hedgehog sock blockers, I knew I just had to have my own.  After searching through Chappy's Fiber Arts and Crafts Ebay store, I couldn't pass up these adorable sheep sock blockers.  Oh the irony.  Get it?  Wool?  Sheep?  Yes totally lame, but they are too cute, and make your socks look super professional.

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I've already cast on for my second pair.  I found a local-ish yarn shop that carries more sock yarn than I would know what to do with.  I grabbed a few skeins of Madeleine Tosh Sock, and couldn't resist casting on ASAP.

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This picture really doesn't do the yarn any justice, its Madeline Tosh Sock in Oxblood, and reminds me of black raspberries, so pretty.  I'm using a size 1 Addi Turbo Lace circular needle to obtain gauge, and am knitting these ones two at a time!  I of course needed a cute new bag to stash my sock projects, so this boxy pouch was just the ticket.  And might I add how well this Joel Dewberry Heirloom color way, and this Kitchenette print in Raspberry from Jeni Baker's new line Color Me Retro play together!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

WIP Wednesday and a few winners!

Before we dig into what I've been stitching, I think I owe you some winners!  I'd like to first say thanks for all the love and positive comments about my pattern, it means alot, I was so so nervous to finally release this, and all the positive feedback was super comforting :-)

Lucky  Square

The winners of my Lucky Square PDF pattern are Sharon (#94), Lisa R. (#90) and Toni Anne (#54).  Congrats ladies!  I have emailed you with your winnings, enjoy!

Don't forget, if you didn't win a copy of Lucky Square, you can still purchase a PDF copy of the pattern for a discounted price of $6.50 from my pattern shop until Monday, January 21st.  After the 21st, the pattern will then be $8.00.

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WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

In Progress

Scrappy Trip Along

Now onto what I've been stitching this week!  My main project that has been taking up most all my time, is my Scrappy Trip Along quilt.  I finished sewing up all the blocks last night, and had entirely too much fun arranging and rearranging the blocks on my kitchen floor.

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I ran the picture through a black and white filter to check for color value placement, and am pretty happy with the result.  I wish I had included a few more darker prints when I was constructing my blocks, a few of them appear pretty light, but I think I've found a decent balance to spread the darker prints throughout the quilt.  This quilt is priority numero uno for no other reason than I am selfish, and want it finished to snuggle with!

Salt Water Starburst Cross

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Before I got sucked in joined in the fun of #scrappytripalong, this was the project that had started as a birthday gift for a special someone.  I have been wanting to revamp my Starburst Cross block tutorial and turn it into a full (free!) pattern, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.  I am using my Tula Pink Salt Water fat quarter bundle, and have 8 of the 20 blocks needed complete.  The rest of the blocks are cut and ready to sew, so as soon as I finish up my Scrappy Trip Along quilt, this should be a quick finish as well.

New Projects

Diagonal Lace Socks

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I have tried my hand at sock knitting once before, and just couldn't get into it.  I had taken a class at Joann's and actually got as far as turning the heel, but completely lost interest.  I'm pretty sure the mess of yarn and sock is still attached to those double pointed needles in a dark closet somewhere in my house.

In doing my usual blog reading,  I came across Amanda's post about all the socks she has knitted over the past year, and decided I needed to give it another go.  I purchased Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up, some pretty yarn from my local yarn shop, Addi turbo size 2 circular needles  and have been knitting away...from the toe up!  It really is great, I've been able to try them on as I've been working on them.  The lace pattern may have been a little ambitious for my first pair, but I'm embracing all their imperfections as uniqueness :-)  Hopefully more to come on these soon, I'm hoping the novelty doesn't wear off, as I have tons of other yarns and patterns picked out already for future pairs!

That about sums things up for this week, be sure to head over to Freshly Pieced and check out all the WIPing going on!





Wednesday, August 22, 2012

WIP Wednesday {8.22.2012}

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Its been a few weeks since I've taken part in WIP Wednesday, and mostly its been because I just either haven't been working on much, or have been working on things that aren't quite ready to share yet.  I decided no time like the present to get back in the saddle, I find myself sort of feeling a little lost/overwhelmed with the scattered projects in various states of completion strewn about my sewing room, and WIP Wednesday is a nice anchor of sorts to take inventory of what exactly I have going in.  Without further ado, here is what's going on:

New Projects

2d Zoo Dream Garden

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I posted about this yesterday, but this stack of fabrics is quickly turning itself into a baby quilt.  I'm using a pattern out of the Fat Quarterly Shape Workshop book, and am super happy with how its coming together.  I should have a quilt to share in the next few days!

In Progress

Birds and the Bees Snowglobes

Tula Pink Birds and Bees

After I finished petting and drooling over this beautiful fabric, I decided no time like the present to dig in and make something with it.  I have a tendency to buy fabric collections, and then am almost afraid to use them.  Its like I'm searching for this elusive "perfect project," and I need to stop this madness and use the fabric that I buy, that's what its for, right??  I think I did find the perfect project, and therefore didn't have the usual amount of apprehension when cutting in to the fabric like usual.

Before leaving for vacation, I dug out my Tula Pink Snowglobes pattern, and got to work cutting and sewing.  I had a hard time settling on the background fabric, and ultimately went with Crosshatch Sketch in Cream.

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I am loving how this pattern shows off the larger scale prints of Birds and the Bees so well.  I'll be working my way back to this one soon, but for now its keeping my design wall fun and bright, and I'm enjoying looking at it every day.

Not Your Grandma's Charm Quilt


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Well, in this case it is my grandma's charm quilt.  My grandma recently had to be placed in an assisted living center, and I thought she might like a handmade quilt to put on her bed.  She is 96, and has been living with family members for too many years to count, and has never lived on her own, so this transition hasn't been the easiest for her or my family.  She really is such a special lady, and you would never guess her age by looking at her, we all hope we inherited her genes for aging!  

I'm in the middle of quilting this simple charm quilt using various prints from Denyse Schmidt's fabrics that are found at Joann's that I have accumulated in my stash.  I really love the way the patchwork has come together, and I'm quilting it with my walking foot in a large zig zag pattern.  I'm thinking of adding some hand quilting as well, but we'll see.  

Ripple Afghan

This is an oldie but a goodie.  I have a tendency to start hand projects, and just never finish them.  They sit around my sewing room sort of taunting me to work on them, and I usually just turn a blind eye.  I thought our 8 hour drive to the beach last week would be a great opportunity to pull out my ripple afghan that I started back in January and get to work.  

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I'm aiming to really work on this to get it finished for the upcoming winter, as it will make a great snuggle blanket!

Whew!  It feels nice to get that out there, I really must get back into the WIP Wednesday swing of things.  Now that summer is just about over, life should be settling down and I can find my routine again.  Be sure to head over to Freshly Pieced and say hi to Rebecca who is guest hosting WIP Wednesday this week!






Wednesday, February 15, 2012

WIP Wednesday {2.15.2012}

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Happy WIP Wednesday!  This week I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I saw my swoon quilt top come together.  There hasn't been much going on since then, my sewing room is in shambles and I'm working up a scrap project to deal with my over flowing scrap bins, anyone have any scrap friendly patterns they'd like to share??

In Progress

Swoon

Swoon blocks

swoon quilt top

I am over the moon that this quilt top has come together, and I'm planning to get to work on a scrappy mega swoon for the quilt back, more to come soon.

Ripple Afghan



I haven't posted an update on this in quite some time, but I've been slowly crocheting away.  I'm about a third of the way finished, and it's slow going, but I'm enjoying stitching away!

Sparkle Punch Mini

No new pics, still stitching away!  Getting quite close to finishing the hand stitching, so there should be a finish to share soon!

This weeks stats:
New Projects: 0
Completed Projects: 0
In Progress: 7

Swoon
Sparkle Punch Mini
Retro Flowers baby quilt
February Bee Blocks
4x5 Bee blocks
Farmers Wife QAL
Crochet Afghan

Be sure to pop over to Freshly Pieced and add your WIPs!







Wednesday, January 25, 2012

WIP Wednesday {1.25.2012}

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

This week has been full of lots of sewing.  We had a nice quiet relaxing weekend, without much to do, and you know what that means...time to sew!  I'm honestly just waiting to get sick again, it always seems to happen with big changes in weather, and seeing that we had very cold weather with snow and ice on Friday and Saturday, and then by Sunday and Monday it was in the high 40's, nearing 50 degrees.  In Pittsburgh.  In January.  Just crazy I tell you.  Anyway's here whats new in the sewing room:

New Projects

FLiQS

FLiQS idea

I have been asked to participate in the Fab Little Quilt Swap, which is smaller subdivision of the widely known Doll Quilt Swap over on Flickr, and you all know how I'm a sucker for a swap, so of course I said sign me up!  I have my partner information, and I am so so excited because his/her tastes seem to be right up my alley, and I instantly had an idea I had to try out.

FLiQS mini wonky stars progress

I am using Oh Fransson's sparkle punch quilt along as my inspiration, and doing it mini style!  Each square measures 2" unfinished, with the finished blocks measuring 1.5" finished.  I just had to sew a little square together, to see how it was going to look, and I am just loving this and all its mini-ness!  That little top block of 16 squares measures 6.5" as is.  

Completed Projects


Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt


4x5 bee blocks quarters 3 and 4

In Progress


swoon blocks 1-4

I'm still swooning along, and loving this quilt more and more as each block comes together.  A few people have asked if these blocks are difficult to put together.  While I definitely recommend reading over the instructions a few times to see how things are cut (so you don't make my mistake) and to get a feel for how the blocks go together, each block is made up of a large center square, a few rectangles and a whole lotta HSTs and flying geese, so accurate and consistent 1/4" seams are the key!  So in short, no I am not finding it difficult, time consuming, yes, and a trial of patience to line up all those points, yes, but difficult?  No.  Go ahead!  Give it a try!  You can get yourself a copy of the downloadable pattern here, and join in the swoon along fun!  

Crochet Ripple Afghan- Still crocheting away on this!  I ran out of my first color of yarn, so there wasn't a ton of progress this past week until I could get to the store for more yarn, but I am loving snuggling with my partial afghan as I crochet away.

This Weeks Stats
New Projects: 1
Completed Projects: 2
In Progress:  4

Swoon quilt
Crochet Afghan
FLiQS doll quilt
Farmers Wife QAL
January Bee Blocks
Citrus Berry Punch Baby Quilt

What are you working on this week??  Head on over to freshly pieced and link up!



Wednesday, January 18, 2012

WIP Wednesday 1.18.2012

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Oh Wednesday, so we meet again.  I feel like we just did this, what, last Wednesday??  Anyways, I would think after a year of participating in WIP Wednesday, the shock that Wednesday always seems to roll around much too soon would have worn off, but it hasn't.  Here's what I've been up to...

New Projects

Swoon

swoon block #1

swoon block #2

A gal only has so much willpower.  After seeing all the amazing swoon-spiration in Katy's Swoon-along flickr group, I just had to join in the fun.  I am proud of myself that I'm working 100% from my stash (with the exception of buying more solid as needed), and resisted the temptation of doing a little fabric shopping.  More on my Swoon blocks here.

In Progress

Citrus Berry Punch Baby Quilt


I'm EBB here...thats Everything But Binding on this little guy.  He's all quilted, and binding is on the agenda for this evening.  

January Bee Blocks

do. Good Stitches-Inspire circle January

do.Good Stitches-Inspire circle January

These blocks are for Amanda in the Inspire circle of do. Good Stitches.  She asked for Sawtooth star blocks, so I put together these sort of nested stars.  I'm really happy with how these turned out, especially that teeny tiny 3 inch star!  

Jeni sent along some awesome It's a Hoot fabric for our Mod Stitches Bee, and that's on the agenda for this week also.

Ripple Afghan


I've been crocheting away while we feed our obsession of The Big Bang Theory (we recently saw the "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock" episode, and the hubs is now obsessed with finding ways to use this in real life, HA!)  I'm about through one set of all 8 colors, I'm thinking three repeats should make it large enough for a nice snuggle size, so I'm about a third of the way there!

This Weeks Stats:

New Projects: 1
Completed Projects: 0
In Progress: 5

January Bee Blocks
Citrus Berry Punch baby quilt
Swoon Quilt
Crochet Afghan
Farmers Wife QAL 

Pop over to Freshly Pieced and add your WIPs!







  

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

WIP Wednesday {1.11.2012}

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Time for this weeks recap.  I finally feel like I'm back in my normal sewing "groove" after the settling down from the  business of December, and it feels nice.  It's nice to be sewing what I want to sew and not things I feel like I need to sew.  Here's what I've been up to this week!

Completed Projects

4 x 5 Bee blocks

4x5 Hive 6 Quarter 4 blocks

These were just shipped off to their new homes this morning.  More here.  

New Projects

Baby Quilt


For the past few years I've put together something hand made to donate as an an auction item for the Heart Association Heart Gala.  This (messy) stack of fabric is quickly turning into a sweet gender neutral baby quilt.


Believe it or not, I have never made a simple patchwork square quilt, and I've been wanting to put one together for some time, so I figured why not now.  I am loving the mindless chain piecing and how quickly it is coming together, I should have a quilt top put together any day now!

In Progress

Wavy Crochet Afghan


I am so so glad I made my mom taught me how to crochet.  I've always been a knitter, but I'm finding crochet to be a little more mindless, and much quicker than knitting an afghan this size!  I love that its finally getting to a point to serve as a mini blanket while I am working on it, and I am so in love with the colors.  I'm sort of meshing this tutorial and this tutorial and I think its coming together quite nicely.

This weeks progress:

New projects: 1
Completed Projects: 1
In Progress: 4

4x5 bee blocks
January Bee Blocks
Baby quilt
Crochet Afghan
Farmers Wife QAL

Whats on your WIP list??  Head over to Freshly Pieced and link up!





Wednesday, January 4, 2012

WIP Wednesday { 1.4.2012}

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Oh how happy am I to see WIP Wednesday back in the new year!  It's like I almost feel lost without it.  I do well with lists, and WIP Wednesday is most definitely my quilty to do list, with fun pictures!  

Completed Projects

Deep Deep Sea baby quilt

deep deep sea baby quilt

I finished up this commissioned baby quilt over the New Year weekend.  I just need to embroider baby Jeremiah's name on it, and it will be shipped off to snuggle with its new owner.

Custom Nook Cover


This was Bertha's first project, and a fun custom Nook cover for my soon to be sister in law!  (Congrats Stephen and Amanda, they got engaged on New Years Eve!)  I loosely used this tutorial from fresh lemons and adapted it to fit a Nook instead of an iPad.  

In Progress

4x5 Bee Blocks

4x5 quarter 4 hive 6 test block

I'm typically not one to wait until the last minute, but with the holidays and such, these 4x5 bee blocks seemed to have fallen to the bottom of the priority list until now.  I'm using this paper pieced pattern from the Desperate Housewives Quilt Along.  Two of my bee mates blocks are finished, with three to go, hopefully I will be getting these in the mail this weekend.

New Projects

Crochet Afghan

I had been coveting this fun crocheted afghan on Pinterest for some time now, with hopes to make it one day, the only problem being that I didn't know how to crochet.  Luckily my mom does know how, and over the holiday's shared her secrets, and showed me how to crochet.  

Learning to crochet  

I've been crocheting up a storm while watching back episodes of The Big Bang Theory (how did I now know how funny this show is until now??)  This will be a WIP for some time I have a feeling, but I'm really enjoying working on it, and the colors are so so pretty!

I've decided I'm doing away with listing my pretty much at this point stalled projects, and only listing the ones that I'm currently working on, or have plans for the immediate future to work on.  No sense in nagging myself with projects that have no timeline for completion, but hopefully you'll be seeing them pop up here and there over the coming year!

This weeks stats:

New Projects: 1
Completed Projects: 2
In Progress: 4 (so refreshing to have a clean slate!)

4x5 Bee Blocks
January Bee Blocks
Crochet Afghan
Farmers Wife QAL (I'm starting this again this week, I swear)

Whats on your WIP list this week?  Head over to Freshly Pieced and link up!




  



  

Sunday, October 24, 2010

knit two purl two

So I've been doing alot of knitting recently.  I had a few scarves in mind for some friends and family on my Christmas list, and ever since learing how to knit in the round, I decided to tackle some hats as well!


I love this hat.  super warm and cozy.  I used Fishermans wool, and knitted using two strands at a time, which gave it that warbled/tweed-y look.  I'm planning on adding a coordinating scarf and this will be going to my brother for Christmas.  I discovered that there are thousands of knitting and crochet patterns on the Lion Brand website, and this actually is a pattern that a found on their site.  A perfect quick little project that only takes a few hours to whip up.  Definitly recommend it.

I finished up a scarf using some super thick and warm yarn for a co-worker, who saw me knitting, and said "you know, if your ever looking for a project to knit, I would love a scarf!"  Hint taken, and another Christmas project checked off the list.


This pattern can be found here.

In case you were wondering...the damage caused to my sock I was working on has been fixed!  With the help of my trusty crochet hook (and my awesome knitting instructor) I was able to salvedge most of the stitches, and my instructor cleaned up the rest and finshed the job.


We learned how to "turn the heel" in our last class, which is just the coolest thing.  I've set this aside for the immediate future, I WILL finish this sock, but my fear is that I wont ever complete a match for it!

You can barely tell that this sock has been tormented and nearly destroyed.  Gives it character and a story I suppose.  Like I said, Lucky Dog.