FO Friday - Squiggle Shawl

Ok, so I'm probably the world's slowest knitter. It took me over a month to finish this shawl, but I was working on Sampler goodies, and the cast off edge really had me thinking for a bunch of days. I wanted to match the cast on edge, which was just twisted loops. I actually cast on first with long-tail and the chenille, but when I tried to gently stretch it out, I ended up breaking the yarn, and had to start over again.

It worked out ok, I'm very pleased with the outcome - even if it did take a while for the simplest knit project ever! LOL It's just garter stitch (horizontally,) and clip each end to knot & fringe. Easy Peasy! (I actually ended up sewing the cast off edge, if anybody's interested I can post pics of how I did it. It was kind of painstaking with the hairy Suri Dream yarn, but I imagine it would be easier with non-hairy yarn.)

You can find the pattern at here at Magknits. Super simple, and I'm sure you can substitute just about any yarn combinations your heart desires. The original pattern calls for 3 yarns, but I was happy with just 2 (that my Mom gave me for Christmas - Thanks Mom!) And I significantly changed the pattern repeats since I was only using 2, but I love my version and isn't that the point of knitting for yourself?!?!? LOL I'm soooo looking forward to bringing it with on my next cruise - Hawaii in October!

Please forgive these photos... I just had to get to the grocery store before sunset; and that means these are lit with a flash (ick!) Sorry! I'm hoping the sun peaks it's head out over the weekend, so I can shoot another round of pics. Cross your fingers for me!

Specs:

• (Just under) 2 balls of Knit Picks Suri Dream in Ocean (happy dance - I have 3 more!)
• (Less than) 2 balls of Araucania's Quellon in #3 (I alternated from 2 balls to prevent color pooling, I have lots leftover of this too!)
• Knit Picks Options needles & cables - szs 17, 13 40" & 60" cables
• Started January 12
• Finished February 22

WIP Amy Butler Patchwork Bag

For Christmas last year, I told my sister that I'd like to make her a bag. I made one for my Mom, and thought she might like a handmade one as well. I let her pick what she wanted, and it turned out that she picked the Patchwork bag in the back of Amy Butler's book, In Stitches. Needless to say, we both procrastinated on picking out fabrics, because I just bought these last Thursday with her! LOL

I'm really pleased with our selections, even though blue & red isn't my favorite color palette (20 bonus points for whoever can guess what my favorite color palette is! LOL) We started with the Asian girls, and built the others around it, and I'm hoping it will look very nice patched together and quilted.

Now, I just have to decide what pattern I'm going to piece the side panels together with (I'm thinking maybe log cabins,) and the pattern & spacing of the quilting lines! All of the fabrics are cotton quilting, and so I picked up some thick Peltex interfacing to give the finished bag a stiffer shape. The pattern calls for heavyweight upholstery fabrics, but I think the cotton will quilt better, and it's definitely easier to work with!

On another note, I'd love to hear where you buy fabric - especially for Japanese prints! I prefer to buy in person, in a store; but I live pretty far outside Chicago, so trips downtown are usually just a couple times a year. Internet shopping is certainly more convienent, but it can be tricky (somtimes impossible!) to match colors or coordinate prints. My favorite online fabric stores are - Fashion Fabrics Club, Fabric Tales and Reprot Depot, I also love Vogue Fabric (they have an online store too!)

Craft: Zine Goodies!

Well, last week I received my issue of Craft: vol 2, as well as a Craft: t-shirt and button! I entered the Etsy Craft: contest, and although I didn't win, the staff of Craft: was nice enough to send all of the participants t-shirts & buttons. (Okay, I photoshopped my button instead of taking another picture - there was glare!) LOL I think I probably should have asked for a medium, though, because it's a fitted tee, and the small looks like it could be a little too small.

Oh well, maybe one of these days it'll be warm enough to wear my Craft: skirt out, it's been hanging in my closet since August! And I even got around to making a silk slip to go underneath! LOL I can be really lazy to get around to things that might make life a little easier, (like a snow-blower for these Chicago winters!) And organizing my craft room! LOL I'll be the first to admit I can be very stubborn sometimes, but it does come back to bite me in the butt every now and again.

On a totally different note, I'm a little suprised by how happy I am with my new year's crafting. I'm much more satisfied with where I'm at with my Etsy store, and my personal crafting hasn't suffered from neglect as much this year! Yeay! How are your new year's goals/plans going? Those damn resolutions can be so hard to keep up with! :D

WIP Wednesday - Seaweed Squiggle Shawl

I received some really awesome yarn for Christmas this year, and I've already put some of it to use! When I saw the pattern on MagKnits, I knew I wanted to make one of my own, it looked so pretty, and easy; and it's knitting up very quickly. I'm only using 2 yarns for my shawl, the original pattern calls for a main color, and 2 contrast yarns. But, I love both of them, and didn't want another in the mix, competing for my attention!

The yarns I'm using are Knit Picks Suri Dream in ocean, and Araucania's Quellón in their #3 colorway, gold topaz & mint. The Suri Dream is an alpaca wool blend with some nylon; and the Quellón is a viscose cotton blend chenille. When my Mom mentioned that some of my Christmas yarn hadn't shown up on time, and that it was chenille, I got very nervous… See, I'm a tight knitter, or rather, I was a tight knitter. With my new knitting needles, I've really evened my tension problems out. I've also tried to crochet with chenille, and couldn't even find the loops of my foundation chain to make a small flower!

Anyway, when it finally did show up, I knew immediately it had to become a squiggle shawl. The colors remind me of seaweed, and the texture…. is soooooo soft! I wish I could let you feel it, it's incredibly, velvety soft! My Mom got 3 skeins for me, and I'm alternating with 2 of them for the squiggle shawl; so I'm hoping to have enough left over for another fun project. My husband and I have a Hawaiian cruise booked for the fall, so I'm totally excited and dreaming of all the wonderful handmade items I'll get to take along, (knit and sewn!)

Word of caution though, about the chenille yarn… It does break very, very easily. Originally I used it for my cast on edge, and then broke it trying to stretch the edge out, just a bit! I went back and used the Suri Dream, and a simplified cast on, for my second start. Looking back, I probably could have used the chenille with the different cast on, but I'm not going back & redoing all of it now!

The Best Laid Plans...

... of mice and men often go awry. Or so they say... I've decided to postpone my Sampler contribution a month. With the holidays just over, I didn't have enough time to get everything I wanted to together (which isn't really that surprising.) I was somehow hoping to get everything done, and I guess that's the lesson here; I can't do everything. I think a lot of women struggle with that issue, and it was definitely a hard realization for me to finally come to.

The hard truth is this; I have 6 flower snaps in my store, and 2 accessories. I have 4 dozen almost finished, but they need photographing and retouching. I only finished 3 flower snaps with hair barrettes, and was planning on donating 25+ to the Sampler this month. I also have plans for several new accessories, but they're only concepts & materials right now. I'll need to prototype something I'm happy with, before I make multiples to sell.

Also, I just finished tearing my craft room apart & re-organizing it; so it was really wishful thinking that I'd be able to finish everything. Oh well, it seems silly to get worked up over what I couldn't get done, when there's always more to be done! This year, I'm going to try and put more time & energy into my Etsy store, as well as learning how to use my new serger! There's a lot more that I want to accomplish this year, but I thought it might end up making me feel overwhelmed if I tried to list everything on my To Do... list! (Another one of my goals this year is to sweat the small stuff less! LOL)

My New & Improved Craft Room!

Whew! I knew a few weeks ago, when I decided to add another wall of shelving to my craft room, that my timing wasn't great - being Christmas & all. I went ahead with it anyway, if you know me, you shouldn't be surprised, I'm a stubborn ass sometimes! And here's the outcome! I'm super pleased with myself, I need order in my craft room; chaos drives me crazy! LOL


It's basically just hang tracks on the wall, with adjustable brackets & shelving. To that, I added lots of clear bins, large & small, rolling carts and my sewing machine (which is on a rolling desk.) I moved the pegboard section out from the closet, where it's much more functional. That also opened up a ton of space in the closet, which also has hang tracks and adjustable shelves. I'm really happy with the outcome, it's such a tiny room at 10ft by 10ft, so I really have to keep things clean, or it starts looking cluttered so fast!

Oh yes, I almost forgot! I got a serger for my birthday! Woooo Hoooo! Can you tell I'm excited? LOL It's a 5/4/3/2, so it'll do just about any stitch I need - that is when I figure out how to thread it! Now I just need to get some thread and practice! I've been wanting to make a convertible Infinity dress for a while, but sewing stretch fabrics on my sewing machine was always tricky. I'm looking forward to mastering it, but I'm also nervous, (I seem to always feel this way before I dive into something daunting!)

I'm still rearranging things; before cleaning it, I had just thrown things into bins without much thought to keeping anything together. So I'm still consolidating like items together, and I find the more I do that, the more space I actually have! It's a nice feeling, I know I have plenty of extra storage room, for all of the craft supplies that will be going into it this new year! It was super tough to get a good shot of the whole room, it's so small! Hopefully, I'll have the details all cleaned up so I can post closer up pics. (I'm still clearing out some holiday suprises!)

Crafty Goodness!

I received some awesome gifts this holiday season, and had to share! Shirley sent me a beautiful hat, gorgeous crochet earrings, an adorable tape measure and a to-DIE-for skein of Fiesta La Luz Multi silk yarn (in Alaska colorway, a lovely blend of purples and turquoise.) She also sent some chocolate goodies and some fruit leather; thanks again Shirley!


From my sister came a set of Knit Picks Options interchangeable circular knitting needles. I LOVE these! They've sped up my knitting considerably! She also picked up a couple of the chunkier needles and a larger cable. She also gave me a copy of Scarf Style, by Pam Allen. I love the turtleneck shrug/scarf on the cover, it's so funky & fun! It has the Lady Eleanor wrap pattern, too; which I've been itching to try for a few weeks!


She also got me 1/2 lb of roving; half from Fun With Yarn in awesome jewel tones. The second 4 oz is a pretty pastel blue, and I love them both! Thanks Jenn! She also spoiled me with a killer felted bag for my birthday - out of Malabrigo! It's a wide bag, so I'll need to add a little support to the sides to keep them from flopping in or out. I have a few ideas, I'm just working out what will be the most subtle option.


My Mom gave me a bunch of knitting magazines, Interweave Knits, Vogue Knitting and SelvEDGE; as well as an awesome Japanese beading book, and pretty aqua beads! She also gave me 5 balls of Knit Picks Suri Dream (in Ocean,) which I'm planning on using for a Squiggle shawl. Some non-crafty gifts included a pair of lovely Christmas ornaments, a super-soft (& strangely thin) scarf, and a lovely journal. Thanks Mom!

New Year's Sweets - Rice Krispy Treats!

Happy New Year! I still can't believe it's 2007 already! Anyhoo, I've been wanting to add recipes to my blog for a while; and these are my favorite treats! Be careful though, I can never eat only one, so they go super fast! LOL

You'll need:

6 cups Rice Krispy Cereal
1 pkg Marshmallows (16oz)
3 Tbs Butter
1/4 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Divide cereal in half, put one in large bowl (the other can be any size.) Grease pan (either 13x9 or 9x9.) Melt butter, peanut butter & marshmallows in microwave (or stovetop,) til just melted. Add vanilla & stir thoroughly. Pour onto cereal in large bowl, then add remaining cereal. Stir until cereal is evenly coated, this takes some muscle! When it's all mixed, pour into pan and flatten. You can use a roller or the back of a spoon, but be sure to grease it too, or it'll stick! Wait until they cool to cut, and enjoy!

Happy (early) Birthday to me!

For a while, I've seen Betz White's recycled sweater cupcakes around a bunch of different blogs. I knew I wanted to try it myself, and I had the perfect sweater laying around, just begging to be reconned into my very own cupcake pin cushion! A CASHMERE cupcake pin cushion! Chocolate caramel cashmere cupcake - to be precise! LOL Normally I'm more of a yellow cake kind of girl, but the sweater I started with was brown & tan, and it looks delicious anyway!

I'm off to try and clean a bit before tomorrow - my 26th birthday! I hate clutter, but I hate cleaning on my birthday even more! My husband & I are going to a wonderful restaurant in Lombard, The Capital Grille; and I'm very excited. We were there a couple of weeks ago with his parents, and loved it. I just need to try the white chocolate mousse this time. Mmmmmm.....

...not even close!

To being finished cleaning & re-organizing my craft room, that is. I must be crazy to have started the redo right before the holidays, but the choas was driving me crazy. I need order, and I'm not quite there yet. Sigh, I know I'll get it done, but I wonder, if I'll be able to manage it before Christmas, or if it will push right on through to the new year. Christmas is only a week and two days away, and my birthday's one of them. I wish this time of year didn't pass so quickly, but it seems to go quicker & quicker every year.

I hope to have new craft room pics soon, and I'll have fun Christmas goodies (after they're received!) Hopefully, cross my fingers, the weather around Chicago will stay nice, and I won't have to shovel another foot of super-wet & heavy snow! (Or maybe I should wish for a snow-blower? LOL) Happy Holidays, everybody!

Holiday Cheer!

It's easy for me to get over- whelmed this time of year, and this year I'm way behind on a lot of my projects. I'm also stressing, because most of what I'm working on are Christmas gifts; I don't have anything to post about, and fear that I might not until after the holiday! I guess that means I should just point out some fun holiday crafting cheer!

If you haven't seen them yet, go check out Hillary's Elf Stitchette embroidery patterns, they're super sweet! (Hillary is the amazing talent behind Wee Wonderfuls, and recently divulged that she's pregnant with her second child! Congrats & Good Luck with the morning sickness!)

I also love these button trees, I think I saw them first on Whip Up, and now there's a Flickr group full of them!

Holiday To Do's...

Well, it's been a little while since I posted a projects list, and I couldn't think of what else to post today, so here goes! (I'm going to try and keep it vague, since most of these are gifts, and I don't want to spoil the surprises!)

• Quilted Patchwork purse (Inspired by this tutorial.)
• Tree Scarves (making several of these, they're quick & fun to make!)
• Beaded Butterfly (to go on a Tree scarf.)
  
• Custom bag for Jenn (I'm working with her on this one, and I'd like to make it really functional for her, as well as look really cute!)
• Lots of bath bombs, they seem to be a real hit!
• More knitting needle & crochet hook cases (I'll be writing a tut for the crochet hook case soon, too!)
  

I'd love to hear what you're making for your family & friends for the Holidays! Especially quick & easy projects! (I'm bound to add a few pin-cushions to that list! LOL)

On another note entirely, I just ordered a couple of new sewing books, and I can't wait for them to arrive! Thankfully, I seem to be pretty close to an Amazon distrobution center, because my orders usually only take a day to get to me (after processing.) Thing is, I only ever use their "Free Supersaver" shipping, so it's super nice that it usually only takes 1 day! I bought Sew What! 15 Simple Style You can Make with Fabulous Fabrics and Sew U - The Built by Wendy Guide to Making Your Own Wardrobe. I'm super excited to learn to sew garments, up until now my expirience has been mostly home decorating & bags!