Crafts

Someone’s been a naughty knitter! I’ve never bought yarn off of ebay before, but these colors were just so…perfect…and it looks so soft…and…ok, so I had a moment of stash acquisition insanity. It’s 1000 yards of some hand-dyed indeterminate worsted weight blend…for $10, I ought to be able to do something with it, right? Either a short-sleeve sweater, or maybe pair it with something for a long sleeve sweater…or even a really loose knit to wear over something. I can’t wait until it arrives! (Maybe I’d better finish a project or two while I’m waiting!)

…and back away slowly… I finished the back of Janda on the Fourth, at which point I caved and cast on for Suki. I’m almost done knitting the bag – although, knowing me, the straps will be the bane of my existence, and I won’t finish those for a decade or two. (Just kidding!) I only have 7 more rows to go before starting the bottom decreases.

OK, really, I need to finish the light box and get my butt moving on the MQP. It’s just that knitting is so addicting!

My name is Sarah, and I’m a knit-a-holic. (The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, right? But what if you don’t want to recover?)

…what a girl’s gotta do! I really want a light box, to help with my quilting efforts. What quilting efforts, you ask? Well, see, I know I haven’t been quilting much lately, but I started the Mystery Quilting Project the other night. The MQP involves a lot of applique and…oops, I’ve said too much. Anyway, tracing patterns taped to the window is a little tough, and pre-made light boxes as big as I want aren’t too cheap.

So, I found these instructions. The only modification I’m making is that the finished size will be 15″ square (14″ usable), since the MQP blocks are 12″ square. Not only do we have all of the power tools required, I went to Home Depot and got all of the raw materials last night. The employee who cut the acrylic top to size was totally surprised that I’m making it. I took shop class. Granted it was, ah, 14 years ago, but c’mon, how hard is it to use a table saw?!?

Don’t worry, I’ll be careful with the table saw. Gotta keep the quilting (and knitting) fingers intact!

I finished another pair of socks! For some reason, this pair took me quite a while – I wasn’t as fond of the striping sequence as I thought I’d be, but they’ve grown on me.

Knitting socks may seem silly, but there is nothing more comfy than a pair of made-to-fit socks. Plus, it’s highly addictive to knit them. There’s something magical about the transition from something that could be a sweater sleeve to something that is definitely a sock!

Here’s what I’ve been working on lately, that I couldn’t get pictures up for…

A quick, easily finished project: Fuzzy Feet Slippers!
My stash acquisition: yarn for a Suki bag!
And a new no-deadline project for me: the Janda pullover.

(Can you tell I’ve been obsessively reading Knitty lately? And what does it say about me that all of my new projects are for me?)

I made some progress on the Christmas gifts I started!

Anyone know how to photograph really bright colors with a digital camera? Because I apparently don’t. I mean, come on – 2 1/2 years, 3,319 images, and you’d think I could manage to take a decent picture!

Sorry, I’m done ranting. Imagine the main (cable) color of the one on the left to be blue, while the main color of the one on the right is dark purple. That’s what they look like in real life!

Presenting the felted tote!

It’s tougher than it looks – I took it shopping tonight, with my wallet, cell phone, palm, a small book and my keys, and it held up really well. It’s quite roomy, and could easily hold a knitting project or three…

I finally had to give in and hand-stitch the straps. Nothing was going to convince my sewing machine to sew those straps on. Oh, well.

Oh, and while we’re on the subject, I also finished the cross-stitch for my Godson. Four finished projects in one week – this might be a record for me!

Since I promised, here they are… (click on the picture to go to that project’s page).

The finished shawl:

And the sweater:

I also made a page for the felted bag, although I still haven’t gotten around to finishing the straps. So look for post-felting pictures in a couple of days…

…and back away slowly…

After two frustrating hours of trying to sew the straps on my felted bag, I gave up. It was either that, or throw the sewing machine out the window. I have a very good sewing machine, which for some reason refused to sew more than one side of one strap onto the bag. I rethreaded it a million times, changed the needle, changed the bobbin, changed the presser foot, tried the walking foot, played around with the tension, removed the plate and brushed away lint…all for naught. Just giant knotted threads instead of a seam. We’re only talking something about the thickness of two layers, maybe three, of denim. I can sew eight layers of denim. Why?

So, maybe pictures tonight. At least of the other two finished objects. I suppose I could just use safety pins instead of sewing the straps on…