Nupps!

Here is where I am on my scarf. It's about two rows shy of being halfway done, according to the pattern. However, I think I will make it a little longer. I do have three balls of this yarn and I'm not anywhere done with the first one. And I think or wonder if blocking will make it larger as well.

What is a nupp? It's where you knit 7 stitches and yarnovers (in this pattern) in one stitch, and then purl them all back together in the next row. It makes a little bobble. Here is a picture of some nupps; they are in the second and fourth columns (from the left):

These nupps are one of the main reasons that I don't regret starting this project over: They do take a bit of practice to get right.

Fun Fur Valentine Wreath

A few days ago, a couple of friends invited me to make a Valentine's wreath with them. We had a great time! I didn't take pictures of the process, just the end results. But it's very easy: You basically wind yarn around a wreath form--we used the vine-y kind--and then hot-glue decorations to it. That's mine at the left.

The huge difference between ours was the yarn. The project called for a nice, thick yarn, but I fell in love with the fun fur. It took me about 5 times longer to wind the yarn (and they wrapped theirs two and three times!) but I felt it was well worth it.

I did wrap some shiny heart garland over the fun fur, but you can barely see it in the picture. After that, we just glued some heart-shaped gems onto some glitter hearts and glued them to the wreath. Hot glue rules!

Missy's:


Jen's:


All three together:

Scarf Progress

Here's my progress since last night:


I'm enjoying it quite a bit. The yarn is perhaps a bit fuzzy for a newbie, but I'm being careful. Here is a close-up:


Looks pretty good. I did discover a mistake, which actually reminded me of the biggest mistake I made in it's last incarnation: I purled wrong-side rows when I ought to have knitted them. In the previous case, this was along the sides, creating a stockinette stitch, which rolls, instead of the necessary garter stitch. I'm glad I did figure that out, so I can do the main part of the scarf correctly. In this case, I'm a little ticked at myself, but I'm going to leave it. It's not ugly, or even noticeable, if you don't know, and it will be OK as long as I make both ends the same.

One other thing I did was to add one repeat to the rows, to make the scarf a bit wider. This caused to have to do actual math because the number of decreases changed.. But wait--I found this cool site that did the math for me. But I do need to learn to do the math someday.

Now I'm ready to start the body of the scarf.

I've Been Working on Stuff, Really

I've been working so that I'd have something finished to show for all my work. And I do! First, though, the unfinished: I didn't do the December Tatted Heart, and I won't. I started and the directions just made no sense to me, and I wasn't sure I had enough thread anyway, so I decided not to waste any more time and effort on it. The tatting group has another challenge--jewelry--and I'm deciding if I want to do that.

But I did finish my first quilt! It took over a year and I wrote about the process here, here, and here. Now it's hanging on a wall:


And here is a bit of the back:


I'm so proud of it and I have a couple more lined up.

I also finished the projects from the red tote. I had finished GameBoy's in May. Here is JazzBoy's:

I may have already posted that, but I couldn't find it. You may remember that also in the red tote were DH's ornaments from 2007 and 2008. They're the ones with the checkerboard backs that were too small. Well, they are nicely finished now:




With dark green backs that fit:


Now, for what I've been working on: I decided to knit Nancy's Bush's scarf "Peacock Tail and Leaf Scarf" from her book Knitted Lace of Estonia. It's been a lot of fun. First, I learned a new cast-on, the knitted method:


The yarn I used was Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn in Gunsmoke. I'm really in a grey mood these days.



I got this far with one skein:

But I decided I was kind of unhappy. First, the yarn was the wrong weight. I thought I could live with this, but with the other problems I had, I couldn't. Second, I had started off reading the chart wrong--I started at the bottom left instead of right. I actually did this twice. Third, I had made several counting mistakes--not super-noticeable, but annoying nevertheless. So I ordered more yarn and set this aside.

I thought in the meantime, I could finish up the ornaments from 2009. (Also here, here, here, and here.) And maybe work on some flannel blankets I started some time ago:


After all, DH's friend in the Philippines had a baby a few months ago, and DH really needs to send a gift. But then-- I got my new yarn today! It's Classic Elite Silky Alpaca laceweight in Cloud Gray:


I cannot wait to get started! Oh, and I almost forgot to show the tote I'm using for this. It's a Maggi B tote I got for Christmas:


It's huge! And here's where I'm keeping my stitch markers and needle ends (it's from Nordic Needle):


It's tiny! Here they are together:


Now I'm off to cast on again.

A Peek Into GameBoy's Mind

Here is the sign to GameBoy's door:


And the previous sign, which is now on his closet door:


And his notebook or journal or whatever one keeps their evil plans in:

Complete with evil laugh.

2010 Ornaments

These are the ornaments I stitched for my family for 2010. They are all from the 2010 Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue. Although they are not put together, I did get all of the actual stitching done by the end of Christmas Day, which is a huge improvement over previous years.

DH's is "Stained Glass Pine" by Blackbird Designs:


JazzBoy's is "Merry" by Miss Crescent's Crowne:


I didn't get the exactly right snowman button, so the snowman doesn't look too merry.

Mine is "Christmas Magic" by Charlotte's Web Needlework:


And GameBoy's is "Baby's First Christmas" by Angel Stitchin:

Three Months of Tatted Hearts

September's Heart:


Argh, I thought I had the name of the pattern and I don't! I don't like posting pix without attributions! I'll keep looking and add an edit if I find it. This was not one of my favorites; I particularly didn't like the thread I chose.

October Heart:


This is Be-Stitched's Tatted Rose Heart and it is easily my favorite of the year.

November's Heart:


This is Victorian Heart, done in a nice harvest color.

Except for the first one, you can link to the pattern in the name of each (I know my blog is dark and the links aren't always that visible).

I learned to do a Josephine ring and got to practice with at least two of these.

December's Heart:


Well, really, preparing for December's heart, which will be Two Hearts As One by Martha Ess. It looks complicated and I've probably made it more so by choosing metallic thread. So we'll see how it goes. I'm not sure I have enough of the silver anyway.

Catching Up After Christmas

OK, it's been over three months! What have I been doing? Well, a lot, it turns out, which means that this (and the next few) post might be a little haphazard. I have pictures and I don't know whether I've posted them. I keep thinking I have projects that I've forgotten about. I have a couple of projects that aren't quite done but are so close I can almost taste it. And in my mind I've already moved ahead to my next project. So I'll do my best.

First, I made a couple of fun ornaments that I gave to various family and friends. The JOY ornament, to the right, was from a magazine from last year. I lost the magazine, so I don't remember which one it was, and I kind of had to figure out how to do it. But I thought it turned out quite well. I just bought dice-sized wooden blocks, painted half gold and half silver, then printed out the letters in a Gothic font. I don't recall if this was a font I already had, or one I downloaded from DaFont, which is a really fun site. Then I screwed in the smallest screw eyes I could find (DH pre-drilled holes for me) and connected with split rings. Oh, and a funny story: I went to Home Depot to find the screw eyes, and wasn't having much luck. So I asked an employee. He didn't know what screw eyes were! At first I thought maybe I was calling them the wrong name, but I have since learned that that is in fact what they are called. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, since I was at Home Depot.

Next is the other ornament I made, which I just loved, but which I probably need a bit more practice on:


It's from a holiday magazine from this year, and I still can't remember it! I put it into the giant stack of magazines. If I find it, I will edit this part and put it in. It's a cute little book, and you open it up and:

It's a star! I used some Asian papers I had (images from a story about Japanese ships and text from what appears to be a Korean textbook) and so it's not that Christmas-y. but it was a lot of fun.

Another big project was the Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum Christmas angel from 1999, which you can find here. I also wanted to finish up what I had written about how I finish these. Here, I laid out the necessary supplies for finishing, here, I wrote about marking the centers, and here I showed how I centered the layers. That's where these projects stayed for... several months. It's not good to leave a straight pin in the project; it might cause a rust stain. But I had no ill effects in this case. Once centered, it's time to lace the stitching to the foam core and attach the fabric to the back. I say "attach" because I generally lace it, but this year I used double-sided tape instead. Because I use cardboard, it's not going to last forever (the front, however, is acid-free foam core and should last a long time), so I figured it was OK to use an adhesive. So here are the fronts, laced to the foam-core:


I use quilting thread. It's important that the thread be strong, but not stronger than the fabric. (Because it's easier to repair/replace thread than fabric.) Here are some laced backs:


Clearly these are not the angels. Here are the angel backs:


Clearly not laced; just taped.

Next, I attach the front to the back, using an invisible stitch. I did run into a couple of problems. First, on the checkerboard:


These are DH's ornaments which you can see here (scroll down--its the door and window). And--ta-da!--the backs are too small! I don't even know how I did that. But it was an opportunity to change things because I was not liking the checkerboard fabric for this project. A future blog post will show the (correct size) new backing fabric, which is a dark green.

And one recalcitrant angel. First, after I laced it, I saw it was off-kilter. Lacing is not that much fun for me, so I was not inclined to undo and redo it. Next, the back was larger than the front. Well, I actually thought this was a good thing: I could just use double-sided tape to attach it, and it'd be a nice little frame of blue and then I could just attach the hanging ribbon to the outside and that would be really cool!. This was the result:


I started thinking, which of the three people that I spend all this time and effort on could I send this poor angel? As I reflected further, I thought that if I had any aspirations to artistic creativity, I could not settle for poor technique and wonky results. So, sigh, I took it apart and did it right. So, attaching front to back, invisible stitch:


Well, I don't know if you can really see that. If the hanging ribbon will be between the front and back, it needs to be attached at this time. Then I attach the ribbon using a whip stitch. The ribbon I chose for this year was a metallic silver, which I sewed on with a metallic thread. It was quite the pain. I used lots and lots of Thread Heaven. One good thing that came of the off-kilter angel was that I realized I could attach the ribbon to the outside, which I did.

Voila!


OK, that's all for this post. But I promise, promise, promise to try to do better from here on out.

Finished Socks

The socks are finished! I am pretty pleased with them. The only person n the family they will fit is GameBoy, so he will get them. They are not blocked, as I don't have a sock blocker--yet--but I think they look pretty good anyway. Below is a sideways view:











I did play around a little bit with them. For instance, for a while, I tried to knit Continental style. It always looks so much faster and more efficient. But it's also very uncomfortable for me, so English style it will have to remain for now. Also, I was watching a knitting show on PBS while working on them, and it looked to me like their guest was knitting into the back of the first stitch on the needle. I have no idea why she did that, but I thought I'd see what it did. It let to short columns of twisted stitches. So I stopped that too.

Here is a close-up of my stockinette:


And the ribbing:


I like the way the color turned out. Not a lot of contrast, just mostly a greyish-blue with bits of lighter blue and green here and there.

I won't be able to move on the the next tote; it's time to start on Christmas. JCS Ornament Issue isn't out yet, but I'm putting together my kit to work on the 1999 Told In A Garden free Christmas Angel. That will be my next post.

Magazine Addiction Update

A couple of years ago, I posted about how I am a magazine addict. Well, nothing has changed. Here is the current list of magazines piled in my front room:

Everyday Food
The Friend
Food Network Magazine
Parabola
Stringing
FiberArts
Quilting Arts
The Herb Quarterly
Threads
Edible Wasatch
Cloth Paper Scissors
Interweave Crochet
Paper Crafts
Vogue Patterns
Martha Stewart Living
Everyday with Rachael Ray
Beadwork
CardMaker
Interweave Knits
Clavier's Piano Explorer
Bon Appetit
Real Simple
Spirituality & Health
Piecework
Whole Living
Artful Blogging
Cuisine at Home
Tricycle
Vogue Knitting
BYU Magazine
Ensign
Just Cross Stitch (Halloween & Christmas issues only)
Quilting Arts Gifts
Somerset Studio
New Era
Green Craft
Apronology
Sew Somerset
Somerset Holidays & Celebrations

Now, to find a way to tastefully display them. Hmmm.....

Wild Socks

"Wild Socks" is the name of the pattern, and it came free with the purchase of the yarn. As you can see, left, I decided to go ahead and knit both at the same time, since I have two pairs of the size 5 needles. I don't really like to do a project twice, and was afraid I'd get bored if I finished one, and never finish the other.

Both sets of needles are Crystal Palace bamboo. Generally, wood or bamboo is what I prefer, as I dread dropping stitches. In this case, though, I was really getting frustrated with them. Perhaps it was my tension, but I'd have to really pull the stitches from one needle to the other, and then other stitches would also drop off, which was very frustrating. I have loosened my tension a bit and that has helped.

I also had a day where I did something wrong--I don't know what--and ended up with strange-looking stitches along the side, and also too many of them. I do know how to tink, but I still ended up just pulling them off the needles and ripping it out. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

But I have now turned the heel on one sock:

Sometimes the instructions made no sense, but once I did the actual knitting they became suddenly clear.

Another angle:


And here is where I am now:


I believe I am ready to start the toes, but will actually go back and knit up to this point on the other sock now. I was advised to do the gauge, but I did not, not because I am foolish but because I knew I didn't have enough yarn to make big enough socks anyway. I really really wanted to learn to do this. Next time, though, I will do the measurements and buy enough yarn and do it right.

Meanwhile, I started a small crafty project: Washer pendants:

I saw this on a local TV program a few months ago. You paste paper onto a washer, and then use pourable resin to finish it. So here are three pendants I have modge-podged, along with a plain washer so you can see that that's really just what it is, and a bottle-cap. For that, I am using the same techniques to make a fridge magnet. I saw these at a local arts/crafts festival and thought I could try to make my own. So far, I actually like the bottle-cap the best. Go figure.