Knit Hat for Donation

The "Knitting Hens" as member D is referring to us now, have taken on a project to knit/crochet hats and scarves to send as part of a new clothing/shoebox drive being done by East Lanier Community Church. These collected items will be going to a very depressed and rural part of West Virginia. I have finished my first hat. It's hard to tell, due to how the flash washed out the colors, but the yarn here is Hobby Lobby's Baby Bee Sweet Delight Twist in the color dawn, which is white and pale pink with the black twist. The pattern is one for Knit Hat & Mits from Red Heart which is configured for a number of sizes. The one in the picture is adult women sized (based on the fact that it's on my head in that last picture. :) I'll be making more in in the smaller sizes. The matching scarf to this hat is about half done and will be pictured later.

01/07/2009 Update: I'm behind I know, but I wanted to take a minute and say that between my daughter K and I, we contributed 2 hat/scarf sets and 3 scarves. Overall, our little group of knitting hens sent something like 1 dozen hats and 4 dozen scarves to West Virginia to keep people warm. What a great feeling!!

The Awesome Bone

This is a cross-over post with my other blog My Adventures in Wonderland, because it's doggie and crafty. Isn't this truly an awesome bone? I found the pattern at the KrisKnits blog. I think hers came out a little smaller than the ones she has pictured. The one pictured above is the first completed of 4. I found small squeaks to put inside either end of the bone when I stuffed it. I used the recommended size 6 needles (in my beloved bamboo) and ombre Lily Sugar & Cream worsted weight cotton yarn. The stripes came out awesome. I figured the bone would be something cute that my friend J would appreciate the sentiment of more than Archimedes would appreciate the entertainment of, but I must admit I was wrong. Archimedes loved the bone. I'm not sure if it was the size, the texture, or the fact that it was light enough for him to pick up and carry around. Whatever it (or the combination) was, it was a roaring success. More pictures and video of Archimedes with the bone are at this Picasa album. One thing to note, if you are making them for puppies you know: I don't expect it to hold up well to harsh treatment. I would not give this to any animal who will not have direct supervision or to a large animal who will tear it up rapidly. I would be fearful of choking hazard from the stuffing or the squeaks or the cotton yarn if (when) it ravels.

More Recycling

A couple of weeks ago I spent a little while cutting up several hundred plastic bags and throwing them into this bin. Last night I rolled 4 balls of "plarn" out of the Kroger bags. I hope to make myself several grocery shopping bags, as soon as I find (or design) a pattern I like. I've got plenty more plastic bags too.

I finished the bag!!

I finished the bag today. It came out very cool! I even tested it by putting 2 - 12 packs of Diet Dr. Pepper into it and it held them with no problem whatsoever. I can hardly wait to show everybody who've been waiting for the finished product!!

Recycling Revisited

So, last night I finally got enough of the "plarn" rolled up to start a project. Here's where I left off when I went to bed. The project is the Green Shopping Bag. Obviously mine's not green, because bags from Publix and Ingles are tan. :) I've finished one side and started the second. I don't know if I have enough "plarn" to finish it. I may have to cut up a few more bags. What you see is all of the tan bags I had flattened. Each of these projects takes a lot of bags. So that I would have plenty, I sent out an officewide e-mail at work requesting they bring me all of their bags, no matter the color. I've had a great turnout! DH's response has been to not look into the crafts room because he really doesn't want to know.

Yellow & White Afghan

Last Friday night I finished the yellow and white afghan I was making for my friends C & C's second baby, which was due Sunday (Mother's Day). Cut that one close didn't I? Well, even delivering the blanket on Sunday did not result in the delivery of the baby. She didn't make her entrance until Thursday night. The blanket is made out of my favorite Bernat Baby Coordinates yarn. This one is Sweet Stripes - Sunshine Stripes. I love how pretty it came out. The pattern came out of an old issue of Crochet with Red Heart Magazine. (I'll figure out which one that was again and post an update to this later.) The blanket came out huge. At the knitting group, we were joking about the fact that it was getting so big it would fit a twin bed. Naturally, C & C loved it. It'll be something they treasure I'm sure.

Recycling

I'm behind on my blogging due to computer problems, so bear with the whole bunch of posts to follow. I'll start with my "recycling". You've all seen my post about the cute little purses the lady in the waiting room was making when I was at the hospital with DH. Well, I decided that I wanted to do something with the leftover grocery sacks I had around the house, which continue to accumulate. I tried several different methods for cutting them into strips including a photographic mat cutter and folding them up and just cutting them into small chunks which I then unrolled into the loops (DH's suggestion). Nothing worked so well as the rotary cutter, mat, and straight-edge that quilters use (that I had laying around and had never used). I tried as many as 8 neatly flattened out bags without difficulty. I could get even width strips. Weaving the loops through each other and then rolling into the ball of "plarn" was not at all difficult.

The Dress We Made

This dress is one that was started a while back (I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't remember how long ago, it's been that long). Anyway, the dress is for the middle child K who is pictured (headless) wearing said dress. The youngest child A and I started working on it yesterday and it was finished tonight. We're very pleased with how it came out and the fit. Isn't it pretty?

Great Recycling Idea

While I was sitting in the waiting room at the hospital the other day during DH's wrist surgery, I was naturally crocheting. The interesting part comes in when it is noted that I could hear the woman across from me crocheting. She was making these cute little purses (which she very kindly allowed me to photograph a complete one). The cool part was her medium (which was why I could hear her crocheting). She had cut plastic grocery sacks into circular strips (about 1.5" wide, I'd guess). She would then loop the strips through each other to create a continuous strand she could roll into a ball. Then she'd crochet. She said she modified the pattern she'd found on the Web by adding the flap with a button-hole. The "frog" is the end cut off of one of the double ended hair bandies that little kids wear. She also finds large buttons or beads for the same. These little purses are machine washable and just hung to dry, as well.

While I thought these purses were just too adorable, I really thought of my previously attempted reuseable shopping bag. Wouldn't it be awesome to make my reusable shopping bag out of recycled plastic grocery sacks? I'm sure it's been done and I can do a search on the Web for patterns (I haven't yet), but I couldn't help but get excited.

Intarsia Panel 1

I've finished the first of five panels for the Intarsia Polka-Dot Baby Blanket tonight, except weaving in the ends, which are cleverly hidden for this picture. It's not perfect, but I'm pleased with how it has come out based on the fact that I'm just learning this skill. Four more panels to go. I think it's going to come out quite nice. I'll post in a few days with the second panel attached and the ends woven in. I'll attach it immediately because I won't be able to stand not knowing what it's going to look like. All in all, I'm pleased with how pretty this is, but I'm not sure this is a particular skill I will use terribly often. It is a real pain to manage all of the bobbins and goes rather slowly as a result. It might be okay for a couple of color changes in a specific item. This number of color changes though? I may stick to crocheted graph-ghans from here on out. :)

Status of the Sock

Here's the latest picture of the sock. I didn't work on it a huge amount this weekend because I was working on learning the Intarsia knitting. Overall I must say that I'm quite impressed with myself. It's just too cool that I'm so successfully knitting a sock. I really like the pattern this yarn is knitting into as well. It's coming out so pretty!! Will update again soon! It's supposed to be 16 inches long from the top edge before the next transition, so I have a good ways to go before it's complete.

Intarsia Knitting

I've been working on learning to do Intarsia knitting. The pattern is Intarsia Polka-Dot Baby Blanket from the Lion Brand Web site. It's a free pattern. If you haven't signed up there yet, I recommend it. They have lots of amazing free knit and crochet patterns. I've had to do some research on what Intarsia is and how to go about doing it. Two sites that have be immeasurably helpful are http://www.sweaterscapes.com/intars.htm and http://www.purlbee.com/intarsia-knitting-tutorial/ because they have good pictures. I am not yet happy with the back of the work. It doesn't look as neat as I'd like. The front of the work is coming out reasonably nicely though, and with work I think I can make it perfect. I have found that the bobbins have made things significantly easier as far as changing colors back and forth. I've used standard spring style wooden clothes pins because you can grab the yarn and hold it in place while the bobbin is not in use. I have also found that sitting in a larger chair makes it easier because I can place the bobbins in the chair to either side of me. The ones waiting are on the left. The one in use is on the right. I think this piece is about 1/3 of the way through the first of 5 panels. I will keep updating on progress.

Crocheted Hat

So I saw this awesome crocheted hat tonight. I may have to get the pattern so I can make a bunch like it. It looks like it would be quite a nice addition to that batch of hats I'm making to donate to the hospital, doesn't it?

More progress on the sock

It's actually starting to look like the ribbed top of a sock!! I'm still so very excited. I'm already threatening to wear the first one while I'm working on the second one. Hehehehe. I did have a minor 2 or 3 row setback earlier but it is unlikely to be repeated now that it has size. When I picked the work back up after setting it down, I had flipped it over, so when I started the next round, I was going the wrong direction. The error was apparent after 2 or 3 rows because there was a large gap at the point where the stitch marker was. I unknitted to the point where the gap didn't exist and could see where I'd gone wrong. Now it's looking so nice.

Trying to knit a sock

Okay, so the story is that TS from the knitting group and I made a fieldtrip to Joann's in Duluth on Sunday with a stack of coupons and a sale paper. :-) We spent forever in the store looking at just about every single yarn they had there. We got the Bernat Baby Coordinates yarn we wanted on sale for $1 off the usual price. I bought tons. One thing we discussed was how awesome the colors were for sock yarn. So we figured out that the Deborah Norville Collection: Serenity Sock Weight was the best price (and the prettiest colors) and picked one of those tear-off patterns for socks they had there. I had plenty of the double ended needle sets at home, so our plan is to knit socks. I tried once last night while we were all together knitting (knitting group has moved to Monday nights) and quickly became a bit frustrated and frogged what I had done. I've started again tonight, with a much better idea what join in the round means, a better stitch marker, and having learned to keep the work centered on the two needles which are not in use. The picture is the first four rounds. I'm so excited!!!!

Skeletal Crochet

Today I came across this site with pictures of a skeleton which is completely crocheted. http://hugo-sb.way-nifty.com/hugo_sb/2008/11/yarnatomy.html Quite cool I thought!!