Needles & hooks

Lighting issues…

I took a bunch of photos last night. The display board works great, but now that I’ve uploaded the photos to my computer, I see that I have some lighting issues. I try not to use the flash because the pieces get washed out, but this time, there wasn’t enough ambient light to see the details. So, the only photos that came out well enough were of the Star Bunting (the color is lighter — the blue projects didn’t show up at all).

Here’s the full bunting:

Here’s a close-up of the head portion.

Tonight I’ll sew on the velcro closings that I got over the weekend and then I just have to mail it off. Baby is due in 3 weeks, so I should just make it.

I also worked more on my sister’s sweater. I’ve got over 4 inches done. The pictures don’t show the detail well, so you’ll just have to wait to see it. But check back later, because I did have one other great photo come out from last night, but I need to present it properly. And then I’ll try to retake the photos that didn’t do well. I’m wearing the B&B Sweater today.

Comments: 0 — Posted under: Crochet

Done is good!

I finished the Star Bunting over the weekend, mostly. The principal stitching is done and all the pieces are joined. It just needs a couple of pieces of velcro to be attached so that it stays closed. I have to go out and buy that, probably later this week. But for all intents and purposes, it’s done. 6 weeks of working on it about once a week. I’ll post a photo in a couple of days.

I also finished the principal stitching on the B&B sweater. I’m in the middle of joining all the pieces. But I’m going to some concerts the next few nights, so I won’t be home to work on it.

Comments: 0 — Posted under: Knitting, Crochet

Where have all the flowers gone?

They’ve all been finished. The ends are woven in, the details added, and the blooms assembled to the leaves.

Can’t wait to get back to the regular stuff. Tonight I’m back to the star bunting.

I also got the new Vogue Knitting the other day because there were a couple of patterns my sister liked in it. I’m very close to nailing down what I’m going to make for her. But of course, I picked out a couple of more things for me….

Comments: 0 — Posted under: Crochet

Flowers Everywhere

I finished the principal stitching on the crochet flowers and spent last night weaving in the ends. Then I started adding some detail stitching and assembling them. I still have about half to go, but here’s one:

Hopefully I’ll get them done tonight and I’ll be back to my regularly scheduled projects.

Comments: 0 — Posted under: Crochet

Welcome to my new home!

This webspace gives me more flexibility. I’ll be adding images of projects I’m working on as well as other support materials that suggest themselves.

Over the past few days I’ve been talking with Vanessa about Marcel’s Sweater. Together we’ve ironed out some issues with the pattern. Look for some project notes for this pattern in the near future.

This weekend I’ve been working on some crocheted pansies. I’m making 35 for a secret project. The pattern is the adornment for an afghan project I found online. All my pansies are purple. So far, I’ve got about 15 more of the leaves to make, then I have to add the yellow accents, assemble them all and attach them to the final project.

I also talked with my sister about what sweater she’d like. She picked out a couple in the current Vogue Knitting. I’ll pick that issue up in the next few days and see what’s involved with each project.

Comments: 0 — Posted under: Knitting, Crochet

I’ve waited years for this….

Sometimes you see a project and you know it would be perfect for a certain person at a certain stage in their lives. Then you have to wait for that stage to arrive. Well, one of those has finally come to pass….

My husband is an avid Simpsons fan. He and J, a friend from grad school, can have whole conversations where they speak nothing but quotes from the show. Well, a few years back I was flipping through a Lion Brand catalog when I saw a star shaped baby bunting. If you watch the show, you know that in the winter, Maggie Simpson (the baby) is always shown in a orange star-shaped snow suit. J didn’t even have a girlfriend at the time, but when I saw this pattern, I knew that someday J would have a child and I would make the Maggie Simpson outfit. So I downloaded the pattern.

Well, last year J got married. And last week he e-mailed us the news of his impending offspring. So now I have to find some orange yarn.

In case you’re curious, this is the current version of it. There are 3 different patterns, 2 crochet in different yarns, and one knit. I’m not yet sure whether I’ll knit or crochet it, I think I ordered just the crochet because I didn’t knit at the time. I’ll have to find them on my hard drive to be sure.

While you’re visiting the patterns I linked to, take a look around. Most of the Lion Brand patterns you can order from the web page and download in PDF format to your hard drive, saving the cost of shipping. I love this because I’m usually brutal on the pattern while I’m working on it, so I can print as many copies as I need. Just beware that some patterns are only available for mailing. I saw one pattern in the catalog and I rushed to the website to download it, but it wasn’t available that way. I didn’t want to pay shipping on a $4.50 pattern, so I e-mailed and asked if they could make it available for download. They said they wouldn’t. So I didn’t order. And now it’s out of stock.

In case you were wondering, I finished the fair isle section of the sweater body earlier this week watching baseball. I’m now in the middle of the solid color section which is just knit and purl stitches and will fly along if I can keep the count right. And then I’ll be back to fair isle on the sleeves. I’m a little concerned about that because the pattern called for one ball for each of the colors in that section and I’m not confident that I have enough of the lt. grey remaining for two sleeves. And I ordered that color from Herrschner’s, so I’m wary of getting a dye lot match.

Comments: 0 — Posted under: Knitting, Crochet

Fastest sweater ever!

I was right about this sweater for my sister, it’s going to be done this weekend. During the week I finished both sleeves and the hood. Last night I assembled the pieces and now all that’s left is the 6 inch trim around the whole thing. That I’m working on today while catching up on some NetFlix (up this afternoon, “John Q”).

I was a little disappointed with the hood as the pattern described so I changed it. They described it somewhat like making the bottom of a baby bootie, sort of an elongated round. But the way they had the end stitches placed, both ends turned out lop-sided. And the base of the hood ended up both rounded and concave when it’s supposed to join to the straight neckline. So instead of continuing around at both ends, I turned at one, leaving that edge flat and straight. The rows now look alternated, but this should match the pattern for the trim which goes around the hood as well. I just hope I joined it the right way so the trim matches up properly.

Earlier this week I mentioned I was working on other projects as well. One of the knitting projects is for my husband. It’s the Echo Lake Cardigan from the Summer 2003 issue of Interweave Knits. I found the exact yarn and color in the magazine, which is a slate grey silk Merino blend. I started this sweater back in June, somewhat as a birthday present. I had the principal knitting finished by mid-August. I’ve joined the shoulders and neck and sleeves, but I have yet to join the sides. Why? Because the sweater needs a zipper. And it’s easier to add the zipper with the sides open. And snob that I am, I don’t like any of the ones I’ve found so far. The zipper in the picture is beautiful. It’s silver colored with a stylish circular pull. And all the zippers I can find have boring pulls. I spent so much money on this beautiful yarn that I can’t bring myself to buy a cheap zipper. So the sweater sits unfinished.

I e-mailed Interweave and asked about the zipper used in the picture. They were very helpful and gave me the name and the store where they purchased it, but warned that the store gets very confused about mail orders. So I have hesitated and continue to try to find something near me. But the good news is that I’m heading to NYC for a day in two weeks and maybe I’ll have some time to find the store. Maybe I’ll get this one finished by x-mas. (I hope so, because my husband watched me making my sister’s sweater the other night and asked when his would be finished!)

Comments: 0 — Posted under: Knitting, Crochet

What I’m working on now

I’m working on 4 projects right now: two knitting projects, one cross-stitch project, and one crochet project.

The crochet project is the one that I’m actively working on, so I’ll talk about that today. This one is from the Fall 2003 issue of Family Circle’s Easy Knitting (page 62, “Red Hot”). It’s one of those long duster sweaters that my husband always says makes people look like they’re wearing bathrobes in public. Fortunately, it doesn’t have a belt, which only reinforces the bathrobe vibe.

This one is an x-mas present for my baby sister who is 18 and very trendy. I’m making it in a moss-green color which a slightly muted version of her favorite color. I got the magazine a few months ago when I was home for a family reunion and had already picked this out for her when she flipped through and pointed it out and said “Hey, I’d love this in green”.

The pattern calls for Red Heart Classic yarn, which I find to be rather coarse. I was hoping to find an appropriate color in TLC Luster (which is probably my favorite acrylic yarn), but the color selection was poor at AC Moore and I really wanted to start on the project on Saturday when I was out shopping. So I chose TCL Cotton Plus instead, a cotton/acrylic blend that feels just like cotton. While both are worsted weight yarns, the TLC Cotton is a bit finer than the classic, so I had to play around with gauge swatches a bit. (And I bought a lot of the yarn, because the balls just looked so small. Oh well, I guess I have an excuse to go back to AC Moore).

After about an hour, I decided to make the sweater with a smaller hook and two sizes bigger than I thought would fit her and started off on the chain foundation. But then, gauge swatches aside, the length matched what it was supposed to be. So I had to rip it all out and start over on the small size. The height of the stitches is not quite what it’s supposed to be (my stitches are always shorter than gauge, no matter what I do), but I’ve added extra rows to make it work out.

I caught up on all my NetFlix movies on the weekend so I had a ton of time to work on the sweater. By Monday night, I had finished the main body piece. Last night I finished most of one sleeve and polished it off this morning waiting for my husband to shower so we could go see an apartment. Tonight I expect to finish the second sleeve. Then it’s on to the joining and adding the hood. I’ll probably get it done by this weekend. I don’t think I’ve ever finished a project so quickly! The baby blankets always seemed to take forever.

Comments: 0 — Posted under: Crochet