Hellooo?

It's been crickets and tumbleweeds around here for months...I guess Rita and I have both been having kind of a weird year. I just completely stopped crafting at all for a long while, but I picked it back up again this month and finally have a little something to post about. On the left is a pom-pom wreath I made after seeing a few different versions on the Internet. It was lots of fun to make and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I'm thinking about making really simple pom-pom ornaments for next year. On the upper right is a baby sweater made from a Knit Picks kit; other than spacing the buttons a bit weirdly I'm happy with it. I actually started it way back in the summer; more than anything I'm just glad to be done with it! And on the lower right is a hat made from a WWII pattern; not much to say about that one. Here's hoping I can keep it up in the new year...

So close!

Three more completed gifts! The rainbow scarf is from the book Scarf Style; it's for my goofy (in the best possible way) niece. The hats are for my brothers-in-law; they live in Phoenix, but even the desert gets cold at night, so I made these with cotton to be climate-appropriate. I can't believe how close Christmas is!

I finished something!

Ah...it's been so long. Right now, I have about 10 things I'm working on, which is why I can't seem to finish anything in the crafty department. I did manage to finish this little guy:

for my nephew, who will be celebrating his first Syttende Mai this year, and while there are traditional clothes children often wear to this event, he's still a little young. I thought he needed something special to show off his Norwegian roots though. The weekend is usually frigid or unbearably hot...here's hoping for a nice weekend, with enough chill for a baby to wear a hat.

I used scrap Patons wool for the yarn and found the pattern on Ravelry.

Baby gear

Well, I think I already broke one of my New Year's resolutions by not posting all week. I guess crafting takes time. I have been busy crafting fun baby items lately. My pending auntiness didn't really kick in until a month ago, but now I just want to make baby things all time. My first project was a little hooded wrap. I knit this with Bernat organic cotton. Organic cotton is hard to come buy if you're not willing to order online, so I question how organic it really is. Hmm. I really liked how the little wrap knit up though.
Second, since the baby is going to be born in winter, I thought a little sweater and hat set was necessary. I used patterns from One Skein for both the hat and sweater. I thought I was getting the hang of seams, but this sweater was crap to sew up. I loved the yarn though. It's Classic Elite Yarns Lush, 50/50 wool/angora. It's super soft.
Finally, I made some baby bibs. I wasn't too sure if new babies use bibs but I've been assured that they do. They're so little that a little bit of fabric goes a long way. I really like the kitty/cat fabric. The more I look at fabric, the more I'm tempted to buy the super expensive stuff online. There are so many irresistible fabrics out there. I used the pattern from Chickpea Sewing Studio. They sewed up really fast, and they're so cute....

Babies are cute.

Warm things

Here are two quick warm things I've done - the first of the year! (So far I'm doing very well at not straying from my knitting plan. Which I'm proud of even though it's only weeks into the year.) Anyway, on the left is the Karn hat from Norah Gaughan vol.1 (can't wait to get vol.2 which just came out!). I used Lamb's Pride, of course. I love this hat. On the right is a pair of mittens for m husband, made with the famous $2 wool from Smiley's. I managed to get a hat & these mittens from one skein, with a little ball to spare - that's a lot of mileage for $2!

Good Grief!

I had high hopes of posting something every day of December this year. I seem to have plenty of projects, but not enough time I guess. To kind of catch up, here are three recently finished projects:


First, I made another green A-line skirt. This time, I added pockets, which was fun to think about and plan for. I didn't use a pattern again and I still like the skirt, but I think it flares out a little more than I wanted but I can never tell what it'll look like until I have it all sewed up and by then I'm not tearing it out again. Also, I added a liner but didn't take a picture of it.






Next, I had a request from a friend to knit a Charlie Brown sweater. I didn't think I had to time or desire to knit a whole yellow and black sweater so I compromised and knit a hat instead. I made the pattern all by myself (not too hard, thankfully!) I used my favorite Cascade 220 yarn and followed the Hats that Fit by Nancy Lindberg pattern.




And finally I started my holiday crafting. I feel fairly safe posting what I've worked on so far. I'm making bags for both my grandmas and here's one bag all finished up. I used the Curved Gusset Bag from U-handblog. It sewed up really fast and it was easy even for me. It turned out really well and it's huge! I think it's almost too big.




More tomorrow!