Bargains

So I was on a yarn buying ban in March. Ok, that's not true. I was on a spending money on yarn ban in March. I actually brought home a lot of yarn in March. Mostly sock yarn. I mean, sock yarn is sensible, right?
But April started and my temporary ban was over.
How foolish of me.

Then I was much more foolish.
I went to Romni.

These are all from Romni. 10 balls of the Cantata. I love the colour, it's going to make the perfect summer top. The bright blue cotton thread is what I really went for- I'm making a little shrug out of it and I knew they had the perfect colour on clearance.


I realized that I hadn't gotten the right weight of cotton with the Cantata, though. Here I was thinking my project was DK, and it was sport! But not to worry, I have DK projects too. I just needed to get some sport weight, too. I couldn't decide on a colour, so I pulled both of these out of our clearance section. Stripes!


And then last week I went in and they told me we had a washable merino and silk blend on for 1.97$ a ball. So I bought a dozen. Enough to make a sweater! A beautiful cabled sweater!
The pattern I started with this failed, so I'm just going to use the cabled panel and make up the rest of the pattern. I think it'll be nicer, anyway.

And then I went away this weekend, and we happened to pop into Goodwill to buy a corkscrew for my Uncle (Protip- in a pinch, a screw and vicegrip will open a wine bottle).
This yarn was so cheap. The crochet cotton was 1$ a ball. The three balls of Bernat Alpaca were 3$ total. And then the black Verdi cotton. It's a cotton/viscose acrylic blend. Each bag was 1$. So that's 2$ of yarn and it's more than enough for a big summery cotton cardigan. I am so excited for that project!
So that's 7$ of yarn. Oh, and no tax on that, I guess because it's Goodwill. Score.

I also got a bunch of flour sack dishtowels and embroidery supplies from work. That's right, I'm learning to embroider! Not that I really actually did anything properly here. I'm sure someone who knows what they're doing with embroidery would cringe at this, but I think he's cute! I'm going to make a set of nerd-themed dishtowels for our new apartment. We don't move for awhile yet, indeed we haven't even started looking. I'm hoping that will mean I can actually get a few of these done before we move.


I also finished this project, my Sailor Blues Shawl. Isn't it cute? I think it's going to be perfect for the summer. Just enough density and weight to protect you from cool evenings and A/C. Also, I love the colour combo. This laceweight is hanging where I can see it from the counter at work, and I am always sitting there looking at colour combos in my mind.
I stared at this one a bit too long, and I had to bring it home!

Getting Around To It...

I have a lot of things I've been putting off. I've been really tired lately and just haven't felt like it. I've actually gotten some of them done now, and it feels pretty good.

The other night, I read the Yarn Harlot's post about moths. I then saw a moth in my house. Nevermind that in three years it's the second moth I've ever seen, I knew.
It was time.

I finally bagged up my yarn. I'm sad not to have it sitting out all nice and pettable, but being safer from the moths is more important.

You can see I've bagged my fibre sitting on the side, and some of my cones up top.
I haven't done the rest- a lot I won't bother with because it's acrylic and it's in a bin anyway, or the stuff in my little footstool container because it's just bits and bobs. But the wool and the nice stuff is bagged, so I feel better.


I also finally grabbed some pictures of these socks. Even those these are a little big on me, I love them. I know it'll be a bit of a slog, but I am definitely making a pair in sockweight for myself. They're done vertically with sl st blo and sl st flo and they are so snug and nice and cozy.
You can see the rest of the yarn I made these with above- I have enough to make at least half a dozen pairs. They may be christmas presents for my ski-loving family next year.

This is a job I'm only partway through. I made this sampler scarf for a class I'll be teaching. It's 24 different shell and cluster stitch patterns. Now I need to write them down and make charts for each of them. Why did I agree to the charts? Oh, I know why- I need practice making charts. It's going to be a lot of work. I have 4 charted now, and it took me about an hour. Hopefully I speed up, because that is a lot of freakin' work for one 2 hour class. And I still have to block the thing, and write up the pattern.

I've been making a lot of progress on big, long term projects that have been sitting around for ages. I feel good about it, but I have a feeling I'll be jumping to some smaller projects soon enough. I'm also planning on starting some embroidery, which is exciting. I've never done any, but we sell these great floursack tea towels at work that would be perfect. We really need a set of good tea towels, and tea towels with nerdy embroidery would be such a nice touch for our kitchen.

Why I've Been Quiet

So I haven't been posting much, but there's a good reason!

My fiance and I got engaged two weeks ago! It's been very exciting. I'm only roughly planning the wedding now- it's going to be a year and a half engagement- but it's made life a bit crazy. I'm going to need to be working full time to save up for this wedding, and it's been a couple of weeks of constant busyness. Little chores and things just seemed to pop up from nowhere. Some of them were engagement related, some I've been planning for ages and some just happened to fall during this time.
The end of the crazy is in sight- I have a full day off Monday with nothing else planned. I am going to rest rest rest.


I have been crocheting still, of course! This hat is from the 2011 Interweave Crochet accessories issue. I had some spare laceweight leftover from a shawl I made last year, so I made this nice spring-like hat out of it.

Speaking of spring-like, I finally finished this scarf. I've been working on it a year and a half now, on and off. It's been a labour of love, that's for sure. It's 7" by 6', and there are five repeats of the motif that go on... forever, possibly.
I love the final look, and it was great to wear today for the incredibly beautiful warm day we had. Before work my fiance and I went to High Park and wandered around- watched the dogs play, walked through the woods and just enjoyed the gorgeous weather.

Sewing

So I think I overdid it last week with the crochet and doing some painting (and knitting- yeah, I knitted. Some ruffle yarn samples for work.) I decided to not crochet at all for a few days. Painful! But not as painful as my arm was feeling.
Anyway, Sunday I went out on a book prowl with Andrew and a friend. We were really looking for D&D books for the campaign we're starting (yeah nerds! I'm pretty psyched about it- we're a creative bunch and our characters have some awesome story already) but I found a few great craft books for me.
Finishing Techniques for Crochet had a few neat things in it. I doubt I would have gotten it full price, but it was at my favorite used bookstore for an awesome buy.
The Sewing Bible was the one I was really excited for. I find it quite inspiring- not just the projects and techniques themselves, but that it felt like they would push me to do a better job at my sewing. I am a very lazy sewer. Again, found it at the used bookshop for 10$. A gorgeous hardcover book for 10$? Mineminemine.
It was perfect, because I couldn't crochet again yesterday, so... why not do some sewing? It's been a long time.

I started with this shirt. I actually made basically an identical shirt a few years ago. It was really cute but just too tight around the neck and sleeve bands. Since I knew that would be an issue, I cut and measured these to a size much more appropriate for me. The neck is a wee bit loose, but I hate tight neck holes so I think I can live with it.
I also did a tidier job installing the zipper than I think I've ever done.


This jacket was a project from the book. It had a pattern that you were to size up and print off on large paper. I don't know if my printer can handle 11"x17" and I was too lazy to find out, so I just made a muslin first based on the rough shapes, and then kept adjusting and tweaking until I had a fabric pattern made up.

I love the lining, it feels very luxurious. I don't know how I'll wear this one- it feels great loose and open, but I think it looks better with a brooch or pin closing it.

Either way, I'm pleased with how it turned out.
My new favorite way to make my sewing tidier is pressing things. Yeah, it should be something you always do, but I am spectacularly lazy. Doing these projects made me realize that it's necessary and is actually worth the time, because it makes things far nicer without a huge extra amount of effort put in.
I am looking forward to wearing these projects!

I also took some shots of the pink cardigan I finished on Valentine's. I don't know how much I love it- I love the colours a lot, but I feel like the fit is just a bit too loose and sloppy. Maybe I'll try hand-felting it just a wee titch smaller.

I'm excited to be able to crochet again, but I'm trying to take it slow for the sake of my arm. Must not crochet so much! Ah!

Sweater Headache

So I made this sweater, and it was full of problems.
Problems like the pattern not including some little details, for instance anything about the hem. Or not mentioning blocking before seaming, which I should have done anyway but was not smart enough to.
You can see here that there are wobbly panels on the side. The sleeves are also a mile too long, although those were mostly improvised so it's not too surprising. It looked about as flattering as a garbage bag in a really nice colour. It is a gorgeous colour- a rich deep pink heather with flecks of yellow.
Last night I had to make a choice. I sighed, pulled out the scissors and began deconstructing. Ripped out the bottom hem, removed the side panels and reinforced the sleeve where they'd be removed. Then I seamed the cabled panels to the sleeve and down the side and removed 10 rows from the sleeves. Then I redid the bottom hem, this time decreasing and going down a hook size to get a tight, tidy look.


Now I have a flattering sweater that I really like! I was worried that it was going to end up in the pile of "I made you, but I'll never wear you." It would have been a shame because I do really love the colour, and the cables.

I also love the cowl, and the sleeves. I used esc (extended sc) for them, and I think I am a little bit in love with the stitch now. I do believe my next cardigan is going to be made with that little stitch.

Speaking of next cardigan, I wound up the yarn for it today. It's Cascade Pastaza. Aren't the colours awesome? The light pink is going to be the main body, with the turquoise-y and dark pink being the accent colours. I'm really excited for it!

I finished a few cowls lately, too. This one is a simple tunisian cowl for a friend.This one I really finished months ago. It's the sample I made for work of my Cable Crazy Cowl pattern (I have a pattern for sale! I'm a real designer! Woah!).
I taught a class on it, and although I only had one student it was really fun. I'm planning next month's class- I'll be teaching reading a crochet pattern. I'm excited to help people learn to understand patterns. It really opens up your world.

WIP Blindness

Yesterday I finished my tunisian cowl and sighed.
"I have no wips left!" cried I, to myself.
For a moment I sighed, wishing I had something to work on.
Then I near smacked myself upside the head, because if there is anything I have, it's WIPs.

Here, let me take you on a journey of a few of them.

Meet my WIP bag. It doesn't house all of them, but it does have many of the projects I'm currently working on.


The stuff on top- two cardigans and a little wrap sweater. All of these will take ages. But, of course, I have nothing to work on. Sigh.


A few pairs of socks. The dark ones are Andrew's socks, and they don't have many more rows. The pink ones I started on my trip to California. I'm going to be pulling them out back to the heel to make my new favorite heel on them.
But, really, I have nothing to work on.


Here are two shawls in progress. The turquoise-y one is my critron. I've got a ton of work left on it. I'm making it way bigger than called for, because I want a really big old snuggly shawl out of it. The white one is also going to be massive- and heavily beaded. It's a thread project that is going to take me years to finish.
It's a real sad state to be without project, you know?


A tank top, a scarf and a cobweb weight dress that might take me more than my lifetime to finish.
I just wish I had some way to keep my hands occupied. Just a little project would do!

My blanket and the bag I'm keeping it in. I have 9 of the 30 motifs done. I finally did another one yesterday after months off. My brain was saying "But you can't finish this tonight! I don't want to work on it unless I can pretend we'll finish it tonight." It's been that kind of a time for me. Start-itis all the way.
Alas, to be without WIP. It's a sad state.

Oh, and did I mention that as soon as I sat back down here, I noticed the skirt, the shawl and the top I'm working on that I totally forgot about? Oh, and the headband.
Brain, let this be a lesson to you. We have WIPs. We should be finishing them. Let's get cracking, ok?

I leave you with a much better photo of my tunisian rainbow cowl.

Winter Mode

I have definitely been in winter mode lately. Due to some strange but not serious medical things I was feeling really down and just exhausted. Much better now, but I feel kinda hunkered down, as though I should stay inside crocheting until May.

I made myself some wicked angora blend mittens for when I do have to go outside. They're so soft and so warm. I adore them. The white is some Fleece Artist Peter Rabbit a coworker donated to my cause. It's 100% angora and totally awesome! The pink is the Sugar Bunny I got myself as a treat before Christmas.

The matching hat. I was going to make a matching scarf as well before I realized how dumb that would be. Yes, it would be super warm, but I don't want a mouthful of angora all the time. I always wear my scarves up on my face to keep it warm.
Speaking of angora getting everywhere, because of these yummy projects my black winter coat looks as though it's been attacked by a madly shedding pink animal. I've cleaned it a few times, mostly, but I don't think I have enough lint roller sheets to really get it clean.
I think my boyfriend may just be a bit ashamed of the state of my coat. Whatever, the angora is worth it.

I finished this pair of socks for a test crochet. I adore them. The heel is perfect. My old heels I was making were never quite right, but this one is perfect. I'm going to start using it for my vanilla socks. They get closer and closer to perfection.


This is a pattern I just published on Rav.
(here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tunisian-rainbow-cowl)
My new year's goal was to publish at least one pattern a month this year. I already have my sweater that's being tested right now (someone finished it! It looks amazing! Eee, I feel like a real grown-up designer!) and another cowl that just needs a few more pictures, so things are starting off well. I'm also going to be writing up the design for the mitts pictured above and a hat similar to above. They're so nice and simple, but really warm.

This cowl pattern is free- it's so simple- but the other two I have ready I'm actually going to charge for! I want to get in to designing more seriously, and this has been a great start. I have lots of ideas... now I just need to start putting them down on paper.