New idea

So, since I am terrible about updating my blog in a timely manner, I have decided to try updating weekly, regardless of whether or not I have pictures available to show. This week I finished a pink purse for my niece's birthday which was Friday. It was a rectangle that I sewed up the sides (tri-fold) and sewed a handle in. I also sewed on a button to keep the flap down. It was a pink plastic butterfly. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture before I wrapped it and gave it away.
October of course is in the middle of Christmas run, so I am still working on projects that I cannot talk about without giving them away. But I will say that I am currently working with a bamboo/acrylic yarn by Caron that is FANTASTIC! It is so soft, and I swear, it is the never ending yarn. I may buy some more if I can find a good T-shirt pattern. It is soft enough to sleep in. The only bad part is that it splits easily and I find myself having to be careful to make sure my loops are all going the correct direction. I am using a new pattern called star stitch which I am quite pleased with. Here are the instructions:

1- knit across
2- knit 4, p1, "star stitch-p3, leaving the stitches on the left needle, move the working yarn to the back and p3 again" to remaining 5 stitiches. p1, knit 4
3- knit across
4- knit 4, p3, star stitch to remaining 7 stiches, p3, knit 4
repeat

You may want to try a swatch of it before committing to a long term project, but I really enjoy unique stitches like the star stitch. Enjoy!

Christmas project, pt. 3

These are the only two Christmas projects I still have. Two beanies I made for my dad and his girlfriend. One is Red Heart Super Saver & Red Heart Symphony combined. The other is Red Heart Super Saver with a simple fair isle pattern I whipped up on the fly. They met on the same vacation to Peru so I thought the pattern fit well.

Christmas project, pt. 2

I found this pattern in Stitch N Bitch: the Happy Hooker. It is crocheted, rather than knitted. I used Peaches n Creme cotton yarn and just bought bamboo handles and a fake flower to pin on. Super cute!

Christmas project, pt. 1

As part of Christmas run, I created this stuffed penguin
called Pasha from knitty.com. I used Vanna's Choice yarn
which was a first. It was similar to Red Heart, but seemed
to split less which is always helpful. Sewing it together was the hard part, because the black on white didn't allow much room for error in seeing the stitches. Not sure if I did it right, but this is close as it was going to get. I thought it turned out pretty well, and the recipient loved it too, which is all that matters.

Rock Band upgrade

If you have ever played the XBOX or Wii game Rock Band, you know how loud those drum sets are! (Seriously, the designers/marketers of this game must have some major hearing loss if they couldn't figure this out during development.) The drummer for my band, The Plural Squirrels-look us up!, was using men's socks rubberbanded to the drum heads to drown out the sound. For months, I was trying to convince him that I could custom make him something that would look better than socks. Finally, I just had to do it and show him. Now we get compliments whereever we go. He is still trying to convince me to mass produce them, but it is just isn't profitable. Maybe as a side project or to buy my own XBOX 360. It is coming....

Craft Weekend 10/08

I couldn't decide what to make for Christmas run since I had done hats in previous years, but with the upcoming Hobblecreek Boutique, I committed to making beanies for sale so I could at least come up with some extra cash. Mostly I made loom knit BSU beanies. Sales were not as I as I'd hoped, but at least I have some inventory now that I can use for future bazaars.

The Next Beanie, 9/20/08

So after I finished the Ugly Beanie, I had a family friend ask me to make her a pink/black beanie. I, of course, started calling it the Raspberry Beret, but did not sing the song. (If you don't know who sings this, shame on you.) I totally scored at Joann's one night and found the yarn of my dreams that I had been searching for for years. I first found it at Wal-Mart, but they discontinued it. I found a couple skeins in with another yarn that was marked $5.99 so I snagged them and took them up to the counter. When I asked the sales rep for a price check, she told me they were $1.00 each.

*angels singing* My friend walked back with me and we pulled every single skein from the shelf and I went home with three garbage bags full of Redheart Symphony. It is 100% acryclic but designed to be a mohair style yarn. So soft! The Raspberry Beret is made with the Ugly Beanie pattern and is composed of Red Heart Symphony (which has been discontinued by Red Heart) in Lt. Rose and Red Heart Super Saver in Black.