Valentine's

In every box of Crane's stationery there is a "Thank You" card. Over the years I've saved up a neat little stack, waiting for the perfect reuse opportunity.  It came this Valentine's Day! Inspired by a perforated card set I spied at Paper Source, I set to work.  Sketching different sized heart shapes as stencils. Grabbing my thimble and a small nail. Punching away. Then sewing, using sock yarn remnants.

I decided to employ the trusty fountain pen to fill up some of the white space, resulting in one of my favorite cards, which was sent to one of my besties:

Here's what my coffee table looked like at the end of January and beginning of February:

As you can see, I didn't just sew my cards.  I also picked up some cardstock and "X" and "O" letters at Paper Source to make some simple "hug and kiss" cards.  I splurged on the anatomical heart stamp and new ink pad to make a "heart of gold" card. And I printed out Zebra and Love Big cards, free printables courtesy of Bunny Cakes. The variation was absolutely necessary to save my poor fingers from all the needlework, and to flex some creative muscles. 

I had a good time creating about 20 cards, and more fun writing messages to my beloveds. Hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day!

Sock-knitting, again

My recent visit to LACMA and Tim Burton's exhibit didn't just inspire me to get skectching again; I also brought out the tiny double pointed knitting needles. Project: knee highs begins!

I'd picked up this skein of Noro Kureyon sock yarn (color 192)  back when it debuted (ages ago!), but never got around to using it. The black mixed in with the rainbow colors just kinda killed it for me.  But with an eye to some of Tim Burton's drawings (long and skinny and stripey), I thought to break up the color gradations by creating stripes with an alternating solid color (Cascade Heritage in a rich, dark brown). Here's an initial attempt:

This was before I changed my mind and decided to make the toes in multicolor instead of dark brown. I'd also decided to decrease from a 64-stitch round to 60. It set me back a week, but will be worth it in the end when I'm happy with the final product.

These socks are being knit from the toe up so as to use as much yarn as possible. I like a rounded toe; here's how I do it:

1. Figure-eight cast-on for 10 stitches: 10 figure eights = 20 sts total


2. Increase at the beginning and end of every "row" for five rows; split stitches onto four dpns: 10 stitches on each dpn; 40 sts total


3. Increase every other round for another 10 rounds: 15 stitches on each dpn; 60 sts total

A 60-stitch circumference provides a comfortable, snuggly fit for my Size 7 feet; I'm using Size US1 needles. My stripes are three rows of each color -- not a perfect split when I got to the heel, but neither four rows nor two rows quite matched the image I had in mind. I like watching the colors gradually change, and knitting in a regular interval of colors sure makes counting rows easier! I prefer to knit both socks at once to ensure that my tension is equal and to save myself from "second sock syndrome," that feeling of having to start all over with the second sock before the project can really be complete. Here's where I am now, almost a month after the cast-on (please forgive my bleh grey berber rental carpet):

It'll soon be time to begin some calf increases.  I'm going to knit those on the fly: wishmeluck!

Yes, crochet!

Being an aunty makes me crazy for baby crafting.  I've spend an inordinate amount of time looking up patterns -- seriously, I could be knitting until the GreyBaby starts kindergarten.

And yet, when it came down to it, I looked through my stash, found some sock leftovers, grabbed a crochet hook and went for it.

[crochet]

Yes, crochet.  It's much faster than knitting -- which is very handy because the entire first few months of a baby's life is one big growth spurt.

This hat I had to re-do a couple of times as the GreyBaby's head was bigger than I'd thought (or grew a lot while I was making it).  Good thing I see him at least weekly.  We had fun fitting parties (mostly while he was asleep). I finally finished, just in time for his first road trip!

[greybaby]

Isn't he just the cutest thing?!

I can hardly believe this was nearly two months ago!  Happy to report that the hat still fits, albeit barely, and he turns around so much now that the next one will have to have a strap to fit under those chins.

Oh, and did I mention that since GreyBaby, no less than four births have taken place.  With two more in as many months!  Just call me Jean, Jean, Crafting Machine!

Piles and projects

DC and I are constantly editing our closets -- it's amazing how much stuff piles up!  There's a bit of sadness and nostalgia for me in giving away my clothes, especially when I remember when and where (in time, place, and life) they were acquired.  But I hear that's what hoarders say, too, and that's why they can't let go.  So I am curbing the sentimentality.  About a month ago i prepared a couple of bags of clothes and shoes to donate to Beach Cities Interfaith Services.  There's a collection box at DC's church so they were easy to drop off -- a key part of purging being not just assembling the items, but actually taking them away.

[bye bye, clothes and shoes!]

Along with the clothes to donate, I assembled another pile of clothes to refashion.  These include trousers to hem, fabrics I especially like, or ones that I want around, but in different form.  I plan to make a patchwork quilt out of some of DC's old shirts and my grandpa's old pajamas -- conveniently coordinating in blues and browns.  My timeline, though, is three months.  If I don't get on it, they're out.

There's yet another pile: sweaters and scarves to frog or felt.  I'm planning to felt some good wool scarves that have little moth holes in them, and making a tea cosy or coasters or potholders and stuff.  Some of the sweaters I'm going to felt and make into bags or sofa pillows.

[sweaterstack]

Here is one former J.Crew sweater, unravelled.  Each strand is actually six or eight strands of laceweight wool held together: quite bulky.  I made a couple felt balls with the strays, and am left with four rather large balls (front, back, and two sleeves' worth).  I'm going to make some home slippers, probably in crochet as it works up much more quickly and will be more durable.

[stack o' wool]

I've already started with some old t-shirts, too.  Just a bunch of strips right now, which will be pulled to curl up and be more stringy/yarny.  Then: weaving? winding? I haven't decided yet.  I have a fuzzy image in my head; let's see if my hands can work it out. 

[t-shirt strips]

That's quite ambitious crafting, don't you think?  Wishmeluck!

Christmas crafting

The 30 hats in 30 days craze was a sudden urge of a project that ended up in failure (which is okay!); Christmas crafting is usually on the chill side in these parts --  intentionally so, so as to enjoy and concentrate/contemplate the Reason for the season.

I try to write Christmas cards each year, but don't stress out too much over them.  I still had a few purchased cards to use, a hodgepodge mix of designs bought on sale here and there over the years.  I supplemented those with some simple handmade ones, using a single stamp (picked up on a whim), my usual cardstock, and a shimmery ink I'd received years ago as a gift.  I was quite pleased with the results:

[xmas postcards]

When I ran out of those, I dove into my stationery stash and found some Crane's letter paper with a blue border.  I folded the sheets in half and stamped them with blue ink.  DC helped me out a bit and I realized that I should have enlisted him much sooner, because he did a great job!  It was a nice treat to take my time to write the cards --  60- or 70-something all told -- until Tuesday of Christmas week, under twinkle lights and with glasses of tea or wine.

[cardmaking station]

I also took down the leaves and, with DC's assistance, put up the crocheted snowflakes that I'd made a couple years ago

[snowflakes]

The only other truly crafty thing I finished was a crochet project that actually got done in time to gift to our friend in Phoenix (so it doesn't really count for Christmas).  The pattern is Drops' crochet collar with bobbles, which I worked up in doubled Malabrigo and my largest (size P?) crochet hook;  I omitted the crocheted edge (which I didn't know was there at all from the picture, because it's the same color as the model's shirt!). The inflections in this Cinnabar colorway gave the collar a lot of depth and texture, and it looks lovely on our friend, who has a snow-white complexion.  Sadly, this is the only photo I have of it:

[bobbles]

Thanks to limited Christmas crafting, the holidays remain devoted to faith, family, and friends -- the way I hope to always make it!  Hope you had a great Christmas!

Christmas knitting

Hope all your Christmas knitting got done in time, and that their recipients are enjoying them!  

Knitting For Me came to a halt as the idea to knit hats entered my mind, oh, somewhere around October.  I vastly exagerrated my knitting prowess and decided that I could knit 30 hats in 30 days.  I scoured the Internets and Ravelry and had an entire army of patterns lined up in my mind and on my shelf.  The dream faded quickly as it took me five days to knit the first hat (Stella's).

I plugged onwards, to see just how many hats I could churn out in a month's time.  Next up: Urchin.  I'd been saving up a skein of thick-'n-thin(ner than usual) Malabrigo in a lovely teal color -- purchased two (three?) Thanksgivings ago at Imagiknit in San Francisco (how and why do I remember these things?) -- for something special, and it turned out just how I'd imagined:  lovely!

[urchin -- to keep or to give?]

I frogged and made some mods, so Urchin, too, took me nearly a week to complete.

Then it was on to a simple hat in a purple yarn my parents had acquired for me.  I wanted to use up as much of it as possible so there was some frogging involved here, too, as I went back and forth with the when and how much of crown increases and decreases.  Another week gone by...

[three weeks = three hats... (x_x)]

I hadn't intended on knitting the Turn A Square hat, but in a quick moment pulled out a skein of Noro Kureyon and some leftover Patons Classic Merino.  It only took one day to knit one, and in a fraction of the time it took to knit the above, I had four hats!  If only I'd started with this pattern!

Some modifications were made: decreasing the number of stitches cast on, elminating the additional stitches made after the ribbing, knitting 2x2 instead of 2x3 stripe pattern.  I used the entire skein of Kureyon in three hats and knit up the leftover solids (pea green, olive, gray) into a fourth.

[four squared]

It was an awesome stashbusting experience!  Another cool tidbit:  the grey came from the leftovers of my Forecast sweater -- whose buttonband was reknit ages ago but never blogged -- which I've been wearing practically nonstop the entire season.  It now looks like this:

[finally finished forecast]

So: seven hats total (one claimed by DC, two by *ahem* moi-meme!).  A lot less than I'd aimed for, but, on the flipside, a bit of a head-start into next year's gift giving.  Now: back to KFM!

Blue Baktus

This was my no-brain knitting for Hawaii--which was tossed by the wayside in favor of a coupleTwilight books (what can I say?).

It got done sooner rather than later, though the posting about it here has been the reverse.  No changes to the original pattern.

Pattern: Baktus 

Needles: US3 Addi 16" circular

Yarn 1: ShiBui Knits Sock, Gekiryuu/Rapids

Yarn 2: Patons Kroy Sock, Chelsea Tweed

Yarn 3: Navy merino leftover from the first FO.

 

 

[looks nice on the reverse side, too, no?]

 

The edge where the yarn ends are carried up looks ropelike and much neater than I thought it would (sorry, no pic).  The most tricky bit about working with three yarns was the different amounts I had of each.  This one turned out smaller than the first Baktus I knit, but still wrap-around-able and tie-able:

I wanted to keep this one for myself, but instead gave it to my friend for her birthday last weekend.  Oh, sacrifices.  I'll just have to dig up combo of sock yarn leftovers and knit another one, I suppose... darn. (^o^)

Knitting For Me: Whisper Cardigan

This little number was finished and blocked in time to be worn in Maui.  There were tons of mods, the details of which I no longer recall, and which may not help anyway because there is no method to them at all... but here's my best shot at a recap of what I did:

Pattern: Whisper Cardigan (Hannah Fettig for Interweave Knits, Spring 2009)

Yarn: Recycled cotton/cashmere from a thrifted I.Magnin sweater

Needles: US6 aluminum dpns + circulars; US3 Addi turbo circulars

    
[difficult to take pics of a piece that is the same color as one's walls...]

I wanted straight sleeves so knew from the get-go that I wouldn't be casting on 90 stitches.  From sock-knitting, I knew that 60 sts in the round on US1 needles could be a sweater sleeve for me, which helped me determine 64 as a cast-on number for the Whisper Cardigan -- with positive ease from the larger (US6) needle size.  As you can see from the photos, the sleeves are not tight around my arms at all.

Accordingly I decreased the number of stitches cast off at the underarms.  The only other change I made was to do increases for the 'flaps' every 4 rows, instead of every 2 as called for.  So the sweater still drapes, just not a whole lot.

Although you can't see it in the photos, the back/shoulder is a bit longer than ideal:  it got stretched out a bit in the blocking.  Doesn't make it unwearable, but it does fall off my shoulder every now and then.   If I were to knit this again (a great gift knit) I'd make the shoulder length a couple inches shorter than called for in the pattern, to account for the slight stretching. 

Here's another shot I took -- in my kitchen this time instead of the living room -- so you could see it a little bit better.  

[Please excuse my peeking pajama bottoms!]

The cotton/cashmere makes this sweater sooooo buttery (like the color) soft, and so warm!  In sum: a great sweater, clever design, and definitely wearable -- success!

Hit-and-miss knitting

Remember the yarn that I got for myself on my birthday?  It's been through several iterations of summery shawls, all without success.  For some reason, I just can't seem to find a pattern that matches the colors of the yarn.  So sad.

I'd settled on making a long, rectangular scarf, and after a Ravelry search, decided on the One Skein Stole (Rav link).  But it ended up too airy for me.

Next, I discovered AeRang, and thought that the geometric pattern would be really neat.  I didn't want the stockinette triangles on the borders of the shawl, but for the life of me could not figure out how to continue the pattern and maintain the proper stitch count.  Saved by Ravelry again: someone else knit the shawl without the stockinette triangles!  In contacting that person, I made a new friend who very generously shared with me the chart she made to reflect her modifications.

By the third repeat, I was getting the hang of the pattern but losing my initial passion for it.  The geometric pattern seemed entirely obscured by the color variegations, and I felt that it would be a more worthwhile venture in a solid color.  I was getting frustrated by frogging and rewinding the yarn...



...but I frogged nevertheless.  And then started the now-ubiquitous Baktus scarf.  But (again) right after I started knitting it, I realized my poor matchup of yarn and project: this scarf is really best suited for stashbusting, and I wanted to preserve my pristine skein of yarn for something special -- as well as something I knew I'd use.

I didn't have the heart or energy to tink even this little bit, so it sits on my shelf as you see here, patiently awaiting its next incarnation.

Another jaunt on Ravelry (Obsessive? Me?  No way.) and I've got my eye on the Maja shawl as a possible contender.  I'm pretty hopeful, but, honestly, after so many misses my color confidence is a bit shot I'm hesitant to cast on.  Anybody out there have any suggestions?  Lemme know -- I'm all ears!



In the meantime, I dove into my stash of leftover sock yarns to cast on for Baktus.  I grabbed the remainders of the Lorna's Laces Camouflage from my dad's recent socks, and the ShiBui Knits yarn left over from a pair of gloves I'd made for DC last winter.  I'm alternating every two rows; the green of the ShiBui yarn is more semisolid so you don't see a distinct striping, but I quite like it.

At this sitting I'm already done with the scarf (garter stitch = perfect brainless bus knitting).  Instead of doing the decreases at the end of the row, I did them at the beginning, resulting in a parallelogram-shaped scarf.  (Weird to explain, I'll snap a pic soon.)  It looks neat, and will be a nice gift for someone.  I know, I know.  But it's too masculine to be a Knitting For Me FO...



Of course I have some softer and more feminine-colored sock yarns just itching to get on the needles.  What's pictured here isn't even all of it, but it's a good start. (Did I really make that many socks?  Sorting all the colors has been a nice trip down memory lane!)  I'm so glad to have discovered this pattern; looks like it's gonna be a garter stitch summer.  Well, it's back to Baktus-ing for me!

Happy heart days

The other day I was surfin' the 'nets and stumbled across this how-to on The Purl Bee; soon thereafter I realized that I have some fabric scraps and some blank cardstock:  I can do this!  And, in time!  Woot!

I dove into my stashes.  Fabric: small, odd-sized pieces, a few inches by a few inches, that I'd been saving for some kind of use one of these days... I'm especially pleased about being able to use the hot pink with multicolored cherry blossoms--something I brought home from Japan an embarrassing number of years ago.  Stationery: I cut some letter-writing paper in half to add more color.  I had some gold- and silver-splashed paper that worked wonderfully.

After just a bit of fudging with tension and stitch length I was off and running.   In a couple hours (measured by the passage of a couple of tween dramas), I had a dozen cards.



Here's a few things I did differently:

Because my fabric scraps were all different sizes,  I simply folded each piece in half and eyeballed a heart-shaped cut.  Then gave them all a quick press under the iron.

I put each fabric heart in place with a little bit of glue to avoid bunching or slipping off position.  This was helpful because there was a lot of turning involved to follow the curves and points of the shape.

I also played around with sewing the "fold" border onto the background cardstock at different edges, just to mix it up a bit.

This spool of thread in variegated reds added a fun, whimsical look, but also saved me both time and money in terms of not having to buy more than one spool, and not having to re-thread the sewing machine multiple times.  I chose to do zig-zag stitch for the cards' borders to show off the color changes.

The thread was the only item I purchased (with a 40% off coupon to boot), making the grand total for this project was something like eighty-four cents.  That's a whole lotta bang for under a buck!

I'm putting the last few in today's mail, and since they're all going domestic, my friends should receive them just in time.  (DC's was the prototype, which I managed to finish early and slip in his bag before he left for a conference on Wednesday.)  If you've got time today--or even tomorrow if you're going to hand-deliver--I highly recommend this quick and fun project!  Hearts will be glad!