I feel just a little bit thrilled.

Posted by Mel — June 17, 2011

So, I finished it. I finished my first Niebling. In just one day! I guess I should point out that I used this pattern, in case any of you want to attempt it. I wouldn’t recommend it without at least a dozen hours of lace experience under your belt. But I chose it because it looked like (by far) his easiest available piece; small, every other row is straight stockinette, and there were 20 finished projects on Ravelry for me to use as reference.

Now I’m going to make another one. This time in crochet cotton; a material I’ve never knitted with before. I’m also going to add some modifications to make it more interesting. And a bit larger. I’m writing this on June 13, so with any luck I’ll be finished with that piece by the time this is posted. I’m a little bit obsessive about my post schedule, and I didn’t want to assault you with too much Niebling in a row.

I hate the phrase “Not your grandma’s …”

Posted by Mel — June 14, 2011

These are the doilies I originally made to help me brainstorm tattoo design ideas. On that front: Now I’ve got it into my head that I have to knit a Niebling before I can get that tattoo. Eep!

Kind of pretty, right? But not perfect for what I have in mind.

Since I was anxious to get some actual use out of these, I attached beads to the peaks around the edges to make them bowl covers; to keep out bugs and falling mullberry seeds (a constant danger on my porch) from bowls of delicious summer dinner.

If I ever do this with doilies again, I would use glass beads instead of plastic to give them a little extra weight. As you can see, these bowl-covers sag quite a bit in the middle.

Way-too-bulky green shawlette

Posted by Mel — June 13, 2011

This was my second-to last shawl made in that one obsessive train of shawls.

Project details:
Pattern: All shawl by Doris Chan
Yarn: The chunkiest of the Lion Brand Line – I can’t exactly remember what it’s called. I’m pretty certain it has at least minimal wool content.
Hook: Um, a big blue one. No idea what size it was.
Time spent: One evening.

This yarn was a hand-me-down from my big sister, and came with quite a few knots, as I’m pretty sure she was using it (as well as two other balls in grey and blue) to make a motif blanket or something for one of her first two boys. I considered buying another ball of the green to make this shawl a bit bigger, and therefore more wearable, but lost interest.

The pattern is written to be easily modified – you can use just about any yarn you’d like. The original has a couple interesting edgings, but this yarn was too thick for anything fancy. I kind of like the sturdy border along the long edge. It’s a fun and incredibly easy pattern to work, if any of you have the hankering for a crocheted shawl. But let me warn you: Shawls are addictive.

Oooooooold FO.

Posted by Mel — June 8, 2011

This winter I went on a bit of a triangle-scarf craze, and did nothing but knit them. And I had some ridiculous idea about not blogging about them until I had knitted an impressive 10 consecutive shawlettes, but my stamina only lasted through seven. Still, though. That’s a lot of shawlettes to knit in a row.

Anyway, I’m planning on showing them off now, even though they’ve been finished for ages. Starting with the finale, here is my striped Yvaine.

(Yup. My hair really can be that incredible. Hooray for perms! Hooray for mousse! Hooray for diffusers!)

This was the scarf that ruined my shawlette stamina – and not because it wasn’t fun to knit. Those stripes (and a second watching of BSG) really kept me going, but there were so many damn ends to weave in. And I got to the weaving-in part just as I finished watching BSG. There was just no recovering from it. In fact, I didn’t finish weaving the ends in until about a month ago.

My only modifications of the original pattern were to add stripes and to adjust the seed stitch portions to correspond with those stripes. It is knitted entirely in Knit Picks Palette – a simple, unassuming (ahem, cheap) yarn that I’m learning to love. Even though, as dearest Caitlin says, Knit Picks is the Walmart of yarn stores. I will stop purchasing their yarn as soon as I hear of any Walmart-like egregious human rights violations, but until then their cheapy-cheap yarn works for me.

Sheesh, I suck at photography. I should take a class or something. I think my primary problem is laziness. Especially when it comes to self-timer shots like this. Also, I should have bought a DSLR when I had the chance.

A cameraphone shot of a UFO?! You lucky fools.

Posted by Mel — May 28, 2011

This is an in-progress shot of a project I finished maybe two weeks ago. (Yup. I will continue to always be like a month behind in blogging about stuff. I don’t know why I feel guilt about this complete non-issue.)

Anyway, technically I made this for Ryan‘s birthday. But here’s the thing: I don’t know Ryan all that well. Things I do know about Ryan: He is very personable, he plays guitar in this band of lovable misfits, and his girlfriend is Olivia.

While I was drawing a blank concerning what to make/buy Ryan, I knew exactly what I would want to make Olivia – something kitschy and whimsical and sea-creature-related. And I somehow managed to convince myself that a present for Olivia would be a great present for Ryan, so that’s how this guy came to be.

I will try to remember to sneak a couple pictures of the finished product next time I visit Olivia’s lovely abode; after taking this in-progress shot I added some embroidery and gave the little sextapus some eyes and tidied up all that fabric outside of the ring.

Yup. Craftiness.

Psychodelicats

Posted by Mel — April 25, 2011

Yes. Yes I did complete a paint-by-numbers. Yes I enjoyed it. Yes I am totally proud of it.

Obviously, I messed with the colors a little bit. But other than that, this was totally about mindless attention to detail, which is so calming for me. I love projects that require many teeny tiny steps – like cross-stitch or quilting. Anyway, I’m in love with this piece. It will definitely end up on a wall in my house, but I’m thinking of making it a series. Maybe with other paint-by-numbers animals like these or these or these. I think I’d like to do the animals in each painting in very similar color palettes, with the backgrounds in the palettes dictated by the kit. Pretty excited about it, actually – especially that owl!

Also, while I was browsing the internet for paint-by-number kits, I found this amazing beauty. I told Grady to buy it for me for Mother’s Day and she was all “But I’m just a baby!”

(Also: Why did I buy this first kit in the first place? Because Hobby Lobby knows exactly how to force me into these things. Walking in that store – even just driving by it sometimes – makes me panic. It is too big. There are too many people. They too obviously cater to the conservative Christian crowd. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but I went there with Cade to buy him a kitten calendar (because he just looooooooves kittens), and had to spend like 30 seconds alone and could only calm myself down by picking up, hugging compulsively, and purchasing this kit. And some Sharpies. I’m a sucker for Sharpies.)

Written Apr. 22.

10 cool things for babies

Posted by Mel — March 17, 2011

(As Grady gets older, these kinds of posts are obviously becoming more about toddlers and kids. Oh well. I’ll probably change the name eventually.)

Love this. Free pattern found at Denyse Schmidt Quilts.

Gah! So cute. Free tutorial found at calico.

Adorable pants from a t-shirt. Free tutorial found at Rookie Moms.

Helmet tutorial found deep in the archives at Made by Petchy.

Swing coat by 6.5st on Flickr.

Hat by Paula Birdy on Flickr.

Reclaimed jumper by selenesian eye on flickr. Also, that blanket in the background is amazing.

Yup, another helmet. By MaryAndHerBabyBits on Flickr. I get the feeling that Jenn is going to love this.

I’m pretty certain I’ve shared this before, but it’s cute enough to share again. Free tutorial from Chez Beeper Bebe.

Found via Craft.

Clarification

Posted by Mel — November 24, 2010

This is a follow-up on this post about what Grady and I want for Christmas.

Just to reiterate, I will be making a few Christmas presents. But if I give you something, please don’t feel obligated to give me anything in return. Seriously.

The picture is a sneak peak of something I’m working on from this book. I’m making a bunch of the same project in different fabrics, and have learned a few things about sewing/quilting so far:

Thinking you can freehand geometric machine quilting is stupid. Don’t think that.
If a pattern doesn’t provide you with all the pieces in pattern paper, but says to cut out various rectangles of various specified sizes, don’t be scared. It’s not that hard.
I’ve made about 60 miles of handmade bias tape, and I promise it’s not that hard. You can do it. Granted, this particular pattern says that the bias tape need not be cut on the bias, and I don’t know if bias-cut bias tape is more difficult to make. Bias bias bias.

Also, if you haven’t yet noticed, I’m totally cheating on this NaBloPoMo thing. I’m writing this on Nov. 29 and scheduling it retroactively for Nov. 24. But meh. I think I’ll still be able to post 30 times in a 30-day month, so who cares.

10 cool crocheted things

Posted by Mel — November 18, 2010

I love this. Most market bag patterns are really large, and what would be most useful to me is a bag that could just replace the little plastic produce bags at grocery stores – meaning it wouldn’t weigh too much, so I wouldn’t have to pay extra to be environmentally friendly. Also, it’s grey and I love grey.