Lots of projects

Worked hard today finishing up items. Here is a pillow all zippered and bound and soon to have a pillow insert. It's off tonite to join its matching quilt.

Worked on the ships sails tonite. Lots of sail work and oceans to still put in.
Here is the catnip mouse from the book "Kitty Knits." It came out sort of big. You can see it is just finished being stuffed.

Here is the catnip mouse from a "Knitwits" pattern. Smaller and it has a cuter shape for the ears and face. The favorite of cats who live here.

Here are my two kitty helpers who came right away when I started filling the mice with the catnip. Sailor is on the left. He came and just sat on the ironing board supervising and looking regal, just waiting to be given a new toy. Magpie on the right came up and tried to grab the little mouse right from my hands. She lay in the pile of catnip dust on the desk and then kept putting her face into the tub of catnip. She wasn't satisfied until she had a mouse to cuddle. They are both posing with large mouse.

More fencing

Worked a lot on this piece today and now the left side is complete. On the right an ocean with boat is going in next. It's coming out quite nicely.

It's hard to see in the picture but the tree leaves are stitched in an overdyed silk thread. This way you just stitch and you get instant variations in color.

More trees

Worked on the trees today and the foliage is all done. Now they just need some trunks to support them.

Building work

A little more fence and landscaping went in today.

In the kitchen I baked a skillet chocolate chip cookie. It tasted delicious but I don't think I'll make it again. It was too hard to flip it from the skillet onto the cooling rack. The skillet was heavy and hot and the cooling rack slippery. So instead of a 10 inch round cookie I ended up with a broken messy cookie. I cut them up into small chunks instead of the beautiful wedges as imagined in the recipe. I think this recipe is bound for the circular file.

Stitching a house

Worked on the house today and the landscaping is going in nicely.

Bewitched

Had to work on the witch today because, well just because. This is her skirt all finished. It's shaped like a sloping sock heel because mostly she'll be posed in a sitting position.
Here is her knitted hat with coordinating trim. It looks better in person but I know she will love it. Now it's on to her nose, fingers and cauldron.

Snow is here

A long snowy day here, lots of shoveling and bad roads made me fine here at home knitting. I finished a catnip mouse from the book "Kitty Knits" and it's ready to go into the next load of wash. I also worked on the sari bag and finished the back. Now its on to blocking the knitting, assembly and knitting a handle. I think I'm going to line the bag to to make it more sturdy.

Cross stitch

Worked on the house some more today and the ground is coming out nicely. There is still tons to stitch.

Tonite I worked on the sari silk purse back and finished the two lower blocks. Only six more to go. Some new kitty toys got knitted also but they are going into the washing machine to get felted. Some cats I know have passed the word that they would love new toys filled with catnip.

Cleaning up the craft area

Today I worked on cleaning up my craft area and putting away all of my crafting toys after finishing the sewing house last nite. That meant that today I could go into the closet and pick out a project from my stash to either start on or finish. I picked another C.A.Wells project that needs all of the cross stitching done on it. Then the completed stitchin is fitted into a painted matching box that is outfitted inside in silk. The picture of the project has a date of 2002 so it's high time it moved to the front of the work pile. Here is what I finished tonite.

I have to pace myself and give my shoulder a break from knitting so cross stitch is in.

House

I worked very hard tonite and finished sewing together the little tiny sewing house. It's lined in green silk fabric and the little trunk pincushion fits right inside. On each end of the house inside there is a decorative row of satin stitches. When you are finished with the side (prior to assembly) you carefully cut the threads between the two rows of satin stitches. Then you carefully cut the interfacing and skirtex. This leaves a little pocket you can put a tiny pair of scissors in.
Here is the front of the house looking very english gardeny. The pincushion is hiding inside.
Here is the side view of the house with it's roof in place. See the button by the eaves. You make your twisted cord with the button in place, then using an awl carefully open the eyelets you stitched prior and poke through all of the interfacing and skirtex. You thread the end of the twisted cord through this hole and then through the roof hole and then through another button (on the roof). The buttons have tiny little holes. This is a project that needs a lot of patience to finish and stitch.

At work today I worked on the witches skirt and now there is only a few more rows to go before the cast off.

Building a house stitch by stitch

Worked hard today doing the final assembly on the C.A. Wells house, the stitching of which I finished months ago. These are the interior side panels that have been interfaced and then fitted with Skirtex then readied for assembly.
Here is the main body of the little house with the side interiors sewn in place.

This is the roof top and lining all interfaced, skitexed and then had its eyelet for the center sewn in.


Here is the roof once the exterior and lining have been sewn together. They are sewn purposely at this angle so it will rest gently on the top of the house. You sew them together using thread pulled out of the fabric used to line the piece. This way everything matches exactly.

Here is the little pincushion shaped like a suitcase that will rest inside the house. It's only for really nice pins though. These kind of projects take a lot of time to stitch and then assemble but in the end the project is like nothing you can just buy already made.

Little bit of crafting

During my break at work today I worked on my witches skirt and am now up to the decreases. Still loads more to knit for her.

At home I worked on the front of the silk sari yarn bag and am just about finished with the front. I like what the pattern then says "repeat for the back". More of the same.

Brand new project

Started a brand new project using sari silk yarn. This is only part of what will become the front of a bag. I'm not fond of the sari yarn. It can be thick, then thin, then fuzzy and then bunchy. The colors are great but the yarn can be tricky to knit with. Once you have the pattern down it is just repeated with different starting numbers of stitches.

For this project you need one marker and I thought I'd use a new beaded one that I had received. It was beautiful with a hanging bead on it. After the first row was finished I switched back to my standard plumbing grommet that didn't catch in the yarn. The beaded ones are lovely but not for fuzzy projects.

At work during lunch I knit a few more rows on the witches skirt. I'm almost up to the decreases. She has a lot more parts to knit and a lot of them are all in black yarn. Her hat and cauldron and and her skirt waist.

I was looking ahead at possible craft classes to take at www.celebrationofnw.com in Nashua NH but when I started looking at the prices that had just been posted I'm thinking twice and then again about taking a class at all. At this time I think the plan is to go just to the vendor mall and do some shopping for thread and fabric for patterns I already have and want to finish. I'll keep my eyes open for exciting projects but realistically I have enough projects in my foot locker to keep me busy knitting and stitching for a long time.

Just received the new book "Kitty Knits" from my local library and have already selected some cat toys to knit for the gang here. I know they have enough toys but those are "old" ones. I need some new ones to play with them. There might be some kitty friends who need something new also.

Watch out for crafting

I finished the stitching on the button covers for the watch. I decided after struggling to stitch a full cross stitch over one thread using one strand of floss to put it away for awhile. Last nite I decided to just treat the patterns like needlework and do only half cross stitches. As you can imagine the finished designs are so tiny that it actually came out better and went much faster. The finished designs are spaced apart because they will be cut out in little circles.
Here are the designs once they have mounted on the button forms. The material is finely woven and easy comes unraveled. It also stretches so you have to be careful when centering it on the button cover.
Hurray, the button covers are glued to the watch using "Bond 527" cement that is great for metal to metal glueing. Now all I need to do is take the watch to a jeweler to get the battery changed and it will be set to give to my Mom. She bought the kit but was having touble with the tiny stitching and the poor fabric that they included. I changed it to a more tightly woven linen that had a bit of antique yellow color to it. All in all the project came out wonderful

I wove in all of the ends of the Remsen Blanket so that is finished. On to the next project, what will it be? Only the craft gods know for sure.

Love is in the air

Happy Valentines day to everyone. It's a very pink day here with lots of fun crafting going on. I finished knitting the Remsen Blanket and just need to weave in the ends. You might notice a helpers tail who kept getting into the picture. He just wanted me to empty the knitting basket of the last bit of yarn and wrappers so he could curl up in it.
I was the assistant director for this Hello Kitty birthday cake that my son baked for a friends birthday. It's a white cake, tinted pink with pink frosting and the Hello Kitty done in frosting on the top. Cute as can be. It's even on a pink plate.

Just a bit of knitting

Only got to knit on my witches skirt today and then I ran out of yarn at work. I'll bring more black in on Saturday.

Some of the zoo animals are on my display shelf at work and are getting lots of accolades. The director wants to put them on display when they are finished.

Baking tonite

Not a lot of crafting got done today. I did manage to knit a few rows of the witches skirt at lunch time though. Tonite I made cut out sugar cookies in the shape of a heart of course. I then melted chocolate and dipped one half of each cookie in the chocolate. They look great and taste good too. One plate for my work and the other for my son's work or friends and the rest for the cookie jar. A good nite of baking and the whole house smells yummy.

Arms

Worked on my witch at work today and finished two arms and the tops of her boots. The arms need fingers that are worked individually and then attached. Fiddly work that I'll save for later. I cast on for her skirt and that will take awhile.

At home I worked on the baby blanket and knit about 3/4 of the third ball of yarn, decreasing every row. The pattern is easy and the result will be very nice.

Knitting along

Work on my break today at work and finished the two bloomer frills for the witches legs. Tonite I knitted on the Remsem blanket and have just about finished the second ball of yarn. The next row starts the decreasing and then on to the third ball of yarn.

Knitting at work

Worked on the witches legs at lunchtime today and finished the first one, cast on and knit the second. It's going quite quickly. Next is the bloomer trim and boot cuffs. I love this RedHeart soft yarn. It's easy to knit and has a comfy feel that will make this a good toy.

While watching Torchwood tonite knit on the Remsen blanket. Finished the first skein of yarn and started the second of four skeins. My plan is just about finish the second skein and then start decreasing. This insures enough yarn to finish.

Baby blanket

Cast on for a Remsen Baby Blanket for mom's workshop. The pattern is so easy. Cast on 2 stitches. K1, inc1,knit remaining stitches. Repeat this row until desired width. (Blanket about 32inches). Then K1, K2tog, knit remaining stitches. Repeat this row until 2 stitches remain. Bind off. Easy peasy. Your needle size depends on the yarn you have. The yarn I'm using is Lion Brand Jiffy Acrylic that's been around, unknitted for about 10 years. Attic yarn. I have just enough balls to knit a nice sized blanket.

I do wonder where the name Remsen comes from. As far as I can tell there is a town in New York State with that name. Did someone "invent" the pattern and it got passed around as the pattern that came from Remsen? Inquireing minds would like to know but understand that all patterns, knitting, quilting, and needlework started with someone and just get passed on.

Hats off to knitting

Finished the childs hat with flaps. It came out really nice and is knit to gauge. It could fit a small adults head.
Here is Wilheminas body knitted up. Worked on her first leg during my dinner break. She'll have stripy leggings.

Little bit of knitting

Cast on for a child's hat with flaps. You knit the flaps first then cast on more stitches to join them together. It also has a nice garter stitch border so the brim doesn't roll up but will stay nice and flat. I'm using yarn from the attic stash. It's Brunswick Ballybrae Bulky unscoured wool. It must be at least 15 years old but is knitting up nicely. It will be a nice childs hat.

At work I knitted on my witch and finished her main body. Its a stripy rectangle with some decreases and increases for shaping. I'm enjoying knitting on my lunch break. I'll bring home the parts so I can post a picture for the viewers.

Adding to the zoo

Finished the second chimpzee to the crowd tonite. I used larger beads for the eyes so they do look different.
The male lion finally received his face and eyes. I only used on strand of black yarn pulled from the dk yarn (triple ply) and then carefully put in his nose first. I gave him a hint of a smile so he's a happy lion.

A work I am leaving a knitting project to work on during my lunch break. It's the Alan Dart pattern for Wilhemina the Witch. So far I've knitted her white bloomers and moved on to the attached purple torso. Having one for work means I don't have to keep bringing it back and forth. It will take a bit longer but it's nice not having to carry it around. Now I have to find my project for the prayer shawl knitting group thats meeting tomorrow nite.

Chimps are coming

Worked on assembling the chips today and finished one while watching the big game. The other will have to wait for the remaining components until tomorrow. The zoo is growing.

Chimp parts

Worked on knitting all of the tiny bits and bigger bodies for the chimpanzees. They will have little pipe cleaners in their arms and legs so they can be posed. The rest of the zoo is now spread out on the mantle and pushing off all of the decorative candles. It's quite a large zoo now when assembled together.