Crafty weekend

I purchased this baby gator scarf kit from MorehouseFarm last week (on sale) and only had it in the house a day or two before the yarn was wound up and the knitting commenced. It knit up fast and was a fun project. Using just the knit stitch it cleverly makes a face and all the gator bumps. I can imagine some little person wearing it to school.

This is a pillow from Knitpicks using a kit of organic cotton yarn. I liked the pattern but wouldn't knit it again with multiple colors and would be more careful on the increases to allow enough stretch room. It needs a pillow form for it to fully take shape.

I now 'brake for knitting stores' kimono American girl doll sweater. I was coming home from the Wayside Inn in Sudbury Mass and saw 'knit and purl' an unvisited knitting store. I had to stop and inside I found a nice shop with great yarn and ideas. This little sweater knit up so fast using Plymouth's colorspun yarn. It will be a nice addition to any little girls doll wardrobe.

This is my new beading project just started today. That much beading took me about 4 hours. It's all in the plain white setup row on the bottom. Getting that first three rows done with the correct amount of beads and spaced correctly makes the rest of the project go along swimmingly. I have the beads all numbered in my bead box so all I have to do is match color on the chart with beads lined up in the box and peyote stitch away. This will end up being a business card case from someone.

I have some medieval mice body parts in a basket that need finishing and I'm keeping my second scarf/sock at the ready knitting on it in my spare moments. So many projects to keep my hands busy. I'm also looking forward to a box in the mail with more yarn. Yeah!

Princess tin

I took a needlepoint class today and finished the stitching on what will be the top of a tin. The tin is lined, has a magnet inside and includes a scissor w/ tassel & a thread counter. Now it's time to finish the top and mount it on the tin. I don't have a finisher to send this to, I'm it. So on to some assembly required time.

First sock

It doesn't look great but I finished the first sock from my dyed sock blank today. I'm going to soak it to let the yarn relax a bit and then let it dry and see what happens. It fits like a dream and the yarn is so soft.

Sock blank - the heel

It doesn't look like much but I finished knitting 6 inches on the leg of the first sock and am almost finished with the heel flap. Onto the heel and gusset and this will start looking like a sock. I'm liking how the yarn turns from a circle on the blank to spatters of color in the sock. I'm looking forward to every change of color as it unknits itself.

Project updates

I went to visit my mom for mother's day and took this table runner project home with me to work on for her. I took it totally apart and resewed it so all of the squares are now square and it fit's together. It's all pinned and ready for her to do some machine quilting then bind off. A good looking table runner.

This is a market bag made from a 'knitpicks' kit I got just recently. I love the organic yarn in natural shades of marshmallow, malted milk, toffee and ginger. This was a challenging pattern with a woven stitch for the bottom, top edgeing and handles. It makes a firm bottom that will stand up to a lot of use but is soft on the hands. The center, bag portion is in a lace, vine pattern that expands but isn't so holey that items will fall through. All in all it's a bag that looks good and will hopefully stand up for years of shopping enjoyment.

I started a new project today. Yes it's going to be a pair of socks for me. My sister got me a dyed sock blank which you 'unknit' as you knit it into a new item. The yarn stays crimpy as you knit but the instructions say it will soften and uncrimp at the first washing. I'm enjoying seeing the spots on the blank knit into stripes and blotches on the sock cuff. I'm doing this fine yarn on a size 0 needle using a k2p2 ribbing throughout. This will insure a good fit for the finished sock. No fancy patterns as the yarn is dark and I don't want to detract from it.

Sheldon the Amazing Transforming Turtle

It's a long awaited update for all the crafty viewers and here he is Sheldon the Amazing Transforming Turtle. He's not just a turtle though.Because his shell is removable he can transform and wear other outfits.

He can fly and turn into a bat.

He's the hit of the sheep society in his awesome 'trinity stitch' sheep outfit.

He looks smart in his 'pirates of the caribbean' outfit complete with hat and earring. Sheldon originally was on the 'knitty' website but all of his patterns are on the 'knitpicks' site ready for downloading and knitting. I love the smooth yarn and he is very soft and adorable. A great project to get knitting on

Another day another gnome

Here is a great shot of my lovely craft assistant who helped me assemble the 2nd gnome. He's in a heavier gauge of yarn, more worsted "checkheaton" and curly bearded. Using the same needles he's larger than the first. Yarn does make a difference.

My assistant slumbers in the tray I've been using to keep all of the body parts in. She looked at the tray, then me and I took all of the parts out just for her comfort. One eye kept track of the entire sewing of the gnome and she even stayed for the glam shot. She's a hard cat to get a good picture of. She's the best craft assistant though.

Dish cloth #2 is completed in record time. The third one of the set (in green) is already on the needles.