W.I.P Wednesday

THE YARN FAERIE CAME TO VISIT LAST NIGHT!

I'm so excited!  He arrived, driving his large brown delivery wagon, just as we were finishing dinner and he dropped off a box filled with beautiful colours and softness and a vaguely chemically smell that sort of worries me.  But never mind the smell. LOOK WHAT HE BROUGHT!  Getting boxes of yarn is almost like getting boxes for Christmas and my birthday.  IT'S SO EXCITING!

To make this for my friend J's baby.

To make this for my eldest niece, Wally.

I'm anticipating more visits from the Yarn Faerie over the next week or so; I'll be making a purse from my friend D in New York and a slouchy hat for my friend L in Texas.  They both asked if they could pay me to make them something and I said just buy the yarn and we're golden.  It's a nice compromise, don't you think?

On a related note, what do you all think of using personalised labels in the things you make?  Something that says "Made with love by {insert name here}" or something to that effect.  Would you do it?  Do you do it? Let me know what you think of the idea in the comments. I'd surely appreciate it!

Monday Morning Mish-Mash

(Okay, so it's more like Monday Night Mish-Mash.)

I had a very lovely holiday weekend.  The kids were home with me from Thursday on, and they'll go back to school tomorrow.  While I love spending time with them, I have to say that I'm rather glad they're going to be gone again.  Does that make me a horrible mother?

Anyway, I didn't really get a lot of crocheting done this weekend.  I was too busy playing with the kids and cooking for the Passover seder we had Saturday night at my MIL's house.  The Bunny Army from the last post was passed out to all the kids there that night and were a big hit.  I ended up keeping the little brown bunny for myself because he was just too cute to part with.  He's hanging out on my computer desk now with the hookapotamus.

I did finish one project, one I made just for myself and just for fun.  If you've read my 'About Me' page, you no doubt discovered that I number turtles amongst my favourite animals and I found the cutest pattern for a turtle softie on Ravelry.  So I made her.  And I love her.  :D

Meet Amaryllis.

This week, I'm anticipating some lovely visits from the UPS man, who should be bringing me yarn from Herrschner's.  Two of my friends asked me to make them some things, so in exchange for buying the yarn for me, I promised them pretties.  It's a pretty good deal, I think.  I'm also starting on a baby afghan for another friend, and a sleeveless hoodie for my niece.  Phew!  I can't wait!

Holiday Edition

Hoppy Easter, Every Bunny!

from your Future Masters and Overlords,

the Bunny Army

(pattern to create your own Bunny Army found here)

The Great Reveal!

I finished and photographed my latest Nerd Wars challenge project last night.  This one was tough, both because the challenge itself was difficult and because the execution of the piece had me flummoxed for a while.  But I persevered and am quite chuffed with the finished work.

The challenge was States of Matter.  You know, solid, liquid, gas, plasma?  Only the matter that inspired my work couldn't be organic...and I had to find inspiration from one of the other teams.  I wanted to do an amigurumi Adipose Fat Baby from Doctor Who, 'cos really?  Those little buggers are so painfully cute!  But of course fat is organic so that idea was right out.  Then the leader of our team decided to make a Hat Full Of Sky from the Terry Pratchett Disc World series so that got me thinking about things from that series and I landed upon ice roses from the Tiffany Aching books.  And voila--Tiffany Aching's Ice Rose Wreath was born.

Two of the roses are from this pattern from Lily Sugar'n Cream yarn.  Some of the roses are from this pattern and this pattern I found on Pinterest, and the rest were plucked from the ether and born as they were being made.  The leaves, which were really easy and quite fun to work up, came from here.  So, there it is.  Tiffany Aching's Ice Roses Wreath.  I think this particular one will soon be up for sale in the Hook and Yarn Creations shop, but I think I'll make another in pretty spring-time colours to keep for myself!

Send Hannah to OM World Finals!

Monday Morning Mish-Mash

First, I'd just like to extend a big thank you to everyone who's helped spread the word about my fundraiser to send Girl Child to the World Finals for Odyssey of the Mind.  It's been on Twitter, Facebook, other blogs, and even Pinterest and Google +.  I am so amazed and down-right gobsmacked that people I don't even know are caring this much about the academic dreams of a girl in Arizona, who they'll probably never meet or see.

Secondly, I'd like to also extend a GIANT THANK YOU!!! to those people who have donated money so far.  We went from $0 to $150 overnight and seeing those emails from PayPal telling me that there have been donations reduced me to tears yesterday.  You donators are angels and it means more to me than I could ever hope to express that you've given your hard-earned money to help my family out.  But we're not out of the woods yet, so keep Tweeting and sending the notice out on Facebook, Pinterest, your blogs, whatever you can do.  It's so appreciated!





In other, more crocheting news, this weekend was a pretty busy one for me.  I continued work on my Klimt socks, some ice roses for another Nerd Wars challenge, and found time to make some cool little drawstring bags and one half of a pair of slippers for Girl Child.

The blue and yellow bag is a little makeup bag that matches my new purse (photos of that when I get it back from my MIL, who is currently lining it for me because as we all know, I am sewing impaired) and the brown one is for The Man, who needed accessories for his monk costume, something he wears every Hallowe'en and to the Renaissance Festival every year as well.

The slippers were a spur of the moment thing.  Girl Child was complaining of cold feet yesterday so I decided to raid the Yarn Box and came up with yellow and brown yarn that sort of reminds me of Bananas Foster.  Plus yellow is one of her favourite colours and I have lots of brown left over so voila!  Half a pair of Bananas Foster Slippers.  I have to wait to borrow her feet to make sure they fit before making the other one.

Send Hannah to OM World Finals!

W.I.P. Wednesday...and a buncha other stuff, too!

Whew!  I've been hookin' up a storm lately.  I've cleared out several projects and moved onto March's challenges for Nerd Wars.  This month's challenges are exciting and are something I believe I can knock out pretty quickly.

The first challenge that I completed was to use up some scrap yarn, and since our Team Unity Project this month is coffee-related items, I figured I'd make some coffee cup cozies.  Here's the pattern I used and a photo of the finished items:

A cozy for Kate Beckett and one for Rick Castle.

I also finally got around to photographing the bag I made...uh...how many weeks ago?  It's still not 100% done yet; I need to figure out how to line it since I'm sewing-impaired, and I'd also like to make a flower embellishment.  This is one of the items I'll be offering for sale, just as soon as I open up an Etsy store.

Not much to look at right now, but it'll be prettier when it's totally done.

I went back to amigurumi and made myself a little "Hookapotamus", which was inspired by this wonderful cartoon by Obey Crochet.  My hookapotamus is so tiny and cute that I've decided to keep her for myself.  She currently lives on my computer desk!

I finished a gift for my friend S and her daughter, who is a year and a half.  It's a simple cardigan and a hat but I'm really chuffed by how cute they both are!

Red Heart's Super Save in Bonbon and a mystery yarn.
Remember this yarn from the charity store experience?

I added a pocket and a pretty scalloped edge at the bottom
of the sleeves and cardi to match the scalloping on the
bottom edge of the hat.

I also worked this spiral hat, which came from an email from Bernat.  I can't seem to find the pattern on their site or on Ravelry so I can't link to it.  This hat will also be for sale...eventually.

Do not look directly into the centre of the hat. You may
accidentally hypnotise yourself!

And finally, the Work In Progress part of this post.  Another of our challenges this month is to do something inspired by the Modernist/Art Nouveau painter, Klimt, whose 150th birthday is this year.  Klimt is one of my favourite painters, so I was happy to see this challenge.  Inspired by his painting 'Country Garden with Sunflowers', I found sock yarn that reflect the colours used in this painting and since I'm tired of waiting to learn to knit socks, I'm crocheting them.  I love socks.  LOVE THEM!  The funkier the better.  These probably won't be funky but I'm hoping they'll turn out well.

Fancy paper clip stitch holder! Aren't you jealous?  ;)

Monday Morning Mish-Mash

Remember how I've mentioned at least twice now that I'm teaching myself to knit?  And that the whole reason I'm doing this is so that I can make socks?  'Cos I have a fetish, a thing, a longing for funky socks and if I could make my own?  Wow.  That would just be amazingly cool.

My knitting skills are possibly years off from trying this, so in the meantime, my tootsies are cold.  I decided that I needed some slippers or something and searched through Ravelry and found this awesomely neat and simple pattern and whipped up a pair last night while the kids, the Man, and I were watching Dr Who.  (I LOVE YOU DAVID TENNANT!)

They are super comfy and keep my feet warm and best of all?  I can just toss 'em in the wash when they get dirty!  Oh, and I made 'em myself, too.  That's always kinda of a cool feeling, huh?

iPod Hoodie

Girl Child has an iPod Touch that was in desperate need of protection, so I decided to try to make one.  Using the basic idea of the bath mitts I made last week, I decided that it couldn't be that much different.  It's just a pocket, right?  But then I decided that it would need some sort of special closing to keep the iPod from slipping out, so I tried my hand at making a flap with a button closure, only I'm not quite skilled enough to crochet button holes.  So I just made a loop to hook over the button to keep it closed.  It worked out really well and Girl Child really loves it.  She decided that it was more than just a cover; she calls it an iPod Hoodie...I guess 'cos of the flap, maybe?

I added a teeny tiny flower for decoration

Loop and button closure and the little flap

Close-up of the flap

iPod Hoodie

Use Worsted weight yarn and a 5.00 mm hook.  I'm not sure that gauge (or what sort of yarn or even what size hook) matters really, just so long as your finished product is big enough to fit around your iPod.

ch 16
Front:
Row 1: From 2nd ch from hk, sc in each ch across. Ch 1, turn. (14 sts)
Row 2: *Sc in 1st st, dc in next, repeat from *across. Each row must start with sc
and end with dc; ch 1, turn.
Row 3-16: Repeat Row 2.
Row 17: Sc in each st. Fasten off.

Back:
Repeat rows 1-16 of front. Do not fasten off.(14 sts)

Flap:
Row 17: Sc in back loop only. Ch 1, turn. (14 sts)
Row 18: Sc in each st across, both loops. Ch 1, turn.
Row 19-23: Repeat Row 18.
Row 24: Sctog, sc in each st across to last 2 st, sctog. Ch 1, turn. (12 sts)
Row 25: Repeat Row 18.
Row 26: Sctog, sc in each st across to last 2 st, sctog. Ch 1, turn. (10 sts)
Row 27: Repeat Row 18.
Row 28: Sctog, sc in each st across to last 2 st, sctog. Ch 1, turn. (8 sts)
Row 29: Repeat Row 18. Fasten off.

To finish: Put wrong sides of front and back together. Sc both pieces tog. When you come to flap, sc around just the flap. When you come to end of flap, sc both pieces tog again. Fasten off. Weave in all ends.

To attach button: Eyeball middle of front and sew button.

To make loop: Eyeball middle of bottom edge of flap and attach yarn with a sl st. Chain ten and attach in same sp as first sl st with another sl st.

Cleaning Out The Stash

I save yarn like there's no tomorrow.  It doesn't matter how much is left over when I've finished, I make a little ball out of it and chuck it in the yarn basket, hoping that I'll have use for it sometime in the future.  This weekend after school and errands and writing, I was digging through the stash and trying to figure out uses for some of the larger amounts.  I came upon an idea Monday morning in the shower after my bath pouf from The Body Shop fell apart in my hands.  I'd make bath mitts!  There was no way I'd spend upwards of $9 on a new pouf when I could spend an hour and whip one up by hand.  So that's what I did.  I made three of them, in fact, seriously cutting down on my stash and making room for new lovely yarn...which will no doubt add to the stash.  Sigh.  It's a vicious cycle, isn't it?

Baby mitt, Mama mitt, Daddy mitt

If you'd like to make your own bath mitts, here's what I did:

Using whatever washable, durable yarn you have (I used Red Heart's Super Saver in Frosty Green, Pale Yellow, and Country Blue) and an appropriately sized hook (I used a 5.00 mm), chain either 16 or 18, depending upon how wide your hand is.  Then, starting from the second ch from your hook, sc into each chain for row one.  For row two, turn and ch 1, then sc across.  Repeat row two until your piece is about 30 rows long.  When you're done with your last row, don't fasten off.  Fold your work in half so the top and the bottom meet, then sc up the side, ending at the very top.  Now you can fasten off and sc up the other side so you've made a little pocket.  When you reach the top of the second side, ch 11.  Then, starting with the second ch from your hook, sc into each ch (10 sc), fold it in half and attach it to the top of the piece to make the little hanging hookie thing.  Fasten off and weave in your ends.  Ta-da!  Your very own bath mitt!

Little Hanging Hookie Things

Maybe you could match your mitts to your bathroom's decor?

Little Green Men

I finished Boy Child's Valentine's Day gift yesterday.  He requested an angry alien and I think I managed to make him look French instead.  It's the mustache.  Judge for yourself.

Nerd Wars!

Yes, I am a nerd.  I mentioned that in this post.  Well, imagine my utter delight when I stumbled across the 'Nerd Wars' group on Ravelry!  What's it all about?  As best as I can understand, differently themed teams of crafters  (Angel, Buffy, Firefly, Doctor Who, etc) compete in a three-month tournament, during which they knit or crochet different projects to meet different challenges and earn their team points.  At the end of the three months, the team with the most points wins.  Wins what?  Beyond bragging rights, I'm not sure.

Anyway, today marks the beginning of the fourth round of the tournament and I've joined the Writers Group.  Our team consists of fans of amateur sleuths--think Rick Castle and Veronica Mars, as well as Jessica Fletcher from 'Murder She Wrote'--and our first challenge is to create a Valentine's Day gift for our favourite character.  There are also different tournament-wide challenges that tie into the monthly team challenges.  I'm thinking of using Boy Child's alien amigurumi for both the tournament-wide technical challenge (showcase a particular stitch or technique that we've mastered) and for Castle's Valentine's Day gift.  (He and Beckett were 'abducted' in S03, E09 - 'Close Encounters of the Murderous Kind'.)  Hopefully, I'll get this project approved and help my team clobber all the others into submission!

In other, non-nerd news...
I finished my niece's teddy bear last night.  He turned out awfully cute, if a little lopsided.  I made him a blanket and a scarf because it's cold here and even stuffed teddies need something warm to cuddle up with.

Pensive Bear is pensive.

He looks thoughtful...or surprised.  Maybe surprised to be thoughtful?

Teddy's blanket.  A granny square with scalloped edging.