Ok, not completely… it’s pretty similar. Crochet!

My dear friend, Val, taught me how to crochet this summer, and loaned many books for my crafting edification. I did a few sample swatches to learn the stitches…

First swatch with different stitches

In the round!

…and even made a finger puppet to play with one she had made.

I made the red one

And then I borrowed her book, “Amigurumi World” and made the cute ice cream cone…

Cone with rattle inside

…which I made into a baby rattle by including a vending machine bubble full of coffee beans & pistachio shells. I’ll be giving it to my new nephew, when I see him around Thanksgiving. =) (I want to make the eyes less spider-like, by then, though! Curse my rudimentary embroidery skills! Val loaned me an embroidery book, though.)

I’m currently working on a second ice cream cone (banana this time!) for Val’s little boy, who requested I make him one, too (only without a rattle, please!) This one can have button eyes, since he’s old enough not to chew and swallow bits off his toys. I’ll post that here, too, when it’s done. =)

I’m excited to make more amigurumi and some clothing and whatever else! Thanks for teaching me, Val!

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My Knitting Bag

I got a knitting bag!!!

I was shopping at Barnes & Noble and got this bag for $4.95 (!) because I bought (more than) two items.

Isn’t it gorgeous?! The picture doesn’t even do it justice… you can’t really see the blue pattern on the sides… It’s perfect… my favorite colors AND it has a dragonfly, and pretty flowers, and writing! I’m in love with this bag!!!

I already took my knitting to school with me (along with my fluteophone & music book) last Wednesday. It was fun to have this pretty bag, and convenient!

Now I don’t have to carry my knitting in my purse, and worry about it being snagged by pens or my hairbrush or keys!

Blanket Squares 08

The school’s knitting club is looking for help in finishing the blanket they’re auctioning at the art stroll (proceeds going to a homeless shelter). So I made squares to contribute! Really more like rectangles, but they said to make any shape!

I did a dark sage checkered one(k5, p5), and another one with a similar basketweave pattern.

I’ll try to get a photo of the completed blanket so I can post it!

The Art Stroll is on April 18th!

Ren’s Dice Bag

In Progress

I finally finished up Ren’s dice bag! I needed a project to work on during gaming, a couple of weeks ago, so the darling hubby suggested I make a dice bag for him. I asked him to pick some yarn from my stash, and he picked the zebra. =)

So I happily knitted throughout playing an Amber session with our friends, and one of them, Leo, was a bit fascinated, and I offered to make him a dice bag too. Ironic, since we were playing a diceless game at the time. XD So he requested it in shades of blue, which I don’t have yet, other than my precious blue/brown, so I get to make another wee stash run! Woot!

I just did a k2 p2 ribbed stitch for a long swatch. I stitched up the sides today, and added the drawstrings. Really simple & fast.

Ren likes the ribbing, and loves his new dice bag! He poured ALL his dice into it (see pic) and it all fit — the ribbing expanded to accomodate them… so it’s perfect! I don’t even think it needs a lining!

I still want to find some great ribbon and replace the yarn drawstring with that. Also, think charms. So it can be considered “finished” per se, but I still want to fiddle with it.

And hopefully Leo’s will be fabulous, too!

Stitch Markers by Me

Here are the stitch markers I made for myself!

I adored the beads when I saw them at the craft store, so I grabbed ‘em! I knew they would become stitch markers, hehe. =^-^=

The wire’s a bit soft, but it’s what I had (I didn’t have pliers handy, either). The seed beads I’ve had for ages, and I used some very thin wire that my friend Michelle gave me a couple years ago (I haven’t been beading much) to thread the seed beads on. If they snag or bend or whatever, so be it, I can probably repair them, and deal with snags.  I’ll probably end up with a collection of stitch markers anyway! *Ooo shiny!*

It was a quick, easy, and satisfactory project, and I can’t wait to use them!

Basket o’Special Yarns

Stash o’Red-Hearts

I finally picked up a bunch of new yarn! So all my yarn has labels, and I was able to enter them all in my stash info at Ravelry. =)

Bunch of Red Heart & Lion stuff for now, but in the future I want to get into hand-spun and hand-dyed artisan wool. As for these store-brands, I love the Caron ones, as they’re more special than the run-of-the-mill Red Hearts. =)

We saw one bin of small skeins that had fur… but they were $28 per skein!!! I never expected to see a price like that LOL!

So I can’t wait to find projects for all my new lovelies. My faves are the blue/brown one (I *heart* turquoise with brown) and the fluffy jade Caron and the mossy Caron fling. And of course the nameless shiny one in the basket, which didn’t have a label.

I also picked up a pair of bamboo, size 8 needles, and a bamboo “J” crochet hook. I tried to sit down and learn crochet in an hour with videos, but it was tricker than that. =) I’ll keep at it, though.

For now I need to finish up my husband’s dice bag, and make another for a friend who requested one. And finish my stash photos for Ravelry… my camera ran out of battery power before I got through them all! =D

Calorimetry, On Kati

I added some ties (might bead them later) and sent Kati to school in it. She thinks it’s pretty and was happy to wear it.

But when I offered to make one for Sera too, and Sera said to make it yellow, Kati decided she wanted a turquoise one. So I’ll get to keep this one. =)

I just hope she can take care of it at school. I’d hate for it to get damaged or lost already! Or at all… I’d prefer to keep it in my collection, as one of my first major knitted pieces. But I’m fairly confident she’ll bring it home safe. She’s a pretty responsible fourth-grader. =)

So… here is a quick list of what I have learned from knitting this piece, Calorimetry:

• slip stitch
• short rows using stitch markers
• loose bind-off
• reading a pattern
• adjusting a pattern
• diving in even if you don’t understand yet, ’cause that’s the best way to learn
• knitting is far easier than I ever imagined

Calorimetry WIP 65%

Calorimetry WIP 99%

It worked! Here is my piece a little past the half-way point. It *IS* easy! And fast! I started mid-afternoon and could have finished before bedtime if I hadn’t had to do other things (like travel, eat dinner, and make a character for gaming), and if I hadn’t been sick and needed to go to bed early.

And I think I’ll throw in the shot of it laying out all pretty, waiting for a button. I finished it this morning, but I’m still deciding if I want to find a button or make a beaded tie closure.

I think I’ll give it to my daughters, because it actually did come out petite. Next time I can do the 120 stitches, if I stay with the size 5 needles. Everyone’s blog said to adjust it smaller, but, at least with these size 5 needles, I didn’t really need to. Well, it’s about the right length for closure, so maybe just adjust the math to make it symmetrical.

I think I’m going to be making a lot of these. I already have plans to try adding a stripe with a second skein, on the next one. And when I get the size and math right (by following the pattern next time), I can perhaps stock a few of these fast-easies for my shop!

Once I finish this first one with a closure, I’ll have Kati model it and report what I’ve learned from this piece.

Calorimetry WIP

Calorimetry was intimidating me (the pattern didn’t make much sense to me… my first time reading a pattern, actually) but I wanted to do it so bad… so I just dove in, hoping to figure it out as I go along… since everyone says it’s sooo easy.
So after looking up the pattern abbreviations and some terms, like slip stitch, in a glossary, I think I might have it! I have cast on and done the first row. We’ll see if I can get much further!

I’m taking this project with me to a friend’s house this afternoon, and to dinner with the in-laws after that. Maybe someone there is a knitter and can help me if I get stumped. =)

P.S. I didn’t use stretchy yarn, like it says to do, so I hope that doesn’t hurt me too much! I also only cast on 100 sitches, and used smaller needles, like everyone on Ravelry says they had to do to get it to come out right. I hope I can do the math for the reduced stitch-count!

My Knitting Corner

Complete with cat. XD

I just wanted to show off my cute knitting basket that I’ve had for ages, like before I ever tried knitting or had yarn.

But of course Nal had to upstage it with HER cuteness. =^-^=

I love that she nests in my knitting bag! Isn’t she so squishy? I don’t care about stray fur yet, since it’s just my inherited scrap skeins in there.

(Pardon the dirty computer and wandering scrap bunnies on the floor.  My headache says no to cleaning and then re-shooting the scene.)

P.S. Yes, I am a victim of ze fugly gray berber carpet. But not to worry! I intend to ditch it soon for the hardwood underneath. But first, sanding and such. It *is* a hundred year-old floor! (But fortunately, the only room in which the hardwood wasn’t painted over.)