Back to the Hooks

Half finished Stole

I think I confused Blogger's brain this week. I've gotten into the habit of using three different devices to prepare my posts, and it looks like I finally hit a snag. I had a post all written and posted (so I thought) but upon looking, it's disappeared! 

So instead of attempting to recreate what I wrote originally, I'm just going to say it's been a busy week but I was able to fit crochet in. Every other Tuesday is craft night with some ladies from my church, so I've been making the time to go. Below is what I got done during this week's time. 

It's upside-down. Oops. 

Improvisation is my friend with all my current projects. When I failed my 2 (or 3 or 4) attempts to cast on for a Pebble Vest, I frogged everything and started with crochet. The whole process feels better to me, though I'd sad that I couldn't make the knitted vest work. Maybe a different pattern. Or different needles. Or a new cast on method....

Holiday Stashdown Challenge Week 18

Whew, I breathe a sigh of relief. After being an on-again-off-again project for at least 3 years, the cabled vest is DONE! I blogged about it on Friday, but it deserves another mention here. It is now another item crossed off the list, leaving a pile of yarn behind. I initially bought 4 skeins of yarn for this project, me being inexperienced with re-sizing patterns, and not wanting to run out of yarn. I have 2 skeins left, the first being partly used, but the little balls left from the first 2 skeins make up for it. I already know what I want to make with at least one skein of the remainder: a scarf for an aunt. I spent some time perusing my craft books, looking for something suitable.

My dashing brother in his new vest

Last week, I said I would finish the vest (which I did) and make 4 more afghan squares. Here are my squares:

Lightning Strikes

Diamond Squared

Unfortunately, my homework got the better of me this past week, and I only did the two squares above.  I did, however, make 3 infinity scarves while sitting at the craft show, because doing homework when trying to sell your wares just seemed silly. (One funny thing though: in reading Nietzsche, I found the word crocheted)

Anyway. Next week, I plan to make up for this week. 5 afghan squares and 5 star ornaments. Hopefully I can do it :)

Linking up with Marie!!

FO: Finally!

I am so pleased to finally share the knitted cable vest that I made for my brother. I've talked about this vest so many times- it was nearly the bane of my knitting existence. I started it between 3 and 4 years ago as a Christmas present, and it never got finished. Until now!

Tuesday night I kept going and going, fueled by the long weekend, and my desire to finally cross it off my list. I followed the pattern and picked up stitches around the neck, but without a short circular needle, I switched to dpns, then got frustrated. I only ended up with 3 rounds on the neck, but for a first time go at something, it doesn't look awful. Because I didn't want to play with more dpns, I just put a round of single crochet around both sleeves to finish it off.

The pictures were all taken at night, and my body is not great at modeling a sweater for a boy.

Not completely finished

If he doesn't like it, I might keep it!

Finished! with the leftover yarn behind it!

All wrapped up for his birthday!

Since starting this project, I have not committed to making garments for anyone else. I can feel better about making a sweater for myself though, now that this one is done.

I'm taking a short break from garment sized projects for the time being, and will just work on my scarves and shawls and hats.

Linking up with Tami to share my big accomplishment!

Holiday Stashdown Challenge Week 17

Last week Marie wrote out a list of weekly goals, and I thought that was a great idea. First I had to decide when I wanted all my projects finished. I figured either the week of Thanksgiving, or the week after. It would give me 11 to 12 weeks to finish things up. But because so many of my gifts are fluid and subject to change, I'll plan goals through mid October, and re-assess from there.

But before I get into writing out my goals, I want to address last week's goals. Last week, I expressed the desire to finish 5 afghan squares, 5 star ornaments, and one of my knitting WIPs. Both crocheted projects were easy goals to meet. I even went over my ornament goal, making double what I had planned to make. The afghan square goal was nearly met, as you can see from the photo above. 4.5 instead of 5. But considering the time it took to make them, if I tried harder, I would've done fine. (Counting the half square as a whole square, I am now at 18/30 squares)

However, the knitting goal was not met. I am very close to dividing the front of the vest for a V-neck, but not there yet. I know if I spend a whole day working on it, it will definitely be finished. The scarf for my sister is taking a backseat to the vest, as the vest was basically a gift promised nearly 4 years ago. My brother's birthday is next week, so my goal is to have the vest completed by then. Only problem with that is I will need to find something else for him for Christmas.

Anyway, onto my goals for the next 3 months:

By week of 9/11: Finish knitted vest for Brother 1.  4 more afghan squares (to bring the total to 22).

By week of 9/18: 4 more afghan squares. 5 more star ornaments.

By week of 9/25: 4 more afghan squares. Finish scarf for Sister
By week of 10/2: Afghan completed- squares pieced together and all ends woven in.
By week of 10/9: Scarf for Brother 2, fingerless mitts for Aunt 2, Scarf for A.
By week of 10/16: Hat for E, Start activity rug for E's nieces & nephews.

Be sure to check out Marie's post for this week- more inspiration!

Holiday Stashdown Challenge Week 16

This week, school started. My craft time has been cut into severely. I'm taking 15 credits, which is full-time. 5 classes, 4 days a week: Political Science x 2, Geography, History, and Economics. It should be a decent semester.

In an effort to finish projects that take longer, I have been mainly focusing on my 2 knitting projects- the shawlette for my sister and vest for my brother. Both of those projects are going well, but they keep proving to me that I am a slow knitter.

Love Cables

My crochet project, at least for the Stashdown, has been the Autumnal Afghan for my parents. I checked out The Granny Square Book by Margaret Hubert from my library, and have been picking squares from there to fill out the afghan more quickly. This really has not been a stashdown project because I've had to buy new yarn for it. It's a 7 color palette, so I started with 7 skeins of yarn, bought 4 more, and then 2 more after that. I'm thinking I'll make it work. I was hoping to have a few more squares done for today, but I only have one:

Paula's Pendant

Luckily, it's the only project that I've had to buy more yarn for. Everything else is about making the stash fit the projects and vice versa. To use up scrap, I've been making an adjusted version of the Star Decoration from Lucy @ Attic24. It's a great little pattern, fabulous for scrap-bashing :)

I've finished my snowflakes, but am going to see if they have success at the craft shows. (The yarn I was using has not been used up yet. I really want to see the end of it.)

That's all for me today! There are three goals for next week: to have one of my knitting projects completed, 5 more crocheted blocks, and 5 more star ornaments. Hopefully I can accomplish that around all my school work. Hop over to Marie's to see how she's been doing!

WIP/Yarn-Along- too much cotton?

Joining up with Tami's Amis and Ginny's Yarn-Along today!

I've been working on a large number of crocheted dishcloths as part of a wedding gift, which leaves me with lots of WIPs laying around, but no big projects accomplished.

Dishcloths: I've been using the tulip stitch dishcloth pattern, with a few modifications- throughout the dishcloth, use ch 2 instead of ch 3, except for the edges. I like the density of this pattern, and it's simple and quickly memorized.

May CSW CAL: My Eva shawl is relaxing and taking a temporary vacation, as I am not entirely fond of the laceweight. Some of you commented last week that my yarn's '2-stranded-ness' would be difficult to work with, and I will admit, that's part of the reason why I am stalling on this project.

But I love the way this drapes, and as soon as my dishcloth kick has cooled down, I will come back to this.

Something else that I'm super proud of this week is my progress on one of my UFOs- I brought the knitted vest for my brother out of hibernation, and after knitting a few more rows, it was long enough to FINALLY decrease for armhole shaping. This is where things get a bit uncomfortable for me, as I have never before made a garment that needs to fit properly.

I will definitely have a few things to share on Friday, so don't hesitate to stop back to check it out! :)

I still have open spots for the Pay it Forward Handmade, mentioned here.

Currently: On my Needles

So, there's a back story to this: I learned how to crochet first, so when I took up the needles to start knitting, I was slow. And I've nearly always been slow. I got a bit ambitious a few years into knitting and I wanted to try a vest. My brother loves sweater vests. I figured it'd be easy- no sleeves, minimal shaping, etc. It's been on my needles for nearly 3 years. It was supposed to be a Christmas present.
I love the yarn, a creamy colored Simply Soft. I love the pattern, a basic cable that still manages to look awesome. I just can't sit long enough to finish that thing. Sometimes I need projects that go quickly, so this vest has been in a bag for a while now. My current goal is to finish it this year. I have less than 3 months until Christmas. Can I do it?