Tuesday Project Roundup: Christmas Joy And Christmas $!%*#

First the joy: Last week's kitty blanket tying party will make a lot of kitties warmer and happier this year.

And for the "oh shit" moment of the week: I'm making a rice wrap for my friend (but using buckwheat hulls as a filing instead, since rice can smell a little rice-y and he's sensitive to smells)...

...and I was opening up the buttonholes in the cover and sliced right through one. $%&! Good thing pillow coverss are easy to re-do.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Kitty Blankets

I spent my hiking time this past weekend getting ready for the Third Annual Kitty Blanket Tying Party at my house this Thursday (here's the first one in 2010). I ended up with seven fleece blankets ready to tie:

Seven isn't that many, but fortunately my mom has been cutting and fringing for a month so there will be blankets for all the kitties.

Tuesday Project Roundup: SQUEEE!

Look at who's modeling his really really oversized sweater!!

 In new project news, I'm going to say that putting up the Christmas tree counts. 

(I'm having a fuse issue with the bottom third of the tree--I replace them but they short out again. That's not very Christmas-y of you, tree.)

Tuesday Project Roundup: Starting, Finishing, In Progress

Over the long weekend I made a valiant effort to finish (or at least start) a few projects in the queue, in between eating pie for breakfast.

Another pair of boot toppers for a friend are DONE:

 The rayon dress has sleeves and half a collar (but is still looking a little Laura Ingalls Wilder; I'm not sure about this one):

And 4 out of 8 kitty blankets are cut out (but not fringed). Maybe my helper needs to be a little more helpful:

Tuesday Project Roundup: Test

I had an idea and some fabric I didn't care about and Joann stores had Simplicity patterns at $1. So I tried making one of those "waterfall cardigans" with an idea to wear it to yoga.* 

Of course,  then I realized that having a lot of moving fabric around your waist is probably not the best thing for yoga, so I experimented with tying it: 

I'm not sure. It's a test, after all, so I don't have to feel bad if I don't wear it too much. I used Simplicity 1945 and some random burnout tie-dye knit I'd ordered online a couple years ago, somehow not realizing it was either burnout or tie-dye.

*Assuming I ever get back to a real class, that is. Anybody have a favorite Anusara teacher who has a class people working normal hours can get to?

Tuesday Project Roundup: Tiny Tolkein

Skyler's sweater is finally done! It came out somewhere between "Hobbit child" and "Oxford scholar who writes about hobbits." I can't wait to see it on him. 

I don't know if I have that many knitters reading along, but here are some knitterly details: 

• Pattern: Duck Soup, in the 2-3 year old size
• Yarn: Berroco Vintage Chunky, really nice for a wool/acrylic blend (I wanted it to be machine washable)
• Toggles: from M&J Trimming in NYC, sewn on with a leather needle in my trusty sewing machine

Tuesday Project Roundup: Wrapping Up Little Things

I've been meaning to finish that rayon dress for the last two weekends but fall yard cleanups have pushed it back, so it's still sleeveless. But I did get some little things done (literally, tee hee): 

Tiny 4 ounce jars of green tomato chutney: 

And Skyler's sweater, which is just waiting on toggle closures to arrive on the Wells Fargo wagon today.

Tuesday Project Roundup: It's Not Too Soon

If you're a crafty type who's really slowed down lately, it's not too soon to be thinking about what you will make for The Holidays. 

Things will need to be made for neighbors and party hosts:

This will be green tomato chutney--if you haven't take out your garden yet, find the Joy of Cooking recipe and make some!

Things will need to be made for friends:

And things will need to be made for kitties: 

I might need to take a day off just to sew. 
  

Tuesday Project Roundup: Progress

Good crafty news: I finished the real knitting part on Skyler's sweater last night. Now I just need to sew up the hood seam at the top and figure out how I want to do the buttons. 

In other good news, I successfully dyed that sweatshirt dress to a more muted turquoise. Hooray for liquid Rit dye and my big kitchen sink!

Before

After! There's more of a difference in real life.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Beat The Calendar

I'm trying to finish up the current projects so Skyler can have his sweater while he still fits in it and I can get a few more things sewn before it's too cold to wear anything but sweaters and boots.

For Skyler's sweater, there's a sleeve done now. I think I can get this wrapped up in the next couple of weeks.

For sewing, the rayon that was a pile of pieces is now a dress front and a somewhat reduced pile of pieces. It's looking really "Little House on the Prairie Maternity" right now but I have hopes that it will get better as I add more parts.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Of Course This Is Going To End Well

I've been pulling fall and winter clothes out of storage and assessing what to hold on to for another season and what I'm really not going to wear any more. I found this sweatshirt dress I made last year and realized I never wore it very much because of the color.

I have a clown-like love of bright colors but in this case it made me feel like a great big cyan color swatch (it's considerably brighter in person than in the photo). So this is happening: 

I don't have a particularly successful track record of dyeing things, but I figure that if it doesn't turn out well I'll just have a dress I don't wear, which is pretty much the current situation anyway.  Stay tuned!

Tuesday Project Roundup: Forging Ahead

This past week I started a sewing project and a sleeve on the nephew's sweater. Things are getting wild over here!

For sewing, I cut out the rayon from the fall fabric pile--it wants to be a Wiksten "Tova" dress to wear with leggings and boots. Considering the last thing I sewed was the long dress in July, I think this is good progress. 

In sweater news, the body is finished, I have one sleeve started, and I bought buttons. I think this can go pretty quickly to the end now (which is good, because Skyler isn't getting any smaller). 

Tuesday Project Roundup: Fall Fabric

I finished off the bottom of Skyler's sweater and bought some buttons, but I haven't started the sleeves yet so it looks pretty much the same as it did last week. Let's look at some fabric instead!

I've been avoiding "the F word" (fall) but the fact that I had to get out Toby's space heater for the 50-degree mornings is a clue that I can't deny it much longer. 

Fortunately there's (from left to right) wool suiting, cotton-silk print that's a mill end from J. Crew, and some leafy French rayon to help with the acceptance process.(All three are from the local Yellow Bird Fabrics.)

Tuesday Project Roundup: Moving Right Along

This is what 24 hours in a car will get you: 

I ended up not being able to sleep in said car at all, plus I had some downtime on the actual vacation, so I was very glad I brought two extra balls of yarn for Skyler's sweater. I'll be on to the sleeves soon!

Tuesday Project Roundup: Car Knitting

There's a road trip going down and I can almost gaurnatee that I won't be needed as a relief driver. So what will I be doing (besides sleeping the width of Nevada)? Knitting! 

I'll be working on Skyler's little Hobbit sweater (here's the beginnings of the hood) and expect to make a lot of progress. I'm even packing extra yarn.

Tuesday Project Roundup: I'm Taking Requests

I finished the boot toppers and they were such a satisfying project: The cables kept thing interesting, they were small enough that you saw real progress even with a short amount of knitting time, and they used up leftover yarn.

So I was pretty happy when my friend asked for a pair for herself--more cables and nearly-instant gratification ahead! 

(Amber, is this yarn the right color?)

Tuesday Project Roundup: Baby Steps

The knitting lately has been more of the "sneak in two rows here and there" variety than the "sit down for two hours of a movie and go for it" type, but I'm making a little progress.  

The fake socks/boot toppers are nearly done: 

And I got a swatch going for the nephew's sweater, to figure out what size I should make. 

 

Turns out it's the "stop growing, kid, you're nearly a toddler and when did that happen?" size:

Tuesday Project Roundup: Something Small

To get back into knitting, I started a little project while waiting for the yarn for Skyler's sweater to arrive. 

 This used up some leftover yarn and is going to be a "fake sock top" to stick out of boots, thusly:

I made up my own pattern, but you can find the one in the picture above here.

Tuesday Pending Project: Hobbit Child

The yarn I ordered for Skyler's sweater arrived this week. Between the color and the pattern I decided on,  I think he's going to look like a little hobbit when it's done. Not that that's a bad thing, of course.

This

 + this

= this: 

Tuesday Project Roundup In Action

Not only did I finish the dress in time for the first wedding Saturday, I actually got a picture of me in it (one that includes not only my head, but someone else's, too!). It's not a full-length shot, but let's not ask for too much at once.