Never a Skull Moment

Don't you just love my catching titles? LOL, ok not terribly original, but trying to find a word that rhymes with skull wasn't easy. Anyhoo, I finished my felted skull bag, pattern is again form the Hello Yarn website (http://www.helloyarn.com/bigskulltote.htm). Again a free pattern from the Hello Yarn Lady, she has the cutest things!

This was my first foray into "stranding" and although I don't think I did a great job with it, it worked out fairly well. Given that the bag as knitted in the round, it was a little harder also. I will try it again with flat knitting. I used Patons wool yarn in worsted weight and it was knitted double strand through out. I added a crochet color border to the top to set it off a bit. I also made a mistake using the graph (there are skulls on both sides of the bag) and made one eye on one side to small (guess what! first time using a graph also). It looked like some kind of weird skull birth defect! So I used duplicate stitching to fix the eye before I felted the bad. It actually worked really well, and it was the first time I had used duplicate stitching also. After felting in one wash cycle, I stopped and noticed the skull was actually pulling inward on the back do to the stranding, so I pulled it as much as I could to stretch it out a bit on the sides of the skull. I took the picture after one felting cycle, but I'm toying with the idea of throwing it in for a second cycle to see what would happen. The Hello Yarn Lady said she used two cycles when felting her bag. Any way, here is what the bag looked like prior to felting, it was pretty big, and a close up of the graphic work for the skull.

Don't know what I want to work on next, I don't like being without a project, since I don't like to watch TV without having something to do!

Cable For One?

I wanted to try my hand at something I hadn't tried before, so I found a link to a website called Hello Yarn, here's the link if you all are interested http://www.helloyarn.com/irishhikingscarf.htm.

It's a really cute website by a gal that does some amazing things with yarn. The Hello Yarn Lady offers some free patterns and there was a beautiful pattern for an Irish Hiking Scarf. A really pretty, uncomplicated cable pattern for a scarf. So I used some yarn from my stash, Joann's Sensations Angel Hair yarn in color #649, which is actually a cool purple color. The only problem with this yarn is that it is kinda hairy, so the cables are not as distinct as they could be. But it was fun to do and easy peasy japaneasy!

Pretty Puppy and Baby Sweater

Wow! Two posts in a month! I'm ramping up here so watch out! I've been meaning to post a couple of projects. First a puppy sweater I made for a girl at work who has a little Maltese (I think that is how you spell it), anyway I had been wanting to make this doggie sweater but didn't know any small dogs. Turns out it fit her Mom's doggie better, so here is Mitzy with her sweater!

The pattern is free from Lion Brand, it called for Microspun, but I used TLC Cotton Plus in pink that I already had, and used Fancy Fur in pink that I already had. It knitted up quickly. So if I can find some more of the Fancy Fur in pink I'm commissioned to make a slightly larger one for the original doggie. Who's name oddly enough is Olivia!

The second project was for a friend at work who has a 4-5 month old boy. I made this sweater from the March issue of Crochet! magazine. The pattern had flowers for a girl, so I left them off as well as the pockets and added little car buttons. He really liked it and has promised me a picture of the baby donning the jacket. I used Caron Simply Soft in Turquoise and instead of the white Bliss yarn it called for to make the collar, I used some white Bernat Boa that I already had. I thought it turned out kinda cute! Oh! I also added about an inch to the bottom in a border, not in the original pattern because it looked kinda short since my gauge was off. And one extra picture of the little buttons since they were really cute!Currently I'm knitting a scarf for myself, yeehaw! It is the first time that I have knitted cables, and I'm surprised at how easy it is! I've practiced a little before, but never made anything. Bought myself a nice cable needle to use and have subsequently lost it, so I am using a double-point needle as my cable needle. A little awkward, but it's doing the job. I'm about 2/3's finished, so stay tuned!

Cool Photo Tool!

I just found the coolest photo tool! A free download of a program tool called GIMP that is just like Photoshop! I've been wanting to put in family photos, but didn't really want to put faces on the blog (although I have about 3 readers and they all know everyone ANYWAY), but safety first right? So I wanted to post a photo with little black boxes over the eyes, like they do in Glamour magazine in their Do's and Don'ts section where they catch people on the street wearing really bad or really good outfits, and then they print them with bars over their eyes to hide the identity!

So I can finally do it and here is the photo from Christmas with the gang wearing their Christmas hats I knitted! Dad, N, J, and R all put on their hats and posed for the camera!

Very, very cool! A definite Do!