Autumn Creativity!

Projectitis is beginning again in earnest.
I've begun crocheting a hat out of to die for soft alpaca yarn in a pretty cornflower blue that my husband's grandmother got me one year for Christmas, and I've been hanging onto it, waiting for the perfect small project (I only have one skein) to use it on.
Since I finally figured out that my favorite hat was crocheted, not knitted, replicating the pattern has been simple, and I'm thrilled by the results. I've even edited it a little bit. As soon as I finish, I promise to post pictures.

I've also gotten excited about Christmas stockings again. Several years ago, I made a couple dozen very unique stockings, out of fun co-ordinating non-holiday materials. The pattern is one I created myself, with a very exaggerated funky foot shape and wilde embellishments. They're super-fun and a great way to use up leftover fabrics. I made one this weekend, and have another cut out, ready to sew. I'm just struggling with a way to make them hold their shape when hanging. I could always stuff them with some filler, but that's not my favorite solution. I'm thinking I need to make them a lot more finished, lining them and adding some of that stiff stuff in between the lining and outer shell. It's just a bit of a pain to do that, for something that's just a holiday decoration.

The purse making stopped; I guess I got tired of them. Partly. The other part is that the nice magnetic snaps are so expensive, and other snaps pull out to easily. I have a bunch of purses here at home that need to be fixed because the snaps pulled out, and they're not fixed yet, because the nice snaps are too pricey. I was hoping to find a good place to buy them in bulk, but so far I've had no luck with that. So the motivation on the couture clutches has petered out.

pictures

Here is a photo of the first silly hat, midway through.
There has been a second, blue hat that was started, but due to lost stitches during transport (oh, I should have capped the ends of the DPNs!) I'm feeling like just starting over. I very well may do that, since I just discovered that the original hat that I'm trying to replicate was crocheted, not knitted. And I'm much more confident crocheting, so it would be a good idea to start over.
Another project we've begun is starting some seedlings in the house. Here they are!
Additionally, I have a shot of the kitchen as it's being painted. Well, sorta. You can see an old project ... a shelf that we made using brackets that were originally designed for hanging plants from, not for shelving.

boredom= not enough projects!

Did I mention the kitchen got painted? Mostly, anyway. All the walls are done, and now I just need to finish the trim, and the inside of the cupboards. I would have done that, too, if not for the fact that I couldn't find the can of paint. Oh, don't laugh, this is a common problem in a project over-full household. We have a shed, and it is over-full of the tools and detritus from too many projects. I know there is a can of green paint in there somewhere!
In other news, the funky hat was finished, and I must say it's darling if not a bit TOO SMALL. Darn it. I'm pretty sure it would have fit fine if not for the multitude of dropped stitches that occurred in the first row. It's something I wasn't *sure* of at the time, since the yarn is pretty hairy, but now that the hat is too small, I'm convinced that's what happened. I started another one, and it's 3/4 of the way done. Yeah, I rocked through those hats in no time. That's what happens when dance class is canceled and it's raining outside. There's NOTHING to do but knit and watch Oprah. Ugh.

Playing Catchup

There have been a few finished projects that haven't been photographed, so I think I ought to catch up. Also, I am considering creating a sidebar of projects I *want* to do, but haven't had a chance to start. I'm hoping that maybe I can perhaps use that as a way to plan ahead, have a goal and follow through with it, rather than just starting projects willy-nilly without proper planning or allowing myself enough time to do the job correctly. Maybe it will help my crazy brain.

So let's list the completed projects:

1. Beledi dress: as you can see, a triangular section was added (to both sides) from the armpit to the hip to make this dress fit a normal-sized human being. It had previously belonged to a 5'2" size 0 sort of woman, and it was handed down to me, 5'9" ... you can see the problem. Fortunately for me, the arms were sewn together with French seams which allowed me to simply rip it out, and put it back together using a normal seam, giving me about 1/2" more diameter in the arm. Otherwise, I'd have had to do another pair of triangular inserts in each arm, too.

2. Love stamp: I mentioned it being completed previously, and you saw the original drawing, and the transfer to the stamp material. Here, you can see the carved stamp material along with the stamped result. Stamp carving is one of my favorite things to do, and thanks to a friend, I've learned to not rely on the imperfect carving tools available, but to really get more precision from an X-acto knife. It really helps when you're trying to get tight corners dug deep.

3. Sari silk purse: This was an imperfect result, probably because I'm an imperfect knitter and so one side looks really good (the side shown here) and the other side looks something like the loose skin on the stomach of a person who's lost 300 pounds. Ugh. That's disappointing... who wants that hanging on their arm? 

4. Silly hat: The silly hat is coming out really well. I love DPNs (double-pointed needles) because it just seems like magic the way it works. It's not magic, but my puny brain finds the whole process of knitting to be just miraculous. I can't believe someone invented this stuff. I'm about 1/3 done with it, and having some minor issues deciding how to incorporate the silliness, so I'm taking a little break to think it through. I don't want it to be just like the hat I already have, but I want it to be flattering in the same way, and silly in the same way: not *too* silly, but definitely not normal. On a related note, I really like this website for fun knitting patterns and information.

I finished something!

Yesterday I finished the sari silk purse. I will not post a photo. I'm really bummed by the result. I think because I used a new ball of yarn on the second half, and the second ball of yarn was *way* different from the first, the second half came out a bit larger than the first half, and so when I put the two halves together, one side is all puffy and saggy while the other side is a lovely pac-man shape. Um, never thought I'd say the words "Lovely Pac-Man Shape" but it was a nice shape for a purse, and it didn't come out that way. I think I'll still use it for transporting my stuff to and from dance class, but I don't think it will ever be my funky bohemian purse.

Finishing the purse did get my knitting needles moving, though, and so I've started a little hat. It's going to be similar to one I bought a while back, one I get tons of compliments on and everyone always asks "Did you make that?" and it's embarassing to say no, when I easily could have made it. So I'm making one. Maybe I'll make TONS of them and all my friends can have matching silly hats. That would be the best.