Chemo Cap

One of my projects for this round of Nerd Wars is this chemo cap. I had started it before this round, so it's going into my WIPs category. I made it for someone I know who has recently lost all her hair because of chemo.

The Eighth Doctor

I did a Swap with my Nerd Wars team, and the person I got to make something for loves The Eighth Doctor from Doctor Who.

So I made this:

Nerd Wars

For the past couple months, I've been in a competition on Ravelry, called Nerd Wars. It's tons of fun, but takes up a lot of my time. The competition basics: 3 month-long competitions with 5 projects each. You can knit, crochet, spin, or weave. While it's been challenging and time-consuming, I've discovered it is a great way to finish projects and meet new people. Here are some of the projects I've completed!

Tea Cozy for my Aunt

Baby Hat

Diamond Scarf

Jayne Cobb Hat Tea Cozy

My first ever Lace Shawl

Basket Weave Stitch Dishcloth

Waffle Stitch Scarf

The Wrong Side of the Scarf is Pretty

Remix

Changed up the blog a bit. It's a bit girly, but it'll do...for now.

How to Crochet Hearts

Stitches from the Heart, one of the charities I work with, gives out heart pins when they go to fairs and art shows. This is how to make those pins.

I modified the Big Tiny Heart pattern I found on the Julie-K website.

The first thing you'll need to know how to do is make a magic loop. Planet June has a great tutorial for this. It's technically not necessary to use the magic loop method. You could use a basic chain 4, join w/slip stitch to first chain. But it is much easier at the end, if you used a magic loop. If the Planet June page doesn't help enough, Bernat has a YouTube demonstration here.

Little Crochet Hearts Pattern:
Yarn: Whatever scraps you have laying around. Really. Any yarn will do.
Hook: I tend to use a hook 1 size bigger than the yarn calls for, but I crochet tightly.
Gauge not important for this project.

Stitch:
HDC: Half-Double Crochet
SLST: Slip Stitch

Start with a Magic Loop
Chain 2
8 HDC into loop
Join with SLST to the first HDC
5 HDC in the next HDC
HDC in the next 2 HDC
(HDC, chain 2, HDC) in the next HDC
HDC in the next 2 HDC
5 HDC in the next HDC
SLST into original chain, fasten off

Tug on the end from the center of the magic loop to tighten the circle. Pull the outside end downward. Double knot the two ends together tightly to shape the heart. Leave the ends long enough to tie another knot around the pin backing for stability.

I get my pin backs from Michaels and JoAnn. I open them to tie the ends to it while gluing. I use tacky glue, but hot glue also works. Once I've tied and glued the pins to the back, I cut the ends of the yarn so that it won't be visible when worn.

Crocheted Afghans

Lukey's Afghan

Lion Brand Yarn's Marble Baby Throw pattern has been my go-to pattern for quick gift items. I really like that it is quick and easy, like granny squares are, but doesn't require any piecing together. So, I've made quite a few at this point.

Ava's Afghan

Carnival Throw

Another pattern I like to use is Lion Brand Yarn's Carson City Afghan, though the pattern is a lot small for my liking, so I generally double or triple it.

Jair's Baby Blanket

Grandma's Afghan

Mom & Dad's Afghan

I've been slow to update my blog, but busy with my hooks and needles. The captions are all links to my Ravelry pages for each, if you're interested in the yarn or patterns I used.

Success and Failure

My Ravellenic Games Team Ravatar

Official Ravthlete Ravatar

My official Scarf Hockey Medal!

The 2012 Ravellenic Games are over. I completed one project and received a lovely badge for it. Success!

 

 

 

 

Rose Tyler BoomTown Scarf

Unfortunately, I did not complete my other event(s). Most specifically, I did not finish Tinker Bell. She's still technically not finished. The pattern was just too confusing, leading me to have to frog a couple pieces, then start them over. Tinker Bell is still not finished, but I'm hoping to power through and get it done this weekend.

Tinker Bell's Current Condition. Boo.

So, I didn't get everything I intended to done for the Ravellenic Games, but I learned a lot about knitting. Specifically yarn overs, decreasing, and that ribbing in the throw(?) method is painful for a girl with tendinitis. Because of that, I'm thinking I may have to switch back to Continental. I'm almost a week out from the contest and my arms are still hurting.

Jackson's Afghan

Picture courtesy of  www.bnd-photography.com

A couple months ago I made an afghan for my cousins' baby. He's finally here to see it, and in one of his newborn photography sessions, he showed it off. (Well, it showed him off.) I thought it was very cool to see something I made in a professional photograph. And my newest first-cousin-once-removed is pretty cool too.

The afghan is based on Lion Brand's free pattern for Marble Baby Throw. Instead of switching colors for stripes, I held three yarns together. For yarn and pattern information, check out my Ravelry project page here.

Ravellenic Games Update

Nothing is finished yet. And now I've run into some pretty major tendinitis pain, not unexpected, though I didn't really foresee just how much of my arm would be in pain due to knitting. I'm using the throw (?) method, which may or may not be called English. At any rate, I think going forward I'm going to have to re-train myself to use Continental because there is less movement, which would be key for me.

The Tinker Bell pattern has been kicking my ass. Not because it's hard, but because I don't understand half of it. I'm fairly certain it was translated from another language and there are quite a few places that I literally have no idea what they are asking for. I've googled and everything.

Ravellenic Games - Day 5?

Rose Tyler's BoomTown Scarf - Progress

So, I'm not sure what day of the Ravellenics this is. I can't decide if Friday the 27th counts, or not. Regardless, this post is just to show the progress I'm making on the Rose Tyler scarf. It looks really pretty, though I'm not sure it looks enough like the original. The yarn coloring is finally getting to what I thought it would look like and not so pastel, so that's good. I'm just a little bit frustrated that it takes so much time to make. Knitting is slow. Plus, I'm not quite good enough to watch the Olympics while I'm knitting, so the events I actually want to see, I'm having to put it down. (Go Team USA Swimming/Gymnastics/Tennis/Beach Volleyball!)

I'm using a Yarn Bowl to hold my yarn. It was made by my friend Ariel's dad. And it is full of awesome. I've gotten so many compliments and tons of people want one. One person literally said to me: "Oh, when I start knitting, I will definitely use one of those." So, the actual crafting of scarves and sweaters and animals isn't enough to entice them to start, but a pretty bowl to hold yarn is. :)

Olympics and Yarn

I've been watching the Olympics while I work on my Ravellenic events. Tonight, as I'm trying to decide what to do with my amigurumi TinkerBell's face, I'm watching the NBC coverage of the US Men's Gymnastics Team Final. I assume the announcers are trying to prepare the viewers for the fact that there won't be a medal, but man, they are constantly pointing out the bad. Saying a fantastic vault by Jake Dalton is "too little too late," which I would argue, was fantastic, not too little. And then NBC only chooses to show the best of the best from the other countries, enthusiastically pointing out that they had errors in the past, but not tonight when it counts.

I don't know if this is because they are finally just assuming we know the results ahead of time or if they really believe they'll lose viewers by seeing our team fail to live up to a medal, but the way it's being shown is making it far worse in my opinion. They could actually focus on the good of our team. Or just give us the meet as it happens, like they usually do. This constant focus on what went wrong is just depressing. Yuck.

Now I'm depressed, and I still can't decide what to do with TinkerBell's eyes.

Ravellenic Games 2012

Rose Tyler's BoomTown Scarf (modified)

TinkerBell's head

The Ravellenic Games have begun! Ravelry, a site for yarn-enthusiasts, hosts a competition every two years (during the two weeks of the Olympics). People all over the world join teams and get to crocheting, knitting, weaving, and other yarn-related events.

There are different sport-themed events. I'm participating in Scarf Hockey, Toy Toss, and Holiday Hurdles.

I'm on two teams, Team TARDIS and Team Disney.
For Scarf Hockey I'm making the Rose Tyler scarf from BoomTown (Doctor Who).
For Toy Toss I'm making an amigurumi TinkerBell.
And for Holiday Hurdles I'm making some TARDIS ornaments...if I can finish the other two projects first. :)

Granny Squares and Photography Lessons

Carnival Giant Granny Square Throw

The Marble Baby Throw pattern, offered for free from Lion Brand is now one of my go-to patterns. Not only is it quick and easy, it also looks great with lots of different yarn combinations. I've been experimenting with color choices lately. I call this color combo Carnival, partly because it reminds me a little of Hot Dog on a Stick, and a friend mentioned clowns. It makes me think of a county fair in the summer.

Carnival Throw in a Basket

One thing I'm learning about this wonderful world of yarny goodness is that you can make the world's most beautiful handcrafted item, but if your photographs aren't of good quality, it won't matter one bit how great your work is. So, I decided it was high time I learn how to take a better picture. I am quite proud to say I took the above photographs. I don't expect to start entering photos into galleries,but it at least has some semblance of quality, and it's the truest to the colors of the yarn of any picture I've ever taken.

I owe most of my newfound ability to a fantastic website I found via a blog I follow. Thank heavens for a friend on Pinterest pinning it. Fresh Stitches Blog - Photography Tips. Because of this site, I'm now carrying blank poster board in my car because I know I'll only remember to take pictures with the right daylight when I'm out and about, so now I will have the tools needed.

To show I'm progressing in my photography skills, here are some of the pics I've taken in the past, starting with the most recent.

The Queue

Free Lion Brand Pattern: Marble Baby Throw

I have so many projects in queue right now. And a lot of them are things I have started but not finished. This is the baby throw I'm working on. I'm using Lion Brand Jamie yarn, as that's the yarn used in the pattern, though I'm pretty sure if I make it again I'll go for a softer yarn selection. The colors of the yarn are fantastic though. It's hard to tell in this picture, but it a gorgeous combination.

I'm not currently sure who this is for, and I may end up keeping it for myself since I've not kept any of my blankets so far.

The Sticks Matter

In my attempts at knitting I have learned a very important lesson. Using the right needles is important! So important, that using the wrong needles will make the whole knitting process intensely more difficult. When you're crocheting, as long as you have the same size hook, really, you can use any hook. Some people swear by wooden or bamboo hooks, but really if it's the same size, it'll work. With knitting...not so much. (Or at least, not for me.)

For me, bamboo hooks (which I started with) stick to the yarn. A lot. My knitting was really really tight (so much that my friend commented that my needles were squeaking) and it was pretty much a painful miserable experience.

Then, I tried a friend's nickel plated needles and the loops wouldn't stay on the needle it was so slick.

So, the other day I went to an LYS (Local Yarn Store) called Yarning For You. It's nice and everyone was so helpful and nice. I picked up some Knit Picks Interchangeable Circular Needles. And I looove them. They're wood, but it's super polished wood, so it's really smooth, but not so slick the loops fall off. They're also really pretty because of the different colors.

They inspired me to start another project. When I get to a point that I'm happy, I'll share it on here. So far, (fingers crossed) it looks really good. :)

2012 Resolutions

I'm officially behind on a couple of my resolutions this year, but, so far I haven't broken any completely. So that's better than 2011. One of my resolutions is to expand my horizons by learning to KNIT. I'm finding there are A LOT of differences between knitting and crocheting, but I'm also finding that there are a lot of similarities.

People frequently comment on how even and tight my crochet stitches are. This is because I am a yarn control freak. Seriously, I have what is basically akin to a death grip on my working yarn. I loop it around my pinky, then weave between each of my fingers. Most people that I've seen barely hold the yarn at all. (I'm sure it's something I should change, especially because I have tendinitis and it's painful.)

So, I'm finding that my yarn control issues are making learning to knit a little on the difficult side. My loops (no clue if that's the right term) are so tight on the needles it's hard to get the other needle inside them.

Another thing I'm finding, is that there's no indication that you've done something wrong until it's too late to do anything about it. In crochet, it's really obvious when something isn't right...or at least it is to me now that I've been doing it a while. The following photo shows the piece I discovered a big hole in.

But, on the bright side, what I currently have going looks pretty good...I think.

2012 Pay It Forward

The Pay it Forwards are complete! Now I just have to finish making my cards to attach to them and get them mailed/delivered.

 

To give some size perspective, they fit pretty perfectly in a gallon-sized storage bag.

Tic Tac Toe: Spring Edition

For my second Pay It Forward gift, I made the same Tic Tac Toe board, but because I hated making the X's I needed a new theme. The flowers and butterflies make it very springlike and I absolutely LOVE the color combination for this one. It's just gorgeous.

 

A closeup of the flower applique piece

 

A closeup of the butterfly applique piece

Details: The board: Ch 35, sc in second ch from hook and each chain across. Ch 1, turn, sc in each sc across. Repeat until the board is approximately 10" x 10". Using contrasting color, evenly stitch lines to make the squares. Join two stitches from a corner, sc across to corner, sc 3 in corner sc, repeat for each side, joining with a slst to first sc. Pattern for flower applique is here. Pattern for butterfly applique is here.