Felted bags

Another project finished, and gifted! I made this purse for my mom for her birthday. I knitted it and then felted it and added the flower embellishment. This is the first project I have felted. It was easy, however, I think I'd felt for longer or use a bit heavier yarn next time, but I love the shape and color of the bag.






I was so fond of the felting that I thought I would try some more. I used the "Felted Sweater" project in Alter Knits. It was very easy. I got the sweater for about $2 at the Salvation Army. This could be a very fun project to try again. I can imagine with some embellishments or a fun sweater you could really have fun with it.

Gifts Galore!

I have finished up my holiday gifts and thought I'd post some pics. Here are a couple of dolls that I made for my niece. I used the Black Apple doll pattern. You can find it HERE.I decided to make her a cowboy and cowgirl to reflect where her aunt and uncle live. They turned out really well, I think. It took me forever to decide on how to paint the cowboy face. I went super simple for both faces, but I think that is okay. I found the buttons for the "belt buckles" at JoAnns and I decided to add the handkerchiefs to give them a bit more character. I hope she likes them. I love this pattern. It is a great way to use up scrap fabric. I made a couple of other dolls as well, but I haven't decided who to give them to yet. I will definitely be making more of these.





I also finished up some small journals for my co-workers. I used Amy Butler designed scrapbook paper for the covers and cream "résumé" paper for the interior pages. I saddle stitched them with embroidery floss. I think they are cute. I will probably make some more of these in 2009.

Most awesome discovery!

I have lots to upload after the holidays (gifts and such that I don't want to give away before opened), but wanted to share this most awesome discovery for those that are not aware:

www.spoonflower.com

Print your own fabric designs!!! This will take crafting to a whole new level. It opens up so many doors. Create completely custom creations by creating a custom pattern and then sewing together a delicious piece of crafting awesomeness! I make it a goal to try this in 2009. I have a couple other crafting goals for 2009, but will blog about that later.

1st Birthday Photo Album

My good friend Julie's son turns one tomorrow. They had a party for him this weekend. Along with a book and a sweatshirt from our Alma Mater, I made this album as a gift for the family. I took 12 of my favorite photos that Julie sent over the last year, converted them to black and white and printed them. I then window matted and mounted them into the pages of the book. It turned out well. I found some pretty cool fabrics in fat quarters at the fabric store and used a blue accent ribbon for the cover.

Socks & Dolls

Hello! I have quite a few projects in the works and in my head :) Below are pictures of my first pair of socks (they are tube socks though, so I haven't yet tackled the heel in a pair of socks) and a doll that I made. I am planning to make a handful of these dolls to give as Christmas gifts to my nieces and friends daughters. They're really easy and are a great use of my enormous collection of scrap fabrics. Anyhow . . . more to come, enjoy!

First sock finished! Yay! From "First Time Tube Socks" pattern HERE


Dolly #1:

Wedding Album Gift

Here is my most recent album creation. I made it for two good friends who were married this summer. The color choices reflect the wedding colors. It turned out really well.

It holds 12 4" x 6" photos. Most of my albums are made approximately 6" x 9" with a 1.5" - 2" spine width. Each page will hold one or two 4" x 6" photos. It depends on whether you choose to put photos on the fronts and backs of pages, or just on the front.

Sear-Sucker Blazer Finished

Well, after 3 months and tons of patience I finally finished the sear-sucker blazer that I intended to be a birthday gift for Jim. This whole project was pretty difficult, but overall I am pleased with the final outcome. Jim wore it out to an office summer party and received lots of compliments (and a couple of order requests for me). It's heavier that I expected, but I'm not sure how I could have fixed that, unless I used a very thin fabric for the lining, or didn't line it at all. Anyhow, I will try to get a pic of Jim actually wearing it, but for now . . . here it is:

Photo Album

Our friends AV and Sonia came out for a visit in July. As part of a belated wedding gift I crafted a photo album for them. Below are the pics.

Jim and I picked out the fabrics together. Initially the idea was to have them swapped, with the stripes on the spine and the pattern on the cover. When we got home we thought it would look better this way.


I used brown for the interior.


I believe the album had 10 or 12 pages. It is approximately 9" wide by 6" tall and 1.5" thick. The pages are meant to hold 4" x 6" photos.

Mom's Sweater

My mom sent me a pic of her in the sweater I made for Mother's Day. It looks great! She loves it, too. She said she likes the softness of the yarn and the fact that it is cotton. That way she can wear it all summer to stay warm in the evenings, but not too warm. This is by far the best piece I've knitted to date.

New projects

I've got a couple of projects that I am working on right now. The first is a sear sucker blazer for my husband. I started this one a month and half ago with the intention of finishing it as a birthday gift (his b-day is May 7). Well, that didn't happen, so now I am working on finishing it before summer is here and gone :) Just kidding, I hope to finish it up in the next couple of weeks. I have never made a blazer before and I don't know if I would do it again. The hardest part by far was the collar and it is in no way perfect. I am planning on doing a top stitch close the the edge as a finishing touch in hopes that it will mask some of the imperfections. Right now I am working on getting the sleeves on. Jim tried it on today and it looks like it will fit pretty good . . . thank God! I don't know if I would know how to fix it if it didn't fit. Here are some pics:

Full view as is, one sleeve pinned in place.


Close view of the collar.
There is some puckering at the corner seam and I don't know what I did wrong. If I ever decide to do a blazer or anything with a collar again I think I would practice a few times before.


Close up view of one front pocket.These actually turned out pretty good and weren't too difficult.


Close up of the chest and "welt" pocket. This one was tricky. I don't know if the pattern had a typo or if I read it wrong, but I had to redo this one because the first time it was backwards.



The second project I just started yesterday. It is a super cute baby shrug. The pattern is from the Fall 2007 issue of KnitSimple. I'm kind of winging it as I didn't check my gauge that closely and am using a different type of yarn. It's not that different, but you never know. I'm trying to work through my stash. Not sure yet who will be on the receiving end of this one. I'm thinking of making a little dress to go along with it. It is kind of a blah color, but if I use a bright colored ribbon for the tie I think it could be super cute. Make a dress with pinks and browns? We'll see. It's an easy K3, P3 rib pattern. Here's my progress, I hope to finish it up this week:

Mother's Day Present

I haven't posted that much lately, mostly because I haven't had that many projects going on. This one I made for my Mom for Mother's Day. I finished it in February. I started it in January because I was worried I might not finish it. Having never made a full sized, adult sweater before I was unsure how quickly I would be able to finish it and if I would have any issues with the yarn or pattern, etc. Needless to say, it was super easy and actually really fun to make. The pattern is from Knitscene Winter '07/Spring '08 issue. I had wanted to make it in blue, but my local yarn shop didn't have enough yarn in a blue color, so I went with purple. I love that there were no seams. Personally, seaming a sweater is my least favorite part. If I can do one without having to do any seaming I'm a happy knitter. I love the seed stitch border and the ribbon accent is so fun. I got the ribbon from the site suggested in the pattern: lesbonribbon.com. I asked my Mom to send me a picture of her in it. Once she does I'll post it so you can see it on her. Until then, here are a couple of pictures of the finished piece. I will have to dig through my stash for the yarn that I used. It's cotton and I believe hand-dyed. I got it a shop here in Bozeman called Stix.

Finished sweater.
Detail of neckline.

New t-shirt

It's been a long time. I have been working on projects for gifts and don't want to post them until they have been given . . . so, I have had some fun with a book I got for my birthday. I heard about it from my friend Jill. It's called "Generation T: 108 ways to transform a T-shirt. I added the sleeves, the original project left the shirt sleeveless. I think it turned out okay. I love the hood, and it was super easy to make. I'm hoping to make a few more of the projects, especially a bag and I've got a couple of my own ideas floating around in my head.

Baby Bolero

I've finished my first project from one of the books I got for Christmas. I made the Baby Bolero from One Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit and Crochet.I used a yarn I had in my stash that I think is a Wool Ease blend. I had balled it and didn't have the tag anymore. The pattern calls for a different yarn, but I didn't have anything that resembled that so I went with the wool blend. It turned out pretty good. I am still working on the picking up stitches part of doing collars. It's very tricky, I think. So, I'm happy with how this turned out, but would have been a little happier with a better collar. I had to pull it out once and didn't really want to do it again. Here are some pics:

Front view.
Back view.

I know a few women that are due in the spring so I'm pretty sure this one will be a gift. I'm playing with the idea of adding a crocheted flower pin, but I'll need to brush up on my crochet skills, so we'll see.

Exciting freelance projects completed!

These aren't so much crafty projects, but I'm super excited that I've finally finished them. Just today the Comma-Q Architecture web site went LIVE! This project has been going on for over a year, with a change in concept and a total re-design. But, in the end it is totally worth it because I think the final product better suits the office, their work, people and clients. I learned a lot and feel a bit more confident in my web coding skills. They're great clients, very creative and very understanding in terms of my learning curve. Here's a link: www.commaq.com

I also completed another web site design just before the holidays. It turned out well and I think is a much needed improvement from the previous site. More information, more current news and events makes the site more useful for the client and the visitors to the site. Here's a link: www.bpnc-chicago.org

Yay for finished projects!