Christmas Presents

So people, we have approximately 10 more weeks until Christmas, and that means no more procrastination in the craft department.  This Christmas, I really want to give handmade gifts whenever possible.  So I have been making a list of what I want to do for all of my loved ones and surprisingly I had pretty much everyone covered.

So a few days ago I went to our local craft store to pick up the supplies for Cat's birthday or Christmas present.  I am planning on embroidering this pic of Dennis and either framing it or making a pillow or something along those lines.

There is just one minor problem, I have never embroidered before.  However, the handy dandy internet has been very useful and this is my progress so far.

So we'll see if it works out or not.  But after this is done, I think it will be time to move on to my Rizzy's present.  It's going to be a good one!

Happy Crafting!
M

Shades Galore

I (R) have been recruited to make shades for just about every room in the house. I'm not talkin' curtains, I'm talking shades. Roman shades, swoop shades, you name it. She (Ciz) has named 16 so far that she wants. She claims that I'm supposed to be teaching her as I go so that she will really be the one doing them but I'm already seeing how that's going. Ya see Ciz has the attention span of o I don't know, Dennis? Which means she can't stay focused on one thing for very long. I cut and sewed three roman shades today, what did Cat do? Ironed the panels. Hopefully tomorrow we'll actually get some teaching in.

Wish us luck. I always make stupid mistakes because I'm in a rush and just want to get it done (insert: sewing is tedious as hell and how did I get volunteered to do this?). My only screw up today miraculously was not cutting the lining too big. Which is the best kind of screw up because I just cut it down to size and it wasn't that big of a deal.

Till tomorrow,

Riz

PS: I'm in a jacket in my own bedroom because my room for some reason gets no heat and I'm over the garage. Which means, hot in the summer, cold in the winter. And did I mention this is the second house in which my room was over the garage? As oldest I get the first pick and conveniently I always pick the worst room. My nose is freezing and boo's ears are boo-cicles. Time to relocate.

Today

Today has been a lazy fall day spent making more xmas gifts! My knitting projects have not been going very well lately :( So I pulled out the sewing machine to transition to a different craft.

The thing is though that I really do not enjoy sewing. It just takes forever and is sooo tedious. That being said, I love it because it is so useful. When I (finally) have my own homestead, the sewing machine (and serger!) will definitely come in handy. Slipcovers, pillows, napkins, aprons, the list goes on and on.

So back to today, I made some Patriots pj pants for my papa for xmas and hemmed some pj's for kitty.

Tomorrow Lyddy and I are making the hour and a half trek to Ikea! So excited. We LOVE Ikea. It sucks we have to drive forevs to get there but that just makes it more of an adventure I guess. Some things are my list include:

ALVINE duvet

Sheepskin

Some items from my wish list...

Lantern

EKTORP sofa

-OR-

KIVIK sofa

EKTORP footstool

Ta ta,

Riz

Busy Bee

For me (R) it's been a fast and productive weekend. It's been filled with crafting and laundry. So I feel somewhat accomplished.

I finished these of course. And today I made lil-bro a snuggie. Yes a snuggie. A request by him which was a miracle. So many handmade gift requests this year, gotta love that.

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So I went to Hancock yesterday since all fleece was 54% off (whaa!) and got some charcoal colored fleece for his snuggie and Daddio some Patriots fleece for the pj pants I plan on making him for xmas.

So today I embarked upon the snuggie project. And now I remember why I never sew, it is soooo tedious. Took me forever and I screwed up, twice, cutting. How can I screw up a snuggie? There are literally only three pieces. The arm holes were significantly bigger than the sleeves and the cuts for the arm holes were too close together. But with some finageling I got it all to work. And it's huge, fuzzy and warm, so much better than a store bought snuggie, I even sewed on a pocket for his phone/remote etc. I'll post pics when he opens it on xmas.

I also whipped out the serger. Years ago my lovely parents got me one for my bday and I LOVE it. However, it has barely been used due to the difficulty of threading a serger. Probably the hardest thing ever. Now I understand why my sewing teacher in HS would get so pissed when someone screwed up the serger.

So anyway, I was determined to use it because of how much that bad boy cost my parents and how much nicer it makes sewed garments. So I re-threaded it and presto! It worked! Alongside my Singer sewing machine that I've had since junior high (thanks again parents), my serger and I made a snuggie!

Two Christmas presents down 39547392048 to go,

Riz

New Project Idea

Today I was perusing the latest blog posts of my favs and came upon A CUP OF JO's post.

She featured a couple of pillows from this online store called catstudio.

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These are the coolest. Come to find out they are all hand embroidered! Which got me thinking... if they can make them why can't I?

I'd love to make Grammie my own rendition of this Maine pillow. This is totally something she would love. I would tweak it to more suit our own families memories and favorite locations in Maine. I am getting so excited even thinking about it.

The only problem is... I don't know how to embroider. Kinda an issue right considering the whole thing is embroidered. However, I did watch my ex's Mom embroider a hat once and it came out amazing and she gave me a basic tutorial. Doesn't look too hard right?

Gosh my problem is always that I have too many ideas for people for Christmas. Is that normal? I don't think so, I think people normally have the opposite problem.

Ta Ta for now,

Riz

PS: In case you were wondering, I ripped this out. It just wasn't working out.

And I started this hat but I will probably rip that out too. Or try to teach myself how to do the magic loop method because I was trying to wing it on dpns, ya no not working out.

Something New

Remember these?

Well I have decided that I would like to replicate them.

I know it doesn't look like much now but I am really proud of this so far. This is my first attempt at creating my own pattern. I figured out my gauge for this yarn and needle size then kinda just had an idea for how the heel part should be worked and went for it! And so far I have managed to get the measurements the exact same.

I can't seem to figure out how the originals were made. If you'll notice, mine have the stitches going the opposite way and I have the knit side exposed. The originals are seamless as well (my goal) but I can't figure out how the foot goes one direction and the rest towards the heel (the purl part) goes the opposite direction and includes a heel section in the back as well.

So mine won't look identical but I hope I can get them close enough! I am going to try to replicate the colorwork as well which will require me to make a chart.

Now I would not have chosen to try to figure this out on my own, I would have used a pattern I found that was close enough. However, I looked and looked and couldn't find one that I was happy with. I found lots with the same concept but none that really worked out the way I wanted.

So if I can get this pattern right, I thought it would be cool to make all the ladies in my life a pair with a design on the toe area that suits their interests. For instance flowers for the flower lovers or paws for the animal lovers. Might be fun. We'll see how it goes.

How sick are you of me using all the same yarn? Me too. I'm just trying to use up my stash and these are only for practice anyway. Gosh I really don't know why I bought so much of this color, it's hideous on everything I make.

I had to do these bad boys, I haven't been excited about anything in a while it seems and I needed something to get my mind off of school and all the other responsibilities. It worked, just minor headaches today. Woo hoo!

Riz

What's in your queue?

Sis and I have posted a bunch mentioning Ravelry but I don't think we have ever officially discussed it. For those of you out there that don't know what it is, it's a place where people can post knitting/crocheting patterns, can buy patterns, can log their projects, can keep track of their yarn, and many more things. There are tons of groups you can belong to ranging anywhere from people who love to knit on dpns to people who knit for charity. There are really so many things you can do on this site.

It gives you access to tons of free patterns and patterns that you can purchase. It's also great because if for instance you find a pattern that you want to make, you can see comments that others have left about that project giving tips and tricks about how they tweaked the pattern, found errors, or did things a little differently to get a better result. I first heard about it from a girl working at Joann's and also knitting pattern central often posted links to free patterns that brought you to ravelry.

So now that you know a little something about ravelry, let me share with you whats on the top of my list in my queue. Your queue in ravelry is a place where you can store patterns that you would like to potentially make in the future.

Rikke Hat

Bird in Hand

Quidditch Socks

Knee High Stretch Socks

Here is our page on ravelry where you can see everything we have queued etc.

So what's in your queue?

Happy Knitting!

Riz

PS: The only problem with our Rav account is the fact that it is obviously shared by my sister and I meaning I can't queue her xmas gift ideas because she'll see them!

Fingerless Mitts

Well as you can see they didn't become glittens. Tear. I really wanted them to be. But I ran out of yarn and I certainly wasn't going to buy a whole nother skein for just the half a mitt part. So here they stay as fingerless mitts.

And your eyes aren't deceiving you. The right mitt has a shorter cuff. How does this happen? Apparently I can't count even with the help of a row counter. Or I just need to start measuring to be 100 percent sure. O well. Nothing I can do about it now.

I don't think these bad boys will be particularly warm. Just to keep your hands a little warmer while using your phone. Speaking of that. These are going to another friend as a bday gift who is now a proud owner of an iPhone.

If you would like to make these you can find the pattern here.

Also check us out on ravelry to see my comments on the pattern etc.

Happy knitting!

Riz

New Project!

And it has begun! I finally started knitting again!  It's good to be back baby!

The project I decided on was The Commuter by Stephanie Sun.  Riz found this bad boy on Ravelry.   They are the perfect little love child of regular mittens and fingerless gloves.  So great for all those iPhone users out there that love fingerless gloves so they can use their phones however hate that the tips of their fingers freeze!

So my schedule worked out that I have a couple days off work in a row (yipee) and decided to start these last night to keep myself occupied and not do my summer school homework.

It hasn't been the quickest knit, however I haven't made any major mistakes either so I can't complain.  This pattern is also teaching me some new techniques which is nice, always good to improve your skills.  The first glove is just about done so I'll show you guys the finished project here soon.  (This is my trial knit before I use nice yarn. When I make them for real I'll go down a needle size or two cause they are bit big. Or I could just do a gauge swatch like I'm supposed to and go from there, we'll see.)

Happy Sunday night/Monday morning,
M

P.S. I was washing my face before getting in bed just now, and I looked over to see this.

G, what the heck are you doing in the shower? Haven't you heard, cats don't like water. Just another day in the life people.

P.S.S. I may or may not have thought of the most legit prez for my big sis for when this guy comes to town.

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And she'll never guess what it is! Winner!

Speed Knitter

Either I have become a speed knitter (highly unlikely) or these bad boys are a quick knit.

This is glitten numero uno. This is the pattern. The pattern actually has you create individual fingers but as Lyddy says, homey don't play that. So I adjusted the pattern accordingly. I actually think they have come out pretty good so far. Except they aren't fitting as well as I would have liked. They're loose between the thumb and cuff. Hmm.. Next time I'll probably need to knit them on US 3's instead of 4's.

Totally sick of this yarn by the way. I hope the rest of it will make it through the other mitt and the mitten tops. Fingers crossed.

Well I'm off to cast on glitten numero dos.

Adios!

Riz

On The Crafting Horizon

You all may have noticed that crafting has not been a priority of mine lately.  While my sister over there is crafting up a storm and all of her projects come out incredible! Umm socks anyone? And shorts that look like they just came off a runway or something.  Her stuff always comes out amazing!

Anyways, I'm starting to get the crafting itch again people.  So I wanted to share with you all what I'm looking forward to making.

Riz told you guys about our trip to Anthropologie.  That store had such great style.  I don't think I would ever be crazy enough to buy anything there though, holy price tags! (I'm a bit of a penny pincher...)  However, both of my crafting ideas were inspired by the store.

The first item on my list was inspired by this sweater.  It is the Spring Shelter Cardigan.

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Price tag on this sucker... $88!!! It's cotton/acrylic for jeepers sake!  So to achieve this look on my own I went to Ravelry.

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I found this sweater which is a crochet pattern, gotta love it!  Looks super easy which is what I need right now.  Now all I have to do is decide between yarn from the local craft store or go tempt myself with the good yarn at our local yarn store.  I'm leaning toward the yarn store.

My second crafting desire is candles.  They look so easy and can be so expensive at the store.  Kitty daddy and I love to burn candles.  B loves them too, you can tell by his singed whiskers. (I promise we supervise the cats when candles are burning.  But man oh man, that B is curious!)

Here are some of the beautiful candles from Anthropologie.

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So my thoughts are that I'll search through our local Goodwill and a certain flea market I found recently that should be interesting to say the least, in search of interesting containers for my candles. Then I'll be on the hunt for good oils.  I'm thinking maybe I'll learn how to make my own oils and get real fancy, but no promises cause I haven't researched that yet.

Anyways, I'm pretty excited about these projects and hopefully since I shared them here maybe I'll be more motivated to get my craft on!

Happy Monday everyone!

M