Toying With A Finish

Robot
Originally uploaded by Tarana5

Finally made the robot and finished just before the Closing Ceremonies started. Cute, cute, cute. Primarily made with Vanna's Choice yarn on size 7 needles, my robot is about 10 inches tall without the antennae.

Made using Jess Hutchison's out-of-print pattern. I do need to improve my sewing together skills, but hey, still cute.

Here's Polly trying to help me take the photo.

Another Olympic Finish!

Sexy Red Socks
Originally uploaded by Tarana5

Finished my Sexy Blood Red Socks for Team Trueblood in the Sock Hockey event this morning. They fit nicely, although I probably should have stopped an inch earlier with the red.

I made these with Woolease and an unknown eyelash yarn bought at the yarn shop. They are done toe up with size 4 needles.

I adapted the pattern from Cuffed Fur Socks from Lion Band Yarns. I am grateful to the gal at Not Another Knit Hat for her formula for toe up socks, which made adapting this pattern a breeze!

http://knotanotherhat.typepad.com/toe_up.pdff

I am now off to do some cleaning and then to start my Buffy Potholder this afternoon. I found it impossible to knit this thing in a recliner. I need to just lay the chart on a table and knit from there. Not so comfortable, but it will get done. Chances on doing the robot are small, but not out. Depends on the Buffy Potholder.

True Blood Red Socks in progress

Blood Red Socks in progress
Originally uploaded by Tarana5

Here's my progress photo on the True Blood Red socks. As you can see, the feet are done and I'm attempting to do a heel. I'm having trouble remembering how to do M1 purlwise and need to sit in front of the computer with a video to do it. Otherwise, I end up with all these holes and that isn't acceptable!

The socks are done in Woolease on size 4 circs. Obviously, toe up. If I can get the heel figured out, I think I can get these completed tomorrow as I have a long appointment where I can just knit.

Homespun Granny Afghan

Homespun Granny Afghan
Originally uploaded by Tarana5

Completed 12/25/2010! Here's my completed Games afghan. Begun during Opening Ceremonies, I finished it just after lunch today. The sewing up took longer than I thought it would (doesn't it always?). The afghan is 50x62 inches and made entirely from Lion brand Homespun in several colors. The goal of this project was to use up all these leftover skeins from other projects. Still have enough leftover to make a pillow.

This is just a basic 12 inch granny square. I varied the squares based on the amount of yarn I had of any color. It's quite heavy and cozy warm. Cat tested and approved already.

Another photo of the afghan.

First Finish for Ravelympics!!

OlympicHatDone
Originally uploaded by Tarana5

Finished the Team USA Olympic hat knock-off at noon today! This is an adaptation of the hats worn by Team USA members at the Opening Ceremonies.

I used size 5 needles and Vanna's Choice acrylic yarn with a stitch size of 5.5 per inch. This resulted in a hat just over 22 inches around. The pattern is Olympic Reindeer Hat by Helena Bristow and is a free pattern at Ravelry.

The hat is a little on the tall side. I plan to make an adaptation to use up the remaining yarn and to take the height down.

More Progress on Games Projects

I've managed to finish all the squares for the Homespun Granny Afghan. Still to do is the weaving in of the ends, sewing or crocheting together and adding a final border. I expect to be done Tuesday or Wednesday. This Homespun stuff is SO soft.



Here's the progress on the Team USA hat. I am about 2 rows shy of the antlers. I hope to finish most of the knitting today. Already managed to find little flag appliques for those blank spots. I plan to make this hat again but with some changes. This hat is being made from Vanna's Choice yarn. It does knit nicely - was a good choice for an acrylic.

Progress on Games Knitting

View 1 - granny square afghan
Originally uploaded by Tarana5

As you can see, a lot of afghan creation going on here. Five squares done and the remaining 15 at least partially done. I had originally planned to unwind a shawl that wasn't being used, but there was an outcry. So, I'm on hold until I get to the store tomorrow to buy another skein of brown. I tried one square without the brown and hated it, so back to Square 6. With the additional skein of yarn, the remaining squares should finish up quickly. I'm hoping for a Friday completion.

I started a Buffy potholder, but miscounted, so will be starting that again. Tomorrow, I will also get a start on the red socks. My hat project may be changed from the Snowboarder's cap to the US Olympic Team hat.

Stargate 1

Stargate 1
Originally uploaded by Tarana5

Here's a washcloth I finished in early February. Any Stargate fan would recognize this symbol as the one for Earth. Wash dishes and find your way home, all with the same washcloth! On size 5 needles, it comes out 7 x 5.75 inches knitted in Sugar and Creme cotton yarn. I plan to rewrite the pattern to get a square closer to 9 inches. Original pattern by Megan Murray. The pattern is a free Ravelry download.

Let the Needlework Games Begin!

I'm in all 3 - Ravelympics2010, Ancient Crochet Games and UFOlympics.

My starting project tonight will be the granny afghan. It's mindless and doesn't require me to watch it much so that I can watch the Opening Ceremonies, followed by recording Caprica and then on to my Buffy marathon. The afghan is such a large project that I have it in both the Ravelympics and Crochet Games.



The Lacy Sock is my entry for the UFOlympics. It was my first toe up sock and I'd like to finish it first. It was after this sock that I tried and loved knitting with just 2 circs. I also am far less intimidated by the lace pattern. Even with my experience, it's hard to believe that I'm still intimidated doing what really are truly easy things. Rather than risk a change of gauge, I will continue to knit this on double pointed needles.


On the quilting front, in order to maintain my 1 hour of sewing or cutting without my machine, I cut up scraps yesterday and today. I have enough to do so again tomorrow. Gotta keep taming the scrapmonster.

Hey, I was excited to find out that KnitPicks has already shipped my order! Maybe I'll be able to start it next week!

Prepping and Fixing

I continue to get stuff ready for the Ravelympics. In light of that, I was at the yarn shop (All About Yarn) and bought some turquoise mohair for the Kitty Pi bed. $40. I was trying to choose between two blues, not terribly happy that they were so dark. One would have been $32 while the other was $63. Both were great yarns, but do I really want to spend $72 to over $100 on a cat bed? No. So, I went to Knitpicks.com. Bought some lovely blue mohair and Wool of the Andes for the base. Cost? $34. I will exchange the mohair tomorrow for something nice for me. Probably some sock yarn. It's not that I don't mind spending the money (I do, but it's for knitting!). I had 3 cats reject the last Kitty Pi bed. Fortunately, my sister's cats love their Kitty Pi bed. Without knowing whether my cats will simply prefer the latest shipping box from Amazon or the expensive, luxurious bed that I hand crafted for them, I'd rather spend less. However, as mentioned a couple of weeks ago, there is the chance that the yarn won't get here before the end of the Olympics. In that case, it will be a post-Olympics project.

Projects that are ready include the Homespun Granny Square afghan, the Robot, 2 socks in progress, snowboarder hat, Buffy potholder, sexy red sox and the shawl that will be deconstructed due to nonusage.

Brought my sewing machine in to the fix it guy (Gratz Sewing in Plymouth). He says it should be ready by Tuesday, so quilting future quilts will have to wait. Guess I'll have to focus on dealing with scraps and cutting stuff up instead of sewing for my 1 hour quilting work for a few days. Took the bad stitching out of the hulls of the Tall Ships quilt. I'm definitely looking at getting this machine replaced this year. Just don't know how much I can afford.

Granny Square Afghan Project

grannyproject
Originally uploaded by Tarana5

During the Olympics, one of my major projects is a Granny Square Afghan made using up all remaining Homespun yarn. I will still need to buy both a black and a purple skein to make all the different colors play nicely together. I'll pick those up on Thursday. Pictured is my pattern sample - done in size K hook. The result is a 12 inch square. I'll need 20 of them for a full-sized afghan. I'm not so keen on that large black blob in the middle. It looks great with other colors, but with black, it's just a blob. Not a good choice.

The final afghan will be a gift for someone.

A Little Quilting, A Little Knitting

Yesterday, I struggled with the bunnies for Grandma's Bunnies. I have not yet declared defeat, but the glue to baste down the edges of a bunny applique just isn't working. I think I need that glue stick. Tomorrow, I'll get the background fabric and can start attaching one to see if I need to redo the others.

Today, I quilted the main part of the Tall Ships wallhanging. Lots of progress! I'm thinking of leaving the sails and the boat hull unquilted. I really like how the quilted area pops the unquilted area out. I'll decide tonight.

Tonight, I'm going to start the Star Trek potholders. I need to know how to do double-knitting for a project during the Ravelympics, and since the pattern is based on this one, I'll do Star Trek first. My sister has been nagging me for it. My other sister LOVED her Star Trek washcloth.