Holy FO, Batman!

So this is a rare treat. I get to blog several times in one day. My digital camera is still in storage 3 hours away, so these photos will not be stellar, but at least I can show that I haven't been sitting on my ass the whole time I've been out of work :)

This first is a baby bib I made for Michelle Sargent's baby shower. I made everything in cream, chocolate brown & pink and called it my "Chocolate Strawbaby Gift Set". I didn't get a pic of the blanket before I sent it to its new home, but I did get photographic evidence of the bibs :)


This is the same bib in chocolate brown. The picture makes it appear much darker than it truly is. The thing I love about these bibs (aside from them looking like adorable purses) is that they are so modern that they could be heirlooms, passed down from generation to generation until they fall apart from overuse. For that reason, I made these in durable but soft yarn and doubled it up so they would be thick. I am really digging this assymetry too!


This dragon is from Dragon Dreams as well. She designed it for the tsunami that swept the pacific ocean, but her continent silhouette didn't include New Zealand, so I reworked mine to include it. It's barely visible over the dragon's hand, but it's there :) I would have preferred this little guy in green, but then the earth wouldn't have been in such contrast to the body, so I'm pretty ok with how this turned out.


This one is a cute little dragon in a tea cup from Dragon Dreams. The text says "A Spot of Tea." I think if I do this design again, I'll change the color scheme a bit.


This last little project is a garden square from Joannesanderson.com. I liked this little guy a whole lot & it's going to be a present for Brandon's mom. I've lost touch with her over the past couple of months and I need to rectify that. I didn't get to give her a b-day present this year because of the breakup, but I'm going to mat & frame this little bugger & give that to her :) This woman has the greenest thumb I have ever been witness to in my life!


My next couple of projects are going to be adult-themed cross stitches. I love it when these shocking phrases are so lovingly cross stitched. It's especially awesome when they have cutesy little borders and such. So keep the little ones away from the computer & keep an eye out for my next projects :) They'll be originals.

Here be photos

Come one, come all!! To the greatest show in town. No, really it's just some photos of recent objects. As I mentioned in the previous post, I have finished the knitting for my Ravenclaw house bag. And here it is, in all its Fair Isle goodness:

And a close-up. And no, I still haven't attempted the blocking. Right now it's being flattened out by my double-points. Still looks ok even without the finishing touches added. I have a beautiful leather purse handle I've been wanting to use, but it's just a little too short for the size of this bag. Oh well, I'll figure out some sort of strappy-thing to add on.

Lastly, this weekend is my birthday!!!! Yay, for 24. I feel like my life is just whizzing by, and I'm stuck on the side of the road w/ a busted tire (all the while knitting another scarf/purse). But for my birthday, I'll be going up to Winchester, VA to rescue my piano from the storage unit it;s been trapped in for two years. I cannot wait!! My piano used to be my life; and I have not touched one in a very long time. I'm actually quite afraid to see how far my talent has degraded. But eventually I will build my finger strength & coordination back up. The next time you hear from me, I will be one piano richer & a much happier person :)

Love & light-- Heather

Here be swatches...

Today, I ate at Arby's. Not an unusual thing (I have very little will power when it comes to curly fries) However, today, it made me very very ill. So... I left work early. And instead of sleeping, what did I do? Watched CSI & knitted. I started my Ravenclaw Fair Isle Bag and am now about 3/4 of the way through the knitting. My fair isle looks a little lumpy/squishy, but I'm hoping that blocking it will help.

I must confess... I have never blocked anything in my life. I don't even know how to go about it, but I will cross that hurdle once I've finished the execution step. And lining the bag is another story all-together. I can quilt with the best of them, but lining garments is actually very time consuming for me. I don't know what it is about doing that, but it takes me FOREVER! Alas, I think the bag may simply wind up being undergarment-less.

But in preparation for attempting to get my dearest boyfriend to purchase the Level I Master Knitter requirement/assignment pkg for me for Christmas, I have begun to knit swatches. Again, something I've never taken the time to do before. I've been mostly about quantity, not quality. I think it's time to change that. So far, I am using Caron Simply Soft (cause it's cheap & I'm poor) and my Suzanne's size 6 dpns. I'm hoping to branch out to some different needles/fibers soon, but here are my first few attempts:

Moss Stitch

Andalusian Stitch

I used this site as a resource for some stitch patterns. I cannot believe this resource was out there for so long & I never used it. Well, I am making up for lost time.

On the homefront, my niece, Ellie, had her first ear infection while she was with her father & his family this past week. The fever spiked so suddenly that she also had her first seizure. Bridgette (Brandon's sister, and Ellie's mom) was understandably shaken up. We had her over to make sure she stayed as calm as possible (she is now about 12 weeks pregnant with her first child w/ her new husband, Ben) and then Brandon's mom Susana & Ben, came over later. Our little house was very full. I had forgotten what it was like to have everyone there at once. Bridgette & Ben wound up driving up to PA to see Ellie the next day, which I am very glad of. I don't think either of them would have rested soundly had they not been able to see her before the next weekend when they were to have picked her up. It's a little bit of a shame that this is the first time her father has seen her in over a month & the visit was marred by this awful happening. But luckily, Ellie is doing quite well. On anitbiotics, and ornery as ever :) In all honesty, I was a seizure kid myself. When they told us her seizure only lasted about 10 seconds I breathed a sigh of relief. I am quite aware that even a seizure that short can do lasting damage, but it was a much better sign than if she had had a grand mal seizure. I just can't wait until we can see her again, and I can make sure for myself that she is the same littly punky we all know & love to bits. Keep our little punkin' in your thoughts, if you can... it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! Blessed be. @-v- H.

More for today :)

Soon I will be taking some time off from making "things" to inprove my knitting and crocheting skills by making my own swatch/guage notebook. I want to try some new patterns/stitches but I want to do so w/o the commitment of a large pattern. And maybe after my tension issues disappear, I will go for my Master Knitter Certification from The Knitting Guild Association. But until then, I need to post my most recent FO's.

So here is my finished MILK purse. I used some cabling from a book in my knitting library, but I don't have it in the office with me. I will relay the name of the book in a later posting. However, I have found that my skills are very, very lacking in the sewing/lining department. But we don't need to show that part, now do we? No. Who needs to see the inside of a purse? Not I; please say not you, either. I beg of you...





And also, a take on this pattern... I made him into my own little mini-monster. He reminds me a little of Sully from the Disney/Pixar movie Monsters, Inc. His name is Liam, and I have decided he is an Irish monster eyeball, and he is laboriously trekking his way back home to Eire after having wound up on a cruise liner to the States. Please don't ask; he is quite embarrassed that he took the wrong boat. He only meant to go see his girlfriend, a lovely vampire eyeball, in London. Now, he will have a lot of explaining to do when he gets home. (Well, not until I crochet her... but then... he will have to spend a lot of time on his knees... err... lids, begging for forgiveness).

And in profile:

For now, I am gearing up for another long work week. And counting down the days to my vacation. Brandon, my dearest boyfriend, has his b-day on 2 September & mine is on 8 September. This year, we have taking off the 2nd through the 8th and I cannot wait!! Perhaps I will do some swatching... Who knows...

The Evolution of Franken-pumpkin... and other sordid tales

This mild-mannered little guy started out as a test-guage project. I didn't have any autumnal colors on hand, but I was dying to try a new pattern for this fall. And... voila!




The evolution of Franken-pumpkin begins in the workshop of Frau von Yarninator. Once a mild-mannered house-frau, her genius mind became slightly cracked when one of her more recent attempts at knitting a lovely little sock pattern blew up in her face. After that infamous day, she no longer wanted to knit ordinary objects. She became obsessed with creating her own little mini-monster...

Several prototypes later, Frau von Yarninator settled on the graveyard look for her new beau. Taking him to the observation tower of her small cottage home (yes, a tower. It was added on as a "honey-do" project by the late Dr. von Yarninator), she tied him to the metal working table and began to give him shape. From the bolts on the neck (very in this season) to the small stem (for she knew her Franken-pumpkin would never have stem envy), every detail was taken into account. Except...

The FACE. Ah well, not all experiments can be a success. Frau von Yarninator will simply have to pay more attention when stitching on the face of her newest creation next year.

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And now, onto a real post. This weekend, I have so much to accomplish, but I just couldn't help starting a new project. It's a small one, though. I wanted to make myself a M.I.L.K. purse. For those of you who are not familiar with the term ( and by the responses of my friends and family, that would be most of you), it refers to M(oney) I(d) L(ipstick) K(eys). And I felt the undeniable need to do some cabling. So, I am working on a small purse w/ braided cables and two simple cables on a background of reverse stockinette. Soon, I want to do an Aran project bag. I know, I know. Finish what you start, then start more. But who among us actually follows that rule? Not I.

But to end the post, a few more FO's. First is Fetching from knitty.com, and a Cowl/Neck-collar I designed as a partner piece. And then, cabled fingerless gloves. I'll post the yarn and needle sizes later... Don't have the reference card on me. And last but not least, some severed fingers to round off some Halloween knitted objects :)

Have a good evening, all! @--^-- Heather

And here are the photos I promised!! And here is the source for this wonderful pattern that was a whiz to whip up: http://mkcarroll.typepad.com/mk_carroll/2007/07/mug-and-french-.html