I'm forever sewing sprinkles

Ok, not really, but it's a title. Shut up.

So yesterday I wanted a fast, easy project. Behold, the cupcake pincushion. Cute and fast, kind of pointless, but I learned all about front and back post crocheting. I think I felt my brain grow a little bit, even.



Started a crochet baby sweater, hated it, started another. That one is doing well so far, today is collar and sleeves, though, so things could get ugly fast.

Baby, you're a star

A star shaped baby afghan. I'm not sure about the colors I used, but this blanket took 48 hours from first chain to weaving in the ends - nothing to complain about there. I'm seeing it in white, blue, and gray as a favorite baby gift for Dallas Cowboy freaks. This one has a few issues with being a little wavy, but by the time I found out why that was happening (not skipping enough stitches around the shell) I was on row 19 and not about to start over. Embrace the wavy.



Now what? Something small and easy, I think. Baby will be here next week no matter what, and I have little to no powers of concentration left.

What? A finished project?

Yeah. I made these little Ugg style booties today, just using some scrap yarn from my stash. I put the trim on with a crochet hook because the fluffy yarn was not easy to work with - next time I will crochet the top trim on as well. They were really easy and I will definitely do them in some of the suede or chenille yarn next time. The one in the back isn't really smaller, it's the camera angle. You know I suck at photos.



Tonight I will start a star shaped baby blanket, because my other projects (leg warmers and sneaker slippers) are things done in pairs. Pairs can get tedious, when you finish something and have to start it all over again, in the exact same way you just did it.

Moving along

Most of my finished stuff this week has been sewing - a couple of baby slings that aren't that impressive in pictures, so no pictures. Hah. I'd have to put them on to show them off, and that's not happening right now.

One and a half legwarmers into my 80's project, leaving two and a half to finish. Which will come first, the legwarmers or the baby?

You'd think there would be a lot getting accomplished around here since I'm home all the time, but no. Maybe blog-guilt will get me to finish a few things today.

Another slow weekend

As far as any yarn work goes, anyway. We are now officially, completely ready for this baby to arrive. Any time now. Yep. Ok.

I was going to try and make up a knit version of the drawstring baby pants, but completely ran out of patience for it. Starting another crochet pair tonight.

I'm almost done with a legwarmer, only 3 more to go after that. Lovely 80's colors, almost painful to knit without sunglasses on.

Made a couple more book thongs - no picture, as they are just the same only with black thread and terra cotta type beads. The inventor of black crochet thread is evil. Evil.

I could finish this lace knit bookmark tonight, but then I'd have to come to terms with the fact that I'm not entirely sure how or where to block it.

So there you have it.

Finishing. It's a good thing.

The evil, endless sunsuit/onesie has finally graduated from the knitting bag. The ends are weaved, the snap tape is sewn into the crotch, this project is over. Yay! The hat was finished a few weeks ago. Overall, this came out pretty cute but I'm in no hurry to knit another.



Huh. The angle of that picture makes it look like this was made for a baby with a giant head and enormous butt. It looks better in person, really it does.

Now, has anyone seen my motivation? There is a ton of sewing to be done today and I don't see it happening.

Finally, the Book Thong

Ever since I saw the book thongs on crochetme, I've been trying to make one. My crochet was just not up to par, so I started practicing on dishcloths. We know how that turned out. Well, now I can do book thongs. Yay. I love it, and want to make about one million more.



Of course, while visiting that site for the book thong pattern, I decided I was capable of making the Fleuri bag. This one came out a little small, because the yarn is worsted weight. The handles are just brass rings, saving my cool wooden rings for the next Fleuri. This thing is adorable and so easy to do. Pardon the blinding white background, I had to crank up the brightness in order for the rose pattern to show.



What would a blog entry be without some odd crochet creature? Yeah. Here's a butterfly washcloth. My ribbon tying didn't work out as well as hers, but the flattened out cloth looks right.



Now I am determined to do the finishing on that little sunsuit/onesie thing. Here I am, with my snap tape and thread, going to go do that. Right now. This is me. Doing it.

A very froggy day.

Yesterday was one of those days where nothing worked right. Nothing. I did finish the knitting part of the sunsuit, but after all the yarn joins and before weaving in ends, the thing looks like one of those "non-violent" pinatas. I am not dealing with that right now. It also needs snaps sewn into the crotch. I am on lookout for a sewing mood to hit, and then I can finish that thing once and for all.

I tried to knit this cool flower dishcloth that is done in the round from the center outward - after finally getting the cast on to work, I lost a couple of stitches somewhere around row #17. Frog.

Tried to make a simple roll-brim hat for the baby, and mystery stitches appeared just before I was going to decrease for the crown. Perhaps they were the missing dishcloth stitches. Frog.

Those adorable book thongs on crochetme.com? That should be easy enough, right? No, no, no. I couldn't get the tension right to even chain the 150 to start that thing. Frog.

Oh, well. I made some excellent chocolate chip cookies and got my hospital bag packed (except for a baby hat, of course). Today things will work out better, right? Right.

Finishing day

A morning of sewing seams and weaving in ends. How thrilling is that stuff? Yeah, not very. Getting these projects out of the knitting tote leaves room for new ones, though, and that is always a good thing. Maybe tonight the sunsuit will actually progress to the finishing point. Anything is possible.

I finally worked out the bottoms of the legs for these little baby pants - the pattern stops after four rows of ribbing, I'm guessing it was supposed to go all the way around. Cute little pants, and very easy to make. They are going with the sweater set previously posted. Is it a big fashion faux pas for the baby to wear a knit sweater with crocheted pants? Ah well.



Another pattern that gave me fits was this lovely chicken. The feet made no sense to me so we have a little improvised nest-ish thing on the bottom here. Just squint and use your imagination, that's a nest. Trust me.



Tomorrow celebrates six years of wedded bliss here in the Box household. In my current condition it is about all I can do to tolerate any other human, much less one of those male types. So for his gift, I just went all out and knit up a willie warmer. I did not follow the part where it gives directions for the guy actually wearing this. That would really put me over the edge.



Extremely silly, but look what we're working with here.

All this crochet

Is taking over the knitting blog, isn't it? I have been knitting, the crochet projects just finish in no time. My mom taught me crochet some 30 years ago and I'm rediscovering it.

I did do this little hat to go with the sweater and socks made a week or two ago. Thinking about doing some pants to add to the set as well. The sweater is made from this pattern, the socks and hat were just made up as I went along.



Now, even if this baby really is a girl (we'll just see), the climate here doesn't really call for sweater sets. I think it is time to start a drawer full of ready to wrap gifts!

Yesterday I crocheted this fish. As you can see, my technique is far from perfect, but it is fun. It has no eye, because in my world crocheted fish have no eyes.



Making some more hook and needle cases today, and those balls? They felted but won't dry. Maybe tomorrow they will be ready to stuff and finish.

A Slow Weekend

Not a lot of stitching got done this weekend, but we did do a lot of baby preparation stuff, like installing the car seat and washing some clothes. This was followed by sitting around saying things such as "yikes, we're going to have another BABY around here!"

I did get to color #3 on the sunsuit, another day of this and I can divide the back and front and actually finish the thing. When that got too boring I played with dishcloths again, crocheting a couple of the angels from Janelle's site:



and a cabled owl, again by Janelle Schlossman. I told you she did amazing stuff.



This morning I took a stab at sewing a rolled hook/needle case. This one was my first attempt and is crochet hook sized. Now that I can pretend to know what I'm doing (hah) it is time to sew some for needles.

Had enough of cutesy dishcloths?

I say, it isn't so. It started with the dress, and it has morphed into a Project. Unless I say otherwise, all of the cute patterns have come from Janelle Schlossman's designs. If I laugh, it is because these are so cute they are not me! This woman is amazing with yarn, though, and I am learning a lot of new techniques.

Yesterday I did the dishcloth pants:



and the kitten cloth, which didn't photograph well. Ok, I didn't photograph it well. Note, am in no danger of winning a photography award. Ever.



Besides this Project, I finally feel like I am making progress on the Endless Sunsuit, as this morning I got to do some decreasing and change colors! Whee!



I also punched holes in and filed all of my copied/printed out patterns. Pass me a gold star. Now.

Today I am trying a pattern that requires me to crochet in a plastic ring, and I'm scared. But tonight I get to go yarn shopping, so that will get me through.

Just for Lisa

So, some horrifying urge prompted me to crochet this little dress shaped dishcloth. I have no idea what came over me, I just hope it doesn't happen again. Please, if I ever start making toilet paper cozies, fire at will. My friend Lisa gave me so much crap over this I have named it The Lisa. It is my pet.



Finished the phone thing - ditched the whole flap and button idea. Not because I'm lazy. Ok, not entirely because of that. The fact is, this is just to keep my stupid phone on a string so my hands will be free when I'm working around the house. It's also time to upgrade to a cooler phone, and I can make a new phone thingy then. Yeah.



Today I will finish up Ballapalooza and maybe crochet a hat. The balls will be felted next week on a sewing project day. You are jealous of my exciting life, admit it.

Balls, balls, balls

Can't stop knitting balls. I found this project in Knitting for Babies, by Melanie Falick and Kristin Nicholas. They go very quickly, are great for using up all of my leftover koolaid-dyed wool, and require very little from my precious remaining brain cells.

Here are a few I have done this week, they will look better after felting and stuffing. That's the plan, anyway.



The only other knitting I'm doing today is this cell phone holding thingy. It doesn't look very interesting, but it will get more exciting at the top. Flap, buttonhole, strap, it's going to be just wild and crazy, I tell ya.

Peer pressure

...is a horrible thing.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to take some pictures of projects.