4 Days left

Only four days left until Christmas and I am quickly running out of time. As I would much rather make gifts than buy them, getting things done for my family is tough. I also has a white elephant gift I needed to get for work and as I work with both sexes this was very difficult. I just didn't know what to do. A lot of people pick up games, wine, alcohol, and gag gifts. I didn't want to do the same as everyone else and with some minors in the bunch I didn't want them to end up with something they weren't allowed to have. Now as I work in a restaurant, I came up with the idea of creating a Server Gift Set. I got pens and paper, some lotion (restaurant grade hand sanitizer drys out your hands FAST), hand sanitizer, chap stick, and I also picked up a slinky (one girl thought the lotion and slinky were some kind of kinky kit lol) and a green blanket. I added an apple and wrote on it APPLEBEE'S (as that is where I work) in black permanent marker. I added a note to the blanket saying for that open to close double so you can nap in your car on your break. It turned out super cute and everyone loved the blanket, sadly my gift ended up with one of the hosts that I am sure could care less about what they received and I do feel bad that some of the items that would be great for a server ended up with some one who doesn't really need them for their job, but will be of good use else where. Here is my APPLEBEE'S Blanket

Just for fun!

I know that this video has nothing to do with my usual post but I just have to share. It my kitten chasing her tail after my DB tied her favorite ball to it. Its too cute! (Don't worry I took the tie off right when I finished taping)

Finally Getting Somewhere

So I am finally getting somewhere on that cardigan I started way back in October. I am hoping to have it finished soon so that I can wear it and show it off before the holidays are over. I have had my fair share of issues with it but it is turning out so wonderfully I can't believe it! I took some pictures of it to share and show off my first attempt at cables. They are so much easier that I originally thought. Oh I am too excited to continue typing, I must go back to my project!

Groups of Loops Cowl

I am knitting a cowl for my mom for her birthday and was looking for patterns on Ravelry. I started the Mustard Scarf previously and didn't care for it once I started knitting although I was in love with the photo that I saw. I never looked the same, it looked sloppy and loose. I would knit a few rows and tear it out. So I took what I loved about the scarf and rewrote a new pattern for it. Here is the pattern for it. 

Materials:

Loops & Threads Impeccable Yarn, Grey

Size 11 Needles

Yarn Needle

CO 36 stitches

Work in Pattern Stitches for desired length. I knit mine to about 20 inches.

Pattern Stitch:

R1: Knit across

R2: Sl1, K1, *YO, K2Tog* repeat to last 2 stitches, K2

R3: Knit across

R4: Sl1, K1, *K2Tog, YO* repeat to last 2 stitches, K2

BO on a knit row. Sew ends together.

I will admit that this pattern isn't perfect. On rows 2 and 4 it feels wonky when you get to the end of the row sometimes because you might end up just knitting 3 but with the finished project you'll never know.

I won't tell if you don't!

1 Down, 2 To Go

So the holiday season officially began for me yesterday. Halloween down, Thanksgiving and Christmas to go! Nobody I know really seemed to be in the Spooky spirit this year. As I said in a previous post all employees were required to dress up for Halloween yesterday. As Sunday got closer and closer I started to second guess my costume. Fortunately my Alice in Wonderland costume turned out well and also won me the $50 in the contest!

Obviously this is a horrible picture of it but you get the jist. I am very proud of it. Only the side seems are actually sewn together, everything else is held together with iron-on hemming tape. Spending roughly 15 dollars on the entire project was pretty nice. Instead of feeling guilty for spending too much and I am pretty excited to have spend a little as I did. I love being crafty and knifty.

Candy, Costumes, And Co-workers?

Well Halloween is less than a week away and I have to work. Not a big deal, I'm not the Halloween party type, right? Well wrong, the company I work for requires that I wear a costume to work. And I'm not talking about wearing kitty ears and a tail with my uniform. We have to wear a full blown costume. So I decided to be Alice in Wonderland. I am also cheap since I know my costume will be ruined at work so I am making my costume instead of buying one. To make it cheaper, I didn't buy a pattern and I went to goodwill and bought sheets instead of buying fabric. It has been a nightmare to make. Ripping and resewing over and over to make it fit and not pucker in odd places. Some of it is sewn, some of it I used that hem tape that you iron on. Well it's almost done. I am stuck on the collar for the dress. The apron turned out perfectly and the parts of the dress that are finished look semi strange, except the skirt. It looks pretty good. I just need to do the finishing touches in time for Sunday morning. Pictures will follow!

Attempting a Sweater

I didn't have any internet for almost 3 months and it was killing me. I couldn't look for patterns or projects to do. About two weeks ago my DB got me internet for my apartment, I was too cheap to pay for it ;), and I was finally able to get back on my favorite knitting website, Ravelry. I was able to look for patterns again and tons of them are free! Before I found something that I wanted to knit up I went and bought some new yarn, not that I needed any. The next day I found the pattern for the Asymmetrical Cabled Cardi, by Bitter Purl. I fell in love with it and knew that I wanted to make one for myself, and I had the perfect yarn for it also. After reading through the pattern I knew that it wasn't going to be easy for me having never knit a real sweater before. I knew that I was going to need a couple more skeins of the yarn that I chose but I decided to cast it on anyway. As soon as I had finished casting on I knew I didn't care much for the hem on the original pattern and I knew that I was going to struggle with the way the pattern was written, especially the cables. So I just began the hem that I wanted two days ago. That was the simple part. It took ALL of yesterday to figure out how the rest of the pattern was supposed to be knit and to knit the 12 rows that it entailed. But now I am moving along, for now. I am have to write the pattern stitch by stitch and row by row just to figure it out. I am not to any of the decreasing or raglan sleeve shaping yet but we will just have to wait and see what happens when I get there!

Knit Knit Knit

I love to knit, but I do get bored with my projects. It makes my boyfriend so mad to have projects half finished piling up in my crafting corner. I am constantly finding cute new patterns to try and so I start them, get half way done, find a new pattern or a better yarn and pick up a new project. The old ones never get finished and I am starting to run out of spare   needles and stitch holders to put them on. 

I started with scarves when I got back into knitting when my grandma passed away. But they get old fast. I then went on to socks. I started by knitting them flat. They turned out rather well. 

This pair is knit with one strand of pink and one strand of blue. I knit them for a girl at work. I made one pink one and one blue one, but neither of them fit and I never made their mates. Eventually they were both tossed in the garbage. Trying to find fun patterns for flat socks isn't easy and I wanted to make socks made with actual sock yarn. I made the mistake of buying a circular needle not realizing that a 29" needle isn't going to work for socks unless I was knitting for the Green Giant. 

It took a while for me to figure out how to knit in the round but when I did I went and bought some sock yarn by Sassy Stripes. My first real sock was born. I never did finish its mate either. I started the ribbing for the ankle when my kitten chewed my plastic dpn in half, plus I didn't like the way the first sock fit anyway. 

I made a few cat toys filled with catnip. My girls were trying to get them before I even sewed them up, but they loved them, although my boyfriend said they looked like tampons, hmmm?

I started a few other random things, kitchen towels, rags, collars for my cats, and I made one fingerless mitten, another thing my DB (dear boyfriend) said was silly, as was one of the first clothing pieces I made.

It was horrid. I was bright rainbow colors and I had no pattern. I didn't realize that I couldn't make clothing without a pattern unlike I do when I sew. I frogged it and ripped it all out, it was lots of ripping and ripping and ripping. Took almost a whole day to rip out the two panels I made and wind them up. My first pattened tank was a success although I didn't like the yarn that I used. Forest green is not my color. It will be gifted this Christmas. I started the same tank in an off white, much more my style, but I still have a long way to go on that one. Some day it will be finished and pictures will soon be to follow. Now its time to go back to work on my newest frustrating project!

The Project That Started It All...

I made myself some flour, sugar and cocoa canisters for my kitchen and my mom fell in love with them so I made some for her last Christmas. When my aunts saw them they loved them too, that's when I decided I wanted to share my projects, and here is my first one!

They were relatively easy to make. You can choose whatever style suits you and put it on glass. The ones that I made for myself took a lot less time than the ones I did for my mom. On my moms I printed some simple letters, put some plain old packing tape across the area I wanted the words, and taped them to the jars. That was the easy part. I then cut the letters out using an craft knife leaving the first layer of tape behind. Then the letters get peeled out like stickers, or it can be done in the opposite and peel the tape off around the letters leaving the little stickers in place. I blocked off the space with scotch tape. To create the etching you need an etching medium. Kinda pricey but they go a long way and is totally worth it. Just paint over your design and wait 5 -10 minutes, rinse off and TA-DA!!! you have your custom made kitchen canisters!

A few months later I used the same concept to make custom wine glasses for my aunt. No lettering just some fun designs, stripes, polka dots, swirling. They turned out really cute and perfect for parties so you know which glass is yours without having to have something dangling on your glass!