Yarn Stash, Embiggened.

I got into the store about twenty minutes before they closed, but since I've been a closing cashier myself I made sure to head up front to the registers as soon as they made the "okay now we're closed" announcement. The yarn from the Cozy Pullover was also in that purchase, but it's already been rolled into balls. :)



The plan for the white yarn is to make a lacy shawl suitable for a formal event, since most formal dresses for women my age are sleeveless...and maybe I'll like sleeveless tops when I'm in better shape (well, I'm working on it), but for now, not so much. Anyhow, I really love the yarn because it's soft and it's got opalescent thread going through it. The opalescent thread is what I think will make the piece formal-appropriate. :)

Cozy Classic Pullover

Pattern here at Lion Brand Yarn. I'm using their Homespun yarn for this project, as they suggested. (I hope that this project, like the Olive Scarf, turns out great at the end despite looking kinda iffy at the beginning.)

I just wish that I could use this pattern for commercial purposes, 'cause this pattern is as easy as they say it is. :)



I also blocked out on graph paper the basic measurements:



The bigger one, one square is 2" square, the smaller one, one square is 3" square. I blocked it out that way (and adjusted the measurements from what Lion Brand had) so it'd be multiples of whichever number I needed. This way I can try making sweaters in that shape using squares or even cloth. It's a style I like, and I'm a short person with short arms, so this'll be the beginning of me making my own clothes that are custom-made to fit my hard-to-fit self! :D

The Stash :D

You'll probably remember some of these from the gifts post, but others are from old projects or future projects--to paraphrase Agent McGee from NCIS, my mind operates like a pachinko machine. I've got a zillion ideas and a tendency to try to start/work on/finish all at once.

Anyhow...this is my current stash. Not too bad for someone who's just gotten back into the swing of things in the past year, huh? (I'm sure in 30 years I'll be like Eurynome, with enough leftover yarn taking up space to give them to newer crafters. ^_^)

Ocean Swells Scarf

Gaspo! A practice piece I'm making for myself. At least, that's the plan for now. ;P

This is the pattern...it's from a book I bought and if I weren't worried about copyright infringement I'd post the instructions and chart. But for all I know it's available all over the place.

This is four rows in. The plan is for it to be a rather long stole. :)

Silly Hat! ;P

That would be the hat from the other day. I used leftover Lion Brand Hometown USA yarn from the Fizzy Blanket (aka Blankiezilla)...and it came out just a bit too big. ;)

The hat:

And me wearing the silly hat. On the bright side, it's really warm, and the extra size means I can have a ponytail or messy-bun and I don't have to redo my hair (in addition to thermals, jeans, etc., that it takes to go outside when you're a Floridian in a place where it snows) just to go outside.

And since most of the yarn comes from Blankiezilla, it's like having a little bit of Fizzy with me. *is a tooootal sap*

Plastic Crochet

This is a short bit I made before going whole-hog just to make sure I could do it. It takes more strength than using regular yarn, and I'd have to rest my hands more often, but it's totally do-able. :D


And this is how it starts: cut up strips of plastic bags (these are from Wally World, I'll do balls of every color I have--the green Barnes & Noble bags should make nice accents), twist them, knot them. I didn't cut off the extra "yarn" because I thought it'd be a nice accent for...whatever I wind up making.


I'm also making this hat that I found via Ravelry, out of yarn left over from Fizzy's Blankiezilla and from yarn of the same kind (Lion Brand Hometown USA, and there are more colors now! Go out and buy it and make Lion Brand keep stocking it! If you crochet you'll need a K hook. That's usually the gray plastic one.) from another project that never really got started.

I haven't done more on the Book Paring Down Of Doom since my last post, but I do intend to finish it. But even if I keep everything that's currently left, I'll still have made a huge dent. :)

ETA: You can see the Waldo Hat in the corner of that second pic!

Olive Scarf: Finished! :D

Check it out! *bouncebounce*

It turned out SO MUCH BETTER than I thought it would. Practice Piece Dress Rehearsal success!

You might even say it's... Sufficient. :D

More practice pieces. Because I like to, yanno, experiment. ^_~

Oh, look. More squares. :P

The multicolored ones (the black/white/gray are Red Heart Super Saver, the other is...I don't remember the brand, but it's softer and a bit heavier) are mistakes (the correct ones are set aside for blanket-making). Without meaning to I'd went and done a "spiral," which didn't work out for blocking.

The blue one is a try with Lion Brand Hometown USA yarn at making traditional granny squares. I rather like it, and I may take it out of the WTFpractice box and make more of those. It'd be an awfully thick blanket, but awfully warm. Maybe checkerboard it with squares in a darker blue and make checkers pieces? :)

A try with the Lion Brand organic cotton yarn used in the Mommy Blanket, but I didn't like how the squares would look so instead I did the Never-Ending Granny Blanket (YouTube; automatic audio), which worked much better.

The red-white-and-blue circle thing is an experiment from when I first started making the scrunchies. I thought I might be able to make a stretchy scrunchie using three colors, not at the same time. And...it didn't stretch. Yeah. Fail. :P (All three colors are Red Heart Super Saver yarn)

And that blue/green thingy made from Red Heart Kids' yarn is my very very first attempt at actual knitting (as in, not loom knitting). Clearly I need practice, but not too bad for a first try, huh?

The round thing was supposed to be a skirt, but I messed up too badly to correct and finished it off. It's Marble yarn (the same stuff I made one beanie and am working on another from--it was a gift but luckily I can find more at one of the yarn boutique stores in Fairbanks, Northern Threads), acrylic, very soft and stretchy. If I could stand having anything on the front of my neck it'd make a great sort of scarf you don't have to keep putting back in place.

The smaller piece is my very first attempt at using any of the Knifty Knitter looms. I used the flower loom because I liked it better than the spool loom for making braided tube scarves. (I also used the flower loom to make the poof in the Waldo Hat. ^_^)

I made this after looking at scrumbles (and I'd just learned the word) at Ravelry.com. I was planning to add ruffles somewhere but then I got into this idea for a slanted ruffly skirt and the first attempt at that will be up in a couple of days. :)

Another view:

:)

Some old practice pieces. :)

Squares made with Cookies n' Creme brand organic cotton yarn, using two pieces at a time:

Without the flash:

Some little pieces. The pink/purple and white ones, I'm attempting fillet crochet. The blue one is practicing a spiral circle. (White and Pink: Red Heart Super Saver. Blue: Caron Simply Soft.)

In which I attempt multiple stitches in one square. Um, it was a hot mess, though I am kinda proud of myself for sticking it out until the square was finished. :) (Yarn: Red Heart Kids)

Practice joining big circles (Lion Brand Hometown USA) with the idea of making scarves this way. What do you think?

Olive Scarf Update :)

You can start to see the letters now! :D

Also, Skittles. They are my weakness.

For the first few rows I was afraid it was going to look awful but now I'm really starting to like it. But the first piece is always a gift, so...I get the next one. Or the one after the one I make to sell at the Etsy shop, because while I'm mainly doing all this for the fun of it, the goal of the shop is supplemental income and a job that doesn't require transportation.

*blushes* Yes, that's a roll of toilet paper. I use it for tissues because it's cheaper and stronger than Kleenex or whatever brand you use. You gotta scrimp somewhere so you can splurge on the important stuff--like organic cotton practice pieces. ;)

Marble Beanie

Marble because that's the brand name, and that makes it easy to differentiate from the other beanies, especially since the just-plain-Beanie that I made for my husband is made out of the same yarn, though I did that one one-over-one. (Beanies are so easy to make! :D) It's a very soft yarn (100% acrylic, I think) and I'm doing two-over-two on my Knifty Knitter:


And a few several hours later:


I've got less than twenty rows to go so I should have a finished-project post soon!

Waldo Hat!

A lot of my husband's co-workers think that my husband looks like Waldo from the Where's Waldo books. So I took my Knifty Knitter and made him a Waldo Hat!

In the making:


Finished:


I need to get one of those spinny pom-pom makers, don't I?

Olive Scarf

Well, actually it's off-white, but it's for my friend Olive. The type of yarn is Lion Brand Nature's Choice organic cotton. :)

"Sufficient" is a word that has sentimental value to my friend, but it's not my place to go into the details.

It still feels amateurish, but I think it'll look better as I get more rows done. :)

The beginning. And some supplies.

I used the safety pin to mark the last chain stitch of the foundation row so I wouldn't mix it up from the three chains that make up the first dc and the other three that go across, because otherwise I'd still be counting. :P

Fillet Crochet Practice

Not bad for a first try, huh? :)

Well, practice makes perfect. I've been playing with patterns for words at StitchPoint, which is designed for cross-stitchers but four out of the six letter styles can be used for filet crochet.

More Scrunchies: Red Heart Super Saver Yarn

New and for sale here at my Etsy shop!

These were done using Red Heart Super Saver Yarn, which is 100% acrylic. I made some using different kinds of organic cotton yarn and those will be up soon. :)

Larger images of each one: (do you think my photography is getting better?)