Penguin for Lance

I put this adorable little dude together today. I plan on sending him to Lance as a surprise. Shhhh! Don't tell him!

Kyuuto!

I received an awesome book for Christmas from my cousin Laura called "Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts Amigurumi". According to my book, in Japanese "kyuuto" = "cute" and "amigurumi" = "small crochet animal toys".
I really wanted to get started making something on New Years Day, and my mom happened to have some yellow yarn. The "Little Duckling" pattern seemed a great choice for my first try. I just finished him today and he turned out great!



My duckling ended up being a good bit larger than the one in the pattern. The author must have used laceweight yarn or something. I used worsted/aran and a G-sized hook which made the fabric really dense and stiff for holding its shape. My duckling measures about 7.5” tall from top of the head to bottom of the foot. He has 12mm brown safety animal eyes that I got at JoAnn. I put a small ziploc bag filled with "poly-pellets" in his body section for weight. The rest of him is stuffed with poly-fil.

The crochet itself was pretty easy. Lining the parts up and sewing them on where I wanted them was more of a challenge. He turned out really cute and I am proud of my first amigurumi.

Yarn buying spree

Yesterday while sitting around watching football on TV and looking at sale ads in the newspaper, I found out that ALL the yarn was on sale at Michaels' this week. So naturally I had to go check that out. They didn't have that large of a selection, but sure enough it was all on sale, some 70% off. So I bought 3 more colors of the Patons Brilliant that I used for my bellydance top. I got black, dark brown, and dark purple. They were 2 for $3. I also got some Patons Lacette that was 2 for $3. I think I could feasibly make some socks out of it since it seems about the right thickness. Each skein has over 200 yards, so 2 skeins of each color should make a pair of socks. I got black, light pink, and a pretty magenta type color.


I bought some red and some white Sugar N Cream cotton to make another kitchen towel for my mom to hang in her kitchen. I will have to work on that this week while I am here.


I think I finally have this Pomatomus pattern figured out pretty well. I've completed one pattern section (22 rows) and it looks really pretty. I was having issues with doing all the yarnovers at the beginning of the rows but I figured out why and it seems to be going ok now. Here's a pic of the progress thus far:

Kitchen Towels

I managed to finish the 2 kitchen towels I was working on just in time for Christmas. I decided to give one to each of my grandmas. They seemed pretty happy with the gift, and I am sure that knowing they were handmade by me made them even better.

Bellydance top complete

Well I finally got my top done and wearable. It only took me like 4 months lol. Every month I thought to myself, "I need to get this done so I can wear it to bellydance night" and alas it never got finished. This month I actually got done in time. I ended up adding rows to the sleeves until I had 110 rows on each. That took me to nearly a 3/4 length sleeve. I made a twisted cord from the same yarn as the top and used that as a drawstring tie at the bottom. I will probably eventually put a trim around the neckline and the sleeve cuffs and maybe add a button or something for closure, but it was complete enough to be worn out dancing. Here's the completed top, just in time for the holidays:

I completed another knitting project this week, but since that one is destined to become a Christmas gift, I won't post about it until after the holidays.

I plan to take my Pomatomus sock pattern with me during Christmas vacation to give me something to work on in my spare time. Here's the "Londonberry" sock yarn colorway that I am using for it:

I have been spending a lot of time reading lately due to my obsession with the "Twilight Saga" books by Stephenie Meyer. Therefore I have had to split time between reading and knitting and haven't gotten a lot done on the knitting side.

To sleeve, I guess...

Well, I decided to try out the sleeve idea. I am currently knitting the right sleeve on double pointed needles, but before I started I inserted a "lifeline" with a tapestry needle and embroidery floss:


That way, if I should change my mind, I will hopefully be able to rip out the knitting back to the starting position fairly easily.

You can find more info on that concept here: http://www.heartstringsfiberarts.com/lifeline.shtm

To Sleeve or Not to Sleeve, Take 2

I got the length of my burgundy bellydance top finished today. When it got down to the last few rows and I had to begin making the french cable bust band, I admit I was thinking something along the lines of "Wha?" when I was reading the pattern... But it evolved into one of those beautiful, magical moments when you first can see something coming together and you are both surprised and fascinated. This was probably the coolest part of the whole Giselle pattern to me. And I did not do this the first time around since on the original Giselle I chose to do the crochet trim version instead. I had to take pictures of the bust band to show just how nifty it really is:

I made a twisted cord out of the same yarn and threaded it through the holes in the band to use as a tie closure. Here is what the top looks like in its current form:

So now here is the predicament: I can't decide if I want to leave the sleeves at their current length and bind them off now or continue the sleeves until they are about a 3/4 length, snug-fitting sleeve style. I keep looking at the picture and trying to figure out what to do but I haven't come to any kind of conclusion yet... decisions decisions.

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So meanwhile I took a break and decided to wind my beautiful Mandy yarn into a nice center-pull ball. I still can't get over the concept that I made this yarn with my own hands. The process is so interesting to me, and I can't wait to knit it into something beautiful (once I decide on a pattern that is...). The yarn is really quite soft and I love the feel of it. Here is the finished product:

Yeah.... that didn't take long.