I found this post in my drafts, so I figured that since TWO MONTHS have passed since I finished this hat (which I first started on Columbus Day…jeez), maybe I could stop procrastinating and actually upload it.

I had the hardest time wrapping my brain around this hat. Sure, it came out super adorably (if I do say so myself), but it took me FOREVER to 1) cast it on correctly and 2) correctly memorize the 4 row pattern repeat. Yeah, I’m a little embarrassed about that, too. Still, I’m not terribly upset with the finished product, and have already had a request to make another one, so yay!

I don’t make real life resolutions, but I think it’s not a bad idea to set goals for what I want my 2012 sewing experience to be. I’ve slacked off on sewing, but that’s been more a result of having been sick for a while than anything else.

Still, I stocked up on sewing supplies this past Monday, and now I’m looking forward to expanding my repertoire.

• I’ve made bibs before (which I just now remembered that I never posted about…bad Nicole!), but those were from a kit. I bought a pattern book of children’s items the other day, and although I think I’ll start with the bib to get myself in practice, I’m really looking forward to trying some of the other types of patterns in the book.
• Before Christmas and the stomach malaise that never ended, I was hoping to make really nice canvas tote bags for my friends. I still have all of those materials, too, so I plan to make those and gift them throughout the year. What’s that you say?? Birthday tote??
• Finally, I’d like to make holders for my crochet hooks and circular knitting needles. I have a handmade crochet hook case, and while it’s lovely and seems well-made, the thing that strikes me is that I could probably, even at my current novice status, make something at least as good. That’s a good feeling, and I may end up making a lot of these for the etsy business that right now lives only in my head.

One can never have enough sewing (or knitting/crocheting!) supplies, so I’m really excited about the Resolved to Sew giveaway over at Very Berry Handmade (home of this awesome chevron blanket that I’ve pinned to my Craftastic board!). The giveaway contains loads of gorgeous things, but I have my eye on the Erin Morris fat quarter bundle. Beside the fact that I love to enter contests of any type, I’d excited by the mere possibility of winning such a lovely looking bunch of fabric!

In the meantime, I’ll try to get my lazy carcass in gear long enough to post the things that I’ve finished recently (including a crochet baby hat that has the MOST ADORABLE SKULL ON IT EVER).

The fabulous Carrie made me this gorgeous beer cozy. Well, she didn’t make it specifically for me, but I did have the good fortune to claim it in the gift exchange. Yay.

She also made the star ornament that was tied on the outside of the bag in which she had placed the beer (also known as a cleverly folded page from Sunday’s Times, a little worse for wear after being toted from NYC to my house.).

How awesome. One gift, many gift ideas!

I made this sweater and gave it to the littlest Wagner, who is ADORBS.

I crocheted the flower pin to break up the mistake rib pattern. I learned a lot with this sweater: how to do a hood, how to convert a flat pattern to one worked in the round, and that I should have factored in the whole “stitch picking up” thing into my construction of the early part of this sweater. I also learned that I never ever ever want to do toggle button thingies again without somebody else’s meticulously-written instructions to guide me. I did the sweater in one piece until I got to the armpits (see, I’ve learned!), but from then on things weren’t 100% symmetrical. The problem with such a stretchy pattern is that the two sides stretched differently. I’d do a ribbed bottom for 6-8 rows to rein in this pattern’s tendency to spread.

Still, I’m getting better at sweaters, which can only be a good thing.

I think I’ll try to make this sweater again, and incorporate the things I’ve learned and the things that occurred to me after it was too late to do anything about them (i.e. MEASURE everything don’t just eyeball it).

I feel like I’m about ready to do a sweater with steeks (intentional steaks, not the kind that are placed as an afterthought when I’ve goofed).

I’ve made another bag. I let the shape of the fat quarters I used dictate its shape, so it’s much less square than the other bags I’ve made. It’s perfect for carrying a couple of bottles of wine. I don’t have one those handy separators that you get at the wine store, but I figure that if I’m going to sew the wine bag, I can take an hour and knit a wine cozy.

As with every bag I’ve made, this one is also reversible. On the whole, my seams are getting a little straighter, although for some reason this gray thread liked to bunch up in a way that no other thread I’ve used has (a new problem! This must mean it’s not my fault…right??). I like it, and I think it’s perfect for wine!

I’d planned to open the lovely looking muscato photographed here (the larger of the two bottles), but of course, I didn’t have a corkscrew at home. The best laid plans folks…

Now that I made the reversible tote bag, I’m a little over this one, but it was still a nice way to get into sewing bags. I spent a ton of time on this bag, mainly because 1) I’m not so good yet at sewing straight and 2) I work slowly when I’m confused. Still, I think this came out reasonably adorable for a first effort.

Side 1. I didn't notice until just now that both sides have the same pattern in the same place on the top row.

Side 2.

I used the same pattern for both sides of the inner bag.

I made a(nother) bag. Since I didn’t post the first one I completed, you could be forgiven for wondering what I’m blathering about, but this is actually the second bag that I’ve sewn and finished. The first one is a cute little patchwork drawstring bag. And is also reversible. I think it’s pretty smart to keep making two bags at a time. In between, I started another bag, but I haven’t been able to find the perfect fabric for the other side of it, and so it remains unfinished.

Please forgive the weird cell phone photos that I took. They somehow introduced an icky-looking shadow that does not really exist on my bag (thank goodness)! I know that it would look better if I’d pressed it, but I was short on time, and as soon as I finished it, I had to dash out of my house for a knitting bar crawl. I know, I know. I lead a tough life.

I made the bag according to this very awesome tutorial. The only thing that had me scratching my head was when I tried to figure out how to pinch the corners, but eventually, I understood what she meant.

Edited to add better photos.

I somehow decided that I needed to learn how to sew. The exact why is now fuzzy, but once this idea got into my head, there was no getting it back out. I pored over sewing machine specifications and reviews, and then promptly forgot everything when I went to the new Jo-ann’s in Paramus. No worries. I let the nice saleslady give me her best pitch on everything that they had, and then scanned item barcodes and checked reviews and prices on Amazon when her back was turned. I left the store with an adorable pink sewing machine, which I have named Rizzo and I so far love. This love is so deep and true that I am willing to admit that any crooked stitches that I produce while using Rizzo are entirely my fault.

So I am practicing my stitching one day at a time, and have so far made Porkchop two new bibs. She is under strict orders not to soil them with any unnecessary baby fluids, and so far she hasn’t. Good Porkchop.

Never fear, I have not abandoned my new love of crochet. I actually crocheted a nifty little pincushion for myself. I’d always wanted to crochet a toy, and now I’ve killed two birds with one stone.

Can you tell that I really love my Android phone?

Making this was actually super fun, and I’ve already made all the parts for two more of these babies, although I’m not sure when I’ll get around to putting them together. A tiny, sweet grandmother in my knitting group suggested that I crochet a voodoo doll next, and I’m not going to lie: I am totally tempted.

Dear world, you may want to stay on my good side. Seriously.
Love,
Nicole

I finished my first crochet baby blanket. It is – and I say this without any undue pride – ridiculously cute. For years I’ve been all “Crochet, the horror!,” but, amazingly enough, once I actually decided that I wanted to learn how to do it, I realized that I pretty much already understood the basics. I think this is going to be for Baby Girl W, who had the temerity to be born a couple of weeks early, meaning that this gift is official late. Thanks, kid.

Anyway, behold:

In the early stages

Blocking

Despite the fact that my stomach starts to hurt if I look at this for too long, I really like this blanket. So much so, that I decided to make another one. This kid isn’t due until November, but maybe I better pick up the pace, just in case…

Where have I been? If you’re visiting this blog, then you will most likely be pleased to know I have been making stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. I’ve been really productive this year, and it’s kind of freaking me out.

I didn’t end up giving out most of the hats I made for Christmas (there’s always this year), but I sure did make a ton of them. I even improvised a couple of patterns, and I may revisit them later when I get the urge to make hats again.

Then I made a sweater and a hat for my Porkchop. The sweater was a little iffy, as many of my virgin efforts tend to be, but it’s still kind of badass.

I knitted my boyfriend an awesome, anatomically correct human heart for Valentine’s Day, and although I wanted to learn how to needle felt to put on realistic looking veins, he thanked me and told me that it was creepy enough already. We now use it to throw at one another when either of us is being ridiculous.

I finally learned to crochet for real, and am in the process of making two blankets; one is a pretty simple spiral baby blanket, and the other is a pretty simple afghan that’s made out of several gazillion squares. I’ve delayed the big payoff for simple gratification, and am currently working on the spiral blanket.

The following posts will highlight various things I’ve done in 2011.

I just switched web hosts, so please excuse the utter chaos that is this site. I hope to restore it to its former loveliness rather soon.

Update: Everything is back up and running! What has this taught me? To make copious notes (and backups!) so that I never have to go through this again. Now that my installation of WordPress is operational, I will try hard not to ever visit the Hostgator panel ever again.

I’m doing pretty well with Hatapolooza 2010, especially considering that I didn’t start my knitting until November. I’ve already completed 6 hats, and even started a pair of Batman mittens for Satanski. I was doing fine, until I got sick. Seriously?? Talk about awful timing. This wasn’t the kind of sick where I could sit home and knit and watch tv all day. This was the kind of sick where I had a fever and ridiculous headache, and could barely move without sneezing or coughing. Not pretty. So I lost about a day and a half, and since those were days when I didn’t get to do anything else, either, I feel the lost time keenly.
Still, I did manage to finish this hat before I got too sick. I love the way it came out, and despite the attention factor that I mentioned earlier, it wasn’t at all difficult. I may end up making another one of these before the year is out.

All in all, not bad for something I started after work on Tuesday

For the past few weeks, I’ve been watching Eureka as I knit. I tend to watch comedies (or really mindless dramas) when I’m knitting, because they require less attention on my part. I started a new hat today, and I’m feeling a wee bit victorious, since it’s stranded knitting, a style that I haven’t done before. I was finding it surprisingly easy, and really enjoying how fast this hat was going. I said was, because I ran out of Eureka episodes to watch, and switched to Damages. I spent the first half of the first episode watching intently and knitting on autopilot, and now have been unraveling my work for the next hour. Note to self: serious drama and Fair Isle knitting do not mix.

I read the season arcs/spoilers on the wiki, because I suspected that this show was too mean for me. I’m pretty sure it is. Ever character on that show is vile, and I don’t care enough about them to overlook it. I did see that the 5 most recent episodes of Eureka are available on Hulu, so I will catch up and then watch the remaining episodes there.

I watched this video the first time I made a hat with a pompom. I found these women hilarious and, even better, they taught me how to use my pompom maker, which was sadly lacking in instructions. I watched this video again tonight when I went to make a pompom for a new hat I finished. Perhaps because it wasn’t 2 am and I wasn’t coming off the high of finishing a hat that actually fit my head (as opposed to this monstrosity), I found the video a lot less entertaining this time around. Still, Hatapalooza 2010, or whatever I’m calling this thing, is going pretty well. I may actually finish all the hats I intend to make!