Changes

Doh!  

I washed the Galena sweater, thinking it would come out all wonderfully soft and delightful.  It did.  It also came out several sizes smaller.  I re-checked the ball band from the yarn and I did wash it according to the instructions.  Machine wash cold.  Tumble dry low.  I guess the 8% wool is all it takes to encourage shrinkage.  On a happier note, my daughter is excited to have a new Galena sweater hanging in her closet.  Oh well.

In other news...

Remember the Blooming Flower Cushion I showed you back in August?  It underwent some crochet surgery and got a face lift.  I was tired of finding it smooshed out of shape in the nooks and crannies of the couch, or tossed haphazardly onto the floor, so I took the back panel off, added some more petals, and crocheted a random stripe down the sides to make it into an ottoman cover.  See?

Imagine a cup of coffee, a brownie and a good book added to this picture and it makes you want to dive right in for the afternoon, doesn't it?

It's like summer in January.  :-)

Ta-Da! Galena Sweater

This one wins the Fastest Sweater Ever award.  It took a total of three days, start to finish, working on it in the evenings after work.  It's also a bargain, since it used exactly 1 skein of yarn that I'd bought on clearance for 99 cents.

Sorry for the truly horrendous picture quality.  I was excited to show it off so I had my husband snap a photo last night and I'm standing under glaringly bright lights.  But you get the idea of the stitch pattern and the shape and that's what really matters.

The pattern is by my favorite designer, Doris Chan, in her book Everyday Crochet.

January Block of the Month + a Sample

If you haven't signed up for the free Quilt Block of the Month workshop through Craftsy.com, go do it now!  I'll wait here.

*humming along to some elevator muzak in my head*

Good.  Cross that one off your to-do list.  Today I selected fabrics and made January's blocks.   The fabric is all stuff from my stash and it's a mix of many different lines and designers, but since I seem to collect oranges and pinks they all coordinate pretty well.  Tossed that green bit in as an afterthought, just for a color punch.  The background for all my blocks will be Kona Cotton in White.  

January's Blocks

I'm excited to put all 20 blocks together and see how this quilt looks!

I also spent 55 minutes (yes, less than an hour) making the Easiest Tunic Ever.  It's real name is McCalls Pattern 6244, view D.  See, I'm loving the leggings with boots fashion trend because it's oh-so-comfortable, but my wardrobe is severely lacking in tops that cover my rear.  Being a woman over a certain age (ahem, 35) I probably shouldn't let that hang out.    This pattern is for a basic hip-length knit top with optional drapey things to layer over them.   Once I find a pattern that fits well, I can whip out a whole seasons worth of tops.

M6244

This pattern meets the being-easy criteria, but fit is a different story.   It's HUGE!  I made my size according to the pattern measurements, but the thing hung off my shoulders like a tent.  One quick swipe down each side seam with the serger removed the extra bulk (about 3" from each side from armpit, tapered in to 5" down at the waist, then flared out again at the hips) and it fits much, much better.  My alteration won't win any fashion awards, but it's comfortable, took less than an hour, and cost about $3 in knit found in the clearance bin.

Yea...weekend! (almost)

Being over scheduled makes me irritable.  There was just too much stuff to cram into this week, so today I put my foot down and said "No More!  Today I am giving myself a mini-vacation from reality!"

Instead of heading to town to buy grocery staples and cat food (both of which are desperately needed), I plopped my butt down and did some catching up on projects and some planning for future endeavors.

The Future List includes:

• A crocheted tunic/dress for me.  Spent time looking at suitable yarn online.
• A design/inspiration area for my crafting nook.   A co-worker gave me an old corkboard yesterday, so I'm going to spruce that up and use it to hang all those bits and doo-dads that inspire me, yet create clutter just sitting on my desk.

Both those items require a trip to JoAnn's or Michaels or somewhere, and I just couldn't bring myself to leave the house today.  Even the temptation of Fondling the Fabrics and Snuggling the Yarns wasn't enough.

So what did I actually do today, you ask?

I made serious progress on my son's sweater.  It is a boyish version of the Blueberry Popover pattern.

I cannot get this photo to rotate,  so kindly tilt your head a bit to the right, ok?

And I baked a cake.  Just a simple cake pan-type cake, but delicious nonetheless.

It wasn't a completely lazy day though.  The laundry mountain has been dwindled to a manageable hill, and I thoroughly scrubbed the overhead vent thingy above the stove.  It was all kinds of nasty.

And more importantly, I feel mentally refreshed again and ready to take on life.

Ta-Da! Blueberry Popover

Finished my daughter's sweater this weekend.   She stopped to let me snap a picture this morning before hopping on the bus for school.  The pattern is called Blueberry Popover and is available in the Fall 2011 Interweave Crochet magazine.  It's probably on their website too...most of their patterns are.

The original design calls for flared bell sleeves, which I omitted.  When you're nine years old and constantly pushing your sleeves up for art class and hand washing and whatnot, bell sleeves are a hinderance.

I also omitted the increases in the body and crocheted this thing straight down from the armpits to the hem, which fits my skinny kid nicely and saves my brain cells from having to count and add in the extra stitches at even intervals.  This way I could mindlessly crochet around and around and around while watching fascinating documentary series' on Netflix streaming (Hoarders, anyone?)

The neckline detail gives it some personality.   I'm thinking of making one for myself, which might work if I make the biggest size written and use fatter yarn.  Maybe.  My son also wants one.  In orange.  :-)

p.s. I didn't realize the cat snuck into the picture until I posted it here.  His name is Duck.  He is a 15-pound yarn-chasing, nighttime-prowling, lap-snuggling, "feed-me-right-this-instant" pain in our hineys.  And we love him dearly.

One More Thing...

Oh, I almost forgot!

Craftsy.com is offering a FREE block-of-the-month quilting class.  Go sign up if you're not already a member.  I'm going to do this right along with you and I'll post pictures of each block I make.  It's going to be a great way to explore different quilting techniques.

Resuming the Semblance of Normalcy

Whew.

While the Holiday Season is a wonderfully busy break from reality, I am always secretly glad when January rolls around and life proceeds with its regularly scheduled programming.

• The tree and decorations are packed away.
• The kids have purged old toys and made room for the new ones.
• School started again, and both hubby and I went back to work.

Predictable is nice.  I like predictable.  I like knowing what is supposed to happen on any given day.

But (there is always a but when I write, isn't there. *sigh* )  But, having a schedule makes me feel guilty for missing two, or maybe even three, Finished-Object Fridays when I promised to keep to the schedule.   Well, whatever.  New year, new goals and all that.

Besides, it was so busy around here that not a lot of actual finishing got done anyway. (excuses, excuses)

Back to Christmas.  I received a wonderful book by Doris Chan called Everyday Crochet.  This is a great study in garment construction without sewing in sleeves.  I personally hate to sew in sweater sleeves, because it leaves such an ugly seam line.  Or perhaps I just suck at seaming.  Either way, Doris' approach is to make sweaters from the top-down, raglan-style, eliminating the need to attach sleeves at the end.  Love it!  I have not decided which sweater to try first, but you loyal readers will be the first to know.

I also received a subscription to Interweave Crochet Magazine, which is probably the best crochet publication out there in my opinion.  They strive to provide trendy patterns, not the icky boxy stuff from days of yore.  The Fall 2011 issue has a child sweater that I'm making for my daughter.  Today I hope to finish the last sleeve, and then I'll post pictures.  While Doris Chan didn't design this sweater, it's raglan-style too.

Hope you all had a joyous Holiday Season!