I was hoping to post pictures of the "Elenka" dresses by now, but I've been slow. I finished the green dress in just over two days and it turned out beautifully. Blocking it made all the difference in the word, though making a blocking board was sort of a pain. The foam board that I used wasn't staying hot-glued to the piece of plywood and I was having troubles with our tiny glue gun. I'm glad the whole deal is over with, but now I've got this massive board that I don't know what to do with, lol.
The second dress is taking me longer. I ate some cake (bad slip-up on my low-carb lifestyle) and I think it has been trying to kill me. I have been feeling horrible (not sick, just bloated and icky) so haven't been knitting at all for a day or so. My 6-year-old daughter has been going through a destructive streak again, which really drains my motivation for making her a pretty dress (she'll more than likely destroy it too). It's been a crummy couple of days, bleh.
Today I am going to force myself to start working on the pink dress for my daughter again. I have nearly 1/3rd of the skirt done. If I pushed myself I could probably get it done tomorrow, but not sure if I will feel like going that hardcore.
I didn't take any pictures of the lime colored dress while making it, so will take pictures of the pink dress. They are basically the same anyways. What I mostly want to show is how big of a difference blocking makes. I was pretty astounded by how big of a difference it made on the dress, especially the daisy stitch on the bodice. While knitting the bodice, I kept thinking "wow, this looks nothing like the picture." I "tinked" (un-knitted) some of it and tried redoing it, but it made no difference. I finally gave up on getting it to look like it did in the picture and just finished it. After blocking it, it looked exactly like it does in the picture...go figure.
I am still excited to get the dresses both done. I am excited to start working on one of the crochet patterns for me, but more than that I plan to have pictures taken of the girls wearing the dresses. It has been awhile since I've gotten any pictures of them taken. I thought some pictures to send to family around Easter time sounded like a good idea.
Hopefully I'll have some progress pictures on the berry "Elenka" dress soon. I suppose, that's all for now.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
It's Raining Yarn!
My yarn came! It came early, really early actually. I ordered the Lions Brand yarns from Jo-Ann Fabrics website the 16th and the Patons Grace Yarn from Knitting-Warehouse.com a few days after. They both came today, even though I just received the shipping conformation from Knitting-Warehouse this morning. This was my first time ordering from Knitting-Warehouse, but they were fast and the yarn dye-lot looks consistent through all 14 balls, so I'll probably be ordering from them again.
So here are the pictures!
Just opened the boxes, that's a lot of yarn!
The Cotton-Ease for the spring dresses.
This is the "Lime" color I selected for my 4 year old's dress. It is much more muted than in the photos in the pattern I selected, though I've yet to see it out under the sun.
Here is the "Berry" color I chose for my 6 year old's dress. I think she'll be pleased with the color, since she loves all things pink :)
I have to admit, I am pleased with the Wool-Ease "Eggplant" yarn. It is a bit brighter than I was expecting, but will look beautiful for the Lady's Pullover I selected to make. It is also much softer than I was expecting. I can't wait to work with this yarn.
Here is the most expensive yarn that I ordered. I got 14 balls for $61.05 including shipping and handling (shipping was $5.75 for USPS). I paid $48.00 for all the rest of the yarn (shipping was free). I did get all my yarn on sale though. I got the Patons Grace for $3.95 a ball instead of the regular $4.99. I got the Cotton-Ease for $3.70 per skein instead of the regular $5.79, and the Wool-Ease I paid $2.30 instead of $3.99. I ended up saving about $41.
Here is a close up of the Patons Grace "Tangelo" with flash. I hope it has a pretty sheen in bright sun-light, since is it going to be a spring and summer dress.
Here it is without flash. The skeins are rather small, easily fitting into the palm of my hand. I sure hope the dress turns out pretty considering I spent more than usual on the yarn.
I would really like to start working with the Patons Grace, but I need to make the dresses for the kiddos first. While opening the yarn my youngest was telling me she wanted to wear her beautiful green dress today. I really don't think I would be able to complete it in one day, but she was cute asking.
Lastly, here's a picture of my youngest daughter trying to look extra cute while helping me arrange the yarn for picture-taking.
So here are the pictures!
Just opened the boxes, that's a lot of yarn!
The Cotton-Ease for the spring dresses.
This is the "Lime" color I selected for my 4 year old's dress. It is much more muted than in the photos in the pattern I selected, though I've yet to see it out under the sun.
Here is the "Berry" color I chose for my 6 year old's dress. I think she'll be pleased with the color, since she loves all things pink :)
I have to admit, I am pleased with the Wool-Ease "Eggplant" yarn. It is a bit brighter than I was expecting, but will look beautiful for the Lady's Pullover I selected to make. It is also much softer than I was expecting. I can't wait to work with this yarn.
Here is the most expensive yarn that I ordered. I got 14 balls for $61.05 including shipping and handling (shipping was $5.75 for USPS). I paid $48.00 for all the rest of the yarn (shipping was free). I did get all my yarn on sale though. I got the Patons Grace for $3.95 a ball instead of the regular $4.99. I got the Cotton-Ease for $3.70 per skein instead of the regular $5.79, and the Wool-Ease I paid $2.30 instead of $3.99. I ended up saving about $41.
Here is a close up of the Patons Grace "Tangelo" with flash. I hope it has a pretty sheen in bright sun-light, since is it going to be a spring and summer dress.
Here it is without flash. The skeins are rather small, easily fitting into the palm of my hand. I sure hope the dress turns out pretty considering I spent more than usual on the yarn.
I would really like to start working with the Patons Grace, but I need to make the dresses for the kiddos first. While opening the yarn my youngest was telling me she wanted to wear her beautiful green dress today. I really don't think I would be able to complete it in one day, but she was cute asking.
Lastly, here's a picture of my youngest daughter trying to look extra cute while helping me arrange the yarn for picture-taking.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Bag Completion!
Okay, finishing the bag took less time than I thought, so here are the pictures!
Here's the bag all done! Empty and on it's side. The seam shows up here worse than it does in real life. The seam is noticeable, but doesn't bother me at all. This may have been the first time I've done a mattress stitch since I was blundering it as a child.
This is the bottom of the bag, just trying to show my shaping a bit. I think this part eliminates me writing a pattern, as I just sort of did it as I was going and forgot to take any notes. I may try to recreate the bag at a later date and make a pattern then since I imagine that would be easier to get my brain around.
I do like the final shape I got, and while being worn with weight in it, it looks quite nice.
This picture turned out a bit blurry, but it was the only one I got of the whole length of the bag. I have my Kindle with cover and my large wallet inside. The weight stretches it a fair bit, but while wearing it the bottom of the bag comes down to about my hip, which I think looks flattering. I'm not sure how much more it would stretch with added weight, but I don't really like lugging around a bunch of weight on my shoulder anyways.
Here is another picture of the bag hanging that is a little less blurry.
Over all I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. I think I will knit another one in the round at a later date and write the pattern while I am making it. I had an interesting time trying to find an explanation online for grafting (also called a kitchener stitch) a double rib for connecting the handle, so I will see if I can write down how I managed to do it. It was tricky at first, but simple once I "got" how to do it.
For the bag I used size 7 US needles and Red Heart Super Saver Yarn in "Cafe." The point of this project was to experiment making bags and use up left over yarn. The skein I used was not quite full, and I was left with enough yarn to make a ball the size of a golf ball. Considering I used up the skein and would wear this bag into public, I'd call this little experiment a success :)
I won't be starting another project until my yarn comes. I've got some reading to do and some spring cleaning to do that I've been putting off, so hopefully I won't be going crazy missing my knitting.
I do like the final shape I got, and while being worn with weight in it, it looks quite nice.
Over all I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. I think I will knit another one in the round at a later date and write the pattern while I am making it. I had an interesting time trying to find an explanation online for grafting (also called a kitchener stitch) a double rib for connecting the handle, so I will see if I can write down how I managed to do it. It was tricky at first, but simple once I "got" how to do it.
For the bag I used size 7 US needles and Red Heart Super Saver Yarn in "Cafe." The point of this project was to experiment making bags and use up left over yarn. The skein I used was not quite full, and I was left with enough yarn to make a ball the size of a golf ball. Considering I used up the skein and would wear this bag into public, I'd call this little experiment a success :)
I won't be starting another project until my yarn comes. I've got some reading to do and some spring cleaning to do that I've been putting off, so hopefully I won't be going crazy missing my knitting.
Bag Progress.
I'm nearly finished with the bag, though it has been going slower than I anticipated. I am really liking the look of it so far and am trying to create a pattern for it so I can recreate it in another color later. Here is my progress so far.
As you can see I have one whole side done and the other side very close to being done. I still haven't decided how to make the bottom. I am considering picking up and knitting a stockinette stitch for the bottom, but have also considered creating the bottom separately then sewing it in. I am leaning towards picking up and knitting the bottom in the round and decreasing in the center hopefully producing an oval shaped bottom. I am going to attempt a mattress seam to sew the side together. At first I had considered making the seam more of a focal point, but decided later that I want it to be cleaner and neater looking.
My skein is getting pretty skinny, and I don't have much to go, so I am really hoping it lasts until I'm done with the bag. I could use a different color on the bottom, but would rather not have to do that. By the way, the color I'm using is "Cafe."
The bag will be rather deep with a short handle, and after working it back and forth I think I've come to the conclusion that it may have been easier to do in the round and eliminate my need for sewing the side seams. Depending on how long it really takes my other yarn to arrive, I may attempt a second bag worked in the round just for curiosity's sake.
So far I am quite pleased with how it is looking. I don't care to use the Red Heart Super Saver yarn for sweaters or other clothing, but for bags it is working out well. There is quite a lot of stretch to it though, so I may have to avoid carrying anything heavy in the bag unless I decide to line it (HIGHLY doubtful).
That's all for now. I should finish it tomorrow or perhaps tonight depending on how eager my husband is to help me sort through donateables, keepsakes, and junk in the basement...I'll probably finish it tonight, lol
As you can see I have one whole side done and the other side very close to being done. I still haven't decided how to make the bottom. I am considering picking up and knitting a stockinette stitch for the bottom, but have also considered creating the bottom separately then sewing it in. I am leaning towards picking up and knitting the bottom in the round and decreasing in the center hopefully producing an oval shaped bottom. I am going to attempt a mattress seam to sew the side together. At first I had considered making the seam more of a focal point, but decided later that I want it to be cleaner and neater looking.
My skein is getting pretty skinny, and I don't have much to go, so I am really hoping it lasts until I'm done with the bag. I could use a different color on the bottom, but would rather not have to do that. By the way, the color I'm using is "Cafe."
The bag will be rather deep with a short handle, and after working it back and forth I think I've come to the conclusion that it may have been easier to do in the round and eliminate my need for sewing the side seams. Depending on how long it really takes my other yarn to arrive, I may attempt a second bag worked in the round just for curiosity's sake.
So far I am quite pleased with how it is looking. I don't care to use the Red Heart Super Saver yarn for sweaters or other clothing, but for bags it is working out well. There is quite a lot of stretch to it though, so I may have to avoid carrying anything heavy in the bag unless I decide to line it (HIGHLY doubtful).
That's all for now. I should finish it tomorrow or perhaps tonight depending on how eager my husband is to help me sort through donateables, keepsakes, and junk in the basement...I'll probably finish it tonight, lol
Monday, March 21, 2011
Projects for Spring!
I've got 4 new projects rounded up, 3 of which are spring projects. The 4th is still okay for spring since this is Montana after all, but it isn't very "Spring" looking. You'll see what I mean once I get to pictures.
The first project I'll be making will be a knit dress for my youngest daughter. I found this beautiful dress on www.Knitty.com. Follow this link to see the free pattern and additional pictures.
The "Elenka" is a perfect little sun dress for spring and summer, plus the Lion Brand Cotton Ease that is called for in the pattern has some beautiful and bright colors available. The difficulty level is "Tangy" on Knitty.com, which I believe would be approximately a Easy or Easy + on other sites. I will be knitting the dress in the "Lime" color pictured. I will be making a second dress in "Berry" (a mauve-ish pink color) for my older daughter. I have used Cotton Ease before and love the way it knits up and the way the finished garment hangs, plus the super easy care can't be beaten when using it for children's garments. It is difficult to find locally, so I ordered off Jo-Ann Fabrics website during a sale.
The third project I will be making is a crochet dress for myself that I found out of a Patons Grace pattern book I purchased at a local craft store.
I will be making this "Blue Reflection Dress" in Patons Grace in the color "Tangelo." The idea is that the dress will remind one of a delicious orange dream bar. The dress is quite see-through, so will probably be wearing it over either a white tee and leggings, or over a simple white dress. I am really excited about this dress. The yarn is beautiful and a much higher quality yarn that I typically work with. I found some locally, but there was not enough to make the dress, so I ended up ordering it online and getting a pretty good deal on it. The difficulty level is intermediate.
The fourth project I will be working on is a crochet sweater, and the only experienced level project I selected. It does not look particularly difficult though, and should be nice to crochet in the round.
The "Ladylike Pullover" is a free pattern off of Lion Brands website, located here. I will be making this with Lion Brand Wool-Ease in the color "Eggplant." The deep plum color should look splendid in fall (and go very nicely with my dark brown hair), and the wool yarn should be quite warm despite the rather airy design of the sweater. This is another garment that I will need to wear something under, but I don't mind as the design is quite pretty. I have this strange feeling that I might like to wear this sweater in the spring time with a pair of bright yellow capris (or skirt) and a bright yellow tank top under the sweater. Maybe I'm crazy, but that just sounds fun to me...not that I would wear it out on the town or anything, lol
I am still on the hunt for a perfect sweater to knit for my husband. I have found a few that I like that got an "I guess it would be fine" from my husband. I do know what color I would use though, as I think dark grays and deep or musty blues look best on him. I want to make a flattering sweater that looks good on him but that he likes and would want to wear.
The yarns for the spring dresses and the lady's pullover should get here by the weekend (perfect timing!) and the yarn for the dress should be here by the end of the month. I am hoping the yarn comes early, but if not that's okay as I am still working on a hobo style bag currently. Once I am further along on the bag I will post a picture of it. I am trying to use up scrap yarn, but am pretty sure that I will need to buy another skein to finish it. Hopefully I'll have those pictures of the bag progress within a couple days.
Bloggy Knitting.
I keep finding myself wanting to write about my knitting on blogs dedicated towards other topics, so I'm starting a knitting blog! The idea is that I will post pictures of my projects while making them. Hopefully I'll be consistent with this, though my knitting gets spastic at time. My plan is to post pictures of the pattern I plan to make and the yarn I'll be using before actually starting the project. I'll post pictures during the project, most likely highlighting problem spots or parts that are going particularly well. I want at least 1 "in progress" picture per project. Then once the project is complete I hope to post pictures of it having close ups to show details as well as pictures showing it modeled (if family cooperates when I make something for them) and laying flat.
Now a touch about my experience with knitting. I tried to learn to knit as a child (probably around age 7 or 8, but I really don't know for sure) and it did not go well. All I managed to make was a 13" X 4" rectangular stripped thing in garter stitch. I ended up sewing fringe onto it and using it as a sleeping mat for my Barbies, but it was enough of a failure (it had started out as a scarf, but I just couldn't keep going) that I didn't try my hand at another project. I didn't seem to be able to knit more than two rows without dropping stitches and I couldn't get my tension consistent.
When I was in my late teens I started picking up crocheting, and it seemed pretty easy to me. Bolstered by how good it felt to make something pretty I kept crocheting. After getting married and starting a family I starting making more projects and getting into experienced level projects that while a bit time consuming were rather easy. I tried my hand at knitting again and found that my experience with crocheting had vastly improved my grasp of knitting as well. Patterns were no longer daunting and I enjoyed the challenge that came with learning new stitches and techniques.
I have made a couple sweaters, a hand full of dresses for my two young daughters, several ponchos, shrugs, shawls, hats, scarves, blankets, baby items, and recently I've been experimenting with bags.
I am currently working on a large hobo/market style bag that I am designing as I go. It may end up back in the scrap pile though as I'm not sure I'll have enough yarn to finish it. I could always go buy another skein to finish it, but that really defeats the whole point of my trying to use up scraps (I will admit that I have done this on several occasions in the past). It is brown and I'm using a double seed stitch which is looking very nice for a bag texture. Once I make some real progress on it I will post a picture. It would be a bit weird to post a picture currently as I just recently started it and am not even far enough for it to be a square yet.
I do have a couple goals for this year in knitting. I want to learn some more techniques, one of which is knitting a sweater top-down. I have always worked from the bottom up, but am finding that most of the really beautiful sweaters and dresses are knit top to bottom. I want to complete at least one project this year that is knit from the top down. I also want to learn to graft rib and seed stitch, as I currently only know how to graft stockinette stitch. I want to learn what setting in means when working on a sleeve. It looks very nice, but I need to find out more about it, perhaps by doing a pattern that uses it. Another goal for me this year is to make an utterly hunky sweater for my husband. I made a sweater for him previously, which sagged, stretched, and otherwise contorted itself into an overgrown mess, lol. I have considered ripping it out and using the yarn for something else (he almost never wears it) though the more I knit the more I have this creeping notion that I hate knitting with Red Heart Super Saver yarn. It used to be fine, but now knitting garments with it feels like I imagine eating dirt would feel when you knew you could instead be having a nice thick burger. I want to branch out to using finer higher quality yarns, even if it means doing less projects because the yarn costs more.
I will end here. I've another post to create in which I'll post my 4 upcoming projects, but I'm done with this one!
Now a touch about my experience with knitting. I tried to learn to knit as a child (probably around age 7 or 8, but I really don't know for sure) and it did not go well. All I managed to make was a 13" X 4" rectangular stripped thing in garter stitch. I ended up sewing fringe onto it and using it as a sleeping mat for my Barbies, but it was enough of a failure (it had started out as a scarf, but I just couldn't keep going) that I didn't try my hand at another project. I didn't seem to be able to knit more than two rows without dropping stitches and I couldn't get my tension consistent.
When I was in my late teens I started picking up crocheting, and it seemed pretty easy to me. Bolstered by how good it felt to make something pretty I kept crocheting. After getting married and starting a family I starting making more projects and getting into experienced level projects that while a bit time consuming were rather easy. I tried my hand at knitting again and found that my experience with crocheting had vastly improved my grasp of knitting as well. Patterns were no longer daunting and I enjoyed the challenge that came with learning new stitches and techniques.
I have made a couple sweaters, a hand full of dresses for my two young daughters, several ponchos, shrugs, shawls, hats, scarves, blankets, baby items, and recently I've been experimenting with bags.
I am currently working on a large hobo/market style bag that I am designing as I go. It may end up back in the scrap pile though as I'm not sure I'll have enough yarn to finish it. I could always go buy another skein to finish it, but that really defeats the whole point of my trying to use up scraps (I will admit that I have done this on several occasions in the past). It is brown and I'm using a double seed stitch which is looking very nice for a bag texture. Once I make some real progress on it I will post a picture. It would be a bit weird to post a picture currently as I just recently started it and am not even far enough for it to be a square yet.
I do have a couple goals for this year in knitting. I want to learn some more techniques, one of which is knitting a sweater top-down. I have always worked from the bottom up, but am finding that most of the really beautiful sweaters and dresses are knit top to bottom. I want to complete at least one project this year that is knit from the top down. I also want to learn to graft rib and seed stitch, as I currently only know how to graft stockinette stitch. I want to learn what setting in means when working on a sleeve. It looks very nice, but I need to find out more about it, perhaps by doing a pattern that uses it. Another goal for me this year is to make an utterly hunky sweater for my husband. I made a sweater for him previously, which sagged, stretched, and otherwise contorted itself into an overgrown mess, lol. I have considered ripping it out and using the yarn for something else (he almost never wears it) though the more I knit the more I have this creeping notion that I hate knitting with Red Heart Super Saver yarn. It used to be fine, but now knitting garments with it feels like I imagine eating dirt would feel when you knew you could instead be having a nice thick burger. I want to branch out to using finer higher quality yarns, even if it means doing less projects because the yarn costs more.
I will end here. I've another post to create in which I'll post my 4 upcoming projects, but I'm done with this one!
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