5 posts tagged “project”

well, i've been severely lacking in my efforts to crank out my hand knitted projects for the upcoming holiday season. yes, i realize it's already november! and i just barely finished a project today. a couple of posts ago,i mentioned that mantra for the day was "knit two, purl two" and i am happy to report that that is the project i finally finished today. it is for my little boyfriend (that's what he tells me...that he's my boyfriend) but he's actually the soon-to-be-4-years-old son of some friends of mine. his two favorite colors are...orange and green. and the minute i combined the two colors, the only thing i could think of was "peas and carrots" and so i have dubbed it the peas and carrots scarf.

this came as a result of a day devoted mainly to knitting in a mad effort to create as many gifts as possible. i'm sure i'm being overambitious, but at this point, i refuse to be pessimistic about this venture. i had minimal distractions (food, nap, and a quick trip to michael's) and so in light of the completed peas and carrots scarf, i have begun not one, not two, not three, but four, yes FOUR new projects.  and i already had one on the needles with the holidays in mind, which brings the project tally to 5.

the one on the needles, as mentioned in a previous post, utilizes a very pretty Silk Garden yarn by Noro. i hope the recipient will love it, as this color mix yarn contains many colors that this particular friend of mine likes. done in a simple garter stitch on size 10.5 needles, it is currently my most worrisome project as the yarn has a tendency to tear.

the new projects started today all use Lion Brand Jiffy yarn - from a previous shopping trip to Joann when they had the yarn on sale. as the Jiffy is a slightly bulkier weight than worsted weight yarn, it is easy to see progress, especially if done on big needles.

project #1 - "salem" pastel mix scarf - this is a very, very simple scarf, and as i write this i want to say that i'm already at 1/3 of the length that i want it to be. i'm using size 17 needles, and only 16 stitches across in a garter stitch, it really is a fast knit.

project #2 & #3 - the "basketweave" scarves - i'm using the same basketweave pattern to create these two scarves. i'm knitting #2 in a beautiful "wine" color on size 11 needles, and #3 is being knitted in a really pretty "violet" on size 13 needles. at this point, the two different size needles are only showing a slight difference in the knitted fabric, but i'm sure as time and length wear on on these scarves, i'll see a bigger difference.

project #4 - "grass green" 2 x2 rib scarf - i must confess to having a bit of a love affair with this particular 2 x 2 rib knit. i've already done several scarves in my short knitting career in this stitch - the only variance being the number of stitches used. i also did not intend to start this project today. on my trip to michael's today, i found that they were having a sale on the Lion Brand Jiffy yarn and so the "grass green" color was an impulse purchase. i have been wanting to knit a scarf for a particular friend as she lives in an area that sees snow regularly - and one of her favorite colors is green. she prefers earthy tones. and i know she'll get good use out of it. heck, i get good use out of my scarves - but maybe that's because i am scarf obsessed in southern california. even if i'm wearing short sleeves i have a scarf in case my neck gets cold. lol.

and since there are still a couple of quality knitting hours to be had before i go to bed, i'm off.

that seems to be the mantra going over and over in my head.

i realize now, that i probably should have started some of my xmas knitting projects a lot sooner than i already have, but hindsight is 20/20, what can you do? i am just rolling with it and hoping that i can crank out what i would like to by the time gift giving rolls around. this year has been a roller coaster with ups and downs (a *lot* of downs) and sometimes the motivation isn't always there.

so far...i have begun work on 2 projects that will be given away as xmas gifts. one one (the "knit two, purl two" project), i figure i'm about 1/3 done on it. i made a little more progress on it just before coming to the computer to blog about it.  for the other project, i started it with this beautiful yarn by Noro that i had only bought 2 balls of. yesterday, i went back to the yarn shop i got it at, hoping that they would at least have the same color if not the same dye lot, but lo and behold! luck was with me as not only did the shop have the same color, but the same dye lot as the 2 balls i already had. so i purchased 3 more, completely satisfied that i would now have enough to finish the project.

i told myself that i would not start any more projects for xmas until at least one of the two was completed, and i'm anxious to get back to them. a couple of weeks back, i saw that one of my favorite yarns by Lion, the Jiffy, was on sale at Joann. it had been at least a few months since i had been to any Joann...regardless of which shop i'd been to, the yarn selection (for the yarns i like, anyway) has always been less than spectacular.  so i went to Joann, and i had to re-learn the layout of the whole store as they had completely renovated the interior, along with the layout. on my first pass through the yarns, i didn't see that yarn at all, and was about to get angry that why would they not have any of the yarn that they advertised on sale?! and wandered through other sections to get a feel for where everything was.  then i came back to the yarns and paid more attention, and found the Jiffy yarns! i bought out what they had of the pearl grey and violet, and bought some burgundy, and also one ball each of a pretty girly pastel mix and a heather blue. that night, i got home and pulled out a small notebook to make notes of the various projects, and now i can't find the notebook! go figure. it'll turn up soon enough, i'm sure.

to stray away from the knitting, i now realize i need a new digital camera. a few years ago, i purchased the Sony Cybershot and was happy with it, but on a recent outing to Disneyland with some friends, i realized that something was off. at first i thought it was the LCD, but the more my friends and i played around with it, the more we figured something was wrong either internally or in the lens. so i've been shopping around for a new digital camera. while i love the cybershot, i think my next camera will be the Panasonic Lumix.

Lumix

it boasts of a Leica lens and 7.2 mega-pixels. that's better than what i had on the cybershot. i need to get it soon....before the holidays roll in...

xmas magnets from notmartha

so last night, i was able to finish up my new project. it was marble magnets, also known as bubble magnets.  they had piqued my interest for quite some time...but when i first thought that it was possible to make them, i quickly dismissed the idea since i was getting married in less than 2 months at that point and had no desire to pick up any more "things to do" since i already had so much to do in anticipation of the holidays quickly followed by my wedding.  then just recently i wanted something a little different to do, and returned to the marble magnet idea.  they are incredibly easy to make, and i found great instructions and inspiration for my own magnets at notmartha. (wonder which martha she's referring to?) the magnets shown here at the right are hers.

this morning, before work, i was able to see the fruits of my labor completed. and for the most part, they turned out rather well.  i apologize for the lack of pictures....i haven't been able to find my digital camera and the hubs has yet to unearth the dock in order to hook it up to the computer.  but i'm hoping to work on a new batch of marble magnets this weekend (along with some other projects) so i will try and get a picture of the new batch then.  it's very exciting to take on a new project and have it turn out on a positive note.

what i love about these marble magnets is the ease of making them.  plus, the shape of the glass magnifies the image that you use and so even a small design or picture works well. i can't wait to make more, and hope to make some in a slightly larger size, too.

*trial and error*

a few of the magnets in the bunch turned out a little blah. it was my choice in paper, it seems.  some of the papers i chose to use were rather thin, so once i applied the glue and the magnet on the underside of the glass gem, the magnet showed through and pretty much diminished the design that i had originally chosen.  next time, i will have to properly line the back side of thin papers with some white cardstock so it won't happen again.

so to follow up on today's QotD, last night i started a new project. it's something i have wanted to do for a while, but i really didn't know how easy it was to do until i took the time to look it up.  and it is SO easy it makes me wonder why i had put it off for so long! it does involve paper...just a little bit, and it's kind of time consuming. last night i was only able to do the first half and the second half will get done tonight. (hopefully!) if the end results are good then i will divulge what exactly this new project is.  in the meantime, craftiness ensues! aside from the new project, i've still got some other projects to finish up, and i just found out that i need to make more baby announcements for my friend! the one i mentioned a few posts back. maybe this time i will remember to take a picture of it to share with you all. :D

craftmemo

a couple of months back, a friend of mine put me on to CraftMemo. it's a site that allows you to keep track of practically everything in your crafty world inventory.  it helps you stay on top of what you've got, how much it costs, your suppliers and vendors, your projects, and even helps you price out your projects so you know how much to sell them for (should you choose to!)  no more adding, subtracting, dividing, or multiplying to figure out the cost of your creations!  no more shuffling and hunting to see what you've got to make that project!  no more frustration trying to rememeber if you have or don't have a certain something! no downloading or installation of software is required, either. all you need is an internet accessible computer and all that is required of you is to sign up and enter the information of all the things you have. you can even upload pictures so you know exactly what color, shape, or style of what you've got. then just keep updating it when you use or acquire items. once something dips below 5, it'll let you know what you are running low of upon login.

for my friend that found CraftMemo, it was a godsend, and she shared it with all of her crafty friends, myself being one of them. for me, it allowed me to track all my paper supplies, stamps, and other odds and ends in my stash.  no more trying to remember if i had this stamp set or that color cardstock.  all i have to do is log in to see what i've got. my crafty life made simple. :D

craftmemo inventory snapshot

craftmemo project inventory

craftmemo project gallery