a new technique

July 29, 2012 by 1 Comment

I tried fair isle knitting today for the first time!  It wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be, but I think I still need some practice.

 

I began working on the letter H because that’s what I’m going to put on the front of my Weasley Sweater since my name is Hannah.  I got bored with it though, so I quit early.  I’ve got the gist of it, and I think I’m going to do intarsia instead of fair isle on my actual sweater because I don’t want to do so much stranding:

 

So you see, it doesn’t look that great because there are so many strands and the tension differs a bit on a few of them.  Here’s the H:

 

So on my actual sweater I’ll use the H on the right (the biggest).  And speaking of my sweater…

 

 

I’ve finished the back!  I did what the pattern said and safely bound off the shoulder parts and put the neck part on a large stitch holder:

 

 

So it’s 82 sts wide and 26″ long.  It’s curling both at the bottom (which it is supposed to do) and at the sides (which will be fixed once I sew the front to the back).  I started the front piece but it’s not worth a picture yet because it’s just like the back piece is so far.  Once I start the intarsia I’ll post an update on how that’s going.

I know it seems really simple to many knitters, but I’m really proud of what I’ve done so far because knitting is so much harder for me to learn than crochet, and it’s taken a lot of time and concentration to get this far.  I just hope I can finish the sweater before the middle of December because that’s when I’m going with my parents to England, and I want to wear it on the trip!

So that’s all for today, thanks for stopping by!

 

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something new, and I’m selling

July 16, 2012 by 4 Comments

Check it out, it’s my first quilt ever!

It’s a rather shabby chic style that I was dying to try, and I think it turned out well.  OK so my binding isn’t exactly wrinkle-free, but actually I think it adds to the kinda shabby look.  It’s a baby quilt, and it’s about 27″ x 27″ (or about 69cm square), so it’s not very big, but since it was my first one I wanted to make sure I could do it before making a larger size.

And here’s the machine I used.  A 1949 Singer, whose claim to fame was the fact that it was electric and that it has a backstitch option.  Very advanced, I know.  I actually really love this machine, but after making a quilt on it I feel like it would be easier to sew quilts on a newer machine.  That’s out of my budget right now though, so I’ll keep using this baby!

The white fabric is flannel, the thread is cotton, and the squares are, I believe, all cotton as well.  The batting (1″ loft and very plush) is polyester.  The picture above was before I washed it.  The raw edges of the squares are a little more unraveled after being washed, which was the point for me (that’s what I loved about this particular way of quilting).

There it is washed (sorry for the bad lighting).  You can see the edges are a little frayed.  I love it.

And there’s the finished/washed product again.  I’m really proud of it, even though it’s small.

The reason I made this is because I’m thinking of making baby quilts to sell.  Would anybody be interested in a custom baby quilt?  I could make any color combo desired, and I could make any future quilts over 30″ square ( a little bigger than this one).  We could negotiate a price depending on what materials you want.  After some practice making baby quilts I would love to try larger sizes, but that may be a while.

Actually, I’m willing to sell this one.  For it to be worth what I paid for the materials plus shipping, I’m asking $60.  Any takers?  It would also look pretty in a crib, on the back of a recliner, on a wall, in the car, or as a play mat.  Machine washable and dryable.  This is cheaper than many others that you may find online because it is my first one and I’m still getting used to the technique and the machine.  If anybody wants it, please comment on this post to claim it and e-mail me your address at HannahDavis1988@gmail.com.  Thanks for visiting today!

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old & new

July 2, 2012 by 2 Comments

I got something that is both old and new!  It’s technically old but it’s new to me!  I got a new crochet hook, and I found it over on crochetime.  Anyway, it came in today:

It’s made of bone, and it’s actually very small, as you can see by the last pic with it in my hand.  It says size 4 but I haven’t used my little metal sizer thing because I can’t find it…  Anyway, just wanted to show ya’ll this new item!

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winner announced!

June 27, 2012 by 12 Comments

Congratulations to Sherry from For The Love Of Yarn & Other Things That Make Me Happy!  Sherry, you’ve won this box of goodies:

I wrote out everyone’s name in the order that they posted and numbered them accordingly, and then used the random number generator to pick somebody:

So congrats Sherry!  You have until July 1st to claim your prize — just e-mail me at HannahDavis1988@gmail.com with your address and I will send the package out asap!

Thanks to everybody who entered — I was really glad to see so many people interested!  If you didn’t win, I’m sure I’ll have another giveaway someday, so this was not your only chance for awesome crochet stuff.

Oh and by the way, I’ve been sick for the past few days with sinus infections, ear infections, a sore throat, and a fever, so I’m sorry if I don’t have any crochet stuff to show you for the next few days.  I haven’t done anything at all except making tea and eating soup.  I’m on the mend though, so hopefully it won’t be long until I’m busy again!

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new things

June 22, 2012 by 6 Comments

I tried tea dying today, after much admiring of lace and pretty dresses and linens and things that have been dyed this way on Pinterest.  I tried it with my shawl from my last post.  Here’s what happened:

I honestly don’t see a difference.  Maybe I didn’t use enough tea bags?  I used 2 bags of Irish breakfast tea, thinking that would be dark enough.  I might have to try again.  Oh well, even if the tea dyeing failed the first time, now I know how to do it better, and my wrap thing is at least stretched/blocked out a bit more the way I want it.  It’s nearly as long as the coffee table now…

Oh and the giveaway is going well!  Tons of entrants.  I’m super excited.

See you soon!  Goodnight!

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