Wizard Pillows

For those of you in the know about my crafting habits, you know that April, August, and December are "off-months" for yarning (i.e. no points to be earned).  I decided that this August would be Sewing Month.  I've had a lot of sewing projects on my list for a long time and it's time to suck it up and get them done.  I started off with 3 baby gifts that I will show off once all recipients have gotten them, later in the year.

Next on my list: CUUUUUTE pillows.  Last year, I saw these on etsy.com.  I fell in love with them, but knew I wasn't going to pay that much for them and promptly forgot about them.  Then I saw them again at LeakyCon and thought, "I can totally make those myself."  And I decided they would be a great Christmukkah gift for my niece.  After much plotting, planning, and a few false starts and lessons learned, I give you:

The Chosen One

The Red-Headed Menace

The Know-It-All

The Golden Trio

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the way they turned out and I think C will really like them, for a few more years yet if I'm lucky.  In addition to those three, I decided to splurge and make something for myself, since all the items on my To Be Sewn In August list are gifts.  These are completely my own design but in the same style as the others.  They are:

Snake Face

My Favorite Potions Master

Again, I'm pretty happy with them.  I should've put Voldy's eyes a little lower, but he still looks plenty evil and snakey.  For those of you wondering, YES, I have plans to make more, but they're all still in my head and need serious design and planning work.  So, keep your eyes out for Bellatrix, Draco, Lucius, and possibly some others next year.

Hanging with their new buds in the guest room:

Happy Fishiversary to me!

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of working on the Fish Blanket of Crazy.  You may remember this project from my post last year One Fish, Two Fish.  If not, the short of it is, I need 800 of these little guys to make a queen size blanket.  I originally budgeted just over two and a half years to finish the project (knit all the fish, layout the design and seam them all together).  I'm pleased to announce that at the 1 year mark, I have reached 400 completed fish!  That's 36 days ahead of schedule.

What does 400 fish look like, you ask?  Well, a little something like this:

Or maybe a little like this (roughly):

4800 Yards of yarn

14400 Feet

4389.2 meters

2.7 miles

1200 g

42.3 oz

2.65 lbs

.0012 Metric Tons

Either way, I'm enjoying a cupcake in honor of my 1 Year Fishiversary.

Knitting & Crochet Blog Week - Day 2!

Woo!  I made it - 2 days in a row!

Okay, today is all about a project that represents your house mascot (see yesterday's post).  Not in the literal sense, though I'm sure I can find plenty of knit and/or crocheted monkeys, but more the spirit of the thing.  Monkeys are all about the challenge and learning.  So, what do I find challenging/what do I need to learn?  Lots of stuff.

Color work, of any kind really, but I really like these Kissing Koi Mitts.

Steeking - cutting one's work after it is complete is CRAZY, but still something I would like to try.  I think I'll stick to something small, like a Steeked Cup Cozy.

Double Knitting - I'd like to start with these Hogwarts House Scarf Bookmarks (Surprise - HP made this list!)

And someday, I really hope to make myself a lace weight sweater - I've got my eye on you Wisper Cardigan

But before all of that, I'll be tackling the Katharina shawl - knit and crochet, fully charted.

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week Day 1: Declare your house!

So, it's the 4th Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, organized by the lovely Eskimimi of eskimimimakes.com.  Each day is a different topic (check this out if you're a crafter who wants to join in the blogging fun).  You all know how great I am about blogging, but I'm really going to try and stick with it this week.

Today's topic: Declare Your House!  Think Harry Potter for yarn crafters (you know what I'm talking about HPKCHCers).

I'm a Monkey: Intelligent and with a fun loving side, Monkeys like to be challenged with every project presenting them with something new and interesting.

Here's the thing...I like to be prolific.  But the reality is, I'm a learner.  I always have been (sort of a Slytherin Hermione).  I enjoy the challenge of learning a new skill and it will keep me entertained until I before proficient.  Then it's time to move on to something else.

The House Cup has really been a great place to me because of this.  The lovely, wonderful crafters I've met there have pushed, pulled, and cheered me to new skills, yarns, and crafts.  I wouldn't be the yarn crafter I am today without them.

Here's a small selection of some of my more challenging projects:

There are a few more in the works, which will be shared in time.  Probably.  if I actually keep up with my blog...

Freezer Cleanout Week

On Sunday, I excitedly bought almond meal/flour to make macarons, my dad's favorite French cookie, knowing that I could make the sandwich part of the cookie week ahead of time and freeze them.  Then a few days before my parents arrive for Christmas, I could thaw the cookies and fill them.

Then I got home from the grocery store and inspected my freezer.  It was full.  Like, packed. (I'm sad I didn't take a "before" picture).  I decided I need to spend the week eating through all the food to make room to freeze baked goods.  It sounded like a perfectly reasonable plan.  Until I started doing it.

By popular demand, here is a sample of the meals thus far:
Pasta with marinara
Chili
Black bean, corn & barely soup with a side of broccoli
Chicken breast with mixed veggies
Bratwurst and broccoli
Suprise! Shepard's pie (I forgot it was back there)
Beef soup surprise (I really don't remember making this, but there it was, in a container in the back of
the freezer).

Beef Soup Surprise!

Still left to go:
2 chicken breasts
1.5 bags of mixed veggies (one mixed, one stir fry)
4 booze pouches
2 tubs cat food (those stay)
Many, many otter pops
1 breaded chicken breast
Coffee (which I don't drink and I can't honestly remember buying)
4 Pint glasses
2 emergency ice packs

WiPs and BiPs

I've been priding myself on the fact that I have so few partially finished yarny projects sitting around.  Then it was pointed out that, although my yarn WiP (Work in Progress) count is low, I have several other kids of half finished projects.  Additionally, during a cleaning of my room, I realized just how many books I was on the middle of reading.

I've decided that it's time to start being more project monogamous and book monogamous and get some of those things finished up.  To help me with this, I'll be using this space for my own accountability.  My goal is to update my progress quarterly with the number of WiPs and BiPs I currently have going.

WIPS (9):
New Apartment Afghan (crochet)
Venus Shawl (crochet)
Sunbonnet Sue Quilt repairs
Fishbowl Quilt - finish
Bug Jar Quilt - finish
Jenn & Russ' wedding cross stitch
Chris & Laura's wedding cross stitch
Mom's gift cross stitch
Slytherific flannel PJ Pants

BIP (10)s:
Basin & Range - John McPhee
The Ancestor's  Tale - Richard Dawkins
Harry Potter à L'école des Sourciers - JK Rowling
Death Comes to Pemberley - PD James
Pirouettes - Marcel Pagnol
HP Goblet of Fire - JK Rowling
Ten Ways to be Adored when Landing a Lord - Sarah MacLean
Breath of Magic - Teresa Medeiros
Lucky you - Carl Hiaasen
The Lost Continent - Bill Bryson

Sigh.  That hurts a little.  I solemnly swear I will not start any new books until I have finished at least 8 of those on my current list.  I would love to say the same is true of my WiPs, but we all know that would never work.  So, I'll just say that I will stick to Stringless Sunday and WiP Wednesday in a serious effort to decrease that list.

One Fish, Two Fish...

Hello, my name is Kati and I'm addicted to Sock Yarn.  Anyone who's seen my stash knows this to be true.  I can't help it.  It's pretty and squishy and there are so many things one can make with just one skein of it.  It's just so irresistible.

The problem?  I keep ending up with 3-5 grams left over from projects - not enough to make anything else, but too much to justify throwing it away.  So, I began my very own scrap project.  Sewers will be familiar with this concept (they're called quilts).  Even paper crafters know they have that one set of notecards that has cool shapes made of leftovers.

Thanks to Ravelry, I found this excellent pattern called a Recipe for Fish.  For those that are interested, I'm using size 4 needles.  For everyone else, what you need to know is each fish measures about 2.5" x 4.5".  After doing some Math (yay Math!), I figured that for a roughly queen sized afghan, I need 800 fish (they will be laid out 20 x 40 fish).  Yeah, that's a lot of fish.

Know what else?  That's a lot of scraps.  I want each fish to be unique, but even with my extensive collection of sock yarn, I don't have enough for 800 different fish.  So, I'm madly trading scraps with other yarnies.  I've even gone so far as to purchase mini skeins from indy dyers.

Here's the ultimate goal: make 1 fish a day (that's about 2.2 years of fish making) and then give myself 6 months to lay out the fish in the order/pattern I want them and seam them together.  To try and keep my spirits up, I'll be posting periodic updates on my progress.

Today, I have reached 100 fish!