Traveled Home No 78

I'm a member and moderator of a Traveling Scarves Group #78 on Ravelry.  If your not familiar with TS groups, its usually about 12 members total.  All take part in knitting and/or crocheting each other a scarf.  Each member starts a seedlet scarf, knit/crocheted traditionally (vertical) or lengthwise (horizontal).  The member (owner) of the seedlet, only starts the scarf, then packs it up and sends it onto the next member in the chain.  The next member, continues adding to the scarf, and packs it up and sends it onto the next member in the chain. 

It continues in this fashion, until it finally reaches the last member in the chain, which by then adds the finishing portion to the scarf, and then sends it home to the owner who now has a finished scarf that has made a journey around the USA, sometimes to Canada, and back being knit/crocheted by all members in the group. 

I received my scarf home this past weekend, it was originally 300 stitches, started lengthwise, unblocked without fringe it measured 57 inches long. Blocked its measuring 65 inches, with the fringe its 73 inches.

It is the 3rd Traveling Scarf thus far that I've received, having been in 3 groups, well 4, but one group went south.  3rd time is truly a charm, such a gorgeous scarf all the members of Group 78 knit for me. 

I truly do love it and appreciate all the work each member put into it.

I can't wait to wear this proudly and I will tomorrow at work 8-)

Thank you TS#78!

Post-Turkey

Just as most of you out there, I had turkey day this past week.  I'm very thankful for everything, my family, and my life.  I have all the issues most people have, finances, job issues, you know average stuff, and I should be thankful for that considering life could be harder.  I hope you enjoyed your turkey day too! 

I started 2 new projects, finished one already, and have the other on the needles.  I made another Fresh Bite scarflet, this one for my Mother.

The other week she picked out the yarn and buttons for the scarf.  This is the 2nd one that I've made, I'll need to make one of these for me now. 

Pattern: Fresh Bite Scarflet
Yarn: Nimbus
Needles: US 8
Started/Finished: 11/24 - 11/28
Mods: None.
Make again?:Yes, I will make again!! Next one is for me.
Supplies:Yarn and buttons purchased from GPY.

I also started a narrow stripey scarf for my Daughter with this fabolous Kacha yarn.

I'll take pictures of this scarf this week.  For now, I'll have to get ready for work week 8(  It'd be nice to have all the time to knit and knit and knit.

Pairings

Pairs, yes I do love this pair:

Love a good red wine and gourmet cheese.. or this pair:

Now this pair is more in tune with the holidays, a delicous roast turkey and stuffing! 

Yes, there are many pairings, and a couple I knitted for Kirsten from Through the Loops a couple of weeks ago, another great pair.  I originally wanted to choose a reclaimed Cashmere yarn we sell at the LYS I work at, but came across the Frog Tree Meriboo yarn and knew I had a match.  It has a very pretty sheen look to it and to make it even more desireable, it's Superwash!!!

I give you Sofie's Slouch:

Excuse me!  If only my camera was of good quality, however I will be utterly happy once I finally get a good damn camera!  ::tears::  Sorry for venting...I've asked Santa for a new camera, it's at the top of my wishlist.

And the pairing for Sofie's Slouch is Sofie's Fingerless Mitts:

I've worn the pair more than a few times now, but are extremely warm, soft, and durable.   The yarn doesn't split or pile easily.  There are a few other colors for this yarn, a gorgeous purple and green, I may look to make something with those colors soon. 

I got more to share and will post over the next few days, 'til then get ready for Turkey Day!

A new craft to fall in love with

A couple of weeks ago I signed up for Sewing 101 at Bobbin's Nest Studio, and I made my very first Sewing FO! 

 

A few years ago my Mother purchased me a Singer sewing machine, very basic sewing machine, gets the job done.  I never really did much with it, just kept it snug in my office.  Finally, finally, I jumped in and took a class.  Well first, I did the YOUTUBE searches and got familiar with my machine, but still had issues with it, thus the class was the next step.

Here's a few more shots from different angles:

It was pretty cool to do, and I quickly purchased 2 more yards of fabric to make more pillowcases.  I made one more so far, this for my daughter:

Then I jumped the gun like I do with any craft project and ordered a DIY kit from Etsy, you basically get everything you need to make a bag.  All the fabric, pre-cut, with instructions on setting up the bag, and to add more pressure, I planned to give this bag as a present!  So I was even more so determined to get it done and do it right.

I was doing ok, got sidetracked on a few steps, but it was really just a matter understanding what the creator of the kit was trying to relay.

After a few emails and ripping seams, I got it!  My first bag, really love it!

I'm enjoying learning a new craft,  and I think my next project to increase my sewing skills will be to make a small quilt.  Yep, I think I'll be doing that before the end of the year.

So much to cover!

Over the past months I've been so active knitting, crafting, and taking on new adventures. I haven't shared much, not because I didn't want to, but because of lack of time. I have to block out time for all the things that I do each day, and I've failed to make my blogging a priority. I am working on fixing this though, so I'll load up this post with alot of fun stuff to share, including FO's!

A recent FO, made for a spoilee I had in the Vampire Swap, is the "Fresh Bite" scarf. This is super easy to knit and definitely fast to knit.



The buttons were very special for me to choose, they are my 2nd choice, first choice of buttons didn't fit through the buttonholes, so these were my 2nd and I think they are perfect, and should of been my 1st choice! Thankfully the 1st choice of buttons didn't fit.



Pattern: Fresh Bite Scarflet
Yarn: OPUS 1 by Zitron
Needles: US 8
Started/Finished: Not noted, sorry, but I did make it in the latter part of October over the course of 2-3 days. Probably spent a few hours on it.
Mods: None.
Make again?:Yes, I will make again!! One for me definitely, and one for my Mother, who liked it very much.
Supplies:Yarn and buttons purchased from GPY.

Do you know why I choose these buttons? What do they look like? What would help is the theme of the swap, which was a "Vampire" themed swap, so now do you know? Well they look like bloody vampire teeth to me, at least that's my take on it. The green colored yarn, a choice I made based off of my spoilee's taste. The fit of this scarf is very nice, and the yarn, OPUS, an aloe based yarn is just divine. Extremely soft and the slow gradient color change is very pretty.

In the middle of all my craziness, I also got my package from my super secret spoiler from the Vampire swap. My good friend and co-worker was referred to the Vampire swap by me 8-) and she was given the task of spoiling me, but did I know? Nope! During the whole swap, she wasn't allowed to let on that she was secretly stalking me. Then, one Saturday, she calls me to ask what I'm doing.

I was like "I'm knitting, why?"
To which Christy says "Well I was going to stop by the LYS and see if you wanted to meet up"
I said "No sorry, I'm knitting right now, maybe tomorrow?"
Christy said "Ok, well just checking, talk to you later, bye."

After getting off the phone I look at the clock, it's about 5:30 p.m., but it didn't mean anything to me, so I continued knitting. About 30 minutes later my home doorbell rings, I assume it's my brother, who I was expecting to stop by. Nope! It's Christy, with a big smile "Surprise!" holding a large black bag with red tissue paper. I still didn't put it together!

I was like "Hi?"
Christy said "I'm your spoiler! For the Vampire swap! Here to deliver your package personally."

I was utterly flabbergasted! I've always heard of people in swaps getting packages delivered directly to their doors, but this was a first for me. Here's how everything was packaged up.





Christy seriously spoiled me rotten! Everything a perfect match. I love the yarn by Hazel knits.



And the Porom beret, a pattern from one of my favorite designers, Brooklyn Tweed.



It also came with this amazing scarf! Which I've worn many times since I was given it.



Christy, if you read this post, "THANK YOU!!!!!".

Now onto the Reducio Swap, theme "Hogwart's Teachers". I made these wee items for my spoilee.



This is a miniature version of Professor McGonaGall's witch hat. I looked all over to find a good mini-witch hat pattern but couldn't find any. So I devised up this one, trying as best I could to make it look like the real thing. You'll notice the crooked tip of the hat, which McGonaGall is known for in her hats, as well as the feathers. I actually want to make another one for me, just to have on my shelf. The hat turned out better than I had anticipated.

I then made a Gryffindor mini-sock, based off of my spoilee's house.



I made a boo-boo when knitting this, knitting the "G" for Gryffindor in the wrong area (intarsia method), so what ended up with was "G" in the front of the leg vs. the side. I realized I had to fill the void of the back of the leg now, so I stitched this.



What does that look like? I'm hoping you say the Golden Snitch, which is what I was aiming for. In the end, I was happy with the sock turn out. Knitting the miniature items is always fun and creative.

I still have more to share, but I'll end for now. Tomorrow's a holiday for me, yay! No work = knitting, sewing, crafting, = FUN!

Happy Wednesday!
~Rocky