Craftiness Craziness

I Moved!

2012-03-05T20:24:00.001-08:00

Hello all! I moved my blog to Wordpress due to a few unfortunate privacy changes. I greatly enjoyed my stay here but look forward to moving on. You can find me here from now on. http://craftinesscraziness.wordpress.com/

Thank you all for reading this blog. I invite you to continue participating at the new site. I look forward to seeing you there! ^_^ Thank you all. It’s been a great experience.

Wee Bit o’ Progress

2012-01-15T13:58:00.000-08:00

I haven’t been doing much in the knitting world since my wrists have been hurting since the last week of December. I really overdid myself knitting for 8+ hours a day for almost two weeks in preparation for Christmas. Thankfully, I was able to get all the presents for my family completed, except for the buttons on one, and a couple presents for my friends. I still have a couple presents to make which will hopefully be ready by late February. I should start making presents sooner. -_-

A couple friends of mine asked me to make a few knitted items over the course of the last month, a child’s sweater and one to two pairs of gloves. I started the sweater a couple days ago now and have made good progress. The yoke is done and the body is started. It will be the cutest little girl’s sweater. I love it so far. It will be a top-down raglan sweater with wide pink and purple stripes. Since the purple is multicolored it will have many mini light and dark purple stripes within the larger purple stripe. It’s a bit hard to explain, but it looks adorable. I plan to finish it by the first week in February so she will have some time to wear it before it gets too warm.

I took a few pictures of the presents as well as the sweater. Enjoy! I’ll post an update soon as I make more progress.

Child Sweater Progress

Sister's Legwarmers

Link Gloves

2012-01-12T18:25:00.001-08:00

They’re done! I made a pair of Link Gloves for my friend Stephanie for Christmas last year. The pattern was inspired by Link’s gauntlets from Ocarina of Time and designed by Emily Hastings. Original Pattern can be found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/links-gauntlets.

I followed the pattern for most of the glove with the exception of the triforce design. I made the gloves with the triforce one hand as a tribute to the triforce being on Link’s left hand since he is left handed but changed the hand since Stephanie is right handed.

I am very happy with the way they turned out. At first I was worried the two colors of brown wouldn’t match well, but my fears were in vain. The two colors matched perfectly and added the depth and contrast for which I was hoping. I might make a pair for a few other friends as well myself in the future. I would change the color scheme a bit for mine, but that’s for a latter post.

Christmas Projects – Totoro Mittens and Moogle Doll

2011-12-18T01:59:00.001-08:00

Christmas is fast approaching and I still have a lot of presents to make. Nevertheless, I’ve completed a couple projects/presents over the last week and a half. The first is a moogle doll which I gave to Sam and will give to a few others once I make the rest. (No, I’m not going to spoil whom they are.) The moogle was surprisingly difficult yet easy to make as odd as that sounds. The pattern itself was simple, yet my lack of crocheting over the past couple years caught up to me as I had a difficult time readjusting again to crocheting. Other than that, it was a very fun pattern to make. (You can find more info on this pattern at Ravelry.com, search “moogle doll”.)

(Thank you Sam for the photo!)

The other project was a set of Totoro mittens for Katy. The colors were her design as she knew about the gift ahead of time. Overall, the mittens were very easy to knit even with the color changes. I really love the pattern and want to make myself a pair soon since they are so cute! (You can find more about this pattern on Ravelry.com, search “Totoro Mittens”.)

(I only have pictures of the single glove, but will post more pictures as soon as I get more.)

Past and Current Knitting Projects

2011-12-14T16:12:00.000-08:00

Over the course of the past few months I’ve been able to get quite a bit of knitting projects completed. I fully completed two sweaters for myself as well as almost two pairs of legwarmers and almost two scarves. In addition, I completed most of my mother’s sweater, almost a pair of legwarmers for my sister, and a few other miscellaneous Christmas presents. I’ve been a rather productive knitter despite my lack of blogging.

I apologize in advance for the choppiness of this post. I don’t really know where to start because of the long time gap and large amount of progress to update. This post is going to be more of a very summed up list of the progress I’ve made in the last four months.

The first sweater I finished was a spring cardigan based off of the Gooseberry Cardigan by Hannah Fettig from Interweave Knits, Weekend 2009. I’m rather happy with how the sweater turned out overall even though I wish the button band wasn’t quite as wide, an addition I made to the pattern. Nevertheless, it’s great sweater to keep out the chill in cute spring colors. I might make a second sweater in fall colors with a couple cute additions if and when I find the right yarn and amount of time to do so.

The second sweater I finished was a pink and black wide banded sweater with matching pink legwarmers. The sweater’s base pattern was the Deep Textured Tunic by Melissa Wehrle while the legwarmers were a quick pattern I drafted. I’m really happy with how these project turned out even though they needed a few fitting adjustments before completion.

The elegant grey scarf was a quick project made from Emily Kausalik’s “A Noble Cowl” pattern on Ravelry. I changed the pattern from a cowl to a scarf, but left the lace pattern intact. Overall, it was an easy project though the lace gave me trouble a couple times. I love the way it turned out though I wish I had used a larger needle size (a size 5 instead of 4) to get a fuller effect. If I ever make this pattern again, I definitely shall.

I also started a couple other projects that I have yet to finish due to the Christmas time crunch. First was a pair of grey legwarmers from Katya Gorbacheva’s grey legwarmers pattern on Ravelry. Originally, I put this project on hold due to lack of yarn, but I found another matching skein and will finish those after Christmas. Second was a purple cable scarf from Matilda – A Winter Cable Scarf by Arianna Halshaw on Ravelry. I love the pattern and can’t wait to wear the finished product.

On the Christmas present side of things, I’ve been able to get a lot done as well. My mom’s sweater is almost complete. It took almost a year and a half of work and a lot of frustration and frogging, but it’s finally over. Buttons just need to added and threads weaved in before being wrapped and put under the Christmas tree. I used the Braided Riding Jacket by Coralie Meslin from the Inverweave Knits issue Winter 2009 as the base pattern, but changed the sleeve stitch due to a lack of patience with the original one. The jacket sat in my I’ll-knit-it-later-if-I-ever-get-around-to-it pile for months due to my immense dislike of the original sleeve stitch. Nevertheless, I’m very happy with how the jacket turned out and can’t wait to see it finished.

Finally, I’m nearly finished with my sister’s legwarmers. I used the Abyss Legwarmers pattern by Kelly McClure for the base. I am very happy with this pattern and projects and might make myself a pair as well. The picture I have is old, but will do for now.

I have made some progress on a few more Christmas presents but will detail them in another post. Thank you so much for reading. Your support means a lot to me.

Adorable Knitting and Crocheting Finds

2011-12-10T17:45:00.000-08:00

As I’ve been searching for simple, quick to make presents for Christmas this year I’ve ran across a few adorable yet equally geeky patterns for both crochet and knitting.

The first is a pair of knitted Totoro mittens with a Norwegian colorwork design. Norwegian Totoro Mittens is the pattern name of Ravelry where you can find the pattern as a free download.

Second is a crocheted moogle doll or amigurumi. Moogle Doll is it’s pattern name and can be found on Ravelry and here.

Third is a pair of fingerless gloves based on Link’s gauntlets from Ocarina of Time and Super Smash Bro. Melee. You can find the pattern as a free download on Ravelry under Link's Gauntlets.

Fourth is a wide variety of crocheted plushies from Mario to Sonic to Pokemon by WolfDreamer off the Hook. Her designs can be found on Ravelry and her blog.

Finally, you can lots more patterns and ideas at Ravelry.com’s search. There’s literally something for everyone with patterns ranging from simple to advanced. It’s a great place to find Christmas gift ideas.

Farewell and happy knitting! ^_^

Favored Knitting Techniques

2011-12-03T09:25:00.001-08:00

As I’ve been knitting so much recently, I’ve discovered a few knitting techniques that I prefer above my previous knitting methods. Each help make knitting more enjoyable, smoother, and go much faster. Even though they are common techniques, I hope they will be helpful to you as well.

The first is circular knitting. Circular knitting is helpful because it eliminates back and/or side seams and generally makes the knitting go faster as well as have a smoother appearance. I’ve been using this technique for as many projects as I can depending on the type of needles I have handy.

Circular knitting is a technique commonly used to make socks, legging, sweaters, purses, and hats as well as any other item that needs to have a 3-dimensional, often, circular shape. It is accomplished by joining stitches in a round on either circular or double pointed knitting needles. If you don’t know how to use this technique, I highly suggest you learn it. Here is a really good tutorial on basic circular knitting. Circular Knitting Tutorial

The second technique is what I call two-at-a-time knitting. It’s somewhat hard to explain without pictures, but the basic premise is knitting two items of similar nature (like socks, leggings, sweater sleeves, cuffs, …) at the same time. It’s commonly used for socks though I’ve been using it for just about anything I can since I can’t stand unsymmetricalness in my knitting. Since there are many different methods to this technique, I won’t be going into detail about mechanics. There are quite a few helpful tutorials online. If you search “two at a time socks”, you’ll get the most and best results. From there it’s just implementing the technique into other projects. Here are a couple tutorials I’ve found helpful.

That’s all folks. I hope the techniques are able to help you in your knitting endeavors. Have a blessed day and happy knitting!

Christmas Knitting

2011-12-01T10:16:00.001-08:00

As the Christmas season approaches, my list of presents increases. It’s always a surprise to discover you have more people on your gift list than initially expected, especially when you are determined to make each of your gifts. How quickly a month can turn from a calm a serine prospect to a bumbling busy one! Nevertheless, this year promises to be a good one, and I’m rather excited to see how it closes.

I Return

2011-12-01T10:15:00.001-08:00

No, I am not dead. I apologize for the long wait and neglect of my blog. My computer’s been down since September due to a bad adaptor, and I never got around to updating manually because my schedule turned extremely busy and all my pictures and other blogging stuff were on my computer. Nevertheless, I’m back and plan to fill you in on all that’s happened so expect a flood of posts in the next week or two, especially since the semester is coming to a close.

Geeky Related Knitting and Crocheting

2011-09-06T17:31:00.001-07:00

Yes, I will admit it. I am somewhat of a … ok a major geek. I was sorting through Firefly (the series not the bug) patterns on Ravelry the other day and I ran across two amazing projects that simply must be done in the next few months. The first is a nigh perfect replica of the crocheted shrug River wears in “Jaynestown” and “Objects in Space” (reference below) and the second is a Serenity (the ship from the Firefly series) plushie.

I’ve been wanting to cosplay River when I first say the series back in high school before I even knew what cosplay was. She is such a complex character and her wardrobe is amazing. I really can’t wait to actually get to cosplay her. Hopefully, I can get a full group together as well. That would just make the event even more awesome.

The Serenity plushie is an added bonus I found. I would love to use it as a prop for River, especially since she pretended to be Serenity in “Objects in Space”. Both look to be relatively easy projects, though I might have to modify the shrug to fit perfectly. I’m hoping to get both projects done before the new year at the earliest and by my favorite con in August for sure. Hopefully, I’ll be able to start these projects soon and post progress pictures as I go.

You can find both patterns on Ravelry if you search “Firefly” in patterns.

Allergies and Knitting

2011-09-06T14:04:00.001-07:00

Fall has arrived. The weather is cooling, the leaves are subtly changing colors, and my nose is running for the hills, literally. My minor yet extremely annoying allergies are back again to haunt me for the next few weeks, if I am so lucky to escape the misery of three months of fall. Nevertheless, my hasty escape from nature to nigh indoor solitude offers plenty of pleasant opportunities to pick up my knitting and tackle my apparent stack of Christmas presents before the holiday draws too near.

I’ve been able to breeze through quite a bit of knitting over the past two weeks while nigh constantly blowing my nose or unsuccessfully stifling a sneeze. My Spring Cardigan, named only for the colors, is nigh complete. Since the last I wrote, I have been able to finish all, but the two button bands. The first is nearly halfway finished while the second has yet to be touched. I have yet to get and/or make the buttons, if I so desire and have time. My hope is to incorporate a bit of yellow into the buttons to live it up even more and add more of a spring feel.

In the meanwhile, I picked up the sweater of doom again, aka the sweater for mom that is almost a year late in the making also called the Braided Riding Jacket. I frogged the previous sleeves since the wrap pattern was too time consuming for my busy schedule and have started reworking them into a suitable seed stitch pattern. It’s been two days and already I have twice as much complete as the wrap stitch took me in two weeks. How I better love this design! The sleeves look superb so far and hopefully will continue so, especially since I have to modify somewhat the design and fit. I dearly hope this sweater will be complete by, if not before, Christmas. It has been sitting in my I'll-knit-it-later-if-I-ever-get-around-to-it pile for far too long.

Finally, it seems I have happily acquired a host of new knitting projects, most of which being Christmas presents for family and friends. My younger sister has insisted that I make a pair of thigh-high stockings for her Christmas present, after I showed her a favored pattern of mine. From the appearance of the pattern, the stockings should neither be too difficult nor time consuming, though I have been wrong before such as with the afore mentioned pattern. Time will tell if my prediction is correct once, that is, I get the materials, namely needles. As of late, I only have two, possibly three, other knitted presents to make. One friend has requested a sweater, a lovely choice on her part I might add while another has requested a hat, which should not be difficult to complete in the least, and the possible third has yet to choose an item. Sometimes it proves very difficult to pick the perfect knitted item, as all knitters know far too well.

To finish this post, there have been a few ladies at church and otherwise who have shown interest in my knitting and commission work, a few have even inquired a commission or two. As providence would have it, it seems that I may have a small knitting job the end of the month. It seems a lady from church would like to commission a baby outfit of some sort, I have yet to learn what the actual item might be, if her daughter is to have a baby girl. I’m rather excited at the moment as I dearly need the income and business opportunity. I also find it a great privilege to potentially be able to help a new family in that manner. It truly is exciting! The deal is still up in the air and many aspects have yet to be discussed, but come near the end of the month I may be one less job short of broke.

Baby Quilt Project Finished

2011-08-24T18:41:00.000-07:00

I finished it! the quilt was much easier to make and finish than I had previously expected. It only took my about 2 to 3 days to completely finish without appliqué. I didn’t end up adding any appliqué because it distracted from the simplicity and cuteness of the quilt.

Overall, I would say it was a ridiculously easy project to make and rather inexpensive. I think it cost me around $20 usd for materials and around $50-$80 usd in labor. I love the way it turned out and plan to make more of these quilts in the future to sell and use as baby shower gifts. I apologize in advance for the hastily taken photo. I was only able to borrow my friend’s camera for a moment before she had to jet out the door.

New Knitting Projects

2011-08-24T17:57:00.001-07:00

Knitting has been a hobby of mine for a few years now. I love how relaxing twisting and manipulating yarn can be and the beautiful creations it can produce with patience and perseverance. As you may have seen on my other blog, Costume Crazy, I have had the privilege of making nearly two and two one-half sweaters in the past five to seven months.

My first sweater was the Aquitaine Pullover from the Winter 2009 issue of Interweave Knits (my favorite knitting magazine ever). I finished the sweater in a whopping 18 days. It was super easy to knit and helped keep me focused in class for those 2.5 weeks. It turned out quite well and is a total joy to wear and show off. I love my sweater. It’s so comfy and warm yet cool enough to wear on warm days. ^_^

My second sweater wasn’t as successful as the first. I asked my mom to pick a sweater for me to make for her for Christmas. She chose the Braided Riding Jacket from the same Interweave Knits issue as above. The body of the sweater was easy enough to make, but the sleeves turned out to be a total killer. You would knit three stitches, move those stitches to a cable needle, wrap them three times, place them back onto the right needle, then knit three more stitch, and repeat the whole process over and over and over again. Let’s just say I abhor this sweater with every fiber of my being. I highly doubt this sweater will be finished anytime soon. It took my almost two weeks to finish 6 to 7 inches of the darn sleeve pattern. Ugh! Nevertheless, I plan to rework the sleeves and find a better, less irritating pattern to use that would fit the design of the sweater well.

Body for Braided Riding Jacket

My third sweater is still in progress. I started the Nora Sweater (renamed Japanese Lace Sweater by myself) from the same Interweave Knits issue about midway through last semester, but was unable to finish it due to homework overload. Currently, it’s about 3/4ths of the way done with only the front panels and neck edging to finish. I really can’t wait to finish it once I get a bit more yarn. Hopefully, I’ll have it done by this fall.

Older progress picture before I finished both sleeves.

The final sweater I’m working on at the moment is the Gooseberry Cardigan from Interweave Knits, Weekend 2009 (renamed Spring Cardigan for progress purposes). I love the cute, simple design of the sweater and am working toward adding a two-tone effect to it. I can’t wait to see how it turns out. So far it’s about 5-10% complete.

Yarn for Project with Minor Progress

Thus concludes my progress so far. I’ll update when I have more which hopefully will be soon with classes starting and all. But that also means posts will be more sporadic since homework can get in the way of regular posting. Nevertheless, I’ll keep you guys updated with progress and pictures when possible. Signing off. Thank you for reading.

Quilting Among Other Things

2011-07-28T13:50:00.001-07:00

Recently I have started quilting for 4-H. I decided to take on a patchwork quilting project this year. Much to my surprise, I am actually enjoying it. I was worried at first that I wouldn’t take to quilting and would end up hating it, but the contrary is proving true. Patchwork quilting is much easier and more fun than I had expected. Granted, I am still new to the world of quilting and am only making a large squared (7”x7” square) appliquéd quilt. It is an easy project and not nearly as complicated as some of the more advanced patchworks quilts in existence. Nevertheless, it is a good start and introduction to the world of geometry and fun colored cotton fabrics.

For my project, I chose to do an appliquéd baby quilt. It will only be about 40”-42” long and about 28” wide. The squares are 7”x7” and the appliqués are small to medium sized animals, hearts, and stars that will be attached via machine. I chose cute yet different patterned cotton fabric in blue, green, pink, and yellow for the base/main fabrics and added various animal and flower colored fabrics for the appliqué. The stars were a later addition so they don’t have a fabric all to their own. Finally the backing a cute, yet colorful fleece that helps accentuate the afore mentioned colors while adding a fun yet unexpected twist to the back of the quilt.

Luckily, I do have pictures of the fabric to share. I lost my camera a while back and haven’t been able to find it or a replacement so progress pictures are rare and scattered at the moment. Nevertheless, I was able to borrow my mom’s camera a couple days ago and took as many progress pictures as I could fit onto the sd card at the time. So I now have a few pictures to illustrate the afore mentioned quilt in progress.

The first picture is a collage of the fabrics for the quilt. All except for the purple fabric which you can ignore since I decided to use a different fabric for the backing. The second and fourth pictures are of the fabric for the appliqués while the third fabric is the base/main fabric. I apologize for the dimness of the photos. It was getting dark by the time I took them, and I only had a limited time in which to photograph my progress.

Much has changed since the above fabrics, in relation to the quilt and its sister project, a quilted and hand appliquéd bag for my appliqué project. I have cut out all the squares for the quilt and bag and sewn them into strips of four which will be attached to each other once the appliqué is done. Since only one side of the bag has appliqué, I’ve been able to sew that half of the bag together and am working toward finishing the other. I have yet to cut out or attach any appliqué as I have only recently finished sewing the squares and panels together for the quilt and bag.

Nevertheless, I am very pleased with my work so far. The colors match well and the pattern is turning out better than expected. I don’t foresee the machine or hand appliqué as too difficult, especially since the appliqué fabrics are all fray resistant. So far the projects have moved much faster and easier than expected. I hope they stay that way as I have less than 20 days to finish all my projects for 4-H and the open division at the local fair. Yikes! I dearly hope these quilted and appliquéd move much faster than expected. Much thanks to Make-Your-Own-Baby-Stuff.com for their simple baby quilt tutorial and adorable appliqué patterns. Both have been a great help to me and my project. if you haven’t checked out the site I recommend you do. Linky It’s a great site with lots of helpful patterns and tutorials and some really cute designs.

Thank you very much for reading this blog. If you enjoy it please say so with a comment and/or a watch/subscribe. Thank you very much for your time and contribution to my blog. Have a wonderful day and an even better week. ^_^

Hello and Welcome

2011-07-28T13:47:00.001-07:00

I’ve been doing more craft related projects lately so I’ve decided to start a crafting blog, namely this one. It will be a place where I discuss my progress and updates for any sewing and or crafting I do that is not cosplay/costuming related. It will very similar to my other blog, Costume Crazy, in style and set up though I will be discussing such things as quilting, knitting, practical sewing (such as sewing for the home and everyday wear), and other related type interests. I figure it would be much easy to separate the two subjects than to lump them into one blog and thus possibly confuse the readers.

If you are at all interested in crafting related projects and updates, then please subscribe this new blog. The same applies to my previous blog, though instead of crafting interests it is cosplaying/costuming. I will update this blog as regularly as possible and will do my best to update both as often as possible with progress, news and hopefully pictures as time and funds permit. Please subscribe to both blogs, if you are so inclined, and comment if you wish. It would be a pleasure to hear from my readers, so long as you are cordial and polite. Please continue to read this blog as well as the other one. It is a pleasure to keep Craftiness Craziness and Costume Crazy going. I hope both are a pleasure to read as well. Have a good day and an even better week. ^_^