Pressed Leaves

Until this year I never knew that I hadn't experienced a real fall season. In Wyoming the leaves go from green to brown, then get blown off of the trees. That all happens in the span of about a week. It's pretty much the same in Colorado and Montana.

Well I've got to say our first fall in the Pacific Northwest was amazing! The leaves turned so many different colors: red, pink, orange, rust, bright yellow and chocolate brown. We took several walks around the neighborhood to look at all of the color. To our amazement the leaves stayed on most of the trees for atleast a month, and some even still have their leaves. There are so many trees here the ground was just carpeted with color when they started to fall off.

On one of our walks we picked up some different leaves and pressed them in the phone book. Finally got around to taking them out last week to see how they turned out. They kept a fair amount of their color, so we put them in floating frames so that light could get through.

Christmas time

I've been doing a lot of work trying to get Christmas presents done, and of course working on some other projects. Right now I'm working on a throw pillow, for some reason I'm obsessed with the idea of having a couch full of pillows. I've also made a few coffee cup sleeves that I will get posted soon, I just have to go get a coffee, so I can get a picture of them.

In the mean time I'll share some of my Christmas decorations. I don't really decorate the whole house for Christmas, but we will actually be here this year so I wanted to do something. We still have our tiny apartment sized tree, which I will be replacing before next year I hope. But this year we do have a fireplace and mantel, so that was exciting for me.

I'd seen glass ware filled with ornaments on Pinterest and loved the way they looked. I almost want to leave them out year round. My mom made the chain of bells for me a couple of years ago. I usually put them on the tree, but the mantel was looking kind of bare and they're so cute and colorful I decided to use them as a garland on the mantel. Also before next year I hope to knit some stockings for us, the store bought ones just aren't doing it for me.

This is my favorite ornament. My sister gave it to us for Christmas 2009, which is the year Josh & I got married. I wore white Chucks for our wedding, so this ornament was just too perfect!

Husband Beanie

Well I've gotten my second (for the public) pattern up on ravelry. I've decided to call it Husband Beanie, since it's more universal sounding. Plus when I was looking for a pattern for Josh's hat I totally would have looked at a pattern with that name. Josh picked out the yarn, go figure it's grey. It's Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash Wool.

The sun was in his eyes, and apparently made him a little
cranky. I got one picture where he looks super p.o.'d
and he's looking directly at the camera, but I've been
forbidden to post it. (It's hilarious though!)

It was a gorgeous day here yesterday (and it is again today, yay!). We went for a little drive to this scenic outlook, and then went up to Nooksack Falls on Mt. Baker. You can see Mt. Baker in the photo, it's the snowiest peak on the far left.

Kind of hard to believe it's December.
I love the weather up here!

Nooksack Falls

Been trying to come up with a new idea for a pattern, but I think that well is dry for the time being. Guess I'll have to finish some of the projects in my bin...

PICC line covers

When I was in the hospital a few years ago I had to have a PICC line put in. Now it definitely wasn't the most pleasant experience in the world, but it sure did beat getting poked repeatedly in the same spot. To cover the tubing coming out of my arm, they gave me a flimsy gauze sleeve which functionally did the job, but did nothing to hide it. Now that's all well and good in the hospital, but I still had my PICC line when I went back to work, and people commented on it constantly. Anyone that's been in a similar situation knows how annoying that is. Well today on ravelry I found this great pattern for a PICC line cover. Just a simple knitted tube, but holy cow would that have been nice to have! This is a great way to use that leftover yarn, I'm definitely going to start making these. They would also be cute with stripes or cables to make them a little fancier.

Here is a website with some more information about these http://findingjennproject.blogspot.com/2009/02/original-picc-cover.html

It does look like the website is a couple years old with no recent updates, so if you're planning on doing these you might want to check with a hospital about donations. For CF specifically you can visit http://www.cff.org/ to find a CF center near you.

Whew

Been juggling projects these last few weeks, but I've gotten quite a bit done. I finished my Hermione Hearts Ron hat. Turned out really cute I think. I really liked the yarn I used (even though I may be slightly allergic to Alpaca).

Used Cascade Yarns Alpaca Lana D'Oro

Really like the way this hat finished off!

I also got Josh's new beanie done, which I'm working on writing up the pattern for. Thought this one turned out pretty well too. Hopefully he'll wear this one! Should hopefully be getting this pattern up on Ravelry here in the next week or so, after some careful double checking of the pattern...

This one is Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash

In between hats I started a scarf just as an easy project while watching tv at night. This will also be for Josh. Got the pattern from Ravelry, it's called a waffle scarf.

Patons Classic Wool

Wow my last few projects are lacking color! Will have to something bright for my next project. Also I found out that my Alaina Beanie pattern had a few errors, so I got those changed. Guess that's about all, I have a bit of a headache so I'm not feeling to chatty today.

Beanie Pattern!

Well I finally got it done! My first ever (for the public) beanie pattern. The PDF is available on ravelry.

The Alaina Beanie
(StitchNation Bamboo Ewe in Eucalyptus)

I gave the prototype to my sister, so I decided to name the pattern after her. I never cared much for patterns with people's names, but it's so much simpler than diamond moss stitch cables beanie which is what I was originally going to name this. My friend Kelli is testing the pattern for me, but I was so excited I had to go ahead and publish without waiting (hopefully I won't regret that!). There are many chances for errors, between the knitting and rewriting and such.

Now I'm already working on my second pattern that is a hat for my husband so it will be called the Josh Beanie (I've just decided to start naming them after whomever gets the prototype).



This is me. (I'm really un-photogenic and really don't like having
my picture taken)



Pattern Making

Well I'm getting ready to start work on another moss stitch diamond cables beanie. This one should be the final one to work out all of the kinks in the pattern so I can get that posted finally. Fingers crossed...

Until then here's another nifty stitch that I've been using to make a lovely dark grey scarf. It's called Lacy Ladder and it's another one from Craft Cookie.

Update 11.8.11

I should have known I would get distracted! I signed up for a ravelry account yesterday (why have I not known about this place?!), and found a beanie that I must simply bump to the head of the line. It's Hermione Hearts Ron, and it's super super cute. Casting on here I come!

New Camera

I got a new camera this weekend and I'm so excited! I got a Nikon D3100 to replace my old (10yrs) Nikon D100. My old one just wasn't shooting as well anymore and I had to do way too much Photoshop and the pics still weren't looking good. Took the new one out yesterday and did some shooting. Loving the way they turned out. The colors from this new camera are amazing! Almost makes me want to re-shoot my whole etsy store...

Another Scarf

I've been working on knitting another scarf. This one is done with a stitch pattern called Wheat in the Wind from Craftcookie. I like the way it's turning out so far and it seems to work up pretty quickly which is always a bonus.

I'm using Lion Brand Wool-Ease for this project.

I'm kind of starting to get the sewing bug again, but I also have a few more knitting projects that I'm working on. I am going to try and work on those first, but no promises.

Husband Beanie

Since I first started crocheting and knitting I've wanted to make the perfect beanie for my husband. See he has this store bought beanie that he's been wearing for years, he loves it.

This is it.



Now I've always wanted to make him one that he loves just as much...okay, more. Well to say the least my abilities have been pretty limited up until recently.

I've searched the internet for a pattern similar to this one to no avail. Finally I found a pattern for a hat that taught me how to do the diamond cables, which was a good start. So I got out the circular needles and after some trial and error ended up with this.

Do I think this will take the place of the store bought one? No. But it does have a better chance of actually getting worn than some of my previous atempts. I'm working on another one that has larger diamonds and the moss stitch texture inside of them, but that one won't be for him:) Will post pics and hopefully a pattern when I'm done. I made this using Stitch N Bitch's Bamboo Ewe.

Here is a photo of the beanie I made that taught me how to do the diamond cables.

It turned out a little too long for me, but it's cute and was great experience. Here is the link to the pattern for it.

http://www.stitchnationyarn.com/Patterns/snowtracks-cap.html

This one was made with Lion Brand Yarn's Fisherman's Wool.

Just for fun here are a few of the beanies I've made for my husband over the years...

      











Knitted Scarf

These aren't the size needles I used, but the bamboo

 photographs better than the aluminum ones:)

I started working on this scarf when we first moved up here and were living in the hotel, well I finally got it done a few weeks ago. I tend to start a project, then move on to other things, then pick it up again later.

I loved this color, it's Mermaid in Stitch N Bitch's Bamboo Ewe. This is a super soft yarn to work with too, I only wish they had more color choices. It hasn't gotten cold enough out to actually get to wear yet, but it seems like I won't have to wait too long.

This is also my first knitting project in a lacy type knit, this pattern is actually supposed to be leaves (which you can see if you look at it long enough). It's about 6 feet long and about 8 inches wide.

See the leaves?

Pleated Pouch

Still trying to get the motivation to work on a tutorial for my bag. Haven't been feeling so hot the last week or so. Not sure if it's just the change in weather or not. I've even been using my 'jiggly vest' like a good girl (and I hate using that thing!). Well anyways my point is that I haven't really worked on anything new, but here is one that I worked on when I was on my huge sewing kick a few weeks back...

I'd seen a cute little pouch on etsy years ago and always wanted to try and make one so when I had some extra linen fabric on hand I decided it was time to give it a whirl. Of course I just went for it without a pattern or a real plan of what I was doing. I thought it turned out really cute and have already used it as a clutch purse when I didn't want to take my bag (but I am probably biased).

I guess these don't really show the scale at all but it is 10"x5.5", big enough to fit my wallet. Not a coincidence:). Maybe one of these days I'll find someone to model some of these things for me. Just a note for all of you eagle eyes out there...yes my last few projects have been brown and yellow(gold)...I can't help it, I'm still a Wyoming girl at heart.

New Bag

So I've been working on a few projects at the same time (as I tend to do), so I'll be posting those up here soon. First I want to show you the bag that I just finished.

I've been needing a new purse for awhile and since I liked the way the wallets turned out I decided I'd make my own. Well I took a trip to the fabric store and bought this dark mustard colored linen. In my mind I could see a cool slouchy bag and I was super pumped about it. I was even going to line it with the white leafy fabric from one of the wallets. Well lets just say that the bag did not turn out even remotely close to what it looked like in my head (and it's pretty ugly, but it was experience I guess). But on the plus side I now have a bag for knitting projects.

So I still needed to make a purse. I went back to the fabric store and looked around at all different fabrics. I wandered for what seemed like forever and I was beginning to feel like it was a lost cause, then I saw it...the perfect fabric. Exactly what I needed to make my bag. All my feelings of despair left me and I was ready to try again!

I decided to try a different style of bag, but my main thing was that I wanted an adjustable strap so it could be a shoulder bag or go across my body. I looked online for awhile and found a style that I liked...pleated body with a yoke across the top, and I went for it. Grabbed a pencil and paper and started making a pattern. Here's what I ended up with...

I wish the color didn't change so much (it's really a darker mustard color).

I raided an old bag for the hardware.

I think it turned out quite nicely, I'm very happy with it! It's a little bigger than some people may like, but I love big bags. Just might do a tutorial with my pattern.

More Wallets

Okay so I've completed two more wallets, one for my sister and then one to keep. If you missed yesterday's post, I found a great tutorial on how to make this wallet: http://elily00.wordpress.com/tutorials/wallet/
The instructions are really easy to follow, I highly recommend it if you're looking for a sewing project!

I'm feeling more confident with my new sewing machine, although my sewing skills still leave a little to be desired.
But I think I've had my fill of wallet making (for now) and it's time to move on to a new project, when I find what I'm going to do next I'll let you know. For now here are the two wallets I've gotten done in the last two days.

My mom gave me this fabric a couple of years ago,

I've been saving it for the perfect project.

At first I wasn't sure about using such a plain color

on the inside, but I think it was the right choice.

Bought this fabric yesterday with my sister's wallet

in mind, luckily when I sent her some fabric photos

she picked this one.

I love the 70's colors inside here, I really thought

about keeping this one for myself...

Holy Moly!

Okay so it has been forever since I've posted anything on here. It's a lot of work to put up new tutorials weekly like I first envisioned! Well I guess it's time to start fresh with a few changes...

We've gotten all settled into our new city, and since I'm still without a job it's a great time for me to craft. Have gotten a lot of work done for my etsy site and just started to try and sew some stuff for the heck of it. My mom gave me one of her old sewing machines so I spent all day yesterday figuring out how to use it. I made a wonky little bag which I am determined to use one way or another. Then after that I got started on a wallet as a present for my mom.
I found this great tutorial:
http://elily00.wordpress.com/tutorials/wallet/
I worked like a dog and got a super cute (I think anyways) wallet done over the course of a day. It probably wouldn't take near as long if I were any good with a sewing machine. But here is what I ended up with.

I love this fabric!

I added a loop in the center to hold a pen (that's the only change I made from the pattern).

I made a trip to Joann Fabric today and found some great fabric to start on another wallet, I have yet to decide if it will be for my sister or for me to keep.