Stitch by Stitch Images - Issue 7

It's the waist that bothers me. The argyle top is kind of nice, but the gathered knitted waist? Not a good spot to add bulk.

Seed Stitch Scarf

It was my brother-in-laws birthday recently and as I'd noticed him wearing scarves around it gave me an excuse to knit one. I did start crocheting one, but I was using pretty chunky yarn and it ended up a bit solid. So I decided to knit my first scarf. I did it in seed stitch and because the yarn was so chunky it went pretty quickly. I also think it's my first knitting project without mistakes. Yay! And I used some stash yarn. Double yay!




It's very thick, warm, soft and squishy.

And the winner is...

Drumroll

...Miri, with her suggestion of Lois McMaster Bujold. I've read one of her books ages ago which was pretty good, so I'll keep an eye out for some more.

If you can email or message me on Rav with your address I'll get your prize sent out later!

Placemats

My younger sister has bought a house and is moving in soon, so for a housewarming gift I made these placemats for them (they are going with a lot of browns and creams in the stuff they've bought). They took me all day because I kept getting distracted. Having your lap top on the same table as the sewing machine is a bad idea.

There are eight, and they are pretty much all the same, although one decided to miss out on the photo.

In other news, just two more days to offer reading suggestions in the bloggy competition.

We have a prize (winner to be announced later)

So here's the lovely prize for the reading suggestions competition. Feel free to offer your favourite books from any genre really. I'm always up for broadening my reading horizons.

I thought a vaguely book themed prize would be good, so we've got a woven bookmark, and a mini needle book, handy for a mini sewing kit?(tute from Girl on the Rocks)

I've also been tagged for a meme by librarylass
Here are the rules:
1. Link back to the person who tagged you (see above)
2. Mention the rules on your blog (you're reading them now)
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
a) I don't like pasta. It's yukky.
b) I have a terrible sense of smell. This may explain a) a little.
c) I am a chocolate fiend
d) I am a bit allergic to cats. Occasionally owners will jokingly say "I hope you're not allergic to cats" if I start sneezing in the consult room. I generally claim hay fever.
e) I'm not really a fan of lunch. I'm often not hungry and I don't really like stuff that has been sitting in my bag all day. Although I could probably eat three breakfasts a day.
f) I find doing these things a challenge. I'm guessing it's taken me about 40 minutes to do this (although I have been wasting time on the internet doing other things).
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking to them.
I'm going to skip this one. I've spent too much time on this already.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged bloggers blogs letting them know they've been tagged
See above.

Reading material request

If I ask for help I should offer a prize, hey?

I read quite a lot but at the moment when I go into a bookshop or library or op shop I've been a bit 'meh' with the book selections. I'm not sure if it's just that there are too many books and I'm paralysed by choice but I need some help with book selections.

I tend to like fantasy but will definitely branch out and many of my favourite books are in other genres. Lately I've been loaned a lot of Tamora Pierce/Brian Jacques books so I'm a little over young adult/teen fiction. That said I'm planning to read Twilight, but I'm saving it for when I go to New Zealand - figured I needed to plan ahead for something to read on the plane.

If you want to see other books I've read over the last few years you can look at my Goodreads page and feel free to add me as a friend, just send me a bit of a message telling me why you're adding me.

Anyway, offer some suggestions and then I'll use a random number generator to organise a prize for someone. The draw will be Monday the 25th of August and I'll try and work out a prize before then.

Anyway, unrelated pictures (sorry about the terrible quality, they were both a bit rushed)! It's a couple more beanies I've made on request! Yay!

Finished Socks (Oh yeah!)

Finally finished my socks. Only realised into the foot of the second one that I've been twisting my knit stitches. Oops. But I learned something from it!

Reversible Tote Bag

I made this bag as a project bag for my partner in the Australian Knitter swap on Ravelry. In it I put a little zippered pouch with some knit-knacks including sewing needles to weave in ends, stitch markers, a tape measure, scissors, hand cream, chocolate etc. All stuff that I figured that even if she had, she could do with extras.


The pattern was from here on craftster.

That's it for the swap goodies I sent out. There was a couple of months of swap time so I kept getting ideas for other things to put in there.

Water Bottle Cozy

Here's something else I made for the Australian Knitters swap on Ravelry. The bag itself is crocheted and the handle is woven on my Eolia loom.


I didn't use a pattern, just crocheted a base large enough in single crochet and then used a pattern from a stitch dictionary for the bag. I can't remember what I used now.

Crayon Rolls

I made these crayon rolls for the two sons (twins) of my swap partner for the Australian Knitters swap on Ravelry


Apart from dodgy pocket measurements (which was my fault, trying to alter the pattern without thinking through it enough) it was easy and worked out well. I got the pattern from Skip to My Lou.

Stitch by Stitch Images - Issue 6

It took me a little while to work out exactly what bothered me the most in this one. The fit is alright and the colours while eye watering aren't that terrible. In the end I worked out that it was the co-ordination of the two. I'm sure that kid didn't volunteer.

Woven Tote Bag

This is another project for the Australian Knitters swap on ravelry, made for the daughter of my swap partner.

In progress

Finished!

It's tabby woven on my Eolia Rigid Heddle Loom using worsted acrylic yarn, ladder yarn and some ribbon, and then lined.

Look what the postman bought me!

It's my ravelry swap goodies from JulieB. Yay!




The fingerless mitts are gorgeous. They are soft and warm, and worn every moment possible. The chocolate is gone, the tea is yummo and the owl on the card is a cute little badge. I got so spoiled, lucky me!

Swap Shawl(s)

It feels like I've been waiting to post these photos forever. I took part in an Australian Knitters swap on ravelry and my partner has received. Yay!

This is my main project for the Australian Knitters group swap on Ravelry. I made my partner a shawl in some lace weight merino I had (held double), and it is nice and soft, and hopefully warm enough to take the chill off in Darwin without being too hot and thick. I also made a teeny one for a Wednesday Adams doll she received in the last swap from someone else.



The pattern is Eva's Shawl which worked up quite quickly and gave a nice lacy shawl that provides a bit of warmth.

Stitch by Stitch Images - Issue 5

With a couple of potential candidates from this issue I ended up choosing this one because of the title "Fuzzy and Flattering". Well they had the first part right...

WIP Wednesday: socks

Yes, I'm making socks, and I'm pretty proud of myself too! The finished one is fairly dodgy and has some real laddering issues, particularly at the top. The second one is looking ok so far but I'm definitely going to have to do a better job of grafting the toe at the end.

Stitch by Stitch Images - Issue 4

I do enjoy doing swaps, but one of the problems is making (hopefully lovely) things and then having to delay posting them until they've been received. So in the meantime (after another lazy break from me) I'll try and post some more Stitch by Stitch images.

We have a knitting picture today, really just on here because it's so unflattering, both in shape and colour. Possibly aiming to offend no one, it also pleases no one.

Reversible Bag

This bag was initially made for the Australian Knitters swap on Ravelry, but I ended up deciding there were some areas (mainly the straps which were a (insert favourite Gordon Ramsey phrase here) to sew on) that weren't good enough to give away in a swap so that means I get to keep it. Muhahahaha! I ended up making a simpler bag for the swap (simpler, but better made), which shall be seen later, once it's been received.


I used this tutorial on craftster, which was very clear, it was mainly technical issues with fitting a reasonable amount of fabric into a small space around my sewing machine that was the problem.

Weave It Menu Holder

First of all, I'll just apologise for the fact that this isn't a great photo. This was one of those gifts that was being finished as I was getting ready to leave (but then the photos was taken when I made the new owner give it back briefly!). It's a take away menu holder that I made for a house warming gift with 8 4" Weave-It squares sewn together and with a loom flower on the top. My half sister had admired our take away pouch and I'd just got my Weave-It's so it was a great opportunity to use it.

Flapless Flappy Beanie

My sister's boyfriend asked me to make him a beanie for his birthday which was cool, and I've now been asked to make one for his brother as well...but that one will wait for the moment because I've got a few WIPs on the go.

The outside

The inside (slightly reversible!)

Ooooh, texture.

I used the pattern Flappy from Crochet Me but ended up using the Boy Beanie pattern for the top from The Happy Hooker because I was using much thicker wool which wasn't behaving with the start of the pattern. I also excluded the ear flaps.