For all those not on my ravelry, all the crafty goodness that has gone on since 2008 and my last series of posts!
Towards the end of 2009/Beginning of 2010 I was really into felt for a tiny brief while. I really want to get back into it though. It's just such fun! I'm sure it's kind of worthless pointless though. But I made a few things, mostly keychain charms.
I also made a figurine for bill. It didn't turn out nearly as well body shaping/clothes wise as the kitsune. But my sewing skills are rudimentary at best. I really would like to make more of these, and had intended to. (Sigh, honestly? so many projects fall by the wayside. I really need to be better about that.)
Around the same time I made a shadow illusion scarf for S (2009 Xmas). First time I had used wool yarn (cascade 220).
Sometime in 2010 J married T. In the end T and I became good friends and I made several things for her (most of which I did not take pictures of as they were identical to ones I had made for myself). But I did make her two pairs of gloves, same pattern as my lilac ones but very different color yarn.
Another craze I went for was the pompom yarn at the end of 2010. It came out and everyone went nuts for it. So lots of scarves were to be had. I made one for myself, then friends, and then sold several. I didnt sell all that I made and I'm not sure it was really worth it, but I earned enough to cover all the yarn I had bought + some other yarn I wanted.
And out of laziness I wanted more scarves. I made my brother another one of the Harry Potter Scarves of doom, and then a scarf of a different pattern one for myself, mom, and dad for christmas.
This is Dad's
And Mom's
Last but not least, there was yet another scarf for christmas. This one was for a friend who adores foxes.
We had a very cold year in NC, and I was feeling comfortable enough with small projects with expensive yarn. I wound up making an awesome cowl for myself in grey misty alpaca chunky, and then a green one to give as a gift. Unfortunately I still need to give it to the person it's meant for, and I don't have a photo of the grey one for me! I finished the first grey one while on the plane to an interview in Wisconsin (I ended up staying at my current job).
Another sign of a cold year and my growing love for patterns on Knitty - a Caliometry. Made in Manos del Uruguay yarn. I didn't like the yarn but have enough for a second headband. I might make another one a bit smaller. Not sure yet.
Late in 2010 I joined a Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet Cup group on Ravelry. Basically it was a way of making working competitive, and encourage me to try new techniques. Some of the projects I did for them really did expand my skill set (just about everything in this post knitting/crochet was posted in that group). Others, were just there to fufill requirements of staying in the group. It's been more good things than annoying in the end. It did inspire me to finally finish the armwarmers I had been designing with M and finish them!
I also started going to local crochet and knitting meetups. Met some cool people and started some cool projects as a result. This is one of the knitting meetup's charity projects - preemie caps for halloween.
And another charity project the crochet group did - a baby blanket. I actually made this blanket twice, I made one later for a friend who was having a little girl. The corners came out better the second time but this is a picture of the first.
This project was just a foray into felting. It's a purse organizer although I don't use it much. I think I need to redesign it somewhat to be a bit less floppy (some kind of base. I'll work on it someday maybe)
Some random crochet - slippers that I sent to a friend.
One of the projects that really I learned something on. Stranded Knitting. It's not quite Fair Isle, and there's a lot of wrapping of stitches. I then felted the thing and added ribbon to make a coffee corset. There was someone else's design at the core of this but I hacked it to bits by the end of it all. I found a rose design in cross-stitch I liked, and then edited to suit my needs, then took the base coffee cozy pattern and edited that to suit my needs. In the end it came out too big for paper coffee cups- but works well for larger sized items.
Another technique learned- Tunisian Crochet. The crochet group had someone teach us the basic stitches, the following is a dishcloth in Tunisian Simple Stitch. I find tunisian confusing, but the giant super mario blanket project on ravelry makes me want to learn to do color changes and make something for a tapestry. I'm crazy. Clearly.
Here's a charity project I did - a cap for chemo patients. This is me in the photo and I actually like this photo of myself. I've gained some weight back since then, which really upsets me.
Felting Experiment - Used up some very old yarn I had for a needle holder, turns out it felts super thick! I kind of wish it was still made so I could make some felt bowls or something with it. I'll have to find another yarn that felts as well (and the answer isn't Cascade 220)
Just a filler project - a peace washcloth I didn't much like.
And some amigurumi truffle magnets. I would like these better but they're a. too big for really good magnets and b. the magnets i bought to glue on the back are not nearly strong enough. Grr. So much for buying those from michael's. Lesson learned. I think I may throw these out honestly.
Amigurumi - I discovered a whole new world of crochet when I found these. This one was my second, back from 2009 I think.
I saw a few online that I liked, that looked easy enough that I would rather make them myself than pay for someone else to. Turns out it wasn't that hard to figure out a basic design. My results of the rabbit I wanted to do are below (He's a Chinese new year rabbit). I plan to retry the pattern a second time with a couple alterations and then potentially publish it on Ravelry.
And another character Amigurumi - a Mario Mushroom.
Some more goodness from Ravelry patterns. I used redheart from my stash for this, and the purse wore out relatively quickly in the end (well it held up but looked bad.) So i tossed it when I was done. I want to remake the thing in Knit Picks Wool. (I love knitpicks. So affordable!!!)
Tried my hand at dying once and these are the results (You see the yarn again in the next project). I'd like to get more into this but I need a swift and keep waffling on spending that kind of money.
Lastly I got into Thread/Lace Crochet. I worked on two projects one in fingering weight one in thread weight. The first is a fancy bookmark, there's a ton of rainbow yarn left I don't know what to do with. The Second is The Anti-Craft's Asphyxiation choker, adorned with a pendant I found from Blue Moon Beads. The last is a pair of earrings I made with embroidery thread.
