Hello hello!

(Not the Adele song.) So...I was gone from the blog for a while. Obviously. But I've still been making things! Albeit a bit more slowly...

First up, a matching cowl and ear warmers:

 (This is really just a sneaky excuse to show you my Iceland pictures, hehe. This one's at Kerid Crater Lake.)

This cowl was originally supposed to be a shrug along these lines, but...that didn't work out so well. It was so ill-fitting that I don't have any pictures. (I'm still confused about how a seamed-up rectangle could fit so poorly, but...) I un-seamed it and re-seamed into this big, cozy blanket cowl. The thing is huge, but it certainly kept me warm in the cold and wind!

(At Gullfoss, Europe's most powerful waterfall. I stood there and stared for quite a while, feeling it rumble under my feet.)

I'm glad I made the earwarmers, but I wish I'd made them a bit wider. They had a tendency to fall down and/or not quite cover everything they should have. 

I also started making a matching hat before I left. I didn't get it finished before leaving, but faithfully packed it in my suitcase, thinking I'd have some time to finish it on the plane, or at the airport, or at night during the trip. I seriously overestimated my energy level (hiking + driving every day was incredibly exhausting). 

This cable-tastic hat was actually pretty easy...I think I finished it a week or two after Iceland, once my jet lag subsided. (I was mostly just tired of seeing it sit on my coffee table...)

When oh when will I learn that last-minute vacation projects never work out all that well? Have you fallen victim to the vacation trap? How did yours turn out?

I'm never very good at being seasonally appropriate

I try and I try, but when the mood strikes and I want something, I want it now. 

A little background story (haven't you come to expect and even love these?) On my last business trip, I made it a point to go to Village Wool, a cute little knitting shop with some fantastic sales. While I was there, I picked up a book containing a pattern for a Square Back Wrap, and 2 skeins of gorgeous merino/silk 50/50 blend (for 1/2 off!). Well...me and that little wrap didn't get along very well, unfortunately. I've never done any lace work, and so I took the yarn and the pattern to a monthly knitting group I recently joined. They tried valiantly to help, but most of us were out of our depth. After a few false starts, I decided to just give up on that pattern altogether. (I've been trying to find a similar wrap/shawl pattern that doesn't look frumpy, but no luck yet.)

 [Too hard!]

Needing something a bit simpler, I decided to give Andi Satterlund's free cropped sweater pattern a try. I've heard great things about her patterns, and this pattern, though free, is no exception. I love the cabling on her Chuck pattern, but I actually like the shape of the cropped sweater better.

[Sorry, it's hard to photograph black.]

However, because I like to make things difficult on myself, I decided to add some cool cabling to the front. After knitting and frogging too many rows of a different cable pattern several times, I switched to a latticed diamond cable with some cool borders on the sides. That one knit up much more easily.

All in all, this took about a month to complete, and only 2 of the 5 skeins I purchased. Just in time for 80 degree weather, of course, but at least I'll have it handy for chillier nights, and for next fall! What should I do with the rest? 

In other news, Me-Made May is going well! I haven't taken any outfit pics, but I have worn me-made every day (except the first day because I forgot it was a new month). It's also motivated me to sew sew sew. I've now finished a floral maxi dress, another floral dress, and am almost done with a stretchy floral knit skirt. (Is anyone surprised by all of the florals at this point?) Pics to come soon! How's your (me-made) May progressing?

The knitting saga that was (and wasn't)

Pro v. anti Black Friday shoppers have always been very vocal, and I have always fallen very firmly in the "pro" camp. I try to resolve to buy less every year, but this year I really failed on that point, oops. I ended up buying a lot of things that I'm very excited about and will certainly use (unlike in previous years - oops again), but one of my favorites was the huge pile of yarn I picked up at Michael's. At less than $2 a skein, I couldn't control myself and ended up with...13 of them? 

I've been wanting a big comfy white sweater for a while so that I could create a look kind of like this: 

[Gotta love Pinterest outfit inspiration, am I right?]

Well, the yarn I bought ended up being way too bulky to create anything like those beautiful cables, but I scoured Ravelry trying to find something that would give me a somewhat similar look. (P.S. It is HARD to find something super cute that uses a reasonable amount of bulky yarn, FYI. I did find a million other patterns I hope to try, though!).

I bookmarked a bunch of patterns but was finally won over to the Hellebore seed stitch jacket by Drops Design thanks to Mille Frederiksen's beautiful long-sleeved version:

I spent a few days toiling away at this, trying to lengthen the sleeves in the process, and by the time I'd almost finished one front side, I realized that:
A) I'd already gone through 3 skeins for only 1/4 of this jacket,
B) The sleeves still weren't long enough, and
C) I just didn't love it anymore.

I put it aside for a few days trying to figure out what to do with it so I could avoid wasting all of that work, but I ended up deciding to frog it and put the longed-for white to better use. Top 2 contenders: the Fezziwig and the Josephine:

All of this is a long-winded way of saying that, following such a disaster/disappointment, I wanted something cute and cozy and above all, easy. I turned to the Muse, one of the patterns I bookmarked during my original look-through. It wasn't the long-sleeved white beauty I'd had my hopes set on, but it was crying out to be made up in the bright blue I bought! 

I whipped up a huge portion of this during a Sunday funday of crafting, Netflix, and Mexican food with a new and wonderful friend. I ended up needing to run to the store to buy 2 more skeins (for a total of 6 used) to finish it up, but all told, this only took me a week (and some very sore fingers)!

In general, the pattern's not too bad, but I did have some head-scratching moments. However, considering that this was the creator's first attempt at a knitting pattern, I'd say she did a pretty damn good job! The sweater is super warm and I've been wearing it about once a week, sometimes in place of a coat (though my arms tend to get a little cold, ha). 

 [Pretending I'm not that cold.]

[Giving in to reality.]

Are you as ready as I am for this winter to be over with?

9 months and some change

In the time it takes most people to make a baby, I finished a sweater!

The pattern is the infamous Aidez by Cirilia Rose. It's not for the faint of heart, especially when you choose it as your first sweater pattern, but I have to say that it was a pretty fun make, and I'm fairly pleased with the results.

I knit the size M and didn't make any pattern adjustments (mostly because I don't know how, oops). I tried to block it out so that you could get more of the detail on the front sides, but the yarn is synthetic and has already made up its mind about how to behave.

I decided on the medium because I was going through a fitted sweater phase, but now that it's done, I think I'd like it a teeny bit more if it were a teeny bit bigger. The next sweater's already on the needles, though, this time in a size L. I'm using some more synthetic yarn, but this one is much softer (and maybe a little too fuzzy? We'll see, I hardly paid anything for the yarn - beggars can't be choosers). 

I wore it during our recent cold snap, and it is WARM, let me tell you. If we do end up having the polar vortex they're forecasting, I think I'll be all set in this sweater.

I'm also considering this a stash-busting win! Even though my blog title has changed, that will always be a bit of a goal in the back of my mind. I used about 2 skeins of the yarn I swapped with Emma Jayne for this make. Now to figure out what to do with the other 3 skeins!

Have you got any winter knitting queued? I'd love to hear about it!

Fourth-quarter resolution checkup

I thought it might be interesting to look in and see how far I have (or haven't) come with my resolutions...I originally started writing this post somewhere around June, but it's taken me this long to get around to publishing it...which probably doesn't bode well for my resolutions, does it? This means I consider it accomplished, and this means I don't. 

Scrapbooking:

• Get pictures printed! This is step #1 in completing all of those pages I need to finish, obviously. 
• Get to work for the first time in years! Once I'm in the zone, I can usually crank out quite a few pages a night, but it's hard to get started without a dedicated table/place where I can leave my mess out, so my goal is to keep my coffee table clear of everything but scrapbooking stuff and allow myself to live with the mess when I'm in the middle of pages. I have made quite a few pages so far, although, since the move, it's all been packed back up again.
• Most of my supplies are organized by theme, but not quite everything. I need to finish this task, so I can grab the theme I want when I'm ready to work on that page. [This might have to wait a while longer, actually.]
• I'm not allowed to buy anything new, unless it's something absolutely necessary to finishing a page (which, let's be honest, shouldn't ever really happen with paper and stickers and accessories). I think I'll only be allowing myself to buy adhesives and solid-colored cardstock. Done and done! I've been very faithfully putting back things that I've picked up at JoAnn, returned one Disney-themed paper pack my mom bought, and have only filled a couple of solid-colored cardstock holes.

(Garment) Sewing:

• Again, I can't buy anything unless it is absolutely necessary to finishing a project. I know that great linings, the right zipper, perfect buttons, etc. can really finish up the look, but let's be honest - I am a complete novice at sewing and it's unlikely that replacing stash pieces with store-bought perfection would actually perfect my garments. For now I just need to sew, and learn as I go and refine skills, and then I can worry about perfection once I feel more comfortable. [Realllly failed on this one. My stash has grown significantly, but that's mostly because I can't resist a good garage sale or estate sale. Or the clearance racks. Oops. However, in my defense, I've been using some of the fabrics up very quickly, and have sewn more this year than all previous years combined.]
  
  
  
  [I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that this is only a small portion of what I've bought this year, sewing-wise.]
• Just start cutting. Again, if I'm being honest with myself, none of my fabrics are pieces that I should be afraid to cut into, as they're not vintage beauties, and they hardly cost me anything. I've got nothing to lose and everything to gain by cutting up so-so fabrics as muslins and practice pieces. Best-case scenario: I have a wearable muslin! Worst-case: I learned better for the next time. The four pairs of shorts I ruined should attest to that. Pair #5 might be make-it-or-break it (it also helps if I use the right size pattern when cutting out my pieces - that was my mistake with #4!). I do have some great success stories, though!

• Use the patterns I have (and make a list so I stop buying copies of the same patterns!). Most of them only cost me $1 each - if I screw them up that badly, I can buy them again, but they really just need to be used! This was maybe half-accomplished. I did finally cut into three commercial patterns, but I have realized I have a few gaps in my collection (meaning, my collection is almost entirely made up of dresses and nothing else. Oops).
• Refashion the things I've been meaning to refashion, and if they're not done by the end of the year, give them away! I did a decent closet purge a few months ago and took things to the resale shops, but as my items were out-of-season, the stores had no space for them. They suggested bringing them back in the spring, and since half of these items have never been worn, I'm reluctant to just give them away. So I'll make one more trip in early March, and whatever isn't bought is going straight to the Goodwill! Well, the year's not over, but I have managed to refashion 4 things so far, and I gave away the stuff I couldn't sell. There are still several more things sitting around to be refashioned, but I have faith.

Quilting:

• Whoa, what? I do not need to start another hobby, but I feel like this might be easier for me to accomplish than fiddling with hems and darts and fit and such. I recently came across this beauty and I know I have a million things in my stash that I could use to get a similar look.  The quilt I linked to is now DONE! It's so far from perfect that it's laughable, but I still like it. I'll be showing that off in an upcoming post, don't you worry. 

• Make my friend's T-shirt quilt. I probably won't see her again for ages, but I have to stop letting that be an excuse to keep her t-shirts hanging around and haunting me. I've made one of these before, and it's pretty simple, if a bit time-consuming, so it might be just the kick-start I need. Plus, I can always mail it to her when I'm done.  Done and done! It's not perfect, but she loves it, and I got some practice binding, so this is definitely a win. 

Knitting/crochet

• I actually don't have much of a yarn stash anymore, and it needs to stay that way. I want to try to use up most of the rest of what I have by year's-end.
• Make a case for my knitting needles, and maybe do some kind of swap to get rid of duplicates and fill in the sizes I'm missing. [This has been placed on the back-burner for now...]
  
• Start taking projects to my boyfriend's place. That way I can feel like I've accomplished something while he's playing video games. Although he's no longer in the picture, my finished cowl can attest to my success with this one! My sweater has been lingering, but I've only got about a sleeve and a half left to go on that one. Maybe I'll actually be able to wear it by the time the winter gets here!
  
• Figure out how to finish the project I started using leftover yarn from my granny square quilt. I...have no idea at this point. It's not long enough to be a scarf, and not quite halfway to being a decent sized blanket, so we'll see.
• Finally knit an infinity cowl. I wanted one last year, but never got around to it. I still want one, and may just have enough matching yarn to make one this year. If I keep it simple (no fancy patterns), it should come together pretty quickly.  

Well, there you have it, folks. Not a total win yet, but I've still got a few more months, right? How are you coming with your resolutions?

A personal word about "old lady" hobbies

Unlike every single sewing blogger out there (or at least, it seems like every one, from where I'm sitting), I'm single. Which means I'm dating. Which means I inevitably run into some jerks. I've become a bit jaded about the whole thing, honestly, but I still try to laugh most things off. But when someone I've finally started to trust a little bit disappoints or insults me, that's when I seriously start to consider adopting 15 cats and 3 more sewing machines.

Let me preface this a bit: I willingly call myself an old lady sometimes: I like to go to bed around 10 pm (later if the situation calls for it, but I don't want to start a date at 9 pm - I'm not 19 anymore). I like to knit. I like to crochet. I like to sew. I like to cross stitch. I like some granny print stuff. I like vintage. I'm fine with all of that. And I'm fine with poking a little fun at myself, because I know, to the guys in my dating world, those things aren't "hip." I don't go to trendy bars in cocktail dresses, I don't stay out late, I don't take rock climbing trips, and I'm not a fan of of house parties (or at least, house parties that don't involve Cards Against Humanity). My hobbies don't necessarily read as "exciting," but it doesn't matter, because I like them. 

I can be self-deprecating all day. But when someone decides to make that leap themselves, I get peeved. A recent response, when I told someone that one of my favorite hobbies is sewing: “Sewing to me sounds like something my grandma would do.”

How unbelievably insulting. Never mind the very lively segment of bloggers making cool, trend-setting independent patterns. Never mind the fact that, when you sew for yourself, you never have to worry about someone else having the same thing. Never mind that know where your clothes came from (i.e. not a Bangladeshi kid who was paid 3 cents to make it), or that you know it'll last (and you're helping ditch "fast fashion,"), or that it can really take some cognitive work, which studies have shown is likely to stave off Alzheimer's and dementia. Never mind all of that. It's really just plain fun. I get an immense amount of joy in wearing the few makes I've accumulated so far. So to you, boy who doesn't know anything, I say: Nice try. Better luck next time.

What about you guys - have any of you had any particularly frustrating insults (or backhanded compliments) thrown your way? What's your response?

Crafting ADD, it's got the best of me!

I know, I know, it's been far too long since I've posted. I have not been keeping up with my resolutions very well (on so many fronts, more on that in a minute). Maybe the length of this post will make up for my absence?

I do have 2 quickie projects that I've finished and need to post, but they're not overly exciting, which I guess is why I haven't yet gotten around to blogging about them.

I have, however, been working on about eight different projects that I am excited about (which just means that I have to wait that much longer to experience each of them in all of their glory, oops!):

1. The Aidez sweater, knit in this lovely red yarn that Emma Jayne swapped with me!

[One of the cables is backwards, but by the time I realized, I was too lazy to redo it.]

I feel like I'm a fairly proficient knitter, in that I can usually figure out complicated stitches and new patterns pretty easily. I've made gloves (fingerless and fingered) and plenty of little plushies, but have never ever made a sweater (probably because I usually don't buy enough yarn for one!). I considered going with something simpler for a first try, but a friend suggested that I might get too bored with stockinette stitch for the whole thing. I...think she was probably right. That being said, this IS a tricky pattern, and certainly not for the faint of heart! These are the instructions that are spread out in front of me whenever I'm working on it: 

I was chugging along on this faithfully for a while, until I got distracted by:

2. This pattern by Satsuma Street on Etsy. My mom used to do a lot of counted cross stitch when I was a kid, and I guess I just always saw it as an old lady, country-type craft. Until I saw a few of these patterns. So beautiful! I was due for a visit home to my parents and, among the many things I was excited for, one of the main ones was stealing my mom's cross stitching supplies so I could get started on this! Unfortunately, the original weekend I'd planned to go home was a bust because of the terrible weather, so I had to wait patiently (or not-so-patiently) for one. more. week.

[This picture was taken RIGHT after I realized I screwed something up. Oops, so much for the counting part of that "counted" cross stitch thing.]

Thankfully, this is coming together fairly quickly, and I'm loving it! I added quite a bit to my stash with the supplies for this project, but nothing was bought new, really just transferred from one stash to another. And I've modified the colors in this pattern a bit, working with what I have on hand rather than buying the just-right color that the pattern calls for. I already have plans for two more patterns, which are unfortunately much more complicated. We'll see how fast I get sick of it, ha.

3. While I unfortunately haven't cut into much of my yardage (honestly, because most of it is less than a yard and not garment-worthy), I have been cutting into my stash of Goodwill-bought clothes that I intended to refashion. (They used to do this promotion in my town where they'd let you stuff a paper bag full of anything with that week's color tag for $5. You'd be amazed how much could fit...I figure that most of the things I bought during these binges cost about $0.25 each.)

I tried to buy the biggest skirts I could find, so I'd have as much yardage as possible to work with, but I apparently wasn't too successful in all cases. A lot of things were way too small to ever be able to work as a garment for me, but I loved a lot of the patterns, so I started cutting out squares for a quilt inspired by this beauty. (Of course, it's a rainbow.)

[Okay, so I've got a ways to go for my rainbow, but...it's a work in progress.]

4. Pattern weights with the scraps of those scraps above.

[Is that super-efficient, or what?]

5. A pair of shorts, made from one of the Goodwill skirts that actually was big enough to do something with.

First attempt: the butt was way too big. Second attempt: oops, too small. I'm determined to finish these, even if they're probably not wearable, so I can get some practice fitting my Midwestern pancake butt. I have the perfect fabric in mind for them, because...

6. Oops, I haven't been doing so well with my stash diet resolutions. What can I say, I got the shopping bug, found out that my favorite fabric store was having one of their semi-annual sales (up to 90% off, you guys!), and had to stop by on my visit home (it's probably a good thing there's not one of these closer to where I live). I got one new sewing pattern (and conveniently, Gertie has started a sew-along for it!), 10.5 yards of fabric (4 yards of which of which only cost $0.50/yard!), and 3 sewing machine feet (at about 75% off, and I seriously needed them - well, at least the zipper foot). (I mean, I kinda really did "need" bigger yardages, right? The 0.5 yards was for the quilt, and the other 3 fabrics were 10 yards in total, intended for dresses or skirts.)

I was so excited about one of these fabrics, you guys have no idea, because I knew it would make adorable Tania culottes (a pattern I recently acquired through a swap with Jana). I bought the fabric last Friday and cut into it only 8 days later (that's such a record for me). Now, they're almost finished, save the hem. Here's a sneak peak (full post to come when they're finished!):

And the best news? There's definitely enough fabric left to make a pair of shorts (probably enough fabric for 2 pairs, except I know I'll screw one of them up, given my recent shorts history).

7. I finally finished the men's polo refashion I'd left sitting around for ages. All it needed was a seam around the collar, but I couldn't get it to lay right the first couple of times I tried, so I gave up for a while. When I went back to it, I really don't know what the issue was to begin with. However, after wearing it once, I realized it was too long (awkwardly so) and didn't really bunch up nicely along the waist. I found (what I consider to be) an elegant solution. Full post to come, but for now, here's another sneak peak:

8. I also tried working on another Goodwill refashion. I think this one went even worse than the shorts - there is absolutely no way to make this wearable. *sigh* Inspiration:

[Image from: Cotton and Curls]

My disaster:

[Please ignore the mess in the background, and the ridiculous faces.]

This goes straight into the scrap pile, there's just no saving it.

9. Much more knitting, looking for a companion to the rainbow zigzags I mentioned a while ago. Unfortunately, this was also a failure, but...live and learn!

I also finally got around to altering some ill-fitting shirts.

So, I've definitely been busy, but sorry for the silence around here! I'll try to be better about posting in the future. :) (Hmm, and maybe actually finishing things I've started, oops.)

Progress!

No new finished projects to show you yet, but I have been making progress, slowly but surely.

First up, the t-shirt quilt:

Yep, second row from the bottom definitely needs to be re-done, as well as a couple of other spots, but...I just want to get this thing off of my floor, ha. Also, please disregard the messy cables in the corner. 

Also, I've been working like a best on finishing the leftover rainbow blanket I showed you guys. Progress so far: 

So many fewer colors means that this is coming together much more quickly. I'll usually knit at least 2 rows at a time, in between...whatever else I might be doing. Dinner, phone calls, etc. I feel like I'm flying through this, which is good because it gives me a sense of accomplishment, but I have no idea what I'm going to knit once this is done!

This is not really a true color...and it makes more sense in my head than it does in this picture. I figure the big red swatch is opposite of the red end of the rainbow, and likewise with the purple - it'll be kind of a mirror image so the different reds and purples won't clash. I dunno what I'm saying. Hopefully it'll look good when it's finished, and then I'll be able to show it off to all of you. :)

Finished project (finally!)

Wow, it's been a while, but I have been busy(ish), I promise! It's just that, working on 3-4 projects at a time, none of them ever really get finished to be able to show you. 

But finally, FINALLY, my boyfriend/Dexter cowl is done!

It's based on the Brioche Infinity Scarf pattern, found here.

So, without any further ado, I present my finished cowl!

This was a true stash-buster! I was originally planning to use a light tan and a beige that I had left over from a sock monkey I made for my mom, but as usual, I realized I was going to run out of those 2 colors long before it was done! I somehow always think my yarn's going to stretch further than it does. 

I dug through my stash some more and found a gray that went with the overall color scheme (also from a sock monkey I made!). I added that in random rows, as I did with the tan. 

Finally, I ran out of all three of those colors, and was forced to grab ANOTHER yarn from the stash, only I didn't really have anything that went with the color scheme...

So I added red! I don't think I can call this the boyfriend/Dexter cowl anymore...it's now the sock monkey scarf!

I prefer to wear it with the red at the back, but it is super warm and cozy, perfect for this crazy Chicago weather!

I love how versatile this is! It's a scarf/hat/hood/anything I need it to be, and it's great! It's a bit shorter than the other ones out there, but I was SO TIRED of working on this and just wanted/needed it to be done. I didn't quite use up all of the red, but almost, and I think I actually like it shorter like this. Any longer and it wouldn't keep out the cold so well.

Stash busted: 3.5 skeins of stashed yarn, yay!

As promised, UFOs!

(Don't make cheesy X-files joke, don't make cheesy X-files joke) That's right, today we're talking about Unfinished Objects! Almost every crafter I know has at least one of these lying around, and most of us have multiples (I think the only two exceptions I've heard of are my friend Allie, who has a one-track crafting mind, and the lovely LLadybird (she has a great post about her method here)). 

I, on the other hand, am a master at getting really into a project, and when things get hard or busy or boring, walking away for weeks or months (or years? oops). I took these photos when I started the projects below, but have yet to finish any of them. I'm sure there are more UFOs lying around my apartment, and as I make a serious effort to dig through/use up/organize my stash this year, I'm sure I'll be finding more of them. 

Polo shirt refashion 
Inspiration:

[Image from: Merrick's Art]

 
Merrick has a great tutorial on a men's polo shirt to women's comfy casual top refashion. (At one point I had another similar pin in my queue (that's how much I liked it!), but I liked Merrick's tutorial better.) She made it look so easy, and, when I found this slightly less than perfect shirt of my dad's in the Goodwill pile, I knew I had to try it for myself. 

 

This picture is super unflattering (I swear there's a shape hiding under there, and I cannot for the life of me get it less yellow), but, knowing that I didn't have much to lose, I dove right in and started cutting!   

 

I actually managed to get a pretty decent fit on this one before it wandered into UFO-land, too. Alas

Why did I stop?

I cut the neck line a little too wide, unfortunately, and when, after a lot of fighting with the serger, I still couldn't get it sewn down properly, I had to walk away. I think I moved shortly thereafter, and haven't managed to dig this out again.

Time in purgatory

I started this in...May 2013? Dang, that's embarrassing, especially considering I was so close to being finished!

Plans to finish

Eh, I'm not even sure where this is right now, and it's too cold to wear it, anyway. I would like to finish it sooner rather than later, though! What's stopping me now is that both my serger and my sewing machine are in need of some TLC, and that's just NO FUN, so instead of sucking it up and taking the time, I just keep working on bits and pieces of easier projects.

Zigzag rainbow...something
Inspiration:

[Image from: Purl Bee Soho]

I saw this super-cute Chevron Knit Baby blanket and knew I wanted a larger version. I still had quite a bit of yarn left over from my granny square blanket, so I figured I'd put it to good use!

 [Sorry about the funky draping, it's still on the needles, which aren't long enough to spread it out all the way.]

Since I had varying amounts of yarn left, I decided to do the rows in a 12-10-8-10-12 pattern, which worked until the second-to-last row, where the amount of yarn I had left me one row short.

Why did I stop?

The aforementioned shortage of yarn (I'm not sure what kind of a solution I was hoping to come up with, but no, yarn did not magically grow while I let the project sit). It's also not really big enough to be much of anything right now. There are no babies in the family, and I'm out of my rainbow stash of yarn. In fact, I'm out of most of my entire stash of yarn. I was thinking about getting some new black and white yarn (*gasp* I know, but it's not considered breaking the rules if it's bought to finish a project) and doing a solid colorblock, rather than so many rows of alternating colors, right next to this piece, but I think the blanket would still be too short. My original plan was to have 4 similarly sized pieces in various colors, but...that might be overly ambitious. 

Time in purgatory

I started this in October, and worked on it pretty steadily until just before Christmas. As with my cowl, I have to rip out almost every row of this. I invariably K2FB instead of K2T, or vice versa, and sometimes my counting is way off. Ugh.

Plans to finish

I actually just recently picked this up again and used up the last 2 colors! Now to figure out what comes next...

(Mom, if you're reading this right now, STOP!) :)

Stencil text on pillows

Inspiration:

[Image from: Wit and Whistle]

If you guys are on Pinterest as much as I am, I'm sure you've seen this (or a similar) picture floating around.

I knew I wanted to make one of these, but I couldn't quite decide what I wanted it to say. I was shopping at Hancock Fabrics one day and found a couple of these in the remnant bin:

This one alone is almost a full yard, and I'm pretty sure this was during a half off remnant sale, so it only cost me $1! 

I was fairly certain that I had the rest of the supplies I needed lying around, too, but a day of digging through the basement didn't yield the stencils I knew I had, so I picked some up at JoAnn with a half off coupon.

I used to love this pillow set, but it's kind of stained and not really suitable for company anymore, so...into the new pillow cover it goes!

Eventually, it dawned on me what I wanted to write on here - the lyrics to "You Are My Sunshine." My mom always used to sing it to me as a kid, and I knew she'd love this sentimental, hand-made gift. (Although, when you look up the lyrics to the entire song, they're a bit...disturbing. Not quite as sunshine-y as you'd think.)

I got to work with my stencils, a pencil, and a ruler and tried to cram all of the text on to the pillowcase. I accidentally traced the same chunk of text twice, which was frustrating, but eventually fixed it. I realized I'd have to leave out the "please," but otherwise I'm happy with the way this turned out!

Why did I stop?

I think that I was afraid that, in washing out the pencil lines, the marker would bleed through (even though I'm pretty sure I used a special fabric marker - go figure). Then, aforementioned move meant that this got buried in the bottom of a bin.

Time in purgatory

This was also started in May 2013. :( I was on a roll back then...too bad I couldn't finish what I started!

Plans to finish

I finally dug this thing out of the bin I'd stuffed it into to photograph it, and it is now lying on my floor, where it will stay until I can finally get the darn thing washed! After that I just need to iron on some interfacing and pick out a back piece. I initially thought I should use the same fabric for the back, but now I think it might be nice to give it a pop of color and interest. Time to dig through the stash!