A+ Mittens

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I am always knitting something, usually several somethings at the same time. However, with the approach of winter and its biting cold leering on the edge of my consciousness, I decided that I absolutely must finish this pair of mittens for A+. I lost one of his nice leather gloves last winter, and as a result, he has no good cold-weather hand gear!

I was determined to make him the best mittens I possibly could, even though I had never knit mittens before. Many of the patterns I found were unsatisfactory due to either sizing issues or a displeasing shape. I am personally not at big fan of mittens that turn out pointy at the top, and really wanted to find a pattern that would give a more flat or round finish.

After much searching through many knitting books and the internet, I finally came upon this wonderful "Easy Warm Mittens" pattern from HJS Studio. The shape is exactly what I was looking for, and the "pattern" is in fact more of a lesson on how to design a custom mitten pattern, which is great for sizing!

Once I started, each hand took me about a day of knitting on and off to complete.  Here's one hand one, with the other in progress:

And now both mittens are done!

I stuck to a simple stockinette stitch for my mittens, and single color, so nothing too complicated to deal with in the increases and decreases. If I find some suitable yarn, I might decide to knit some more pairs for myself or friends/family in more interesting patterns!

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Itty Bitty Teeny Weeny... Sweater

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A colleague of A+ recently had a baby daughter, and I find it really fun to knit tiny people clothes, so I was really excited to make something for them. I had a stash of some variegated baby yarn along with some extra Caron Simply Soft in pink, so I decided it would be fun to make a raglan cardigan. I knit this following the Daisy pattern from Knitty, which was very straightforward and easy to follow, assuming you're familiar with basic stockinette and increases/decreases.

I think it turned out pretty cutely, although I sort of wish I had used a more structural yarn for the neckline. At least now I know for the next time I knit a sweater-type garment involving Simply Soft.

Now I just wish there were more babies around that I can knit little hats and booties and mittens for! I would especially like to make THESE. Baby Miis!

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The Perfect Color for a Best Friend

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I have very strong color associations with people, particularly those that I am close to and know very well. And I found some beautiful bamboo yarn that was just the perfect color for my best friend. She gave me the most wonderful painted egg (using traditional Ukrainian techniques) in the form of a Munna for my birthday, so I wanted to make her something just as nice for hers.

I decided to go with a light spring/summer scarf, because the bamboo yarn was so delicate and lightweight I couldn't see it working for a heavier item. I just made up the pattern as I went, doing basically a feather fan lace pattern with seed stitch edging all around.

I'm absolutely in love with how the knit feels, and will definitely think of more things to knit using bamboo yarns in the future.

The feather fan lace turned out better than I expected considering how improvised it was, and it gave a beautiful texture both on the "right" and the "wrong" sides of the scarf.

I most often knit winter items because I adore chunky woolly yarns, but this project has definitely convinced me to think about lighter knitting projects for warmer weather!

The best part of it all was that when I gave it to her and told her that it was "her" color, she told me that it was the exact color she always chose in the color picker when she was young and just doodling around in Paint. So it in fact is exactly her color!

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Project 365 // 001~007

I've decided to begin a Project 365 in order to challenge myself to better document the little things in my life so I can remember and enjoy them later on. As such, I will start uploading a week's worth of daily photos each Sunday, and it'll serve as a nice little weekly wrap-up for keeping up with what's going on in my life!

001 / 365: It got cold very quickly recently, and my wrists have been cold, so I decided to make up my own wristwarmer knitting pattern. It took several attempts to settle on something I actually liked, but there's finally progress!


002 / 365: I've been fiddling around with a good way to record things I play on my electronic piano for a while now, with no truly satisfactory results. I finally caved and bought an external USB soundcard with stereo input, and I cannot possibly be more pleased with the results! So look out, there will be more piano adventures in the near future!!


003 / 365: Hey, look! Finished wristwarmers! Since I have tiny baby wrists, I would make them smaller the next time I knit this pattern, but I'm quite pleased with how they turned out ^_^



004 / 365: Sketching mascot illustrations for a new J-pop/rock music project I'm starting with a friend.


005 / 365: Having a good way to record my piano playing has inspired me to practice more, because now I can actually use some of my own instrumentals for my cover songs!


006 / 365: ARRRR!! It's Talk Like a Pirate Day!! Ahoy ye landlubbers, Captain Totoro really likes pink floral headscarves - pirates can be frilly too!


007 / 365: This sign makes me giggle every time I walk past, because the I parse it in my head is: "Neighbors? Please, no. Dogs please!" As if the sign writer really hates neighbors and would prefer dogs instead...


And that is my week in a nutshell!! Let's hope I can keep this up ^_^ And I hope you all have a lovely sparkle-filled upcoming week

A Hug from the Sea

I've been knitting a lot! Primarily on the same giant project!

Sometime last year (by which I mean 2012), my friend Courtney wondered if it would be possible to knit an entire bed-sized blanket, rather than the usual afghan-sized blankets. Since I like challenges, I decided that by golly I would knit a whole bedspread for her!

It took about a year of picking at it on and off, with a last 3 months of somewhat more consistent effort, but I did it! She is a very colorful person, and her apartment is also very colorful, so I made my best effort to make the blanket suitably bright. The end result looks to me like waves of greeny-bluey-ness, like the ocean, so I like to think of it as a warm hug from the sea.

Yarn used: Loops & Threads Charisma in Sunny Day (main) and Yellow (joining).

The pattern came from an old magazine of various afghan and blanket patterns that A+'s mother owns. The blanket is knit up in strips (I made 8 strips, 92in long) that are then sewn together in the final step.

Finished dimensions: 92in x 96in (about Queen size)

ACEN 2012 ~ Artist Alley Report

Phew, crazy ACEN weekend is over!! I'm not sure my brain's ready to return to being a grad student yet, but hopefully it gets there soon since I have 40 midterms to grade ^_^

This was my first time doing an Artist Alley table ever, and luckily I shared a table with my friends (especially with all the crazy fashion show stuff going on!). I went into it not really knowing what to expect, and not wanting to run out of things. I need not have worried, since I have tons of leftovers, which incidentally will be going up in my store very soon! In fact, the rose headdresses are up already ^_^

Our table setup ended up working out perfectly, and we had enough variety of shelves to have multiple levels without ending up with a wire cave of doom or anything like that. Look, Lauren even remembered to take a picture!! (I did not, so thank you muchly, Lauren



Isn't it beautiful? ^_^ I'm really quite pleased with how well the table layout worked. Also, Lauren's pony display is amaze-pants!

There was pretty decent traffic through our spot, since we were right at the intersection of two large aisles, and also thanks to everyone else being much more vocal than I'm comfortable being.

I think we all ended up doing decently well, and my last-minute mustache necklaces were quite the hit. Time to make more of them, and embellished ones too? XD Also, lots of business cards were taken, so hopefully at least one or two of them end up being looked at again XD

Since this was my first AA, it was a lot of a learning experience. My first conclusion is that I really don't enjoy being a salesperson at all. My second conclusion is that mustache necklaces and fuzzy bows seem to be the preferred items at ACEN. My puffy bows weren't really much liked, and I think my rose headdresses were just outside the general price range. Hopefully I can manage to sell them online, since I really don't need more than a hundred puffy bows all for myself... My third conclusion is that I need to wear an eyecatching full-on OTT Lolita outfit, complete with elaborate hairstyle. Preferably in pastel pink, although my Sunday outfit seems to have been reasonably eye-catching. Maybe bringing my own tablecloth would help too, since then the entire table would be a different color than the standard.

Since I was so busy running around like a crazy person, I ended up not actually doing any of my Saturday or Sunday cosplays I had planned. I did do Zekrom Lolita on Friday, but I was too busy and forgot to take any real photos. Lauren again to the rescue took a photo, kind of. It was after I'd shed my wings and tail, unfortunately, and rearranged my hair to be less painful, but still, general idea exists... Basically kuro-Lolita but with some electric blue bows in the hair (one on top, on at the end of the ponytail bunch going down my back - you can see it in the table photo). So yay!



And of course, my Sunday outfit - the one "real" Lolita outfit I wore all weekend, since it was the only day I wasn't either cosplaying or needing to have my hair in a way that was suitable to being stuffed inside a wig at a moment's notice.



I'm wearing the skirt and headbow that I bought at the AP booth, in fact. I had seen this birdcage skirt on the Japanese site, and really really wanted it. And they had it at the booth! In black! In skirt form! It was just too perfect to resist. I thought about getting the socks too, but couldn't really justify spending the money after I also bought a purse from them. It's a really nice purse, and roomy too! Hopefully I get some good use out of it, since I've been needing a nice black Loli purse for awhile now ^_^

All in all, a really exciting ACEN! A report about the fashion show will probably come next, but I want to wait until I find out more about whether it's okay to post my photos or not. I already posted two of them, since I didn't realize we might not be supposed to (nobody said anything about it at any point), but I want to refrain from doing anything else for now.

Lilac Rose Vine Scarf

As a birthday present for Aaron, I took up the task of knitting his sister a scarf (since he doesn't know how to knit himself). I had hoped to get it done in time for Hanukkah, but I underestimated how much time I would need to invent and execute the pattern, and also how much free time I had at the end of the Fall quarter.

In any case, it's finally done and sent to her, so I can post about it now!

I used lilac and pink yarn, because purple is her favorite color and pink represents her fight against breast cancer. I wanted to make it more interesting than just a plain scarf, and I thought that a winding vine motif would be pretty. It took me a couple of false starts and a lot of tearing out and re-knitting to get the pattern right, but I eventually did it ^_^

So onto the pictures! It's actually pretty simple-looking, so there wasn't a lot to take pictures of. But here's the scarf in its entirety:


And a closeup of the vine going down the center:


I'm really glad that the colors worked out nicely, and that the winding vine actually does stand out enough to be seen. And of course, I'm really really happy that she likes the scarf ^_^

Fluffy Bow Brooch-Clips

I've fallen in love with puffy fuzzy bow brooches, and decided to experiment a bit with making some of my own! I think even my first efforts turned out quite successful, and they're actually fairly simple and quick to make <3

These are basically just knit bows decorated with ribbon and flatback rhinestones ^o^ I made these out of a fuzzy baby blanket yarn I found at Michael's. I only bought this particular color (blue with pink/lavender/yellow flecks), but after trying it out, I'm definitely going to go buy some in their other colors. I created two, in slightly different sizes!





Second picture was taken in less optimal lighting - the colors are much more accurate in the first photo.

These don't have any clips/safety pins attached yet, because I just ordered a box of combination safety-pin/alligator-clip brooch backs that I plan to use on them. They turned out so cute, I can't wait to make more!!

Next up... Fuzzy brooches in more different shapes! (I want a poodle *o*)

Winter Knitting 09/10 – Scarf Frenzy! - Update

Now that my present for my Loli mentor has safely arrived in her hands, here's what she got!!

2 scarves, both in the weird sky blue/mint/lavender mixed color of Red Heart Baby Clouds:


This one is a standard rectangular scarf, with fringe on the ends.


This one is in the same style as the ruffle scarves in my previous post.

Additionally, I made her a little broach with dangly felt strawberries (because strawberries are one of her favorite motifs!). Unfortunately, I apparently managed to delete them from my camera before actually downloading them to my computer T_T *le sigh* The only picture I have is one she took when she opened my package... so it doesn't properly illustrate the danglyness of the strawberries... But at least it's something XD



Anyways, I'm glad she got the package safely, and that she likes it!

Upcoming project: Double-knit mittens!! I've actually started them, what, nearing 10 times now, and messed up every time and had to unravel everything. Let's just say converting a cable twist pattern to double-knitting is kind of hard. I've defaulted back to just a flat mitten, and I'll just knit a bow or something separately to sew to it for embellishment <3

Winter Knitting 09/10 - Scarf Frenzy!

Given the fantastically frightful winds here in Chicago, I've been on a scarf hunt lately. But I figured, rather than buying simple scarves that I could make myself, why not go ahead and make them? So here's four scarves, two of which are for myself, and two of which are for my lovely Lolita mentor.

I've been trying to incorporate more pastels into my winter wardrobe, so I made two long ruffly scarves for myself in pink and baby blue:



Of course the two scarves for my Loli mentor are going to be presents, so I won't post them here until after she's gotten them ^.^

All of the scarves were made with one skein of Red Heart Baby Clouds yarn. The pink skein was 2 ounces larger than the blue skein, so the scarf came out super long, but I love it!

Hope you enjoy!

Winter Knitting 08/09 – Part 2.2: Hat Lined with Fleece!

Well... It's really not winter 08/09 anymore... In fact, it's already pretty much winter 09/10, but life got in the way of actually lining that hat. However, in order to make it truly functional for my boyfriend, I have finally finished putting in a fleece lining for it!

(See part one here).

Not only does the lining make the hat longer by about 1 inch, it also makes it that much warmer now that there are two layers between his skull and the elements.

Onto the one picture I remembered to take before he carted it off to Boston with him!


So, the tiny ribbed portion of the original hat got eaten in the seams, but overall the hat is definitely longer, and now double-layered. Apparently I miscalculated and the hat was a bit tight and the seam for the bottom band fell right on the ears, but my boyfriend says the hat's now loosened up from wearing, and it's all good now, so yay!!

So there ya go!!

<3

Winter Knitting 08/09 – Part 2: Herringbone Scarf Done!

I finally finished that scarf!! (And yes, I know it's not winter anymore).  I actually finished sometime in March, but didn't have time to write up a post about it.  I had just enough yarn left afterwards to knit a matching hat.  However, the hat's just the tiniest bit shorter than I think it really should be for a normal-sized adult head.  And it's only single-layered, so I have doubts about it's warmth-keeping properties.  I'm thinking I'll get some matching charcoal fleece and make a lining for it (as well as make it just a bit longer for better ear coverage ^o^)

But pictures!!
[caption id="attachment_93" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="The whole scarf"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_91" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Edge detail (moss stitch border, herringbone main body)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_92" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Matching hat! It has some ribbing at the very edge, the rest is just straight stockinette stitch)"][/caption]

So yeah, the hat may or may not reappear again with fleece lining ^.^ I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out, considering both the scarf and the hat were done without a pattern (the hat was very much improvised :-P)

Winter Knitting 08/09 - Part 1: Herringbone Scarf!

This is one of the two knitting projects I've been working on this winter. Originally I wanted to do the "Henry" scarf from knitty.com, but I really suck at knitting scarves sideways because I just lose count of all the stitches way too easily. Not to mention the tubular edge thing didn't work out to great when I did a test swatch...

So instead I decided, well I've never done a herringbone texture before, so why not! And my attempt to keep it from curling quite as much involved putting a seed-stitch edge on it, but that doesn't seem to be working as well as I thought. I think I'll just have to try to block the living daylights out of this guy when I'm done...

It's also the first time I've done a scarf using sock yarn... It takes much longer than any other scarf I've done T.T

But enough talk! here's some pictures!


All crumpled up...


Seed stitch border...


The herringbone texture...

It's not visible from the pictures, but the herringbone isn't very even, mainly because it took me awhile to get a hang of the whole knitting through the back loops thing... But I think it'll turn out decent ^.^

YAY!! Yeah, this one is the one I worked on all winter break (3 weeks) and it's not even halfway done yet. I reminds me of the anime "Maria-sama ga Miteru" though because I watched the whole first season of it while knitting this.

Mad Hatter

Here's some more creations! This time... hats!!! Winter hats, to be exact...

The first hat is a red hood I knitted up. It's made with Lionbrand's Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in Cranberry, so it was a really fast knit!

It's really warm and I absolutely love it! Plus it matches a new coat I just got :)

So without further ado...

The front view: please excuse my awful facial expression, I'm bad at pictures :-P


The side view: you can see more detail on the braided edge.


The back view: you can see the seam :)


And the second hat is a pink tam, which I love wearing, but it's not nearly as warm as the hood. This one is knit with Lionbrand Wool-Ease in Blush Heather, an absolutely beautiful color. I made the edge band a little small for the amount of hair I have, but it still works :)

The front view: can't really see much of the hat itself, but that's how it looks from the front.


A side view: you can see how it sits, slightly slouchy at the bottom, which I like a lot.


A different side view: gives a better idea of the back, plus the pompom actually shows up!


An actual back view: You can really see the segments on the hat, and the pompom!


And that's me being happy because I really like this hat :)


That's all for today, folks, but I'm in the process of knitting my boyfriend a 6-foot long scarf, which I'll be sure to post when it's finished!