Pinwheel sweater of success!

Nothing feels as satisfying a long long overdue knitting project! I started this sweater October 9th of 2011 and finished it the 19th of this October. Frankly, knitting all those rounds and rounds and rounds is BORING!

I used Red Heart Soft and Hobby Lobby I love this yarn for contrast, which means it's 100% acrylic, not my favorite and something I try to stay away from more and more but I think it's okay for this, a warm sweater to wear around the house.

I really really hate the pooling on the upper arms, wish I'd switched between two skeins or something but no way I'm going back! I had...issues with the fitting. The sleeve position is too far apart, my shoulders are apparently not that wide despite trying to be diligent about this.

For closure I crocheted some loops and used assorted buttons. There's actually another loop and two hidden buttons near the bottom to hold it together some  more.

I'm not totally thrilled with it but it's finished and that's all the success I need!

Project Rewind: Leaflette Shawlette

Previously on this blog I did a series of posts called "project rewind" in which I blogged about finished projects of the past. I thought it perfect I get started right away and shoot for a weekly post on the blog about a project I did whilst away, because there's many!

The Leaflette Shawlette appeared to be the perfect project for this Shady Haven's alpaca I'd picked up some months back at a fiber showcase with some friends. The lovely alpaca was so soft and had such great colors (and price) that I bought three skeins. One of this variegated and two in a black/grey, which I'm now knitting the Dahlila Cardigan with. It's lovely yarn, so soft, it's a total joy to knit with.

I absolutely LOVE these colors but there's one downside: the pattern is fairly hidden in the variegation. BUT after blocking it I decided I didn't care, it was too soft and lovely and the colors were so pretty. I was lucky enough to get a chance to wear it almost immediately to a wedding. As luck would have it I had the perfect purple dress to compliment it!

Love,
Freckled Crafter

   

Still puffing away, a blanket saga

I've been knitting away on my little hexipuffs! I knit them whenever I can and they're so portable I can pull them out and take up on room. Recently I've been knitting them at work between cleaning and working with clients.

Yesterday I even knit one at my mom's studio for a bit. I'm currently knitting puff number 32, which brings my daily puff count to two. Some days I don't finish a single puff and some days I knit four or more. If I average two a day for a year I'll be well on my way to a kingsize quilt! I'd also like to make some couch cushions eventually, possibly out of a worsted weight or even thicker for some really large puffs!

I've also started to join some of them together, creating a little puff pad! I'm using some leftover grey laceweight. I'm seaming them all along the sides, unlike Stephanie's, so that there's no holes for fingers or toes to pop through.

I'm totally smitten!

♥ Freckled Crafter

Many moons ago I did a post of lustful craft spaces. I really enjoyed all the eye candy and it offered a lot of inspiration. The great thing is now I will actually be able to apply my thoughts and dreams to our craft/spare bedroom in our new house. These photos have already inspired me to paint the two dressers I plan to use for storage pretty colors.

I love organizing and designing layouts so I really can't wait!

♥ The FreckledCrafter

The Beekeeper Saga Begins

Once upon a time (also known as a few days ago) I saw this beautiful quilt in my ravelry friends feed. I'd friended Stephanie at Tiny Owl Knits ages about because I love the cute little faery inspired knits she creates. I had never made one of her projects before but the second I saw this I knew it had to be mine!

It's made of various fingering weights and sock yarn and I almost immediatly pulled out all the sock yarn in my stash. I was suprised by just how much I had and also thankful, I won't have to buy much to finish this project.

The blanket is made by knitting these little hexagons which you fill with stuffing. You knit and knit and knit them, taking a whole year, one a day or even more. Then you sew them all together at the corners and you have a beautiful Beekeeper's Quilt.

So I started puffing and puffing and puffing (the affectionate name for creating little hexagons in the knit along on the Tiny Owl Knits ravelry group). There was talk on the boards of Stephanie's little WIP bag she used to carry around her puffs for the year. It got my brain thinking and I decided to come up with a design. A bag in the shape of a hexagon with a zipper that went almost entirely around the circumference so you could open it all the way up and work on your puffs right out of the bag.

I knew it had to be big enough for a number of recently finished puffs, needles, a current puff you're working on, some stuffing, and a few small balls of yarn to choose from for your puffs on the go.

This was just a test of my idea and I think it turned out pretty well! There are some minor changes and some helpful things that will cut down on the sewing time A LOT but I love it! I used some Winnie the Pooh curtains from when I was a kid, I thought it fit the theme. I also picked up some bee fabrics, some owl fabric, and the most adorable Bambi fabric to make some more. I'm really excited and glad it was so well received by the group. You should see them popping up on my etsy sometime next week :)

And if you're wondering what that little thing is in many of my pictures it's a little bumble bee that decided to join me while I worked on my pouch. I'm not sure what he was up to but he was just wandering up and down the stairs to my basement and was quite friendly.

♥ Freckled Crafter

New layout for winter!

As you can probably tell I just made a new banner for winter. I hate the cold but I love how pretty the season is. Cuddling up with tea by the fire, it's lovely! I took this photo three years ago after a pretty bad ice storm, I really love all the pictures from this photoshoot...







I think that last photo was from when I drove to school only to realize it was canceled due to the weather, hahaha.

Happy holidays everyone,
♥ Freckled Crafter

Yes, I am still alive. Between school coming to a close and Chicago TARDIS last weekend it seems I've had barely any time. That being said I have been knitting a bit and I also got a new phone. This means I can upload pictures onto flickr straight from my phone, meaning no annoying cords and uploading. So here we go, let's try it out:

Being so busy I like something simple. This Baktus using stash yarn I got on clearance has been quite calming. I'm not sure who I'm going to give it to, it's not really my colors, but I'm sure it'll end up someone's Christmas present!

♥ Freckled Crafts

Tute: Making your own interchangable cables

I've been super busy with school lately, it's been kicking my butt! Thus I have a lot less time to post or knit. But I did find this awesome tutorial on craftster.org. I own two sets of interchangeable needles. Years ago I bought the Boye set from Michaels. Sadly the cables themselves really such, they're not bendy and the seams are awful. Last Christmas time I bought myself a set of knitpick harmony interchangeables. They seriously changed my world! I love wood SOOO much more than metal and the cables are fantastic. I did have a few issues with some of the cables breaking but their customer service is amazing, I simply sent them an email and they sent me a replacement right away, no questions asked!

Anyways I thought this tute was great, and incredibly simple considering. One day I might make some new cables for my Boye set.


The tute even has really adorable captions and doodles in the pictures!!!! Check it out HERE!

Have a great weekend everyone and I promise regular crafty posting will resume soon!
♥ Freckled Crafter

Clown barf hat and a busy November

Today while I was taking pictures of a finished hat to blog about I started to hear this noise and looked outside. It's officially working it's way towards winter, boo!


Reminds me of one of my favorite random quotes: "knit fast, die warm!"

Anyways here's a hat I finished a few weeks ago, right around the time I realized my short hair means there's no option to wake up and run out the door without doing something about it. I move alot in my sleep thus when I wake up my hair is usually in about 20 billion directions! Almost as crazy as this hat!



The yarn I bought a while ago while yarn shopping with my friend Beth, she thought I was crazy, I knew I was. It was on clearance times five and I just loved the crazy colors! One issue with it is it pills a TON, like while I was knitting it I'd get rainbow pills all over me and I had to wash it really well to get all the lose ones off the hat. I totally understand why it was on sale and being discontinued but I love it anyways!


Also, it's less than a month till Chicago TARDIS now, which means marathon of getting everything done. This is on the top of the list. It's for my friends Lynne and Michael's daughter. Next month she's got a huge surgery and when I heard about it I knew I needed to make her a little companion who could protect her.
He's modeled after Bob the Dalek from Torchwood Babiez who's the protector of baby Rose. He's not done, I'm just starting the bottom but I have to admit he's pretty adorable and I'm already jealous of Cait and her new buddy!
♥ Freckled Crafter

PS: Thanks to everyone to all the well wishes on my last post!

Way more treats than tricks

This weekend was super special. As usual Matt and I had planned to carve pumpkins for Halloween. We grab some B horror movies and celebrate Halloween with a few hours of attacking a big squash.

What I didn't know when I got to Matt's apartment this past Friday was that he'd taken the day off work and instead carved a pumpkin without me. He used reference pictures such as Captain Morgan, which is much funnier if you understand his love of rum and that because of that he's my pirate.

It was hidden under a microwave box on his table for a few hours before he finally revealed the surprise. He threw a coat over my head (leather, ugh, heavy!) and turned out all the lights and lit a candle. When he removed the coat this is what I saw:





It was amazing, so original and personalized, it fits our relationship perfectly. As of the 25th of last month we'd been dating for 5 years and 1 month but I guess we have a new anniversary now.

Hope your Halloween was amazing as well
♥ Freckled Crafter