John Watson's Cabled Sweater of Warmth

I've always loved the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes but in recent years with the explosion of Sherlock in the media I've read all the stories over again and have become in specific a huge fan of BBC's Sherlock. In particular I love Martin Freeman's Watson.

As a knitter and costumer I'm always noticing what characters are wearing and from the very first moment I loved Watson's sweater he wears in the first episode. I've also always wanted to knit a wool cabled sweater and there just happened to be a pattern on ravelry so I decided it was about time!

 The pattern is really more of a collaborative set of guidelines  at times this made it harder to sort out but it lent for a lot of room for alterations. In particular I added some shaping in the waist and bust so it didn't look like a big sack, it still isn't the most figure flattering but I find it's very hard to do that with cables, at least for those of us with a bit of curves.

 I'd call this finished sweater a total success! I wore is to the friday of Chicago TARDIS and even got recognized a few times!

Till next time,
TheFreckled Crafter

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

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

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

Hello Friday!

A few months ago my coffee maker broke, it was a small Mr.Coffee and I was quite sad. Luckly my parents were nice enough to give me an extra french press they had. I'm loving french pressed coffee SO much more than from that old machine! Sadly being glass it would be cold and sad within two minutes. A few weeks ago I decided I needed to fix this and thus made up my own pattern and started knitting. Sometimes I love doing that, it's really encouraging to see something you sketched out come to life from your own mind.

Rasberry Chocolate Coffee Press

There were issues and a false start. I may re-knit it and produce it as a free pattern cause it was fun and I was able to knit it in a weekend. Best part is by using 2 yarns (SWS & Wool of the Andes) it insulates really well and keeps my coffee warm much longer.

Oh, and it's Friday, so here's my inspiration for the week. I really don't need anything else because I want this jacket a seen on Hermione in the Deathly Hallows trailer so much! Sadly I can't find any other images and will thus have to wait for more before I can make my own. It will be mine though!
♥ Freckled Crafter

Project peek

I just finished a test knit I'd been working on for a while for a friend. I'm so excited because not only is it an awesome pattern that's going to be on Knipicks but also I got the awesome chance to be her model!

Here's some sneak peak pics, I'll do a formal post once it's up on knitpicks with all the info and a full review.


Today is full of reading my favorite subject, female artists, and working on my newest costuming project.

♥ Freckled Crafter

Adventures with my knitting machine...

A while back my friend Beth gave me her old EZ Knitter knitting machine. I just got around to trying it out last night and after a good deal of false starts, dropped stitches, and swears I finally created my first machine knit item, for a costume no less!



That's right! I knit myself some suspenders!!! My fem!eleven is almost done and I'm soooo excited!

And although machine knitting has been fun and I can accomplish a lot in a small amount of time it'll never take the place of hand knitting!

♥ Freckled Crafts

This is how my days go:

♥ Freckled Crafter

Winston Churchill the Dalek

Sorry all for the impromptu hiatus. I was so sick of the computer after finals that I took almost a week off of using it at all. Luckily my disdain for it has worn off and I'm ready to start posting what I've been up to these past two weeks! Cause I've been doing ALOT of crafting and I've got tons to show.

No better time to start than now, right?

Pattern: EXTERMIKNIT! by Peniwiper
Yarn: Vanna's Choice and Lionbrand Cotton from ze stash (triple stranded)
Needles: size 9s

Whovian craftters probably already know the pattern, it's kinda legendary. For those who don't know Daleks are the forever enemy of the Doctor. This is actually my second Dalek and it was my post semester project, started it on saturday after Matt's graduation on our way back home for the weekend. He's alot larger than my first dalek, Tegan and also alot heavier. I learned alot from making Tegan a year ago and put it to good work this time around, tons of mods!


As you can see he's quite large, also REALLY heavy, great for cuddling! As you can see he still needs something to stiffen his plunger arm, hopefully a zip tie will do the trick. While I was still working on the bobbles (OMG so many bobbles!) I had a thought that he'd make a great ironside from the current season episode Victory of the Daleks. Thus my next sewing project is a cargo belt pocket that will button on.


Mods:

• purl one stitch between bobble panels instead of two. I saw this mod on ravelry and it prevents the tiny head they get sometime
  
• knit two, purl two at the 'shoulders'
  
• duplicate stitches on the 'neck' so it looks more like grates
  
• eliminate three stockinette rounds on the bottom between the decrease rounds (this creates a flatter bottom so it doesn't sit funky)

As much as I love them you can see the Doctor feels a little differently :/


And of course the scene which made all the fangirls squee:

"Would you care for some TEEEAAAA?!"

♥ Freckled Crafter

Finished Project: Mini K-9

I made this last weekend in between writing bouts and I finally found a little time to post it! I'd been wanting to make this for such a long time and I finally just pulled out the yarn and cast on, it was perfect because whenever I took a mini break I'd knit one piece and then once I was done for the night I could sit down, enjoy some classic who and assemble my little friend!

Pattern: Mini K-9 by Helen Callis
Yarn: Scraps from my stash and embroidery thread.
Needles: US #3 I believe

I love how wonky he is! Perfection in the imperfection, I always like to think. He goes perfectly with my little handcrafted Five doll by InkyPaws. I'm seriously thinking about commissioning her to make me a four doll to match K-9 perfectly, her work is so cute and you all know how I love supporting hand made!


♥ Freckled Crafter

Day 2 of Show and Tell Week: Chevron and Feather Scarf

Today is a scarf I made quite a while ago. It's the chevron and feather scarf from The Little Box of Scarves. The patterns are really convenient because they're each on a little card so you can throw them in your bag and keep them with your knitting.

The yarn is Lion Brand Midnight Mohair which I found on sale for a $1 but foolishly only bought two skeins. This resulted in a shorter scarf. Luckly I found this perfect peacock pin at Micheals, I think it really complements the yarn and pattern.


The yarn is made up of two threads stranded together, a bright multicolored shiny yarn and a whispy mohair. The effect is something not easy to photograph but in person you can see it's true beauty. The pattern was fun and easy to memorize quickly (my favorite kind of lace).
Well that's all till tomorrow,
♥ Freckled Crafter