In the last month, I've had Christmas looming over my head. And in that time, I managed to make a bunch of gifts for the children in the family - they are the only ones we got presents for this year, as money is a bit tight with the baby less than 3 weeks away (I think he's going to be early).
I'm the one on the left, in the awesome Cyclops shirt. The other lady is the mother of my sons cousin. :) She's only six weeks behind me in pregnancy.
Anyway, moving on. Aside from being weighed down by an ever growing baby, I've always been a bit lazy - and yet active - in my crafting. Not only have I been obsessively reading the Pokemon Adventures manga, I've been reading a bunch of other things. The Locke and Key series is phenomenal. But, aside from reading, the rest of my time as been spent either sleeping or crafting.
So, as I mentioned in my last blog post, I bought the circular knitting loom. Well, shortly after I posted about that, I went out and bought the long knitting loom of the same brand. And the Martha Steward loom set because it was 50% off. <3
So, having stocked up on fabulous new ways to use all that unwanted yarn in my stash, I got to work!
Having found out that Red Heart with Wool was discontinued - it made my life a bit harder because I found this out AFTER I was nearly complete a project - I decided to use the rest of it so that it wasn't taking up room in my stash anymore.
This is my first project with it, when I found out too late that it was discontinued.
I needed more grey for the scarf - I had some left over green - to make it longer, and that's when I found out that it's not on the market anymore. So, in a poorly thought up way to lengthen the scarf, I crocheted on black with Red Heart Soft. Double crochet, size 5mm hook. It worked out well enough. And if I mentally erase the black, it kind of reminds me of the Slytherin colours - maybe one day I'll make Hogwarts House accessories (even though it's been done to death!)
Here is the second gift set that I made using the loom set I bought. As you can see, it's not the greatest, either. I was experimenting with the brim sizes of the hats I was making and I was still learning how to work with the long loom and do colour changes. But, my niece was quite happy with it in the end! Of course, she's at that age, she loves anything and everything pink!
Here is the final hat and scarf set I made. This one is toddler sized. I didn't do the scarf striped for two reasons. One, I didn't want to do all those colour changes. Two, I didn't have enough to even bother. I really love how this one turned out. The two blues go together so well - they remind me of the blue candy canes!
Oh, I should mention that the first two scarves were done using 24 pegs of the long loom and the third was done using only 18 peg. I really think I prefer using 18 pegs to the 24, it's not as bulky on the shoulders and it just sits nicer all around. That, and you can get a longer scarf with the same amount of yarn! So, I think all scarves I make in the future on the knitting loom will be done with 18 pegs.
Except, this one I have started already that I've been working on for a while. There is a story to this.
Long story short, all the pictures I've taken over the last month of my progress on crafts are gone. I tripped over the cat and dropped my phone in the toilet, now it doesn't work. So, I've lost a lot of valuable information that I kept stored on my phone. I'm pretty irked by it all, especially because I can't really afford to replace it currently.
Luckily, my boyfriend upgraded his phone recently and we still have his old phone. Unfortunately, my SIM card doesn't fit in it, so I can only use it for internet when I have WiFi, and that depends if the phone wants to work or not, it lags so bad!
But, anyway. The scarf I've been working on. This is the yarn I've been using, except I think it's bulky. I'm not sure, I lost the label a while ago, though the pictures of it is on my destroyed phone.
I don't know how I acquired this beast of a yarn ball, but I did, it's been in my stash for ages and ages. I couldn't think of anything to use it for. So I thought, hey, why not make a scarf out of it, I'd totally rock something that green. I started making this in to a scarf pretty much as soon as I got the long loom. However, at the time, I didn't think anything of peg size or what that meant in the end.
So, not only am I halfway finished turning this in to a scarf, it's also done on 24 pegs, making it extremely bulky on the shoulders - though not so bad if you fold it in half. I had thought of restarting all that hard work and making it smaller on 18 pegs, but I'm not sure. It would be a lot thinner, and I'm also have a lot more yarn to work with. I had thought of maybe doing that and making a hat out of it, too. But, I'm really not sure. =/ Decisions, decisions.
Moving on.
I was recently given a bunch of yarn at my baby shower - yarn that I'm not likely to use, it's all baby yarn and such. It was a very lovely gesture from some friends of the family, though. However, there were also some half finished projects in with the yarn I was given - all knitting projects no less, so I'm hopeless there. I figured most of the yarn was going to end up useless to me, but in going through it, I found a gem.
Now, this is where I'd insert a picture before continuing, but those don't exist anymore, so I'll just continue.
Now, the yarn I found is rather rough and doesn't feel too nice, but that's mostly just because it's old and it's been sitting for quite a while. So, I decided to fashion it in to the most amazing hat.
Are the colours not nearly Joker perfect?! The best part? There was EXACTLY enough purple to make the brim!! I was so excited. I mean, I started making the hat, knowing that there might not be enough and I'd have to abort, but it worked out perfectly. And there was enough green, too. Of course, there were two half used balls of green and one half used ball of purple. So, I really lucked out in being able to make this. <3
I call it the "Are you joking?" hat. I know, lame, right?! I love it anyway.
And after I made the hat, I had the thought that maybe I should look up different loom patterns - this would have looked awesome as a slouch! When I had realized that all I thought was "C'mon, Synnie, have more forethought next time!"
And here's a thought. What if I take that giant green scarf I'm making, take it all apart, make a slouch hat from it and then turn the rest in to a scarf on 18 pegs?! I just might.
I still have a few balls of Red Heart with Wool to use. However, I already used Garnet and Cream to make a regular loom-knit hat - having done that before I made my Joker-esque hat - which would also loom amazing in a different style. I kind of want to make another hat with those colours in a new style, but at the same time, I kind of want to make it in to a stripped scarf. It would be similar to the ones I did for the kids, but all the strips would be the same thickness. Hmm. This is something I have to think about now.
Aside from the Garnet and Cream colours. All I have left are Cherry Red and Tangerine. I was thinking of just making solid coloured scarves out of them, as I really don't think the two colours would look nice together. And if I do that, I might look at different scarf patterns, too, if there are any. Though, I love just the basic scarf that my little instruction booklet showed me because it's so thick, warm and squishy! I don't know, we'll see what I can find. So many things I could do, so little time!
And now, moving away from all this talk of knitting looms..
I made one more thing as a Christmas gift.
You'll have to excuse the horrible picture. I had a bunch of progress pictures for this, on my other phone. This was taken on the crappy phone I'm currently using.
I made this for my toddler niece. She loved it. She started putting everything she could in to it. Oh, toddlers. This is what I have to look forward to in a few years.
Anyway, this is what I made the bag out of.
I remember where I acquired these. They were on sale for a dollar a ball back at the beginning of the year and they were just too soft for me to pass up. Making the bag took up just over two balls of the stuff. But, they're not very big. Also, I wrote out the pattern for this, which I shall post soon - I can't remember if it was on my other phone, or if I wrote it out on paper.
So, while I was googling a picture of this skein, I found out that it, too, has been discontinued. What the heck?! I mean, I've still got like 6-7 balls of this stuff, but still. Now I have to think very carefully of what I want to use it for. But, I do want to use it to get it out of my stash. Maybe I'll find something to make the baby out of it. I would try the hat pattern on it, but it's knitting. I don't really do knitting.
Maybe I'll find something very similar to it and fashion it in to a blanket.
And before I forget, I've always been working on an amigurumi. Normally I would post progress pictures, but, you know.
All that I shall reveal right now is that it is winter related and I shall be entering it in the DA Knitters contest. :)
Until next time (hopefully I can get in one more blog post before the baby arrives!)
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