End of the Year Post!

TADA! I have made a post with only two and a half hours left until the new year!

I have a could of things to post about before we begin a new year. I'm going to start with this.

Remember that green yarn I said I didn't know what I wanted to do with? Well, this is what I ended up making with it - though, sadly, I have a fair amount left over.

This is arm knitting, I stumbled across it while I was browsing the intarwebs. It was super quick to make, though it irritated the heck out of my skin! (I have sensitive skin to textures) Obviously this is an infinity scarf. Though, I made it longer than I probably should have, but I like it nonetheless. :)

Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do with the left over yarn, maybe a hat? I don't know, I'm sure I'll find something. I've still got half a bin full of yarn I just want to be rid of, and I'm slowly finding things to make out of it all.

This, for example.

I had three balls of this Bernat Blanket yarn (Mallard Wood). I wasn't sure what sort of pattern would look good with it, but I saw on one of the labels a Brick Blanket pattern - http://www.yarnspirations.com/bricks-blanket.html -and decided that it couldn't hurt to try. I really like how it's turning out so far. The amount of blanket in the picture is how far I got with one ball - I have three more to use (I picked up a fourth ball because the pattern called for it).

I've been working on the blanket off and on, doing a couple rows a day in between working on other projects - and playing video games, and reading.

And now, for the project I've been so excited over!

Chilly, an enemy from Kirby! This is what I've spent most of the month working on. His bottom is full of stuffing beads so that he can stand on his own! And the top of his hat as plastic canvas inside so that I doesn't bulge with the stuffing. And, obviously, his eyes are needle felted on. I just love him!

Though, as simple as he looks, there was quite a bit of trial and error with him. Mostly just the eyebrows and collar. I couldn't decide if I wanted to use felt for the eyebrows and make the really big like they're supposed to be. In the end, as you can see, I decided on this, it's much cuter. <3

This is all I've really done in the last week since I posted. So, really, not a whole lot.

However, on boxing day, I did some shopping. At the craft store. And it was absolutely marvelous!

Michael's had a sale on yarn. Most of it was 55% off. Omg, right? There is a particular brand I've taken a liking, too. Loops and Threads Impeccable. I find it to be a bit thicker than Red Heart and it has a very nice variety of colours. However, it's a bit expensive. Except for boxing day. They went from $4.99 down to $2.79. And I had a coupon for the day - 30% entire purchase, INCLUDING SALE ITEMS!!

Needless to say, I spent about $70 stocking up on colours. A whole bin of just L&T Impeccable. It's magical. There are so many things I can make now and I no longer have the excuse that I don't have the colours for it. <3

However, between the baby coming - 12 days to go - and my determination to use up all the yarn that I don't really have a use for, I think it might be a while before I make another amigurumi - though I do have one on the go from ages ago (if anybody has read most of my blog, it's the project with the brown fuzzy yarn).

Anyway, that is all I have to post for now. That makes 32 blog posts this year! Hopefully I can keep up with it next year. Though, I'll be happy with just being able to post monthly!

Tata for now.

Happy New Year, everyone! <3

Here I am!

So, it's been well over a month since I've posted anything here. But, if anybody follows my DeviantArt, you'll know I haven't been completely inactive! I've been quite busy, actually.

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!)

Kirby and Sudowoodo

I think I shall start off first my showing off my finished Kirby!

I'm very proud of how well he turned out - especially for a first attempt at needle felting. :) He's absolutely adorable. Sadly, I didn't have the appropriate colours to add some more detail to his face - mainly the blush.

However, there is this awesome guy that I finished.

Pretty good, right?

And now for the needle felt magic!

I didn't really bother taking any pictures of the process of needle felting him, there wasn't really much to it, really. And now to head over to my DeviantArt account and submit this to the Amigurumi-Challenge. <3

However, I think I might take the pattern that I wrote out for him and perhaps add it to my Etsy shop - which I have never used. I'm thinking it's a good idea. :)

And now, with my hands rested from crocheting, I can begin my next project, involving the brown fuzzy yarn!

Until next time!

Current Projects

After a long week of slaving away on the project for the Woodland Creatures amigurumi challenge, I'm close to done - the body, that is. So, I ended up getting overzealous at the start of this project. I didn't want to make it too small, and in the process, I ended up making it bigger than I intended.

Here, it doesn't look too big, right? Well, I didn't think so either. And as I kept crocheting and crocheting, I realized that I may have been a bit too ambitious. Sure, I wanted to make a bigger than usual amigurumi, but I think I over did it! After days of crocheting - off and on - this is where I'm at!

Just ignore the lumps and odd shape, it's not properly stuffed yet. As you can see, it's quite big. I'm hoping that I'll be finished making the length within the next day or so - I'm hoping I only have a few more rows left. I also decided to do something I little different with my stuffing. I used beige nylon - pantyhouse. I figured, it's a BIG project, and I don't want to risk any mistakes of stuffing showing through, even though I'm using quite a small hook.

I think it's going to be quite the adventure stuffing this in the end, however I have my trusty STUFFING STICK!

It's not really a stuffing stick, I'm just using it as one. In fact, I'm not even sure what it's intended for. It was in a collection of crochet hooks and knitting needles I received from a friend of mine a while back. Hopefully it'll work well in assisting me with stuffing this monster.

On another note, I've acquired wire. Yes, wire. This is going to be a fully poseable project!

The one on the left I purchased at my local craft store, the one on the right, Wal-Mart. The price difference, almost five dollars. But, oh well. Wal-Mart didn't carry as thick of wire. So, it's all good. I'm so excited to finish the body, just to work on the rest of him and make him as poseable as possible!

I've been working so hard on him, this happened.

It's not the first time this has happened to me, however, this was a relatively new hook - luckily I had a spare one! Hopefully it holds out until the end of the project - and many more! - but, if not, I bought another one. :)

And in the meantime, I've been needing to take breaks in between crocheting - a day off here and there. And in that time, I couldn't just sit around and do nothing. So, I figured I would start working on some of those plastic canvas ideas I had a while back - I hadn't forgotten about them! They are awesome.

It starts off looking like this.

Now, I bet you're all wondering, what the heck is that going to be? (It kind of reminds me of something from Harry Potter - Ravenclaw, even though it's blue and black) Before I show the next progress picture, I'm going to share what behind this looks like, because I think it's super cool!

Neato, right? And now, maybe this will answer your question of what the heck I'm making!

Looking familiar? I hope so! I've been keeping to a theme of plastic canvas projects - with the piggy bank, the book ends, and the pencil holder.

TADA!! Pretty sweet, amiright? It's the ! block (panel in this case) from the Mario 64 games! I did one for each colour. If anybody played these games as much as I did, then hopefully you'll remember which each colour did. Blue gave you the Vanishing Cap.

Green gave you the Metal Cap.

 Red gave you the Wing Cap.

And yellow gave you coins and other objects!

Now, let me tell you, these aren't small, at all. But, it's the only way I could work the pattern without it looking awkward.

See, pretty big. Now, I'm not sure if I'm going to just leave them as a single panel, or turn them all in to cubes. I'd love to make them into cubes, but, I'm sure we all know how tedious repeating the same project can be. At the very least, I want to make one into a cube - probably the blue one. I guess we'll see how I feel about doing the project over and over again from there - though, I do have enough of the sturdy plastic canvas to complete them all!!

Oh, I should probably share this.

This is the pattern I used to make the question mark, the rest I had to figure out on my own.

Now, on a new note, this Friday was Michele's last day with us at TADA. We had a small gathering for her, said words of praise and all that. Then, somehow, she throws me in to the spotlight on her special day. That lady is crafty, let me tell you.

And now that she's gone - though she will come back periodically for visits and whatnot - the group and associates want me to take over. I told them, as long as someone else is liaison between the clinic and the group, I can try my best to take over for the art courses. Until the baby is born. We'll be meeting this Friday as a group to discuss what we want to do. Michele is willing to stay in contact with the group until we're all back on our feet in terms of plans. I was thinking, as I've been gone for two years, that surely there are activities the group wouldn't mind repeating.

So, I'm going to look in to that, see if I can make a lesson plan that's a couple months of repeats until I get back in the swing of things myself. It's not a bad idea. But, we'll see on Friday.

And now, I leave you all with this.

Paintings, Blankets, and More!

I think I shall start off with what I was up to today. This morning I decided to make a special appearance at an art group I helped found and name over two years ago - live got in the way in that time and I had to stop going for quite a while.

I got the idea to show up from running in to another founder of the group - there are three of us, Michele and Sally are the other two - the other day. It had been a while since I'd seen them, and I heard that Michele was leaving the city within the next week or so - of course I had to go!

The group is located at a mental health section of a clinic in the north end of my city. It was founded on the premise that art is a good way to help ease depression and anxiety - I used to co-host depression/anxiety groups for almost two years. The three of us banded together, with the blessing of the clinic to create TADA

The
Artistic
Dreams
Academy

Named by yours truly. :)

Anyway, I went today, and it was fantastic. It has expanded so much since I last went, I barely recognized any of the people there. Michele and Sally gave me a formal and heart warming introduction as the girl who inspired, helped create and name the group. I haven't felt my face turn red is such a long time. However, following that announcement, it was said that Michele - the woman that kept the entire group function - would be leaving and needed someone to fill her place - all eyes on me.

I have been considering the idea, but it's a lot of responsibility. It's not the I don't want to, it's just that I don't think I could. Michele was a liaison between the group and clinic, planned majority of the art classes, did the accounting, sent out reminder emails, set up guest speakers and just all around kept the group strong and happy. I would love to fall back in to being a host, but I'm not sure I'm ready. After a couple of years of rough times, I'm slowly starting to get my own life back together, I'm not sure if I could assist others in remaining happy and confident in life.

Though, I will continue to attend and help where I can. But, with the baby coming, it would be too much, I think. But I love the idea of getting back in to art. :)

This is what we did today.

Michele had the group choose a picture of a fish - she had a bunch of printouts. She made each of us draw our fish on to a thick paper - let me tell you, it's been years since I've picked up something and drawn, but I didn't do too shabby! From there, she made us outline the colours we wanted to use in crayon, as you can see in my picture. This is the reason for it.

The crayon creates a waterproof barrier between the paper and paint. It makes the edging that we outlined really stand out. I used a white crayon to make the little bubbles you see. Also, you can't see it in the picture, however, all but the face and fins are done in a subtle glitter paint - I haven't painted in longer than I haven't drawn!

I had considered drawing out some seaweed or coral, but I really didn't feel confident enough to attempt such a task, so I just painted a blue background. This is the end result.

I rather like it. It's not too bad for doing something artsy for the first time in about two and a half years - maybe one day, I'll look through my photos and see if I still have copies of stuff that I used to draw, some of it is on my DeviantArt, but not much.

You can check it out here: http://wykked-as-syn.deviantart.com/gallery/47472845/Drawing

A lot of it was before I really got in to drawing. And as you can see, none of it is my own work - I can't draw without looking at something. Need to see the picture in order to put it on paper. I know, I fail as a drawer, but oh well. :)

Here is what Michele and Sally decided to do with everybody's finished work.

I think it's pretty cool. Michele called the art lesson "Aquarium", clever, eh?

Anyway, the art group is every two weeks, however the group meets up every week. On the weeks it's not art, it's EDIAGD - Every Day is a Good Day. It's part of the depression/anxiety group, it's something the people can go to in order to continue the healing. Sally is the founder of this, and runs it. Basically, you just go, talk about things that make you feel happy, and good - just hang out and socialize, really. It's fun, and relaxing. It's a nice getaway. As I've stated before - I have first hand experience with battling depression (and anxiety).

There is a third group that goes on, every Sunday, in the morning - Art in the Park. Michele and Sally started this as I was diving in to my own problems and started to leave TADA. It's a brilliant idea, I've been once before, ages ago. The group just gets together in the nearby park and just draws. Anything. Nothing special. Could be the sky, the trees, the grass, something make belief, anything at all. But, that might be something I'd consider going to. I just need to find out the times.

However, next week is Michele's -surprise - going away gather - she hates the word party, she doesn't like parties, at all. After she left today the rest of the group started planning it all out. Sally - who works at a grocery store in the West End - is going to be getting a cake, as she gets a discount. The rest of us all pitched in what we could to get Michele a going away gift card to Curry's - an art store. I felt a little bad that I didn't have much money on me - I usually don't carry cash - but I pitched in what I had. :) So, I'm pretty excited for next week.

Now, I bet you're all wondering how that ultrasound of mine went last week. Well, let me tell you, it was pretty amazing! There was a minor complication, the baby didn't want to face the right way for a while. First the baby was facing my spine, all snuggled in to momma! Then, the baby turned the right way, but wouldn't let the technician get a clear view of the face. But, in the end, we got it.

Noticed how I haven't said the gender yet? Well, let me tell you something. I called it. For almost three weeks before the ultrasound, I just had a gut feeling about the gender, no idea why, my head just kept telling me what it was, pure confidence, no hesitation. I was right. And it sure made Alex one happy Daddy! It's a boy! I've never seen Alex look so purely, openly and truly happy. His face lit up, it was like the planets aligned for him and for the moment, he felt as truly happy as a human being could possibly feel. He glowed, he beamed, he was giddy. He held my hand and just couldn't stop grinning like a loon. He always told me he wanted a son, more than anything, a son to raise, to teach, to love and hold. I know he would have been happy if it was a girl, but I know this means the world to him.

And yes, we already have a name picked out - we had a name for a boy and a girl. Our baby boy will be called Killian. Killian Alexander Hare. Flows together nicely, eh? Ten points to those that get the name reference. :)

Oh, so I have finally gotten around to stuffing the pillows, see!

I've explained four out of five of these pillows in a previous post. The green pillow I did not do, nor did my friend Amy. A girl I used to know did it for me - it's where I got the idea. It's still my shirt, she just made it in to a pillow. And I do appreciate that she did that, especially because I would have never thought of it on my own. Because of her ingenious idea, I now have ways to preserve my shirts. :) 

However, there is no zipper installed on this one. So, the stuffing is stuck in, and is in real need of a fixing up. Alex kept sitting on it without realizing it and kind of flattened it. >.> I want to put a zipper in, but I'm not sure I have the heart to change anything on it. I don't talk to her anymore, but I did appreciate the friendship while it was there. But, not much to be done about that, I suppose...


In other news. I have started that other baby blanket I wanted to make. At first, it was a toss up between these two colours.

Naturally I opted for the blue, it's just such a nice colour! It's very vibrant. And the yarn is so soft! It's Charisma. I love the feel of it.

So, the pattern called for this much.

But, I only ended up needing three balls. I'm still not fully finished - I've got maybe two rows left, but I've been getting distracted by everything - it's a very..tedious and monotonous pattern. But, I've been working on it since last Sunday. Here are my progress pictures - I didn't take as many as I probably could have, but I didn't see the point with this.

This is the point where the pattern really starts to show itself, and a perfect capture of the blue. 

From this point on, it just reminds me of cake. Well, right now, a rug, because of the yarn ends - you have to change colour every row, it was a bit annoying, but oh well. Here is the pattern - it's a downloadable PDF (mine was on a label that I bought, though): http://www.yarnspirations.com/baby-blanket-196854.html

See, doesn't it just look like one giant cake?! At this point, I'm most of the way finished. I'll probably sit down and do the last couple of rows tonight. And after that, start on a new commission from Amber.

Amber wants me to make her a wall hang with the Robin Williams quote "You're only given one little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it." So, I'm pretty excited to start that, a nice break from crocheting. :)

But, after that, I have a new project in mind. I shan't say just yet. But, I shall let you all know, it involves more FUZZY YARN!! I have a very love hate relationship with it. Emphasis on the hate. But, I can't resist using it, especially when it's just so perfect. And soft.

And speaking of yarn. I was talking to a lady in the TADA group while I was there. She's moving soon and wants to be rid of a lot of things she's not using anymore. Yarn, she has a bunch of yarn. And pattern books. She said that because I'm pregnant and able to use it, she's willing to just give it to me. Only thing is I have to go pick it up. And send her an email to let her know I'm serious about it. I feel so grateful already and I haven't even received anything yet. I think I might send her that email when I'm finished blogging. Which would be now, as I am out of things to say. :)

Hopefully I'll have more to post in a few days!

Nautical Pot Holder and a New Project!

After much work yesterday and this morning, I finally managed to finish the Nautical Potholder I have been working on. I forced myself to sit there and do as many rows as I could before needing a break. Eventually my hands adjusted and I managed to finish it this morning, some time before noon.

I even made it six rows longer than the pattern called for - mostly because I felt it was too small, even for my hands, which are quite tiny. I really like how it all blends together.

Anyway, after packing and going through boxes that never got unpacked from the last move, I found a completely unused sheet of plastic canvas! Needless to say, I started on a project that has been running through my head since I was working on the Coin Block Piggy Bank. 

Awesome, right? I wasn't sure if the sheet of canvas would be enough for what I wanted, but it turned out I was able to make four of these pieces, with canvas to spare!

I know I said I really didn't want to start any more projects until after the move, but I just couldn't help myself! However, I think I'm going to have to wait to finish this idea, as I will need more canvas to continue on, however, I shall do what I can until then! 

I am very excited to do this. I even used to my plastic canvas stitches book! It took me a bit to figure out which square pattern I liked the best and would work well with this image, I finally settled on this. 

However, I ran into a slight dilemma. This particular square pattern calls for a 5x5 square. As you can see on the cut out sections of the stairs, they become 4x4. So, I need to find a new pattern to use for making this a 3D figure - I didn't quite think this through before I started it, I never really do, though. So, I'm going to have to study my new book and see if I can find a 4x4 square pattern that is similar to the 5x5 one, for consistency.

I also realized that in trying to make this accurate, I may have complicated things for myself. As you can see, the lip of the pipe is one square bigger than the shaft, meaning that I'm going to have to cut out and work with a simple square width piece. That ought to be fun. =\

Anyway, now I have to figure out how wide I want these figures to be, which will probably have to wait, as I don't have many scrap canvas pieces that I can work with. Unless I get lucky and find another unused sheet, or even just a partially used piece. 

But, in other news, I've been finding a bunch of old projects from when I first got back into crafting. It's kind of neat to see just how far I've come since January. However, I had a bunch of Pokeball coasters and a Pokebox made, and I can't seem to find them anywhere! D= The coasters were kept inside the box. 

I know I took those with me to Anime North, along with a bunch of Pokeball amigurumi I made. I still have to amigurumi, but all my plastic canvas work is nowhere to be find, so I'm hoping it's just misplaced - as I'm still not finished packing - and that I didn't actually leave it at the convention. That would suck, and I don't think I'd want to redo them again. :(

But, I think that is all I have to post for tonight. I do plan on working more on the boa scarf, hopefully I'll do that tomorrow. I am trying really hard not to start any new projects until after the move, even though I have a million ideas going through my head of plastic canvas creations, and some crochet ideas. Luckily, I am too broke from moving to even afford anything for a bit - I can't tell if that is good or bad. Oh well.

Oh, one more thing, if anyone actually reads these, it would be wonderful to get some sort of feedback. :) And perhaps a follow on my DeviantArt, maybe? =D

Good night, all! :)

From the Middle Baby Blanket!

So, it took me a bit longer to finish the baby blanket than I thought it would. I blame the fact that I had to run around the city looking for a third ball of the yarn I was using. At the end of the second ball, it only measured 15 inches from the middle.

However, I lucked out and the only place left to look carried it - the last ball, to boot! 

So, finishing off the last couple of rows took up most of yesterday - it's a lot more time consuming than it looks! But, I managed to do it.

As you can see, it's huge - it ended up measuring just over 20 inches from the centre. I was thinking of finishing it off with a row of white trimming, but I'm not too sure. I do have the yarn to do so, though! So, feedback on that idea would be greatly appreciated!

As you can also see, I'm wearing my awesome Ariel and Prince Eric leggings - I love Disney so much, classic Disney, I should say.

Anyway, just ignore the mess in the background, as you all know, I am in the middle of packing and whatnot. Also, my cool scarf collection in still just hanging around, if anyone is interested. =D

But, I think that's all I have to post for today, nothing exciting going on and no new projects underway. Just the ones I've been procrastinating on. That pot holder just relaly hurts my thumb area after about a row or two, so I've been slowly working on that. And knitting a few rows of the scarf whenever I have the urge - which isn't as often as it should be!

Hopefully I'll have something else to post before the end of the week, which is when I move. Until then, take care!

On Going Projects

Today is just a quick post of the things I'm working on. I suppose I'll start with the Nautical Potholder - which I haven't done too much more on, maybe five or six rows, as it really hurts my hands to do more than one row at a time.

However, I can happily say that I felt confident enough to continue on the scarf I was working on, I managed to get three inches down without incident, which is good. I really need to start putting an hour or so a day aside to work on it. 

Now comes the exciting news. The other day, my boyfriend and I were out shopping with his parents, and his mother decided to buy me this really soft and adorable yarn for making a baby blanket!

 

It's Bernat Baby Blanket. IT's so soft and thick, it will be extremely warm for when the baby comes! She bought me two balls of this stuff, just in case one isn't enough to finish the blanket. It was super sweet of her!

This is how much I've finished thus far.

I've just been following the crochet pattern on the back of the label that came with the yarn, it's called "From the Middle." It should be somewhere on the Bernat website if anyone is interested.

From the centre, as you can see, it measures nine inches, the pattern says to finish off entirely when it's eighteen inches from the centre. As I'm already more than halfway through the first ball of yarn, I'm thinking I'll have just enough to finish this project - which is going by super quick!! Depending on how much yarn is left over when I reach the recommended length, I might just continue until it's gone. 

Gosh, I just love how the colours look all blended together - even though the pattern calls for three different colours of yarn, with switching colours every two rows. 

Anyway, I have more exciting news! At the beginning of the week I order a plastic canvas stitch book from Etsy. It came in! I was so excited for it, but I'm out of plastic canvas since my last project, and I don't want to buy anymore until after the move. 

I left it in the wrapping with the shops name on it, just in case anyone wanted to go take a look at her stuff, she has so much, especially for plastic canvassing.

I am so excited to start using this book, my projects are going to rock now! 

Anyway, that's all I have to post for today. I must get back to packing - which I've done a lot of, today! - and crocheting - which I've also done a lot of today! 

I'm hoping to be finished the blanket by tonight or sometime early tomorrow. I noticed on my DeviantArt that my next post will be my hundredth deviation, and I want to make it something special. So, I figured, why not something that means so much to me right now - the baby blanket! <3

Until it's finished, I don't think I'll be working on much else. But, be sure to check back in the next day or so for more posts, I'm sure I'll be finished soon!