Month: June 2010

Crafting

Productivity Abounds!

Emerald Thunder

The past 24 hours have been filled with completing projects that have been hanging around for a while. I first decided I wanted to finally finish the second hat I had been paid months ago to make for the teacher with whom I work. Seeing as how this is the last full week of NYC’s public school, it was now or the fall, and I just wanted to get it over with. My original concept for it was completely dreadful, so I cast that pathetic excuse for a hat aside and started again. This time I didn’t try to over-complicate it, and I am MUCH happier with the final product.


It’s not perfect, and it’s not "exactly" what she wanted, but it’s what I was able to do with my skill-level and quantity of dark brown yarn. I was not going to spend $4 on another skein just for 4 or 5 more rows, partially because she wasn’t going to pay me anymore money.

Next on my list of completions was a pink knitted square for another bunny. The most I could do was finish knitting/purling it because I STILL don’t have fiberfill. . . .

I then finished this "Love Bunny" I had crocheted a few days ago but hadn’t yet stuffed it because there was nothing to stuff it with. I ended up using the yarn from the first hat I started because I wasn’t going to be using it for anything else, and the bunny was crying to be finished.

And finally, earlier today one of my suitemates had said that my other suitemate was super stressed about a final project for her class that’s ending this week, so I thought I would make a little flower for her since she thought the other one I made was cute. It just so happens that the yarn I have almost perfectly matches the color scheme of all of her personal belongings.

I think I might next tackle finishing the remaining pieces for my big surprise project; it seems the most logical option. Although, I don’t know when I’ll be able to do that because the next couple of days are going to be super busy for me. . . .
  

Crafting

Not A Lot of Finishing Going On

Emerald Thunder

Thanks to my current lack of fiberfill, I haven’t had the urge to actually finish much of what I’ve started in the past couple of days. My big surprise is still sitting in unfinished pieces, as are a crochet bunny, a knitted bunny, and a crochet bear. The closest I’ve come to completing anything is putting the hot air balloon together, but minus stuffing the balloon part and stitching it all closed. I think I need to take one of the yarn strands off too, because it’s shorter than the other two, which bugs my perfectionist self.

I keep saying I’m going to go down to P & S Fabrics and search for fiberfill (in addition to more yarn!), but I just can’t seem to motivate myself to walk that far down Broadway and to spend the money. Now I can’t go until Sunday morning at the earliest because it closes super early on Fridays and is closed on Saturdays. I don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on stuffing, but I might just do that and order some online, even though shipping is insane and it won’t be delivered for a few days. I don’t know. I just know that if I go into P & S, no matter how inexpensive it is, I’m going to spend so much money and have so much new stuff for my already large stash. Since I don’t have any suitable finished object photos, here’s my yarn stash to prove that, in reality, I really don’t need anymore yarn, even though I still don’t quite have all the colors I desire.

This is my all-purpose yarn. I use it for all my knitting and crocheting.

And this is my crochet thread and all of my fuzzy winter yarns. They’re pretty much just an assortment of Lion Brand Homespun, which I absolutely love for scarves and wintery things. I think I might have 12 or 13 skeins in there at the moment.  I also have two skeins of a Lion Brand thick navy blue wool yarn, but they just don’t fit in the container with the rest of my stash, so they remain in a bag with knitting needles, unfinished cross-stitches, and other things. I’ll definitely spring them once summer is over and I can comfortably commence with knitting up bunches and bunches of warm scarves/hats/etc.

Crafting

Finally Getting Around to What’s Been Sitting in my Stash for a Year!

Emerald Thunder

When I first started crafting last summer, I saw these free pattern sheets at Walmart and took this one for the heck of it, even though I didn’t know how to crochet at the time. Well, I can finally crochet well enough, and so I decided to attempt this one last night. I managed to finish everything but the wings before I went to bed, and I just made and attached my version of the wings this afternoon.

May I present: The Most Adorable Bumble Bee I’ve Ever Seen!

Crafting

Critters, Critters, Critters!

Emerald Thunder

Last spring/summer when I first began knitting, I wanted to make these cute little bunnies out of a knitted square, but the link to the instructions was broken. I thought I could just figure out how to do it myself, but that never happened because I wanted to use a really thin, soft yarn and smaller knitting needles, which I never went out to get, even though I went to the craft stores countless times while I was at home. However, all has finally changed because I stumbled upon the directions a couple days ago and became a happy happy knitter. I don’t think I ever would have figured out how they got all folded and formed without this website, even though it’s extremely simple and I’m now saying to myself “You couldn’t figure out how to do THIS?” Oh well, I now know, and I’m not going to be forgetting anytime soon. But now I think I want to actually go find some luxurious yarn and make more super soft ones because I finally have some smaller needles.

Crafting

Amigurumi, Part 2

Emerald Thunder

Yesterday’s foray into spherical amigurumi led me to try out something new very quickly. After finishing Winston, I found a pattern online that explained how to make a Mario Power-Up Mushroom, and of course I jumped at the chance to make one. At the moment I only have the one, but I’ll be making a 1UP one after I complete my current project and get my hands on a ton more fiberfill.

May I present, Peter the Power-Up:

And here is a sneak peek at the project I started this morning, because I know some people are just too impatient to wait for the final product, especially one so time-consuming and tedious.

When I began this morning, I was blissfully unaware of the size the finished product would be, and for that I am now paying. This part alone has used up most of my blue yarn and ALL of my fiberfill *sadface*. As a result, my plans for tomorrow include a trip to my old neighborhood to try to find some Red Heart Super Saver yarn and stuffing. I just hope that if I find what I need, I can get out of the store without spending too much more money and without too many additional bags of yarn and notions and anything else that happens to be in stock.