Patterns I Love

It's starting to get colder, so I am embarking on my yearly search for the perfect slouchy hat pattern...Look at this!

So cute!  So cute!!

This one is close to perfect!  Free Rav download too, you can't go wrong with that.  :D

Patterns I Love

Kelley Freeman's Zombie Jesus amigurumi is GENIUS.

Get it at her Etsy shop.  Hell, buy ALL THE THINGS, cause her designs are awesome!  :D

Patterns I Love

Just a beautifully simple cardigan.

I haven't ventured into sweater-making territory yet, but this cardie is seriously tempting!

Patterns I Love

Sheer genius.

Procreating ungulants, indeed!  :D

Spin, Span, Spun

I love Polwarth.  Not as much as I love My BFL (TM), but it's a really nice spin.  This is some Blue Moon handpainted that I bought at Rhinebeck a couple of years ago, 9.5 ounces...The colorway is...erm...the colorway is handwritten on the label, and a little bit illegible.  I think it says "Sock Gabe DHD"...At least that's what it looks like?  :/

But it's SO FREAKIN' PRETTY.  I admit it, I squeed a little bit when I saw it.

The colors aren't photographing very well; it's a little bit more muted than this picture seems to show, but you get the idea...

And here it is plied into a nice sock weight...Since it was almost 10 ounces, I should get a whole lotta yardage out of this!

Organiza-SHUN

When I'm not busy studying or playing Plague, Inc. on my phone, I spend way too much time cruising Pinterest...Luckily, I have managed to convince myself that this is productive time, since I have found some really neat patterns, ideas for future projects, cute shoes, and awesome color schemes in case I buy a house one day.  Hooray for rationalization!!  :D

But while I hear other students on the bus planning their spring breaks in Cancun or Panama City Beach , I have plans to spend that time doing some serious organization, particularly in my Art Room O' Doom.

I already have a little date book I carry around with me to organize my schedule, but since I am a visual person, I thought that hanging something like this in the kitchen might help things along a little bit:

This has some really good tips...Sometimes the most obvious idea doesn't always occur to me, and the whole separating your WIPs from your stash?  ZOMGS, WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT BEFORE???  I might have already finished that sweater's worth of olive merino if it wasn't sitting in a tote with all of the other stuff!  ;)

I absolutely love how she's displayed her finished shawls here, and the whole yarn room has such a finished look to it, while still being a viable (and beautiful!) workspace.

Then there's this...

Not so sure I want to sit around winding yarn onto old TP rolls, but maybe there's something to be taken from the concept?  Or not...  ;)

Patterns I Love

OK, so I may have mentioned before that I am The World's Worst Knitter, and the thought of trying lace just scares the bejeezus out of me, but this shawl's little bit of lacy edging might just be a possibility...

Whatcha Doin'?

So I decided that I needed to put some effort into finishing up the approximately 4700 WIPs I have lying around, because it is just ridiculous at this point...I have a box FULL of scarves in the art room that just need the ends woven in, and afghans that are done but for a couple rows of edging, and three quarters completed shawls, and who knows what!

This scarf is so old that I can't even remember the pattern or the yarn (unfortunately), and all it needed was blocking and a couple of ends woven in, so I did it.  I wish I could remember which yarn I used, because it is so very soft and smooth that it's gotta have some silk in it...At a guess, some flavor of silk/merino blend?  And I love the colorway...

I have actually been wearing this scarf since last year, but it really needed blocking, so I figured since I had everything laid out from blocking the Mystery Green Scarf, it was high time it got done:

The pattern is one of my favorites, from this book...And some discontinued Knit Picks yarn, the name of which escapes me...Whichever yarn made way for the Stroll Tonal Sock a couple of years back?

I've made this pattern at least three times...The first was a scarf out of Caron Simply Soft, funnily enough, that garnered loads of compliments despite its humble acrylic beginnings.  Then I made it in a much larger gauge, again in acrylic, but in a shawl size that is still so cozy to wrap up in when I'm watching the teevee.

But I tend to like my scarves long, and I have been pinning and pinning and pinning while blocking just these two scarves until I am quite sick of it...The next couple of WIPs I pull out of that box better not need blocking or all my good intentions may end up going out the window.  ;)

I Has A Crafty

Ever since I moved into my apartment over a year ago, I have been struggling with organization, particularly in the bathroom.  My old space had a large linen cupboard, and a long countertop where I was able to keep my makeup all sorted into bins, hang my necklaces on pretty scrollwork jewelry organizers, and all kinds of good stuff.  My new place, as much as I love it, has absolutely NO counter space, and nowhere at all to put my beauty junk.  I have hardly worn earrings other than for special occasions, because it is such a pain to dig them out of the bottom of my jewel box.

Since I have no counter space, and no extra room for additional storage, I have been wracking my brain for ideas to maximize the space I do have, and came up with this:

An afternoon of stitching around the edges of some plastic canvas with a bit of acrylic, some ribbon, and I have a handy little earring organizer!

The top part is my favorite bit...Little bows, and I used a decorative brad I had on hand as a hanger.

My local JoAnn's had some 12 x 12 decorative metal squares, and I looked at them a few times, wondering what on earth they could be used for...

Slap a few magnets on the backs of some makeup containers, and it's handy cosmetics storage!  (And you get a cookie if you notice the reflection of my little paw in one of the eyeshadow cases  :D )

Done and done, the bathroom counter is cleared!

Whatcha Doin'?

In spite of the crappy cellphone picture, I am quite proud of this:

From a Michaels pattern book, done in Bernat Softee Baby, and I finished it the very day the baby was born!  :D

Rav Patterns I Love

I am totally in love with this pattern from Knit Cat's Blog...

 

I have been keeping my eyes peeled for quick, simple patterns to use up some of the handspun I've got just lying around the house, and this is perfect!  I think I might do it flat and seam it, simply because I don't have the circs, and money's a little tight this semester, but it should work out fine.