Pants! Finally!

In June, I found some ladybug fleece for sale at Wal-mart, along with my apron fabric and pattern.  For those of you who don't know, I am obsessed with ladybugs.  I have ladybugs everywhere.  When I turned eighteen, I tried to convince my Dad to let me buy, for $20 on E-bay, a box of 5,000 chilled ladybugs to release in our basement for the party.  Needless to say, I was given a resounding "no."

The plan was to make sweatpants, but I didn't have a pattern, so I just got a couple of yards.  I found a pattern on instructables (here).  And then, I ran into trouble.  I didn't have any pajama pants that fit -- I had one pair that was too big and one that was too small -- so it was hard to judge the size of the legs.  Then I did one leg backwards, so I had to cut it open, stitch chunks together, and do it again.  I ended up with chunks of extra fabric on the top of the back.  But it worked, overall.  They've been sitting in my great room waist-band-less for a few months, and I finally got around to finishing them up.

I'm glad I did!  They're super comfortable!

Crazy Lazy Update

These last few weeks I have been insanely stressed.  Work, packing, and a friend being sick and in need of help have all piled onto my plate.  Consequently, I've been a little behind on my crafting.  I hope you'll all excuse me for not having a completed project this post.

I do, however, have three projects that are /almost/ done.  They are all birthday gifts, though, so I won't be sharing until the big reveal. :)  Until then, happy crafting!

Soap Cozy

I'm home for the week!  Well, until Thursday, that is, and then I'm off to my fiance's house for the second half of the week.  We're very lucky because his family's house is between our school and my family's house, so when we get time off, we can go to both.  However, in all the crazy shuffling of the last few days, I forgot my bath scrubby at my home by school!  Eep!

Well, I happened to bring a few skeins of worsted yarn that I wasn't really using for anything, and since a soap cozy has been on my project list for quite some time, I whipped one up in the last 24 hours.

Well, I chose brown yarn because the other options were gray and white, both of which looked dreary or messy.  The cozy itself was pretty easy to make, but I had trouble getting the soap in when I was done.  I may have made it a bit too small!  The bar was unused, but a few months ago (while I was home last for Christmas), I had unwrapped it and put it in a soap container (which still had water on the inside).  Because of this, the soap was infused with water and was moist and creamy, so when it was a little big for the cozy, some extra soap just kinda slid up the edges and formed lovely curls, which I promptly destroyed by shoving them back in the top before pulling the i-cord through.

I haven't used it yet (but I will when I shower tonight!), but my mother is convinced that it's going to become moldy and kill me with bacteria in my sleep, or somesuch.  I'll be sure to let you know if it does.

Have any of you ever used a soap cozy before?  Did it work, or was it more of a hassle than it's worth?

Ravelry Pattern | Ravelry Project

Smitten!

I saw this pattern on Ravelry and I had to make it for my fiance for Valentine's Day!  Here's the original pattern photo:

His gift preferences are specific.  He likes things that are functional and things that show that the person actually cares.  Stock gifts are not his thing.  It's a good thing that I know how to knit, because that makes it even better -- I invest time, he feels loved, I have fun, and we look obnoxiously adorable walking around with our hands in a Smitten!

Well, this was quite a feat to make.  It called for super-bulky yarn and two sets of DPNs -- sizes 13 and 15.  I don't have any of those and I'm broke!

So I made it work.  I used two strands of royal blue worsted yarn and one strand of a blue/white self-striping worsted yarn and held them all together.  I had a pair of size 13 circular needles, but they were too big for most of the project and too small to make a magic loop.  I also had one size 15 regular knitting needle (I lost it's pair) with a rather stubborn end piece.  I basically did the whole thing in my size 13 circular needles and used my size 15 singular needle for a few odds and ends here and there to make it work.

In the end, I'm pretty proud of it!  And we went for a wonderful walk today :)

Ravelry Pattern | Ravelry Project

Tennessee!

I went to Tennessee a few weeks ago for a class trip.  While we were there, we found this adorable little yarn shop put in what used to be an old house called "A Likely Yarn."  I got some nice wool yarns there and one of my professors got some hand-dyed yarns for his two teenage knitting daughters.  After that trip, a friend asked me to teach her how to knit.  I had some extra yarn and extra needles, so I did, but we were on a bumpy car ride and both the needles and the yarn were sock weight, so she made a valiant effort, but didn't get very far.  Instead, she made an accidental alien!  We all loved it though, so I cast-it-off and she took it home.  Overall, it was a lot of fun.

T-shirt Quilt

My Fiance, Randall, and I decided to make a T-shirt quilt together!  A few Saturdays ago, we got together and went through all of our t-shirts and planned them all out.  He's been helping me pin and cut while I've been doing most of the sewing.  It's nowhere near done, but it's a start!  I'll keep you posted!

Katie's Hat

I knit to keep my hands busy while my brain is doing other things, like watching a movie, reading, or listening to a lecture, so I'm always looking for new things to knit.  Often times, friends ask if I could make something for them, and my general policy is that if they buy me the yarn (and notions if necessary , I'll make it.  IT ends up working well for both of us -- they have a new cool thing they like, I have something to do with my hands for a while for free, and typically, I also get a little bit of yarn for my stash!

A few weeks ago, I was hanging out with some of my friends, and my dear Katie saw Design 18 in my
Noro Mini Knits book.  She was enchanted.  So later that evening, when we all went to JoAnn Fabrics, she grabbed some yarn and asked if I could make it for her.  Of course, I said yes.

Well here's the finished project!  It was difficult because I didn't have the right needles, but I made it work.

Ravelry Pattern | Ravelry Project