Sophie's Universe CAL - Part 18

This will be the last official post about the Sophie's Universe CAL.  In her pattern, Dedri ends the "official" CAL at Part 18, and continues with a few other optional add-ons, such as granny squares, surface crochet, and optional borders.  I chose to keep it simple and stick to the basic pattern, as I have so many other projects I'm working on.  To me, it seems that Sophie abruptly ended her yellow side, and so I'll probably incorporate some in a border, perhaps from my border book, but again, I'm using the yarn for other things, so that will have to wait.

So, today, I present to you my completed Sophie's Universe!  (I will probably block this week, but right now I'm cat-sitting for a friend, so there isn't any space.)

I used:

• Round 110: Avocado (21 g)
• Round 111: Sienna (31 g)
• Round 112: Coral (28 g)
• Round 113: Wine (56 g)

Yarn used to date:

• Avocado: 208 grams
• Sienna: 991 grams
• Caution: 105 grams
• Coral: 109 grams
• Cornflower: 101 grams
• Fairy Tale: 102 grams
• Orange: 105 grams
• Solstice Heather: 106 grams
• Tidepool: 90 grams
• Wine: 121 grams

• Total: 2 kg, 38 grams



• Part 1: 20
• Part 2: 39
• Part 3: 86
• Part 4: 125
• Part 5: 159
• Part 6: 146
• Part 7: 139
• Part 8: 150
• Part 9: 113
• Part 10: 97
• Part 11: 79
• Part 12: 85
• Part 13: 109
• Part 14: 146
• Part 15: 165
• Part 16: 89
• Part 17: 153
• Part 18: 136

Ravelry Project
Sophie's Universe CAL Main Page

Vladimir the Aggilator

Meet Vladimir the Aggilator.  Vladimir the Aggilator has a buddy named Rob, who happens to be a good friend of mine.  Vlad takes Rob everywhere he goes and they always have crazy adventures and take pictures together.  It's a delight to see.

Recently, Vladimir had a sad day, in which he fell and broke his leg.  Like a good friend, Rob gave him immediate medical attention, and he is back on his feet and doing well once again, but I decided a get-well gift was in order, and so I knit Vladimir the Aggilator a get well sweater.

I hope he likes his gift (and more importantly, I'm glad it fits!).  Below, I'll write a quick synopsis of the technique I used.  Since it's probably not an exact pattern anyone would ever want to repeat, I'll write it more as a concept, explaining how I created it, in hopes that others could recreate the process.

1. Find your measurements.  I knew that I wanted the end result to be about 8cm in circumference and 4.5cm tall (2.5cm to be below the armholes, 1cm for the armholes, and 1cm above the armholes).  I also knew that I wanted the "back" section to be slightly larger than the "front" section, as far as armhole placement, so I approximated 4.5cm on the back, 2.5cm on the front, and .5cm for each arm hole.  I used these measurements to place my buttonholes and armholes.
2. Cast On and Knit the First Rows.  Using the Channel Island Cast On, I cast on 44 stitches (about 9.5), and throughout the entire body, I knit in a P1K1 rib, following the Cast on ridges.  I chose to do this because the ribbing would give if my measurements were wrong, and the extra 1.5cm could be used for a buttonband.
3. Make a Button Hole. On the fifth row, I k2tog over the 5th and 6th to last stitches, and on the sixth row, I knit 5 stitches and then did a yarn over, making a button hole for my 1cm buttons.  Work 4 more rows.
4. Bind off for Armholes.  On the fifth row after the button hole, work 10 stitches, cast off 2, work 20 stitches, cast off 2, work 10 stitches.  Work the next 4 rows only in the section before the bound off stitches.
5. Create and finish Armholes.  Using the other end of the yarn, attach and work 4 rows across the section between the armholes.  Cut and repeat with the final section.  
6. Create the second Button Hole.  Return to original working yarn, which should still be attached, and work across, casting on 2 stitches over each armhole.  On this row, you should k2tog for the second button hole, and on the following row, yo.
7. Finish Body.  Work 4 more rows and bind off.
8. Make Sleeves.  Pick up 10 stitches around armhole and work in stockinette stitch for 4 rows.  Bind off.  Repeat for second armhole.
9. Finishing.  Weave in ends and attach buttons.

Ravelry Project

(For those of you wondering, yes, I used scraps, so this was a Cold Sheep project, and yes, that's the same Rob I made the cowl for, which he happens to be wearing!)

Doesn't he look so happy in his sweater of love?  <3

Sophie's Universe CAL - Part 17

Having received the shipment of yarn for my Sophie's Universe CAL this past Thursday, I immediately got to work finishing it up.  However, on Friday after work, The Mister and I skedaddled to some much needed time away in the mountains, at Pinnacles National Park.

I brought my Sophie to keep working on her, but I forgot my hook, and when you're in the middle of nowhere, you can't just run to the store.

Fortunately, on our way to the other side of Pinnacles to do some different trails on Sunday, we passed through a decently sized town with a Joann Fabrics, and I jumped in to grab a hook, so Sunday night I was able to finish Part 17.

(However, these pictures were taken before I completed Row 109, because I just had to take pictures with to sunset on the balcony of our AirBnB.  Isn't it gorgeous?!  And can you tell we're in a drought?)


I used:

• Round 105: Sienna (19 g)
• Round 106: Sienna (45 g)
• Round 107: Avocado (25 g)
• Round 108: Sienna (30 g)
• Round 109: Sienna (34 g)

Yarn used to date:

• Sienna: 960 grams
• Avocado: 187 grams
• Caution: 105 grams
• Coral: 81 grams
• Cornflower: 101 grams
• Fairy Tale: 102 grams
• Orange: 105 grams
• Solstice Heather: 106 grams
• Tidepool: 90 grams
• Wine: 65 grams

• Total: 1 kg, 902 grams


• Part 1: 20
• Part 2: 39
• Part 3: 86
• Part 4: 125
• Part 5: 159
• Part 6: 146
• Part 7: 139
• Part 8: 150
• Part 9: 113
• Part 10: 97
• Part 11: 79
• Part 12: 85
• Part 13: 109
• Part 14: 146
• Part 15: 165
• Part 16: 89
• Part 17: 153

Ravelry Project
Sophie's Universe CAL Main Page

Duct Tape Dress Form

Tape Slippage!

I previously alluded to a project I had asked for help with while at the STITCHES cabin, and here is the big reveal!

I decided to try my hand at a duct tape double.  The idea is to make a dress form exactly conformed to your body.  With a base t-shirt, you start applying foundation layers of tape in specific areas, and then layer it on, trying not to squish your body or contort it with the tape.  When you're done, you cut yourself out of the back, right through the shirt, and then tape it back up, plug up the holes, and stuff it.

Here's a few tips I learned while making my own:

1. If, for whatever reason, you need to use colored duct tape, buy extra.  Those rolls are small.
2. When you are stuffing the tape, put teeny tiny bits in.  Slide your hand up the sides and stuff the batting in as much as possible.  Fill out the breasts as much as possible.  If you don't, you'll get to the end and realize that they've gone concave on you, and then have to rip it open and stuff it again.  You'll use a lot more than you think you will.  A lot.
3. Don't use old duct-tape.  As you can see in my lovely examples, it slides off, and suddenly your double is stretching by multiple inches, or even popping at the seams.  Which happens.  You won't realize until you flip it over.  Check.
4. Don't have super high expectations.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  We're at a two-thirds success rate in the Stitchers group.  Live and learn.
5. Whatever you do, do NOT watch Silence of the Lambs right before you make this.  Just don't.  It's a bad idea.  You'll feel the scissors on your back and... just trust me.

Mending (and Not Sophie's Universe)

This week, I will not be posting about the adventures with Sophie, sadly, since I ran out of yarn.  I had to order more in order to finish the last few rows, and waited an extra week to see if I'd need more of any of the other colors, and then, I ran in to a problem.

You see, KnitPicks has free shipping after $50.

So I just had to get my order up to there, right?

A few hours later, and I've ordered well over $50 worth of yarn, and only half of it fit the Cold Sheep Commandments.

Oops.

I'll be back on the wagon this week, though, so hopefully we can make it through the rest of the year without having the yarn singularity occur.

And since I left you with no Sophie to show for it, I present you with a few mendings I've done recently - great for frugality and avoiding consumerism (which I clearly did not do a good job of above).

I have:

1. Re-attached (sloppily) the strap on my Carry on Bag



1: Carry On Bag

2. Mended a few slim strands on the bottom of my Little Bitty Socks

2: Little Bitty Socks

Hot Pad

I still have not gotten up the courage to quilt the top that I made back in May (yes, I do mean a year ago).

In the mean time, however, I have accumulated two more quilt tops and am working on my third.  (I decided not to publish each of those since I am trying to catch up, as I alluded to last week.)

So, with all of these tops stacking up, and the babies all born and growing older, I decided that I had to conquer my fears somehow, and whipped up a one-block sandwich with some scraps to practice quilting in the ditch.  Hey, I had to start somewhere.

I quilted it, did cheater binding, and decided I felt proficient enough to try to quilt for the third time.  (Yes, I have quilted a few blocks and then ripped it out a few times.  Please don't judge.)

We'll see how it goes, but in the mean time, here's out household's newest hot pad!


(Bonus points if you can figure out where the scraps are from!)

Sophie's Universe CAL - Part 16

I'm loving my Sophie's Universe CAL, and I'm beginning to wonder what the growing rows will look like in a few weeks!

Perhaps blocking again would be a good idea, but I'm too lazy this week, so maybe next time.  In the mean time, enjoy some pretty pictures!

I used:

• Round 102: Sienna (43 g)
• Round 103: Solstice (19 g)
• Round 104: Tidepool (27 g)

Yarn used to date:

• Sienna: 832 grams
• Avocado: 162 grams
• Caution: 105 grams
• Coral: 81 grams
• Cornflower: 101 grams
• Fairy Tale: 102 grams
• Orange: 105 grams
• Solstice Heather: 106 grams
• Tidepool: 90 grams
• Wine: 65 grams

• Total: 1 kg, 749 grams


• Part 1: 20
• Part 2: 39
• Part 3: 86
• Part 4: 125
• Part 5: 159
• Part 6: 146
• Part 7: 139
• Part 8: 150
• Part 9: 113
• Part 10: 97
• Part 11: 79
• Part 12: 85
• Part 13: 109
• Part 14: 146
• Part 15: 165
• Part 16: 89

Ravelry Project
Sophie's Universe CAL Main Page

Captain Cardie and Booties

I'll get back to the other class I took at stitches at a later date (basically, when I have a finished object to show you).  In the mean time, I do want to catch up on my other projects.

In case you haven't noticed, I've been perpetually two months behind.  This can be a great thing when I spend weeks working on a big project, and in cases like birthdays and Christmas, when I can't post the projects until a later date.  In fact, this whole back up is basically because I made so much for Christmas last year that those gifts were still getting posted at the end of February.  Right now, though, I'm a little frustrated by it.  I might keep the posts at twice a week even after the Sophie's Universe CAL is finished to compensate.

Said Book

Anyway, back to what I was saying.

Over Christmas, I got some lovely knitting pattern books from the Mister's parents, and one of them happened to be a baby book.  At first, Randall and I looked at each other, wondering if this was a hint, but we were quickly assured otherwise, and life as usual resumed.

I ended up knitting a couple things from this book when my co-worker went on maternity leave.  Having just returned from STITCHES, where I learned to knit continental (as a result of knitting with one yarn in each hand for my tam), I chose to force myself to knit the whole sweater continental, and the booties as well.

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, and I now feel reasonably comfortable with continental knitting, which is a plus for sure.

The pattern was extremely confusing and poorly written, though.  I had to have some of the Stitchers help me figure it out.

I also used the Debbie Bliss yarn from STITCHES, so no new yarn purchased!  Win!

Ravelry Project: Sweater
Ravelry Project: Booties

Sophie's Universe CAL - Part 15

This week in Sophie's Universe CAL, we made another row of tulips, and included some Fairy Tale.  I love it!

However, I'm running into a situation where my corners are pulled in, and the blanket looks more curved than squared.  I like it still, but it's certainly interesting.  I think it's probably because I tend to make my single-crochets more tightly than my other stitches.

I used:

• Round 98: Fairy Tale (41 g)
• Round 99: Avocado (34 g)
• Round 100: Orange (52 g)
• Round 101: Sienna (38)

Yarn used to date:

• Sienna: 789 grams
• Avocado: 162 grams
• Caution: 105 grams
• Coral: 81 grams
• Cornflower: 101 grams
• Fairy Tale: 102 grams
• Orange: 105 grams
• Solstice Heather: 87 grams
• Tidepool: 63 grams
• Wine: 65 grams

• Total: 1 kg, 660 grams


• Part 1: 20
• Part 2: 39
• Part 3: 86
• Part 4: 125
• Part 5: 159
• Part 6: 146
• Part 7: 139
• Part 8: 150
• Part 9: 113
• Part 10: 97
• Part 11: 79
• Part 12: 85
• Part 13: 109
• Part 14: 146
• Part 15: 165

Ravelry Project
Sophie's Universe CAL Main Page