Finished Yay!

Well, I now have my first completed object in....well...a long time. A very long time. Okay, so it's not completely complete, I still have an end to weave in, but that's it, and it shall get done as soon as I finish this post.

I give you: the aluminum crochet hook case, from here.

I changed a few things, like the contrasting edging and took a few rows out, and I do not plan on having any sort of closure, as the pockets seem tight enough that I don't think it's necessary. I also didn't add the plastic canvas, as it seems sturdy enough without it.

Artsy shot:

 It holds most of my hooks (I have a few more that I can't seem to find, like my J and K hooks). I even managed to fit my N hook in there!

And here it is closed, with the lone end I have left. It stays closed well enough for my tastes, and at any rate, I can always add a ribbon around it (which was my original plan, before I got lazy) to use for a closure.

That's it for pictures. I also worked on a few more granny squares. I've got 43 of them at this point, just 13 short of my goal of 56. I did the granny-a-day along on Craftster for the month of June, and still need to make a few more, finish the ends, and sew all of the squares together. Then I'm going to add a border until it is as big as I want it to be. (My squares are all four rounds, which makes them about...4 inches square (and yes I did just measure that). I prefer my blankets to be a bit bigger than that, and I have a lot of random colors of worsted weight acrylic yarn to eat through, so I'll just keep going until I like it.) Hopefully, I will be at the point of starting the border by the time I move back to school on Sept. 6th.

As it stands right now: 43/56 crocheted, 29/43 have ends weaved in. This might take a while...

Business as usual

As it is summer and I have finished my 10 week student research gig, I seem to have a lot of time on my hands. This is evidenced by my habit of being up bright and early to do, well, nothing. Following that, I spent some time working on some unfinished projects. This is an amineko that I started over a year ago, only to be stuffed in the bottom of my knitting bag and forgotten about. Poor little guy. He needs another ear, a nose, and a tail before he can be assembled.

This lovely guy here decided to help me, thus hindering my ability to crochet quite a lot. He's quite cuddly, though, so I don't mind too much. His name is Elvis.

Later, I went on a walk. It involved a plethora of pictures, of course. A few of my favorites:

As you can see, I'm a fan of fungi, though I did manage to get a few flower shots in there, too.

This was followed by lunch and bowling with the bestie. We bowled FIVE games. It was intense, and I will shamelessly admit to being abysmal at bowling (most of the time).

It is now a quiet (but a bit chilly) summer evening and, as such, the frogs seem to have plastered themselves to every surface available, including the screen door. Wheeee!

I think that's all for this day, and this girl is heading off to bed. Days of nothing are hard work, after all.

I'm Baaack

Hello, all. After a few year's hiatus, this blog is being resurrected. I hope you enjoy the ride. As you might have noticed, I've got a new username and such, having decided that a new(ish) blog needed a few new touches. More to come as soon as I have pictures up.

(Unfortunately, the sweater unraveled in previous postings is still sitting in it's glorious unraveled state. Sad.)

I seem to have unraveled...

...a sweater, that is.

It all started yesterday, when I went to Goodwill (I don't go there often, too far away and there's never any craft stuff) and got a sweater for like $5. I saw some others I might want, but this one was just a practice, so I only got one. It's some kind of silk/cotton/angora blend. I wish I'd looked closer at how thick the yarn was, but I'll find a way to use the thinner stuff.

Here is my sweater:












Notice the lovely shaping that sort of looks like fake pockets on the front, and the collar...




Aaaahhh!! The collar is eating my face!






Once I got past the seams, which were all pretty good (though I couldn't find a seam ripper for the labels :( ), I ripped apart the collar and sleeve cuffs, which were of a thicker yarn than the rest of it...






Still eating my head...









All ripped up! I added the 7up can at the last moment for a reference.


Then, I had to figure out how to wind it into hanks. Or rather, what to wind it around...





Object 1: a shoebox lid. Worked great, but my arms got tired and there was almost too much yarn for this one.






Object 2: a girl scout cookie box. I knew those were good for something...(besides, you know, storing stuff in your closet or delivering cookies. Yum!) Worked, but it seemed awkward. (Side note: one sleeve wrapped approximately 260 times around the box)





Object 3: spinning desk chair. I thought that since, you know, it spins, it would make the job that much faster. Nope. In fact, on the second main body part, my yarn broke like two or three times (I think I was putting too much tension on the poor stuff, though).
Still seemed tedious. Me thinks I need a new technique (or a chair that doesn't raise/lower when you spin it.)


Finally, at approx. 11:40 pm:





Done, with piles and piles of yarn to wash, wind into balls, and figure out a use for. Oh, yay. *rolls eyes sarcastically*

Intro...

Well, since my first post seems to have worked (I really couldn't think of anything to write about at the moment I posted that:), I suppose I ought to introduce myself a little.

Hi, my name is Jen, and I live in Minnesota.

I like to do a variety of crafts, but never seem to be able to stay with one long enough to finish a project (though I'm working on that!). This is what I like to call my "circle of obsessions", and it doesn't only apply to crafts. It also applies to certain computer games and to reading fanfiction. Basically, I obsess about something non-stop for about a week or two, then move on to something else. Thus why I have a dress that is pretty much done but is yet to be hemmed and the top needs to be finished, a teddy bear sweater with only one sleeve, numerous amigurumi crochet projects left unfinished in various places throughout my room, and ideas galore for making soap but no actual ingredients purchased/actual soap produced yet.

If you didn't get it from that last paragraph, I like to: knit, crochet, and sew (though really I like the planning more than the doing), with some cross-stitching/embroidery experience on the side, and I would like to get into making soap and possibly lotion bars (the only thing stopping me on those ones is finding the ingredients. In my area, coconut oil isn't cheap, and I haven't yet convinced myself to try using lard... And I can't find any beeswax at an affordable price anywhere nearby for the lotion bars...)

Umm... that seems to be it for now, I might put some pictures of my past projects if I get around to it...

~Jen

Whoo! I have a blog!

Ok, so I've just set up my "craft blog", so we'll see if I can post this in one go.