2011 - the year of craftiness? :-)

My craft projects seemed to sit on the backburner a lot during the last year - probably not surprisingly since I moved house twice in 2010, submitted my PhD thesis at last, and started a brand new research project in the lab at work...
However I have decided that my new years resolution for 2011 is to make more time to do crafty things, and hopefully complete a few more projects, and try not to stress quite so much! ;-) That's the plan anyway :-)

So to prepare for 2011, I went back through my stash of half-finished projects to see what I could try to finish off, and if any of them should be un-ravelled and re-invented as something better. So I will be continuing with 1) the garter stitch wrap top, 2) the little baby blanket, 3) the sea green scarf. I will un-ravel the 1-skein snuggle scarf that I was making with some lovely yarn that my friend Kira dyed for me, and choose a better pattern to show off the beautiful wool.



Since today in South Australia it is 43C - way too hot to do anything much, I did a quick dash to spotlight to get some more yarn (I have a whole drawer full of yarn to choose from at home but somehow can't resist buying more hahaha). I chose some 4ply 100% wool called 'Bella Baby Sugar' which I am hoping to use to make a 'Baby Acacia' dress. This will be my first attempt at knitting on circular needles (hopefully not too different to normal knitting?). The pattern is absolutely gorgeous and is available from Tikki's blog.

Pictures show current status of the various projects mentioned above.

Knitted wrap top

I'm trying a new pattern out at the moment. It's for a garter stitch wrap top that you knit all in one piece - it looks very pretty and hopefully not beyond my skill level! :-) I'll post some pics when I've progressed a bit further with the project! The pattern is from a book called 'Simple knits for cherished babies' by Erika Knight, p.61

Here's a photo of the wrap top in progress (27-02-2011).

Dinner Napkins

Today I went fabric shopping to get material to make a skirt and also some dinner napkins as I'm over using the paper ones. I found some nice fabric that is a chocolate stripy jacquard material. I made 6 napkins from 1m of material, cut out as 40 cm x 40 cm squares with 5 cm hems. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out :-) I think the only thing I would do differently if I was making them again is making them slightly larger.

Sean Sheep langtree scarf

I recently found this lovely multi-coloured wool that I thought one of my friends would really love - it's her birthday this week so I thought I would try and knit her a scarf with the wool as a present. It will end up being a week or so late by the time I've finished making it but it will be a one of a kind scarf and hopefully she will really like it :-) The wool is Sean Sheep langtree multi pastel, I'm knitting the scarf in garter stitch on 8mm needles. I started making it on 27th June 2010. Finished it 10th July 2010.

Baby booties

I'm making a little pair of booties for one of my friend's new baby girl. Since she knew she was having a girl I decided that I would make these booties in a non-pink colour as she probably has been given enough pink things already :-) The pattern is from a book called 'Knitting for baby' and it's quite easy, you just need to know a few basic stitches like Knit, Purl, Knit 2 together and yarn over. I'm using 3 3/4 mm needles and the wool is 4ply bashful bella baby yarn in a mix of colours called Candy Floss. Project started: 19th June 2010. Finished: 26th June 2010

Lord of the Rings cross stitch

This is my epic Lord of the Rings cross stitch that I imagine I will be working on for quite a while...I bought the kit off ebay a few years ago and recently started to make it. It is pretty time-consuming as there are 6 x A4 pages of stitch instructions and there are so many colours involved. Once it is finished I'm sure it will look awesome and I will either frame it or turn it into a cushion cover :-)

Scarf

In my opinion you can never have too many scarves in winter! Especially if they are all of an original one-of-a-kind variety :-) I am still fairly inexperienced at knitting, and usually when I find time to knit it is while watching a movie on tv with my boyfriend so I want something not too complicated so I don't have to count or do tricky stitches. This is my latest scarf in progress started last week. The wool is Moda Vera Picchio (70% merino, 30% silk) bought from Spotlight last year and I just love the colours! The colours are greens, blues, purples. I am knitting the scarf in garter stitch on 4mm needles.

New photo 20/06/2010 The scarf is starting to look more like a scarf now... :-)

Cushion covers

We recently got a new (pre-loved) lounge set and I wanted to try to make some cushions that would go well with it. I hadn't made cushion covers before so I was quite surprised how quick and easy it turned out to be! I used some tips I found in my 'sewing for dummies' book & some fabric I had stashed away for a few years (that makes my imagination think of Lothlorien or Rivendell from Lord of the Rings - although everyone else probably just thinks it's a floral pattern!).