Friday, December 28, 2007

Crafty McCrafterson


I've been a crafty fool lately, but I couldn't share photos of some of the stuff I was working on until after Christmas, since it was for giftage. First, though, an update on the eternal stitchery project, since several people have inquired about it lately:

Not to brag, but I've sort of been kicking ass and making counted cross-stitch my folksy little bitch. I thought I would hate doing the background work, but it's actually pretty enjoyable, at least when I'm not using one of the umpteen shades of brown. I do get rather sick of the brown.

The highlighted / colored-in areas on the chart are what I've done:


I've managed to keep the project a secret from my dad so far, and since he's never online and doesn't know this blog exists, it's safe to talk about it. I definitely did the right thing when I decided not to put any pressure on myself to finish it by a certain deadline. There's no way I could've finished it for Christmas. Next Christmas, maybe.

I did finish a project that I started quite a long time ago. I started working at the craft store in October 2004, right when knitting was getting really, really trendy. The craft store had a ridiculous supply of really awesome yarn, and I got my mom to teach me how to knit and made a few scarves. I took my sister out to the store and let her pick any yarn she wanted and told her I'd knit her a scarf. I knitted (knit?) almost all of it, and then got my current job, lost track of the project, and forgot how to knit and purl. I'd been meaning to get the scarf back out and finish it for a long time, but never got around to it until about a week ago. I dug it out and took it over to the house for a refresher knit / purl lesson, and even though my brain was half-baffled, my hands remembered how to do it almost right away. I really wanted to give it to Sis before she leaves for Ireland on January 6th, and I did! I finished up the last foot of the scarf on the 23rd, and got the tassels done on the 26th.

I don't care who you are...that's a nice scarf.
(Mostly because the fluffiness of the yarn hides all the mistakes.)


The scarf really looks best when it's on someone, though, and so MB volunteered to model it:

"Don't you want a handsome man in the photo?"


I gave the scarf to Sis today, and she loved it. Now when I get to missing her, I'll be able to think of my fuzzy hand-knitted scarf keeping her warm on her Irish adventure.

She also got this for Christmas:


It was supposed to be one of those fleece blankets held together by cutting strips around the edges and tying knots, but Mom stitched the two pieces together on her serger so none of the surface area of the blanket would be wasted in tying the knots. After Mom sewed the edges, I fake-quilted it by threading and tying knots of yarn through both layers at semi-regular intervals to keep the layers from shifting and sliding around. Like the scarf, the dragon blanket was a pretty big hit.

We didn't receive anything particularly crafty for Christmas, but we still scored a pretty respectable loot pile:


How about you? Did you score any sweet loot or complete any long overdue projects this holiday season?


Reading:  The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

Playing:  a mix of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:49 AM

    Did you start your cross stitching from the center and work out in quadrants? That is always how the instructions say to do it and I never do it that way. I hardly ever finish them in a timely manner - perhaps it is connected for me! Good luck on finishing it. It looks really intricate, which would have me looking for someone to pay to finish it for me!

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  2. I started in the center, but instead of working in quadrants (which would require a lot of color changes), I just work on one color for a bit, then switch to another color when I get bored or it starts getting hard to keep track of where I need to go next with the one I'm on.

    It's not a perfect method, but it does seem to work pretty well for me.

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  3. Anonymous12:55 PM

    Ooh! Alanna books! I saw Alanna books in that pile! You should review those (and comment on whether they'd get published in today's abstinence-only culture...)

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  4. Anonymous4:29 AM

    That scarf is awesome! Jason is on the lookout for a 'manly' scarf to wear here in England, but is being all fussy. Apparently the perfect man scarf is hard to find!

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  5. I totally heart the scarf. Lovely! I don't care who you are!

    I whored my loot on my own blog. I got tons-o-stuff. :)

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  6. Anonymous9:07 AM

    love the scarf! :)

    i too am reading "Fragile Things" which I bought on our Thanksgiving adventure to the US. I've had to stop reading it before bed, though, as it kind of gives me the willies.

    How are you liking The Amber Spyglass???

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  7. Oh, Blogapotamus, I agree that some of those stories are CREEPY. Too, too creepy. Overall, I really enjoyed the collection, though. I read the last story (the novella starring Shadow from the fabulous American Gods) first and loved it :D

    As for The Amber Spyglass, I am enjoying it, but it makes me nervous! I have no idea who to trust, I suspect twists and turns and tragic deaths around every corner! I think I'm going to try really hard to finish it up tonight and tomorrow, since you warned me that it's a heartbreaker and I REALLY don't want to risk sobbing like a ninny at work.

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