Work-in-Progress Wednesday 28

I'm working on the same projects this week, but have made a little progress. I finished helping my sister move this week, which was great to get through. It was something that I knew was coming, but was dreading it beyond belief. Like everyone, I hate moving. I'm glad she's the one and not me, but it's still not fun helping. I'll hopefully have time for some knitting soon, which I'm excited about. Editing is almost done and then I'll be plotting my new book.



Last time you saw my monster, Petunia the Patio Monster by Rebecca Danger, it was just the start of the magic loop. I must say, going through the process, magic loop is a little slow moving the needles back and forth, but I still love it. I didn't have to worry about the other needles as I would with DPNs or double circs. As you can see in the first picture, I finished the body area. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. There are a few areas where the the yarn piled a little, but huge a huge deal. I've learned SO many things with this project so far and will learn more with the arms and legs. First, the magic loop. Second, the 3 needle BO, which I'm so proud of, I shared with a second picture. I didn't have a 3rd US7 needle, so I changed the back needle to a US6 and used the 7 not on the cable to do the actual BO. I think it turned out great. One thing I'm disappointed about, I hoped to finish the project for FO Friday, but I need US7 DPNs for the arms/legs. I hope to get them sometime this week. :)



I haven't done too much work with this, but it's to the point where I'm just working sc all the way up and not increasing/decreasing. I'm making the pattern up as I go. You may remember, it's going to be my manuscript holder when I'm editing away from the house. I hope to finish this soon, but sc is kind of slow.

I've worked a little on my scarf, but again, it's a garter knit scarf so not too much to show. I hope to really crank through it this weekend, as I'll have a lot of relax time on my hands. :)

For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 27

I have so many WIPs right now, I don't even know if I'm coming or going. The issue is, most of them I've shared and they don't look too different at this point, so I won't bore you with many pictures of the same stuff.

The blanket from last week was frogged, do to realizing it needed to be wider. Lisa, a lady who is a regular at the crochet meetup I co-run, suggesting adding a third color once I made it wider. I have a fear of running out of the blue color, and since it's a discontinued color and I got it on clearance for $2 a skein, there is no way to buy more in the same colorway unless I want to fish around on Ravelry in hopes that someone has it. I went to Joann's this weekend, armed with a coupon and found another colorway in a darker brown than the tan I'm using that seems like it will work well. If you're reading this, thanks Lisa!

I'm working on the scarf, but well, it just looks a little longer. I figured I wouldn't bore you with pics of it until it is a decent length. :)


I've been taking my editing on the road, a la Panera Bread and Starbucks. My manuscript is 241 printed pages long, so as you can imagine, it's hard to wrangle. Currently, I hold it together in a gallon sized zip lock bag that includes the pages, a red pen (yes, the dreaded red pen!), my idea/notes journal and those little flag things to flag pages. Yesterday, I realized how ghetto the plastic bag is, so I started on crocheting a re-usable crocheted bag/envelope type deal that can hold everything and be cute. I plan to line it when I'm done, and also add a pocket. I've made it a little bigger than needed, wanting to have room to expand for more pages, etc. We'll see how it turns out. I'm just using acrylic I had sitting in my stash that I bought on a whim last 4th of July during the massive sales at Joann's. I love diving into my stash and picking yarn from it!



Alea and I decided since we both had The Big Book of Knitted Monsters, we should do a KAL and both make them. Sunday night I sat down to start, picking what should be the easiest pattern from the book, Petunia. Wanting to challenge myself, I learned the long tail cast on, which I will say, IS SO EASY! I'm not sure why I'd been avoiding it, but I love it. Stupidly, I didn't stop there. I decided because that went so great, that I would also learn the magic loop. Rebecca Danger, the author of the book/patterns, suggests using the magic look, so I thought, why not? Seven times later, I still had a twisted mess and much frustration. I have no clue what I'm doing wrong, but once I get around to the second side of stitches they seemed twisted. Honestly, I wanted to scream. Before I start knitting, I make sure that both cast on seams face down, with no twisting. Then, after I start knitting, they look twisted. I think when I knit, I twist my hands, which then twists the stitches. Sunday night, I wanted to scream. But GOOD NEWS! I figured it out yesterday and am now slowly on my way to making my own monster! :)

If you're interested in joining Alea and I in our KAL, feel free. You can do any monster you'd like from the book, or you can purchase a pattern from Ravelry. (I am not associated with the designer in any way. I just like her designs.)

For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!

FO Friday 12

It's good to be back in the FO game. It seems like it's been awhile, though I just missed the last one. I hope to have many projects finished in the next few weeks (if not, I need to do some serious thinking about Christmas gifts!), but am trying not to put too much pressure on myself. I have a lot going on, despite NaNoWriMo being over.

Anyway, on to FO Friday.

As you all know, I've been working on the market bag as a Christmas gift. It was part of two WIPWs and here are those pictures as it progressed.


Obviously not very exciting since it is basically just a circle, but there you go. I used this pattern, yet changed it a bit. I added two more rows of increase to make the bag larger (and my gauge was a little small), as well as a few more rows of basic rows as I went up the sides of the bag and also added a few more decrease rows as I wanted the opening a little smaller since I increased at the bottom a little. I also kept decreasing the top until I got the correct number of dc to match the pattern when working on the handles. My only regret is not making the handles bigger. I didn't really realize how little it was until sewing the two together. Because of that, i didn't do the edging since it would make them even smaller (hole wise).

Materials used:

5.50 mm (I) hook
Bernat Handicraft Cotton
Yarn needle

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 17

First off, I'm sorry that I've been quiet since last WIPW. It's been a crazy week with Thanksgiving, being gone for four full days and the end of NaNoWriMo...which leads me to something I'd like to share. I know it's not craft related, but I can't help myself.

That's right, I hit 50,000 words. It's not the first time I've "won" NaNo. Actually, just the opposite. Each time I attempt it, I hit 50k, but this year felt better than most, with also trying to work on a lot of crochet Christmas presents and going away for the holiday, things got a little hectic. In fact, I didn't hit my word count goal until yesterday morning! Now back to craftiness.

I had a great time up in Los Angeles visiting family. I bought a lot of good yarn, as well as a few books, but I'll share them in another post! I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday in the US, and for those of you who participated in FO Friday this past week, I promise I'll get to commenting on your posts now that my life isn't all about furiously typing on my NaNo project.

I don't have anything new to share, but I did make some progress on the two projects from last week:


I was able to work on the market bag on the way to and from Los Angeles, thanks to my husband who drove both ways! I really like the way it's coming out. My gauge seemed a little small, so I added two extra rows of increase before starting my way up the sides of the bag. This is going to be a great size for supermarket and farmer's market shopping! I can't wait to give it to the recipient! I hope to finish this week, so I better get hooking!



I wasn't able to work on my washcloth much more, but you can see I've just started to hit the point of where the first (or second, depending on how you look at it) set of wings starts for the dragonfly washcloth. I'm still super stoked about the way it's coming out and LOVE knitting. I actually bought more cotton so that I can make more of these. They're fun, quick projects (when you actually have time to knit) and are actually useable! I hope to finish this one soon too, but the market bag takes precedence since it's a Christmas gift and the washcloth is just for fun.

For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 16

Happy almost Thanksgiving to the WIPW peeps who live in the US! Have a great time with friends, family and eat TONS of turkey, pumpkin pie and sweet potatoes. YUM! Also, don't forget, a lot of LYS and craft big box stores have Black Friday sales, so don't forget to check all of the ads.

As I mentioned last week, I will be posting a FO Friday for everyone to take part in, but will not have a FO to share. It's been a crazy week, which is why I haven't posted anything since last Friday. It's the last real week of NaNoWriMo and I'm having to write my little fingers off since we will be away for the last four out of six days remaining in the month. Next month I'll probably be posting so much, you'll all be sick of me.

Now onto WIPW 16!


Yes, this is a different knitting project than I shared last week. Last week it was the scarf, but I screwed up and decided to start it over again. In the meantime, I wanted to try something I could make fast and really master the knit and purl stitches. Oh yeah, and getting these beautiful new KnitPicks needles kind of talked me into being used as well. The pattern is a dragonfly washcloth. Depending on how it goes from here, I may keep it or gift it out. How do cotton knitted washcloths/dishcloths hold up in the washer and dryer? I'm using Sugar 'n Cream, which I'm not crazy about for crochet (or any cotton for that matter, which makes this whole WIPW kind of odd since both new projects are cotton), but adore with knitting. I may have to buy a few more skeins on Friday since they're on mega sale to go crazy on making dishcloths and washcloths!



This is a gift for someone (and I'm not going to mention who, because they may read this blog) for Christmas. I wanted a practical gift, and this is one for sure. It's a market bag. Originally I started a different bag, but then decided to do one in the round because it was easier and worked up a lot quicker. I increased a few more rows, so that it would be nice and wide at the bottom for maximum holding. I'm using Bernat Handicraft Cotton that I got on clearance on Labor Day weekend. So nice to have a project for this finally. When I bought it, I couldn't pass it up. It was on clearance for $4.97 and then I got another 20% on top of that. Not bad considering it 710 yrds worth! The colors are fun without being too obnoxious (you should have seen my other choices!), so I thought it would be perfect for this project.


For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!

FO Friday 8

Can you believe it? The Owl Bag finally done! Now, I haven't been working on it for a long time (since October 25th) but I haven't been working on much else since I started it. Behold, the owl bag! Now, Wednesday night I was all smug, thinking I had finished the crocheting part and could work on the assembly. Of course, I screwed up. I was too busy watching Doctor Who to realize I did the iris' of the eyes black, not the pupil. My husband suggested that I just go with that but it looks too Muppet-like. So instead of taking the easy way out, I decided to scrap those. Thankfully they're super easy to make and fast, but still. I just wanted this dumb thing finished!

Thursday found me scrambling to finish, as well as write my words for NaNoWrimo. No rest for the weary.


Here's what it looked like last week and this week for WIPW (final product below):






Materials used:

6.00 mm (J) hook
Red Heart Super Saver (bag- Pink Camo/ Buff), eyes- White/ Black/Cafe)
Yarn needle
Thread
Sewing machine
Fabric
Felt (for the beak)

And the finished product (for real this time). I have to say this has to be the most proud of a project I've ever felt. As a lot of you know, I recently got a sewing machine. I decided to go all out and not only line the bag, but also line the straps.

I worked on this project from October 25-November 5th.

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 13

Hope everyone is having a great week so far. It's been a little crazy, and will be for the rest of the month as I'm doing NaNoWrimo as well as all of the Christmas presents I plan to make. Sorry for the quick post, but I'm writing this at 11:30pm on Tuesday. Oh right, did I mention how crazy my life is right now?

And, I need to mention to you all, I am going over to the dark side, at least going to try it. I bought my first knitting needles today at Michaels and will be watching youtube videos to learn. As if I needed anything else in my life right now.

So, I'm just going to get to the chase, I didn't finish the owl bag. Oy! It's not that I didn't work hard on it, or that I didn't try but things have been crazy. That being said, I'm VERY close to finishing. As you can see in the picture, all I have left to do are the eyes, assembly and lining which I hope to finish today. So am I the only one that thinks the wing pockets look like a bikini top?





I started this last night at my crochet meetup. It is going to be a Wiener Dog for my mother-in-law. Her's passed away this year and I thought it would be awesome to make one for her with a collar that has his name on it (Otto). Also this year, her Corgi passed away (both lived long, healthy lives), so I'll be making one of those as well. I'm so happy to see this coming along quickly. That's huge for me at this point.

For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 12

I've decided I needed to start on my Christmas gifts instead of just saying I'm going to. Good plan, right? It seemed like I had so much time, until I realized we are in the last week of October and November will be a crazy writing month for me. I need to crank out about one present a week (if not more) to get done in time. Crazy, isn't it? I decided to just focus on this one crochet project this week, as I'm trying to finish it quickly, so I'm only sharing this one today.

That being said, my WIPW post this week is a bag for my niece. You may remember, I made this reindeer for her birthday this year. At first she didn't really know what to think of it, but now every time I see her she's asks what I'm making and has a huge list of items for me to crank out for her. She doesn't know I'm making this, and hopefully she'll like it. She requested a dog amigurumi, but I told her it would have to wait until after Christmas. Hopefully she isn't expecting that! I am already doing two dog amis for my mother-in-law (representing the two dogs that passed away this year that she had for 13+ years).


I first saw this owl bag pattern (Ravelry link) in the September/October issue of Crochet Today! I loved it right away and showed my sister, who thought Lily, my niece, would like it as well. When finished, I hope to line it with this adorable pink fabric I got in the remnants section of Joann's. I'd love to sew in a few pockets as well, but it will only be my second bag lined, so I don't want to get ahead of myself. Originally I wanted to use the pink camo yarn with pink solid, instead of tan but couldn't find a pink I was quite happy with that would look good with the camo. Over all, I like how it's coming out, though after crocheting the bottom and the initial color change, I decided to increase the strips by one, so it's three before a color change instead of two. It didn't seem to be reading as well as I hoped with two, and I think it's much better now. What do you think?

Don't forget, tomorrow I'll be flashing my stash again (that always sounds so dirty, doesn't it?). Please join me if you have the time! There will be an ongoing Mr Linky provided, where you can update your stash each month when I share mine. :) This time, I'll be showing off my yarn inside my new wood chest!

For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!