WIP Wednesday and Yarn Along

This week has been very strange because I am out of knitting/crocheting projects that have a deadline. I still have nine WIPs at the moment, but they're all leisurely, whenever-I-get-them-done kind of projects. Because of that, I've been reading a lot more.

I finished two books this week already. First, The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans. I read it when I was younger, but wanted to read it again. It had been so long that it was like reading a whole new story! But it's really good, and really well-written in case anyone is interested. The second one I finished was MAD MAN KNITTING or The Waiter and the Fly by Gregory Patrick. I mentioned his blog before in this post where I talked about the teddy bear I ordered. I didn't want to put the book down!

So, after a two-book break, I'm back to reading Owen. I think I'm finally realizing that John Irving just isn't my cup of tea. I'm almost halfway through the book now, but it's hard to get motivated to read. It takes a long time for anything really substantial to happen. There's a lot of... I don't know if I would call it description. Fluff, I guess. I'm working my way through it, but I certainly won't jump into one of his books again very soon.

I'm currently working on the KAL that my sister and I are doing. I've mentioned it before, but the pattern is the Seed Stitch Baby Blanket. I've been working on it a little bit for the past few nights. It's all the knitting I've really done since I've been reading so much!

I'm linking up with WIP Wednesdays and the Yarn Along! See more WIPs and good reads on those blogs!

-CH

Rainbow

I had the day off today, so I had plenty of time to get some things done. Which, of course, I didn't do. Instead I went to the movies with my friend Jessica. We saw Brave, Pixar's newest film. It's my third time seeing it! I love it so much. I wanted to pre-order it, but Amazon doesn't have it available yet.

Anyway, later on I did get some work done on the knit-a-long that my sister and I are doing. We're working on the Seed Stitch Baby Blanket. I only have about four or five inches done on it, but it's better than it was!

While I was working on it, it started to rain a little. We've needed it; aside from a few passing storms (which didn't provide much water), it's been really dry here. It was just a gentle rain for maybe an hour. All night would have been better. But some is better than none I suppose. There was a beautiful rainbow outside toward the end! If you look closely, you can see the faint outline of a second rainbow. We could see the whole thing, from one end to the other.

-CH

FO Friday!

This has been a very productive week for me!! I've finished four projects! Granted one of them was started this week as well, but this brings my total list of open WIPs down to eight. Plus one that I started years ago that isn't listed on Ravelry. So, nine. But that's much better than it was! My current goal is to finish up a lot of my WIPs and use up a lot of my stash! It has exceeded the storage room I have for it.. So far I'm doing pretty well with both of these things.

The first thing I finished this week (which I've actually already talked about here) was this teddy bear as part of a gift set I was making. You can find more info about and pictures of him on Ravelry here.

Next up was a sweater for this little teddy. As you can see, it's a little bit big for him! I was modifying a larger teddy bear sweater to make it for this one. It needs a few more tweaks to get the modifications just right for this bear. But I do have my notes just in case anyone is interested in the mean time! You can find it on Ravelry here.

Then, the main part of the gift (the part that was actually commissioned), a toddler sweater! Teddy's sweater was made to match. I talk more about the sweater in this blog post. The Ravelry page for it can be found here.

 

And last but not least, I just finished my brown cow earlier today! He was part of a crochet-along with the freshstitches group on Ravelry. I'm really excited about him! He turned out just as cute as I was hoping! I have more pictures of him on my Ravelry page, including one of him with our calves out in the barn! He is nameless so far. Does anyone have any ideas?

I'm linking up with FO Fridays this week! You can check out more finished objects on her page.

-CH

WIP Wednesday

I'm finally able to link up with Ginny's Yarn Along and WIP Wednesday again! It's been several weeks since I've been able to update on a Wednesday and join my fellow crafters in sharing what I'm working on.

Currently, I'm reading Esther for a Bible Study I'm doing with my church. I read through it once a few days ago, but I want to read it again and take notes for the class.

I'm also still working on my toddler sweater that my Grandma commissioned from me.

We decided that we're not going to do the hood on it. So I'm currently working on the collar and the button band all at once. Then she wants a "W" embroidered on the upper right front (for the child's school and also his name - Wyatt). Then this will be done!

I did finish the teddy bear and his matching sweater! I plan on posting pictures of that on Friday. I'm so pleased with the way it turned out!

 

-CH

Teddy Surprise!

Well I've finished the teddy bear for my Grandma. He goes with the commissioned sweater I'm still working on. The teddy bear is a surprise though! And he's going to have a matching sweater (a pullover without a hood)! I haven't started the little sweater yet, but I've started working with some numbers and my gauge to figure out the pattern. It will be loosely based off of this pattern which I've made twice before. I'll make sure to post the modifications that I make!

I'm so happy with the way that he turned out! I can't wait until he has a sweater! I'm more excited to make his sweater than the sweater for the actual boy..

I didn't follow the pattern for the arms of the bear really. You can find more details about that, and pictures of him on my Ravelry page!

-CH

A Commissioned Sweater

Well, I missed WIP Wednesday (again). I really was planning to be on the ball this week! But somehow, the days caught up with me. I think part of the problem is that when I work on Wednesdays, it's hard to find time to take decent pictures, let alone get a post together in time.

Anyway, I figured I would share my current WIP anyway. I briefly mentioned before that my grandma commissioned a toddler sweater from me. It's for a friend's little one (who's currently about a year old I think). She wanted it bigger because he's a "big baby." So I'm making the 24-month size, figuring that he'll be able to grow into it at the very least. She's concerned it won't even fit him! I'm not. I'm sure it will be fine!

She chose these colors because she wanted it to match his future school colors. I just finished the second sleeve a few days ago! Now all that's left is the hood (which will be yellow) and the button band (also yellow). She wanted a small "W" for the school's name (and also the boy's name) on the upper left front section, so I might duplicate stitch that onto the sweater also. In case anyone is interested, I'm using Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off (which can be found here) for the edges. My bind-offs already seem to be tight, and I wanted this to be super stretchy since it's ribbing! I've used this bind off several times and it's fantastic!

I'm really excited about it though, because it's recently started to look like an actual sweater! I'm also working on a special surprise that my grandma doesn't know will be coming with the sweater. I'm making one of these teddy bears and a mini matching sweater for it to wear! Except that the sweater will be a pullover. I'll be modifying this pattern to make a smaller sweater for the bear. I don't have any pictures of the bear yet, because I think most toys look ridiculous until they're fully assembled. But I should have pictures soon because it's coming along! I also won't be starting the mini sweater until the bear is finished so I can get measurements.

-CH

Cleveland Zoo

Well, once again I haven't posted in a while. I wasn't able to get pictures and a post together after work on Wednesday for WIP Wednesdays and the weekly Yarn Along. I was upset about that, but oh well. I've missed two weeks now! I am working on so many projects at the moment, and I wanted to do a long post about all of them.

I also missed FO Fridays this week because my friends and I took a trip to the zoo!

We had a blast! It was in the low 80s, but I was happy because it could have been so much worse!! I went with three of my friends and their kids. There's another baby that isn't in the picture (the blue-shirted one's brother) who's only about three months old. Regardless, I made zoo themed presents for the boys! They got to pick right after we had lunch. (No need to make hand-made toys all sticky)

More pictures of these three toys can be found on their respective Ravelry pages: Alligator, Penguin, Hippo. They are all patterns from Vanna's Choice Easy Crochet Critters. I love that book! I wasn't able to time myself for the hippo, but the penguin took about two hours, and the alligator took about two and a half.

Has anyone been on any fun summer adventures so far?

-CH