yes, well.
suffice it to say, blogging a project only works if you actually blog the project. to wit: i boasted about starting the elizabethtown hat. you never heard anything about it,did you? nope. and then i started the baby blanket. and that's the last you heard about that. mind you, you don't even know about the wee wonderfuls bunnies i made, do you?
see? so. updates:
i finished the elizabethtown hat. i did! i knit, and purled, and cabled, yes i did, too! only, the recipe called for it all to be done on circular needles and, you girls who have knit with me know, i do not so much like the circular needles. so i figured, why deal with everything at once? why make myself crazy, with yes, the knitting the purling the cabling AND the circular needles. so i didn't. i knit it with straight needles. and it came out too small. now, really, i don't think thats cause for the hat to come out too small. i think there were pattern problems, in fact i know there were pattern problems, as i had to sort some out mid project. and the hats not WAY too small, it actually goes on my head, but it looks kind of ridiculous and leaves a red mark across my forehead (like jade, ew.). i am going to try it again, i promise, because its a supercute hat, but the last weeks have kept me busy with other projects, for other people. such as...
the baby blanket. this is better news. let's see, the last you heard i had cut the squares, right? ok. the very next day i sewed them together, which is hard, you know to get them to match, and in places they don't, but i think that lends charm. and then a couple of days later, the fabric came in the mail, and i cut the fabric, blah blah blah. because at that point, i was at an impasse. i had no idea where to go from there, having never made a quilt before, and in quite a bit of worry, given the quilt i was trying to make as my first quilt ever was made out of sweaters on one side, and thus stretchy. luckily, i have resources. so last weekend, i absconded to la grandma's house seeking counsel. she and my mom took me to joanne's (no lost undies this time, though the memory weighed heavily in my mind while in the ribbon aisle), where we got filling and ribbon to make the ties. while there, we also found a salvage bunch of felt that matched the quilts backing cowboy print (confused by the felt? it will factor in later). then we went home, where i was instructed in "the sandwich method", which seemed clear enough. then trouble ensued: "i wonder if we should use a ball point needle to sew through the sweaters?" "oh no. the needle is picking up the batting..." "wait, maybe we should do it this way..." "oh geez, this is turning into one of those things..." "what things?" "those things where everything that can go wrong will".
and it did, really, but we pulled it off. my mom did a lot of the sewing through the batting, though we all realized that my sewing machine (cheap and made for crafts and utilitarian sewing) would have done a much better job than her machine (expensive and made for fine tailoring) which we were using. when it came time to make the ties, i realized that the ribbon was too thick that even the sharpest needle wouldn't pull it through. so we thought of making holes with knitting needles, but even that didn't work. so my grandma then suggested to just tie knots in the ribbon, and sew them on with embroidery thread, which was the plan we settled on, given that it worked. it was cheating a bit, but oh well.
end result: several entire days of work, but it looks beautiful. i will take photos tomorrow and post them. what i've figured out: next time, i will skip the sweaters and/or tee shirts. i will head straight to the men's button up shirt section, and just buy in either complimentary or contrasting colors. cause the stretch, though it makes it very soft, makes it very difficult. but at least i learned the hard way.
you know, i will write about the felt bunnies tomorrow, or when i post a photo. they're too hard to describe, and i'm at work and feeling ridiculous for blogging.
more soon, and illustrated.
lms
see? so. updates:
i finished the elizabethtown hat. i did! i knit, and purled, and cabled, yes i did, too! only, the recipe called for it all to be done on circular needles and, you girls who have knit with me know, i do not so much like the circular needles. so i figured, why deal with everything at once? why make myself crazy, with yes, the knitting the purling the cabling AND the circular needles. so i didn't. i knit it with straight needles. and it came out too small. now, really, i don't think thats cause for the hat to come out too small. i think there were pattern problems, in fact i know there were pattern problems, as i had to sort some out mid project. and the hats not WAY too small, it actually goes on my head, but it looks kind of ridiculous and leaves a red mark across my forehead (like jade, ew.). i am going to try it again, i promise, because its a supercute hat, but the last weeks have kept me busy with other projects, for other people. such as...
the baby blanket. this is better news. let's see, the last you heard i had cut the squares, right? ok. the very next day i sewed them together, which is hard, you know to get them to match, and in places they don't, but i think that lends charm. and then a couple of days later, the fabric came in the mail, and i cut the fabric, blah blah blah. because at that point, i was at an impasse. i had no idea where to go from there, having never made a quilt before, and in quite a bit of worry, given the quilt i was trying to make as my first quilt ever was made out of sweaters on one side, and thus stretchy. luckily, i have resources. so last weekend, i absconded to la grandma's house seeking counsel. she and my mom took me to joanne's (no lost undies this time, though the memory weighed heavily in my mind while in the ribbon aisle), where we got filling and ribbon to make the ties. while there, we also found a salvage bunch of felt that matched the quilts backing cowboy print (confused by the felt? it will factor in later). then we went home, where i was instructed in "the sandwich method", which seemed clear enough. then trouble ensued: "i wonder if we should use a ball point needle to sew through the sweaters?" "oh no. the needle is picking up the batting..." "wait, maybe we should do it this way..." "oh geez, this is turning into one of those things..." "what things?" "those things where everything that can go wrong will".
and it did, really, but we pulled it off. my mom did a lot of the sewing through the batting, though we all realized that my sewing machine (cheap and made for crafts and utilitarian sewing) would have done a much better job than her machine (expensive and made for fine tailoring) which we were using. when it came time to make the ties, i realized that the ribbon was too thick that even the sharpest needle wouldn't pull it through. so we thought of making holes with knitting needles, but even that didn't work. so my grandma then suggested to just tie knots in the ribbon, and sew them on with embroidery thread, which was the plan we settled on, given that it worked. it was cheating a bit, but oh well.
end result: several entire days of work, but it looks beautiful. i will take photos tomorrow and post them. what i've figured out: next time, i will skip the sweaters and/or tee shirts. i will head straight to the men's button up shirt section, and just buy in either complimentary or contrasting colors. cause the stretch, though it makes it very soft, makes it very difficult. but at least i learned the hard way.
you know, i will write about the felt bunnies tomorrow, or when i post a photo. they're too hard to describe, and i'm at work and feeling ridiculous for blogging.
more soon, and illustrated.
lms
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