Lillian Tank and wips wips wips

So last night I finally FINALLY decided to finish that Lillian Tank. Woooo.







Don't mind the dirty mirror and needing to shower photos - I was gonna wear it tonight when I was all dressed up but no lol.

Pattern: http://deliciousstitches.blogspot.com/2007/05/lillian-tank-top.html Lillian Tank by Delicious Stitches
Yarn: Three skeins of Lion Brand Cotton Ease - with some leftovers (headband, anyone?) - Cost me about $15 CDN
Needles: 24" US 6 Pony Circulars - The pattern calls for 16" but A) I didn't want to buy new needles and B) I don't think I could have comfortably fit all my stitches on there. lol

The Good:
- easy to follow pattern
- affordable yarn
- great worn on its own or with something underneath
- fast knit

The to-change-for-next-time:
- I think I might make it a tad bit shorter so that I can wear it on my jeans with pockets without having it stretch around it
- Might do the middle ribbing in a slightly smaller needle
- Experiment with other lace patterns - though I do love this one

Interesting notes:
- before I blocked this it had the most interesting ridge pattern. Not something that I'd wear because it looked like I had potatos in my shirt but still really cool look. I didn't even block this properly. Enh
- It's just a teeensy bit too big around the waist area in the back for me. Whatevs!

Favourite knit so far, I think!

P.S. I knit this about a month ago and didn't get the ribbing done in time for my trip to Florida so I put it away for a month cause I lost the motivation to finish it until last night.

And progress on my first pair of socks - photo taken Tuesday.

Baby Appropriate Yarn

So yesterday after walking with Yvonne and Sarah I dyed some yarn for a case for my phone. This time instead of dying the yarn one colour, I tried to get a variegated look. I intended on stronger colours than what I ended up with but I was too lazy to get some more KoolAid from upstairs. I think the yarn looks better knitted up but that may have to do with my sketchy ball-winding skills. Oh and you may be wondering, how knitting this case incorporated a new skill (as my goal is for every thing I knit right now to be a sort of learning process.) Well, I actually knit it with double pointed needles rather than straight needles and sewing up the sides. So no seams! How brilliant. So neat. And yeah, I've done this before but it's fun to be done and not have seams to worry about. And then I grafted the bottom ... yesss for seams that look like stitches. lol I must say that I don't like doing ribbing on double pointed needles for some reason. Enh. Ah well. Pastel-y case for my camera it is.

I didn't have syringes or anything so doing this was mildly amusing. It looked soo messy.

So last night while on MSN I only got the ribbing done. MSN is not conducive for knitting. Anyhow, knit away before I went to Rogers.

Left me with that. It would have looked better with the phone in it but I needed the phone to take the picture. And yeah, this time I dyed more yarn that I needed. Not sure what I will do with it just as yet. Might experiment with felting? Or it might be used in some cheesy heart-like colourwork. (shrugs) I think in person it looks more pinky/purpley.

Fun with Kool-Aid

At the moment I'm dying some yarn with Kool-Aid to knit Rachel's camera case. I don't think I put enough Kool-Aid so it's going to come out a light blue rather than a rich blue. But that's okay... I think? Maybe I'll re-do it when I'm done if the blue isn't satisfactory. I think it's going okay for a first-attempt. Mom doubts that the yarn will take the dye. Hehe can't wait to prove her wrong.

Enough yarn for her camera case and some Kool-Aid. I didn't even use a full pack of a blue and only a pinch of purple was added. Though I realize now that it was useless because I just added more blue when I thought it was too dark.

After soaking in the mixture and some heat and yadayada.

Update: So the yarn is drying in my backyard. I'm hoping it dries soon. I think it will because squeezing out the excess water really worked. It's a bit brighter than a baby-blue and I think I'm going to leave it that way. I wish I knew what size my other cousin's camera was so I could dye an appropriate amount of yarn for her... Ah well. I suppose I'll have to leave that for another day. I had the size written on another piece of paper but I can't find it. Hmph. Oh and I think some of the yarn felted a bit because the water from the tap surprised me with cold water right after and before a hot bath... but I got it out in time and I don't particularly care. :) Oh, and before you think I'm weird, that dark blue yarn is used to make sure the skein doesn't get tangled. I had that happen to me with the sari silk and I don't want a replay.

Drying outside.


Wound into a ball.


My strange, strange seam.

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Done! ... Okay, I have to stitch on the button. Also, it doesn't fit the random camera I stuffed in here for the purpose of this photo. One in Rachel's camera will come... eventually.

Poxy

So while on the chicken pox I have this crazy desire to knit and yet I haven't really been knitting much on Vanessa's legwarmers despite them being an easy knit. I really want to start those socks with the yarn I bought but I don't have needles for them yet.

Here's what I have been up to...

I wanted to use up some eugh blue acrylic so I double stranded it on huge needles and made a garter stitch scarf. I kind of want to embroider a design on it now.

Progress shot on Vanessa's legwarmers.


The front of my phone cozy. Aran braid cable from Vogue Knitting.


The back of my phone cozy. Beaded rib from Vogue Knitting. As you can see, I need to add a button.

Add-on: Since this post, my mom has claimed this case for her phone because it fits it. Actually I think it fits it even better than it fits mine. Wtf m8. lol looks like I've got to make another one. Different, obviously. Probably the same yarn since I really want to use it up and I currently don't have access to a yarn shop. I've also started knitting a Gryffindor bookmark since then but I think it shall be far too thick to go between the pages of a book comfortably. Oh well, it'll be for show I guess. Or a nifty pin. Or when I get a bulletin board I can stick it up and be all proud. We shall see.
Add-on2: Since I wrote that last note, I've realized that this bookmark is huge. I mean, I've only done two repeats of the golden yellow stripes and it's already about as big as the book. Oops. Should have stuck to those smaller needles. For some reason I'm far too lazy to go back. I'll just have one giant-sized bookmark. And one miniature-sized scarf. (shrugs)

Petunia Tote - done atlast

When I first saw the photos from the IK magazine I loved it but I can't say that about my FO. First of all, when I was picking up stitches I didn't exactly bother to read up how to do that ... so the base is inside out (haha) but I think I shall add some cord/edging to make it look neater. Also, I was tempted to stop after doing 1.5 repeats of the pattern but at that point it felt too small so I did the full 2 repeats... and it's ginormous. Enh. And while I was on gauge for the bag, once it came to the handles I started pulling my stitches quite tightly. Which I guess made it a stiffer fabric. Though it's not as long as it's supposed to be but if it was any longer my bag would be to my knees. I stitched a piece of denim into the handles so that it wouldn't stretch out and then lined the rest of the bag. I think I might fix-up a few more details but there you have it.

zoom-in on the lining

sitting on the floor

hanging on the railing

Note: I don't have any good action shots! (lol) Maybe later.

Wings Lace Bookmark and other notes

So, did I tell you how bored I got of knitting that Petunia Tote? Really bored. Maybe it wasn't challenging enough or I just need more diversity in my life than just simple knits and purls. Go figure.

Here is what it was like as of yesterday:

All flattened out.

Awkwardly stuffed with (clean) pajamas. The highlighter is for size comparison.

Awkwardly stuffed and all alone.

To remember why I enjoyed knitting so much I started knitting off of every bit of yarn I had lying around. I tried lacework with this red yarn - it looked terrible. I had to frog that. I starting knitting with a pair of chopsticks my dad brought from the plane ride from China. Then I started trying out this diamond pattern - that really is just knits and purls but it's cute. I guess it will make itself into a pencil case of some sort. Except I'm not sure I'll have enough yarn and the whole point was to get rid of that ugh blue yarn. Maybe I'll make the back a different colour? Hmm. We shall see.

It's kinda hard to make out with this lighting but enh.

Then today I decided to knit myself a bookmark with the yarn I bought for Rachel's camera cozy. It's really meant to be used for crocheting - considering the name "Heavenly Crochet" - but who cares. It had such nice shades of blue. I'm thinking that the pattern might have been better suited for one colour rather than self-striping yarn but ah well, I still like it. I managed to yo and ssk without messing up like I always do. I still need to block it out a bit but I won't right now because I'm too lazy to find pins. Maybe I'll add a tassel - so it looks more like a bookmark and less like a knitted rectangle... we shall see. And who knows, maybe I'll get back to that bag. Sooner or later...

Yeah. This yarn was by far the most exciting to unravel. On the outside it was cool with all the angle-y business and continues to be. But as I unraveled, I grew mesmerized by the swirly goodness. It's like a blue campino, really.



Blue goodness. :)


Close-up. Yeah, it really needs to be blocked to look more like wings. lol


Zoom-out.

iPod Cozy #2

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Yesterday I was dying to knit and I looked at the very little odds and ends of yarn that I had, and settled on making another iPod cozy... but that doesn't mean that my red one will be retired! Nope, it's going to hold my camera now (as it fits quite well.) The new one, INCLUDING FAIR ISLE, will hold my iPod. The colourwork was actually a lot simpler than I thought it'd be. It seems kinda silly now that I made another cozy since it's springy and all but whatever, it can offer some padded protection in the realms of my backpack.

What the inside of all that fair isle looks like.

iPod Nano Cozy

Keeping you cozy

I was trying to see how my ribbing was awhile ago and was making an armwarmer. Then realized I made it too small and could make it into a bracelet. And then I realized it was the perfect size for an iPod Nano.

Excellent.

Irish Hiking Scarf

A short relationship

So I've been a bit behind on updates despite thinking about knitting and crafts 24/7 these days.

After finishing my armwarmers I had a skein and a bit left over so I decided to make the matching scarf but instead of making it three cable repeats wide, I made it two. Perfect for spring. At least it was until I lost the armwarmers. Sigh.

Ah well. I still have a scarf, I guess...

It's much brighter in real life and is almost 5 feet long (and even though I was going to make it longer, I didn't as I ran out of yarn.)

Jewellry Storage

Colour My World

I have been daydreaming about the jewellry storage from Pottery Barn Teen for a good while now. It makes me sad that you can only order it online and that you can only have it delivered in the U.S. There is no doubt that if I lived in the States, I would pay the shipping fees for it. I could possibly have it delivered to a relative but then I have to ensure that I end up going there, am able to bring it back, etc. If I wanted them to ship the items to me here, it would be a lot of mula and the items themselves are already quite expensive. I might be going this summer but that's not for sure. I'm getting worried because I notice a lot of the wonderful items are no longer online. Meaning they're gone. Oh my.

My mom and I have way too many accessories from attending a gazillion occasions. We share stuff but we both still have our own collections. There are certain things I borrow from her and return to her room and vice versa. Though sometimes we forget to return 'em.

Awhile ago I made a really crappy-looking earring holder but it does wonders! I can see all my earrings (minus real gold which isn't a lot) so I don't forget what I own. I only wish I had the fancy PBTeen holder because then my mom and I would put both of ours on it and it would be like a store. I used cardboard and made a triangle-shape, cut-out little pieces of the middle, punched holes along the edges of the bars, painted it white and voila. Crappy earring holder. Suhweet.

If we have a lot of earrings you can guess that we have a lot of bracelets. Now see, my mom just has a lot of bangles but I don't keep them in my room. We saw this bangle stand that you can buy at our temple and it's pretty nice so we might get it. I have my own bangles that are seperate from our Indian collection because they are gifts that I try to wear more often. I also have a heck of a lot of beaded bracelets and stuff that I tend to forget I own. I organized the top drawer of my dresser so that I could see all my bracelets and necklaces by simply opening it but I didn't really think it was the best solution for me. Honestly, it takes so much time to open my drawer and check it out. Haha.

So I was in the basement and noticed a wine bottle holder that we aren't using. We used to use it. It holds two wine bottles. Seeing it empty inspired me to toss my bracelets and necklaces on it. Suhweet number 2.

I took the last picture because I love how neat it all is. lol the orange containers are my mom's old J-Lo perfume boxes.

I'm still sort of wanting a seperate necklace holder. I want to push pretty pins or knobs into the side of my dresser and hang them there. Or get a shelf and put little knobs on it. Or do the fabric-covered corkboard thing but my mom is afraid of me putting ugly things up on my wall since I'd do it myself, so for now, this will do. (I swear if I got the corkboard I would take the time to do a nice job. Sigh. I would even make a lattice covered one so that I could hang earrings that way and it could be like a set.

I really feel like sewing. And pretty fabric. I don't have pretty fabric, though. Sigh.

Note how I'm not ready for school at all but just want to keep crafting. I keep seeing cool ideas or coming up with nifty ones to make my room all cool but ahhh...

Irish Hiking Armwarmers

FINITO

These were a quick-knit. I knit one side pretty much while on the train and the other randomly. It was easy to learn the cables and quite satisfying to see. I have to get started on the scarf cause I have quite a bit of yarn leftover.

Used? Bernat Satin in sage.

Basketweave Pencil Case

Okay, so being sick disabled me from having access to the joys of Wal-mart to buy myself a zip and this weekend I got fed-up seeing that strip of knitted goodness just lying there on the needles without purpose so I binded it off and seamed it up and now I have a pencil case. Without any kind of closure. I'm calling it a finished object because really, the knitting portion is done I just need to eventually get myself a zip (and then line it.)

Ahem.

Doesn't hold me back from putting some of my highlighters and pens though.

iPod Cozy (Updated)

Mmm buttons.

So I wanted to put a button on my cozy and remove the super-long cord/ribbon that I used to tie it closed with.