Category Archives: Show & Tell

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Show & Tell 5/6/2011

I decided after we got back from Ireland that I wanted a bold pattern on my walls. But no wallpaper for me (too messy to get rid off). I decided to stencil.

I started on Sunday, and here’s what my wall looks like today. I love it! At first, I was going to stencil in blue. I am very happy that I switched to bronze. I love the way that it turned out.

I am going to do the wall to the right as well. Also I might go back and fill in the “holes” along the top. But that’s for another time. This weekend, I’m going to enjoy my finished wall.

What have you guys finished this week? I’d love to hear!

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Show & Tell 4/22/2011

This might seem like a cop-out, but I actually worked hard on this quilt block. This is for a secret quilt that my guild is making. Each person received two green squares and makes two blocks with the green center – a white square and a black square. Then the blocks are placed right-sides together and sewn on a diagonal. Voila! White/black blocks with green centers.

That wasn’t quite so easy for me. It took me a couple of hours to get the green centers to line up. I was frustrated at the time and proud, now, that I stuck it out and finished my block on time.

I have a couple of projects in the works right now, so I hope to have at least one done for next Friday. Please send “good weather” thoughts my way! I need to do some work outside.

 

Here is a Gratuitous Chihuahua picture as your Earth Day present. Don’t say I never gave ya nothin’. That’s Bonne, a couple of days after we got her back from the vet. She was still fighting her pneumonia, so I wrapped her up nice and warm for a nap. She’s feeling so much better now!

P.S. I am linking to my friend Shelley’s Etsy shop. She finished this giant basket this week, and it’s so beautiful! It is Giant, as in it would cover your whole lap if you were sitting down. Gorgeous. Check it out.

What have you guys been making?

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Show & Tell 4/15/2011

Like I said in my post yesterday, I have been feeling quite uninspired lately. But my cousin’s wife had a little baby girl last week, so I whipped up this sweet cabled hat from some of my stash yarn. You may remember another version of this hat from here. I have made a bunch of these – I guess they haven’t all made it up onto the blog. Anyway, I love this super easy pattern. If you have been scared to try cables, this is a great way to learn. You will be a Cable Master in no time!

In other news, my sweet little Chihuahua Bonne has been sick. Here she is at the height of her illness:

That weird white thing in the background is actually a space heater. We were trying to keep her as warm as possible. She spent a couple of nights in the hospital, and she just came home yesterday. She’s still not quite 100%, but hopefully in another week or so, she will be right as rain.

Have you finished anything exciting this week? Inspire me!

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Show & Tell 4/8/2011

Observe this sweet little white cardigan. I can’t believe how beautiful it looks. The mother was happy with it – she thought it would look great over the baby’s sun dresses for the spring and summer. I love the buttons almost as much as I love the lace diamond pattern.

The pattern for this sweater is here (you will have to log into Ravelry – accounts are free though, and if you don’t have one already, you are in for a treat!). The yarn that I used for this was cotton. It was easy to knit and should be easy to care for.

(The color IRL is closer to the first picture.)

I had a mini emergency with this product. The instructions were translated via an online translator, so most of the information was there just in a rather illogical order. I bought what I thought was enough yarn…until I was nearly knit through all I had and had only finished two of the diamond repeats. The example in the pattern had four repeats. Since the yarn was discontinued, I frantically called the shop where I bought it to see if they had two more skeins left of this color. They only had one, so I asked them to hold it for me. With three skeins of yarn, I was able to finish three diamond repeats, which I think is plenty long enough for a one-year old.

This pattern was complicated enough to be interesting without being too hard. It is knit on pretty small needles, so it took a bit longer than I expected. But I finished it in time for the birthday party, and it was a big hit.

Share! Share! Share! What have you guys been up to?

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Show & Tell 4/1/2011

For this week’s Show & Tell, here is a sweet little owl hat that I knit up for my cousin’s baby. You might recognize this pattern (and yarn) from this other little hat I whipped up for a friend’s baby. But this one has pink eyes and that one has turquoise eyes. I’m not trying to pull a fast one on you.

I have a bunch of projects in the works right now, so I hope to have at least one REALLY amazing thing finished for next week’s Show & Tell. Which, by the way, I have decided will now be posted on Fridays. Deal with it.

I have been doing a lot of stuff IRL to keep myself sane, so apologies for my radio silence this week. Blog posting should be back on track for next week; I have a few things lined up already. Thanks for you patience.

What have you guys been making? Inspire me with your creativity!

Post Script – Have a great weekend!

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Show & Tell 3/25/2011

Good morning! Here I am, modeling my brand-spankin’ new Shauna Cowl. Robyn from the Minimalist Knitter wrote this pattern and hosted a Knit Along for it.

I wanted to participate in the Knit Along but wasn’t sure what I would do with it at the end. I decided to use this as an opportunity to knit up some yarn from my stash. So I used this – Vanna’s Choice. The color is supposed to be Taupe, but I like to call it Mushroom. It really is exactly in between brown and gray. I actually don’t like it in its skein form, but once it was knit up – wow! The seed stitch added the right kind of texture to make this color pop. I am really happy with how it turned out.

I didn’t have the proper needle that the pattern called for (US10 circulars), so I used one size down (US9 circulars). I also knit sort of tight, so although I used the correct yardage, it’s only about 6″ instead of 8″. It is still large and would definitely keep your neck warm on a winter day.

One last thing – whenever I knit something that is supposed to be fairly “elastic” like this (it needs to go over your head and twist), I always use the Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. Otherwise, my bind off will be too tight and the item will lose some of its functionality.

Well there it is. What have you guys been working on this week? Share!

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Show & Tell 3/17/2011

Oh – I should be posting something green or orange for St. Patty’s Day. Oops!

Here is what I have been working on. Obviously it isn’t a completed baby quilt. In fact, it is actually a sampler that I am putting together as a study to make a final version. This particular sampler is going to be practice for the free motion quilting class that I am taking. I am making an alternate version with blue fabrics. I am going to practice on one sampler before the next class and then bring the other one to quilt in class.  I want to hear what other quilters’s ideas would be for the design.

In addition to practicing my free motion quilting skillz, this is also a chance for me to test different colors combinations – focusing on pattern scale and color value. I like how this one came out and can’t wait to share the blue one. I am inspired to try some sort of gradient (light to dark) color pattern for the final quilt.

I am working on another secret project that I hope to have done for next weekend. I have been working on a few medium-sized projects lately, so they take a little longer. But I enjoy sharing them with you hear.

I also enjoy hearing what you have finished! Please share in the comments.

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Show & Tell 3/10/2011

The subtitle for this post is “Stash Knitting”. Here is what I have been making lately:

Wow, can my camera not handle red. Crazy.

Anyway, I had made my coworker a hat a couple of years ago and still had a significant amount of the yarn left over. So I knit him this little guy. He was wearing it around the office yesterday, so I guess he liked it.

Here are some baby hats that I knitted using some light pink acrylic. The pattern I used has a couple of different variations, so I was trying to use all of them. Some of the ribbing is two  knit/two purl, some of the hats have 10 cables, others 5, etc. It’s like one of those puzzles that you do when you’re a kid – “Circle all of the differences among these three hats!”

I hope to do some serious sewing this weekend (and good photos!), so check back next week for some awesome clothes.  :)

What have your busy hands been creating? Share below in the comments!

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Show & Tell 3/3/2011

I finished it!  I showed you the monogram last week, but here is the whole enchilada (I mean, blanket).

The last one I made was square, and I was trying to make this one a rectangle.  I knit until I ran out of yarn; unfortunately, still a square!  But I didn’t want to buy any more yarn, so this is the finished project.  I didn’t measure at the end, but based on measurements I made while knitting, this is roughly 30″ square.

I have passed it along already, and the recipient was happy.  So I am happy.

Here is a final shot of the monogram.  I sewed in the loose yarn on the back and was able to close some of the holes from the intarsia (using the two different colors).  I think it looks great!

I have a few random little projects I have finished in the last couple of weeks, so next weeks Show & Tell might be a smorgasbord of crafty goodness.

How are you guys doing?  Create anything lately?  Please tell me about it in the comments.  With links!

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Show & Tell 2-25-2011

Parliamentary elections are today in Ireland.  The biggest issue we heard people discussing was the EU/IMF loan.  It will be interesting to see how the results of this election affect the economy, especially regarding whether or not they will be able to restructure the loan.  Interesting stuff!

Anyway, what we are all waiting for:

I am knitting  baby blanket for a friend.  The baby’s name will be Zara, hence the Z monogram.  This is a project within a project as the monogram pattern and blanket pattern are separate, but since they both seemed similar in construction, I thought they would knit together easily.  That’s until I got halfway through the Z the first time and realized that the letter was backwards.  Oops!  So I had to rip out a few rows and re-graph the monogram.  But all’s well that ends well, right?

I was hoping to get this blanket done by today, but alas.  It was not to be.  I have a big car ride planned for this weekend (with my half marathon race on Sunday in Massachusetts), so it will definitely be finished by Monday.  When planning my time for this project, I didn’t take into consideration two factors: a) how much energy and effort it would take to get back into the swing of things after vacation and b) Monday was pretty much a total wash.  You live and learn right?

I am excited to get this done, because I have a whole stack of fabric to cut up and sew!  I am looking forward to completing a lot of wonderful projects in March.

Your turn!  What have you been creating?