Gaga over Zig Zag

After I made my sister, Rebecca, a zig zag blanket for Christmas, I knew I had to make one for myself. Zig zag stripes + purple & grey? Hellz yes! This time around it only took me about two weeks to make, a far cry from the six weeks it took me to make my sister's blanket and a super duper far cry from the year it took me to make the blue and grey blanket that I made a few years ago for my living room.


So many pretty colours! Purple, grey, black, oh my!


I think it turned out pretty well! The colours match the rest of the decor in my room - especially my duvet cover and the art above the bed.

The fur babies are a huge fan of the blanket as well!

Every time I worked on it, Mags decided to sprawl across it, forcing me to move her each time I had to switch sides.

Vega seemed more interested once I was getting close to the end of it. Anytime I left the room, she curled up on it. Adorable? Yes.

And not to be outdone by the girls, Pete joined in to the snuggle-a-thon as well!

Shockingly, the blanket is covered in animal hair already....I can't imagine why! :)
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This scene looks familiar to me.

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Cats + Felt = Love

I tend to make a lot of felted items. I love how they look and how durable they become after the felting process. Little did I know, cats seem to love felted items as well. Doesn't matter where I put them, one of the cats seems to find them, curl up and sit/sleep on them. Below is some photographic proof.

Two kittens, one bag.

James just chillin'.

 Tiny Magnets lookin' pretty adorable, if I do say so myself.

Vega gets into the action as well.

Magnets figures that there is room for her as well. "Move over Mom!"

The bag is smaller than Vega but she tries anyway.

Maggie tries this one out as well.

Now don't get me wrong, the furry little buggers lay on everything. Coats, pieces of paper, flyers, projects I'm currently working on, everything. But something about felt just draws them to it. And it's the WORST fabric to try and get cat hair out of.

Until next time! I'll probably post about my attempt at auditioning for the Food Network's Recipe to Riches! And no, I didn't make it on the show. Jerks.

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What I spent the last two months of 2011 doing!

I can finally post about the Christmas presents I made since the last one has been received by my sister. This year I was ambitious with my gifts. I made not one but two crocheted blankets among all of the smaller items I made for friends.

For my sister Rebecca and her boyfriend Robby, I decided to crochet a ripple blanket. They just moved in together and I thought it would be a nice item to make them for their new place. It was my first time trying a ripple pattern blanket and it was pretty easy once you got the rhythm of the pattern down. I found an easy to follow on Attic24 and it can be found here.

And as much as my sister loves the blanket, I think the cats even loved it more! Any time I was working on it, they seemed to find their way on top of it.

 

For my Mum's present, I made a pretty basic granny square blanket. It worked up pretty quickly and it contains about 17 different colours. I used the same yarn for both - Lionbrand Home Spun. Once you washed the blanket for the first time, it was so incredibly soft. It was hard parting with either blanket as I just wanted to snuggle up in either one.

And the cats weren't the only ones to like the blankets. Here is a picture of my Dad when he was released from the hospital, snuggled up in the blanket as well.

My Dad had a rough couple of months towards the end of the year. Along with a broken leg and ankle, he was hospitalised with bilateral pulmonary embolism followed by a bout of pneumonia. Luckily he's doing much better now and I cross my fingers that nothing else happens to him. Also, early happy birthday tohim as he turns 51 on Tuesday. Happy Birthday Dad!

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Out with 2010, in with 2011!

I keep vowing to update more often, then I'm pretty good at it for a few days or a few weeks and then I go back to forgetting to update on a consistent basis! I make no promises that this won't happen in the future, it's just how I roll.

So 2010 is over. And with a new year, you get a new start! I really do plan on looking for a new job as I currently am in hate with the one I have. The only upside to my current job is that I'm usually home by 3:30pm at the latest which gives me lots of time to myself at home which means plenty of time to craft. I also sold the most commissioned pieces this year as well! Hopefully this trend continues into the new year.

I knit my fist hat back in December as a Christmas present for my sister's boyfriend. It was the most simplest of knit hat pattern that are knit on straight needles. Cast on 84 stitches, do a 2 x 2 rib knit until the fabric is 6 inches long and then start to decrease until crown. Easy? Yes. It felt pretty good as up until then, the only thing I had knit was a couple of scarves. So I posted a picture of the knit hat and a friend asked if I could do one similar to it but with a brim. I thought, sure, why not! So I figured it out on my own.





Rib knit hat with brim

Cast on 84 sts
Row 1: (K2, P2) across
Repeat this row until the piece measures 8.5 inches from the beginning
Next Row: (K2, P2, K2 tog, P2, K2, P2 tog) across the row
Next Row: K the K sts and P the P sts
Next Row: K the K sts and P the P sts
Next Row: (K1, P2, K2 tog, P1, K2, P2 tog) across the row
Next Row: K the K sts and P the P sts
Next Row: K the K sts and P the P sts
Next Row: K1, P2 tog (K1, P1, K2 tog, P1, K1, P2 tog) to the last stitch. P1
Next Row: K the K sts and P the P sts
Next Row: K the K sts and P the P sts
Next Row: (K1, K2 tog) across
Next Row: (K2 tog) across
Next Row: (K2 tog) across

To finish the hat, cut the yarn, leaving a long tail to use as thread to sew up the seam along the back. Put the yarn on a needle and thread through the remaining loops on the knitting needle and pull shut. With the hat inside out, sew the seam up the back.

Now cut a piece of plastic in the shape of a brim. I actually had a hat in the house that had a brim about the same size of what I wanted so I just traced it. With the hat inside out, fold the bottom brim up about 2.5 inches and place plastic brim inside of fold. Using a thread and needle, sew up the edge of the hat. To sew the brim in place, I used my sewing machine to do a tight stitch along the edge of it. Tada! Completed hat.
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Hello Noro!

I finally got my hands on some noro yarn and boy was I ever excited. It's all about the colours. The pretty, pretty colours. I started a basic 1 x 1 rib knit scarf switching the balls of yarn every two rows. It's not done quite yet as I have about 12 other projects I'm working on at the same time. Too many crafts. Not enough time. It's a never ending struggle!