Lace and more lace!

Afternoon, Readers!

Look what I finished:

Pattern found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pineapple-lace-parasol-wedding-stick-umbrella-crochet-pattern-in-pdf

I've been wanting to make a crochet lace parasol ever since I saw these patterns pop up on Ravelry. I think this is the largest piece of lace that I've ever made!

The pattern itself is fairly simple (pineapple lace is quite easy, just single crochets and chains, mostly), but the actual crochet/construct process was a bit of an adventure:

I had to find a cheap stick umbrella to sacrifice to the cause, and I ended up finding a cheap one for sale at Daiso Japan. Cost me all of $1.99!

And because the umbrella base cost me all of $1.99, getting the lace on the umbrella skeleton was...interesting.

The instructions included in the crochet pattern gave some simple instructions for breaking down the sacrificial umbrella: according to the designer, just cutting away the fabric and saving the tips from the ribs would do the trick.

My umbrella would not give up its fabric without a fight.

There was a circle of tightly folded blue nylon underneath my umbrellas' ferrule that simply would. not. budge. I must have spent about a week fretting over how to get the fabric out without completely destroying the umbrella base; but about an hour and half of constantly cutting and picking at it with my pinking shears and tweezers eventually got it to slide off.

Now that I know that I CAN make this fabulous thing...I'm going to make it again! As happy as I am with the parasol, I want to make another one to enter into the state fair in September!

Parasol 2.0 is going to be classed up a bit! Can't wait to show the results!

Until next time!

Naaaaa na na na na na na na...

Pattern found here: http://amysbabies.wordpress.com/magnetic-katamari-pattern

Katamari Damacy is, in my humble opinion, one of the very best video games ever made. It's delightfully colorful, fast-paced, clever, and has cornered the market on WEIRD FUN.

You guys know who else is delightfully colorful, fact-paced, clever, and full of weird fun? My sister!

This awesome anigurumi is my sister's birthday present! I had a ton of fun making it, and will definitely be making more!

I used up the last of the purple mercerized cotton (as well as a bunch of the green, and all of the light blue when I made my first attempt at the magnetic nubs around the side) in my stash to make little piece of adhesive-star-magic. Woo!

Until next time, Readers! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Year of Using Up the Stash: ERHMEGHERD BABY SOCKS

Wow! It's been a while since I've updated you all with my knitting escapades, Readers!

Those of you who've been following me will be pleased to know that I've finished the socks:

Beautiful pattern, and a reasonably quick knit too!

I also finished Pop's gloves:

She absolutely loves them! Now to pick a second pattern for pair number two!

I also started working on this wonderful thing:

I was looking for something to use up the rest of my bright green acrylic, and came across a fabulous pattern for a Minecraft Creeper doll! I finished the head up just fine, (not bad for my first attempt at the duplicate stitch), but I find that I'm struggling with knitting the body. The pattern is a mite bit confusing in the way of attaching the rectangly limbs to the body; I'm going to give the body a few more attempts, but if I'm still messing it up after a few tries I may just wing it.

A while ago, a good friend gave me one of the "Jane Austen Knits" magazines, and I found a gorgeous pattern for a re-usable grocery bag. I've used up all of my purple wool blend on the bottom/body of the bag, and I've used up nearly all of the chunky gray wool for the top of the bag:

I still need to do more of the lace pattern on top, as well as the straps for the bag. I'm going to use a chunky dark purple for that; it may not be the prettiest thing to come from my knitting needles, but it's certainly going to be one of my most useful projects, given Seattle's plastic bag ban.

Lastly, I have the perfect use for (at least a good chunk of) my sock yarn! An old high school friend of mine just gave birth to a beautiful little girl, Readers! You guys know what that means....

BABY BOOTIES!!!!!!

My word, Readers, baby  booties are so much fun to knit! It's like instant knitting-project gratification! I finished both of the purple booties in one day!

So, Readers, here is my list of my current projects to help keep me on track!

1. Baby booties: Purple 2/2; Gray with lace trim, 1/2
2. Minecraft Creeper: Head: finished. Body: still working on attaching the feet.
3. Grocery bag: About 3/4 of the way finished!
4. Pop's gloves: Need to pick out a pattern and get started!
5. New Snowflake Pattern: We've got a title! New snowflake, I dub thee: "Odette/Odille!" Still working on two prototypes; "Odette" is crocheted in all white, and "Odille" is crocheted in all black.
6: Space Invaders Warm Up America Square: Not even started yet, heh. I'll start that one as soon as I finish the Minecraft Creeper; that little guy is capitalizing on all of my bright green yarn.

Until next time Readers! *Muah!*