Taylor's Strawberry Hat

Back in November my sister-in-law asked me to make my niece a new hat. I made her a cute purple ear flap hat last year for her first birthday. My sister-in-law said it was starting to get kind of small and Taylor (my niece) now has a hot pink coat. After rummaging through all my knitting and crocheting books my sister-in-law loved the idea of a cute hot pink strawberry hat. At first we were both thinking having a stem on the top of the hat, but then she mentioned liking the ear flaps to keep Taylor's ears warm. That is when I decided to make the strawberry upside down. That way the bottom of the hat could be the leaves of the strawberry and two rather large leaves could be the ear flaps.

I debated for a few days and drew some sketches and thought about how to do certain things. I finally started crocheting the hat in late December. By January 5 the project was complete.

Please take a look at the pictures and let me know what you think:

Side View


Back View


Front View

Thanks for looking!

60-Quick Knits

My good friend Em and I have made a knitting New Years Resolution. That is to knit EVERY pattern in the 60-Quick Knits book by the end of the year. Between the two of us we have already almost completed half the patterns in the book. I can't say why we are so addicted to it, but I think it has a lot to do with the simplicity yet the detail of each pattern. When you look at some of the projects highlighted in this book they seem to be so difficult or intricate, but as soon as you start them you realize the simplicity. They aren't simple to a point where you get bored, but also not so difficult that you get confused and have to take your project apart over and over again. When we do complete all of the projects we will probably make a post with all the pictures, but for now you will have to wait.

Anyways, currently I am working on three different projects from the 60-Quick Knits book. I am working on the #11 Wave Scarf, #17 Plaid Mittens, and the other is the #23 Smocked Fingerless Mittens. I started the Smocked Fingerless Mittens (pattern #23) on Friday after buying a beautiful purple heather cascade 220 from someone on ravelry. As soon as I saw the color I knew they needed to be something beautiful and I had my eye on the Smocked Fingerless Mittens for quite sometime now. Since Friday I have finished the left hand one (other than the buttons) and I have started on the right one. I am really happy with the first one and just had to show them off.


And yes, I am wearing a Green Bay Packer's jersey. I am currently watching the game and hoping that the 14 Packers - 0 Bears will lead to a Packers win!!! Packers in Superbowl 2011? I hope so!

EDIT 1/23/11 - 6:42 PM - THE PACKERS WON WE ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!

Christmas 2010 Presents Post

I made all of the Christmas presents I gave this year. Because of that I decided to make one massive post with all of the Christmas gifts I gave out this year. Below are pictures and descriptions of each project and who it was given to.

Starting with my family, I made my sister a Noro scarf. These scarves are made by many many people and there are a lot of different styles and shapes. I picked a brown Noro that is very neutral colors and then I chose a skein that is full of all of the rainbow colors. The actually knitting is also simple as it is starting with an odd number of stitches, then every row you knit 2 then purl 2 across. Because of the odd number of stitches it creates the nice zigzag look of the scarf. Here a few photos to see what it looks like:

Click the picture for a picture of my sister wearing the scarf

For my brother I knit a hat. I was very inspired by the rather new 60 Quick Knits book. I was so inspired that about 6 of the winter projects I created were from the 60 Quick Knits book. This particular hat is called the Tweed Watch Cap. I chose Cascade 220 yarn in the following colors: #9458 - Bainbrige Island Heather (brown), #2424 - Heather Summer Night (blue), and #2452 - Turtle (green). Here is a picture of my brother wearing his Christmas present as well as a few close-ups of the hat:

Click the picture for a picture of my brother wearing his hat

My sister-in-law was gifted some beautiful mittens. These mittens are the Tweed mittens from the 60 Quick Knits book. The colors I used for her mittens are the following: #2419 - Heather Aster (purplish-pink) and #9921 - Caribbean Blue.


I made my adorable niece a soft sweater for Christmas. I used a pattern from Lion Brand called the Little Princess Cardi. I used Plymouth Yarn Dreambaby DK in a purple, blue, and green. Here is a picture of my niece's sweater.

Click the picture to see my niece wearing her sweater

My mom received a pair of mittens from the 60 Quick Knits called Checkered Mittens. I don't know the exact Cascade 220 colors I used for her mittens as I have no documentation for them at this particular moment. However, I do know I used a light blue for the cuff while I used a dark blue and magenta variegated yarn for the checkers. They were finished already over the summer and my mom finally received them on Christmas Eve. She really liked them and said her hands will probably stay very warm. Here is a picture of them:


My dad was the final family member I made something for. He also had a gift made from the 60 Quick Knits book. His gift was the slip-stitched hat. I made it in a burgundy and gold color. The specific colorways are Cascade 220: #4008 - Heather Ruby and #2415 - Sunflower. Here is a picture of the finished product:


Hope you enjoyed, Comments and Critiques are of course welcome!

First Knitted Sweater = Complete

I know it has been a while since my last update. I have so many projects to share with all of you. For tonight, I'm only going to let you all know that a few days ago I finished my first knitted sweater. My roommate from college, Em, convinced me to make it back in October. I doubted that I would be able to knit it as I have only been knitting a little over a year now. It is amazing that I have now completed it less than a year later. I would post pictures, as I am very proud of the results (even though I am sure I made lots of mistakes), but they must wait. You see, my mom borrowed my camera for her vacation back in May. Her and my dad went on a vacation to Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, and back to Wisconsin while I stayed here student teaching. Anyways, when I finally got my camera back the batteries were completely dead on it :(... so I cannot take pictures currently. Hopefully next week I will fix that and you can all see the finished product.

Edit: 29 Dec 2010 - Below is a picture of the completed project:

Summer is Coming!

It has been a very long time since I last updated this blog. I feel kind of bad about that, but time flies by. It is crazy, the older you get the faster the years go. I'm currently student teaching nearby and I find myself thinking about myself at their ages. There are parts of that time in my life I would love to have back. Being able to just have fun. Sure, you have chores to do around the house and life seems so tough at 10 years old, but you don't have to go look for a job. I miss the capability to think outside of the box completely. As we all get older it is harder and harder to use our imaginations. We are so surrounded by reality and the stresses of bills, how could we ever think of unicorns, magic, and castles. It was in elementary school that I was first inspired to pursue a career in music education. I can only hope to inspire even one of the students I have to see music in a new light...

Anyways to talk about my knitting which I haven't been able to work on much, since I have been teaching. I finished my first pair of socks yesterday. I'm really excited about that and I started working on my sweater once again. Once the summer hits I will hopefully have a lot more updates about my different projects. I can hardly wait to get my hands on another skein of yarn!

Purple & Green Purse

I took a break from working on Mallory's present and decided to make a quick project to use up some of my left over yarn. I had quite a bit of Plymouth Galway yarns from different purses I have been working on. I took out my Happy Hooker book and decided to work on the Fit To Be Tied purse pattern. I started the purse last night and quickly finished it today. I added a green and pink polka-dotted lining to really complete it. I also had some left over purple and yellow polka-dotted ribbon for another finishing touch. I like the say it turned out. However, I would agree with my mom that it isn't the sturdiest of purses. The handles kind of look a bit funny if you put anything in it that weighs more than a cell phone. However, it is still cute and I'll still use it for just a small going out purse. Let me know what you think of it. Here are some pictures:

First, here is a picture of the purse right after I finished crocheting it. Before lining it or adding the ribbon.

Here is a picture of the purse right before it was lined. The fabric is some left over from my picture bulletin board.

Finally, here is a picture of the purse after I added the ribbon. :)

One Birthday Gift Completed

Yesterday, I spent a lot of the day watching tv and knitting. I managed to finish knitting Katie's birthday gift and then started making an i-cord handle. Finally, I threw it in the wash to be felted. It turned out really nice. After felting, I took out my needle and thread, yet again, to attach the handles. I also decided to add a button hole and button. I thought this added the perfect finishing touch :). Here is a picture of the finished product and a picture of Katie with the purse. She really liked it :)!



I love the colors and I like how cute and small it is. It is perfect for just throwing your wallet, cellphone, and keys into. I liked the pattern too. If you are on ravelry you can find information about the pattern here.

Sewing to Complete Some Projects

Normally I do not do much sewing because I'm not that good with a needle. However, in order to complete the two projects I did today I needed to pull out my thread and needle.

First: I completed the small bag for Kara, which I called the Flowery, Girly, Summery PurseBag... All I needed to do was cut out some felt flowers and sew them on with some buttons as the centers. How Cute!


Second: Em and I decided two nights ago to make a Wal-mart run and make ourselves picture bulletin boards. She picks some nice black fabric and music ribbon. I picked a green and pink polka-dot fabric with ribbon that is purple and green with white daisies. I then picked out some sweet colored buttons. Instead of the usual push-tacks holding the ribbon in place... Em and I decided to use a needle and thread and sew the buttons in place. I think this actually will make it a bit more stable and permanent. Please enjoy the pictures :)

This picture is the bulletin board with no pictures...


Here is the bulletin board with some pictures (I think it looks awesome with some pictures)...


Please let me know what you think of all the pictures and of all my projects. Share some Love :P and feel free to follow me on twitter if you aren't already... Broadway4me

Kara's Bag + Knitting While Camping

A few days ago I finished knitting and felting the bag for Kara (Katie's cousin):

This is a picture right after the felting. The ends haven't been cut out yet. I also plan on adding some felted flowers and sewing them on with some random buttons as the centers. It should turn out pretty cute. I'll upload a picture of the finished product hopefully sometime this week... I just have to finish it :P

Today, I went camping and worked a bit on a gift for a friend. Since it is a gift for a friend... a friend who reads this blog, you will have to wait to see the finished product until I give it to her.

Making Myself Some Mittens

Now that my booga bag is all finished it is time to start on my second knitting project. Em was making some really cute mittens with the flip-tops. I really wanted some for myself, so Em is teaching me how to make them. It is getting kind of warm so I won't need to wear them... however, I'm alright with packing them away. I showed you in the last post what the yarn looks like. Here is a picture of the first mitten so far:




I now have learned how to purl. :) After working on my mittens a little bit, Zoe gave me some yarn that she didn't want! I'm so excited.


Now to end this... My mom brought my bag to work with her... and someone really really wants me to make another one, for her daughter. Her request was some bright colors. So, I headed over to Loops and Links and picked out some more yarn. My mom was bringing it into work, telling her how much it would cost, and then she can decide if she really wants it. The best part is, if the woman decides she doesn't want it... my mom said she will pay me to make her a bag :)!!! Well that is all, pictures of the colors for the next booga bag, coming soon...

Spring Break At Last

It is finally Spring Break. That means I actually have time to knit and crochet and update this blog :)... First, I want to show you my booga bag! I finally finished the i-cord today when Em came over. (She actually did the finishing steps on it... because I was really really slow :( )... Below is a picture of my booga bag before the wash:


And here is what it looks like now!:


...

Now that I'm finished with my booga bag, it is time for a new project. So Em is going to teach me to make this awesome flip-top mittens :)... I already have the yarn picked out for it!


The best part is. I got the yarn for it as part of my birthday present. My amazing boyfriend gave me a gift certificate to Loops and Links for my birthday... :)

Pot Holders and Purses

So I realized that I never posted pictures of the pot holders I made for my mom. My mom asked me to make her some new pot holders. In order to do this, I took scraps of yarn around the house to make some pretty pot holders. Behold the crazy pot holders!


Blueberries!

Watermelon

And Finally a Ravenclaw Pot Holder



Tomorrow, I'm getting together with Em again. She is going to teach me how to knit and then felt a purse! I'm really excited about that. I'll tell you some more details tomorrow after my get together!

Picture Problems :(

So last night I decided to upload pictures, the problem was that whenever I tried to upload pictures it would give me some sort of error. I realized later that it was because my iPhoto library was very full. I realized that there was a trash in my iPhoto library that wasn't cleared and was holding almost 700 pictures! Deleted some pictures and now I have pictures uploaded. Then it took a long time to upload the pictures to flickr and by the time I did all of this is was about 12:30 am. So I decided to go to bed without an update. So, I'm updating today.

First I added a picture of Mr. Whiskers (the cat I made for a friend for Christmas):


Then I have pictures of the baby bibs for Taylor Ann:



Finally I have pictures of the "fancy" scarf:

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone! I don't know about all of you, but I had a fun time kicking of 2009. I also realized that last year I posted 23 times... this just happens to be my favorite number so it must be good luck right ;)... Well I finished with my Christmas Crafts Picture Posting series. However, I do have more pictures to show you!!! Yesterday I finished a flowered scarf. The pattern for the scarf can be found in the book The Happy Hooker: Stitch 'n Bitch Crochet. I had made a scarf like this before for my sister-in-law but I decided to create a new one, just for fun. I also started on making some baby bibs because I have been really really bored just sitting at home :P

Without further ague, I present the flowered scarf (the model is myself :P):




Enjoy the pictures!

PICTURES!!!

So I really shouldn't be wasting the time posting these pictures, when I actually have a stack of homework sitting next to me, but it is 8:22 in the morning and I do not feel like it is necessary to start homework at this hour. Especially, after I worked over 6 hours on homework yesterday. Anywhoo... I'm posting pictures finally! So please let me know what you think. First, this is the little penguin I finished a while ago, he/she is for a friend of mine for Christmas. I think he is pretty cute. More pictures on my flickr account if you want to see more pictures.



Then I'm in the process of finishing two different types of polar bears for Christmas. One is a ball and the other is the type the penguin is. Here are some pictures of the uncompleted little guys...





Hope you enjoy the pictures. I'm hoping that in a couple of weeks, I'll finally have time to at least finish the polar bears I started. :)

Long Weekend

This is day two of my long weekend, I'm really excited about it. Anyways, I have finished my penguin and I started a cute little polar bear. I also am almost done making a ball polar bear. The penguin I hope to have pictures of tonight. I'm so excited! The penguin is based on a pattern in Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet. The cute little guy is going to be a Christmas present for someone. Keep watching for pictures :)

I swear I'm still alive

This week has been rough, really, really, rough. Tension is high and I just haven't had time to post anything. However, I am back to tell you I did, indeed, finish my cute little turtle. Here are some pictures to enjoy:





As always comments and constructive criticisms are more than welcome. Oh! Pattern for this turtle can be found here

Next time I'll try to post some pictures of my latest project, a cute little penguin. :)

Squirtle's Turtle

So, what am I up to lately you ask? I actually started working on a turtle for one of my 20 or so Christmas gifts. I am using a pattern that I bought from Ana Paula on etsy. You can see her shop here. I'll post pictures of my progress as I go. I just don't want to post pictures, yet, because I do not have much done. Maybe when I at least finish the shell and stuff.

It is Late

It is rather late, actually rather early in the morning, but I have finally finished my polka-dotted platypus, and I just HAD to share her with the rest of you. I have also been working a few decorations for my room, but for now I will just upload the pictures of Dot (that is her name)... Since I need to be getting off to bed soon... Please comment, because I would love to know what you all think:







Oh and just a note... I only made Dot (which is the green platypus) The purple platypus is her boyfriend Pete. Pete is an amigurumi I actually bought from Pigglewiggins on Etsy. You should check out her store. She is a pretty awesome lady... Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!