My County fair entry, Stash Buster pillow, Gellatly hat and other plans.

So, I actually won something at the Cleveland County Free Fair this year LOL

There are two categories at this fair for knitted stuff.  Coats, Sweaters, Capes and Other Clothing Knitted Articles.  My hat was in the latter category.  So that means I compete against everything else that you wear that isn't a coat, sweater or cape (and who knits capes? is that a thing?).  So last year, I competed against some socks who won first and second and probably third.  This year the sock knitters decided to stay home I guess because I didn't see any entered and I actually won second in my category!  That was pretty cool and I totes bragged about it on all my social media and even posted a picture at work lol.

This is the crochet/knitted hybrid that beat me.  Seems a little fishy that something that is mixed styles should be allowed in the knitted category but oh well.  The ladies taking the entries are volunteer and trust you to enter in the correct category and there may not be a category for crochet/ yarn articles.

This shawlet thing won third.

And this entry into the Coats, Sweaters, Capes category took best of show.  I definitely need to enter a cardigan next year and get that green ribbon!

Well, after that unexpected win and boost to my ego I completed the knitted top of my Stash Buster Pillow.  I didn't follow the pattern exactly because when I read it, it looked like it wanted me to knit when I wanted to purl and end up with a stockinette stitch for the blocks instead of garter stitch.  I was not having that so I made it to match the Ballband Dishcloth Pattern so that's what I did.  I did not want to weave in all those ends so because it will all get sewn onto the pillow back, I just tied them off and cut the strings.  I think that will be ok for this project and suit my laziness better.  I used I Love This Cotton from Hobby Lobby and I have so much left over!  It was fairly cheap at like 3 something a ball but now I have so much!  I might end up making another one if this one looks good sewn up lol.

I finished a Gellatly Hat and I really like it!  The yarn is super soft, Plymouth Select Worsted Merino Superwash in some gold/beeswax color that I can't remember right now.  This was the first pattern that I bought online from Ravelry and for some reason it seemed like a big deal to me even tho it was super easy.  It cost about 6 bucks and I think it was totally worth it.  I had to stop myself from going on a pattern buying binge.  I really wanna make the Beeswax Hat and also the Knox hat.  I have the perfect yarn for both!! Ugh, I really need to work on some stuff that doesn't require me to shell out 6 dollars for patterns but who know I might change my mind ;)

I bought some monster heads at Wal-Mart.  They were with the Halloween stuff and work really well as hat models LOL

I took them to work to decorate my cube :)

I finally started the Newborn Vertebrae.  I'm pretty excited about it because I really wanna make a cardigan for me so hopefully I can get down the basics with this one and then be ready to save up some big bucks for several skeins of the fanciest, softest yarn that I can afford for my cardigan :)

Actually wearing the dresses I sewed, Owl Beanie FO's and future de-stashing efforts

This pic is terrible LOL. But I was super excited to actually wear a dress that I made to work which was my initial intention so it was nice that a plan worked out :)

I have worn the three dresses I made from this pattern often and I plan to make another soon to use up some of my stash.

So, I forgot to take a pic of the finished hat before I gave it away but here are the little owls. I actually had to rip it out because I forgot to use the larger needle after knitting the ribbed brim :(. But it worked out and I finally finished it and passed it on. 

In the spirit of de-stashing I decided to use the Knit Picks Hawthorne fingering weight in Turkish Delight to make a Newborn Vertebrae Cardigan. I really want to make a cardi for myself and I figure this will be a good start in learning the process and also using up my stash.  I think I can use the Rainbow Felici for this pattern as well.

In order to make the Newborn Vertebrae I needed some smaller needles so I placed a Knit Picks order and also added some white and grey cheap fingering to the order. I want to make some accessories for my cube at work so it was absolutely necessary LOL. I also wanted the grey fingering for cuffs on another vertebrae cardi made with the rainbow Felici. That's my plan anyway. 

Well, I actually won something at the local county fair this year.  There were no socks entered this year so I think that gave my owl hat a better chance at wining a ribbon :)

Organizing and using up my stash so I can justify buying new yarn ;)

I finished my pink and purple Sara's Slouch.  I had to make it short to match my green and blue version LOL

Like I mentioned in my last post, I'm getting bored with the charity knitting.  I wanted to work with really nice wool again instead of cotton and acrylic.  So I started going thru my stash.  I knew that I had some gold and basil from Plymouth Select left but I didn't realize it was so much!  The gold is earmarked for a Miss Marple scarf for a friend and a hat if I have enough left.  The basil, I'm not sure probably more hats.  I really like the Gellatly pattern so hopefully I can figure out how to buy it.

I kind of aspirationally bought some sock yarn from Knit Picks.  I love the Hawthorne Kettle Dyed Turkish delight but I'm not really into making socks with it now.  I could make a cardigan but I don't have enough and not sure if I could request the same dye lot from Knit Picks.  Pretty sure that stuff will be last in my knitting queue :(

This also gave me the chance to organize my Malabrigo remnants.  So pretty.  Hopefully I'll have enough to doe something with soon :)

I have one bin dedicated to knitting stuff.  The yellow Wonder Woman sack in the back is all of my Cascade 220.  Doubt I'll be using that much since it pretty much feels like twine now that I've developed finer tastes in yarn ;)

The sack to the left is some other lower quality yarn that I was given.  My ziploc of needles and various other tools and my printed patterns.  I need to organize the patterns better because they are always such a pain to go through.

I stuffed my Plymouth and Knit Picks yarn in the front so it will be easy to find and use up.  I don't know what I'm gonna do with that Felici Rainbow.

I live in an apartment and move like every two years so this is all the space that I can designate to yarn stuff.  One drawer, my containers with cotton and acrylic, my Knit Picks shipping boxes with Knit Picks tools and two sack of unfinished projects that I don't want to forget about.  I still have to make the mate to the sock I finished in sock class.

After finishing the Sarah's Slouch I started another Owl Beanie.  I love how the first one turned out.  I'm not really into the Archangel colorway anymore so I'm making it up to give away.  It will still be pretty tho but for someone else :)

Lots of knitting to do.  I should be able to find enough to keep my knitting mojo humming :)

OSU Coasters and some Malabrigo hats

My sweet cuz Abigail left for her first year of college at OSU so I made some coasters for her fam in OSU colors. 

I wanted to start a new Sarah's Slouch Hat but needed my size 7-16" circular needle that was still on the I Was A Teenage Mutant Hat so I finally took the time to kitchener stitch the crown. It felt like it took forever but I finally got it done. Cat supervised. 

Mine doesn't look as nice as the photograph but I'm happy with it. The variegated yarn really helps disguise my first attempt at grafting. I made it an extra inch taller to accommodate my big ole head and I want to wear it covering my forehead and ears not on the back of my head like the model. 

I started a new Sarah's Slouch. I've had this project bagged and ready to go for like eight weeks. I'm using Malabrigo Rios in English Rose and Malabrigo Arroyo in Borrajas. I love the combo of purple and pink together. 

I haven't been working much on my charity hats for the hospital.  I've been getting a bit bore with those so hopefully I can get my mojo back by working on some stuff in my stash :)

Bed Bug Scare, Gift Coasters and my latest Simplicity 1620

Last week was cray cray.  I got a notice on my apartment door on Tuesday evening that my apartment was going to be sprayed for bed bugs as a preventative (because I DON'T have bed bugs but my neighbors do) and I needed to get all this stuff done by Wednesday :/

 

 

I freaked out and called the property management place that I rent from.  She gave me the exterminator's number and I got the low down from him.  He said the spray date for my unit was pushed back to Thursday to give me time to prepare and also all I had to do was push all the furniture away from the walls and wash my bedding.  That was a huge relief!  I also felt the need to mildly clean my apartment because I didn't want to gross out the bug spraying guys with cat litter on the floor and dirty dishes in the sink.  I took off half of Wednesday to get ready and all of Thursday because I needed to keep my cat with me out of the apartment and also because I knew I wouldn't want to go back to work after driving around with a cat for 3 hours LOL.  Why didn't I just board her you ask?  Well, I checked two vets and it would cost about $10 to board her and about $100 to examine her and get her up to date on her shots and they refused to board her without the shots.  So we drove to visit my mom and get my oil changed.  Well, then my mom's employee noticed that I had a staple in one of my tires!  So me and cat spent about 30 minutes in Wal-Mart.

 

 

She was so good and only meowed a little bit.  Mostly I think she was just annoyed and on the trip back home relaxed enough to take a nap.

 

After we got home,  I moved all the furniture back into place and put everything in order and then got to work crafting!

 

I finished the black polka dot Simplicity 1620.

 

 

I really like this pattern!  It fits me well and it's so easy to make.  I don't like how the arm holes gape so I need to find some jacket/cardigan type things before I can wear it to work but other then that I'm really keen on it.  I wish I had done a few things different like put the arm hole hem on the outside and the bottom hem on the outside kinda playing with the darker print of the right side of the fabric that was turned to the inside but for work that may be a bit avant garde so to speak and to everyone would probably just look like I had it on wrong side out LOL.  Oh well next time I reverse the fabric I might play around a bit with that :)

 

Saturday was my mom's bday so I finished up her present on Friday night.  I made her some cool Ballband pattern dishcloths in colors to match the ceramic stuff that she collects. The white is a little too bright for me but that's ok I guess.

 

 

 

On Saturday, I got a wild hair to make some coasters with this new cool yarn that I bought from Hobby Lobby.

 

 

I just kept going and by the end of the weekend I had 7 coasters!  (One went to Gran.)  I used the Granny's Favorite dishcloth pattern and instead of decreasing at 44 stitches, I decreased at 30.  I used up the entire ball so I bought some more and hope to make coasters for all of my coworkers before I leave for my new job next week.

 

I just noticed that something went wrong with the bottom right coaster.  There is a slight jog in the pattern LOL

 

So coming up this week I will be making more coasters for my work crew and also working on a new dress made from this pattern.

 

 

I made one about a year ago and I really love it even tho I never wore it. I'm trying to be more bold about wearing my makes.  I have two fabrics that will be perfect, a really bold lemon print and some dessert print.  I want to have enough dresses so I can wear one each work day if I so choose.

 

I've been stalking the Driftless Cardigan by Grainline Studio.  I loved Christine Haynes' version.  So cool and I've never really worked with knits before so that will be a challenge.

 

 

I am also super into Christine Haynes' new pattern the Lottie.  I especially love her pattern hack version with the buttons down the front like a house dress.

 

 

 

 

Here's some animal pics.  Ripley snug in her cat tree once we returned home on Thursday and Pokey coveting my seat on the couch at Gran's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hats for the hospital and ballband dishcloths

I've really gotten into this dishcloth pattern! It's called Ballband Dishcloth and it's alot of fun.

 

I made some grey ones for my brother.

 

 

 

University of Oklahoma themed pair for my supervisor.

 

 

And I made the Ballband Dishtowel Pattern for me.  I didn't make it as wide as the pattern and I'm glad that I didn't because it is heavy enough the same width as the original pattern.

 

 

I finished the Owl Beanie that I think I started last May.  The yarn is variegated so the little owls don't show as well but that's ok.  I think really bold owls would be a little much for me. I need to add buttons for eyes and then it's ready for the fair!  It's probably a little too simple to win anything at the fair but I'm still proud of it.  I made it pretty tall so it's very slouchy. I used the Conversationalist instructions to finish it off matching the height and closure style.

 

 

 

I made 3 chemo caps for the hospital but I forgot to take a pic :(

 

I also participated in the #summerstitchfest16 last weekend.  It's a social media sewing bee type thing sponsored or I guess created by Sonya Philip.

 

It was a great way to get me motivated to finally finish the two dresses that I started like 10 weeks ago :/

 

I went to my mom's and we sewed together Saturday morning and then I finished it up Sunday.

 

I love it and can't believe I waited so long to finish it.

 

 

It's Simplicity 1620.  I used it last summer and found notes from 6/28/15 about hem length LOL.  So that was nice.  I used the reverse of the fabric as the outside.  The right side was too bold for my taste.  There was a really sharp contrast between the polka dots and the pink background.  I like the reverse so much better.  It looks softer and kind of 80's to me ;)  I'm hoping to wear this dress and another one that is in progress that is black to my new job starting August 16th!

 

 

Mr. Robot is blowing my mind right now!  I have to listen to an aftershow podcast to get it but I'm not complaining at all.  Rami Malek and the entire cast are so good!

 

 



 

First Sock!

Finished my first sock ever!  I took a three Saturday class and learned to make this chunky rather unattractive sock that only a mother could love LOL. But I'm proud of it. I tried starting the second one at home but I can't get the hang of the instructor's provisional/tubular cast on. I can't find any video tutorials with this exact technique which kinda pisses me off so I'll eventually go back to the yarn store and get some help casting on. 

I made two Ballband Pattern dishcloths for Miss Maureen at work and I really love them.  the pattern is so cool. Really wish the edges were neater looking but oh well. Can't have everything ;)

I finished up the last 4 baby hats for Maureen's storytime baby dolls. 

I ran out of red yarn so the red hat didn't get a pompom :(

I finished my first baby hats for the hospital. My first hat I cast on 70 and it's a bit too big. I discovered that 60 with a size 6 needle makes the required size. I washed them (before adding the pom) to clean away any cat hair or dander and bagged them to keep them safe waiting for delivery. 

I looked it up today and my county fair is two months away. I want to start thinking about what kind of knitting I want to enter in the fair!  I've been procrastinating finishing up two hats and I decided I need to enter those in the fair! So maybe that will motivate me to finish them up.  I also have my mom's Antler Toque that I'm really proud of that I could enter in a pinch.  I think it might be neat to enter the state fair as well just for fun because why not lol