Theme-a-licious and WIPocalypse?

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Heather

You might have noticed that I haven’t been doing Theme-a-licious and WIPocalypse posts lately. I was pretty good about keeping up with both of these SAL all year, but now I’ve sort of run out of things that fit the theme. For example, this month’s Theme-a-licious is about finishing up things that are nearly done. Well, I do have a lot of those, but unfortunately, working on Christmas gifts has to come first.

As for WIPocalypse, sure I have piles and piles of WIPs to get through. But, I’ve been working on my Creativ Festival projects, not my old WIPs.

I hope to be back on track in December. I’m hoping that by the time I return from my vacation that all I will have left to work on is one Christmas gift. Then I can dip into December’s theme: work on anything at all!

In the meantime, there is a look at what I’ve gotten done on MarNac Designs’ Anniversary Santa. Sadly, he won’t be done for Christmas this year.

Anniversary Sampler by MarNac Designs

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Silver Dragon Sampler

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Heather

Given that this is the year of the dragon, I sure haven’t stitched enough dragons at all! But, here is one more:

Silver Dragon Sampler from Dragon Dreams

This is the Silver Dragon Sampler from Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams. It was one of the classes I took at the Creativ Festival, but it is supposed to be available on PatternsOnline as soon as she is able to release it.

It is stitched on 28 count opalescent fabric. And while it isn’t my favourite fabric to stitch on (actually, I would go so far as to say I just about hate it), it sure looks lovely with this piece. It uses several shades of grey DMC, one shade of grey-ish Waterlilies silk, some metallics and just a few beads.

I made a couple of changes, mostly just altering the look of the commas and moving some of the rows up a little bit. I also stitched an eyelet in the centre of the flower with silver metallic thread just because I liked how it looked.

Pretty silver flowers

I wish I could say I have more dragons planned for this year, but time is speeding by so quickly! I do have a plan for next year, though, that involves dragons. Stay tuned!

 

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Remember

Posted on November 11, 2012 by Heather

 

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Fish Heads

Posted on November 10, 2012 by Heather

Well, one knit fish for your head:

Fish Hat

The pattern is Fish Hat [Dead or Alive] by Thelma Egberts, available for free from Knitty. The yarn is Bernat Satin in Crimson, Teal and Banana. The colours were chosen by the little man, who will be wearing this hat to school at the end of the month for crazy hat day.

I used the original tail, which is available here at deadfishhat.com.

Side view!

And, we decided to make the fish alive rather than dead. I guess it is funnier that way. 😉

If you’ve been thinking about making this hat, believe me, it is really simple. All you need to know is how to knit in the round, do decreases and seaming (just a bit, depending on the tail you use). And with my sore hand (thanks for the good wishes, by the way), I was able to finish it up in just a few days.

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Injured

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Heather

Christmas is quickly sneaking up on us all, and I’ve got a pile of things I need to get done. Unfortunately, I’ve managed to injure my shoulder again. I tore it very badly about 13 years ago and it didn’t heal right. Every once in a while it gets badly hurt again, often from something as simple as rolling over on it wrong when I’m sleeping. And that leads to days of pain, and sometimes even a numb hand if I manage to pinch a nerve. Couple that with the fact that I now have hand pain when using inflexible metal knitting needles and, well, I’m just a mess.

So, right now I’m working on trading away my metal needles and replacing them with wooden ones; finishing up a shawl on metal needles; knitting a dead fish hat for the little man on wooden needles; and mostly just trying to baby my hand while still getting things done. With luck, my hand will be back to normal by the weekend, assuming I let it rest a little more.

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Finishing Up

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Heather

You know what they say about good intentions, right?

Christmas Doves

These dove ornaments have been waiting to be finished for two years. You see, they were the cover kit from the December 2010 Cross Stitcher magazine (British), and I stitched them up right away. However, it turned out the that the stitched designs were actually too big for the holes that were pre-cut into the doves. Well, of course I had every intention of cutting the holes larger so the beauty of my wonderful stitching would be clear for all to see. (lol!)

I never got around to it.

Not surprised, eh?

So, Wednesday night I dug them out of the drawer where they have been since sometime late November/early December of long ago and I put the darn things together. Small holes be darned!

I continued my fit of finishing by attaching hangers and backings to the Halloween ornaments I stitched up for this year. Just in time, since I put all the Halloween decorations away yesterday morning…

Halloween ornaments for next year.

I really need to work on finishing stuff up more quickly.

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Steve

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Heather

Good morning! I hope you all survived last night’s spooky ghosts, goblins and princesses. Since we live in a condo building we didn’t have any creepy little visitors last night. But I did send one Creeper, along with a little boy, off to school.

“Steve” with his Creeper… making a face.

The little man is dressed as Steve, the player’s character from the game Minecraft. His little friend is a Creeper, one of the most annoying monsters in the game. It sneaks up on you and explodes!!!! On the little man’s shirt is a pickaxe that I made from Pyssla beads. We were going to make a full-sized one for him to carry, but the school asked for no weapons.

A Creeper and his pickaxe.

I’m very proud of the Creeper. He was a pain in the bum to make, but I think he turned out really great. I followed these instructions (but used my machine to sew the sides together; I hand stitched the tops and bottoms of all the blocks). And to get the face just right, I printed out a 4″x4″ Creeper face, cut out the eyes and mouth, taped it to the head, and then painted the features on. Perfect! (Unfortunately, he left it at school. I really hope it is still there!)

Next year I think he will be the Ninth Doctor. A black outfit and a sonic screwdriver. And maybe a fake nose. lol!

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