If you're on Ravelry and are interested in some non-bill, non-advertisement mail, the Fraggles are hosting a Card Swap. Easy Peasy! Mail a holiday card, receive a holiday card!
PM my your snail mail address and what winter holidays you celebrate
(Christmas, New Year’s, Solstice, Kwanzaa, Festivus Hannukah- I don’t know any
others)
As last time, the finished pictures are after the break- just hit "more" to see them. I made several changes to the pattern - see my Ravelry project page if interested.
So, somebody (who will remain nameless - but most of you can probably guess) wanted a mermaid tail snuggle sack. I'm crocheting it, with Bernat Blanket yarn. Very snuggly. Very turn off the heat I'm hot kind of warm. I did screw up and have to rip back, for some reason after decreasing to 48 and 40 I missed the FIVE rows of HDC and only did ONE row of HDC in the middle - it came out way to short for a supposed grown woman.
I did change a few things in the pattern (shocking I know) I did the crochet cast on where you do the chain and the first row of HDC at the same time. I saw it on the show "Knit and Crochet Today" awhile back, but they did chain and SC. I also joined in the round and made it as a tube to avoid that seam later ( and telling myself the seam in the bum would be uncomfortable) I'm 4 rows from seaming the bottom and then just have to make the fins, but I needed to take a picture for one of my Fraggles - so since I haven't finished anything recently I thought to post an update. I am putting the pictures below the break line so if said person sees my post she won't look ( I don't think she looks at my blog - but just in case - we have a rule if she sees a gift before it's given she can't have it - so no point in taking chances!)
Registration is open until midnight GMT (7 pm my time) on Friday May 27th. This tournament runs from June1- Aug 31. I play on team Fraggle. If you're interested check out out group on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/backstage-team-fraggle
If you want to play on a different team check out Nerdopolis here:
LadyKatka of Team Dangerzone has once again put together an off month pattern swap... I got 2 partners to send patterns off their wishlist, and they each send me one. Knittergoddss sent me the upcycled jean tote !! I have several pairs of jeans that have holes in the wrong places (since I'm over 19) So I just need to find some cool handles. Who doesn't need another tote??
I got one of my partners The Wave mittens:
And dreambird.
I won't post the other pattern until I know the recipient receives it. ANd I'll let you know what the second pattern I get is!
It took a few days more than a year (according to Ravelry) in my defense I did complete a lot of other projects in that time frame, and while it wasn't done for Christmas, her birthday was two weeks ago - so I'm giving it to her for her birthday when I see her this Sunday. The yarn started out as just leftovers from projects for Christopher and the Angie, but then I added some red's from mine to give it better balance.
I've been on a boot binge. Yup, binge. I went from one pair of tall boots to 5, and bought a bunch of new short boots. I really like all the boot cuffs I've been seeing on Ravelry, and when I saw them in the store I liked them - but I have thick calves so the ones in the store really don't work well. So I dug around my acrylic yarn bag and found some thicker yarn so they would work up quickly and knit one pair and crocheted another. I actually have 2 more in progress as well.
You can actually see an awesome "hack" I picked up from my daughter. Pool noodles at the dollar store can be cut and you can get 1 1/2 to 2 pairs from one noodle depending on the height. The things they sell to put in your boots to keep them upright start at $8 a pair -- and that's TJMaxx's price!! so I did all my boots for $4 instead of $40!!
If you've known me awhile - you know I'm involved in NerdWars and Nerdopolis on Ravelry. I'm captain for Team Fraggle in Nerdopolis. We're a small, friendly, laid back team, main goal is not coming in last, life happens you know? Sometimes projects don't get done on time - but an end of month deadline sometimes helps.. Signups for the next tournament (starts Feb1 ends Apr 30) run through the 27th. Link for signups is HERE, you do need to be on Ravelry to play.
If you more do, larger longer time projects, Nerdopolis has the Summit Seeker challenge - you gets stars (points) for progress during a given month. If you have a lot of WIPs there is the Area 51 challenge - where following the theme is optional and you can submit 2 things for stars each month. If you tend to volunteer or donate (stuff or$) there is a different charitable focus each month to get a star (donated stuff doesn't have to be made that month) There is even a section called The Lab - which is for non Ravelry specific crafts. Beading, painting, colouring, baking,sewing there are a tons of non fiber craft options to explore. And then there are three challenges each month, which get answered with a Rav sanctioned project.(knit, crochet, spin, dye, weave) You can get one star or the max 5 stars (there is a badge for over 5 stars- but only 5 count for the scoring)
The Muppets new show premiers Tuesday night (and there's an outside chance I miss it) This inspired us to bring back Team Fraggle on Nerdopolis. Team Fraggle ties it's craft projects to anything Henson related (and seriously folks - between the original Muppet Show and Sesame Street it's the easiest team out there unless someone creates Team Webster or Team Google..) but people have used his really early coffee commercials, the TV show dinosaurs ( anyone remember that) Farscape, Star Wars, Dark Crystal, Labyrinth (who could resist Bowie in those pants??) Sign ups run now until the 27th - you do need to join Ravelry (Social Media - I describe as a cross between facebook and the world's biggest fiber related datatbase although since I',m not on facebook I may be wrong) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravelry It's a free site (with over 4 million users as of April 2014) for knitters, crocheters, weavers, spinners, dyers probably forgetting some category and a ton of fun! Here's the link to team sign ups if you're interested!
I attached the two sleeves of my Sleeves shrug, and started on the back. I started my scoreboard KAL, I'm hoping the whole cowl looks like this:
One of the groups I belong to on Ravelry, it's a team group connected to Nerdopolis and Nerdwars, Bazinga (based on the Big Bang Theory- tv show not physics) had a pattern swap for the off month (the tournaments run three months, then there's a break and team sign ups, then the new tournament - like sports off season with all the trades etc) Pattern swaps can be fun - no mailing, no postage, you get one or two partners, there is a total spend limit of $20 for both together, you get your partners and the links to their pattern wishlists and pick one (I send 2 if they are small/cheap) . The thank you thread can be dangerous - people post the pattern's picture with their thank you, and not just my queue grows. I got three really great patterns this time around. I've been looking at sweater patterns (totally Grace's fault.. LOL --- I'm not mad at you Grace!) and I was gifted this one:
Then I had been looking at knitted taxidermy and totally fell in love with Christmas Moose!!
Last - I've been wanting to make Dandy Sir Cephalopod forever!! I even bought the wooden button moustache over a year ago!! Now I need to find it LOL...
