Showing posts with label Knit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Knit. Show all posts

Sunday, November 15, 2009

My First Projects

In the last month or so, I've been getting into my crafty side. This was partly due to wanting to fill the evening with a hobby, and the fact that there are two nephews are on the way that I wanted to create something for.

I learned how to knit when I was younger, but never really got into it, and would typically start a (really simple) scarf and never finish it. For Baby Boy Addink, I decided to create a hat and booties set. My sister had a few showers scheduled this month, so I thought I'd make something in time to send it. And...I did it! I can definitely say that these were simple and took longer for me to create than someone more experienced, but I was happy with the results.
Here's some photos:
Here's the hat


And the first booties I made. I struggled with these (there's a smaller one that didn't make it on here - it was too small and tight)


The second set of booties. A friend suggested these (she had made them recently for a friend). There were a few new techniques I had to learn, but the overall design was fairly simple. I made these after I finished the first set and really didn't like the result much. I was happier with these (my sister also noted she thought the set with buttons would stay on better, which was good to hear).

I was quite uncertain about creating these, and while I had fun, there was some uncertainty during the process. I didn't have much of an idea about how big any of the pieces should be, so I erred on the large side to be cautious (and this baby's older brother had large feet as an infant, so that was in the back of my mind as well).
I learned a few things during the process. Making the pompom was a new experience, but a fun one - snipping the end and 'fuzzing' it up. Creating the straps for the second set of booties, as well as adding the buttons and holes (they're weaved in, which is easier than actually creating holes). I also experimented with using more than one color in a piece for the first time.
It was fun to shop for the yarn - baby yarn comes in such soft textures, even if most of the colors are pastel.


One last picture - I included this in the package - it's small enough that it probably won't be worn often before being outgrown, but it's warm and cozy (the overalls are a soft courderoy), with long sleeves, which I think will be nice for a January baby.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Cookies and Caps

I've been fairly productive this week (and yet, feel like I have lots left undone). I finished the first part of a knitting project. I'll post a photo of that when the rest is finished. It's a surprise gift, so I'm hoping it works out well. It sure is cool to finish projects, though, instead of my typical MO (i.e. stopping halfway through the scarf, yet again). I feel accomplished when it actually turns out. Unfortunately I finished something earlier tonight that probably won't work and I'll have to redo. Oh well, I guess it's part of the learning process.
I made sugar cookies today. I mixed the dough last night and cut and baked them tonight. They're pumpkins, for Halloween (Reformation Day? or would those be cutouts of theses tablets?). Let me tell you, I sure had a difficult time locating a pumpkin cutter. So stores had ginormous cutters, and others had nice-sized cutters that came in a pack of 20 other cookie cutters (and as much as I like sugar cookies, I don't need cookie cutters in the shape of coffins. I did locate a nice, metal cookie cutter that's on the smaller size at Michael's, though. They're frosted in orange, of course. Jeff is taking some in to work with him tomorrow. He is giving a presentation on the new Windows 7 operating system. So we piped '7' on those cookies in blue frosting. Jeff was pretty good with the ziplock pastry bag. I took a few pictures, but can't load them yet (I'm on the Mac currently).
I missed my nephew, though. We like to cut, bake, and frost sugar cookies together.

Tomorrow is Friday! Are you excited? I am. I'm ready to finish the week and I'm looking forward to some time spent with friends.

It's late, so I'm out for now. Have a good night!