Wedding Craft: Cake Topper

For dessert at the reception, we had some super delicious cupcakes and a simple little cake from Safeway for us to cut (superb deal, let me tell you!). I spruced up the little cake with this nifty cake topper.

Two wodden R's, painting blue and lime green. For the heart, I searched high and low in the craft store for a wooden heart but came up short. Instead I purchased a little paper heart-shaped box and used the lid--it worked splendidly! I used a bit of hot glue to connect the heart to the R's, although one side did come unglued on the big day. I also used hot glue to attach a bit of bamboo skewer to the back of the R's to help anchor them to the cake.



This craft project came together really quickly, if you don't count the time needed to let paint dry between coats, and probably cost less than $6. And now we have the cake topper on our bookshelf, a pleasant little reminder of our party.

Wedding Craft: Fabric Flag Garland

(I know, I know, it's been ages...I'm sorry. Things have been busy and stressful in the lead up to Christmas. It's surprising to me we don't have more patients in the hospital presenting with "I was overwhelmed by all the holiday crafting I had to get done and it drove me to _______.")

I'll start posting some of my recent projects after the big day tomorrow, but for now, how about another wedding project? :D I was inspired by a friend's wedding in early August that used a simple little garland for decoration, and I decided to whip up a similar one for my wedding.

I cut out the triangles and squares at work on a couple of quiet nights (stash buster, indeed!) then sewed them together with a simple running stitch, leaving a little space between each flag. It was simple, mindless work, but the result added a nice kitchy touch to the wedding location.

And I've saved the garland so that I can re-use it for decorating for parties or whatever else. Yea for re-usable projects!

WIP Wednesday

Perhaps due to Raj being out of town this week for business, I'm slightly more on my game with the WIP post. I've also had a bit of startitis (never mind that I STILL haven't seemed up the Katarina cardigan...)

First, progressing on the 3rd Hat for Wee Humans. This hat uses some old Louet Gems that I used to make a cowl for a friend years ago and some Collinette Jitterbug in Monet that I used on these socks. Also pictured, you see HWFH #2 which features Zauberbolle (sp?) yarn from a shawlette I gave to Raj's mom, charcoal yarn from a hat I made for my dad, yellowish Socks that Rock yarn that I used in these socks, and some Noro Kureyon. These hats are so fun. I'm planning to line them with fleece to make the more wee human friendly.

Next, another Copycat Hat. I went with some of the modifications I mentioned before. I think this one's going to be truer to the original.

A pair of socks that I knit on last night at work. It was a really slow night. I think that I was may be 10 rounds in when I left for work. And now I'm working on the gusset. There's a fun little cable detail on one side (not pictured, unfortunately). These will probably go into the gift pool.

More than 75% done with Raj's skinny leg socks. These things are great! They're so tight, he'll never be able to complain about them falling down. Let's just hope they don't cut off the circulation to his toes... hehe.

Lastly, I'm back in the saddle again! The stocking would appear almost done. Pretty much all that's left is the tree decoration, but I do not think I'm exaggerating when I say the tree decorations could take me almost as long as everything else. It's a ton tiny, intricate ornaments and lights. Ugh.

Hats for wee humans

I had the knitting equivalent of an ear worm yesterday. The idea of knitting hats for babies and kids out of left-over sock yarn. So I hauled the large bag of sock yarn remnants to work with me last night, and voila!

The first hat in a series of Hats for Wee Humans. This hat is a rip off of Ripley, and *in theory* it will fit a baby about 6 months old. I've cast on for HFWH #2 and in theory it will be toddler sized.

This project is a fun stroll down memory lane/quiz game. What project did I use that tan yarn in?? Oh yeah! These socks that I gave to Melisa. The green yarn actually remains a mystery...it might be some Cherry Tree Hill that I used way back, but I'm really not sure.

FO: LOVE wallhanging

I put the finishing touches on the LOVE wallhanging a couple weeks ago and it is currently winging its way to western Africa.



You can see the quilting better in that above shot. This below shot shows the color a bit truer.



(Maybe I would get better pictures if I took them someplace besides the guest room shower...)

My second real foray into free motion quilting, and I'm moderately pleased with the result, though I still feel like I'm at the bottom of the learning curve. I did include a bit of a hidden message:



Can you see it there? KH + MD :)

Let me say, what I lack in free motion quilting skills, I think I make up for in binding skillz. I should have taken some pics, but I used black binding, and it probably wouldn't have photographed well. Just take my word for it.

Copy-cat Hat

Last week while hanging out with friends from college, one of them was wearing this cap:

I was fascinated by the color choice and the pattern of the hat. So fascinated that I snapped a pic of the hat. This hat has been floating around in my head all week since then. So yesterday evening I set out to recreate it. I studied the blurry iphone pic and made notes, and counted stitches and made notes. And this is my result:

I like the hat I made, but I'm a bit disappointed that it's not a perfect replica of the original. Where I think it went awry:

• The yarn choice. I used Cascade 220 superwash, the economical powerhouse. I did not really get a good look at the yarn in the original, but based on that above pic, it definitely has a different character.
• Gauge. Maybe with a wash, my hat will relax a bit. We'll see.
• Number of rows between reverse stockinette sections. I counted over and over in that blurry pic and I thought there were only 4 stockinette rows between reverse stockinette sections, but perhaps there should be 5?

I'm going to try again. I used size 6 needles for the band and 8 for the rest of the hat. I'm happy with this. But I might try using size 9 for the bulk of the hat. And I'll try adding in that 5th row in the stockinette sections.

Oops...

It's after 2am on Thursday...and here's this week's WIP Wednesday! Sorry it's delayed, but I'm sure the awesomeness of this post will make up for the tardiness.

First up! The Katarina cardigan is off the needles! Temporarily, anyways.


I'm in the process of blocking the pieces, then I have to seam it up and work the collar and sleeve cuffs. Kinda worried I might run out of yarn. I have maybe 1.5 skeins left. We shall see.

Next up, the TTL Mystery Sock. Coming along nicely. Last week's clue was the heel flap, which btw seems really long to me--I didn't even do all the rows called for in the pattern and I'm still thinking it's too long. Oh well. This is a fun pattern. Maybe I'll make another pair sometime.


Sunday, after the sweater was off the needles and I finished the heels on those mystery socks, I needed a new project stat before going to work. Thank goodness I rememberd to grab this yarn and needle because Sunday night at work was dead; so dead that I watched a movie AND 4 episodes of the Office (Season 2; IMHO, the best season) on my phone (yea for the Netflix app!) and got lots of knitting done.

These socks are for Raj, aka Chicken Legs. I wanted a pattern that would keep the sock nice and snug on his legs. I also worked a few decreases on the back of the leg in the hopes of snug sock. I did a model fitting (pretending we're on Project Runway now) and so far so good. The pattern I worked is something like this: *K4,P2* for 10 rounds; *K1, P2, K3* for 10 rounds. I wanted to continue the pattern on the heel flap, so I'm working the heel like this: RS: sl1, K1, P1, sl1 wyf, *sl1 wyb, k1, sl1 wyb, k1, sl1 wyf, p1* sl1 wyb, k1. WS: sl 1, p1, K2, *P4, K2*, P2. I'm happy with it.

Finally, I dug the baby sweater I started while we were in Maui out hibernation in the hopes of finishing it. I put it away when it was probably more than 95% done, I just wasn't sure how to end it. Like a novelist who just can't decide on the end of the book...hehe.

Well, I started working on it once I got to work tonight and I'm proud to report that it is now off the needles!

I just need to graft the underarms and wear in the ends and it will be done. I've decided to leave it without any sort of closure. I thought about putting ties at the top but nixed that idea. I heart Noro. And I heart the hipstamatic app.

I did some other crafting yesterday before coming to work. Hopefully I'll be back soon to tell you about it!