knit_fink

Red and Black Trivet

Fri, 15 May 2009 00:19:56 GMT

Pattern: Modified Keith's Bottle Cap Trivet
Materials: Size 10 crochet cotton (100% Cotton) in red and black
Notes: I just could not do the decreases according to this pattern, also I learned that triple crochets in tiny yarn and I do not mix. I love the results though, and it works well. I think I'd like another one in a different color scheme. Now I have to go make Lee drink some more Sunkist floats.

Arbor Window

Sun, 10 May 2009 18:10:33 GMT

Pattern: Block 8 from the Desert Sky Block of the month quilt block kit
Materials: Calico fabric

Mosaic Block

Fri, 08 May 2009 20:38:45 GMT

Pattern: Block 7 from the Desert Sky Block of the month quilt block kit
Materials: Calico fabric

Book Hunting

Thu, 07 May 2009 14:41:30 GMT

I went to the bookstore on Tuesday night, and saw that Dead and Gone had come out. I didn't even think about it. It was just a snatch, gotta have it moment. Books don't count towards budgets right? Anyway since I was already buying a book I checked to see if I could order one that I've been needing to read, for research purposes of course. I go to the information desk and ask for Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The clerks said "No way", and made me ask again. Apparently he was familiar with the book, and hadn't thought about it in years until a conversation he just had earlier in his shift that day. Weird, but notable.

I enjoyed both the books. Yes mountainwitch, I will hand over the Sookie book the next time I see you.

Country Farm Block

Wed, 06 May 2009 01:17:09 GMT

Pattern: Block 6 from the Desert Sky Block of the month quilt block kit
Materials: Calico fabric

Texas Star Block

Mon, 04 May 2009 20:13:34 GMT

Pattern: Block 5 from the Desert Sky Block of the month quilt block kit
Materials: Calico fabric
Notes: I had to rip out the stitches and sew this one about four times to get those points to line up. I think this block hated me.

Swamp Angel Block

Sat, 02 May 2009 16:02:12 GMT

Pattern: Block 4 from the Desert Sky Block of the month quilt block kit
Materials: Calico fabric

Demo Washcloths

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:58:31 GMT

Pattern: Ballband dishcloth from Mason Dixon Knitting by Kay Gardner and Ann Shayne and the Garterlac dishcloth by Criminy Jickets
Materials: Sugar n' Cream (100% Cotton) in Cornflower Blue, Yellow, and Hot Green for the Balband dishcloth, and Summer Splash for the garterlac dishcloth.
Notes: These are some more sample projects to hang on the display at work.

Sarah's Choice Block

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:19:04 GMT

Pattern: Block 3 from the Desert Sky Block of the month quilt block kit
Materials: Calico fabric

Improved Four-Patch Block

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:21:36 GMT

Pattern: Block 2 from the Desert Sky Block of the month quilt block kit
Materials: Calico fabric

Indiana Puzzle

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:50:43 GMT

Pattern: Block 1 from the Desert Sky Block of the month quilt block kit
Materials: Calico fabric
Notes: I couldn't resist getting this kit at work. Three of my co-workers are also doing this quilt, and we're going to display them when finished.

Austrian Diamond Socks

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:37:50 GMT

Pattern: Austrian Diamond Socks from Knitter's Magazine 84 Fall 2006
Materials: Knitpicks Essential (75% Superwash Wool, 25% Nylon) in Gulfstream
Notes: I can't remember where I first saw these socks, but I probably came across while researching twisted stitches. I had to have the pattern, and eventually found the magazine on ebay. This is the second pair of top down socks that I've done, and I really like the heel on this one.

Pepper Wash cloth

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:44:15 GMT

Pattern: #2 Doily Dish Cloth from The Best of Lily Dish Cloths
Materials: Peaches & Cream (100% Cotton) in Licorice
Notes: This is the second wash cloth that I've made from this pattern. The first one was out of Sugar'n Cream Sunkissed, but I forgot to take a picture before putting it up on a display at work.

Patina Socks

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 22:15:58 GMT

Pattern: Basic Toe-up sock
Materials: Knit Picks Felici (75% Superwash Merino Wool / 25% Nylon) in Patina
Notes: I had so much trouble finishing these socks. They've been on the needles for a couple months now. You see that mint green at the top of the heel turn. I knitted the heel on the first sock and had eight stitches in that color between the red color. I just couldn't have this on the front of my sock so I frogged and knit it again. When I got to the second sock I had the same problem. I frogged the second sock heel, and reknit it. I ended up knitting it too loosely, and had too much red color on the heel. frogged again. So two socks and five heels later...

Works in Progress

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:17:41 GMT

Work has been incredibly draining. I don't have anything finished to show, so I'll post some pictures of in progress projects. At least I got my taxes done.

This is the begining of my Triinu Scarf from Knitted Lace of Estonia.

And this is most of a trivet made from bottle caps. I have to wait for Lee to drink more Sunkist floats so I can get the bottle caps. I can never get red to photograph well.

Fresh Sockies

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:41:56 GMT

Why yes it is handmade wool socky washing day!

Mr. Big Fish

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 03:11:30 GMT

Pattern: Simplicity 9004
Materials: Blizzard and Anti-pill fleece, Warm and White Cotton Batting
Notes: Two weeks ago, I noticed that my ferret Myev was not feeling very well. I twice found her curled up inside some plastic bags. After some medication and a stay at the Vet she is back to her old rotten self, but I promised her that I would make her something comfy to sleep in outside of the cage. A few years ago I purchased a Marshall Plush Hide-N-Sleep. It resembles a fish, and it will hold one ferret nicely. It will hold two ferrets somewhat comfortably, and with three ferrets someone's ass will be hanging out. Myev loved Mr. Fish as he came to be known. She especially loved to chew through the fins to get to the crinkly stuff inside, and Mr. Fish had to be put away.

I had this Simplicity pattern in my stash of sewing stuff, and while searching through it realized that it has the exact same construction as Mr. Fish. I made it from fleece and batting instead of cotton and foam, because I foresaw terrible accidents due to my ferrets rubber and foam fetish. I ended up quilting the batting to the fleece in diamond and scale patterns to make sure it stayed in place. I also altered the way it was assembled as the method the pattern directions use left an exposed seem on the inside of the fish.

The ferrets love it, and I have already seen it housing three finkies and two jingly balls all at once.

From above

From the side

Just for comparison

Faerie Scepter: Winter

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 01:02:21 GMT

Materials: Sculpty III polymer clay, wooden dowel, wood end caps, acrylic paint, 16 and 24 gauge silvertone craft wire, round and droplet shaped clear glass beads, round black plastic beads.
Notes: This is a prop for my changeling the lost larp. I need to make a total of four scepters; One for each season. This one is sculpted to hopefully resemble a birch tree branch.

Close up of the top

Ollie the Octopus

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:15:10 GMT

Pattern: Ollie the Octopus
Materials: Vanna'a Choice (100% Acrylic) in Rust, scraps of white Simply Soft and black Red Heart Super Saver
Notes: Ollie turned out far bigger than I thought he would be. I was hoping to use up the rest of the ball of Rust yarn from Georgina, but I ran out just as I got to the flat part under the tentacles. I didn't like the black and brown eyes they suggested in the pattern so I used white and black instead. I thought it would make him look cuter. When I held up the finished Ollie to finkthief, he said "He looks surprised." Then he got up and ran over to his gaming books. After some furious page riffling, he came back and held up a picture of a krell (sorry I can't find a link online - think of a large brain with a bird beak attached to one end and trailing tentacles) saying "Make me this!." I asked he wanted it before or after the Dark Mantle Hat.

Quilted Potholder - Sunny Side Up

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:42:31 GMT

Pattern: Sunny Side Up pattern from 101 Fun-to-Quilt Pot Holders by Trice Boerens
Materials: Heidi Grace and Keepsake Calico cotton fabric, three layers of cotton batting, and a plastic hanging ring.
Notes: My second attempt. I thought the colors matched up nicely when I was comparing fabric, but the end result strikes me as far too busy.

Georgina the Giraffe

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 02:11:40 GMT

Pattern: Georgina the Giraffe
Materials: Vanna'a Choice (100% Acrylic) in Rust and Beige
Notes: This is probably the first of many display projects for my workplace. It's currently zip tied up to the yarn rack. I'll let you know if it helps to sell some yarn.

Quilted Potholder - Sun & Sky

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 14:24:45 GMT

Pattern: Sun & Sky pattern from 101 Fun-to-Quilt Pot Holders by Trice Boerens
Materials: Keepsake Calico cotton fabric, three layers of cotton batting, and a plastic hanging ring.
Notes: I've been interested in learning to quilt. I saw this book at work, and thought a small project would make for a good introduction. The book is nicely photographed, and is very straightforward in instruction. It uses shapes in the back of the book, instead of stating the piece sizes. This just means that I had to take a ruler and measure the shapes. As a plus the seam allowances are already included, but it would be nicer especially for the square pieces just to list measurements. The only other complaint I have about this book is that on some patterns it refers to directions on how to do mitered pieces in the glossary, but these directions a re non-existent.

I've been doing really well constructing the potholder tops, and attaching the binding, but my main difficulty remains with the actual quilting of the layers together. I think it may have to do with the multiple layers of batting, but I'll practice some more to see if I can improve on this.

Yet More Hammies

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:51:55 GMT

Materials: fleece and cotton fabric

Brazil Socks

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:23:21 GMT

Pattern: Basic Toe-up sock
Materials: Regia Bamboo (45% Bamboo / 40% Wool / 15% Polyamide) in Brazil
Notes: These are socks for my Grandmother.

Pink Soda Tab Purse

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:11:50 GMT

Pattern: Original Design
Materials: Sugar N' Cream (100% Cotton) in Hot Pink Cotton, batik cotton material for the lining, aluminum can tabs.
Notes: I made a matching change purse with two compartments under the cut. I love the batik fabric in the purse. I have another change purse to finish in purple and then I'll list them on etsy.