The Whitney Headband - future project/pattern?

This is more for my reference than anything else, but I came across an Alchemy request for someone to knit this headband on Etsy:

And... I think I'm going to make one, write up a pattern, and post it here. Seems simple enough... basic knits and a crocheted flower, right?

We'll see how it goes.

Finished the baby blanket; now all I need to do is add from fringe, weave in the ends, and I'm done. I speak as though this was a quick and easy task to accomplish, but I'll never be able to hold my attention that long. I'll probably start crying halfway through.

I'll hopefully have a picture for you by next week!

Slow progress...

So I'm back into doing a lot of crochet work (for yet another baby blanket - stop it, people!), and I really don't want to be. I'm in such a knitting mood that the crocheting is making me unhappy. But I guess that's okay because it's not too bad - I just really want to get back to working on a sweater I started forever ago, frogged, then started again. I'm really upset that I had to start over, but I had totally lost count of what row I was on, so it just seemed better to begin again. Stupid perfectionist in me.

I did finally finish my Calorimetry project. As you can see, it wound up being really big. I sewed the button on last night and have to close it on like... the 5th hole of my short rows to get it to wrap correctly, and then it pretty much covers my entire head. Maybe that's okay because Nick thought I looked pretty in it, haha... but I'm not insanely pleased. Maybe someone else will want it and I'll modify the pattern with less CO stitches, fewer row repeats, and a more flattering color for myself. This was just something I started in the new year because I had nothing else to do after Christmas and my needles were just sitting there begging my attention. Really. On the bright side, I got to work with short rows and it really wasn't too bad, though I did learn I should probably buy some longer needles.

And isn't my oversized OCMD grey sweater from like 1997 really hot, too? Can you tell I was knitting in bed? Cuz I was.

Our small little household also suffered a loss recently. Our youngest cat (7 months old) Yogurt took it upon herself to have a congenital disease (unknown at this point) and died almost two weeks ago. It was pretty heartbreaking to see, and I'm sure you can imagine how little Nick and I wanted to do at that point. Needless to say, my crafting took a back seat, and I think I actually held off on wedding planning for a bit. But wasn't she adorable? Our other cat, Charlie, has been running around like a mad person now that he doesn't have a little playmate. I personally enjoy when he howls in my ear every morning at 6AM.

Anywho, I guess that's all from my land of yarn. I should be able to post pictures of the blanket in March (though those of you with Ravelry accounts can take an early peek here).

Sorry for the prolonged absence...

Hey, everyone! I hope you all had great holidays and are getting ready for beautiful tax season! I know I'm looking forward to it :P Not really, but who does?

Anyway, my life has been pretty hectic, hence the lack of updates. I know everyone uses that excuse so I'm not even going to go into detail and, instead, let you all know the big news:

NICK AND I GOT ENGAGED!

That's right. He popped the question on December 8th (kudos to him for not waiting until the holidays, at which point we'd have been fighting with everyone else for what's left of 2009 dates; plus, it's nice to have a day all to ourselves) and now we're planning our wedding for October 10th of this year. As you can imagine, it's all been a little crazy for us, what with the holidays, planning, being in two weddings ourselves this year, and all the regular life crap. Needless to say, the crafting has been put on hold for a bit, though I am trying!

Up next on my craft plate:

• Sewing a button onto what's left of my calorimetry project. I messed up on one of the short rows, but you can't notice. It came our really nice, and the effect of the yarn I used is really pretty. I'll be taking a picture sometime soon, probably Saturday after a Michael's trip to buy a big button :)


• Making progress on my comfy raglan sweater. I started this ages ago when I found two huge balls of the specific yarn in my closet that I couldn't fathom what to do with... so I looked it up on ravelry and came across this sweater. I'm still not done with all the increasing, but I'll probably work on it a bunch tonight at my knitting group.


• Finishing my polka dot Christmas stockings. Haven't touched these since Thanksgiving because of all the holiday projects I had to complete, but I'd like to get them done now in the off-season so they're ready to go next year.


• Baby blanket for a friend of mine. I ordered the yarn last week, so it had better show up today! I'd really like to get a start on it because it's similar to the last blanket I made... meaning time-consuming and involving a lot of bobbles.

And so, I leave you with remnants of holiday projects:


A pair of flip-top mitts for a co-worker's girlfriend.


See how I manage to slip in a picture of my new bling? Teehee, teehee...

An amigurumi penguin for Nick's sister.


The adorabubble santa face magnets I made for Nick's mom to give out at work. I love them so much... I need to make them every year, haha.

And then there are some others not worth mentioning, either because I didn't like them too much, the picture was bad, or I don't have pictures at all :) I'm sad at myself because when I get rushed around and stressed, I always say, "It's okay, I won't regret taking a picture of this before giving it away," and then I always do... boo!

Finished Projects Post

In the midst of holiday project hell, I have finally finished two projects - neither of which were originally planned and whipped up last night in an impromptu fashion. Because I wanted to, haha.

First, to your left, you can see not only the creepy mannequin head that Nick yells at me for keeping out and about, but also my first project on the hairpin lace loom I bought a couple months ago and hadn't used. I'm not sure what sparked my interest in picking it up for the first time ever - maybe the fact it just seemed so easy, I wanted to bust my stash, and take a break from writing patterns or making things in the round. It's funny how everything I'm doing right now is made in the round - so easy, but tiring after awhile. Oh, well, I was the one who decided hats were my calling, right?

Anyway, I really like the way this scarf turned out. I couldn't tell you what I'm gonna end up doing with it - selling it, giving it away, whatever. But it looks freaking awesome. For details about the yarn and whatnot, you can visit its ravelry page.

Next, I found out last night that my very pregnant friend finally went into labor. I had made her a baby blanket and sweater, both of which had been posted here, but you can't visit New Baby in the hospital without a present! So I found some pink yarn I purchased awhile ago and made a quick baby hat, playing with the stitches along the way. I really like the way it came out (the bottom half was done with HDC in BLO), and the yarn was really soft. More detailed info is, again, on its ravelry page. I really think I can switch over to making baby hats permanently because they get done so quickly, and I have the attention span of a 3-year-old. Probably why I can't bring myself to finish any of my holiday gifts right now, haha. That - and I have other stuff than crochet and knitting projects going on, and of course it all needs to be done now now now. It's the holidays, so I really wish people would cut me a break with my deadlines. I'm always busy busy busy this time of year, so giving me deadlines on stuff doesn't usually work out and people get mad at me :(

Now that I have ranted about my insane schedule, yay for my friend having a baby! Nick and I will be visiting tonight, and I'm preparing myself to smoosh a fat widdle baby face.

Thank you, pattern peeps!

Hey, everyone! Just a quick post to thank all of you who have commented on my Bella Hat Pattern from Twilight. With everything from thanks to pattern mistakes (sometimes I am awful with my counting, even though I come up with the math myself, haha), I appreciate all the comments you have left me :) Hopefully, I can keep inventing more fun patterns for everyone to enjoy in the future. It's something new for me, and I really like it.

That being said, I free-formed some basic mittens last night and hope to whip out a pattern for those soon; with any luck, I'll have it up before the holidays for those of us who have tons of last-minute gifts to finish!