I Have Too Many Hobbies

It's true. Way too many hobbies. I knit, sew, crochet, run, read, write, play video games and sometimes cross stitch. And there isn't enough time to devote the amount of attention I would like to each of them. So I go in phases, sometimes week by week, sometimes month by month. But in a perfect world I wouldn't need to go to work every day and I could just rotate hobbies all day long...

Anyway, here are some things I've been working on.

A teeny tiny version of the wedge bags I make for my Etsy store! Seriously adorable. I'm probably going to list them for sale soon :) I love tiny things!

I cast on a sock! They will be Hermione's Everyday Socks when they're finished. I forgot how much I enjoy sock knitting, so this one has been fun.

A new bag for my Etsy shop- this one for needles and such. And a larger size wedge bag in black. I would also like to make a needle roll, but I need to design it first. I'll get to it eventually.

I've been pretty steadily knitting this scarf. BUT THEN TRAGEDY. I can't for the life of me find the second ball of this yarn! It has disappeared completely. I know I bought two, though, because I had a specific pattern in mind when I bought it and it required two balls of yarn! So. I knit half of this and it is now set aside. I'm hoping time away from it will somehow magically make the other ball appear...

A Wallet!

Probably not what you were expecting, but I made a wallet for Mario.

Robots! I bought this fabric (Robotex for Northcott Fabrics) as soon as it came out. Because ROBOTS. Mario loves robots! Usually the robots on fabric are way too cute-sy and silly for him to like them much. But I loved these ones. Especially because of the excellent smaller scale prints in the collection...

Oops! Didn't realize his license number was showing :P

Like these little gears! I love them so much! I just want to buy yards and yards of it and use it in everything I make for Mario EVER. But he'd probably get sick of them.

And nuts and bolts! These fabrics were made for him. It was fate.

Why a wallet? Our puppy ate his... Again. You really can't leave little things like that out at night. Especially when she's having trouble adjusting to my new schedule. So I made him a new one both to cheer him up and to have an excuse to finally use my perfect Mario fabrics.

I used this tutorial found on Pinterest, minus the tab. Mario didn't like the tab. So I left it off. It was a very simple tutorial with nice pictures to guide you through the process. My top stitching really leaves something to be desired- I was too lazy to get out my mechanical machine. My main machine, as you may recall, really has trouble with layers. My only real problem, though, is that the card slots are a little too roomy. I think this has something to do with my seam allowances being a little too small and (again) not very good or consistent top stitching. I will do better next time! I'm thinking I should maybe make some extras to have around just in case the puppy monster gets hungry again...

I *did* finish the shirt. It's not great. Knits are a pain. So is cutting things slightly wrong and discovering you don't have enough fabric to cut another piece -.- But a full post on that later when I can get some pictures of me wearing it, in all of its flawed glory.

Most of my time was spent this weekend trying to learn to knit socks. Yeah. Trying. And failing. I don't have anything to show for it because I kept having to undo my progress. Frustration. Anyone have a good resource/some tips/advice for someone new to sock making? Preferably cheap since I am still catching up financially from not having a job for 5 months? I have been drooling over pictures of knit socks for the past week and have a kind of obsession going... But translating it to my yarn is proving to be more difficult that I'd hoped. Help would be greatly appreciated!

I am linking up today with Let's Get Acquainted hosted today at Blossom Heart Quilts! I spent some time poking around there today. Lovely blog :) Go check it out!

Yarn and Things

You might think from the title of this post that I haven't gotten any sewing done so I am showing you what I've been doing with yarn. And you'd be mostly right. Technically, I haven't sewed a stitch. But! I have downloaded a pattern, cut it out, taped it together, and cut out my fabric for a shirt!

I am making myself a Scoop Top, a free pattern from Skirt as Top.I am using some blue knit fabric that I bought on clearance at Joann... and that is all I can tell you about it. It is soft and light and probably a little see-through, which will require me to wear an undershirt. But I don't care! I just want to be able to say I made a shirt!

Here's a close-ish shot of the fabric. Not the most exciting, maybe, but I wanted to use my least favorite fabric first in case everything went horrible wrong :)

I have also been yarning. And by that I mean both knitting and crocheting. In knitting, I finished my (poorly executed) Honey Cowl!

I sort of messed up the honeycomb pattern for a few rows in the middle there... But oh well. I wasn't going to go back and fix it. It is my first knitting project, after all, and I am okay with imperfection. It keeps my neck warm, so that's all that matters, right?

This is my "I just took my morning shower and haven't finished my coffee..." face. I am le tired.

And in the interest of keeping things real, I will show you how I really messed up. I could have sworn I didn't twist the yarn when I joined the first row together. Really. I remember being very proud of myself for keeping everything straight. It wasn't until half way through that I realized my mistake and by then... I just pressed on. So what if it's twisted? I just put the twist in the back under my hair and I'm good to go! Next time I'll be more careful, though.

In crocheting, I started yet another blanket. Because working on three simultaneously is a good idea. Obviously.

I am a big fan of this one, though. I'm using the ripple pattern from Attic24 and some Bernat Mosaic yarn. I don't remember what the yarn color is called. I call it rainbow. Because it is. But I think it has some silly name like Calypso or something. I love it so far! I love the pattern and the yarn and the bright happy colors. I was getting a little annoyed at one point where all the yellow/orange are bunched up on one side.. but then I started a new ball of yarn and that went away. Yay! I think it will be a fun little blanket when it's all done. I just ordered enough yarn to finish it while it was on sale- score! I had been buying it one ball at a time, but now I have paychecks again. YAY.

My hands have not been idle, don't worry. Not that you were worrying. Ahem. It's still early. I am hoping to get my shirt all done tonight. We'll see how that goes. If I am successful, maybe I'll have a finish to share with you tomorrow! Fingers crossed!

Skirt Success and Skirt Fail

HI.

It's been a week. I'm terrible. But to be fair, I really haven't got a lot of sewing done this week. I don't know why, really. I just didn't feel much like sewing. I am going to blame the Events of Last Weekend. That sounds ominous, but really it was just some sewing mishaps...

First, the happy bit! I made another skirt :) AND actually used a Pinterest pin! What! Here is the result:

It is a gathered high-waisted skirt. It poofs rather nicely. I am a little sad that I didn't read the directions carefully enough to realize the zipper would end up on the side instead of the back, but really, I should have known that. I made this in a couple of hours Saturday morning and it was GREAT.

So then later, possibly still riding that "I made a skirt and it's awesome" high, I decided to make another. I bought this brown argyle fabric online, not realizing it would be so sheer in person. My plan was to make a super awesome pencil skirt for work. But a sheer pencil skirt? No way that would work. So I revised my plan to be a high-low hem skirt. The sheer, flowy fabric would be the pretty outside and I would use some plain beige fabric for a lining. Simple, right?

I got the idea from Pinterest, but I couldn't find the pin again (I know... that's what Pinterest is for). So I decided I remembered enough about it that I could wing it. I knew it was high-waisted and that it used elastic. After the successes of the morning, I figured I was a pro (that may have been the wine talking). So! I set to work!

After several hours and numerous oversights and screw ups, this is where my skirt was:

Thrown unceremoniously on my cutting table after picking out a lot of stitches...

The first thing that went horribly wrong (and probably when I should have realized my brain wasn't in a math or logic kind of place and maaaaybe should have called it a night) was that I cut the lining as a tube... a tube the size of my waist. Now, I don't know about you, but my hips and butt are way bigger than my waist. SO. That turned to scrap.

Next, I cut the lining so it would fit over my butt and thought, "SUCCESS! Now the rest of the skirt will come together with ease!" But, alas, it was not to be. The next stupid thing I did was sew the outside to the lining without leaving any space for a casing for the elastic...

See? Doesn't look so bad, but where will the elastic go?! AHHH! So then, even more stupidly, I tried to just fold over the top a couple of times to make the casing. MISTAKE. It not only looked horrible, but... the skirt wouldn't come on over my butt! AHHH! Again with the maths and the logics! Of course cutting the top of the skirt to fit my waist and then adding elastic wouldn't work unless maybe the fabric was super stretchy (which it isn't at all). 

I see all the stupid things I did wrong and have a pretty good idea how to avoid doing it again... But man, what a frustration. So, I threw it down on the table and rage quit my sewing room. I have been playing with yarn ever since. But I think I may be ready to give it another shot with two important modifications. 1. A different fabric for the lining. The one I chose is stiff and heavy and if I really was the waist to be elastic, that's going to have to go. And 2. I don't remember what this was going to be. Really. I just wrote that sentence about a minute ago and I already forgot what the second modification was going to be. See why I have trouble??

I am dedicating this post to Audrey of Hot Pink Quilts because she said I make skirt-making look easy ;) It isn't always easy. I just don't always tell you when I insert the elastic waistband and it ends up super twisted or when my skirt ends up so short it barely covers my butt or when I sew a zipper on backwards (true story...). Not to discourage anyone from making a skirt! As clothing goes, skirts aren't too bad to make, really. I just advise you to start with a PLAN. Have all your measurements written out or have a pattern ready to go... at the very least, don't make a tube the diameter of your waist and expect it to go over your butt ;)

Anyway. This is my one and only finish for the week  so I'll be linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts. Hopefully next week will be more successfull and sewing-full. If not, there will be lots of pictures of yarn :D 

Kindle Case!

As promised, here is what I managed to get finished this week:

This isn't the best picture, I know. But I made it for my sister and had about a minute to snap a photo the night she came over for dinner and things. Ah, well. You get the idea, right? It's a little quilted case for her Kindle so it doesn't get so banged up in her purse. I bought these adorable buttons from Pick Your Plum and decided to design the whole case around that. Well, plus some green. I thought it would be nice for the button to be sitting in a little puddle of a different color for contrast :)

I did a flap instead of a zipper so the button would have a real purpose. Although now I'm thinking maybe I should have done both... I have this feeling my sister will just not bother actually closing the flap properly and the Kindle will fall out into her purse, anyway. Oh well. I tried, right? I didn't get a good picture of the inside, but it's just lined with the same pink fabric as the top stripe. I free motion quilted it with some little loops, which I love. I really need to make myself one of these! Or two, really, since I now have a work iPad. Weird. I usually don't like Apple products much. I mean, why should I pay hundreds of dollars more for a device that was made in the same terrible Chinese factories where every other similar device was made that pay their workers next to nothing and force them to work in awful conditions? Not worth it in my opinion. But work is work and I must learn to use it!

I also have a progress shot for you!

Three happy little pinwheels. I love the way they're turning out so far :) I am going to do a few more colorful ones to see how they'll all look. Then my whole pile of low volume charms will be turned into pinwheels. YAY! :D

Okay. Must get ready for work and all that now. Hope you have a wonderful Friday and a fabulous weekend!

Linking up to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts!

Recovering!

Wow, what a crazy week! It was my first week at my new job and it was busy. Training and tours and paperwork and soooo many introductions and a bazillion other things. It was a long week. And yet, somehow, I managed to get a few little things done!

First, I made these cute new pot holders for myself. I decided to use the March Sister's Ten blocks so I would be catching up on that and making something useful. I really love how they turned out.

I used the same binding technique as my scrappy trip quilt, but I think I did much better on the quilt! I don't know why this was so much harder for me. Maybe because these were thicker than the quilt. Oh well. I still love them :) I added a pocket on the back, too. I have discovered I like that style of pot holder.

I also made this cute little zipper pouch wristlet for work! After the first two days I decided I really needed something little to carry around my phone, a pen, maybe a couple sticks of gum, and my keys while I am away from my desk. Girl pants are just not conducive to holding so much in my pockets. So I made this:

That second picture ended up really bright, huh? Oops! But it is just the right size to carry around all the little things I need from meeting to meeting without filling up my tiny pockets. It was also a very satisfying finish because it only took about an hour start to finish! I will definitely be making more of these types of things. Maybe next time I'll use an actual tutorial, though ;) I would like pointier corners.

And finally, I caught up on my bee blocks with this guy.

I just love how it turned out! So bright and happy :) I am also super proud of how pointy all my points are and how well they line up! I think this is my best bee block yet! I am definitely getting better. I will be getting this guy in the mail sometime this week.

I am still adjusting to my new schedule. Definitely not used to working full time anymore. But it has been good getting out of the house every day. And now I know I can still make time for sewing, even if it is just little things this week :) I hope to catch up on my skill builder blocks this weekend. Well, at least the March blocks. The April ones are hexies and another one that requires templates and things. I totally forgot to buy mine, so they are definitely going to be late. Oh well.

Hope you're having a fantastic weekend! I am going to go take a cake out of the oven- YUM.

A (Missing!) Finish- UPDATE: Found it!

Yes, you read that right.

I finished something. I was SO excited to show it to you! But... I lost it *hides face in shame*

It was just a little quilted cell phone case that I whipped up during my Tuesday craft night with my girlfriends. I had a few sips of rum (ahem) and decided that pressing seams was just too boring for a craft night. So we made cute covers for our phones. And, tragedy of tragedies, I can't find mine anywhere! It is sooo cute. I used these fabrics (please excuse the horrible dark picture- it is another gloomy day in the desert):

The adorable little turtles from Les Amis! The flowery print was the lining. And you can see in the background- the first two strips of Hounds Tooth all sewn together! (YAY!) I absolutely adore this collection and plan on turning my fat quarters into a throw quilt for my house after Hounds Tooth is finished. But these little turtles are my favorite. I have always loved turtles and thought there was no better place for them but on a cell phone case I would get to look at every day. Except that plan is now ruined -.- It is possible that it is in my boyfriend's car. But since he's at work I won't know for sure until later. Just trust me. It was really cute. It even had a (poorly placed- let's blame the rum) snap closure so it wouldn't fall out!

**UPDATE**

I FOUND IT. In Mario's car :D YAAAY! Here are some (poor) pictures. You can see that I only had sew on snaps... and they were black. And I had no black thread. So they're a little ugly. But it didn't bother me at all at the time. Must have been the rum. But whatever. It still keeps my phone from getting scratched in my purse!

Oh well. It was still a good week. I made this bread:

Which I discovered through Pinterest! I was super proud of myself for actually making something I found on Pinterest instead of just pinning it and forgetting it :D It is honey oat bread from this recipe. I altered it just a little because I only had 9x4 loaf pans instead of 9x5. I did 1.5 times the recipe and it made two perfect 9x4 loaves :) It's really good. Nice and soft and sweet. It was FANTASTIC straight out of the oven with a little butter and it made delicious French toast yesterday!

I also made homemade pizza, which was fantastic. I bought a pizza stone for my oven. Best $10 I've spent on kitchen supplies in a long while. My pizza now comes out perfect and crisp and even every time :D

One last thing before I go- GOOD NEWS. I got a job offer yesterday! :D I'm so excited! I still have one more interview for another job, but it is good to know that either way I will be employed! AHHH! It was such happy news. We have been waiting for me to get a job so Mario can quit his. The place he works got bought out by a guy who knows very little about the manufacturing industry and it has just been a super negative and stressful environment for Mario ever since. It breaks my heart to see him come home from work every day feeling totally frustrated and defeated. But he couldn't quit because of me- imagine how awful that feels! But now he can quit :) so YAY! And even better news! Two hours after I got a call about a job offer, HE DID, TOO. How awesome is that?? And this is a job he really, really wanted at a company that offers awesome benefits and will even pay for him to go back to school! That all happened yesterday! It was such a great afternoon for news, we decided to celebrate with sushi and gyoza. This derailed my plans to work on Hounds Tooth all night, but how could I possibly complain?? My corner of the world just became a much, much happier place :D

That's all for now! It is going to be cold and rainy tomorrow, which sounds like an excellent excuse to stay inside and sew all day. I think I really can have my Hounds Tooth top done by Sunday! Eeee! Then I just have to buy batting and backing of some sort...

Linking up to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts! Because I did finish something, darn it! I WILL find it and photograph it!

Another Monday?

Yes, it has been over a week.

I was going to post something Friday. Then I read the news. Then I didn't feel like posting anything. I don't even have words for what happened, not really. It was just unbelievable.

It is still unbelievable, really. So over in my corner of the world, I am cherishing the people I have in my life right now because you never know when they will suddenly disappear from it. I can't even begin to imagine how awful things are right now for those affected directly by the shooting and I sincerely hope this leads to some meaningful nationwide dialog about mental illness and gun control.

Right now the cherishing has taken the form of making Christmas presents and spending time with family and friends. You see, it was my birthday yesterday. And I graduated "officially" on Friday. It was a big weekend. Would you like to see the cake my boyfriend made for me? It's pretty cool.

Feliz Cumple Master Poophead! :)

Adorable (Mario is from Mexico and speaks fluent Spanish, hence the Spanglish cake). We had a small party with my friends and siblings. Cake was eaten, Mario Kart was played (who went undefeated? Yeah, THIS GIRL), and my new(ish) puppy was loved by all.

I know. She's the cutest! Her name is Lizzy. She showed up on our door step one day as a stray and since we couldn't find her owners and she was just such a sweetheart (when she isn't licking men's legs or biting your ankles), we decided to keep her. She is dog #2. This is dog #1, Charlie:

He thinks he's a cat, as evidenced by his sitting on the arm of the couch. He doesn't understand the concepts of barking, stairs, or fetch, but he loves to run around in circles like a maniac, which we find to be pretty endearing. But he is too big to be picked up like Lizzy, so there aren't so many adorable party pictures of him. Plus, everyone knows Charlie, so they were mostly doting on Lizzy.

But back to crafting! I have been crafting my hands off! I finished more hats:

Quilted and bound my dad's quilt (which is the FIRST QUILT I have ever finished! Happy dance!!):

You can see the holiday quilt in the background. I started quilting that today! It needs to be done by Friday so it's definitely crunch time!

I also somehow found the time to pick up Tunisian crochet...

This is going to be a gift for a friend!

And I completed a second notebook cover, this time with three *usable* pen slots:

I have also been working on a couple of adorable amigurumi Pokemon for another friend, but they aren't very exciting to look at right now, so no pictures. I have been so busy! But it's a good kind of busy. A relaxing kind of busy, even. I'm really enjoying making Christmas presents for everyone! I don't know that I'll do it every year, but this year at least it has been fun. 

I'm linking up to Let's Get Acquainted over at Plum and June!