Pulling it together

Ok, I think I'm done with my pity party of late. It does no good to dwell on it, so ... I've been cleaning, and packing, and cleaning, and trying to get organized. Thanksgiving I'm on my way to SC to be with Mike, house sold or not.

Over the weekend, my housemates and I hit a friends Halloween party, and I pulled out all sorts of boxes and things that I had neatly packed up months ago, assuming I would be in SC before I ever needed them. Oh, how wrong I was. Anyway, we ended up with one bellydancer (moi), a Rastafarian, 70's chica, G.I. Jane, a plumber and a bug. Over all, with about 2 hrs. notice for 3-4 of those costumes, I think we did pretty well! Most of what was pulled out was makeup and jewelry - a couple of necklaces can go pretty far to make a costume perfect. And did you know liquid eyeliner is a great means for making a non-permanent tattoo? I didn't use my camera, so I don't know if i'll get to post pictures of the costumes -
But, I do have pictures of my current projects. I was able to retrieve the pictures from my camera, it turns out it was just a low battery that was holding me back.
First a few more shots of the giraffe -















I wish I had taken more pictures, but I guess I'll have to wait until Gabriella is old enough to actually hold it.

Then the sweater:
First the two front panels:

I really like the way the pink shows up against the purple, I think it looks really cute! And I'm pretty happy that both sides look the same - symmentry in a sweater is always a bonus.

Here are the sleeves, I forgot to start with the contrasting color on one but I'm thinking I can add that later with a crochet edge. I'm just hoping it won't make it too long.

This is the back, and compared to the front panel, and it's looking a bit small. Hopefully that's because of the stitch holder, or maybe it'll grow with however it's added to the front panels, or the colar or something, I dont' know, I'm just going to keep going and see. Perhaps I''m in denial., but worse case scenario, .. I have to re-knit the back, I'm okay with that.

Next comes seaming - uugh. I don't like doing it, but I think that's because I don't feel I'm very good at it. I've got a book, "All stitched up", that I'm going to look over to get some tips, but let me know if anyone has a better reccommendation for finishing techniques. I may have to hit up some video blogs to check out some good ones.

I do need to get going on the stuffed animal for Gabriella too. I can't believe how quickly the months keep going by. I am amazed that it's already almost November. But that just means I'll be seeing Mike anytime now, and that's good news.

Presenting....

Gangly or "G" the giraffe!!! Yeah! she's done. It wasn't exactly on time, as I was still putting some finishing touches on her when I got to my brothers' house, but I was able to present her before my brother left for his flight on Sunday.

I'm tried taking the yarn I used for the hair along the neck and making some spots on G's back to make it more cute and fuzzy - but they ended up looking like furry moles so I cut them off - I like the simplicity now. I also am not crazy about her eyes - I think they're too small. I'm thinking of embroidering new ones over the top in a thicker yarn. But I really like the way she sits up, it's cute in a gangly sort of way. Over all I'm pretty proud of her.

In the meantime, I am getting quite a bit of knitting done here. I've finished a seed stitch headband I was working on - (pictures to come later) and a cardigan that I am already 5" into:

It's the "chunky tweed cardigan" from Erika Knight's book Knitting for two. I found the yarn it calls for on sale in the cutest colors:

I really like this book. I wouldn't mind having/knitting almost half of the patterns in this book, it's super cute for both child and parent. I've already put it on my wish list.

We were talking about a teddy bear that a friends mom made for Gabriella, and Kristin mentioned that a floppy-eared bunny would be really cute... hrmmm.. I haven't gotten that far on the bear, perhaps I should switch to a bunny. She doesn't have many of those around. I'll have to start searching for patterns. Here's a shot of the bear:

I think I can do something just as cute, if not cuter - ahh, my next challenge. Due: before I leave for California for Christmas....

Getting on with the giraffe

As my deadline quickly approaches (this Friday), I have finally made some headway on the giraffe - he/she/it finally has a head! Wheee! Yea!

Now, I just have to figure out how I'm going to make it connect to a neck.. hrmm... not so easy. I haven't sewn on the legs yet, but I attached them with stitch markers to see what it looks like.
Here's what I've got so far:

I figure worse case scenario I will have to finish on the plane, and I am bringing and extra gift too. Although, I was hoping to finish a pair of booties on the plane, but that might be a bit ambitious.

The giraffe marches on...

without a head at the moment :)

I've finished all four legs of the giraffe and the body. Each leg got progressively better as I made it, which makes me want to go back and re-do the first one. I'm resisting, and waiting till I have the neck and head done, and then seeing how much time I have left. My deadline is Oct. 5th - not too far off, but close enough to put me in high gear. I know I procrastinate.

I had a basic idea for the body, egg shaped, perhaps kidney bean as well, and here's what I ended up with:

I ripped it out a few times before I was satisfied with this version. One was too long, another too kidney-bean-ish, too narrow in the middle... you get the point. This one is not exactly what I envisioned, but it's acceptable to me. I will need to pull that point in - or turn it into the tail or something.

That's one thing I don't have a problem doing - ripping out. Both of my knit-nite groups always make fun of me because I'll be going along, and then riiiipp, I'll just start pulling something out.

"What?! Wait, what are you doing?"

"It wasn't going like I wanted it to." *shrug*

It just doesn't bug me. I think it's because I know if I get it done and I don't like it, I won't wear it - or even give it as a gift, so I might as well fix it now. I had that problem with a Debbie Bliss hoodie I made, and I almost didn't give it away, because as I seamed the hood itself, it created a point at the tip. I ended up fiddling with it for a while and my friend convinced me it was cute, so I gifted it.

That's also why I don't have any pictures of the head yet - I've been crocheting, and frogging and crocheting and frogging. Now I don't always pull it all the way out, sometimes I just go back part way. I'm pretty good about checking as I go along to makes sure it's turning out like I expected. That's part of the fun for me.. OK, this isn't working, but if I go back and add some stitches here then maybe.. no, now I need to add some here, but crochet some together here... So that's how my process works. The only problem with this is, I don't take notes (because I'd be changing them constantly) so if I ever wanted to repeat it,or write out a pattern, it'd be hard. That's probably why the legs are all different!

I am shortening two of the back legs. I'm making it a bit realistic, and a bit cartoonish. I like the "realness" of the knees, but the head is pretty exaggerated at the moment. This whole process makes me really appreciate artists out there a whole lot more.
I guess I'm just lucky that my critic is only 3 weeks old!

Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my!

The heading should actually read.. Bunnies or bears or giraffe's? Oh my!

My brother and sister-in-law are having a baby in August, and I am torn between what I really want to make them. (They don't read this blog, so I'm ok) My struggle is between what animal, and how it should be made - sewn or crocheted.

It began with an idea, long before they were pregnant or even married, back when my mother passed away in '02. Going through her closet, there were so many of her dresses and scarves and things that I just couldn't part with, but at the same time, didn't have any idea what to do with them. I donated many of them, gave others away to my mother-in-law and friends and family members, but there were still those certain pieces that, to me, were just the essence of my mother. Pieces that if I closed my eyes and pictured my mother, that's what I saw her wearing. So I took the clothing, and not knowing what I was going to do with them, packed them all into a box, or two, and stored them away.

Finally, I had a wonderful revelation - I would make baby quilts! Four of them, one for each brother, and one for myself, for when each of us had children. It would be for our first-borns. I had only gotten married in the year following my mother's death, so this seem do-able, as my older brothers married the next year, and the year after that, leaving me pleanty of time to make these blankets.

There was only one small problem... I'm not a quilter. The fact that I made a quilt, years ago, as a teenager, gave me the confidence to pick it up - given a bit of time and dedication. But as we all know, life happens, and I never got around to it, and the boxes of fabric followed me from Louisville, to Chicago and finally here to Homewood. I have accepted the fact that there is no way I will ever make one baby quilt, much less four, despite all my great intentions, and redesigned my idea into a patchwork teddy bear, or bunny perhaps. In the meantime, I learned to knit, became a better crocheter and found the world of Amigurumi. And after making a few softies for my friends children, I knew, that in a pinch, I could crochet a softie that I would also deem worthy of giving to my first niece or nephew. Hence my struggle begins...

I desperately want to make a patchwork softie out of my mother's fabric to give to the first of the Tamburro babies. So I've been looking for patchwork bunny or bear patterns that I like and not finding many. Then a friend suggested I just make a patchwork squares or patchwork strips of "fabric" and then trace a design out of that, and I love this idea! So I then asked my brother how they were decorating the nursery, to give me a better idea of bear or rabbit, since they're not finding out boy or girl. He tells me green and yellows and ... giraffes. A giraffe! What a great idea! I could crochet a giraffe pretty easily, and even make up the pattern on my own! Hrm.. what to do.

I went to Flickr to give me some ideas, and in my searches, I found my absolute favorite giraffe - (All her softies are gorgeous). I love the simplicity of it, and the fabric is awesome, but I don't have a pattern for it, and I'm also questioning my skills because I want this to be just perfect. I have a teddy bear pattern that I like, but I'm just not in love with it. Then the idea of a crochet giraffe seems easy and doable, especially in the time I have remaining, but that's taking away from the whole fabric idea. *sigh*
Bunnies or bears or giraffes? Oh my!