A Few More FO's for October

Well, it's official ..... I'm a total idiot!

I had all those nifty swap projects that I was waiting to post about after the partners received their packages. I took lots of photos. I boxed up the packages. I shipped them off to their recipients. I can't find most of the photos!!! I do have a couple, but I'm going to have to rely on my partners to send me photos so I can show them off :o(

Admidst all that swap crafting, I did manage to get some things finished for myself too. Today I whipped up a dragon bookmark since I met a couple of goals and the rest of the October goals are in sight.



I also finished up the first Dragon Scale Gauntlet. Still pretty sure I can finish the other before October ends.



Last night while watching the game, I finished the last of the Pond Turtle parts and got them sewed together. Paul is quite happy with it! I now have a pink one on the needles for myself.



Isn't he cute?



Sad news. I was so thrilled to have the Ravenna Satchel all knitted up. The felting didn't go so well. It's not bad, and I will finish the project probably as a gift for someone since there's really nothing horrible about it, but it's too small for what I wanted so I'm not happy with it. All the black pieces felted beautifully. The intarsia piece however, was doomed. First, it twisted up really tight in the center during felting. The ends felted, but the center stretched out and didn't felt at all. I untwisted it and sent it through again. It felted the second time in a big way. The worst part is the pillowcase I had it in came open during the spin cycle, and all the long hairy alpaca that shed came out and clogged up the washer. Poor Paul spent all day Saturday taking the machine apart and digging out crud that resembled dead guinnea pigs, then trying to put the washer back together again. I felt horrible for him.



I've since bought more yarn (sans any alpaca or fiber that will require a full blown haircut after felting and will threaten the washer again) and cast on again. I will have my full size Ravenna eventually.

While Paul slaved over the broken washer, I took my mother out for her birthday gift. A day at the spa! I booked us for facials, manicures, and pedicures. It was so much fun! Neither of us was thinking too clearly for the event however, since we both wore socks and closed shoes. Ummmm that doesn't work too well with freshly pedicured feet. After sitting with our feet and hands under the dryers for about 1/2 hour, we went off to lunch sporting those wonderful spa sandals that are more like black pieces of paper than footwear. Mine kept folding under my feet and I was walking funny. At least our nails dried enough for us to put on our own shoes before we hit the mall. All in all it was a great day!

More progress than I'm allowed to show

I've finished quite a few projects this week. Some of which I can't show yet because they are for swaps and you never know who could be lurking about. I do have photos of them, so I know they've arrived at their destination, I can let you peek.

This morning I put the finishing touches on the Tommy Nobis Amigurumi. I think he's cute as can be, but I'm not quite satisfied with the felt embellishments. I downsized this project to about 6" (about 1/2 the size of the pattern), so the felt pieces were teeny tiny. Sewing them on caused some to shrink up and some to stretch out. You can clearly see what I mean with the numbers on the jersey. They both started out the exact same size. Hmmmmm I might redo those as it is kind of bothering me.



I love the little cleats! They are the posts of doll eyes pushed through the shoes from the inside. Too adorable.



The little falcon on the side of the helmet turned out better than I thought it would. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.



I even added his name to the back of the jersey. The only thing he doesn't have is the football. Oops, forgot to buy brown yarn. Next trip to the LYS though.

Friday night I finished up the Nutkins! Yea a whole week early, which means I get to relax this week and work on the projects I want to instead of the projects I need to.



While I had the felt out this morning, I finally decided to give the poor dragon some eyes. I didn't like the white felt, it just seemed too stark. So he has pink eyes. Makes him look a bit formidable doesn't it?



Tonight I finally finished up the intarsia piece of the Ravenna Satchel. I'll start the felting either tomorrow or Tuesday. I'm really excited about having the knitting portion done on this project. The needle felting and embellishing is going to be so much fun.



I pulled out the Dragon Scale Gauntlets this weekend too. They work up pretty quickly when I put my mind to it. I might make these my next goal to finish up.



Friday night I finally faced reality and frogged the Sweetie Pie Cami. Not sure why I waited so long. Maybe I had this dream that if I thought about it long and hard enough, the brown yarn would grow another 200 yards or something. Since it didn't happen, I decided to redesign my redesign. Now it will be a colorblock cami. I will keep the empire waist and go up a hook size below that so it's not so body skimming where I don't want it to be. Below the empire waist I will change the colors. There will be plenty of yarn to complete the project now.

Goal update

We are almost midway through the month, so it's high time for a goal update. Let's see, there was:

The Ravenna Satchel - I think I've maybe completed 5 more rows since last photo .... not looking good, but I still have hope. I just need to spend some quality weekend time with it is all.

Dragon Scale Gauntlets - completed one repeat of the pattern. Again, not looking too good, however, I still have hope. That repeat didn't take me long, so I set them aside for something that was taking longer. Just need to finish a couple of those and spend some quality time with this project.

Sweetie Pie Cami - Am almost out of yarn, am positive what I have left isn't going to make this top nearly long enough to suit me, and can't for the life of me find another skein anywhere! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr I think it will be back to the drawing board with this. I'll need to figure out a way to add more of the pink variegated yarn into it to get more length.

Filet Crochet Dragon Throw - haven't worked a lick on it since my last update. I still think I can have it finished this month. This week should see some progress on it.

Yesterday Once More - I have only completed one more row since last update, but since I already declared this not about to be finished until at least Spring, I am not worrying about it in the least.

Rose Wrap Shell - Am almost done with all the motifs, and have attached all that are already compelte. Another night or two on this and it will be done.

Pond Turtle - I have about 5" of an unfelted piece completed. Need to spend more time with this adorable turtle.

Tommy Nobis Amigurumi - At last update, Tommy resembled a black ball. The next time I tried to work on him, it was to add the embelishments to his helmet. Lo and behold I couldn't find one single photo of Tommy Nobis wearing a black helmet. His helmet was always red (at least in his photos). I cursed Paul every second of crocheting the second attempt at a helmet, because afterall, if you're going to crochet your sweetheart his idol, you gotta make sure the helmet is right! As of now, Tommy resembles a red ball LOL. I will get over my snit at having to start over in a few days and give him some appendages.

Aran Tree Skirt - Finished!!!!! And I love this more than I can say. Can't wait for Christmas to get here so I can replace the falling apart old tree skirt we have and display this one.




A closeup of the cablework. It just doesn't photograph well (or perhaps it's me that just can't take photos?) unless it's close up.



Nutkins - Spent quite a bit of time on these this past week and am happy to report that they should be complete a full week earlier than needed. By all rights I should be able to finish these up Friday night.



Again, the pattern just doesn't show up in photos unless it's a closeup.



Fierce but Friendly Dragon - finished except for eyes. His wings are a bit droopy, so I think I'll add some craft wire to them so they can be posed. His little legs are moveable and I love that I can make him sit and watch over my stash.



He looks a little like a flying dog here doesn't he? Hopefully the addition of eyes will rectify that.



And, since I really didn't think I had enough to keep me busy in October, I cast on another project this week. These are the Swirly Girl Socks I am knitting for the Obscuriosity KAL group on Ravelry. Love this pattern! So much fun to knit.

A very busy month ahead

I did manage to meet the September goals I set for myself. October might just be a different story however. I think I may have bit off a bit more than I can chew (or knit/crochet as the case may be), but I'm going to see just how close I can get.

Yesterday, I presented my stepdad with his Lowry Pullover. I was so nervous that it wasn't going to be long enough, but it fits great! He's one of those northerners with the great internal heater, so I don't think he'll be wearing this a lot, but I hope he enjoys the times it's cold enough for him to need it.



I received my ornament from an angel in the Holiday Ornament Swap I signed up for. My original partner fell off the face of the earth and was never heard from after filling out her questionairre. Although she says it is not necessary, I plan to send my angel one of the Victorian Skates ornaments I've made.

Isn't this the cutest? I love it!!



Now to those October goals I set for myself.

First up is the Ravenna Satchel. I really want to have this done this month. I am done with all but the intarsia piece so hopefully I can felt next weekend. The intarsia is slow going though. Even using butterflies, my yarn keeps getting tangled. And this yarn likes to leave fluff on the other colors that it touches. Even with the extra time it is taking to complete this piece, I still think this goal is doable.



Then there's the Dragon Scale Gauntlets I cast on for the Dragon KAL/CAL group. I am using some Cascade Bollocine I had in my stash. I'd love to have these done in October, but am not going to sweat it if I don't.



The Nutkin socks have to be done in October. They are a gift and need to be done no later than 10/25. I really need to give these a bit more attention than I have this past week if I am going to meet this goal.



Another Dragon KAL/CAL project. Here be a dragon snout! Again, I'd love to have this done in October, but no biggy if it takes another week or so.



The Sweetie Pie Cami really needs to get finished. It crochets up too quickly to be languishing in my project bag the way it has been. I've taken some liberties with the pattern in hopes of making it more flattering for my body type (no boobs and that telltale 40ish tummy pudge).



I started another throw this month. This one should be done in October if I keep working on it at the rate I have been so far, but it really doesn't have a deadline so may wind up cast aside for other projects.



This particular project will not be complete until at least Spring. This is the very beginnings of a suit made from size 10 crochet thread. I will be taking my sweet time with this project.



Along with the projects listed above that I want to have complete in October, here are the others that I want out of the project bags:

Aran Tree Skirt
Rose Wrap Shell
Tommy Nobis Amigurumi
Pond Turtle

See what I mean about that biting off a bit too much?? Wish me luck!!