Knitting My Thoughts Together

Monk Messenger Bag

2009-10-15T00:28:00.000-07:00

I got this project from the book "Folk Bags". I had wanted to make this for a long time but I have an addiction to messenger bags and already own 3 and couldn't justify adding another. But then I had a job interview in Chicago and my dad went with me (he had always wanted to visit Chicago so it gave him an excuse to go), and he researched yarn shops in the area and surprised me by taking me to one. Then he told me to pick out some yarn so I could knit my own souvenir. (Did I mention I have the best daddy ever!) I didn't have any knitting books on me, but the store had the "Folk Bags" book so I took it as a sign that I needed to make the bag. Plus the book titled this piece "monk bag", and having been a religion major focusing on Asian religions I had no excuse for not making this bag.

It is made from a mercerized cotton yarn, I can't remember which brand.

I did alter the pattern some, eliminating all but the strap pockets for I wanted to put a lining into the bag. But I added 3 pockets into my lining so it is still a pocket heavy bag...which I love! The more pockets a bag has the more drawn to it I am. I also didn't add the clasps on the flap, I tried to add them but they just didn't look right to me, so I opted to go without. I wish I had made the front flap longer than the book specified. It seems a bit to short but to late now, it will have to do.

Pocket Pictures!

The strap pocket (there is one on each side)

My favorite pocket in lining. I was going to add a zipper but I never actually close interior zipper pockets so I figured why even add the zipper.

I used a cheap, light-weight fabric for the lining because I want the bag to retain its slouchy-ness when I use it, but didn't want items poking through the knitting if I didn't put a lining in.

I have had the bag knitted up for quite awhile but it took me a few more months to put the lining in (I tend to put off projects that require the sewing machine). So I can now finally mark this project off my "to do" list!

Kitty Quilt my first quilt

2009-10-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

After many, many moons, I have finally finished my first quilt! This is a rather small quilt, meant to be a kitty quilt. I originally started the top for my cat Spencer. But sadly back in '06 he disappeared So the top sat around unfinished, until I moved and discovered it again. I was hand-piecing it when I started it, due to lack of sewing machine, but I have one now so it was machine finished.

It is machine quilted in a diamond pattern (easier to see on the back). I didn't have enough of the blue fabric to make binding, so I was going to purchase some bias tape but Hobby Lobby was completely out of blue. But their ribbon was 50% off so I bought some blue ribbon and used that for the binding instead. I didn't actually follow the correct instructions for doing the binding, and now wish I had. But oh well, it is a made for a cat, they aren't picky.

Thanks to my Granny's large stash of fabric and batting it was a cheap quilt, only $1 for a yard of blue broadcloth, and $2.16 for the ribbon.

I am gave it to my boyfriend for his cat Calvin. I crocheted my boyfriend a blanket which his cat loves and keeps drooling all over it, which drives my boyfriend insane. I was hoping Calvin would take to the quilt and leave the blanket alone, but at least while I was visiting Calvin completely ignored the quilt. Such a typical cat.

Here it is being presented by my cat Ellie

The back, so you can see the quilting

Make-up bag 10 years in the making

2009-09-08T12:22:00.000-07:00

About 10, maybe even 11, years ago (when I was still in high school) my best friend and I picked up a free pattern flyer from Michael's for a crocheted purse. I decided on brown and pink for mine, she chose brown and blue. We sat around many days during the summer crocheting up the squares, then school started back up and we both stopped working on it.

Flash forward 5 years. I am now in college and come across the random brown and pink squares. They don't even make the same color brown yarn anymore, nor do I desire to have it as a purse now anyway. I don't want to throw them away though, so I crochet them together, add to solid brown single crocheted sides, and figure it can be a make-up bag instead. All I needed was a vinyl lining and a top.

Flash forward 4 years. I have now graduated college and have moved to a new place. I stumble across the half finished make-up bag and toss it into a "to-do" craft box I have.

Flash forward 1 year. I am forcing myself to get serious about finishing all my half-completed projects so I figure I should start with the make-up bag. I had some clear vinyl left over from another project, so I sew up a lining and attach it. I ran to Hobby Lobby, picked up a brown zipper, crocheted a top for the bag, then attached the zipper.

Finally, the bag is complete!! This isn't my best work (nor my greatest camera work) but I am happy to be able to mark it off the list!

The outside utilizing the squares from the free flyer

The zippered top

The vinyl interior

I wish I had some non-transparent vinyl for the interior, but I wasn't spending more money on this project than need be. And it is kind of cool being able to see the back of the squares I guess. I have no use for a make-up bag for I already have one, but I am hoping one day I can actually find a use for this. But at least it is done!!

Now onto tackling more unfinished projects!

Holiday Knits

2009-05-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

Wow, has it really almost been a year since I last posted something? Oops, I am going to blame moving, changing jobs (more times than I would like), and other life events for the absences. In reality it is just my laziness and my forgetfulness. But even though I have not been posting I have been knitting and crocheting. Fiber arts are what keep me grounded, sane, and calm during stressful periods, such as moving and changing jobs. So I will now post some holiday items I made over 6 months ago. Better late than never right?

The first item was made as part of my halloween costume for work (back before Regal bought out my theatre and laid us all off that is). I was Mrs. Lovett, from Sweeney Todd. I figured if I just dressed like her no one would figure out what I was wearing, and just think witch or vampire. So I needed a meat pie, complete with human parts baked in. So I whipped out a crochet hook and crocheted one up. No pattern used, just made it up as I went. I then stuffed it with brown yarn and bought some halloween candy that looked like eyes, and placed them looking out.

"There you'll sample Mrs. Lovett's meat pies, savory and sweet pies, as you'll see"

Worst pie in London...side view

The costume, complete with pie

And my second holiday knit was made for Christmas, yet is almost just as morbid. One of my best friends moved in with me back in October. Well Christmas rolled around and she didn't have a stocking. This was just unacceptable in a knitters house, so I set out at once to make her one that reflected her personality. No cheesy dollar store stockings with silver puff paint names allowed in my house. She is a big fan of skulls, yet is not a goth girl. So I settled on a bright pink background with a skull motif. I just altered my favorite stocking pattern, then spruced it up with gold bells. For some reason a stocking is just not a stocking without jingle bells on it, in my view at least. She loved it and made our hearth much more homey when we each had a stocking hanging. Her name is added on the other side of the stocking, but I am showing a back view for privacy reasons. There is a skull on both sides stocking.

Hope you enjoyed my holiday knits. I have a few other projects that are just about complete. I will try to post them as soon as their are done, instead of waiting 6 months, but I make no promises :)

getting closer to knitting

2008-06-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

I recently Crocheted this panda for my friend. She is moving to LA and has to give away her chinese hamsters since they are outlawed in California. I went with her to deliver the hamsters to their new home and surprised her with the panda afterwards. I am hoping it will help lessen her sadness from losing her pets, and it is legal in California!

I got the idea from the Spring/Summer '08 issue of Knit1. My plan was to follow their pattern but I ended up changing it completely. The only thing that is the same is the muzzle. I made the eye spots smaller and completely changed the legs, arms, ears, and tail. They said to make the head and body in two pieces, and sew them together. I hate sewing parts together so I just made it all in the round and made the head and body one piece. I just used yarn I had in my stash and buttons I had for the eyes and fiber fill I already had...so total cost: super cheap!

I am very happy with how he turned out. Enjoy the insane orange color of my craft room in the background :)

Beadwork time (more non-knitting)

2008-05-13T15:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know this post isn't knitting related either. I just moved and I am still working on my quilt for my guest bedroom so knitting has taken a back seat recently. I STILL LOVE IT THOUGH!

Anyway, back in middle school I used to be really into making jewelry, but over the years I stopped. Well right before St. Patty's Day my friend and I went to target in search of green jewelry to wear out. We found an awesome pair of earrings but they only had a few green necklaces and none of them matched the earrings. My friend suggested we make our own. She just meant finding a cool bead and stringing it on a ribbon; she apparently forgot who she was hanging out with. I rush us over to Michaels and start describing the entire necklace making process to her. We picked out some green glass beads and headed back to my place. I already had all the seed beads and other materials necessary since I can never seem to throw out craft supplies. She made a double strand necklace, and mine started off as a double strand as well, but I left to much space between them and it looked odd. So I added a third strand of just green seed beads to fill the gap. I like the result!

Anyway, here is the final product, both on and off.

After that necklace we had both been infected with beaded jewelry mania. We talked about wanting to make a second necklace for awhile but never had the time. Finally on Sunday (mother's day, we seem to have a holiday thing going) we both had time to make one. We met at Michaels and got our supplies. This time our necklaces were completely different. she made a really long red necklace and I picked out an owl pendant I knew I wanted to use. I really wanted the beads on it to be orange, but sadly I couldn't find ANY orange beads of any kind. It was extremely depressing. I picked out some "coffee" mix brown glass seed beads and just mixed them with orange seed beads I already owned. I also added some chain and two plastic pale yellow beads for a little excitement.

Once again here is the final product both on and off.

Harry Potter Swap

2007-10-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

Recently I got involved in two Harry Potter swaps via craftster.org. One swap I was an angel (meaning someone flaked and didn't send anything to their partner, so I volunteered to make them a package) and the other swap I was an active member in...although my partner ended up flaking on me. But I did have a lovely angel come and send me an amazing package, so it all worked out. Anyway, here are some knitted items I made for the swaps.

A gryffindor lion washcloth

Mad-Eye Moody's Eye (crocheted)

and my favorite piece of all...Hedwig! No patterned used, just made her up as I went.

Okay, so this item isn't knitted, but I did make it and I want to show it off.

I used a Harry Potter t-shirt for the flap and an old pair of Old Navy pants for the bag. The lining was a pink, sparkly fabric. It turned out really well and quite sturdy. I had no pattern for this and I just made it all up as I went along...as I normally do.

The flap:

The front of the bag:

I made a few other items for the swaps as well, but nothing really shareworthy. I think I have my Harry Potter nerd-o-meter filled up for quite awhile. Thanks for looking!

Knitter's Grecian Plaits

2007-08-06T23:12:00.000-07:00

I have finally finished another knitting project. I have been distracted recently applying for jobs and trying to finish all my old projects I have started yet never finished, but I of course couldn't resist starting a new project at the same time. I have been wanting to use up some of my yarn stash that I have so when I saw the Grecian Plaits pattern in the Knitter's Summer 2007 issue, and saw it was made of sport weight yarn, I was excited. Not only did I love the pattern but I had a large stash of Red Heart sport weight yarn in a beautiful olive green that my granny gave me one Christmas. She had gotten it at Big Lots for only 60cents a skein! I have had it for awhile not knowing what to do with it, but I know this pattern was prefect. Since I made it in the green it looks more Irish than Greek, but I like that better. It was really easy and fast to knit up and the only alteration I had to make was going back and adding in some filler on the armhole...which turned out way to large. But now it fits really well and I love it!

This photo shows the true color of the shirt better...

Here is what it looks like on...

Now it is back to quilting and trying to finish other half-started projects...while at the same time starting the monk bag from Folk Bags books...I have no self control :)

**Since posting this I got this shirt published in a Letter To The Editor in the winter '07 issue of Knitters (the magazine I got the pattern from) Just wanted to share...

Finally Something New!

2007-06-01T14:19:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a long while. That last semester of college sucked all my crafting time it seems, besides time to work on projects for my studio art class. Anyway, I started this project at the beginning of last semester when I thought I would have time to knit. I wanted something easy that I could knit during classes and something to help use up some of the baby yarn I have stashed away. I decided to make a child's sweater that I can donate to the Dulaan Project (they distribute hand-knitted items to people in Mongolia...it is a great project, I have sent numerous items to them in the past.) I picked an easy pattern that I got out of 2007 Knitting Calendar (This pattern is from February 27). It was easy and quick and I hope some little child will get some good use out of it.

My First Sweater

2007-01-21T19:04:00.000-08:00

So as usual I finished this project a few months ago but I forgot to post it. This was my first sweater and I got the pattern from the Stitch n' Bitch book. It knit up really fast and was very easy. I used circular needles on the neck instead of striaght needles like it called for so I wouldn't have to sew up another edge ( I HATE sewing edges!) And the pattern on the sleeves kept it from getting to boring. It is a little longer than I would have liked and is slightly baggy, but it was a boy pattern and I did want to use it as a pull-over so it doesn't bother me very much. I love it so much I wear it with pride regardless of the size. Due to my wool allergy I just used cheap Red Heart yarn in Hunters Gray for the body and an off white for the skull.

Faux Fire Place

2006-11-05T23:16:00.000-08:00

Those of us who live in apartments during the winter know the disappointment of not having a fireplace to cuddle up in front of. Well I figured I would try my best to remedy this problem without buring down my apartment at the same time...I just knitted one! I just hang it on the tv and ta-da...a cozy fire. I must give credit where credit is due though...I did get the idea for this from the Fall 06 issue of knit1. The one in the magazine though did not have the brick border and I also changed the shape of the flames to make them look more animated. I must also give thanks to my roommate for suggesting doing a brick pattern because it turned out great in the end.

As for the construction it knitted up quite fast but it was pulling in the middle a lot due to the multiple number of yarns used and them all being different weights (you can still see the black swoops in..I could fix it but I am lazy). I ended up sewing a black fleece backing on the back which helped a lot. The magazine said to place a yard stick through the loop on top (made by sewing the top over) but I thought that would look tacky. So I instead used the sewing maching and some scrap fabric to make a sleeve and filled it with plastic pellet filling. I then sew the loop on top with the weighted sleeve inside it, since trying to tread it through the loop was impossible. I am really happy with the final outcome. I hope you all like it as well!!

Magic Yarn Ball Swap

2006-10-30T21:02:00.000-08:00

I was recently involved in a Magic Yarn Ball Swap from craftster.org. In this swap my partner told me which pattern she wanted and gave me some info on her favorite colors and such and I had to buy her a ball of yarn then put at least 5 handmade goodies in it and how ever much store bought stuff I could fit in it, then wrap it all up in a ball. I bought her some super soft alpaca/silk blend yarn in a light pink. Here is what I sent to her...

I told her that I wanted to do the Knucks pattern from knitty.com and I would prefer either brown, orange, or dark red. She ended up sending me the same brand of yarn!! It was quite a shock and a wonderful since I had fallen in love with it while picking it out for her. Here is what she sent me...

here is the ball as I recieved it, she even split it into two balls for me, one for each glove!

Here were all the goodies hidden inside

and here are the finished Knucks, although I have yet to embroider on them. I keep moving on to new projects and never take the time to fully finish the last project I have done, it is a really bad habit :( maybe this christmas break I will actually make myself finish some of the projects I have started.

I Can Finally Post Pics!!

2006-10-29T20:49:00.000-08:00

I have been working on a gift for my friend, who may as well be my sister, for many months now and I just gave her the present this weekend so I can finally post pics of the FO. She is having a baby in early November so I of course made her a baby blanket. She is doing the room in an octopus theme so I did an octopus inspired blanket.

I got the pattern out of the Better Homes and Garden knitting book that I received for Christmas last year. They had put pom-poms on the end of each i-cord but I wanted that octopus look so I didn't do that. I used two Pound Of Love Lion Brand baby yarn, one in each color. It was a total pain because each stripe required having it own ball of yarn. I had to split each pound of love ball into 9 smaller balls, so yes I was using 18 balls of yarn on this blanket. I should note that this blanket is intented to be used when laying the baby on the floor, not while it is sleeping so there should not be any fear of a choking hazard involved.

I used some of the left over yarn to make my other friend a crocheted amigurumi elephant from the new Knit1 mag. It was my first time doing amigurumi and I was suprised at how easy it was. Here is my shot of Elroy the Elephant before he was taken away to his new home.

NOT a happy hooker!!

2006-07-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

*Recent Development* I finally came to terms that this jacket was just never going to look good on me and after its pieces had just sat in a corner for a year I finally just frogged the whole thing. I figured it was better to save some of the yarn for a project I would really use then either A) finish it but never wear it or B) throw it all out and have wasted money on still usable yarn.

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, I am taking a french 2 class this summer and it is kicking my butt! I am having to do homework and study non-stop. But during my few breaks I have been busy working on projects...my only happy escape!

Well I have been working on the Prepster jacket from the Happy Hooker book. I got all the pieces completed, it really wouldn't have taken that long except for my inability to work on one project at the time. So it has taken a long time. here are all the pieces before any sewing took place.

the back:

The front sides:

The Sleeves:

Then I set out to sew it all up. It didn't take very long at all. Then I got to try it on for the first time! and I ended up looking like a bad 80's working woman :( The shoulders and sleeves looked awful. So I am now in the process of ripping out the seams and resewing them in a fashion that I hope will make it look better. I have got on sleeve redone and it is looking much better...although i still don't think it looks good on me :( So i will continue to revise it and hopefully find a friend it will look good on so all my hard work won't go completely to waste

I will post a finished picture once it is done. I just wanted to post something since I have been slacking recently. I should have more up soon!

"friendship" afghan...HA!

2006-07-03T23:13:00.000-07:00

Many moons ago I joined a Friendship afghan mailing list. The main point was you would recieve a mailing list with the name and addresses of other people involved in the group, then I would send a 6" X 6" crocheted square to each person on the list, and they in return would send a 6" X 6" square to me. Nice, neat, and simple. And in my naivety I actually believed this was going to work. But of course the human race let me down again. I did my part and sent out at least 20 squares to different people (all the people on the list at the time...the coordinator was going to send more names as more people joined) and how many did I recieve in return??? well if you guessed 10 that would be way to high...for the correct number is 5. Yes, send out 20 something and get 5 back in return. and only getting 5 sucks...it is an odd number so you can't make into a blanket anyway, but even if I had gotten 6 it would still be to small to even make a baby blanket.

Here are the 5 that I recieved

the cute black square with the heart was made by my knitting friend Li, and the pink and white flower was from the coordinator Kristi.

So the only thing I could think to do with these squares (since I didn't want to just throw them away and I am way to lazy to crochet enough squares to make another afghan) was to crochet a few extra squares and turn them into a scarf. So I got to crocheting and made 7 extra square...I figured it would be a good way to practice some new crochet stitches at least.

(In case you are interested the pink and green square was made using the spike stitch, the yellow square using the popcorn stitch...the pale yellow even makes them look like real popcorn, and the blue square pictured below was the loop stitch)

Then I just had to go through the daunting task of finding the best arrangement for the scarf and sewing all the squares together. the scarf turned out to long to show all in one picture so I have broken it up into two photos.

I am actually quite happy with the final product. I am not sure if I will keep it or donate it but at the moment I am thinking I may just keep it and donate one of my other many scaves I have. Honestly I am just happy to be able to cross another project off my "projects started but never finished" list!

First Time Felting

2006-06-28T00:19:00.000-07:00

Okay this this really isn't my first felted project. My first one was the Marley scarf from knitty.com. It turned out really great and was quick and easy to make. But this was my first big felted project. I made the laptop bag from Stitch n' Bitch nation but I changed the width of the side panels so it is more of a side bad. I want to use it as a carryon bag on plane trips.

But It was not as easy as I supected. Once I had it all knitted up which was easy enough I sewed all the sides together like the instructions said too. Then I throw it in the machine to felt it. Well the front and back panels felted down to 10 inches tall like there were suppose too but the width of them didn't do anything. So even after multiply cycles the panels were 10 inches tall and 20 inches wide!! Of course that was not going to work. So I had to rip out all the seams I had sewn up and then resew the panels so the bag would turn out an acceptable size. But now I am quite happy with it. I finished it by covering it with patches. I hope to someday only have patches from places I have visited on it. Right now the only patches that fit that are the I Love New York patch and the Underground patch from london. The rest I just bought at Hot Topic.

Once again sorry for the bad pics...I was feeling to lazy to get the bag laying perfectly striaght before taking the picture :/

Harry Potter woes

2006-06-28T00:08:00.000-07:00

I must admit that I LOVE Harry Potter...both the books and movies (of course the books are a whole lot better then the movies) but since I can knit and each school has their corrosponding scarf I of course had to knit myself a gryffindor scarf for the movie.

I used size 5 needles because I wanted a proffesional look about the scarf. It ended up taking me over 100 hours to make that sucker. and how does Harry Potter repay me?? They change the scarf on me for the third movie!! How dare they! Well I am a true fan so I have to of course had to make the new scarf. And too keep the look I use the same needle size so there is another 100 hours gone. But I was happy with the results.

I also made one for my friend Debby and my old roommate Josh. All I can say is as much as I love Harry Potter I am done making these stupid scarves and they better not even THINK about changing the scarf again in any of the upcoming films!

The First Taste

2006-06-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone. Since this is my first post I am going to post a bunch of projects I have completed in the past that I am proud of. I am knitting or crocheting ALL the time so I promise I will have some new stuff up soon. I am just using this site as a knitting blog. If you want to know more about me you can check out my myspace page. www.myspace.com/mollytwin1

I am going to start with my oldest stuff and move up to the most recent.

This is crocheted. It is the first full project I ever completed. My granny taught me how to crochet when I was 12 but of course I didn't do anything with the knowledge until my senior year of high school. It is painfully to think of all those years I wasted that I could have been doing needlework but oh well..hindsight is 20/20. I made this since I knew I was going off to college the next year and I wanted a nice blanket to cuddle up with.

This is one of my all time favorite things I have made. I designed the pattern and everything. It is crocheted not knitted but I love it all the same. In case you aren't familiar with the TV show Aqua Teen Hunger Force this purse is of Meatwad, one of the characters on the show.

okay, now onto knitted items...

These are my cell phone and ipod holders...although I must admit I am more partial to the bunny :)

This was my first project that involved double pointed needles. It is a doll of my old boss Mr. Marze...to bad I don't have a picture of him so you can see the insane resemblance!

This is another one of my favorite knits. It is an illusion scarf I designed with skulls going in both directions..that way there wouldn't be an upside down skull at one end.

This is a baby blanket I designed for one of my ex-boyfriend's friend. We were still together at the time...although he did break up with me before I gave it to her so that was a little akward. But she still loved it!

This was a stocking a made for that same boyfriend. Sorry for the bad picture...I don't have the scarf anymore obviously so I can't take a better pic of it.

Last but not least...the hat that I just finished for myself. Now if it were only cold enough to use it!

well thanks for bearing with me, I know that was a lot of projects I just threw at you. And that isn't even all of them, just some of the more recent/favorites. I am continually working on more stuff. I have multiple projects going on as I type so I will have more stuff up real soon!