Thing-a-day.com

Just to prove that I have not been completely slacking on Thing-a-Day, here is what I’ve got so far of the baby blanket that started here. More than 60 percent completed! (It’ll be 7 x 7 squares.) Of course, there’s that small matter of the blue square that needs to be ripped and reknit in the correct blue, and then there’s the hours and hours of seaming, but I have to finish all this soon, because the wretched beastie is due sometime in March.

Anyway, I have not been idle. I’ve also been toiling at another public domain clip-art set, which I haven’t yet posted on Flickr.

And on 2/28 I made another pretty good dinner for my mom, a combination of these two recipes—Pork Chops with Mustard Sauce and Pork Chops with Mustard-Cornichon Sauce—but with the addition of mushrooms, and with capers in place of cornichons and white wine in place of chicken stock. Spinach salad and rice on the side.

I also made a couple of decent illustrations for work: on 2/12, I made a sort of homebrew tritone; on 2/18, I tried out a new technique for turning a flat shot into something that looks more lively; and on 2/28 I made the collage that appears on this page, which wasn’t that much Photoshop work in the end, but which did require a surprising amount of image research.

Was this flimsy output what I wanted to achieve during Thing-a-Day 2008? No, but I did make a few things that I would not otherwise have made, and I did discover several other people whose work I really liked, thefabricator and Jason Das, in particular.

It’s been fun. I’ll see you next year.

For the last day of Thing-a-Day I decided to attack yesterday’s failed attempt of making a gaiter (neck warmer) for my husband.  I’ve been working on it on and off all day and just barely finished in time.  I tried it on and boy, does it make my neck toasty!  I think I’m going to have to make one for myself.  I can’t believe that TAD is over, that February is over.  It’s only going to start getting warmer.  Yippie!  I’ve really enjoyed participating in TAD and will be looking forward to next Feb!  Thanks everyone! 

Today I started knitted a gaiter for my husband.  Two hours later I realized it was way too big and I had to frog the whole thing.  Now I am back to square one.  To feel better I knitted another flower square that I made yesterday. 

I have been feeling sick the last two days so I have had lots of time to knit. I finished another 18th century sailors hat (3 more to go) amd the second is a scarf for a friend’s birthday next week. I should have time to finish it. The yarn is bamboo and very soft.

I did the binding off last night. So rewarding! And I started the fringing and ran out of time. The Blue Sky Alpacas yarn is so sumptuous I want to go right into making something else with it!

P.S. Thing-a-Day was in maintenence last night. This is my Day #27 entry.

I made this little dishcloth for today’s thing. It knits up really quick and easy, pretty much all garter stitch. It is worked from corner to corner, so it will always be square no matter how big or small you want to make it. My mom (who has very nice hair (hi Mom!)) taught me how to make these! I just used cotton yarn, with size 6 needles. What I love most about these is that since you can always make more, it doesn’t hurt as much if you really need to toss one because it got gross!

Today I crocheted these squares which will one day be joined with many more to make a scarf or a bag or a blanket.  I found the pattern in a knitting book that I bought in Tokyo.  I used Sirdar Snuggly DK 100% acrylic yarn.  I’ve always been snooty about only using yarn made from natural fibers, but I’m a changed knitter now.  I love this yarn!   

Ugg. My thesis work is grinding me under its heel. During my radio silence though I have been trying to get a small modular knit done each day if nothing else.

I have 6 squares (and 1 triangle) added to my memory blanket.

The top row, other than the first red one, and the triange in the 2nd row are all new over the last few days.

I have also have finished a few 4″ squares for a comfort blanket being knit and crocheted by several crafters for a 5 year old who was just diagnosed with leukemia and his twin.

I knit these socks, which were designed in honor of the Deathly Hallows release, in honor of the designer’s recent passing. This pattern, which is unavailable until the designer’s family decides what they want done with her patterns, is called Bellatrix.

blogged here with crafting details

I finished knitting the beret - yay! Sadly, as these photos show, the beret is FAR too big! Perhaps I have a tiny head? Lol!

Despite the inaccuracy with the sizing, I am very happy with the quality of the knitting. I really feel like I’ve finally mastered it. I’ll just notch this one up to experience and turn it into a cushion.

It’s still not done. Oh well. I guess it counts as a remake, because I’ve started this project over and over again.

i’m really bad about finishing things like weaving in loose ends for knitting and hemming for sewing (that’s why tshirts are ideal for me—because they will just roll, don’t have to be hemmed). today, i finished 2 scarves that i made last year and have been wearing, but never wove in the loose ends. i finally did that today and also added fringe to the blue one.

both scarves were knitted using a combination of lion brand fun fur and moda dea dream (both are available at michael’s). they were knitted in garter stitch and every 3-4 rows, i wrapped one to so that some rows are longer/have more space.

Here is knitting from yesterday and today on another sailor’s hat.

After many false starts I finally managed to master increasing and got this far but, sadly, ran out of wool, otherwise I would have got it finished today. Not very happy. I bought two 50g balls as per the instructions in the magazine, but I clearly need another. *fume*

It’s not going very well.

Today I crocheted my first tawashi, Japanese word for scrubbing brush.  The knitted kind are made from acrylic yarn and work exceptionally well for dish washing.  I got the pattern from here (warning: the instructions are in Japanese).  I tried it out this evening and it works great!, but found that it was a bit small (no surprise there, since most things from Japan are small).  So I might make 3 more and stitch them all together to make a bigger square. 

So much to do.. so many projects.. !

I’ve been more productive today then other days. There was a lot of cleaning and then a stitch marker set and some envelopes. It seems my envelopes run out faster then I assume they will. I made around ten thinking no one will buy anything and they do! I’m trying to use the scraps of paper from the other envelopes that I have made to make more. This set of stitch markers I have made similar ones before and they have sold fairly fast. Like always I hope these sell well also.

A number of cool people have knitted these cute olives.  Today I thought I would join them.  If you are interested,  Cignoh’s post has a link to the website with directions. 

I have to admit the Thing for Today was not made completely today. I had most of it done a couple of weeks ago, but put the finishing touches on it today and took the picture today. This is one of my favorites. I am hoping to get it on my etsy site soon. It is so soft, and thick, and I made it long enough to wrap around your neck a couple of times, with really cute fringe on the ends.