Among other things (and being the first of several)

Hello!

Christmas has once again come and gone, as it tends to do, but the season isn't quite over until the 1st of the New Year, so in that spirit, I will be doing several posts showing what crafty things I received this year as well as the ones I gave.

The first in this series will be the bunny hat and fingerless gloves that I made for my friend Bella. I knit them in light gray acrylic yarn on size 4.5 and 5 circular needles.

So that's basically what the hat looks like when it's being worn (she wears it better than I do, to be honest). I made a basic hat with circular needles, with about 1.5 inches of ribbing at the bottom. Then, I knit the ears on straight needles, just your basic knit stitch. I made up a random pattern for the increases and decreases and voilà! A beautiful bunny hat!

As for the gloves, I completely made up a pattern, as you can probably tell because the cables aren't really symmetrical. In any case, they fit and she liked them, so that's really all I could ask for. 

So there you go, episode one of however many that will be explaining what I've been doing and hiding from you for these past weeks!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

I'm Back!

Did you miss me?
I was gone for the time it took me to find the gloves I wanted to photograph.

Here they are, the color is still not accurately represented and I can't figure out why.

They are based off of mine, with some tweaks. These are made of pure alpaca yarn, I believe, though it seems that I have misplaced the yarn label, so I can't be sure. For once I was organized! I had kept the label to be able to know exactly what yarn it was. Now I can't find it.

Anyway, I got something crafty as well (more than one in fact, but I've only done one so far) for Christmas.
Since I am a very mature young adult, I wanted....a doll. Yes, that's right. A doll.

Not just any doll, though, I wanted a Waldorf doll. I wanted a little boy Waldorf doll.

Here's the thing though, so that I don't appear to be too strange. I wanted the supplies to make said doll. I wanted to prove to myself that I could make something using a pattern and have it turn out all right, because these dolls were considered a challenging sewing project.

So I got my doll. And I was very, very nervous about starting to make it. The fabric was nice, new, soft....There was so little of it, no room for mistakes. I gulped, took everything out of the paper bag that it was all neatly packaged in, put everything back in the bag and went back to being nervous.

Now, I'm nervous about starting any project with quality materials, but when I see those needles and that yarn, or that fabric, new and clean, just waiting to be turned into something wonderful....I am very weak.

It took me three hours. I worried for three hours, then started sewing.

It was all handsewn, luckily for me, and the hair is basically a crocheted hat sewn onto the doll's head, then you thread each individual strand of hair onto his head, oh my god, it took five hours and that's not even an exaggeration. It really did. So long, so, so, long. And my doll has short-ish hair, so I pity anyone who makes long haired dolls.

Without further ado, here he is, Theo, my adorable little doll that love.

Isn't he cute? So far, I've only made him that little sweater. I realized that the buttons are two different kinds of greens and I apologize, it will teach me to add finishing touches to things at 10 when the lights are dim and I can't see anything.

I will (eventually) make him a pair of pants and a t-shirt. For now, his top half is warm, so that's that.

He is 40 cm tall, blue eyes, bright red hair that is way too long but that I really don't want to trim.

There you go! That's the extent of what I've been working on.

Also, I thought I might add that this little guy was born under very good musical vibes. I said that I would post some music for you. I haven't done that yet, so here is a small list of the music that played while I spent hours threading hair onto a little plush doll's head.

Good Morning Sunshine, by Alex Day
It's Time, by Imagine Dragons
Radioactive, by Imagine Dragons
Love Is Easy, by McFly
One of Me, by Carrie Hope Fletcher
Some Coldplay but I can't remember what
A lot of Killers' songs

And many more that I can't remember, but those are always good.

Bye!

Fingerless Gloves Complete!

Hi!
I learned a valuable lesson while making these gloves, a truth about myself: I love fingerless gloves, but what gets me is the fact that I have to make two of them. I barely have enough focus to make one, but two? No way. Yet, here they are, my gloves that will serve the noble purpose of keeping me warm and still allowing me to change the song on my iPod.

These are made in 100% merino wool on size 4.5 needles. They're basically a stockinette tube with some ribbing along the edge. I made up the pattern as I went along. The color is darker than in the pictures and I'm really happy with the end result. You can't tell in these pictures, but the gloves reach up to my elbows and the reason I like them so much is that they aren't bulky, which means I can easily wear them under my sleeves.
That's one project complete, which is always wonderful when you're working on three at once. Next on the list: my mom wants the same ones for Christmas, except that she wants thumbs on hers and doesn't want them to be quite so long. So here we go again!