needle holders

Finally I can post about the awesomely crafty gifts I made for people this year. I am trying to group them a little bit but I don't want to just put everything up at once. So I am starting with 2 knitting needle holders I made.

The first is for my future Mother-in-law and it holds needles from about size 6 to size 15 I think. It is for 14 inch needles so it is pretty tall. I made it out of some beautiful leftover fabrics that I had and had been wanting to use with a nice lime green as the lining. I also used elastic and buttons as the closure...it is the same pattern I made up for my chopstick holder earlier this year, but I decided elastic would be easier to use than the ties. It came out really well :)

The second is one that I made for double pointed needles for my dad. He picked out his fabirc and told me the basic design that he wanted- two layers of pouches for 7 inch and 10 inch needles in case his collection ever gets that big. The orange fabric for the lining is actually a thick canvas fabric which makes it a little thick, but I think it works. He requested the ties instead of the elastic so I put leather cord on in keeping with the manly theme :-P Each time I make something like this I get better which is a good sign.

I guess that is it for round one....more to come!

wedding goodies part III

The countdown continues! This month, I would like to showcase the cute little knitted favor bags we (meaning myself, my father and my future mother-in-law) have been making for the wedding. There are 4 colors and 5 patterns and they are turning out really well. They are all pretty simple/basic patterns, but they look nice and using 5 patterns keeps it from getting too boring. They are 4"x6" before they are sewn up so they make nice little 3"x3" pouches to hold things. We are going to put ribbon through and tie them up with something inside for everyone and get little tags to thank everyone and such. Anyway, there isn't much else to say about them.

After the new year I will post some of the gifts I made this year. They are all sewn and I am quite proud of them.....even the ones that didn't turn out so well :-P

Things I Like

Sometimes, I am just such a slackerific blogger. Currently I attribute that to my ongoing projects of christmas gifts which still can't be posted for a few weeks and really, I don't have a lot of time for other, non-christmas related projects. One of the wedding projects that I have been working on will be posted next week, but other than that, I just wanted to write about a few projects that I have been considering making for myself at some point when I have time.

The first is a knitting project. A few weeks back I saw an adorable cardigan type sweater on the front of the Jo-Ann fabric ad and of couse had to search for the pattern. I found it here and although it looks pretty difficult, I might be inclined to tackle it. I think it is really cute and it is absolutely something I would wear. I have never really knit something quite that big or with that much shaping, but I figure I would have to start somewhere. I don't typically like the idea of making clothes, but if I was ever to make a sweater, it would probably be this or something fairly similar. I guess we'll see. I figure if I start this summer maybe it will be done by the time it is freezing out....or maybe the year after haha.

The other is a sewing project. I signed up for the website burdastyle which has some cute free patterns and I found this dress that I think would be a fun and fairly easy project that would look really good. I don't know exactly how I feel about such a high neckline, but it is cute enough that I think I might try it. I am a little hesitant about using jersey fabric since I know from my t-shirt blanket how much more difficult knits are to work with, but it could be worth it.