Reflections: A Look at 2011

I'm logging off for the holidays, but I'm leaving you with a little reflections post. Reflections posts are totally in right now, in case you hadn't noticed. After the New Year, I'll be doing a goals-for-the-year post, which I'm sure will also be super original. :)

(a photo of the paper snowflakes I cut out to grace the cube wall above my computer monitors)

The first thing here is one I didn't blog about, at the very beginning of my blogging adventure. I didn't blog about it because, as cute as it is, it looks really awkward on. This is the sleep mask from Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray. I love the ruffles (my little adaptation of the pattern), and the eyes are super cool, but they ended up being a little too high and a little too close together. Also, while cute in theory, it's a little creepy in practice. The next sleep mask I make will not have eyes embroidered on it.

In September, I finished my first dress (since my epic fail for Halloween several years ago. I'll blog about that another time). It's made out of a sheet, and I love it. I can't wait for warm weather so I can wear it again!

In the end of September/beginning of October, I participated in Casey's Circle Skirt Sewalong. I really need to get on the whole adding-pleats-and-evening-out-the-hem thing, but I'm pretty happy with it.

November brought my first Colette pattern, the Ginger. I love this pattern, and this fabric, and I plan on sewing up another Colette pattern as soon as possible.

November also means the beginning of handmade Christmas gifts, and I made this infinity scarf for my sister. I ended up taking it back from her and lengthening it, so it's a slightly longer loop and she no longer feels like it's choking her. :)

Finally, in December I made the "Tied with a Bow" pouch for my best friend. I gave it to her the other day, and she loved it so much that she showed it off to our server and bragged about how awesome I am. *grinning* I think that's the kind of reaction that every crafter/sewer hopes for from someone they craft for.

I'll be back in 2012. Have a good holiday!

"Tied with a Bow" Pouch - Completed!

I finished the little clutch for my friend's Christmas gift. It turned out so cute!

I love the bright color of the zipper with the fabric. It's a little brighter than anything in the fabric, but in my opninion, it looks great.

Here's the inside of the clutch. I added some pockets for phone or chapstick (she's a lip gloss/chapstick addict).

If you want to make one for yourself, the tutorial is from Mommy by Day...Crafter by Night (I talked about it in the post linked to at the top of this post), and it's super, super easy, even if you want to change the size and have to do a little math. :)

Paper Snowflakes - The Perfect Winter Wedding Decor

One of my coworkers got married on Friday morning. Since it's her second marriage and she's old enough that they've both acquired all the home goods they'll need, she didn't have a bridal shower, but we all wanted to do something for her anyway. We pooled some cash for a gift card, got her a card, and someone suggested decorating her cubicle. I decided to take that on, and for her winter wedding, I suggested that we all make snowflakes and a bunting.

I taught everyone how to make six-pointed snowflakes, and we made everything out of computer paper and strung it up on floss (the only string we could get at the CVS downtown).

They turned out beautifully, and everyone had so much fun making them.

(top left is one of mine)

(mine is the middle one)

(I made the tiny middle one... I like little snowflakes!)

Paper snowflakes would make great decorations for a winter wedding reception too. They're easy, fast, cheap, and fun to make, and if you iron them out to make them flat (setting your iron on low with no steam, of course), they'll look professional (as they were, my coworker thought we bought them somewhere!). I like six-pointed ones because they're scientifically accurate and I'm a huge, huge nerd. :) But you could make othernumber-pointed ones too. I'm sure there are tutorials around online!

Another Gift in the Works

Last year, I bought fabric to make a little clutch for my best friend for Christmas. I never did anything with the stuff, and I feel like a terrible friend, even though she doesn't know that I slacked off because it's not like you tell your friend, "I was going to make you this adorable little clutch, but I'm a huge procrastinator and didn't even cut the fabric, so here's a consolation gift." :)

Anyway, this year, I'm making her a clutch out of those fabrics (the multi-colored fabric for the outside and the brown and turquoise fabric for the lining). I bought a zipper to match, and I dug through my inheritance from my grandma to find perfectly matching thread too (have I ever mentioned that I inherited my grandma's old sewing supplies? I'll have to post about them at some point.).

I'm using the adorable "Tied with a Bow" Pouch Tutorial by Mommy by Day... Crafter by Night. It's so easy, and so cute!

But I'm changing the pouch up a bit. Instead of making it 9" tall by 7" wide, I'm making it 5 1/2" tall by 9" wide. It'll look more like this: 

Infinity Scarf - Completed!

I finished my sister's scarf! I talked about it in a post a couple weeks ago. I ran out of yarn when I was about three inches from the end, so I had to go out and get more of this expensive stuff, but it was worth it. It's beautiful. I looked up how to join seams together online, twisted the scarf so it would be a twisted loop, then joined the ends. Can you see the join? It's almost invisible on the right side, and it looks so clean on the wrong side. Love.

She'll be able to wear it just tossed over her head if she wants, or she can twist it around twice and wear it in what looks like a very complicated knot around her neck. I didn't get a photo of it long (well, I did, but Blogger and Picnik aren't playing well together, and it will only publish sideways, so I'm sorry, but you'll just have to imagine the beautiful long knit loop. When it's on, the bottom hits at about my belly button). Since it's a gift that hasn't been given, I can't really take a picture of it on my sister yet, so here's a photo of it on me.

 

I kind of want to keep it.

And a close-up. Can you see that I alternated knit and purl stitches in the same row? It makes it so that the scarf is super stretchy and twice as thick, another thing that I love about it.

 

Do I really have to give this one away? I suppose I do. It'll keep my little California sister warm in this cold Michigan winter. That's love, people.

Knitting, or Gifts for Other People

I didn't get my invisible zipper foot, but when I got home from work on Monday, there was a happy little package waiting for me.

They're US size 17 (12mm) knitting needles! Did I mentione that I knit too?

I knitted myself a scarf last year, and my little sister started bugging me about it. "When are you going to make me a scarf, Abby?" She's turning 25 next month. :) She was still bugging me about the scarf when I saw her last week, but she has no idea that I've actually started it and intend it to be her Christmas gift. I went to a cute little specialty store downtown and bought the most luxurious merino wool I could find. It's beautiful to work with and so soft, and the colors are gorgeous too. It's every shade of gray you could imagine seeing in the winter, from the pale color of snow on a moonlit midnight to dusky blue, deep purple, and the ash of a cold fire (when I was in high school, I thought I was a poet). The yarn suggested size 13-17 needles, so I thought 15 would be good, but once I started, I realized I wanted it to be a little chunkier than it was. And none of the stores around here sell bigger needles! Argh!

Etsy to the rescue! I started knitting the scarf on Monday night as soon as I opened the package, and yesterday afternoon, I had a decent bit done. The lighting in my office is surprisingly really good. It might have something to do with the giant windows right behind my desk. Maybe. :) Even this lighting can't do these colors justice, though. Anyway, I'm knitting this by alternating one knit stitch and one purl stitch. It looks exactly the same on both sides and it's also extra thick and plush, because the purls get pulled back, which makes it almost double layered. I'm also going to join the ends together to make it into an infinity scarf. Uber-chic, you know?

Just so you have an idea of exactly how large these needles are, they're about as thick as my forefinger. Craziness!