Christmas Projects – Totoro Mittens and Moogle Doll

Christmas is fast approaching and I still have a lot of presents to make.  Nevertheless, I’ve completed a couple projects/presents over the last week and a half.  The first is a moogle doll which I gave to Sam and will give to a few others once I make the rest.  (No, I’m not going to spoil whom they are.)  The moogle was surprisingly difficult yet easy to make as odd as that sounds.  The pattern itself was simple, yet my lack of crocheting over the past couple years caught up to me as I had a difficult time readjusting again to crocheting.  Other than that, it was a very fun pattern to make.  (You can find more info on this pattern at Ravelry.com, search “moogle doll”.)

(Thank you Sam for the photo!)

The other project was a set of Totoro mittens for Katy.  The colors were her design as she knew about the gift ahead of time.  Overall, the mittens were very easy to knit even with the color changes.  I really love the pattern and want to make myself a pair soon since they are so cute!  (You can find more about this pattern on Ravelry.com, search “Totoro Mittens”.) 

(I only have pictures of the single glove, but will post more pictures as soon as I get more.)

Past and Current Knitting Projects

Over the course of the past few months I’ve been able to get quite a bit of knitting projects completed.  I fully completed two sweaters for myself as well as almost two pairs of legwarmers and almost two scarves.  In addition, I completed most of my mother’s sweater, almost a pair of legwarmers for my sister, and a few other miscellaneous Christmas presents.  I’ve been a rather productive knitter despite my lack of blogging.

I apologize in advance for the choppiness of this post.  I don’t really know where to start because of the long time gap and large amount of progress to update.  This post is going to be more of a very summed up list of the progress I’ve made in the last four months.

The first sweater I finished was a spring cardigan based off of the Gooseberry Cardigan by Hannah Fettig from Interweave Knits, Weekend 2009.  I’m rather happy with how the sweater turned out overall even though I wish the button band wasn’t quite as wide, an addition I made to the pattern. Nevertheless, it’s great sweater to keep out the chill in cute spring colors.  I might make a second sweater in fall colors with a couple cute additions if and when I find the right yarn and amount of time to do so. 

 

The second sweater I finished was a pink and black wide banded sweater with matching pink legwarmers.  The sweater’s base pattern was the Deep Textured Tunic by Melissa Wehrle while the legwarmers were a quick pattern I drafted.  I’m really happy with how these project turned out even though they needed a few fitting adjustments before completion. 

The elegant grey scarf was a quick project made from Emily Kausalik’s “A Noble Cowl” pattern on Ravelry.  I changed the pattern from a cowl to a scarf, but left the lace pattern intact.  Overall, it was an easy project though the lace gave me trouble a couple times.  I love the way it turned out though I wish I had used a larger needle size (a size 5 instead of 4) to get a fuller effect.  If I ever make this pattern again, I definitely shall. 

I also started a couple other projects that I have yet to finish due to the Christmas time crunch.  First was a pair of grey legwarmers from Katya Gorbacheva’s grey legwarmers pattern on Ravelry.  Originally, I put this project on hold due to lack of yarn, but I found another matching skein and will finish those after Christmas.  Second was a purple cable scarf from Matilda – A Winter Cable Scarf by Arianna Halshaw on Ravelry.  I love the pattern and can’t wait to wear the finished product. 

On the Christmas present side of things, I’ve been able to get a lot done as well.  My mom’s sweater is almost complete.  It took almost a year and a half of work and a lot of frustration and frogging, but it’s finally over.  Buttons just need to added and threads weaved in before being wrapped and put under the Christmas tree.  I used the Braided Riding Jacket by Coralie Meslin from the Inverweave Knits issue Winter 2009 as the base pattern, but changed the sleeve stitch due to a lack of patience with the original one.  The jacket sat in my I’ll-knit-it-later-if-I-ever-get-around-to-it pile for months due to my immense dislike of the original sleeve stitch.  Nevertheless, I’m very happy with how the jacket turned out and can’t wait to see it finished.

Finally, I’m nearly finished with my sister’s legwarmers.  I used the Abyss Legwarmers pattern by Kelly McClure for the base.  I am very happy with this pattern and projects and might make myself a pair as well.  The picture I have is old, but will do for now.

I have made some progress on a few more Christmas presents but will detail them in another post.  Thank you so much for reading.  Your support means a lot to me.

Adorable Knitting and Crocheting Finds

As I’ve been searching for simple, quick to make presents for Christmas this year I’ve ran across a few adorable yet equally geeky patterns for both crochet and knitting.

The first is a pair of knitted Totoro mittens with a Norwegian colorwork design.  Norwegian Totoro Mittens is the pattern name of Ravelry where you can find the pattern as a free download. 

Second is a crocheted moogle doll or amigurumi.  Moogle Doll is it’s pattern name and can be found on Ravelry and here.

Third is a pair of fingerless gloves based on Link’s gauntlets from Ocarina of Time and Super Smash Bro. Melee.  You can find the pattern as a free download on Ravelry under Link's Gauntlets.

Fourth is a wide variety of crocheted plushies from Mario to Sonic to Pokemon by WolfDreamer off the Hook.  Her designs can be found on Ravelry and her blog. 

Finally, you can lots more patterns and ideas at Ravelry.com’s search.  There’s literally something for everyone with patterns ranging from simple to advanced.  It’s a great place to find Christmas gift ideas. 

Farewell and happy knitting!  ^_^

Favored Knitting Techniques

As I’ve been knitting so much recently, I’ve discovered a few knitting techniques that I prefer above my previous knitting methods.  Each help make knitting more enjoyable, smoother, and go much faster.  Even though they are common techniques, I hope they will be helpful to you as well.

The first is circular knitting.  Circular knitting is helpful because it eliminates back and/or side seams and generally makes the knitting go faster as well as have a smoother appearance.   I’ve been using this technique for as many projects as I can depending on the type of needles I have handy. 

Circular knitting is a technique commonly used to make socks, legging, sweaters, purses, and hats as well as any other item that needs to have a 3-dimensional, often, circular shape.  It is accomplished by joining stitches in a round on either circular or double pointed knitting needles.  If you don’t know how to use this technique, I highly suggest you learn it.  Here is a really good tutorial on basic circular knitting.  Circular Knitting Tutorial

The second technique is what I call two-at-a-time knitting.  It’s somewhat hard to explain without pictures, but the basic premise is knitting two items of similar nature (like socks, leggings, sweater sleeves, cuffs, …) at the same time.  It’s commonly used for socks though I’ve been using it for just about anything I can since I can’t stand unsymmetricalness in my knitting.  Since there are many different methods to this technique, I won’t be going into detail about mechanics.  There are quite a few helpful tutorials online.  If you search “two at a time socks”, you’ll get the most and best results.  From there it’s just implementing the technique into other projects.  Here are a couple tutorials I’ve found helpful. 

That’s all folks.  I hope the techniques are able to help you in your knitting endeavors.  Have a blessed day and happy knitting! 

Christmas Knitting

As the Christmas season approaches, my list of presents increases.  It’s always a surprise to discover you have more people on your gift list than initially expected, especially when you are determined to make each of your gifts.  How quickly a month can turn from a calm a serine prospect to a bumbling busy one!  Nevertheless, this year promises to be a good one, and I’m rather excited to see how it closes. 

I Return

No, I am not dead.  I apologize for the long wait and neglect of my blog.  My computer’s been down since September due to a bad adaptor, and I never got around to updating manually because my schedule turned extremely busy and all my pictures and other blogging stuff were on my computer.  Nevertheless, I’m back and plan to fill you in on all that’s happened so expect a flood of posts in the next week or two, especially since the semester is coming to a close.