Long time! I'm still here!

    I have not blogged my last handful of crafting accomplishments, gosh! So slow! Most have been knitting and there's a couple of things I'm not ready to share yet (as they are gifts), but here's two items I am so happy about and proud of!

   I posted these photos to Flickr as well, if you want to follow me there. :P

   The first project, my knit bandana cowl, I started on the 17th and finished a couple days later, but that's just for this attempt. I attempted this same cowl three times until I realized I was reading the instructions wrong and that's why it kept coming out absolutely humongous.

   I am so in love with this cowl and wear it almost every time I go out! It doesn't help that I really don't have a collection of neck warming accessories, but I still just adore it. The pattern is Purl Bee's Bandana Cowl and the yarn is just some cheapo Simply Soft that I picked up at Walmart to use as props for my Christmas kitty portraits.

  

    Since I began knitting and crocheting, I have not been showing enough love to my first crafting obsession, sewing. But a couple days ago I started (and finished) a new pair of blue jeans. And I am so, so please! Not only are they the best I've made yet, but they were the fastest to work up as well!

    I think the reason these turned out so pleasant to make and lovely to wear is that these are the first pair of jeans I made a muslin for. All the rest I got the size closest to what I wanted from the pattern and worked them down to the size I wanted all on the finished piece. This time I found out exactly the size I wanted to be working with first before I even touched my denim fabric and I am so glad I did!

    This is still Butterick's B5682 pattern in boot cut, which is the only cut and only jean patterns I have tried so far, but I have plans to try out the skinny jeans cut from the same pattern soon. Maybe I'll work on the muslin today. ;)

    There's been a lot of improvement in my homemade jeans since my first pair, but still a few things I could improve. The only things I really messed up on this pair was the butt pockets not being spaced evenly apart and my waistband not being cut long enough, which resulted in some bunching when I sewed it on. I have some a problem with pants not properly holding in my butt-crack and underwear though (TMI? Sorry. :P) so it being a bit tight around the waist is not entirely a bad thing.

   Tomorrow or today I will be shipping out a couple of handmade items I made to participate in a Secret Valentine exchange, so once my recipient receives those you can expect a new blog post!

   Outside of crafting (but still inside my artsier endeavors) I have started taking self portraits again. In November I made it a goal to take one every day of the month. I didn't finish that goal because I ended up feeling very burned out, and it took two months to set up the tripod and load up EOS Utility again, but last week I took my first new one in a while.

   Then a couple days ago I took the ones shared above to show off my creations. Does it say something bad that the only thing I really take photos of anymore is myself? (Well, my cats too, but I don't really put a lot of thought into those shots.) I always veered more towards portraiture but I have been feeling pretty disconnected from people for a while now and that doesn't really fuel the spark I previously had for photographing others, and photography in general actually. I don't really consider any of it a bad thing, I'm pretty introverted and don't have that much of a social drive but it has made my photography a bit more boring. Anyways, that's all I have to share for now!

   I hope everyone is having a wonderful new year!

My Month in Instagram!

   Wow, this month flew by fast! And mine was great, I hope ya'll had a great beginning to the year as well. I spent a great deal of it knitting (mostly knitting gifts for a Secret Valentine that I am running out of time for! Oh no!

   But I finished my first knitting project, a pair of socks, then my second, then third, and I have a few works in progress as well.

   I am really, really looking forward to February, even though I currently have no plans for the month. Just hard not to look forward to it when this month so far has been so great!

   So here are some photos of my past month! Hope you like them! You can follow me on Instagram as well, it's linked in my sidebar.

Cunning Socks

      I am super thrilled! I finished my first ever knit project (not the first picked up, just the first finished. ;P), a pair of socks with the colour scheme from Jayne's hat. They took longer than I'd like to admit! The first sock(s) took about two weeks, I ended up pulling out all the stitches of the first one and starting over with a much better sock. Luckily, the second sock didn't even take two days. Hurray!

   They are certainly far from perfect, and you can see where I tied the previously cut (from before I ripped out the stitches) yarn on the first sock a bit, the second sock looks a lot better! Regardless, I love them so much and they are so toasty compared to all my other socks, none of which are knit.

   The pattern for these bad boys are from Knits for Nerds, mine are a size small and are a wee bit big on my feet (size 6, for anyone else cursed with ridiculously small feet), but not so much as to bother me, they are still very wearable! Just maybe not with the tightest of combat boots. ;P

   Has anyone else reading this knit this pattern? I'd love to hear your thoughts! I know I love mine and I've never been more proud of a pair of socks in my life, haha. :) Enjoy!

W.I.P 1/1/2014

     Happy new year! I have a lot of things to look forward to this new year (especially since they are short term. I am terrible at long term plans!), among them being my current works in progress!

      I forgot to add one of those items in the photo above. :( And have no other photos of it yet, but it's not a big deal since it's only a muslin for a pair of boot cut jeans. I am an odd size for clothing in general, mostly so for jeans. I've made a few pairs of jeans so far but none of them fit perfect, so I decided to make a muslin this time to help make that perfect fit as well as to use for a pattern for future jeans. To be fair though, I have literally never had a perfect (or even super great) fitting pair of jeans in my adult life. Store sizing sucks and I'm still learning my way around making them myself.
      I think that's enough of a rant about jeans! More about the items I didn't forget to photograph!!

      I went to Barnes and Nobles in late November and say this 'Knits for Nerds' book. The Firefly themed projects made me want to learn to knit! I had already wanted to a bit because crocheting just doesn't make the style of socks and sweaters I like, it would seem, but this really cemented it for me. I didn't buy the book - yet - but I bought a 'Learn To Knit' kit for ten bucks, which included needles, yarn, and a kind of useless book. But the point is I decided to learn to knit partially due to this book, and I finally started on my first project from it!

 

     My first pair of socks! More specifically, Cunning Socks. I started these socks earlier this week, I had them listed as projects I wanted to finish in December, but this is the only I started on. I love them so far! I am changing them a little to make them slouchy (just added a couple more stripes on the leg), and I may have to buy more yarn. 

     Before I started the socks I started crocheting a bobbly polka dot scarf. I'm terrible at setting down projects to start new ones. But I'm gonna pick it back up soon because I'm really excited to finish it and I think it will be really cute. It's inspired by this pattern from Mollie Makes, however I didn't really want the pattern they had, I just wanted dots. Less seasonal, more "anytime it's cold enough for a scarf." I love the fur yarn, I bought a different brand than suggesting from Michael's, which was $5 for a skein of about the same yardage instead of $25ish. Much more affordable and it's so nice!

     This next project I started last night, for the second time. I finished it once and ended up pulling out the stitches because it was far too large. I switched to a thinner yarn. I'm pretty excited for this one to finish! It's a relatively fast project, wish it was already done though. Here is the pattern, it's super cute!

     The last item is not much to mention, I received a big set of knitting needles for Christmas and I need a bigger case, so I'm making one. Boring, right? ;P

    Well, that's what I'm looking forward to so far in this New Year. What do you think? Any favourites? What patterns are you excited to conquer this year?

December Projects!

   Wow, I have not blogged in a while! Life was catching up to me for a while there, but I'm back ahead of it. Last month I dedicated a lot of my free time to practicing my banjo and doing a self portrait project (which I did not finish), and not a lot of time making things. This month I want to change that up though.

   I have recently started to learn to knit. I am really new to this and haven't even made anything yet! I bought a 'learn to knit kit' from Barnes and Nobles on impulse, and I decided this will be a great new hobby! My sweetheart got me One Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit or Crochet on Black Friday, since Hasting's had a "five used books for twenty dollars" sale.

   I also ordered some books off Amazon. None have arrived yet but there was a 30% off books sale that I just couldn't pass up! I am awaiting The Ohio Knitting Mills Knitting Book, Knits for Nerds (totally looking forward to the Firefly themed projects here!), Getting Started Knitting Socks, and Woodland Knits!

   This month I decided a couple of my goals to be to begin and finish (at least) one crochet, knitting, and sewing project each. I need to get back to making things! I feel at my best when I've accomplished making something beautiful. :)

   Here's the three projects I've got planned. I may decide on something else later, but for now I look forward to these:

   The Larissa moto jacket pattern from Burdastyle.com, which I want to make in denim! :D

   These cunning Jayne Cobb style socks from Knits for Nerds!

   And this triangle fringe scarf from Crochet Boutique!


   Well, that's all I have to share for now! I just wanted to peek in and say, "I'm still here!!" and share this month's upcoming projects with ya'll. Which one is your favourite?

   Have a craft day. ;P