Holy crap, two posts in one day? *is ded*

Lest my blog become solely a book review blog–not that there’s anything wrong with that, but once upon a time [before Twitter], I actually blogged several times a week!–here are a couple things I’ve knit and crocheted recently I’m sooo bad about taking pics and updating Flickr, but I’m trying to get better about that!

Genie the Ghost [Chicken] @ Ravelry
ok, Halloween is over, but I made this before Halloween–I wanted to make something cute, and I saw this Lion Brand pattern called Genie the Ghost, and thought it would be perfect. But after I crocheted and stuffed it, it ended up looking like this.

That’s supposed to be a ghost, not a chicken! I seriously think it looks like a chicken…I think it’s the arms, which maybe I overstuffed, so that they look more like wings, in my opinion. Also, the pointy head looks very chicken-like to me. I don’t know, but I still think it’s kind of cute, so I don’t want to frog him. I am, however, referring to him as Genie the Ghost / Ghost Chicken / Michelin Man, because he’s so awesome that he can’t be confined to just one name. That, and my amigurumi stuffing skills are questionable.

Also, it’s probably just me, but embroidering the eyes was a pain in the butt. I didn’t have any safety eyes, so I had to embroider them with yarn, and it took me way longer than it should have. I have since bought some safety eyes from Etsy, so future amigurumi should look better. Their eyes will, anyway.

Amanda Hat @ Ravelry
Here come the hats! I really love making them because they’re so small and provide instant gratification…they’re not long-term projects [that never get finished, ha] like lace shawls. This is the Amanda Hat, which I had made previously in Manos del Uruguay wool. However, my gauge was way off and the hat turned out huge, which is a rarity for me because I have a really, really large head. I still haven’t frogged the first attempt, but I figured I’d give the pattern another try, this time in Malabrigo Worsted. Success! It fits and it’s so soft and cozy. I went down a needle size (the pattern calls for US 9, I believe) in order to compensate for my gauge issues with this stitch pattern. I really like how this turned out.

Flyflap Cap @ Ravelry
This is the first earflap hat I’ve made for myself. It’s crochet, and therefore works up quickly–I think I made this is less than a day. My search for a pattern was prompted by M, who was watching Project Runway with me one day and saw one of the male designers (I can’t remember who) wearing a camouflage earflap hat. He asked if I could make him one, which I did (but still need to get a pic of). Then I made this for myself. I looked in my stash, and decided to use Plymouth Boku. It striped up nicely and has a rustic look and feel. The only modification I had to make was on the earflaps–originally, they were too close to the back of my head, so I eliminated one set of decreases and that fixed it. I have one ball left in stash, so I might make some matching mitts or something.

Pretty Puffs Slouchy Hat @ Ravelry
Another crochet item, I made one of these for kc’s birthday in September. I also made this one for me. It’s meant to be worn high on the head, but I think I might pull mine down and wear it as a normal hat. Either way, it’s a very cute pattern.

I actually used the same yarn called for in the pattern, Lion Brand Cashmere Blend. I’d had that yarn in my stash for years (since New Mexico), and I still have two balls left, so I’ll probably make a matching cowl or mitts. I really love this yarn–it’s so soft and smooth to work with. I wouldn’t mind making this again–I used a different yarn for kc’s (Berroco Pure Merino), and the pattern looks great in both yarns.

Lucy in the Sky Cardigan @ Ravelry
meh…this cardigan. I went into detail on my Ravelry page, but if a project is a hit or a miss, I think this one is a hit on looks but a miss on design and comfort. It fits me–and looks pretty nice–but it’s not very comfortable after I’ve worn it for a while. The yoke just sits weird on my shoulders, like it’s about to fall off. I like the sleeves, but I wish I had made the body longer. And I really hated that it was knit from the bottom up. I like top-down raglans way better after having knit this. What really frustrated me, though, was the way the pattern was written. At one point toward the end when I was on the yoke, the instructions made no sense to me and I had to search for threads on Ravelry for clarification. I found what I needed, but I think the pattern should have been easier to understand. I’m not a master knitter, but I’m not a beginner either, and the pattern had me so frustrated, I wanted to kick it. Anyway, I won’t be knitting this again and I don’t really enjoy wearing it, sadly. When I do wear it, it’s really warm, so that’s something nice about it, at least.

I’ve got more projects on the needles/hooks at the moment, as well as a few more FOs that I haven’t taken pics of yet. I’ll post those soon!

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 9:37 pm and is filed under Crochet, Knitting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.