ExterminaKNIT

Remember the Christmas crafty post?

Well, I didn't finish all my gifts back in the Fall because I had friends who I wouldn't see for a while (SOME people left the country!) so I had extra time.  They're HUGE into Dr. Who. And you know what's easy to find?  Dr. Who knit patterns! (as if the internet isn't already full of non-knit Dr. Who items).

So when I came across this gem on Ravelry, I had to make it. The instructions are well written, but I highly recommend using the .pdf format and not the .txt. Since it starts with 114 cast on stitches (DANGER - LARGE KNIT TOY ALARM going off) I scraped the knitting idea and found an easier (and smaller!) crocheted Dalek pattern which was a better size.

It started out OK... but I stalled out on Round 9. Sigh.  It took another couple weeks of motivating myself into starting it again... luckily, that's when a snow storm hit! Hooray! Perfect excuse to not go outside and to craft =)

One of the many things I had to look up during this pattern was FPSC and this video helped a ton.  Short, sweet, to the point.  Not sure the purpose of that stitch in this pattern though. Maybe shaping purposes? The top part is where I used the FPSC stitch.

I now have a hand-puppet Dalek. EXTERMINATE!! RAAAAAA!

Once I got to the bobbles, I started making a mistake.  Not really sure how I did it, but I went from 60 stitches to 30.  Ugggggh!! I increased them during a gray round to get it up to 60 again, but it made an obvious mistake... I'm just going to pretend that Daleks are voluptuous and have curves now. OK? Ok. 

The boy tried to make me feel better about it... "Just stuff it really well up top, then smooth it out." Well, that was a good plan, and did help some, but I think if I just did the stupid pattern correctly, I would have been fine.

When comparing it to the patten it's not *that* bad or different. There wasn't great explaination on how to crochet over or around the bobbles... hence my random pinching in round and losing stitches.  I think.

But I prevailed! And found I don't like crocheting 4 stitches in a round. Ugh.  But the plunger looks OK, the arm isn't great.

Not entirely happy, but not mad either.

The eye entertain mes as well as the dome lights on the top.

The curves aren't too noticable now.

My biggest complaint is how freakin' big he turned out to be. And this was the small pattern!! Ugh. I'm discouraged, so I'm not making a second one for a while, but knowing me, I'm going to revisit this pattern and conquer it properly.  I tend to do multiples of a pattern... never one. Sigh.

Bailey was scared and hid by the couch. Shocking.

Domino wasn't too sure of this thing looking at her... so she got close.

Oh noooo! The Dalek EXTERMAKNITTED Domino!

Thoughts?  I'll most likely make another one in a few months... maybe it'll be red... =)

UPDATE: I made a red one! 

Pre-plungers, etc.  Not a bad shape this time around!

I'm not happy with how droopy his eye is still. The arm and plunger look good though.

Face on he's cute! The eye still annoys me.

The dome lights and gun are fun.

UGGH IT STILL DROOPS

Thoughts?

Cross Stitch Just Got Real

I have a lot of math inclined friends and family, so when I found this on Pinterest, I had to make it for their birthdays!  There wasn't a tutorial just an image, which made things harder.  I decided to show how I made this since there isn't one already.  Sidenote:  If you're into cross stitch and have a sense of humor, this website is for you. =)  They also have great tutorials and detailed "how to" images for cross stitch newbies such as myself.

If you don't know how to cross stitch, and I didn't prior to this project, I recommend watching several YouTube videos on the basics of cross stitch.  I like to think that all the yarn work and sewing I do has helped me get a better understanding on most stitching/yarn crafts.  But realistically, watching several videos was very helpful.

*Disclaimer: Realistically, I didn't make a pattern. I eyeballed an image of the original project on my monitor and wildly started stitching, hoping to be correct. Here's hoping you can navigate my "tutorial."

Materials I used

- 22 Count Aida Cloth from Michaels (15" x 18" - you'll have PLENTY left over - enough to make one or two more)

- Wood Hoop - 6"

- Embroidery thread and needle (I have a 45 Hand needle pack from Singer and used the needle with the largest eye to make life easier)

Once I put the cloth on the hoop, I trimmed it off to make life easier when messing with the thread.  After looking at images of trimmed cloth, I think I went too far. Oh well - the beauty of having a large piece allows me to make mistakes.  But then I remembered that my lovely hubby bought me an obscene amount of embroidery thread from an estate sale... and there was a smaller wooden loop inside!  I used the smaller loop to help me start the project to ensure it was centered.

The trick was starting the with bottom of the S and then ensuring that I kept along the same lines when making my stitches (no marking of the cloth necessary - but does require paying attention a lot).

It doesn't look like the font from the pattern.  But I'm OK with that.

I used the same color thread because why not? But if you're craving color, use whatever makes you happiest.  One of the main reasons the font doesn't match is because I didn't make the X that's traditional for cross stitch.  I just did \ marks and it looked really good! When I tried to do the X (note the minus symbol) it left spaces.  So I stuck with the diagonal stitch because it looked better.

I had fun with this one.  My t wasn't great, but the parentheses were... and they're harder.

The squared symbol isn't too great either... but this is still cute to me.

Once I finished the actual math equation, I put the original wooden hoop on it so I could add the explaination for the joke (so those of us not-so-math-inclined can giggle too!).

Not a fan of the crease in the cloth from using a smaller hoop. 

I used the website I mentioned earlier to figure out how to remove the crease... but it bugged me.

It looks like italics.

Instead of stitching "shit just got real" like in the original, I did "..." which I thought was funnier.

For the only part that required color, I asked the birthday boy specifically what color he loved.... and he said Cerulean.  Even in my big bag of thread, I didn't have that EXACT color, but I had something that was close enough to thr crayola crayon color he wanted. Then I decided to use a different border stitch, waves didn't make sense for him, but I thought this one was up his ally... and there were instructions.  Always a plus!

The border stich up close. The side is just zig zag, but the main border is the tutorial mentioned above.  However, I winged the corners (all by myself!). 

For the corners I started by making an L shape, then stitched twice at a 45 and once at 65 degree angle meeting at the corner of the L.

Domino, per usual, isn't impresesed.  Actually, quite jealous of me neglecting her for this.

And for the finishing touch was centering it in the frame.  This is when it would have been useful to leave extra cloth on the edges... and trimming it later. 

And initialing it would be smart. Oops.

All wrapped up and ready to go!

And then I made another one and actually did traditional cross stitch (X's for everything versus a slant /). I also measured and marked where the exact middle of the cloth then started with the h.  Parts definitely came out better, but I didn't want to do the same border.  Looking on Pinterest for a second time for cross stich borders yielded a better result  than the first time around (it also fueled by my new desiree to get better at this stuff).

Since this peron's favorite color is red, the thread I selected was a rich, dark red.  I then went for something simple... since the point of this isn't about the border, but is about the funniness that is this equation.  I used this as a rough guide, but I decided to only do the bottom. I counted 14 squares in from the wooden hoop on each side to make sure it was starting equally and marked the dead center for the fancy design.

I made the little design at the bottom... just went with it on the left then mimicked it on the right. No clue what I really did.

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

Dice Bags Tutorial

My wonderful counterpart decided to purchase an obscene amount of dice for his D&D group.  Well, once he ordered this huge box worth of dice, he wanted somewhere to store them (for him and his friends).  Since I was looking for something to do with Nina, I hopped on the opportunity for a New Year's project!

Pinterest wasn't really help with finding tutorials for drawstring bags for dice.  After some Googling, I found several good tutorials, which this one won as a guide, but I used grommets instead of the sewn seam with ribbon.  Considering how often these bags would be tugged on, etc., I wanted to make sure the drawstring part was sturdy.

I love that I didn't need to buy fabric for this since I had a dice pattern one from another project... although I ended up buying some grommets and thin faux leather string.

The blue fabric is actually a thicker fabric than the cotton dice one.

I cut 12"x5" strips for the bags then stitched the dice material right side together first.  Then I cut a 2.5"x2.5" square of batting to make the next step easier. I wanted to embroider each person's initials on the bag and even practiced it a couple times before doing it.  Considering I've never really done it before, I'm rather proud.

As usual, Domino isn't impressed with my embroidery work.  The L is the best, which doesn't surprise me at all.

Notice that I embroidered the letters first BEFORE I stitched the right sides together? Made life easier. After embroidering, I pulled the stitches through the back then stitched the fabric right sides together like I did for the dice fabric earlier.  After turning it inside out I then slipped the dice fabric inside, turned the tops down and pinned them together so I could stitch the seams together at the top.

Love how the stitching at the top ended up looking. 

See? Nice little bags.

Then came the grommets... again, a new thing for me.  We went to Michaels to buy them, but they're called eyelets there... not grommets.

And the "gun" or eyelet punch was crap. Paid $20 for a piece of equipment that didn't work properly (kept sticking and ripping larger than needed holes in the fabric).  We wasted 10-15 eyelets because the stupid clamp punch thing didn't close correctly and broke the eyelets. I had the boy do it since it required strength and it wasn't working right. He ended up gluing some of the eyelets in place so the bags wouldn't rip futher, etc. 

See the two different ways he did the eyelets? I liked the six spaced evenly so he continued with that. 

This is one of the best laying ones. 

Scrunched up nicely!

He glued caps that looked like locks on the ends. Looks good! 

Thoughts? I think we did a pretty good job! And as soon as I finished this I realized I didn't make him one (D'oh!) so I had to make his on another night.

I'm surprised at how easy the J was.

He wanted his to look different so I went with a brown and black speckles fabric I had. Looks nice with the orange!

Tis the season to get crafty, tra la la la la....

Thanksgiving is my favorite time of the year... but Christmas is a close second.  I really like giving people gifts and since I've become crafty I've enjoyed making things for people.  I started making the knit items almost a year in advance as I originally wanted to knit all my friends a scarf.

See? Beautiful green one sided and pink on the other scarf! Way too time consuming.

I eventually scraped that idea as it was too slow, boring, etc.  Eventually, it morphed into making toys that reminded me of certain friends.

I pulled out an older pattern to make for some friends.

As Christmas drew closer, and I ran out of time, I postponed giving people things until their birthdays, etc.  Lazy... I know.

First up - a couple friends of ours thoroughly enjoys Mario Bros and requested I crochet them a Goomba.  However, when they originally asked I didn't know how to crochet but since I acquired a while crochet hook kit back in September I've learned... and surprised them with one.  Again, I found a free pattern on Ravelry.com.  I had to look up a YouTube video on what a Magic Ring was, but that was worth it as it's a really cool skill for crochet.

When making the pattern, I ran into a little problem... I lost count when crocheting one of the feet. So he's a little... lopsided. But it still looks OK (I think) and I did better on the next ones.

Next ones you say? Well, after I made him I realized that some of our other friends would like them too.. so I made a mini army of Goombas...

AAAAHHH RUN AWAAAAAAAY!! I crocheted Domino an army!

Well, the Goombas weren't enough. I asked the hubby what other friends would like a crocheted gift and he asked if there was another Super Mario Bros pattern I could do.  Luckily, Ravelry is FULL of free patterns and I found the 1-Up Mushrooms... which I promptly made several for friends (and us).

They're super cute and easy to make. My phone camera turns the green a funny color.

So I made another one. I still need to work on my crochet skills... all my projects come out different sizes, ugh.

I didn't just crochet two mushrooms... I ended up making about seven of them - either red or green depending on the friend.  Carpal tunnel, anyone?

And once I was SICK of making mushrooms, I moved on to different friend... the one who likes penguins.  For some reason, I couldn't find a decent free pattern for knitting but I did find one in crochet. There were a couple techniques that I used on the star post but were rusty for those one, so YouTube helped with those but overall this was a taxing pattern.  I made some alterations (ex: didn't do the legs portion and didn't make 4 feet as two looked great on the bottom) and then the white part slip was weird.  It worked... but I stitched it on wrong and lost count at one part so it's... off. And I hate googley eyes on crocheted/knit toys so I just did black yarn.

I liked him even with all my changes. But I felt he was missing something...

....So I decided to crochet him a Santa Hat.  I didn't use a pattern for that - getting better!

But enough toys! Remember the Moebius Scarf I made? Well, I made another one for someone else for Christmas and then I made a tiny one for my bro in law since he likes math (I didn't think he'd wear a scarf). It's just small enough to be a desk ornament.

I tried to use the colors of the school. See how tiny it is? It was really hard to do on Size 3 circular needles with only 10in cables. Talk about painful.

But I think it looks pretty cool for a little desk topper. 

I didn't do a lot of sewing this year and I regret that.  Maybe I'll make a table runner next year for friends/family.  Or I'll do something with clay... or Baileys. Oh the choices!

Happy Holidays! I hope you enjoyed my review of patterns =)

Key Covers

As some of you may know, I recently changed jobs (YAY!).  Aside from being much happier, I have had a little bit of frustration... mostly dealing with the amount of keys I received.  They all look the same and I keep mixing them up when I need to use them. So I found this really cool fish key cover crochet pattern on Pinterest, but it was only a picture and not a pattern (hate that!!).  I did a Ravelry search and came across a few that worked and decided on this one.  I  purposely picked crochet as I need to work on those skills for other projects in the upcoming months I wish to do... =)

For a good video invisible decrease go here...

Here's the finished products!

Maybe I'll eventually figure out how to make it look like a fish. But I'm happy in the meantime.

Thoughts?

Guthrie Wall Hanging

For my Dad's birthday I wanted to do something really cool.  I kept coming back to my maiden name and the family crest idea.  Then I came across this cool tutorial for awesome borders... plus I just figured out how to do applique properly with my Bouncing Baby Boy project and the awesome tutorial I used. ANNNND... paper piecing has gotten easier! Hooray skills coming together. =)

I had to sketch it out first to figure out the size and colors as well as where and what to put everything.

This was used as a rough outline in the end.

Letters that I had to trace on backwards... not fun in this font.

Once I started doing the cut outs of the letters, etc., to applique I realized the original orientation wouldn't work.  Lucky for me, one of the scrap fabrics from the discount bin was the PERFECT size!

I was rather proud at this point... but this is only 1/3 of the way done for the project.

Then I appliued everything on.  The 'G' and the Lion were really hard but I like how they came out.

His tongue looks so cool.  

The circle isn't so... Circular... but I like how it came out. I used red letters for the latin phrase "Sto Pro Veritate" which means I stand for truth. 

The three tartan colors are primarily green with lines of red and blue, so the red latin phrase is outlined in blue thread. Also, the letters that small were hard to embroider. 

I had fun with this one. 

Finally... the hard part... I tried actually quilting some fancy swirls on the corners.  It's hard to see here, because it's wet from be scrubbing off the blue ink, but I used this image from Google.  It's the one that looks like a corner.

This is my first time doing machine quilting. I'm rather proud of how easy it was and how well it came out all things considered.

This side looks a little better... not as wet.

I've used this pre-set border before but I really like it. Although, I should have used one less time/thread consuming...

Finished product. Can't wait to give it to him in a couple weeks!

Thoughts? Suggestions?