Eco Friendly Shrug

I like wearing shirts with longer sleeves than usual. Thus, we must find a knitted solution. I went through just about every shrug pattern out there to find one I liked. Soon enough, I figured out that I would have to find one that kind of worked, and figure out how they're made, then make my own pattern. This is the result: I found a pattern that worked pretty well. Go figure, the pattern, like my sense of fashion, is 50 years old: I found the picture and the pattern at www.freevintageknitting.com.
When I went looking for what yarn I was going to use to make it, I came across the Caron Simply Soft Eco in Black. This yarn is soft, mostly acrylic, and is 20% made from recycled plastic bottles! I'm wearing plastic bottles! Now the more I recycle plastic bottles, the more recycled yarn I'll get - its a win-win. Now onto designing my own; I already have it in my head, just need to find the time to make it.

Market bag

I like using the eco-friendly market bag I made a while back and wanted to make another, so I found a new pattern on Knitty, and starting going. The pattern called for hemp yarn, but I didn't want to spend the extra money, so I went with cotton again this time. Wal-mart stopped carrying the Lily n' Cream cotton yarn, so I went with "Peaches n' Cream" (why is there always the abbreviation of "n" in cotton yarn names?). I thought the most appropriate color would be "earthtone." Because the cotton yarn was a bit different in gauge than the hemp, I changed the needle sizes around a bit. I started the cast-on and knitted the bottom using size 8's, and upped it to size 9's to do the netting. The initial cast on was 44 sts, picked up 14 on the sides and ended up with a total of 118.

When I finished, I used a piece of ribbon, just like the pattern told me to and started to use the bag. I started to make one for my friend, Louann. For her bag, I used Lily n' Cream in Taupe Twist, just like she requesteI decided that I wouldn't use the ribbon because of the way it pulled on the bag and the tenuous way you have to sew it on, so I knitted into the side of each and created two straps. Hopefully this will work better, we'll see when Louann gets the bag in the mail!

Sea Shells

I have apparently abandoned knitting for the time being and have gone back into cross stitch. I originally bought this one in Michigan because I was lonely for the Ocean. I also tend to like the Dimensions patterns because they work well with blending and shading. This pattern has "blending filament" in it, which is basically shiny opal floss. Its hard to tell from the picture, but it sure is pretty in the sunlight. I havne't been able to find a suitable frame yet, and will probably pack this one away until I get a place of my own. Sorry for the poor quality of the picture, perhaps it will improve when put into a frame, and actually iron it.

Here's the pattern I used:

Travel Memories Cross Stitch

I must be going through a butterfly phase lately. I just finished this one, and the latest one I bought is a butterfly. This one had a lot of shading as well, something Dimensions does pretty well. It was a lot of blended colors and half cross stitch, and even some gold, but I bought this one for the travel motif. I, of course, love to travel and would love to go to Europe someday soon. Plus, who doesn't like sepia-tone postcards and fancy pens? Apparently my Mom, because she says it needs more color.

If you are a fellow fan of sepia-tone, this is the kit I used:

Butterfly Cross Stitch

When I saw this one in the store, I knew I had to do it. The way the colors blend in the butterfly just struck me, its so seamless. I finished it in High School, and when I was done, my Dad liked it so much, he wanted to put it up in his room, and of course I assented (where was I going to put it? I was amassing quite a collection, besides, its nice to have your work displayed where someone will appreciate it.) He bought me another one to do for myself, but its at the bottom of a big pile of kits I still have to do, and in the meantime, I'll admire the one I already did. I bought another one that's needlepoint with brilliant greens that I can't wait to do. If you admire this one, and want one for yourself, here's a good price on it:

Birdhouses cross stitch

In case you couldn't tell, I like to do cross-stitches that have specific little parts that I can finish one at a time. In the cups, I could do and finish each cup, this one I could finish a birdhouse at a time. I'm getting more into doing the one color at a time and letting the picture slowly develop, but I finished all these in high school. Right now its in my Mom's room, she really loves gardening stuff, and it fits into her room (you can see she's got a little fake bird sitting on it).

Cups Cross stitch

Quite an odd shaped project, and this one was my first of this size. Its always hard to pick my favorite cup out, and it changes all the time. That's why I make other people pick their favorites when they see it. Any takers?





This one is probably my favorite..or maybe the green one in the middle....its so hard to choose:

Bookmark cross-stitch

I read a lot and always lose my bookmarks. I saw this in the store and thought I'd never lose something I put so much work into. So far it's worked. I chose my own colors from the stash that I already have, and it turned out remarkably well.

Here's the "kit" that I used, and this price is better than what I paid for it:

Fishy towel

I know you've been dying to know why there are so many cross-stitch and embroidery projects on what I've labeled my knitting blog, but here's the answer! I ran into a friend, Susan, at a local Mexican food restaurant in town, and we decided to get together. Several years ago, I had gotten her a small cross-stitch kit because she wanted to learn. Three years, later, she's still working on it, and she likes to have stitch n' bitches, so I got out some of my old kits and am going through finishing them in the evenings (no more homework with the internship!). She and I had an evening out - that's where we go out and get something to eat, then spend some time walking around the cross-stitch section of the local craft store. While we were there, she found several kits that i pressured her into buying, while I didn't find anything, until I saw the fishies. I thought they were so cute, so I begrudgingly bought a new one (with the boxes of the ones at home, eek!). I changed some of the colors ; like the coral fish was supposed to be red, but it seems I think I have better taste than the designer, but it looks better, so i guess I do. It only took me about a week to finish, and now i'm nearly done with the next one. Time for Susan to catch up!

Paisley Embroidered Pillowcase

Here's another project that I started a few months ago, put away when finals and everything came around, and am now just getting around to finishing. So I've only done the one pillowcase, but I'll get to the second - its on my list. Until then, I have plenty of half-finished projects to get to. I love paisley and polka-dots and loved doing this one. I changed the colors from the suggested ones to make it match my comforter. I tried a cording-type stitch instead of regular backstitching and it turned out really well. With projects that are on regular cloth, the cording really works.