head on over

Just noticed that I never posted about switching over to wordpress. This was a while ago.

Here's where I'm blogging these days: http://messmor.wordpress.com/

Not so much crafting but that also has to do with what I have time for. Mostly food related but these days I've added gardening to my ever-growing list of things to distract me.

Excuse the delay...

so here's what i'm thinking

The plan now is to come out of hibernation.

I'd like to finish my Hexacomb Cardigan and make some more progress on the embroidery front. There are a couple of hats on my list of things to get done. There are also some projects I'd like to give a go.

I was in Canada for 3 weeks at the end of May/beginning of June. Needless to say, I came back with an assortment of goodies, including a couple balls of cotton sock yarn. In bright green too!

Another plan is to also revamp and organize the blog.

here's a quick update

It has been a while. Last entry was written in March. Much has happened in the last 3-4 months.

First thing... I got hitched! Fredrik & I tied the knot a day after my 26th birthday. The date was the earliest available at the courthouse and worked for us.

Fredrik left on a 7 week tour about a week afterwards.

So I kept myself busy with school and work.

There's been a few small projects. Mostly involving embroidery.

It started with a card for Fredrik. Then it evolved into thank you cards for Fredrik's family who came to our wedding.

Then I expanded on to pins...

I made a series of pin sets. More cards. If you're interested, they're available at my Etsy store (http://deathbydesign.etsy.com).

something i've always wanted to try

I watched an episode of Martha Stewart Living years ago about shadow boxes and I've always wanted to make at least one. Well I decided that I would make Fredrik a shadow box, a gift (for the wedding?).
Making a shadow box lead to making felted finger puppets. I worked into the night, picked up this morning and finished shortly before noon.

Here it is...

hair sticks & my first instructable

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make_your_own_hair_sticks/

I wanted some nice hair sticks for the wedding (did I mention I'm getting married next week?). Since I couldn't find any I liked, I did what any crafter would do. I made my own.

M.I.A.

I know I've been M.I.A. but I have very good reasons to be missing for so long.

1. School started.
2. I got a part time job working at Taylors and Jones.
3. Denise was here last week for a visit and Close-Up Båten.

I have been a mess as of late and frankly I need to get myself organized again so I won't end up with another D in school. I'm already behind on 2 assignments. :(

So far the only thing I've had a chance to do is pull out my hexacomb cardigan. Remember that? Yes, I have yet to finish it. Maybe I can finish it this year. We'll see.

I promise that I will blog about whatever creativity that strikes me as soon as I have the time for it.

Until then, wish me luck!

photo: Kristin Goedert

I was just browsing through Knitty's patterns for winter 2008 and saw these. They are just too adorable. It's a shame that I'm sensitive to wool, otherwise I'd be making them PRONTO.

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter08/PATToomingmacks.php

more calendars

I was itching for my paints for the whole time I was in Germany.

Denise suggested that I sell my calendars. I might depending on how long my painting craving lasts. Noel already wants a calendar.

Here's the art from the second calendar (I painted on proper watercolour paper this time.):

let us continue

I seriously hate the post editor Blogger has. It's a damn pain in the ass trying to arrange photos. I was tempted to throw my laptop across the room trying to arrange the pictures in the previous post.

Anyways.

I have the last 6 months painted but the pictures are still on my camera and I don't have the cable with me at the present moment.

I actually decided to paint a calendar for my mom. This time using proper water colour paper. It was a bit thick to make a booklet like thing for the calendar bit so I'm gluing the paintings on a calendar booklet made out of regular printer paper. I've finished the paintings from January to August.

been busy but now there is time

With school and Yule, it's been a busy month.

I finally got some time and some will to do something creative. I've been painting like a mad man in the last couple of days. Fredrik was in Germany and I was feeling especially anti social.

This attempt to do some painting didn't get Ull's attention like last time. He tried to eat my brush, drink the brush water and lick the water colour blocks. Guess having Milo around distracted him from what I might be up to.

Anyways.

I saw this really nice and cute calendar by a Swedish artist, Sara Elgeholm at the sci-fi book store in Gamla Stan. I wanted to buy it but then I thought, why not make my own.

So I pulled out my water colours and folded some A4 paper to assemble my own calendar.

Obviously it was not the greatest idea to use water colour on regular paper.

Here are the first 6 months:

OMG

It's finally finished. The Good Stripe Dress is finally completed. I started knitting it in June.

All the loose ends have been woven in; it's been washed and blocked. Now I just have send it off to my cousin.

I was ready to tear my hair out towards the end.


front


back

gosh darn it!

I'll finish this dress even if it kills me!!
The past month has been a bit hectic and a total mood dive bomb. I haven't wanted to do anything creative. But the obligation of getting this dress done before Natalie gets too big for it is making me knit. It's not a entirely bad thing.
I'm on the last stripe of colour. Just 23 rounds left. Then there's the colour and armhole bits.

not all is lost

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention in my earlier post that I did accomplish something while I was in Canada. I finished my cat quilt. It's currently keeping Ull cozy while he sleeps.

lazy lazy lazy

I know I'm supposed to have things done during my time in Canada but it was just not happening. There were so many people to see and so many things to do.

My hexacomb cardigan is back in hibernation.

The priority at the present moment is the good stripe dress for my cousin. She will grow and I not so much.

I tried out what I had accomplished on her when I saw her in Canada. Fits quite nicely. I tried it on her over her clothes, so she should be able to wear it at least over next summer.

After having my mom take a look at it, she suggested that I didn't make it as long as suggested in the pattern. My cousin is not a particularly tall girl and it looks better not too long.

I've started school again so I've been knitting while I commute, provided that I don't pass out from waking up so early to catch the train.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to finish it before the end of the month but like always, there are no guarentees.

out of hibernation

I've taken the time to wind the second skein of black yarn needed for the cardigan. I will resume knitting as soon as I'm ready to take a break from the dress. I'll probably be continuing in Canada. It'll be perfect because I'll have my mom around to help me with any issues I might have with the finishing.

let there be flare!

I managed to make it past the 23 rounds of 220 stitches. Now I'm on to 23 rounds of 276 stitches. That's only the beginning of the flare! But it's all worth it. It's looking pretty good. I think I might be able to finish it by the end of the month. I know that I'll have plenty of idle time in my journey back to Canada. So I'll be knitting away like a granny expecting quintuplets for grandchildren.

practice makes perfect

Since I've got 18 rounds of just straight forward knit, I've been practising my continental knitting. At first I had a bit of a cramp in my left hand but after reviewing some instructional videos and reconfiguring what I'm doing, I seem to be doing ok. I'm obviously not knitting as quickly but I'm sure that with practice, I'll be able to knit equally fast using both hands.

164 x 26

The problem with knitting something big and grand is that there are a lot of mundane parts. As exciting as even a cable may be or a colour way, it does get super boring after a while. I would take a break from the knitting but I don't want to get so distracted that I don't end up going back to the project. Maybe I'll wind up the new skein for the Hexacomb cardigan.

Speaking of winding yarn, I was thinking about getting myself a yarn winder. Buying a yarn winder would also mean I would need a swift. The combination purchase of the two does total to almost $100. Then I start wondering if I wind enough yarn to justify such a purchase. This might be gloating but I do wind a mighty good yarn by hand. I guess if I ever plan to knit myself a dress and need to wind a butt load of yarn, I'll reconsider the idea of a yarn winder and swift.

164 stitches

I'm not even close to the end of the dress. I just wanted to point out that 164 stitches in a round is a lot of stitches. It may not be a lot for those of you who are more experienced with knitting but since my previous experiences only included only small items, this is a lot. I'll be making my way towards 500 stitches! That's right, the last round is a whopping 500 stitches!

At the moment I'm at the waist, soon I'll start the flare of the dress. I also found the 3rd colour for the armhole trim, placket and 1 magical stripe on the dress. It's this nice burgundy colour that compliments the other colours perfectly.

finally some time

Today was the last day at the day care. For the next couple of weeks, I plan on taking it easy. I currently have no work and no school.

The dress for Natalie is coming along quite nicely. I've just finished the first bit of contrast colour. It's a fairly fine yarn so progress is slow. I've also been careful to not knit too maniacally. Taking breaks for playing with Ull and doing other things. But I am a bit sore on my right side. I'm going to start practising yoga regularly again and hopefully that will relieve some stress.

Here are a couple progress pics for the dress.






I'm also finished the body portion of the Hexacomb Cardigan. I've started on the first sleeve but I need to wind the new skein.





All that's left from the first skein.