Finished!

This is it, all folded up so you can see the cute edging!

The front!

A close up of some of the front!

And the back, with lovely yellow fabric donated by Princess Kate (who also has the world's best iron!)

\As everyone knows, it's a bit of a miracle when I finish a project. My modus operandi is normally to get somewhere less than half-way through then put in cupboard and ignore for 10+ years.





This time, however, I have no only started and finished a project in exactly two weeks (with many thanks for excellent assistance/advice from Princessi Eleri and Kate) but I have finished it *before* the birth of the baby it's meant for. First time ever.





Luckily, the baby won't be able to tell (at least not initially) that I can't sew a straight line to save my life (at least not with bloody enormous thick wadding in the middle) that I swore my head off and threw things because (a) I broke FOUR needles, (b) the red cotton ran out with two seams left to sew, (c) the spool ran out with one seam left to sew, (d) my stupid sewing machine keeps unthreading itself mid-seam and (e) other random badness.





I stitched the back of the edging by hand yesterday while watching eleventy-three episodes of Battlestar Galactica.

And next time, I am (a) using much, much thinner wadding and/or (b) getting someone to quilt it professionally, like Princess Kate so sensibly does.

On another note, I'd really like to do this to my couch!

Stitching at the House on the Hill

Right, no extra-fancy formatting this time! (stoopid formatting - gah!)

Stitchery was held at my place last week, and we were a full contingent bar Princess Eleri, who was sadly missed :( Hopefully she will be in attendance next week.

For the regal supper we consumed quiche, pasta salad, and pasta-salad-minus-the-pasta for the non-wheaten-types. Princess Rosie provided a bottle of wine at Prince Brian's insistence (we don't mind, thanks Prince Brian!), and at Princess Viv's request, Princess Kate had baked a Lumberjack cake for dessert. It was served with fresh ripe yummy strawberries.

Prince Bron arrived home unexpectedly early from choir rehearsal, and the well trained lad proceeded to make hot drinks for us all. Much hilarity ensued when he asked Princess Rebecca "And how do you like your chai?"...

We're all going well on our projects:

Honorary Feline Princess Lillian finished pinning her quilt sandwich together and decided that it was time to curl up and relax for the rest of the evening.

I think it passed the comfort test :)

Princess Bek started reading the Quilting Bible to decide how to proceed with the cat cot quilt she's making for her colleague's soon-to-arrive baby. It's made donated from scraps, including cat hair generously donated by HFP Lill.

Princessi 2Cs and Rosie worked hard on their knitting projects: Princess Rosie has very nearly finished the simian jumper with the extra-long sleeves and a (metric) bazillion stitches per row. It is so heavy and warm!

Princess 2Cs was knitting a wrap from snuggly soft warm wool. It starts at a point at the back and then separates into two parts to go over the shoulders.

Princess Emily continued working on her sheepie quilt - I don't think this square is a zombie though! Princess Jocelyn supervised ;)

Princess Alana industriously worked away at her jumper for Prince Ed. The back is complete and she is now about half-way through the front. Yay! It should be ready for next winter at this rate!

Poor Princess Viv the injured sat enthroned in the arm chair and continued knitting her jumper. It's for herself! A lovely soft and thick wool, great for getting through faster. She's also finished the back and is a good way through the front - ready to wear next winter as well.

Princess Kate decided that using her sewing machine was way too noisy for the number of people in her cosy lounge room, so kept working on her knitting instead. Her yarn was coming close to running out, so she started on the ribbing - but then did as much ribbing as was needed and still had plenty of yarn left. So after the Princessi had departed that night, she pulled out all the ribbing she'd knitted that evening and continued knitting the sock in the pattern.

This afternoon I finished the socks!! I completed the ribbing with what yarn I had left (with about 6cm of yarn left after casting off - perfect!), and when I compared it to the first sock, I saw that the second sock is only about three rows shorter.


Everyone, make sure you're seated...

I'm leaving it like that, with one sock three rows longer than the other. Shocking, I know :P

Glittens!

It's about time I posted photos of my finished glittens here.

This first pair is the first pair I was knitting, where I tried to match the wool and failed. The glitten on the right is the one I started with - note its gentle mottled colours? The second one on the left is the wool that I had to buy - it's got a much more stripy effect (not as nice), so the gloves really don't match. My sister-in-law's partner, Nick, loved them however, so he scored himself a nice new pair of glittens. Glad they went to a home that appreciates them!

The front, with flaps off,

and the back with the flaps over the fingers and thumb.

Here are the other two pairs I made this winter: the blue pair for my brother for his birthday, while the green pair was for Dad for Fathers' Day.

Front and back, flaps on and off. I liked these wooden buttons better than the ones I used for Nick's - darker colour, and the holes are larger so were much easier to sew on.

I hope the button loops don't get in the way!

CWA, anyone?

There's an article in today's Age about young people and crafty groups: A Stitch through Time.

I'm going to catch up on a few posts that I'm behind on, promise :) Hope you're all having a lovely weekend in the beautiful weather.

All amigurumi great and small

I made a couple of more amigurumis last weekend for Ed's cousin's new little bub Thomas so I thought it would be a good time to display a collection of my amigurumis to date. Here is the duck that I made for Thomas. The pattern was for an egg cosy but I just continued the pattern to close it up at the base and stuffed him to fill him out.

Here is the bunny along with the ducky I made for Thomas.

Here is the monkey that I made ages ago. I added a tail to the pattern as what monkey is complete without a tail? I got the tail to sit up using a pipecleaner. Unfortunately this cannot be seen in the pic I chose.

And here is the owl I made from Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet by Ana Paula Rimoli. All her patterns a way cute!

And here are all the amigurumis living in harmony on my couch.

Quilty goodness

I've been making a little baby quilt for a friend who's having a baby, which I thought I'd post here, since I'm pretty sure she reads my blog but doesn't read this one!

It has monkeys and spots and stripes and cuteness. I just need some backing fabric (78cm x 78cm in blue, brown, pale yellow or similar... ) - if one of my fellow princessi has something suitable in a single piece that will be fabulous, otherwise the Pete just told me he threw out four shirts, so he's going to rescue them for me and I will make four big blue squares of shirt for the back. Then I will bind in red... more pictures once done (baby due in like, two weeks, so must hurry up!)

Political lobbying with a crafty bent

I just came across this website, which has produced a standard letter to the Aviation Security Screening Review aksing that knitting needles and crochet hooks be allowed on Australian flights again.

It's really rather ridiculous that knitting needles are currently banned - at least plastic ones, which snap if you look at them the wrong way, and so could not possibly be used to hurt someone! I can't imagine that you could hijack a plane by threatening to knit, say, some really tasteless fluro 80s legwarmers, although it is a bit dreadful to contemplate...

I modified their standard letter before sending it off, as I thought (a) it's a bit wordy and (b) they're more likely to take notice if the letters are not all identical!

But if you're a crafty type (or even if you just want to help us crafty types out), get lobbying, send an e-mail and tell those silly Aviation Security people that you can't commit a terrorist act with a knitting needle. Sheesh.

(cross-posted from Bek's blog)