Anjuli's Art

Doodled Thank-Yous

2010-06-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

I have been doing some knitting lately, but haven't taken any good photos to share. I did have to whip up some thank-you cards this weekend, and felt rather uninspired for a while until I just started embellishing the letters on some alphabet stickers that I put on solid-color cardstock. It was actually really fun to add little doodles and I really like the way they came out!

I also have been wanting to learn calligraphy for a while now, and since I'm not quite sure how to go about officially "learning" it, I started off by getting some inspiration from hello handmade, whose work I'm absolutely in love with. I don't think my calligraphy is as awesome as theirs, but I like how it came out!

WIP: Fiddlehead Sweater and FO: Topaz Dress

2010-05-29T17:58:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! My thesis is done and my defense is over, so now I am free to craft again! I'm so excited and have already built up a queue of projects to embark on. So far I have started making another item for James's niece, who is due to be born in a few weeks! This time I'm making her a Fiddlehead Pullover, using some greyish-purple bamboo yarn called On Your Toes - it has a nice little sheen to it, and was one of the few fingering-weight yarns made of bamboo that I could find! I have a tendency to pick knitting patterns that are designed for yarns that are nowhere to be found. Bwah. Anyway, this is the finest yarn I've ever used, and it certainly takes forever to make any progress with it! At least a baby sweater is relatively small. Pictures of that WIP coming soon.

Also, I forgot to share a photo of the finished Topaz dress! Here's the dress making its appearance at the baby shower (which I couldn't attend due to distance). Yay!

WIP: Topaz Baby Dress

2010-03-17T07:56:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I amaze myself with the horribleness of the photos I take of things I've made. This is only the least blurry one of the batch. Anyway, I finally finished knitting the Topaz dress for Jeanne and Jason's baby, who will arrive sometime this June, I believe. This Malabrigo yarn was SO MUCH FUN to knit with, the colors are vibrant and slightly variable, just making my life that much more interesting with every row I knit. It was also my first attempt at two-color knitting! Does it count as Fair Isle? I have no idea. But it was so exciting to see it work!

I also used the recommended technique of grafting to sew the front and back pieces together at the sleeve strap. It's amazing, you can't even tell it's a seam! These little things totally thrill me. :)

Now all that's left to do is sew up the side seams and send it off to California!

Postcard Swap Belatedly

2010-02-28T17:51:00.000-08:00

I finally completed my postcards for iHanna's postcard swap! I was supposed to have them done by Feb 14, but I am a slow crafter, it seems. I could have thrown something together more quickly, but I wanted to try to make some extra-special postcards - so I crocheted something for each one! Actually the part that probably took the longest is those little felt circles with beaded centers. Not trivial. But I love it!

I think I received 9 out of 10 of the postcards I was supposed to get in the swap, and I figure that last lingering one was some slacker like me, who will hopefully follow through on it a few weeks late. It's definitely been fun to see all the variety of postcards people have come up with. Lots of different techniques - stamps, glued fabric, silhouette cutouts, paper scraps, spray paint, stencil, even a photo of a notebook drawing!

And I'm really excited that more than half of my postcards are headed for destinations overseas. How fun to think this crafting community really has no geographic boundaries! Here's the full array of postcards, sorry for the less-than-ideal lighting. It was fun!

Baby Cactus

2010-01-31T19:39:00.000-08:00

I'm growing some tiny cacti! I ordered some seeds for cacti and succulents from Park Seed, just because it sounded cool, and planted them all in a tray of sandy soil under a bright lamp. I think the seed of inspiration (pun intended) for this growing endeavor was planted a while ago by some blog posts by Futuregirl, and I had this image of a mini-cactus in my head ever since then! And now they are really growing! They're so tiny, yet so thrilling:

I'm just tickled to see those little prickles growing on the top. And the little arms starting to grow! Hee hee!

Crochet Motif Cards

2010-01-15T11:25:00.000-08:00

I have been super slow at posting after I craft things, so here finally is a peek at some crocheting I've been doing haphazardly for some thank-you cards I made after the holidays. It was sort of thrilling to just pick out a random motif from the big green book of crochet stitches I have (I forget its title) and just dive into it with my spare crochet thread. Who am I kidding, all of my crochet thread is spare because I have no real purpose for it! I am just not into making doilies... Maybe in 50 years I will be, I'll let you know. Anyway, here are the first four that I mailed out!

I have a few more in the works... but I love the texture that these tiny threads lend to the card. I wish they made crochet thread in some more interesting colors, no? Like maybe a teal or plum or olive green. Then I would be making cool motif cards left and right!

Christmas Cookie Packages

2009-12-30T11:51:00.001-08:00

Before we went to San Diego for Christmas, we baked two batches of cookies to send to James's brother and sister in Lompoc, since we wouldn't be able to make it up to the central coast on this particular trip. We did overbake about a third of each batch (oops!) but at least we got to eat those ones. We picked out the best specimens and packaged them up to mail to the west coast. Of course this gave me a perfect chance to craft up some fancy packaging - I have to say I get as excited about the packaging of most products as I do about the actual product inside! This is especially true of soaps, which often have really gorgeous wrappings, but the thing inside is still... a bar of soap. Anyway, I used some materials in my stash, as well as some sewing machine action inspired by Martha Stewart Living, and put these together! Love it.

Cabled Wrist Warmers, Anniversary Card, Ornament WIP

2009-12-05T20:35:00.001-08:00

I know my lack of posting lately seems to imply that I haven't been doing much crafting, but quite the opposite is true! I've actually been quite busy and really quite thrilled with the little projects I have in the works. First let me share a rather cheesy picture of my finished wrist warmers! I'm so happy that these came out well, and I've gotten lots of compliments on them. I definitely reached an impasse at the thought of the last bit of cabling on the second warmer, but I told myself I couldn't make my felt ornaments until these were done. So here they are!

Next up, I made a belated card for my parents since they just celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary last week. Somehow I came up with the idea to hand embroider the words, which must be the absolute most time-consuming way to produce any sort of product, despite the fact that I work in the Lab for Manufacturing and Productivity by day. Luckily I gave up on writing out the word "anniversary", ha ha. But I love the way it came out!

And lastly, I am happily working away at my felt xmas ornaments, which I got from Posie Gets Cozy, and I can confidently agree with Andy Paulson that felt is awesome! I've cut out all the little pieces for the Cozy Cottage and the Snowy Tree, and it was immensely satisfying just to feel the scissors cutting through the felt! Mmmm. I used my special extra-sharp fabric scissors of course, the ones that James isn't allowed to touch. Fabric only! Anyway I've just started stitching on the little house, which makes my poor overworked hands get tired after a while. I definitely have some kind of repetitive strain injury in both my hands from computer usage, plus a slight wrist bruise from hockey, overall making it pretty challenging to craft small things for long periods of time. I think I would just die if I could no longer make things by hand! Anyway, here's a terrible photo of some of the thrilling green felt I've cut so far. :)

ornaments that I will make!

2009-10-27T12:10:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo! I just got my Walk In The Woods ornament kit from Alicia Paulson of Rosy Little Things! I'm so super excited to spread it out all over the table and make adorable things out of the felt and floss and sequins! Wee! Well, really I will have to delay this gratification a bit further, as I just started my second cabled wrist-warmer last night, and I really need to finish that WIP before I create a new WIP. You know how it is. I just want to do everything now!

WIP: Cabled Wrist-Warmers

2009-10-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo, a new knitting project! I wanted to knit something that didn't require me to buy any new yarn, since I have much more than I know what to do with. Something small and finishable. I saw a couple of great-looking patterns for wrist warmers on knitty and craftzine, and tried to merge the two to make exactly what I wanted. Also my yarn gauge was way off from the knitty pattern, causing me to rip out and re-cast after my first attempt. This is my first try knitting cables, as well as knitting a thumb-hole, so hopefully it will succeed!

Kitchen Cart, Nerd-Style

2009-09-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

My life has been sadly lacking in good crafting lately, up until James and I came upon this excellent yard-sale find. We moved into our new apartment at the end of August, and it has a painfully small kitchen given that we love to cook. There's probably only like 6 square feet of counter space. It's a killer! So we knew we needed some sort of kitchen cart for added chopping space and whatnot. We found this beaut for only $15 and managed to cram it into James's car and get it home.
Obviously, it was well-used and needed a little TLC before it would feel at home in our living room. We spent some time discussing designs, did a bunch of sanding (mostly James, thank you thank you), spent 30 seconds picking out two awesome paint colors at Home Depot, and took it apart to start painting. I drew my nerd designs on by hand (it seemed easier than stenciling or tracing or whatever), and painted them in red. I underestimated how challenging it would be to paint those little details and ended up stopping mid-project to make a run to the art store for smaller brushes. Overall, we are both stoked at how it came out. Adds a needed pop of color to our living room! Nerd-hance!

Eat Your Veggies Shirts!

2009-07-26T17:03:00.000-07:00

So I signed up for a screen-printing class at the Student Art Association (SAA) at MIT for the summer. I don't think the class had been offered before and it seemed like a really cool alternative to pottery or watercolor painting. It was pretty informal and we played around with a few different techniques for making screens and types of ink. My major accomplishment for the class is this series of t-shirts! My drawing skillz are pretty limited and my computer graphics skillz are almost non-existant, so I kept it simple for my first real try at printing. But I love the way it came out!

The blue ink is actually light-sensitive, so when you go outside, the words show up in a nice medium blue. Awesome! Unfortunately the ink didn't show up as well on the darker-colored shirts I bought (note: Target has some decent men's t-shirts, but no good blank ones for women!), so the color-changing quality doesn't really show up. But I think they still look cool! Yeahhh....! I'm stoked to think of my next design and buy my own screen and emulsion and squeegee. So cool!

Carved Squirrel Stamp

2009-05-13T20:16:00.000-07:00

I've been dreaming about carving my own stamps from linoleum for more than half a year now. My mom gave me some carving supplies and small linoleum squares for xmas, and since then I've been tossing around ideas in my head about what to carve. I guess some crafts require a lot of incubation time in my head before I actually materialize them. Anyway, my brother's 24th birthday is approaching quickly, and I thought, what better time to make a little stamp for a card? I recently watched a cool video of someone carving a beautiful stamp of a feather - can't remember who it was! But I was totally inspired to do my own. Anyway, the verdict is: it's a lot harder than it looks! My hand kept slipping (as you'll notice the stripe across the squirrel's shoulder), and some of the details of his head were altered as small pieces accidentally broke off if I carved too quickly. Besides that I'm still pretty happy with the way he came out! The texture of the solid linoleum is kind of cool actually. I'm sure I'll climb the learning curve soon, and my next stamp will be easier!

Bike Seat Cover and FO Scarf!

2009-03-30T20:02:00.001-07:00

I'm designing a bike seat cover! My 1970's Raleigh Record road bike has its original seat made by the Wright leather company, and it somehow fits my, well, seat so well that I never feel sore or bruised. The problem is that one of the metal bolts rubs on my jeans, and although I don't feel it at all (cushiony cheeks?), it is wearing a hole through any pair of pants I wear while riding. Not cool! So I decided to make a seat cover, just to give some barrier between the bike seat and my own. I got this beautiful black and white oilcloth from a store in San Francisco, and it dawned on me that this seat cover could benefit from being waterproof too - the leather won't get ruined in the rain, and it won't turn my pants brown either. This genius idea brewed in my head for weeks before I finally took that yard of oilcloth over to the bike and imagined a fit - only the curvature of the seat does not lend itself to a flat cover from non-stretchy material. I was deterred for another few days, but I slowly envisioned a three-pieced cover that I could sew without having a seam down the center of the seat. This evening I finally made a paper pattern and then cut the three pieces out of oilcloth. They are currently scotch-taped in place on the bike seat, awaiting a non-nighttime hour when I can turn on my sewing machine without annoying my roommies. Normally, sewing a seam involves placing two pieces of fabric right-side together and sewing them together, but in this case I might just sew a zigzag stitch right on top of the two overlapping pieces, right-to-wrong sides. Maybe in a bright color like red, to make the stitch look like part of the design. Hmmm. More to come!
In other news, I FINALLY finished my lace ribbon scarf! It only took me a year! Ta daa!

Knit Blue Baby Hat

2009-03-21T12:43:00.000-07:00

So my labmate David's wife had a baby boy a few weeks ago, and upon hearing this I started knitting a hat for him. It was actually my first attempt at knitting something on double-pointed needles, and I was a bit afraid that everything would fall off each needle as I knit the other ones, or that I would twist the stitches all around. But I really wanted to make the plunge into knitting non-rectangular things, so I picked a really basic pattern for a baby hat, and it turned out pretty well! It was pretty quick to finish once I started decreasing to close up the top. I love how it came out! Maybe I'm ready to move on to mittens?!?

Little Sewn Whale Cards

2009-02-23T19:21:00.000-08:00

Well I guess I had so much fun sewing that valentine for James that I decided to sew some more cards! I mulled over possible alternatives to the heart, and few shapes seemed smooth and non-concave enough for me to sew around with a zigzag stitch. I finally settled on a whale, which is cute and somewhat sewable! The tail gave me the biggest trouble, and I think it's easier to do with a narrower zigzag. I totally wanted to sew some more fabric to some paper, but I ran out of time. I left my sewing machine out on the desk for a few days, refusing to relinquish the idea that I would have a chance to make some more pieces, but eventually it had to be tucked away into the desk to make room for my laptop. Boo.

Stitched Cards

2009-02-15T19:22:00.000-08:00

I have been paper-crafting recently! I still have even more cards to make, so more updates will probably appear in the near future. First of all, I made this awesome card inspired by the sewn paper valentines at The Purl Bee, with a change of colors just to mix it up a bit (and make it a little less sugary sweet for my boy). He loved it!
Next, I made a couple of cards that are actually thank-yous for Christmas gifts - can you believe it? It's mid-February! Am I the biggest slacker ever?! Probably. The hand-stitched one took the most time, yet it's probably my least favorite. I pre-poked all the holes before stitching with embroidery floss, but somehow I didn't really plan out the spacing too well so I didn't have space for an S on the end of "THANK". Haha! So now it just says THANK (you)...! Anyways, I feel like I could do cooler things with embroidery floss and paper... stay tuned.

Wedding Card and Awesome Print

2009-01-19T16:41:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know it has been almost FOREVER since I've updated this blog, but I guess the end of last semester was pretty busy! I am still not done with that duvet cover, and the vibrant fabric sits idly at the side of my room in a pile, making me feel guilty every time I see it. Maybe this semester I'll have more time since I'm not taking any technical classes. My lace-ribbon scarf is also still a WIP, needing only about 10 more inches before I call it done. It's getting there! Maybe even before winter is over! We just got like 10 inches of snow this weekend, so I would certainly say it's scarf season now. I did, however, put together a quick card to go with a wedding gift this weekend, and it took me a couple hours of brain-wrangling before I finished this card that I'm quite happy with! The buttons are all repurposed from a bag of old buttons I got from my grandma, and the letters were from a rub-on set I found somewhere - actually quite fun to apply! Anyway, I love how the buttons seem kind of old and vintage, yet sparkly!

For the wedding gift, I found this great print from a place in Rockport, MA, called the Sara Elizabeth Shop that makes these amazing block prints with quite a history behind it. The prints looked appealing online but this one was even more vibrant and beautiful in person! I almost wish I had one for myself! It's called Squam Woods Summer.

Anyway, hopefully I'll be back soon with some more crafting updates, before I die of craft withdrawal!

WIP: Duvet Cover

2008-10-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

I've finally started to tackle the colossal project of making a cover for my new queen-size down comforter! I slowly accumulated these gorgeous fabrics through various online orders from Etsy shops, and this weekend was the first time I both had the time and the resolve to settle on a design and start cutting up the fabric! More pictures to come soon as this giant sewing project progresses...

Fabulous Art

2008-09-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

James and I were walking around Portsmouth, NH, this weekend and we noticed a store called Nahcotta was hosting the Enormous Tiny Art Show. Of course I couldn't resist going in to look, and it was amazing! Of course the purchase of any of this art was way out of my price range (starting at like $150!) but some of them really were quite amazing. Made me dream of the day when I ditch this loser-grad-student life and start making some real money. Then I will support you all, indie artist community! My favorite art was definitely that of Dana Robson, who used maps and embroidery in painted frames (as in the image above). I also really enjoyed the art of Lucie Summers and Rebecca Daw. Amazing and delicious!

Yellow Washcloth

2008-09-09T20:06:00.000-07:00

I haven't been updating much lately despite a relatively high frequency of crafting. It's probably because I don't have a good digital camera at hand, other than my new phone (which does okay). I've been knitting a bit with cotton - a couple of washcloths for James, in my new favorite color combination of yellow and grey. I've also been doing a little sewing, a little obsessive ordering of fabric online (I am in love with Amy Butler's Nigella fabrics!) and a mini-project of making a felt phone cover for my new LG Chocolate. Here's a tidbit of all that activity:

Green Baby Booties

2008-08-25T18:30:00.000-07:00

My officemate Steve has a new baby, and so a month ago I knit up these cutie-pie booties designed by someone named Saartje. After knitting them, I got lazy and didn't sew the buttons on until today when I found out the baby was born! They were actually really easy to make, which is great because I'm still a pretty novice knitter. Yay!

WIP: Ribbon Lace Scarf

2008-07-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

Kind of a crappy picture here, but here's an update to show some progress on this lace scarf! It's been kind of impossible to work on it when the weather gets really humid, but I've been doing a couple rows here and there. I'm almost done with the first skein! Maybe it will possibly be ready to wear by the fall!

geek dad

2008-06-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

Well it seems like my dad has already spammed a picture of his father's day card across the internets, but I wanted to wait until he got it before I posted a picture. Here it is! My officemate Kevin was throwing away a laptop keyboard, so I ripped off all the keys for use at a later date. Then father's day came along, and I realized what a supernerd my dad is, and how he of all people would appreciate a robot father-daughter scene. And yes, Anna is my nickname. Anyway I really love how it came out. :)

Crewel Flower Card

2008-06-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

Not realizing it would take 3 hours, I embroidered this cute pattern from Katherine Shaughnessy's The New Crewel, which is a gorgeous book that I had been waiting anxiously for an occasion to put to use. Unfortunately the occasion turned out to be a sympathy card, but I think the pattern was very appropriate. The linen fabric I had was a bit coarse for the fine details of the project, but the final look was okay. A father's day card is also in the works, so stay tuned for more paper-crafting!

Holiday Season of Sorts

2008-05-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

This time of year is busy for me in some ways, what with Mother's Day, the birthdays of both of my siblings, and Father's Day approaching on the horizon. Hmm, just typing this reminds me that I still need to order my sister's present. Presents are always hard, because I always try to get something that people will actually use, rather than something cute and potentially unneeded. This is especially hard since I don't live in the same geographic region as any of my immediate family. But cards are the easiest thing to send, and I was reminded yesterday that my whole crafting obsession probably started with card-making back in high school. It slowly crescendoed through college with the gradual hoarding of paper scraps and stickers and stamps, to the current state of several boxes full of sparkly pens, cardstock, patterned papers, vellum, ribbons, stamps, punches, buttons, markers, glitter, embossing powder, glue, and my good old buddy, the x-acto knife. When I decide there are cards to be made, I sit on the floor and surround myself with a halo of paper scraps, only to disappear into the proper shoebox or folder when the cards are complete. I much prefer to make every card unique than to mass-produce a bunch of identical cards for future occasions, although maybe that's because some of them are so labor-intensive. But so satisfying, yum.

WIP: Lace Ribbon Scarf

2008-04-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

Some slow progress as summer quickly approaches!

Rainy Weekend Knitting

2008-04-06T15:29:00.001-07:00

I somehow gathered up the willpower to go ahead and again cast on the 53 stitches required for this lace ribbon scarf. Maybe now that I've attempted to start this project like 15 times, I'm finally getting the hang of the pattern! I've actually made a good amount of progress, happily knitting away in James's room as he worked on his taxes. The weather is still grey and drizzly, and it just makes me want to curl up and keep working on it! I adore the way this scarf is coming out (even though it's only 3 inches long so far) and I get sucked in (just as with crochet) so that I can barely take my eyes off the yarn mid-row. Mmm, delicious.

I also obtained a lovely 50%-off coupon to Michael's (thank you to Kevin) and could not resist going there even though I was not in need of any supplies. After browsing the entire store twice over (and annoying James thoroughly with my indecision), I picked out a yellow ball of Lion Brand Pound of Love. So now I'm fully equipped for the next time someone decides to have a baby, I can bust out a blanket in no time. Theoretically.

Errors

2008-04-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

Bahhh! I have ripped out the scarf after 24 flawless rows! I knitted for a couple hours while James napped on Sunday, and for another hour and half on the train ride home to Boston. The first full pattern repeat was just complete, and I was starting to admire my knitting proficiency and imagine the sophistication it would soon add to my wardrobe. Then I came to the end of a row and one stitch felt weird! This is a lacy pattern so the yarn does strange things when you make a mistake or get shifted off the pattern. I counted back and realized that I'd missed a yarnover in the previous row. Now, I can back-stitch like 10 stitches, but there was no way I'd make it an entire row! I attempted to insert my other needle a couple rows back, but ended up making more mistakes than I could fix. I was torn - rip it out and start over, or somehow keep going and have a giant mess (possibly just an ugly strip of yarn)? I knew it would not hold up to my chic standards with a mangled end, so I took a deep breath... and frogged it! Ahhh it was the worst moment of my day! Then it took like 5 tries to cast it back on again, with the yarn all wobbly like ramen noodles. Apparently I cannot complete this scarf without focusing 100% of my attention every time I knit. Poo.

End-of-Winter Scarf

2008-03-31T20:40:00.000-07:00

I was delighted to have a reason to visit the local yarn shop in Dover, NH, just a few blocks from James's apartment. What was my reason? My first real knitting project! I was ready to move beyond squares of stockinette stitch onto a real pattern, and after much (read: way too much) time spent perusing patterns online, I picked the Lace Ribbon Scarf from Knitty.com. I appreciate the chic look of scarves in any weather, and I didn't want to knit anything that wouldn't be used. I've been using a knitting video website to teach myself new stitches such as SSK and YO and k2tog, as well as various ways to cast on, and it's been tremendously helpful.

Anyway, I after brunch I beelined straight for the yarn shop (Spinning Yarns), enjoying every minute of yarn-browsing with the intent to buy. The pattern called for Classic Elite Alpaca Sox yarn, which is gorgeous, but out of my price range for my first ever knit. Plus they didn't have any solid colors. But besides, I didn't want to waste really amazing yarn on my possibly nonexistant knitting skills. Instead I picked out a neutral grey-blue color of Dalegarn Baby Ull yarn, which is thankfully machine washable and very soft.

Anyway, I was itching to try out the pattern when I got home later. Dude, I must have cast on, knit, and ripped out the pattern like 8 times without getting past row 4! The problem is that when I make a mistake, I don't know how to fix it except for starting over. By the time I got to attempt 10, I'd made it past that dreaded row 4 and I'm still going strong at row 22. Yay! But boy I was ready to kill someone after ripping out those stitches so many times. Aiyo!

thinking ahead

2008-03-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! A week's worth of steady crocheting has yielded me this lovely slouchy bag! I used Lily Sugar'n Cream in Soft Ecru, with an I-hook and the pattern from Lion Brand. It's supposed to be a market bag, and I can just imagine going to a summer farmer's market and filling it with tomatoes and peaches and pluots. Oh, yum. Of course, this fantasy scene in my head seems to be in Berkeley rather than Boston. But I certainly can't wait for summer to arrive here, and today we got the first taste of warmth at probably 45 degrees in the sunshine (when the wind paused for a moment). Anyway, I'm quite proud of my progress here, and I'm trying to decide what project to start next. Perhaps something knitted...?

stash busting in progress

2008-02-27T20:48:00.000-08:00

Never one to finish a project before starting a new one, I crocheted half of a basket tonight according to the pattern by Chickpea Sewing Studio, in some Peaches & Creme yarn I have had lying around for like a couple years. The skein ran out and I haven't started adding a new one, so the basket is not as tall as it will finally be. I was sort of hoping it would come out with a larger diameter, so that I could keep my mittens and scarf and hat in there when I get to my office every day. Hmm, must think of another pile of junk that needs containing...
In other news, here's some of my knitting progress! This is from a skein of Cascade yarn that I partially used for a pillow front for my mom, but the yarn is gorgeous and I've always wanted to use the rest of it for something nice. So now it's being transformed into a scarf! Sungyon is helping me to knit some of it, and we've definitely made some progress... at least, it looks like one end of a scarf. I'll probably need to find another skein of yarn pretty soon though.

New Skillz

2008-02-19T19:28:00.001-08:00

I'm learning to knit! My parents gave me two sets of knitting needles for my birthday, sizes 8 and 10.5, and Sungyon taught me some of the basics (knit and purl, at least). With a little extra online tutorial-watching, I figured out how to cast on and bind off, so now I'm fully equipped to make rectangles! Here's my first test swatch, in Peaches & Creme cotton yarn:

I basically tried out a stitch pattern to see how it would come out, and I think I'm getting the hang of these stitches. It's hard coming from crochet, where I know exactly how each stitch will look and how to create what I want to make, whereas knitting is still very mysterious to me - I don't know how the yarn will behave! I see all these gorgeous patterns and objects on ravelry and knitty, but I have no idea how they came from these two skinny chopsticks! Well, I guess I'm one step closer to figuring that out. Next project: semi-ribbed scarf in gorgeous seafoam-green yarn that's been sitting in my yarn pile for a year!

green baby socks

2008-01-19T12:23:00.000-08:00

I made these baby socks for Marie-Eve and Daniel's baby, due in a couple weeks. The pattern came from "Simple Crochet for Cherished Babies" by Jane Davis, which has a ton of adorable patterns, but all the patterns seem to have egregious mistakes! Even the pattern for these simple socks had a mistake in how much ribbing to make. Kind of inexcusable, but luckily I was able to pick up the slack and still finish these in a few hours.

progress on purple socks!

2008-01-15T18:47:00.000-08:00

Although I abandoned these poor socks for a few months, I have recently made some progress! Sock #1 is done, and Sock #2 is coming close to its final few rounds. I swear I did the same exact pattern for both socks, but the second one is coming out much wider and longer. I had to frog a bunch of stitches and redo them to fit - at least I'm learning how to create custom shapes and fits.
I love how my crochet hook matches the yarn. Scrumptious.

Crafting with Chocolate

2007-12-17T19:30:00.000-08:00

After a long hiatus from crafting due to one of my busiest semesters yet, I found a few things finally were off my plate and a crafty opportunity opened up! James and I spent our cold slushy Sunday in the kitchen, making mint-chocolate cookies for xmas presents for our east-coast friends. Man, we are an awesome crafty duo, because these cookies looked beautiful and tasted scrumptious! Here they are in the fridge, chilling so the melted chocolate would harden.

Next, we boxed them up in little white boxes lined with color-coordinated tissue paper, and custom-made tags and gorgeous ribbons that I had been drooling over for weeks.

It was so incredibly satisfying to see them all lined up on the refridgerator shelf, I almost wanted to keep them there just to look at! I'm such a paper-crafting freak!

Oh, Pretty Closet Door!

2007-10-27T20:21:00.000-07:00

When I pulled my sewing machine out of its inner-desk hideaway, it was covered in black dust and kind of groggy. But after a quick wipedown with a q-tip and a tissue, it was ready to sew me a curtain!

I'd had this red and white fabric for several weeks, sitting next to my desk and bugging me to make this curtain for my closet (in place of a closet door which does not exist). I was just getting tired of seeing all the crap in my closet all the time. I bought a short curtain rod and then hemmed all 4 edges of the fabric. Being so sheer and lightweight, it was tough to sew a straight hem, but hopefully nobody will notice the curling and curvature of my curtain sides.

James was playing around with the new batteries in his camera, nerdily testing their stamina by snapping pictures of everything in my room. Luckily he's a pretty good photographer, but I don't necessarily appreciate all the pics of my rear end. Anyway, he also befriended this little guy, Mr. Tomato Head. :)

Eek! A Mouse!

2007-10-16T20:26:00.000-07:00

After spending a couple weekends at James's apartment in New Hampshire and listening to his roommate's cat meow incessantly out of boredom, I decided to whip up a quick mousie toy for him to play with. It's mostly full of regular stuffing, with a little pinch of catnip for added intrigue. Check out Mr. Mouse's first encounter with Easy the cat. :)

Axel's Baby Blanket

2007-09-20T09:41:00.001-07:00

I finally finished the blanket! Fortunately, I got to drop it off personally at Sanji and Michelle's house on Monday, and hang out with the little guy for a bit. Axel is 3 months old now, and can give a toothless smile and squirm around and put his little fist in his mouth. So adorable! I want to babysit!

Update: Purple Sock!

2007-09-03T20:26:00.000-07:00

Hello all! The crafting continues, as classes have not started yet for the fall semester. I took my purple sock project to California with me, and got a little bit done on the plane and on the drive to Lake San Antonio. Now it looks more like a sock! From this point, it's being put on the back burner until I finish up little Axel's baby blanket, and then until I finish the present for Amy's upcoming baby. Which will probably be a cable-crocheted hat. Which will require me to visit the yarn store. Yay!

Handmade Wooden Signs for "Orchard"

2007-08-23T19:06:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm sorry it's been so long that I've posted here, but I have still been crafting! My latest project was to create some custom-made signs to label my parents' fruit trees in their backyard orchard. James and I designed and created them out of a redwood plank. First we put a coat of polyurethane on the front side of the plank and cut it to the right size for each word that we would write. Then we printed each word in a nice big font on pieces of paper, and traced each one on the wood with pencils or ballpoint pens, making indentations in the wood.
Then we carved out each name with a dremel and a carving tip - here's James in action. This was the most time-consuming step - each word took 15 minutes on average to carve.
Here's an example of how they come out after carving. Nice!

Then we used a dark wood stain (color: Red Mahogany) to darken the areas we carved out , wiping excess of the polyurethaned area with a spare cloth. We didn't get to it, but the next step would be to put a final coat of polyurethane to weatherproof the whole sign, and drill holes in the bottom to insert a peg so each sign could be staked in the ground next to each tree.Possibly related to my pickyness, it took us a while to decide on the actual method we would use to make each sign. Some of our trials/errors are displayed below, including painting inside the letters, using a wood burner tool, and carving outside rather than inside the letters.

Alas, we had to fly back to Boston before seeing the signs installed in the backyard, but I'm hoping my mom will send me pics of them all set up!

The Green Side of the Family

2007-05-31T14:48:00.000-07:00

While they may do some of the work themselves, plants are almost a work of art. I nourish them with water and sunshine to produce a beautiful green sculpture of nature for all to admire. First, check out my orchid. This was originally a gift from my advisor when I got my Master's, and then all the original stems and leaves died... but luckily new ones appeared, and now there are at least 3 stems competing for the first flower! I can't wait! Next to the orchid is Arnold, James's plant, which has followed him here from California. Arnold never seems too happy, but he's still hanging in there.

This lovely I-forget-what-kind-it-is was purchased from an MIT craft fair in Lobby 10, and at the time it had lots of little pink flowers. Two years later, I have not been able to coax it to flower again. For a while it had these crazy-long stems that hung down before going up, probably trying to grow taller to get more sun. I finally snipped all those stems off and all these lovelies have regrown on my sunny windowsill! Crossing my fingers for a bloom!

In this pot lie my newly-acquired basil seeds! They sort of look like baby mouse poos. I got a packet of the seeds at the Earthfest concert in Boston last weekend - woohoo! Homegrown cooking ingredients! Although there are no sprouts yet... maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.

And this is our prized money tree! This guy has sprouted at least 5 new stems off the main stalk, each with larger, shinier leaves than the last. If only our actual financial situation reflected this guy's growth status!

We also have another little plant whose picture I didn't take, because he's ugly. Haha.

Ripple Baby Blanket!

2007-05-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

Never one to finish a project before starting another one, I have put my crocheted socks on hold in order to start crocheting a baby blanket for my cousin Sanji's newest addition, due to arrive in 2 weeks! He and his wife don't like to find out if it's a boy or girl beforehand, so I'm stuck with white yarn again, but I'm banking on the fact that there's no possible way I will finish this blanket before their baby is born, and when that occurs I can hastily throw in some pink or blue ripples! Wee! In the meantime, I still have a lot of crocheting to do... I'm using Bernat Softee Baby yarn, with a "ridged chevron" pattern I found in my Harmony Guide to Crochet Stiches book. What a great resource that book is. It's like 100 blanket patterns listed as different stitches, so you have so many possibilities if you apply your creativity to the basics they provide. Supah.

Purple Socks, Finally!

2007-04-22T07:46:00.000-07:00

I got this beautiful sock yarn at Building 19 1/2 like two years ago, because it was well-priced and lovely. But unfortunately there are precious few patterns for crocheted socks, so these pretty skeins sat under my bed for quite a while.

To my delight, the latest issue of crochetme.com has a crocheted sock pattern! I was so excited, and within two days I started making the first sock, below, with an E hook. So far it is looking more like a closed tube than a sock, but I'm getting close to the heel part, so I hope it will grow into its sock character soon! I know it's not that practical to start making socks right when the Boston weather is starting to feel like spring (at last!!), but I really couldn't resist. This is also my first experience with stitch markers (I'm using paper clips), and so far it's pretty convenient. I never realized how great it is not to have to physically count your stitches in the round. Wee! I can't wait till one is finished!

More Squares for Afghan

2007-04-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

While I have been updating this craft blog only sporadically, my actual crocheting progress has been slow but steady! Check out some of the squares I've made recently for my 63-square afghan. I got a few of them done on our spring break road trip to Cincinnati (14 hours of driving each way!). For some reason, the last few squares came out like diamonds. I think I've been following the same convention as before, but several rows together give a slanty edge. I've been trying to pay more attention to guage for the squares, ever since I read that you can't block with acrylic yarn, and that's exactly what these are made of. My first ~10 squares are all different sizes, but maybe I'll just add wider borders to the smaller ones to even them out. I'm still hoping to make some attempt at blocking if not to just flatten them all out!

I always thought these flowers looked kind of old-lady-ish, but I really like the way this square came out!

Breezy

2007-03-10T13:27:00.000-08:00

I am probably the worst seamstress in the entire world, somehow screwing up a simple straight line of a pillow seam. But luckily the required precision of a living-room toss pillow is very hand-wavy, and I sucessfully recovered a pillow! It was previously a forest green pillow, clashing entirely with our current nautically-themed decor. Plus the palm trees of this new fabric can help remind us of more tropical places. :) This simple pillow design was somewhat inspired by Amy Butler's pillows, which are gorgeous and beyond my price range. Being crafty myself, I am less inclined to purchase something that I think I could re-create in my craft room. Of course, that rarely happens in reality, but the thought of my being able to make it always deters me from buying the real thing. Anyway, I like the way this pillow came out!

What This Girl Wants

2007-03-08T10:26:00.000-08:00

In my recent disdain for scientific research, I have come upon several amazing and inspiring crafty and artsy websites which I would like to share with the world!

Cotton Monsters: These are the coolest creatures ever. If only I could sew that well.

Jen Stark: I don't know how she makes these creations out of paper, but they are awe-inspiring!

Posie Gets Cozy: This lady seems to share most or all of my crafting interests, namely crochet, sewing, embroidery. I especially love how there is a cat in every picture that includes yarn. :)

Superbuzzy: Hmm, I want everything on this site.

Amy Butler's In Stitches: And I would give my left kidney to have this book! ...On second thought, I guess it's not quite that expensive.

Back In Business

2007-02-24T17:59:00.000-08:00

Well I went on a kind of crafting hiatus during the month of January, as I devoted every brain cell to thinking about fluid flow and heat transfer. Happily, I passed my exams, and I am actively working to forget all that info I taught myself during those long hours of studying. And what better way to do that than to craft? I've started working again on my good old 64-square afghan, of which I have completed maybe a third of the required squares. Here are a few of my latest:I'm making more of an effort to pay attention to gauge, as many of my previous squares are varying sizes. But sometimes you don't realize the shrinkiness of your square until you're almost done, and by that time I don't have the patience to rip it all out and start again with a different hook. I'll make it all work in the end...

My latest sewing project was to make a curtain for the kitchen! It turned out pretty well, since I stuck with the tried and true (rectangle), but the lovely fabric brings a needed splash of color to our cold kitchen. I also made a matching potholder, which is a little crooked but still super awesome.

FO! Blanket for Baby Grant

2006-12-28T09:10:00.000-08:00

Finally I have finished the baby blanket for Tara's newest son! His name is Grant, and he was born on December 14. That was the spark for me to begin crocheting at a more frantic pace to finish the blanket before I left home so that my bro Andrew could bring it to New York in January and deliver it to Tara and Joe. And woohoo, it's done!

One thing I learned was not to trust the "no dye lot" designation of the yarn. I used Bernat Softee Baby, and although it says "no dye lot" on the label, there are actually dates printed on the labels, and different dates are not the same! I didn't realize this until the blanket was half finished and it was way too late to remove the different yarn. What's even worse is that the yarn used in the middle section is actually a lighter weight, so the whole blanket width becomes narrower in the middle, and then widens out again at the next skein! That was super annoying, but I think overall the blanket still looks pretty sweet. The yarn for the blue border is my favorite. :)

Mr. Gobble-Gobble

2006-11-22T16:16:00.000-08:00

Happy Turkey Day! I made this super awesome turkey (he looks cuter in person) at the request of my mom, from a pattern I found on BitterSweet, and it came out great! I hope he finds a comfy place to sit amongst my mom's holiday decor in San Diego. As for me, well, James and I are off to Connecticut for a 2-day thanksgiving partay with almost all of my Sri Lankan cousins! Yay!

The Days of Chivalry

2006-11-17T19:09:00.000-08:00

Hark! Behold Sir Brave Knight who rides his white horse to befriend the fire-breathing dragon, in order to rescue the princess that the dragon holds captive due to his teenage crush on the lovely lady. Oh, these finger puppets were so much fun to make! I got the patterns from an old issue of CrochetMe. So far I haven't given them eyes, and the colors are a bit customized, but I think they turned out really well! Now I can branch out a bit and create some new characters to join these four. I'm hoping to give them to my cousins' little kids, who are between the ages of 2 and 5, whom I will see on Thanksgiving at the big Sri Lankan gathering at my aunt's house in Connecticut. Thanksgiving there is always guaranteed to be at least a couple days of madness, silly games, piles of food, tykes running around, and probably some loud singing and goofing. Can't wait!

WIP: Tara's Baby Afghan

2006-10-29T19:32:00.000-08:00

My cousin Tara is due to have her second baby in December, and so I'm making a baby afghan for him/her! Tara doesn't know if it will be a boy or girl, so I settled on white for the blanket. I picked a sweet, lacey pattern which would work up rather quickly and still allow for some pretty stitching. It's great to have a repeating, easy pattern like this that I can crochet somewhat mindlessly at the end of a stressful day. :)

Festive Embossing

2006-10-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

Today it was finally time to try out my newest paper-crafting toy, the embossing heat gun (given to me by James's lovely mom). I found some adorable stamps on sale at Michael's with a little turkey, pilgrim, and native american on them, and I absolutely had to make some Thanksgiving cards!! Plus I was due to make a few birthday cards, so my selection of cocktail stamps came in handy. Let me just say I am completely thrilled with the whole embossing technique - it is so much fun to watch the little powders melt and brighten! I am definitely raiding the embossing powder section of the next craft store I wander into. Oh, I can just see the entire house filling up with new crafty supplies... pretty soon James and I won't even fit inside the place, and we'll have to sleep out on the front steps...

A Rose for Alice

2006-10-02T17:33:00.000-07:00

Well it seems that I've caught the crochet bug again! I began by crocheting this lovely ring for my lovely friend Alice on the occasion of her 24th birthday. I still haven't sent it to her in NY, but hopefully I will get around to it this week! It was pretty easy to make, and next time I might try adding a little second color of trim or a bead in the middle.

scrapbooking - Europe 2006

2006-08-19T17:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I haven't crocheted in a while, but I have been travelling! James and I took a whirlwind tour of several countries in Europe, following my stay in Biarritz, France, for a lithium battery conference. We took a ton of great pictures and of course I couldn't resist putting them into a scrapbook! Actually I've never made a scrapbook before, so I was a bit nervous to get started. Then I began, using some spray adhesive (which is a little smelly) and a 12"x12" black-paged notebook, and woohoo! Here's the start of it! After the first few pages, I realized I needed some colored pens that would write on black paper, and the metallic ones I got are also great for doodling and drawing borders. I am also a big fan of those letter stickers, which make great titles for each page. My other favorite scheme is using the city and country maps I saved from the trip as backgrounds, and drawing little arrows to the places we visited. It's so much fun, but it's taking me hours and hours! Anyway, here's a little sampler:

Hiatus

2006-05-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

Oh man, I haven't been crafting very much lately! I don't think I've crocheted anything in the past month!! This is terrible and horrible, but honestly, I've had to devote all my time to a different kind of artwork... my master's thesis!! It is due on Tuesday, and it's about 98% of the way there, but I still need to add just one more figure. I can't believe it really takes one month (or more) to write a thesis. But it is true.

Summer is almost here, and I hope to think of some summer crafting projects that don't involve having my sweaty hands stick to yarn. I still need to work on my blue pinwheel shawl - kind of summery, right? Check out my progress below... (kind of pathetic, yes). And I have just a couple more finishing touches on my new iPod cover - pink monster! More to come...

Six Wagon Wheels

2006-03-25T09:26:00.000-08:00

Hello! It's been a while since I've posted, since I accidentally mailed off Rani's red headband without taking a picture of it... but here's my new work in progress! It's a spoke-wheel motif shawl, from a pattern in my Vogue scarves book. I got the yarn super cheap from Buliding 19, the super-cheap store exclusive to Massachusetts. Man, that is a crazy place. All the yarn was at least 50% off, and I couldn't resist getting some of this Patons Grace cotton yarn (I also got several skeins in royal blue), and some beautiful Patons Kroy sock yarn in Vista Sea (kind of a deep purple with blue and green). I love it! But now my yarn stash is almost unbearably large!! I just can't help it - it's a curse! Anyway, it might take me a while to crochet all 65 motifs for this shawl, but I think it will be perfect for summer! That is, if summer (or even spring) ever comes to Boston!

lovey days

2006-02-27T21:51:00.000-08:00

Here's a random selection of some Valentine's cards I made for my dearest buddies here in Boston. Note the awesome touch added by the letter stamps that Kim gave me for my b-day. Woohoo! It took me forever to make these cards (like maybe 5 hours, while watching the Olympics) because I always want to make each one unique. So different from Xmas, where I made myself into a one-woman snowman-making assembly line, cutting out 10 circles at a time. But unique cards are more fun, I think. :)
Soon to come: the headband I crocheted for Rani! All I have to do is tuck in tails! I'm so lazy!!

New Yarn!

2006-02-08T17:25:00.000-08:00

My sister Kim sent me this wonderful stash of yarn for my 24th birthday (along with some way cool alphabet stamps and patterned paper), and now I'm scheming for ways to crochet it all into cool things. I recently bought a Vogue crocheted scarves book on major sale at Micheal's, and I'm dying to make one of those scarves with some of this yarn. The light pink yarn is a super soft cashmere, and the blue is a nylon/acrylic that feels like a bunny's tummy. Perfect scarf material! But the orange yarn intrigues me the most - it's a warm earthy color with a unique texture; it will be more challenging to find a project for this one.

BarryToon!

2006-02-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

I made this for my friend Barry, who is a super crazy and talented artist/musician/toy-designer/mythbuster, since he made fobtoons (fob = friends of barry) for probably everyone he knows. Including me! When he asked everyone for their Barrytoons, I just couldn't resist making this guy. ...I'd say the hardest part was making all his hair! But at least it's accurate, haha...

Mom's Flower Tote

2006-01-15T08:25:00.000-08:00

Ohh, I forgot about this one! I made this bag for my mom last year for Mother's Day. Sheesh, all these posts seem to be related to my mom... Anyway, I found the idea for the bag online, although the basic pattern was just to make a giant rectangle and sew it together. Then I made up my own flowers to sew on, and I embroidered the stems. Voila!

Earrings for Sungyon!

2006-01-08T20:47:00.000-08:00

I made these for her birthday back in the fall, and then as luck would have it, one of them fell out of her ear on the very first day she wore them. So I just finally crocheted up another one (in like 20 minutes). I made up the design myself; it took me a few prototypes before it looked right. They're a nice dark red color, if you can't tell. I think I need to work on my photography skillz...

Chic Pillows

2006-01-08T20:44:00.000-08:00

My mom and I made these two pillows for my living room here in Cambridge. Actually, all I did was fix up the ribbons for the gold pillow, and Mom sewed them together. Mom is really the greatest crafter ever, and no wonder I get so much done when I'm home visiting her. :)

Angela's Headband

2006-01-08T20:35:00.000-08:00

A headband for Angela! I made this for her 23rd birthday, which was several months ago - so this is long overdue. I basically picked out a cool-looking stitch from the Harmony crochet stitch book and made it into a pattern. I started it over Thanksgiving at Auntie Kumu's house, where my crocheting buddy was my 2nd cousin Lauren who was knitting a scarf, while we both watched our cousin-nephew William, sleeping in his stroller. Ahh, good times. Anyway, I'll have to get a pic of Angela modeling this headband soon!

Spike Stitch Pillow

2006-01-02T12:29:00.000-08:00

I just finished crocheting this super awesome pillow cover for my mom - she picked out the color scheme for "my" room at home (i.e. the room I stay in when I come visit Mom and Dad). I found the pattern on crochetme.com again, a site that usually gives me a lot of good ideas. My mom sewed a purple fabric backing for the pillow, and it came out well!

Easter Bunny

2006-01-02T12:26:00.000-08:00

I made this little egg warmer last March for my mom. It was pretty easy and quick to make; I found the pattern somewhere online. Too bad my mom didn't actually get it until like July, since it got lost in the mail and ended up back in my mailbox in May.

The Key Basket

2006-01-02T12:16:00.000-08:00

Check out this basket I crocheted. I bought some jute twine at the hardware store and crocheted this according to the pattern I found on Crochetme.com. The pattern worked really well, but the twine was a little messy - it tended to shed bits of fiber and dirt on my lap while I crocheted. But I love the final product! I use it to hold my keys, which I am always misplacing otherwise.