365 Days Handmade

Making life a better place, one day at a time

Category Archives: Handmade


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Progress Report and Socks

Wow, my last post was in August of last year.  Re-reading that entry, I could see I was kind of depressed back then.  A lot has happened since I wrote that post.  In October we started a major remodel on our house, which included (among other things) knocking out an upstairs wall, updating the kitchen, converting our basement into a spare room/office, pulling up the old carpet, installing new floors, painting the interior, tearing down the backyard deck and stairs, and building a new one.  This remodel involved me having to pack up a bunch of stuff (like we were moving) and living in essentially a construction site.  We finally said goodbye to the crew in March and got settled in by mid-April.

I posted a lot of photos on Facebook and Instagram.  You can find me on Instagram under my blog name (365dayshandmade).  Add me and say hi!  (I should also mention that I block any follower who looks like a shop just trying to get my business, so please make sure to let me know it’s you.)

I started knitting socks again a couple weeks ago, and thought I’d share this story.  Friday night I pulled these old socks out of the washing machine and noticed one had a snag in the cuff and had started to unravel. I thought, NBD, I’ll just frog a couple rows and knit it back up. Turned out that I originally knit that sock from the cuff down, meaning I had to unravel the WHOLE sock and start over. I wasn’t going to throw it out. So I unraveled the entire sock and knit it into a new one, but from the toe up this time. I put in a short row heel (the fish lips kiss heel pattern). Sean asked me if I planned to re-do the other sock and I think probably not. It’s kind of neat to see the difference between my sock knitting in 2004 (cuff down, flap heel, using DPNs) vs. the present (toe up, short row heel, using one long needle with Magic Loop method).  The re-done sock (on the right) is looking a little crunchy because I didn’t bother to wash and straighten the frogged yarn before I started knitting.

Hope you’re enjoying a happy Sunday!

socksblog


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4th Anniversary?!

According to WordPress, today is my 4th anniversary of having this account.  I realized some time ago that I hadn’t posted a single blog entry all year and I kept meaning to do something about that, so today seems a good day to start writing again.

I’ve been crocheting, cross-stitching, and making beaded jewelry over the last few months, but I’ve only taken photos of one completed project.  It’s the Cupcake Blanket designed by Lucy at Attic 24.  The colors are sweet and lovely and go well with my chair that Sean painted pink for me a couple months ago.  I also like the cute scalloped edging on the blanket.  I want to use the same edging for the next blanket I finish, but at the rate I’m going, it may not be for a few more months.

cupcakeblanket

 


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Week 51/52: Christmas Eve Eve

12-23-2016b

I was on the fence about continuing this blog.  Then I got an email that WordPress automatically renewed my account for another year.  My credit card’s been charged and I’m paid up, so what the hell, I might as well keep going.

I’ve still been crocheting and knitting, and I recently picked up cross stitch again.  The pattern for the font and Christmas balls that you see above are from Julie Jackson’s newest Subversive Cross Stitch book.  I also made the ornament below.

I’ve got a list of profanity-laced expressions that I’m planning to cross stitch and frame in the near future.  I’ll share them with you if I get inspired to take photos and post again.  In the meantime, hope you all have lovely plans for the holidays!

12-23-2016


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Week 20/52: Ripples and Granny Squares

So last week I had the misfortune of being without a laptop because my motherboard died, and I had to take my PC to the repair shop.  I could have posted the week’s entry through my smartphone, but I was feeling like I didn’t really have anything interesting or new to share.  I was still crocheting, still making the stripey blanket and the granny stripe afghan.  I also made more progress on the Attic 24 Cottage Blanket.

5.21.2016b

In the middle of all this afghan-crocheting, I’d been wanting to make one out of granny squares.  The last one I made was this one, and it took me forever to finally weave in all the loose ends.  Anyway, it had been on my mind to crochet an afghan inspired by Zeens and Roger’s Crochet Circles in a Square Blanket.  So last weekend I started this:

5.21.2016a

I imagine it will make a very pretty blanket when it’s all done– if I ever finish…


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Week 17/52: A Couple of Knitted Things

Two weeks ago, I started knitting a scarf and then a hand towel and then another scarf.  Then I went back to crocheting my afghans, and the knitted stuff got set aside.  I made more progress on the As We Go stripey blanket this week, but I’m feeling like it would be too boring and redundant to share more photos of that today.  So here are a couple of knitted things from my pile of WIPs.

A yet-to-be-blocked lace scarf in Noro yarn:

4.30.2016

Moss stitch grid pattern hand towel in cotton/linen/viscose yarn from the stash:

4.30.2016a


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Week 16/52: Afghans in Progress

So I’m back to my obsession with crocheting afghans.  I’ve been alternating between these two.  And I still have two others on the back burner, waiting to be finished.  There’s a part of my brain that’s encouraging me to start some granny squares, and I’m trying really hard to resist.  Plus, I’ve already got like a million yarn tails to weave in…

4.23.2016a

4.23.2016b

4.23.2016


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Week 15/52: A New Crocheted Blanket Because I Could Not Resist

Last week Saturday, my cousin Joy texted me a photo of a blanket she was crocheting.  She thought she’d screwed up the pattern and wanted to know if her blanket could be fixed.  It looked salvageable to me.  I texted her back to give some encouragement.  I also was curious to see the original pattern.  She sent me the link to check it out.  It was called the As-We-Go Stripey Blanket and once I saw the original post and photos of the completed blanket, I wanted to try my hand at crocheting one for myself.

Even though I was in the middle of about five different WIPs, I had to start this new afghan right away.  On Sunday afternoon, I’d completed this much:

4.16.2016a

And by the end of the week, I’d gotten this far:

4.16.2016

I’m using the Attic 24 Sunny Color pack because I started this project in Ventura, and that’s the only yarn I had with me.  It’s been fun to follow the crochet-along instructions, but to be honest, I am not happy with the pairing of this particular pattern with this particular color palette.  At this point, though, I’ve put in too much time and color changes to start unraveling the whole thing.

I guess I’ll just have to finish it and start a new one using a different color palette.


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Week 14/52: A Bunch of New Projects and No Photos of Them

Yesterday after I got off work, I drove straight down to Ventura, and then this morning Sean and I headed out to L.A. for my annual eye doctor appointment.  Even though we no longer live in L.A., I’ve kept the same eye doctor over the last 12 years because she is the best optometrist.  Our appointments are usually about an hour long, and it’s more like a pleasant visit with a friend I only see once a year.  In addition to completing a thorough eye exam and answering all of my questions, she always takes the time to chat with me.  She remembers details like the fact that my husband and I have jobs that are 150 miles apart and that we commute back and forth between two homes and that we are childfree by choice.  She chose not to have any children herself and completely understands our decision.

Anyway, I brought a sock to knit during today’s drive to L.A., but I forgot to take any photos of my progress.  I also forgot to take photos of the three different scarf/wrap things that I’d been working on all week, and I left them all at our house in Morro Bay.  Luckily, my cousin J texted me a photo to show that she received the Golden State Warriors socks that I’d knitted for her.  So here is a photo of that:

4.9.2015a

Also, while Sean and I were leaving my eye doctor’s office, I saw this place and had to take a photo:

4.9.2015b

How hot is it?

I’ll post photos of my other projects next time, I promise.


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Week 13/52: One Finished Pair of Socks and One New Project

4.2.2106

I finished knitting my cousin J’s Golden State Warrior Socks and right away got started on another knitted piece.

4.2016

This is a chevron pattern that I got from the book Mason-Dixon Knitting.  The pattern is meant for a linen hand towel, but I thought it would work well for a nice wide scarf, too.

The yarn is Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn (40% lamb’s wool, 25% silk, 25% nylon, 10% kid mohair).  After spending so much time crocheting with acrylic over the last few months, I felt like getting into some of my fancy yarn stash, which I almost never use.  Last year I posted an entry to reveal my shamefully abundant yarn stash, and I have to admit that since then I’ve barely made a dent in it.  (It also didn’t help that I bought more yarn over the last few months.)  So this year I am going to try to use up more of the fancy stuff, and hey, maybe by December I’ll have a nice little pile of handmade Christmas gifts ready to be wrapped and delivered.