4 posts tagged “blythe”

I am a very bad blogger. I just realized that I haven't updated this blog since February! Well, despite the fact that I haven't been blogging I have, at least, been continuing to work on projects.

I admit my 2-socks-on-one-circular-needle experiment never reached fruition. I was optimistic that by attempting to complete 2 socks simultaneously that it might somehow stave off my boredom. But, no. I have just accepted that socks are not for me. I still have several skeins of lovely DK yarn that, at one time, I had dreamed of turning into luscious socks. But now I am eying those same skeins with new possibilities - namely, clothes for Blythe.

My Blythe collection has grown quite a bit since I last posted about them. I now have 12, count them, twelve dolls! And I still anticipate each new release with a whetted appetite. But I am currently on a strict "Dolly Diet" after acquiring my two dream girls: a Darling Diva, and a vintage Kenner. For the time being, at least, I am content with my big-headed family and of late I have been venturing into the scary realm of pattern-designing. I figure I may as well start small, since there's less time invested and it's easier to whip up multiple attempts while I work on perfecting the pattern. I admit my confidence at first was a little shaken. I wasn't sure I was "qualified" to create my own designs as I'm self-taught and relatively new to knitting and crochet. But once I dove into it and began keeping notes as I went along, I realized that it's not so intimidating after all. In fact, by paying closer attention to what I'm actually doing, while I'm doing it, it's actually helped me become a better crafter.

My goal is to start an Etsy shop where I'll sell my creations. And then, once I grow bored of making a particular design over and over again (which will happen, trust me, especially given my attention span), I'll start selling the pattern instead so people can make their own. Or maybe I'll just be charitable and give the patterns away for free. I mean, it's not like I'm really in this to make money. It's all for the love of Blythe!

At first, I was a little iffy on my Blythe-clothes-making skills and I didn't dream of selling any of them. Instead I participated in various swaps in which actually made me feel a little worse. Because I would often receive amazing items from my swap partners that my own crafted items just didn't live up to. But over the past year, I've kept at it and I realize that my biggest problem was that I was using yarn that was too thick for Blythe's little body.

Chunky yarn works great for some items, of course, like Blythe hats and scarves etc. But for dresses and tops, I was getting frustrated with my results until I switched over to ultra-thin Crochet thread and sock yarn. It really makes a difference, let me tell you!

Anyway, here's one of my favorite Blythe creations of late:

Blythe Beaded Pouf Dress

I think I've definitely come a long way since I made this abomination!:

Lemony's cable knit dress

Besides Blythe stuff, I've been keeping busy with lots of other projects as well. I finally finished my mom's infernal scarf in time for her birthday (never mind that it was April in Atlanta and she couldn't even use it at the time), and my best friend gave birth to a baby so I took that opportunity to make some baby items, which was fun. All those projects can be seen on my Ravelry Projects Page!

My proudest accomplishment was a Latvian fair-isle bag that I made during the Olympics for an event my LYS was holding called "Amanolympics". I think it's safe to post a photo here because I don't believe my mom knows about this blog - I intend to give it to her for Christmas this year.

Latvian Bag

 
Speaking of my LYS, I've finally found one that I love. It's A Mano Yarn Center!   This is the fist yarn shop that I've ever felt truly welcomed and comfortable going to. I'm pretty shy, so at first I felt a little awkward when I showed up for their bi-weekly "Breakfast Club" event, or their Stitch N' Bitch nights, but the ladies there quickly made me feel welcome and now I look forward to going there every couple of weeks to knit and crochet for a few hours. I kind of want to go in more often, but I'm worried I'd never get any work done! (It's hard enough working from home as it is!) But I'm glad to have a place that I can call my "LYS" with pride. :)

Anyway, I've also been working on a few other things, but this post has been long enough! I'll try to post again before too long! 
 

It's been a while since I last updated. That's partially because I haven't had as much time lately to do crafty things: work has been demanding and  I haven't really started anything new. I've just been working on all the things that I've already mentioned in past entries. I'm almost done with my Cobweb scarf - thanks in part to my husband frequently bugging me to finish it! It's going to be a gift for one of his work acquaintances who helped him move an important project along.

I'm also chugging along on my mom's cashmere scarf. I've only got two skeins left to knit through, but I can safely say I am sick of this project! Will it ever end?? And I'm also bummed to realize that the change of dye lots between the skeins is pretty obvious now that I've knit it up. I couldn't really tell the difference when they were all wound up. (It's all hand-painted yarn from a smaller company, so there are no dye lot numbers printed on the tags). I just didn't realize each skein was so different. Oh well... I guess that's one of the charms of hand-painted yarn.

I've also been teaching myself a new craft - sewing! I figured, I already know how to knit and crochet. Why not add sewing to the mix? At this rate I'll end up a jack of all trades, master of none! I got a sewing machine and realized it's not as easy to operate as I expected. I've been practicing by sewing little clothes for my Blythe dolls. (Um... yes that's plural.  I've added two more dolls to my collection since my last post!)

I've been following patterns to make little dresses but most of my attempts have been failures. None of the following dresses fit my dolls properly!

But I kept at it and finally I have made a dress that actually fits! Here it is:

It's still not perfect.... the top stitching on the pockets is kind of sloppy. And I'm too lazy to change the thread in the machine to match embellishments better! I know, I have to get over that.

I also made a pair of pants that turned out pretty well on my first attempt:

Pants are easy compared to dresses. I think I'll be making a bunch more (and yes, I'll even change the thread to match the pockets!)

I've also been knitting for Blythe. I'm working on a little sweater that I can already tell is going to be tooo big, but maybe I can felt it later on.

I also decided to learn to knit proper cables by making this dress:

It's not the most glamorous thing and it looks a little shapeless, but it's fun knitting little clothes. I have such a short attention span for most projects that little things like this are almost-instant gratification!

In other news, my Secret Pal Mellow/Rutabaga swap from the Knitty board has come to an end! I finally figured out who my spoiler was- Licraftgal - a fellow New Yorker, in fact! It actually worked out pretty funny because I was spoiling Knitmommy, she was spoiling Licraftgal, and Licraftgal was spoiling me! And boy, did she ever spoil me!

Licraftgal really outdid herself this time! Check all this out!

She sent me another cool fairy card with a personal note, a sketchbook, a sheepy notepad, and a super cute Hello Kitty tote bag! ^_^ But that's not all!

GUMMIES!! They're almost gone at the time of this writing, haha.

And look at all these accessories! A Wonder-Knitter, mini scissors, a sewing kit (she must be psychic!), size 5 bamboo knitting needles, and the latest book by the Yarn Harlot!

And it's SIGNED!

And then to top it all off, I got this luscious skein of yarn by Mystical Creations. The pictures really do it no justice - the colors are amazing, the varying shades of blue and deep violet - it's like the sky just after sunset. And it's so soft. I can hardly wait to make socks out of this!

So, again Licraftgal, if you are reading this, thank you so so soooo much! Your generosity astounds me. This has been my first Secret Pal swap and it was a blast! Thanks to you I now have a ton of knitting accessories and yummy yarn to play with!

So here's another update with some more projects I'm working on (is it any wonder why I never get anything done??).

But first! My knitty Secret Pal sent me another surprise:

(sorry about the crummy photo)

A "fairy" cool card (sorry, that was a corny pun!) with a nice note, an adorable teeny-tiny crochet hook for picking up dropped stitches, and a neato tape measure!! I am so spoiled - thank you SP!! ^_^ It was especially nice to get something in my mailbox after a long and hectic weekend!
 
Now, here are some things I'm working on...

First, I finished my most complex thing yet - an arm sock with light cables! (Only one so far, haha). I followed the pattern "Hurry Up Spring Arm Warmers" from Stitch and Bitch Nation. I used this lovely yarn: Noro Kureyon color #88

It's actually kind of rough scratchy wool, but it's not as uncomfortable as it looks. I think it softened a bit while I knit it.

It actually wasn't that hard to do but the whole time I was knitting it, I was convinced I was doing something horribly wrong. I did sort of mess up the thumb gusset... it's not really positioned right, but it's only off by an inch or so.

Here's a pic of me wearing it:

and a close up of my shaky attempt at simple cables:

Now that I've done one I've kind of lost steam and I'm procrastinating on finishing the second one... but it only took me about 3 days to do the first one, so I have no excuse! And I want to be able to wear them before it gets warmer outside!

Next up is my Cobweb scarf! It's based off a character my husband created named Cobweb (duh), which is part of a larger idea called Puri Kura.

There's some exciting news about Puri Kura which I won't reveal yet (I don't want to jinx it!!), but the scarf is sort of a tribute to this good news. It's coming along nicely, but it is kind of boring to knit. I want to make it pretty long and I'm just chugging along, dreading weaving in all those loose ends when I'm done.

Next up is my Jolly Roger Sweater from a patten in Knit 1 magazine (from a few months ago). It was my first attempt at intarsia and I am happy with how it turned out. I only have one sleeve left to knit which shouldn't take long because it's really chunky yarn and big needles. But I'm sort of dreading sewing all the pieces together so... yup, I'm procrastinating again!

Next is a crochet project that was inspired by this site: Counterfeit Crochet

Basically, people take a fancy expensive handbag and crochet a "counterfeit" version of it. I decided to try one based on this bag from Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B line:

I've just started but I can already tell it's going to be a challenge. I've just completed one piece so far:

I'll let you know how it goes...

What else is going on? Oh yes! My husband thinks I'm an absolute geek, but I've joined a guild on World of Warcraft comprised of several of us on the knitty boards. We're called "Purls of the Alliance". I almost couldn't believe there were other knitters out there who love to play WoW - but I think it's great! One of our members even has a popular WoW podcast, World of Warcast!  Check out our forums:  Purls of the Alliance
And here's my new character, Arachne, a Warlock!

Last but not least, I'm excited to say that I splurged and bought a Blythe doll! Here she is: Blythe - Feel the Sky, a cute flight attendant. (Ironic because I hate flying).

I've named her Birdie. I can't wait to knit little hats and things for her. ^_^