work in progress wednesday: afghan and asj

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Anastacia Knits

Good morning! It’s beginning to look like spring at long last!

I managed to take a couple of wip photos to share with you this week – aren’t you proud?

First, I’ve been working on the afghan design that I started in February. I’m really trying to push to get this done!

My testers are all done with it, my tech editor has checked it twice, so the pattern is done other than my finished sample!

I also managed to start an ASJ… my FIFTH one, I might add…

I received a lot of green wools (full & half skeins) at Christmas from my parents & got a few more skeins for my birthday, so I’m putting them to good use in this jacket. It’s knit at a pretty loose gauge, about 3.6 sts/inch, mainly because I was lazy about swatching & just knit one 6″ square gauge swatch & went with that. I’m using a lot of odds & ends, including some bulky & some fingering held double, so some sections are a bit loose & others are actually fairly tight (like the bulky yarn areas) but the wonder of the ASJ is it all balances out. I’m being careful to balance my gauge – if I knit a row or two with thin stuff, I add a row or two with bulky stuff.

All I can say is thank goodness I started this when I did, because knitting on this has kept my sanity in the past week with all the Jon stuff ;/ (I briefly mention this in last week’s Friday FO post)

shawl and vest fos

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Anastacia Knits

We spent the night pet sitting for my parents this weekend, and took the opportunity to get caught up on some photos. We brought Wedgie along, and man, was he ever happy when we left!

We took photos of this shawl…

which will be ready for testing by the end of this month

and took photos of this crescent shaped shawl / wrap, which is in testing right now…

Took photos of this finished wool scrap vest (crochet)

and finally took photos of my finished February Lady sweater, started on vacation last year!

black acrylic, to wear at work…

On the way home, we ran into a wild turkey

Friday FO on Saturday: socks edition

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Anastacia Knits

Good morning! yes, I missed Friday FO by a day again, but we’ve been dealing with personal stuff… again… hubby got hurt at work, dislocated his elbow, broke his arm, tore a bunch of liagments, etc., and we’ve been dealing with workman’s comp, the hospital, trying to schedule an MRI so we can schedule his surgery, etc, not to mention the usual break in our routine! Jon is not working, at all, for some odd reason, and can’t drive, so things have been rocky to say the least. But, enough about that! I do try to keep the blog a happy free zone, as much as I can!

So, the socks edition of Friday FO. I think I’ve mentioned I’ve been working on revamping an older sock pattern of mine that was previously published in a knitting calendar. I’ve added a second size, got the pattern tech edited & it’s been going through a round of testing. Well, I finally managed to get the finished socks on Jon for a quick photo shoot…he’s such a good sport, even with one good arm!

And if you want to make the socks yourself, check out the free “cable look socks” pattern, and on Ravelry as a free download.

The second pair of socks I finished casting off this morning!

Love how these came out & will definitely use the pattern again.

work in progress wednesday: jon’s socks

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Anastacia Knits

look! I actually managed to take a photo of Jon’s socks, download the camera, AND write a blog post about it!!

You can’t really see from the photo, but I’ve just started the ribbing.

melinda’s wrap square

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Anastacia Knits

This is a 12” crochet block pattern that utilizes an unusual stitch called the “wrap” stitch, which is similar to a cluster but differs in the method of construction.

Pattern will be available for free through the end of May, 2013, and will then become a paid pattern, so be sure to download it now!

Many many thanks as always to my fabulous testers, marjos, debspugs, pandastamper, Tinochka7, and Marifly.

download now

pinterest love

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Anastacia Knits

Source: Disou on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com viaAtty’s on Pinterest

I love love LOVE this scrappy vase!

Source: mooglyblog.com viaTamara on Pinterest

This is covering a stock pot! Isn’t this such a cute idea?

Source: mooglyblog.com viaTamara on Pinterest

This would work great for scraps, too

wednesday happenings

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Anastacia Knits

Yes, it’s Wednesday and another week with no WIP post to share. And as of right now, nothing to share for Friday FO, either. I’ve been plugging away on Jon’s socks – about 4.5″ of leg on both sock is complete, and I did take a photo – which is in my camera, which I left at work. I’ve been working on my afghan design – you know, the one where I spent 6 hours crocheting only to realize I skipped a complete row, the very first row I worked that am, so had to spend forever frogging it only to recrochet it all, only to discover I had made a serious error 6 rows previous – as in, I forgot which row I was even crocheting & wasn’t watching so just completely made up something new for half the row. Sigh. That’s what happens when you get sucked into watching Smallville (and yes, it’s for the first time, we’re borrowing the disks from the library).

So, with no WIP post to share, I thought I’d share interesting blog posts, I haven’t done this in a while.

on the webs blog, a celebration of crochet shawls
Kathryn wrote a very nice article about “niche” crochet skills to learn, like broomstick & hairpin lace. I was very surprised to realize I’ve done every one of the items on her list, at least a little – like crochet jewelry, which was a disaster, but at least I attempted it!
Totally tutorials shares how to crochet a brooch – great for a last minute easter gift!
Something I’ve been doing for years – dying yarn with easter egg dye
how and why to use a tapestry needle with your crocheting
tutorial – foundation single crochet
My friend Linda needs help naming her afghan she’s donating to a silent auction to raise money
how to make plarn
free crochet egg cozy patterns

Now, non-crochet stuff… I’ve been obsessing over canning lately, and Canning Granny is turning into one of my favorite daily (ha! like I read blogs daily!) reads. She’s currently comparing her life, to one of her favorite children’s series – Little House on the Prairie. Even if you don’t care for canning, it’s an interesting read

how to make reuseable snack/sandwich bags (sewn)

What has inspired you this week?

doily test

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Anastacia Knits

One of my dear online friends, Dawn, is branching out into designing, and I was honored to test this little doily for her.

I’m not much of a threadie, but I am enjoying working with thread and hope to do more in the future.

What do you think?

Little Something’s – american girl doll crochet patterns

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Anastacia Knits

Good afternoon! how goes it with ya’ll? Hope you are having a pleasant day.

I wanted to share with you two new designs that I’ve recently published – one was last week & the other was about a month ago. Both are top down, basic sweaters suitable for any 18″ dolls. They’ve been tested and tried on a variety of dolls.

First, the Little Something Shrug

And second, the Little Something Cardigan

Thanks for looking!

friday fo

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Anastacia Knits

Good morning, readers! Hope you had a fabulous week! I am so excited to show you off some more finished goodies.

First, my third ever woven scarf (my second one still needs to be finished)

I’m using a 15″ cricket rigid heddle loom, 8 dent read. I used 2 odd skeins of leftover chenille, and you can see a huge improvement in this one over the first scarf, though I have a lot of room for improvement! I’ve been doing a lot of reading on weaving, so I think my next one will see an even bigger improvement.

My edges are more even, I’m still beating way too hard, but there are sections of this scarf that at least look OK. I haven’t decided if I’ll keep this one or donate it – I don’t want to donate something that’s not perfect, but I don’t need to keep a bunch of practice scarves for myself, either. what do you think?

I also finally, finally finished weaving the ends of this log cabin afghan that I started last April!