Month: August 2012

Girls just want to have fun…

Aynaria 9 Comments

My daughter had fun at her best friends birthday party. Her BFF (best friends forever)  is now nine-years old…

Initially, when my daughter received the invitation, my daughter didn’t think she’d have fun, it being a girly girl party.

Daughter at birthday party
My daughter at her best friends “dress up” birthday party.

But I did remind her that even though she loved doing “non-girly things” she still loved playing dress-up. I also turned her it was perfectly fine if she loved being girly. While it’s not my style, I’ll love her even if she loves being a girly girl.

Sometimes I look at my daughter, and am amazed at how much she looks like myself; especially when I was her age. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, right? She is my daughter after all. The pink decoration in her hair is something I crocheted for her several months ago. I was inspired by the crocheted swirly twirly scarf and the crocheted bookworm bookmarks… and I came up with this.

Girls getting pampered at the birthday party. My daughter’s BFF is the closest person in this picture.

This party had a theme, the girls were had three choices for dress up; fairy, princess, and a rock star. Not surprisingly, my daughter chose the rock star. Rock stars sing music… We both love music, we dance often, and we both play the piano. She’s been playing the piano for four years. She’s played in church, recitals, concerts…. she’s a talented pianist.

My daughter chatting with two of her friends/schoolmates. This shot was taken after they experienced the salon pampering.

In my last post, I mentioned briefly about the crocheted doll I was making for her best friend, and although it was completed. She didn’t receive it yesterday. We did go ahead and give her the other items though. Three sets of gorgeous beads on a string, and beaded thread to make her own jewelry. Since she loves crafts, she was thrilled. Later this week, the crocheted amigurumi doll I made will be wrapped up and mailed to her.

daughter at birthday party
Taking a break for snacks…

Her friends party was held at Girlee Gurlz, yes there is such a place. For two hours, the girls were pampered; makeup, hairstyles, and got to perform on a live stage, surrounded giggling girls, and a few amused parents.

Cyndi Lauper: Girls Just want to have fun

It’s Alive!

Aynaria 3 Comments

Yesterday, during my free time, I found myself knitting this project.

Knitting Amigurumi doll pieces
Can you tell what I’m knitting?

It might be hard to figure what I’m making… currently, it’s just a bunch of knitted pieces, but eventually this will be a knitted amigurumi doll.

I chose not to knit in the round since I wanted to add extra stitching details to this knitted dolls body, which is definitely doable knitting circular, but not as easy. Also I’ve never crocheted or knitted a flat amigurumi project… first time for everything, right?

It’s my first time knitting an amigurumi doll, and surprisingly enough I’m liking it more than the crochet amigurumis dolls I’ve made. Shocking indeed, since I didn’t think that would happen. Of course this means I’ll be making my own knitted Coraline soon. And as much as I loved crocheting Coraline, I wondered at the time how she would look knitted.

While knitting this doll, I felt like Victor Frankenstein, prepping my little beastie that I’ll eventually bring to life, and of course I became inspired to knit another doll, that one will be undead.

As a child my mother couldn’t understand my fascination with the darker subjects such as the occult, horror, etc., and banned me from reading such material. I still managed to read those books. It’s one of the few times I secretly defied her. That fascination has continued to this day, but these days I write stories, or put my ideas into sewing. It’ll be nice to expand that to crochet and knitting.

Knitting amigurim doll
Putting the knitted amigurumi parts together

And while this knitted doll is only body parts, I’m loving her! I’m not sure you can see her little lumps on her upper torso; those will be her boobs. The knitted increases were put in the right place, so the only thing left is to give them a bit of a “lift”.  Also, I’ll be adding a navel. Guess what? When you flip her over, there will be an actual butt, not just some shapeless thing. But that’s as far as I’m going with being anatomically correct. I wanted this knitted doll to be similar to my daughters Monster High dolls.

Of course, I’m using my Knit Picks Options circular needles for this project. Circular needles aren’t only for knitting things in the round (socks, hats, etc.)

Because this doll is knitted flat, there will be a lot of seaming. Since I love sewing (especially hand-sewing) I don’t avoid implementing it into my crafts. You know, I was content to start seaming when all the parts were knitted (I still need to knit the feet) I have an impatient nine-year old daughter who wanted to see at least one seamed body part.

Knitting making a dollhand
Seaming a knitted hand…

And so, last evening before she went to bed, I seamed a hand.

You know… I should have been working on a crocheted doll for my daughter’s best friends birthday party (which is tomorrow) and I promise I’ll do that… today. But yesterday the knitted doll idea I had spinning in my head, was begging me to make her, and so I listened.

Gothic Knits by Fiona McDonald

Where can I find the knitted doll pattern?

My inspiration for the doll came from Fiona McDonald. This particular pattern is from her book, Gothic Knits, as with patterns I follow, I deviated from the pattern; sometimes a little, often a lot. I’ve been a follower of Fiona’s artwork for quite some time.  I was intrigued that with many of the dolls made by her weren’t knit in the round.

With my next knitted amigurumi, I’ll knit in the round, and include a lot of details that I’ll be adding to this doll. Knitting this doll has brought back many fond memories of the numerous dolls I sewed from the age of seven on into my teens. I never played with them, but I sure loved bringing them to “life”.

One of the songs playing through my mind, while knitting this doll… I love Rob Zombie’s music.

Knitting: Diamonds and Pearls shawl; work in progress

Aynaria 13 Comments

I adore shawls and wear them constantly during the cooler months. I’ve designed and sewed many of my own, but I realized that I’m lacking with crocheted or knitted shawls. It’s high time I changed that, right?

Knitting; Diamonds and Pearls Shawl
I’m halfway finished knitting the Diamonds and Pearls shawl.

This Monday, I casted on the Diamonds and Pearls shawl. It’s a simple pattern that knits up very quickly. But… between clients projects, hanging with my daughter, and other daily tasks, it hasn’t left me too much time for knitting. Yesterday, I’ve only managed to knit a few rows of the Diamond and Pearls shawl, but it’s coming along nicely. I’m over the halfway point, yeah!

With lace projects, I usually use a lighter yarn than the one used here. However, this pattern called for worsted weight yarn. Since I love the simple lacy design, I decided to cast on this project and start knitting.. I’m undecided if I’ll keep this or gift it to someone else? Decisions, decisions… Regardless of what I decide, I’ll deviate from the pattern a bit and make it longer, perhaps knit a simple crocheted flower, and I’m thinking I’ll incorporate beads into the knitted fringe.

Shelia January is the designer of Diamonds and Pearls, and can be found on Ravery. My user name on Ravelry is OpalT. The knitted shawl pattern can be found in The Book of Yarn.  Please note that this pattern is written, no charts, I prefer charts, but since I really wanted to make it. I started knitting the shawl.

Knitting: Diamonds and Pearls errata page

I usually come up with my own designs, but when following a pattern, I’ve gotten into the habit of searching for an errata page. There’s an errata page for the Diamonds and Pearls knitted shawl, and while there aren’t many errors with this pattern. If I remember it’s only two, it’s still wise to check when working with a pattern before you start the project. With this pattern, the first error is located within the first row.

I’m linking too…

  1. Tami Amis WIP
  2. Yarn Along
  3. Frontier Dreams

Knit Picks needle cable connectors

Aynaria 3 Comments

It’s amazing how dependent we can become om our various gadgets right? I’m really thrilled with my Knit Picks options interchangeable needles. It makes the larger projects, like the Diamonds and Pearls shawl I’m knitting much easier to manage, since the excess stitches are hanging on the cable.

Using circular knitting needles makes the process simple. I use my circulars for straight knitting too. I sill use double pointed needles aka DPN’s for small circular projects, since I don’t like magic loop.

But back to the cables making my knitting life easier…

It’s no fun forcing a ton of stitches onto knitting needles, at least not for me, the knitting needles are only so long… With my Knit Picks circular needles I can get cables up to 60″ long.  Perfect for some of my bigger projects. It turns out you can extend those cables even more…

Options Interchangeable Knitting Needle Cable Connectors
Knit Picks Knitting Needle Cable Connectors adds an additional cable to your knitting project. Perfect for knitting afghans and shawls.

I knew that some other knitting needles cables had this option for their interchangeable needles, but I didn’t know Knit Picks provided them also. If I’d known that Knit Picks had needle cable connectors, I would have purchased those along with my Options Interchangeable knitting needles set. Oh well, the next time I order from Knit Picks, I’ll make sure these are on my list. When I order from Knit Picks again, I’ll be testing these out. They’re only $1.99 for a package of three cable connectors. If I don’t like them I can just go back to my singular cable.

I can see how adding an additional cable to your interchangeable needles might make some projects like certain afghans, shawls, and scarves, a bit easier. I’ll be working on a knitted afghan in a few months, and I’ll be sure to test the knitting cable connectors to see how I like them.