Knitting update

I have finally finished a simple knitted blanket, the Plush Throw from Lion Brand, for a late wedding gift. At least the weather is finally turning chilly enough for the recipients to use it! My cat certainly approved of the finished blanket and was very unkind to me when I had to take it away. The blanket caused a slight delay in my holiday knitting schedule, but I'm doing alright nonetheless. The brown wool vest is over halfway done, as are two pairs of socks, and I should be starting another project today or tomorrow. So, not panicking yet.

Birthday notebooks

Here are some skinny notebooks I gave as a gift earlier this week. I used graph paper and card stock, held together with a seven-hole pamphlet stitch. I applied a strip of gray paper along the spines to conceal the sewing and to make the notebooks look like a set. I like using graph paper in blank notebooks because it's so versatile - you can write, draw, and design on it. I gave these along with a pack of colored pens.

Tree of Life afghan, at last

After languishing for a few weeks while I read the whole Harry Potter series, the Tree of Life baby blanket is finally done. Here it is all pinned out for blocking; I did an applied I-cord border rather than the leaf border called for in the pattern. I'm quite happy with how it turned out, and now that this project and Harry are both out of the way, I'm hoping to focus and pick up some steam in my gift-knitting agenda. I still have another small blanket and a sweater vest on the go, but should be starting two new gift projects over the long weekend, and hopefully making progress all around.

Cage comforters

As one of my charity crafting projects for the year, I finally finished making 11 Cage Comforters to donate to New York Animal Care & Control. Pictured above are three of my favorites. I used fabric recycled from clothing and sheets; the tops of the cushions are mostly knit fabrics, while the cotton sheets make up the bottoms. They're about an inch thick each, and around 12" x 18" in size, as specified by NYACC. These were very simple to make, and I hope they do provide some comfort to a few animals in need. I would have liked to make more but I have a full roster of gifts in progress, and I was limited by a tight budget for materials. Maybe next year I'll be able to do more.

A baby gift + animals are people, too.

The Baby Surprise Jacket is done, in plenty of time for the baby's October arrival. This jacket was a joy to knit. I used a machine washable acrylic/wool blend from my stash and some sweet purple buttons I also had on hand. The jacket turned out the perfect size for the baby to wear through the winter.










And here are some little things for the animals. On a recent rainy Saturday, I spent the morning working on the Cage Comforters, one of my charity projects. There they are on the right, stacked up after being sewn & stuffed. I still need to sew up the stuffing holes and then tack them in a few places before they are ready to donate. I had some scraps of fabric left, so I cut them into strips and braided them to make toys for a friend's two Chihuahuas.

Brief update

Just a quick update on the gifts I have in progress. The Tree of Life is almost done, then I have to add the edging! That will get a big post of its own, hopefully soon. On the left above is the Baby Surprise Jacket (I switched yarns, and much prefer this new one), and on the right is the vest...not progressing as fast as I'd hoped due to the heat!

New gift projects + crafting for animals

Over a long weekend recently, I had time to flesh out my bare-bones holiday gift plan. I filled in a lot of blanks and was happy to note that I will probably not have to buy any new yarn to complete the knitted & crocheted gifts I hope to make. Pictured above are the beginnings of two holiday gifts: a wool vest for my Dad and a Baby Surprise Jacket for a niece.

During my time off I also started work on one of my (non-work related) charity crafting projects: Cage Comforters for Animal Care & Control of New York. These are small, simply constructed cushions for the animals housed in AC&C facilities. I'm also planning to make hats for a neighborhood shelter or mission, but I really wanted to allocate some of my charitable crafting energy to a project for animals. Anyway, fabric is not in my budget at the moment, but I had just cleaned out my closet and had some clothes set aside to donate to my local thrift shop, so I pulled out some dresses & other larger items and cut them down. Now I have a stack of pieces ready to sew together - all I need now is the batting.