Zombie Blog

It's back! Risen from the dead! My bloooooooog! So I'm terribly ashamed that I haven't updated my blog since December. I have no excuses. I've been busy, really busy but who hasn't? Anyhow I'm here, I'm back and hopefully I'll get back into the habit of posting more often.

Since five months is a long time of catching up, I'm just going to do a super quick run down of the things I've knitted or otherwise created in that time. If you want more details or have a question, feel free to ask in the comments section.

In November I knit this gorgeous creature for a Ravelry Knit Knack swap. Anne wanted something with grey and mustard yellow.

Name: Super Secret Swap

Pattern: My own design inspired by several cowls.

Yarn: Madeline Tosh Merino Light

Weight: Fingering

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

In January I finally finished these socks. I love socks as a simple project. A row here or there. Just chillin', not worrying about getting them done on a deadline.

Name: Swirly Q

Pattern: Inspired by Spiral Eyelet Socks by Sandi Rosner.

Yarn: Wisdom Yarns Poem Socks

Weight: Fingering

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

In the same swap that I knit the mustard and grey cowl, Anne gave me a kit. She provided the yarn and pattern to make these super sweet mitts! I had plenty of yarn left over so I made myself a quicky shawl to match.

Name: Strawberry Shortcake Mitts

Pattern: Strawberry Mittens by SpillyJane.

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Cascade 220 Fingering

Weight: Fingering

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

Name: Strawberry Leftovers

Pattern: Diving in {recipe} by Mam'zelle Flo

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Cascade 220 Fingering

Weight: Fingering

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

Ages ago another Knit Knacker Amber spun this breathtaking yarn and I bought it from her. I mean, look at it!! I didn't want to knit with it, I couldn't find something that seemed right for it until January. I knit the Ginkgo shawl and I love it!

Name: Ginkgo Coastal

Pattern: Ginkgo Shoulderette Shawl by Maggie Magali

Yarn: Coast Handspun by Amber (yarnaholic)

Weight: Fingering

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

When I first became S.L.U.G. Queen, Queen Slugtoinette asked me if I could knit her a doll of her likening. Of course! I wasn't able to give it to her on her birthday, but rather at my birthday party and as you can see, she's beyond thrilled!

Name: SLUG Queen Marie Slugtoinette

Pattern: Marie Antoinette Knit Doll Pattern by Amy Gaines

Yarn: Scrap acrylic I had

Weight: Worsted

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

I'm on the call list for test knitting for one of my favorite designers, Lee Meredith (Leethal). In March, she sent out this hat pattern to be tested. I volunteered to make it in fingering, with little to no slouch for a man- my hunky husband.

Name: Barry

Pattern: Barry by Lee Meredith

Yarn: Knit Picks Palette, Rowan Scottish Tweed 4-Ply

Weight: Worsted

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

Every year, a local boutique has a silly, stunning, creative, festive Easter bonnet contest. As Queen, I entered and I won! I was awarded a $100 gift certificate. Woohoo! My bonnet has flowers, leaves, Easter eggs, chicks, bunnies and a slug or two.

Name: Passionflower Easter Bonnet

Pattern: My own

Yarn: Various yarn I had around the house.

Weight: Mostly worsted

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

Also, every year there is a fantastic art show dedicated to Jell-O. The current SLUG Queen always gives the benediction. I also entered this year by knitting with Jell-O. Well, sort of. Check out the link to read more about my adventures in wiggly, jiggling knitting.

Name: Knit 1, Jell-O 2

Pattern: My own

Yarn: Scrap Yarn and gelatin

Weight: Does Jell-O have a gauge?

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

Another Leethal test knit! I had bought the beautiful blue yarn last summer and still hadn't used it. When I saw I needed one or two more yarns for this shawl I went out and got the vibrant fuchsia to go with it. They look great together! I love this shawl- it reminds me of butterfly wings. I took the pictures at the Woodburn Tulip Festival.

Name: Robin

Pattern: Robin by Lee Meredith

Yarn: Madeline Tosh Merino Light

Weight: Fingering

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

And finally, I have this hat. When I did the test knitting for Lee Meredith, I was given credit to her pattern store in exchange. I bought this hat and used some yarn around the house. It needed more flare, so I needle felted hearts over the ears. Because of the style of the hat and the additional hearts, I call this my Amelia EarHeart hat.

Name: Amelia EarHEART

Pattern: Gentle on My Mind by Lee Meredith

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Cascade 220

Weight: Worsted

See my Ravelry page for more pictures and details.

Well, that's it! I hope you enjoyed my knitting as much I as did making them. What's up next for me? I'm starting on a new Queen gown. It'll be my Old Queen gown, something I can retire into. I'd like to get back into spinning. I can't remember the last time I spun yarn. The Black Sheep Gathering is next month, I'm excited for that! I also was curious at how much yarn I knit in a year so I joined Knit Meter. You plug in your yardage and it adds it up for you (it would be great though if it was synced with Ravelry so you didn't have to do it twice.) The little gadget update automatically but as of today, I've knit 2.02 miles in 2013. That's pretty cool!

Advent Calendar

In 2011 I did a craft trade with my friend Kristin. I knit her children some hats and she quilted a beautiful advent calender for my family. We did the exchange so close to Christmas last year I wasn't able to use it for advent.

I grew up with those little chocolate advent calenders and they just might be my favorite Christmas tradition. To wake up every morning, searching for the right number and eating a chocolate before breakfast! I knew I wanted to continue the tradition with my boys but wanted something more special, more permanent and of course handmade.

When I discussed what I wanted in an advent calender, I imagined that I would knit little Christmas stockings that could be attached to it and then my boys could pick one and put it in the corresponding pocket. Kristen totally rocked it! The craftsmanship is outstanding and the fabrics she used is perfect for my tastes.

Because the advent calender wasn't used last year it gave me all of 2012 to knit little stockings for it. I knew that if I gave myself the entire year to knit them all, then I could finish it. HA!! What a joke! Wasn't I optimistic? Come January 5th I had one sock knit. Then on November 8th I remembered advent was approaching and searched out my project. I had only knit 9 socks. ACK! I needed to knit 16 more in less than a month! I barely did it- I just finished the last one today.

This week I bought little foil wrapped chocolate candies to hide in the pockets each morning so that my sons get that extra special treat. I hope that using this calendar every year will create a special memory for them.

Name: Keepsake

Pattern: Mini Christmas Stocking Ornaments by Little Cotton Rabbits

Yarn: Knit Picks Palette

Needle Size: US 2, 2.75mm

Read more on my Ravelry page.

Make Your Own Nail Polish Rack

I came across this YouTube video Shit Nail Polish Addicts Say.  There's a bunch of videos of this genre going around but this one definitely spoke to me.  I could relate to several of the stereotypes in the video.

One particular part in the video caught me off guard.  She holds up a foam board and mentions having to make another nail polish rack.  WHAT??  I have never heard of making your own rack.  I looked into buying some in the past but they're so expensive or the shipping is.  Or they don't hold very many bottles of polish.  So I Googled this rack making business and found this YouTube tutorial.

I went to work!  I wanted to make racks that fit 50 bottles so my racks have 5 tiers and holds 10 bottles each tier. So my measurements are much different than hers on the tutorial. I picked up 4 foam boards at $3.49 apiece.  The foam boards I got were 22x28 inches big and each rack took slightly over 1 board.    The math is by far the most time consuming aspect of this project.  Triple check your measurements!!  I have a bunch of different shaped bottles so when I laid out my 50 bottles for the original measurement I made sure to include a variety to get a truer size.

I don't really have any place to put these so I bought two shelves from the hardware store.  The shelves and hardware came to about $21.  If you're also buying shelves, make sure to get ones that will support the weight of all your polish!  The shelves I got are long enough to hold 2 racks or 100 bottles of polish and support up to 100 pounds.

Since the only wall space I really have for the shelves is in my living room, I knew I wanted my DIY racks to be pretty.  I was given some fabric from a friend who was destashing her craft room.  I cut the fabric as the same size as my side walls and the front "lip."  I used Tacky Glue to glue them on. So easy!

From the 4 foam boards I was able to make 3 racks to hold approximately 150 bottles of nail polish for only  $14.  Yay!  I organized my polish by color since I'm not particularly loyal to a brand or collection.  Isn't my polish pretty?  So much nicer than being shoved in several shoe boxes.