A sweater and a sock

Okay, so it's more of a heavy t-shirt/sweatshirt, but close enough.

I bought some teal and pink sweatshirt material ages ago to sew some hoodies for myself and just never got around to it.  Well, I did, but I only made the pink one and I wasn't really thrilled with how it turned out.  I've got a good amount left, probably around a yard and a half, so I could make tons more of these.  I may make him one more out of this material and use the rest to make some for my mother in law's chihuahuas.  She has four.

Anyway!  My mother in law bought two three packs of these little dog t-shirts and she gave me one for Spock.  I was able to get it on him, but he resembled a cloth covered sausage with a face.  I took the t-shirt apart and I didn't do anything at all to alter the pattern except to add about 3/4" to the back when I folded it to cut the piece.  That gave me an inch and a half extra and it was just enough to fit him snugly, but not too tight.

Since it's sweatshirt fleece it doesn't really need to be hemmed since it doesn't fray.  I did do a single crochet around the neckline with a size 12 steel crochet hook (super teensy hook) and size 10 cotton thread, just for decoration.  I left the arm holes and bottom hem alone.  I also hand sewed this, which makes me happy it was small.  My Brother sewing machine is currently out of commission because it was under a leak in our roof and I didn't realize it.  My Singer is stored in the garage at the moment and so I just sewed it by hand.  It didn't take too long.

I've also been working on a pair of socks for my mother in law.  She bought some Bernat Baby Jacquard yarn in two colorways and asked me for two pair of ankle socks.  I'm not a big fan of acrylic yarn for socks, but as long as she's not wearing them in shoes (which she doesn't - she's really careful with my hand knits) they're not too bad for wearing around the house.

This is the Berries and Cream colorway, the other one I'll be working with after these are done is called Easter Basket.  I'm using a pattern called Seafarers Socks by The Seamen's Church Institute.  I chose the pattern through Ravelry because it's a plain sock pattern done in sport weight yarn on size two needles.  It uses small needles so the stitches are small and the fabric more firm, for a thicker, warmer sock.  These are great for working on while I'm watching tv or reading since it's mostly stockinette.

I finished Spock's red ribbed sweater, but no pictures yet.  Unfortunately, he's a very broad chested little guy and so, in making sure the neck was big enough for him, it's a bit too large and he winds up running right out of it when he's playing rough with Moxie.  I'm thinking about running some thin elastic through the neck to make it more snug, but I'm not sure I want to do that.  I want my little guy to be warm (and cute is always good too, though warmth is the biggest reason for me bothering with clothes for him), but I don't want to do anything that will endanger him.  I may just have to chalk it up to a lesson learned and go smaller on the collar with the next one I make.

On a roll

I'm feeling very knitty this evening.  I started a dog sweater for my chihuahua Spock night before last, and I finished it about an hour ago.  I'm especially proud because it's the first time I've finished something beyond a square/rectangle of my own design!  I did keep notes as I went, so I'm hoping to fine tune it and possibly offer it up as a pattern.  It's a top down, in the round, seamless ribbed sweater and it would fit a large variety of sizes.  Unfortunately, I'm not really good at the math/gauge aspect of patterns when designing my own stuff, so I probably won't offer it in various sizes.  Still, I'm pretty psyched that I made something useful that could be made by others.  It's super stretchy so it could fit a dog with anywhere between an 18" chest to around 24".  I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow when it's bright outside.

My mother in law really digs the socks I made for her for Christmas last year, and so she asked me to make her some more this year.  She chose some Bernat Baby Jacquard yarn.  I'm not super wild about knitting socks in acrylic, but for house socks it's not too bad.  The last pair I made her were superwash sock yarn that I dyed myself in purples, pinks and blues and she's pretty precious about them.  She won't wear them in shoes or walk around the house in them because she's scared of ruining them.  She only wears them in her slippers and in bed, and when she washes them they go in a lingerie bag and are washed on the gentle cycle in cool water and then laid out to dry.  Hey, at least she's conscientious about their care (even if overly so) so I know I could trust her to care for wool garments properly.

So I started on a pair of socks for her right after I cast off and weaved in the ends of Spock's sweater.  I'm not at all sleepy so I'll probably work on them and read until I get tired.  I suffer from second sock syndrome really badly, so I'm going to try to start the second sock as soon as I finish the first.  I figure if I can get it going right away I won't leave it to languish.  That's the plan anyway.

We're going to be spending the majority of Christmas Eve and Day with my mother in law this year.  She lost my father in law earlier this year and it's been a really, really rough year for all of us.  My husband and I are going to go over to my parents house early Christmas Day and spend a few hours with them; visiting and maybe watching a movie, then we'll go over to my mother in law's to help make enchiladas.  It's usually a big affair when we get together to cook, so that's probably what we'll be doing the majority of the day.  Afterward we'll probably play Yahtzee or Uno.  Pretty low key stuff.  None of us have a whole lot of Christmas spirit this year and no one is exchanging gifts.  My parents will do stockings for us because it's kind of a tradition, and I may make my dad some sugar free peanut butter cookies (he's diabetic and rarely gets special treats), but that's about the extent of it.  I'm hoping next year will be better and we'll have more of an opportunity to decorate and give gifts, but this year just isn't happening.  I'm happy enough that we'll be spending the days with family and just being together.

My not New Year's resolution

I'm making a resolution, but I'm choosing not to make it a New Year's resolution.  Mostly because I never keep New Year's resolutions.  Instead, I'm making a 'Right Now' resolution to start craft blogging regularly again.

I say again because I've had a craft blog before.  Several actually.  I've been online since 1998 and without fail, my craft blogging falls by the wayside during lulls in my crafting.  The lulls happen periodically through the year, whether because it's too hot to craft, or the holidays get in the way, or I just don't feel like crafting.  Once in awhile it happens when I get discouraged and down on myself and decide that nobody cares to read my blog and my crafting is boring.

This time I'm going to motor through the dull parts and try to post at least semi-regularly.  I might post several times a week sometimes, and other times I may not post for a month.  What I do know is that I tend to try harder to finish projects and actually catalog them when I have a blog.  This is a good thing, since I really like having something I can look back on and remember a sweater, or an afghan or even those boring old dishcloths I gave away a year ago.

I belong to Ravelry, the biggest and best knitting and crochet site out there.  They have a really great area on the site to log your projects with all their pertinent information, but I like to write about the process as well.  I'll do that here.  Beyond knitting and crocheting, I do a lot of other crafty type things.  I mostly play with yarn, but if I do any embroidery/cross stitch, beading, painting, etc. I'll post that here as well.

I'm looking forward to having a fresh, new place to talk about some of my favorite things.