Another Yellow Sweater Project: Day 72

A Question:

What Will This Be?

The yellow sweater of Kitty Mitten fame is the star of this project as well.

The time allotted for my evening's project is up,

so I am leaving some thinking to you to see if you can come up with the idea I have for today.

The Project Ingredients:

Cut strips.
All the same width, but varying lengths.

This is what remains of the yellow sweater.
Still lots of usable fabric, but smaller pieces.
I am the fanatic recycling person, so these will be used in future projects.
They will be carefully stashed away.

Not many clues here...
Any thoughts?

See you Friday

Plain Mitten: Day 71

What About The Right Hand Mitten...?

OK, OK, I know...guess what?...........

Read this post as Wednesday, March 30, 2011   :-/

(Catching Up is Hard to Do!)

You thought that the Kitten Mitten would be by itself forever?
Well, not to worry any more, for now it has a mate.

Here are the results:

Pinned and ready to cut the right hand mitten.

Ready to sew.
Today I am going to machine stitch this mitten since I am again living with a sewing machine!

The completed pair.
They make a happy couple, don't you think?

Now that I am home the weather is approaching Summer Temperatures.
I guess I won't need these for a while.
 So sad.

Enjoy your day!

Kitty Mitten Complete: Day 70

A Yellow Mitten
Please read the date for this blog as Tuesday, March 29, 2011


The Kitty Mitten is now finished.
"But wait," you say, "how can there be only one mitten to keep the blogger's hands warm?"
I haven't forgotten, but you will need to wait...
one thing at a time!  :-]

Here is the Kitty Mitten:

Inside out.
Hand stitching has completed the outline of the mitten to keep all fingers and thumbs cozy.

Mitten Kitty!

My left hand is now happy and warm.

* Please Note: I apologize for my delay in posting this. There was a bit of trouble with processes to post photos as well as a few other problems. Hopefully I won't run into this again. :-/

Hope you had a good Wednesday.

Sweater Left-Overs: Day 69

Make Up for Return Day from Illinois Trip

Please read the date for this blog as Monday, 28 March 2011

Yesterday was crazy since I needed to finish packing my bags for returning home, check out of the wonderful place I was staying, and take a deep breath before meandering my way back to the Indianapolis International Airport. 

I had a lovely breakfast with my relatives before leaving, and didn't want to interfere with last minute conversations and virtual Memory Lane walks with them.

So I have put off, but not forgotten, to do my blog for yesterday...

I can't help but keep up with my posts!

For Monday's blog I am going to update you on how my Supply Stash fared during the course of my late night sewing and blogging during this last week.

Here goes:

Original orange sweater with all it's parts. :-]

This sweater only lost the wrist ribbing for an orange flower
for one of the Green Pouches.

Original yellow sweater.

My Assistant is showing the space where I cut the Yellow Mitten pattern.
This sweater lost a section for the yellow flower on one of the Green Pouches as well.

Original green sweater.

This one lost the most! All 3 Green Pouches were cut from this.
Also it lost inside seams that were used for the knot buttons.  

This is the mass of embroidery thread, needles, paper patterns and small left-over
sweater pieces in the state that they were brought home.
Definitely a need for reorganizing now that I'm back!

And now the Vacationer is home.
Soon another post...

Continuing With Kitty Mittens: Day 68

The On-Going Project:

Yellow Mittens

Today the cat applique is completed as well as part of the seam.

Since all is being hand-sewn it will take more time, but the inside seam looks neat!

 The seam is an embroidery back-stitch.

Here are today's results:

The inside seam, partially completed.

Turned right side out:
The thumb section is finished.
The cat applique is stitched.
Kitty has blue eyes :-].

It's getting late here.
My eyes are feeling a bit gritty from all my really crazy busy days and late nights!
I have loved it all.
Be home tomorrow night.

See you then!
Happy Monday... 

Yellow Mittens: Day 67

Snow Flurries Inspire Mittens

We have had snow drifting down on us the last 2 days making
warm hands important, so a pair of mittens seems appropriate.

Here is my 1-hour start on a nice pair with cat applique:

These were cut using the waist seam on the sweater to be the cuff of the mitten.
That will give them a very nice finished edge.

Here are the pieces for the applique pinned to the back side of the left mitten. 

Simple running stitch completed on tail, body, and head with orange embroidery thread.
More to be done on this tomorrow!

Enjoy your Sunday.

Yellow Flower Pouch: Day 66

Third Green Pouch...

It snowed today. Very exciting!

Though this is the third in the Pouch Sequence, each one has been different than the next.

This one has a larger flower than yesterday's, and I will show you the inside details.

Here is today's accomplishment:

(In reverse order!)

The finished pouch.
The flower is bigger than yesterday's and laps over the flap at the top...
an intersting layered effect.

A little fuzzy--apologies!
Note the knot button and buttonhole slit.

Turned inside out.
You can see the lump where the flower has been attached and the way I have secured the knot button.

If you look carefully at the right edge you can see the  running stitch to seam front and back together.
The French knots are a deep purple embroidery thread.


Tomorrow is another day.
I will ponder what to make for Saturday.


A Happy Day to You!

Orange Flower Pouch: Day 65

Another Green Sweater Pouch!

Busy, busy days in Illinois.

I have been spending lots of quality time with my family. A great trip.

As I said yesterday, my blogs are more brief...

the Vacationer is, once again, a bit worn out from all the day's activities.

I will keep up with my projects, however.

Here is today's endeavor:

The same green sweater for the body of the pouch.
AND the same knot button that was created yesterday.

A close up of the flower.
French knots in blue embroidery thread.

That's it for now.
See you tomorrow!

Daffodil Pouch Completed: Day 64

Improvising Put To The Test...

Realizing that I didn't bring buttons (oh, heavens!!), and of course choosing a project that needed a button, I was forced to get creative. This was a very good thing, and I believe I will use this idea again because I LOVED it. 

The completed project!

(By the way, PHOTOS today. Hooray!)

Here is the pouch with it's applique.
The hefty green sweater.
The new knot button that I created prior to being stitched.

The pouch with knot button attached and button sitting pretty on top of it's cut buttonhole.

Enjoy the return to photos.
Now you don't have to use your imagination about what I am talking about.
In some way I will catch you up later on the photos from the prior 4 (?) photoless days.

A Vacationer's evening time is limited, so I am a bit more brief than usual.
Had a great drive through very rural territory today. I will throw in a few of those photos as time and inclination grows.

Have a nice evening and happy tomorrow!

Applique Pouch: Day 63

Daffodils In The Spring...Nearly Spring*

In Southern Illinois everyone wants Spring to arrive. It has arrived according to the calendar, but in actuality the landscape does not show signs of Spring flowers yet. I am bringing some flowers to the area in the way of Sweater Flowers, as this is what I do.

My project for today is making a daffodil applique for a little pouch pocket like I made on Day 53, The Simple Pouch.  I drew a pattern for the applique I want to put on the pouch, then cut it out of a lovely yellow sweater. The interesting thing about this sweater is that the fabric content on the label is written in Katakana so I don't know what the 80%/10%/10% are. The sweater feels soft and wonderful, but I will have to do some more research to see what it is.

For the pouch itself I am going to use a bright green small cable knit patterned sweater that I hot-washed a few days ago. I am so sorry that you must wait to see the photos.

Please check in later for the photos. I hope to have that problem solved soon, but I also want to spend time with relatives here since I haven't seen them for 15 years! Keep a good thought for me. :-]

*Just a note to let you know that the Photo Situation is currently being worked on. Long story, but I will keep you posted!

Packing My 365 Supplies: Day 62

Patience! :-]

As you know, I am leaving today to go away for a week. 

The airport transportation picks me up in barely 4 hours from now and you can guess what I am doing...

crazily trying to eliminate some of the STUFF that I don't actually need to take with me.

The bottom line is that once again I must leave my blog without photos.

My Picasa storage is full, as I said yesterday, and there was no way I could take care of the problem today with all that needed to be done getting ready for this trip.

Nevertheless, I did my project for today and have taken the photos, but you will have to wait for them.

I apologize, but I promise to catch up.

So here is what I did today:*

Carefully I calculated what I would need to take with me so that I don't forget a needle or thread or even sweater fabric for the projects I will do while away from home. 

My list of items in the checked bag are as follows:

3 Sweaters

Doll needles

2 Pairs of Scissors

Embroidery Thread

2 Patterns for Applique

Small Leftover Pieces of Sweater Fabric

I hope that I don't get to Illinois (now you know where I'm going) and  find that I desperately need something. This is where the flexibility comes in, and also the increased level of creativity...I hope.

*This in itself is a major decision-making event. When I am home I come up with one idea a day...which is plenty, really...but now I must at least have an idea of what I am going to do for 7 Days! A big order. Part of this is that I will just have to be very flexible and make projects with what I have packed to take along with me. This, then, will be quite an adventure. I can see myself being the Midnight Stalker in the sense that I will likely continue my usual syndrome of racing to post my blog before midnight. ]

Stay tuned to see what happens!

Felting Sweaters: Day 61

Hot-Washing Sweaters:

Today's Project

I spent my project today in the laundry room:

Suds

Hot Water

Gentle Soap

Lots of Agitation in the Washer

Sweaters Bundled into Pillowcases

Time...

Out came 5 nicely felted sweaters,

One Orange

One Bright Green

One Soft White

One Soft Pink

One Butter Yellow

Today you will need to trust me about this...

I have filled up my photo storage area says Blogger, and I don't have time to do the necessary things to make space. Tomorrow is my day to leave on my trip and I have 2,000 things to do before I leave!!!

I hope to be able to rectify this problem, as you know I post many photos and want to share my projects with you. 

Keep a good thought for me!

See you tomorrow. 

As I have noted before, I plan to continue my 365 while I am away.

Laptop is the first thing in the carry-on bag. :-]

Happy Monday, All

Sweater Ball Pincushion: Day 60

Day 60!

I am happy to have come so far with my blog.

Today was another busy one. You know the drill: getting ready for my trip!

It takes so much time to get everything in place for being away.

You will be glad to know, however, that I made a project this evening.

The project for today is another wrapped pincushion like the one I made on Project Day 49.

You can look over the process if you like HERE.

Today's pincushion looks like this:

Top view.
This one has buttons and an embroidery thread/ribbon bow.

The bottom.
Need to have it stable and not rolling all over the work table with pins spilling all over.

Here are the two together.
On the left, today's pincushion; on the right, the one from Day 49.

Happy Sunday to You!

Completed Bowl: Day 59

Time to show you the results of yesterday's start with the Sweater Bowl.

A few photos for a very simple project!

Here is the completed bowl.
What it needed was some coordinating buttons to give it some zest.

The top edge was turned under after stitching on the buttons, and a hem was born.
This gave the bowl some firmness at the rim.
It is so easy to hand sew hems on this sweater fabric. The stitches just melt into it, and you cannot see any of them.
It's like Magic!

And the bottom...that nice, thickly felted ivory sweater.
I love blanket stitch.

See you tomorrow for another project.
Have a Happy Weekend!

Sweater Bowl: Day 58

A Long Day

Today was a very busy one, as I was away most of the morning and the afternoon into the evening.

That essentially equals the whole day!

That didn't leave much time for my project, but I felt compelled to start it even though I couldn't get home until about 10:00 pm. 

Here is what I did:

The sides of the bowl are a section of the sweater sleeve cut from the same sweater of my projects from the last 2 days. I chose the hefty felted white sweater, also from a number of my previous endeavors, to be the base. It is a 4 1/2 in diameter circle.

Blanket stitching the base to the sides.
I will continue this project. Not only does it need the finishing stitching, but I think it needs something else...though I don't know quite what that is yet. My head will be clearer tomorrow.
I will be less tired, too!

Nevertheless
I must wish you

HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY.

This is a very Happy Shamrock.
Can't have a project without green today!

Hope you enjoyed your Corned Beef and Cabbage OR Corned Beef and Colcannon.

Cable Pouch: Day 57

Cable, As In Computer.

Not Cable, As In  (Knit) Cable Stitch.

My laptop sleeve being completed, now the cable needs a home. Can't leave home without the cable or I can't keep you up to date with my blogs when I am long gone on my trip.

Today's project took literally 18 minutes to complete.  

That being said, it wasn't the only phase to this pouch. I put my overthinking brain to work since yesterday, having it decide the details of what the pouch process would be. The thinking of this piece took most of the time. My synapses were burning hot and I didn't even (hardly) know it. That's the beauty of enlisting one's brain for the hard work :-].

Here is what I made today:

Laptop cable next to the sweater sleeve used for the pouch.

The stripes in this sweater make cutting a straight line very easy!

I am now calling upon my ribbon box that I made to find just the right color ribbon to gather the top of the pouch and close it to keep the cable secure.

The ribbon is stitched in place at the back of the pouch.
It is placed directly over the seam that I have chosen to keep on the outside instead of hiding it inside.

The completed pouch.

The complete set.

Now I'm ready to travel!

Picture Day!: Day 56

Catching Up

For those of you with children, do you remember "Picture Day" for your kids at school?

Off to school with nice, squeaky clean clothes, hair neat, shoes not caked with mud. 

But then there were the uncontrollable variables:

1. What manner of dishevelment could occur before the photo moment.

2. The running around crazily on the playground before the photographer's time frame.

3. That oh-so-cute quirky smile that could erupt just as the flash was clicking!
You know who you are (and I love it).

4. And all those other unexpected occurrences!

So the bottom line was that when the photos arrived and your son or daughter brought them home in that big envelope (Package A, B, C, or D...decisions, decisions)...

THEY WERE A HUGE SURPRISE!
Ah, those wonderful memories.


And that has something to do with my project for today, as
it is Picture Day for my collected sweaters for felting. 

Sweaters are much more willing to act sophisticated and not make funny faces.
They also don't wear shoes, so no worries about mud.


When I purchase sweaters I want a record of how they looked before the surgery phase. Not only do I want the overall photo, but I want to know the content so I take a shot of the label as well. 


I took these photos today.
Here are some of what I had backlogged for picture taking:


(Each photo of the whole sweater precedes the label with content information.)
Some label photos are a little fuzzy. I did my best :-].

A nice, soft ivory with cable knit detailing.

Merino, cashmere, and angora.

Soft brown mock turtleneck.
Long ribbing at sleeves.

Detail of sleeve.

Cashmere!

Another similar color as the last one, but I need more of this.
A turtleneck with simple detailing.

100% Wool.

Really, I need more dark colors. Don't get bored yet!

Merino, cashmere, and some acrylic.

Now for the red sweaters.
This one is well loved, but wants some revamping. It will be great for a  Red Project :-].

I find many of these sweaters made in Hong Kong.

This is the most soft of all, and is lovely. Made of Merino wool, the softest of wools.
This sweater fits me perfectly and I would love to wear it rather than felt it, but it has several catch holes in it. I don't know how to repair this, but would love to have it in my wardrobe!!

100% Extra Fine
Italian Merino Wool
The very best!

Hope you will take a walk down Memory Lane with your children about Picture Day.
I went to dinner with my son this evening and shared some smiles about those days.
Great remembrances!

Enjoy tomorrow.