The Fundamental Things Apply

Well I am just a bundle of boredom lately. That is, in part, the reason for my not posting in SO long. The other part is of course the fact that I barely have time to sleep anymore, let alone use my computer for fun.

And even so, my life has become a little repetitive. Better not to repeat my grievances over and over. It gets a little dry.

Even though I am in desperate need of a "fun-tervention", I have been putting my daily commute to good use. Several of my knitting and crochet deadlines (hereinafter known as "KC deadlines") have been made! YAY!

So here is a little progress report, lets take it from the top (no pun intended):

Always Running Out of Time

It seems I've managed to create a mountain of stress for myself these holidays. At first it seemed like I had far too much free time and now I don't know how I'm going to get everything done!

I mentioned previously that I would be making each of my family members something for their birthdays. Seemed like a good idea until you factor in that;

a. I start full time work in just a few days,

b. Will be working 7 days for the next 2 months, and

c. There are 5 birthdays during January and February.

Suddenly, my projects seem more like work than recreation!

I'm powering on though. I've pretty much started everyone's projects or at least have a solid idea in my head. It's just a matter of finding the time to complete them now. And I will.

Meanwhile, this is what is currently on my plate;

Bridgette Crochet Bustier by Factorie

My sister requested that I make her this before summer is over. I hope to have it done before the end of January so she actually gets to wear it. But unfortunately, as simple as it looks, it is so time consuming! Plus...I made a mistake! And the DAYS worth of work I had completed, has to be redone. Devastation.

Crazy for Trying

Things have been crazy lately. It's amazing how having more "free" time can actually mean having less time all together. And focusing on the important things is so hard to do.

Needless to say, I've been busy in every sense of the word.
I've managed to finish one of the tunics for my cousins. It's adorable, if I do say so myself. It needs to be washed and blocked still, so I'll hold off on photos till it's completely finished.

I've also managed to complete more than a handful of baubles. I want to start writing out my patterns and putting them up. I'm just a little concerned that my patterns will be incomprehensible. I have a habit of writing things in a way that only I understand. I'll give it a shot though. The patterns will probably be up in the next post. I want to do the potholder pattern too.

Here's how the baubles look on the orange tree out the back. We haven't gotten around to putting up our Christmas tree yet so this will have to do.

Baubles, Bangles and Bright Shiny Things

I've been stitching like crazy lately trying to finish those tunics for my cousins. I found a pattern to give me approximate sizing and the number of stitches and then I've just gone with my gut. It looks pretty cute so far, but I'm worried the size will be too small. Even though I made a gauge swatch and measured everything out, it still doesn't seem quite right. I'll finish it first before I freak out though. And if it doesn't fit, there are plenty of other people I know who have babies.

I also decided what I wanted to make for christmas for my family. I usually bake them all something sweet, but this year I decided to make something less naughty. Among my Pinterest travels I came across theses crocheted baubles which I thought were adorable.

I'd like to make at least one for each of the separate families, maybe one each if I have time. I'll see how I go.

I found a few different designs while I was searching and some beautiful colourful baubles from Woolies.

Baubles from Woolies

Pattyo's Baubles via Circle of Crafters

HandiArt's Baubles

HandiArt has so many different designs, and those ones are for sale.

I found a great looking tutorial for them too on snovej.com. Marina makes it look so simple but effective. I'm so excited to try them.They should be a super quick and fun project. And it might deplete my yarn stash a touch!

On to the Next

So my week has been super productive. Despite having a seriously full workload because of my studies, I managed to finish not one, but TWO projects. Finishing anything is pretty much unprecedented for me, but this is outrageous! But here we are...

 

I managed to finish my tote and my christmas potholders. I'm pretty sure my grandmothers will never use those potholders for fear of getting them dirty, but I'm really happy with the way they turned out. It wasn't easy working without a pattern. The only reason they are flat is because I ironed them. But I'm happy with them none-the-less. Once my exams are out of the way I'm going to write up the pattern properly and put it on Ravelry.

On another note, I am in a bit of a bind. I have a few projects lined up but first and foremost, I wanted to make something for each of my cousins on their birthdays. Which happens to be at the beginning on January, February and March respectively. The problem is I don't know what to make. I have plenty of patterns but nothing that inspires me. I'd love to make them something summer-y, but there's not a lot of summer patterns for little boys. I'm going to keep hunting though. I found a raglan tunic that might work. I'll have to try it out and see if it works with the yarn I wanted to use. Hopefully I won't run out of time.