UFO Resurrection Challenge

Here's a good challenge (& resolution) for the New Year. Its the UFO Resurrection Challenge 2007. The idea is to finish or rip out one UFO a month in 2007. You can read all the details here on Kat with a K (that's actually a different Kat than this one). I also decided to try my hand at creating a button for the first time so here's a UFO Resurrection button. Feel free to take it for your blog as well!

travel knitting

here's my holiday traveling in knitting...

Finished Odessa Hat in San Francisco airport waiting for flight to Houston on Saturday, Dec. 23.

Finished Odessa hat from Rowan Cotton Wool (a sample for the store) finished at my parents house in Memphis on Tuesday, Dec 26. Would have been done quicker but I kept getting distracted & having to rip back the decreases...so frustrating.

Blue doll dress finished except for seaming. Knit at my parents & on flight from Memphis to Houston. Finished on plane waiting to leave Houston.

Front of yellow doll dress. Finished on flight from Houston to San Francisco.
I actually thought I'd get more things done but this was pretty good. The doll dresses are for a set of twin dolls I've been asked to make. They don't need to be done for four more months but they make perfect plane knitting since they are small.

Happy Holidays!

To all my web friends!

a few little projects

this is a practice piece for a sweatshirt i am going to embroider for daria's birthday. i'm still not happy with my satin stitch. i'm hoping its just the weave of this fabric making it hard to do. she's promised not to look at my blog until then...so daria if you are looking you have spoiled the surprise!

this will be my traveling project for tomorrows flights. its the odessa hat i had started for another present. i really messed up the decreases somehow. i tried ripping back but decided it was jsut easier to start over & did this much last night.

Cast Iron is a wonderful thing

for blocking that is. I never thought the curl would come out of this sweater but two days under the skillet & it is flat.

so now I don't need to knit up a different pink sweater & this dolls woredrobe is complete.

last night i started a test run on the embroidered day of the dead sull before i actually do it on a sweatshirt since its for a gift. gabbi gave me a book of embroidery stitches for christmas so now i'm trying all sorts of different ones on this project. I'll try to post some works in progress pictures tomorrow.

visit sunny california...

& bring me an ice scrapper when you come.

This was my car window this morning coated in ice (i had scraped some off before I took the picture) you know a squeegee does not make a very good ice scraper & both my front & back window were coated. burr, has it been cold. but i guess northern californians are hearty, one of my co-workers told me he surfed yesterday!

Matt & I chose to just bundle up & stay inside yesterday. we watched Capote & I knit up this little blue dress from my blond doll.

Its knit from cotton & i made up the pattern as i went along. Its inspired by the Mabel Dress in Erika Knight's Simple Knits for Cherished Babies. I also knit her a pink sweater with a picot edge on the sleeves & waist. The picot rolled so much though I afriad I am going to have to trash it & do a different one. For now it is blocking under a cast iron skillet.

I'm hoping that will make a difference.

bad blogger

Sorry for the lack of posted this week. I usually post during my lunch but, in what is usually a quiet time of year for me at work, things are extremely crazy. My company is releasing a new title every week at the beginning of next year & sometimes two, we have typically released on a month in the past so I'm running these days. I am so looking forward to the week off between Christmas & New Years. I have some new knitting ideas running through my head & can't wait to get them on the needle to see if they work!

freezer paper

A couple people had questions about freezer paper after my last post. I think freezer paper was a paper originally used by butchers but crafters have discovered it. It is matte on one side & waxy on the other. The matte side can be printed on my your computer. The waxy side will adhere to fabric when you iron it on a dry (no steam) setting. The amazing thing is it leaves no waxy residue & peels off really easily. I found I had almost no bleeding when using it espeically when I did only one coat of fabric paint, it was also important to dab the paint on with a little sponge not a brush. I have also read that you can reuse your stencils about 6 times if you get them off in one piece.

This is the paper I bought online.

I bought it because the sheets were the perfect size for running through the computer & I wouldn't have to fight the curve of a roll of paper. I guess quilters use it, I bought this from the electric quilt company. It claims that is made for quilting & had better adhesion to fabric. I have also seen it in bigger safeway stores by the roll. Hope that helps!

Here's some pictures of the first outfit I finished for the blond doll.

The sweater is knit our of Nashua Julia. The frayed jeans are of course denim. I embroidered a pink flower on in so it would also match the pink plaid skirt she will have.

By the way this is my 200th post...yeah!

santa's workshop

it was a cold rainy day in san francisco. a perfect day to turn our apartment into an annex of santa's work shop.

First matt & i worked on stenciling t-shirts using freezer paper for all our nephews.

We found pattern swe liked online at stencilry and spray paint stencils. matt sized them & printed them right on to the back of the freezer paper then i cut them out with an exacto knife. then just iron them on the t-shirt & dab the paint on.

we are really happy with the results though would stick to darker color paint on dark thick fabrics like this next time.







i was also asked to make another doll as a gift for a three year old. this time the doll needed to be blond with blue eyes.

i learned a lot between making this doll & my first. i sewed her together using the tissue paper trick that was left in my comments by terry & it made sewing this stretchy cotton jersey much easier. I also sewed the hair on this time with matching embroidery thread instead of sewing with the yarn. it was soooo much easier & i feel like the hair is really secure. i've half her first sweater so i'm finding these work up surprisingly quickly.

tomte & other delights

I finished the embroidered elf from wee wonderfuls to match my elfette even though they were shunning me at knitting on monday for sttching instead of knitting.

i then decided to trying drawing own design based on tomte which are mythical creatures of Scandinavian folklore which protect the home & farm. they traditionally have a beard (tomte can also mean santa claus) but i've seem them without too & the beard just didn't look right especially with the tree.

maybe i'll try another one with a beard, i'm thinking pulling a sled. these are just my practice pieces to learn the basics of embroidery but i'm so happy with them i'm thinking of cutting them out sewing them to another piece of fabric & stuffing them a little to make christmas tree ornaments. they whip up so fast i can see doing these next year as tags on some christmas presents.

"And the winner is........
Kat-Knits!!! She posted to her blog all 30 days in November and
posted to the Yahoo group 29 times...woohoo! !! Way to go Kat! Send
me your addy and some fiberly goodness is on its way to you!"

I didn't win anything on NaBloPoMo but thanks to being part of it I did win the Blogs by Knitters contest for posting the most in November & this is probably a prize I'll appreciate more!

i haven't stopped knitting despite all the stitching but i'm working on matt's blanket which is about 5 x 3 at this poitn but not very exciting to photograph the frew inches i get done at a time.

we are instore for a big winter storm in the bay area (severe wether alert for the coast) and the sky this morning really showed that something is brewing.

Whiplash December

The December theme for Whiplash is gifts & decorations. Here's my entry..
I wanted to make this sweet girl something special for Christmas.

I was inspired to try a handmade doll by Martha Stewart's Handmade Holiday Gifts magazine but I wasn't wild about the body of the doll they had the pattern for. I did some searching on line & looked at lots of different dolls & patterns & I liked the legs from one, body from another & face embroidery ideas from others. I finally sketched out this pattern.

Then I cut it out of ivory cotton jersey and sewed it up leaving an opening at the top of the head for stuffing which I whipstitched shut after stuffing.

I embroidered on a very simple face and sewed on hair using Nashua Julia yarn.

The hair is styled & tacked down all the way around with matching embroidery floss to prevent it from being pulled off. It also hides the back of the embroidery. One layer of hair is not tacked down so it looks like she has long loose hair.

Little black ballet flats were painted on with fabric paint.

Then the fun part came, making her outfits with sewing and knitting

This is her school outfit. The sweater is knit from Knit Picks Merino dk and the skirt is sewn from a cotton remnant I had. It has an elastic waist to come off easily.

Here is her play outfit. The cardigan is knit from Debbie Bliss Merino dk & has snaps for the closure. The jeans are from scrap denim.

Finally her party outfit. The top is knit from cotton & has a picot edging around the neck & sleeves. The skirt is made from taffeta & has an elastic waist.
Everything was put in a bright pink box that the doll could be stored in along with her wardrobe.
According to mom, doll and baby have already had a chat & are on the way to becoming fast friends.

a little stitching

i mentioned in an earlier post how cute I though the elf patterns were on wee wonderfuls so last night I took a stab at doing one.

I got out my Jenny Hart Stitch-It Kit, did a little reading & dove right in on one of the tea towels included in the kit. I also had to go out & get dressmakers tracing paper to transfer the pattern to the towel. Matt made the patttern a little smaller (she's only 4 inches tall) for me which made some of the small details a little tougher but I think it came out pretty cute. I might have a new addiction.

i have been gifted...

First of all a sweet little package arrived addressed to me at Noe Knit. Who was if from by Erica. I had admired a scarf she had made on her blog & she sent me a ball of the yarn that she had left. There was a lot of ohhing & ahhing at the store, wonder what yarn it is. The pink is such a sweet color (even though it looks a little purple in this picture). I think it will become a lacy scarf for me! Thanks Erica, unexpected package always make my day!


Then last night my friend Jan showed up with this...

Her friend Jill had caught the bouquet at my wedding. Jan pressed the flowers & created this beautiful piece. It was such a surprise & I love it. I was having a hard time coming up with a good way to remember the flowers other than just drying them. Its such a special piece to me because its from the wedding, Susi did the flowers & now Jan has preserved them.

my sewing machine

Craft magazine had a blog posting the other day asking people to post pictures of their sewing machines so here's mine. Its a very basic Kenmore from Sears. My parents gave it to me for Christmas probably 10+ years ago. I didn't really sew at the time. I finally got frustrated one day at not being able to find sundresses that fit me while I was living in Sacramento & taught myself to sew. I made a lot of clothes around that time including my bridesmaids dress for my sister's wedding & a lined wool winter coat (which I think my sister kept the first year I wore it home for Christmas ;) When I moved in with roommates in San Francisco & was spending time with a boyfriend who lived on a boat I didn't really have the space to spread out & make clothing (though I did make us some awesome mermaid tails for halloween one year) so knitting became my main creative outlet. Now that I am in a place with just Matt the sewing machine has come back out.

By the way have you checked out the Craft blog? Its got so many great project everyday!

oh so cute!

did you see the elf embroidery patterns on wee wonderfuls today? & the patterns are free...how much time until christmas?