Why I Craft

Why I Craft, Part I: Making Wonderful Friendships

Around the time I started blogging, I "met" Leslie via a Granny Square swap. Over the years, we have become great friends. She is funny, wise, and wonderful. I hope that one day, we will get to meet. Leslie knit up this beautiful sweater for Anya. Thank you, my friend. You are awesome.

Why I Craft, Part II: Learning New Things (and winning Prizes!)

At their 200th blog post celebration, I won a granny pincushion at Erin and Sarah's (a crafty sister team) blog. I never ever thought of the idea of making a pincushion with granny inspiration. Well. At our home, the pincushion is Anya's latest toy. I am sure Erin and Sarah will not mind.

Why I Craft, Part III: Making Gifts for yet to exist Persons

I don't knit socks. I don't plan to knit socks. I possess sock yarn. So with the intent of using my sock yarn stash (!), I began this little baby shirt. I started it in early 2009, and finished it last weekend. It took a little more than a year. Ah.

I made it up as I went along, so unfortunately don't even remember how many stitches I started with. I did at one time (sometime last year, I think), but memory is a strange phenomenon. It is a top down beauty--with a pretty button courtesy my friend, Penelope. I just realized that this lone hat goes with this shirt. There you go--anyone having a baby girl anytime soon?

Yarn: Knitpicks Dancing (discontinued); 1.46 skeins
Pattern: My own concoction
Size: 3-6 months
Hook: 2.5mm

Why I Craft, Part IV: For that warm, fuzzy feeling when you see your baby in your handknits

More and More for Anya. And then some for ME.

More gifts for Anya. I wish I could take all the pictures at once, but that would take a whole day. And a whole day for myself does not exist in my life anymore. So here you go.

This what my PhD colleagues and crafty friends, Rachel and Diane, made for Anya. Rachel made the super, very quirky (which we love!), circular granny blanket. We leave it on our recliner and Anya gets all mesmerized every time she looks at it. The little booties and elephant (elephant!) bib are from Diane. I so wanted to make the same bib when I was pregnant, but well, I have a zillion projects going on then. Thank you, my friends! It is so sad that one have to waste precious knitting time on writing a dissertation. Oh darn it.

Getting back to me. You know, me? After all that crazy amount of baby knitting in 2009, I am so done for a while. This year is going to be about ME. The "All about Me" 2010. To get me started, I needed something that was quick and super fast. I had two skeins of this yarn, sitting in my stash forever, so Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet came to the rescue.

Held double, the two skeins ran out very quickly. I managed to trade in some yarn for a skein on Ravelry (Ah, have I told you that some friends and I are on "yarn diet/destash/knit from stash" health plan? Basically that translates to no buying yarn until June 2010. Stay tuned). So this little shrug is product of 2.75 skeins of worsted weight. I love it.

I thought reverse stockinette stitch was not for me. It just seems wrong. Does that make sense? But I do like it--as the designer of this pattern says, it looks quite vintage. Vintage works for me. I did think of putting a button at the neckline, but I prefer the shrug without one.

Pattern: Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet (free)
Yarn: Berreco Peruvia (2.75 skeins; held double)
Needle: US 11 for body; US 10 for rib
Size: 33-34
Modifications:
- For the front garter bands, I had 5 stitches for each front. I cant stand it when the neckline rolls.
- After I separated the sleeves, started ribbing for the body bottom edge immediately.