Last night was the first official NFL game of the 2015 season. Which means the Pigskin Party over on the Down Cellar Studio Podcast group on Ravelry also kicked off. The Pigskin Party is a unique knit/crochet-along that runs all fall and winter and ends when the Super Bowl is played in February 2016. I participated last year and it was loads of fun. They have special contests (“interceptions”), Monday Night bingo, and other games. You earn points by the amount of yardage gained – resulting in touchdowns (7 pts) or field goals (3 pts); you can also earn points by making something football themed or in your teams colors.
p.s. if you sign up, let me know – I can get points for recruting LOL!
For the most part, unless they decide to do a WIPs interception game this year again, projects need to be started after kickoff on Sept 10th at 8pm EDT. While I was anxious to get started, in truth, it was a good kick in the pants to get some of my WIPs cleaned up so I could start (semi-)fresh.
One of the projects sitting in my stash was a bunny I started for a CAL a couple months ago. I’m not sure why, but in the middle of it, I suddenly lost interest – right about the time I needed to make the ears and put everything together.
I may have had in the back of my head that the eyes looked too big for the head and body, but the ears really add some height and balance it all out. I think he turned out cute. Little Chick said it was “Mama’s bunny”, so I stole him for my desk at work to make me smile :-).
Pattern: The Bunny Bust
Designer: Dennis van den Brink
Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly Baby Cotton DK
Colorways: 156 Pink and 157 White
My Ravelry page
I’m also currently trying to finish up a knit ballerina doll for Little Chick. I finished all the knitting this week. Now comes the “fun” part … seaming, stuffing and sewing it all together. I forgot to snap a picture though.
I do have a couple of larger WIPs that I could have worked on, but I knew I’d run out of time anyway, so what did I do? Start a couple of new projects…
This was a crochet-a-long, of course. A quick cup cozy. Took me two days … if you count that I started late one night and finished early the next day. Not sure what I’ll do with it, but isn’t that the case with many of my finished projects?
Pattern: Wonderland Cup Cozy
Designer: Janaya Chouinard
Yarn: unknown worsted/Aran
Colorway: unknown, sort of a fuchsia
My Ravelry page
I also started and almost finished a doily. It’s soaking right now so I can block it later.
My last WIP is a long-standing one. Several years ago, I purchased my first pair of chinos and loved them so much that when I spotted a couple more in the same waist-size at a rummage sale, I couldn’t pass them up. Except, they needed hemming. No problem, right?
Those pants sat… for more years than I’m willing to admit. I finally pushed them up the priority scale on my to-do list a couple weeks ago and had Papa pin them where I should place the hem. (And then they sat for another couple weeks, waiting for me to iron those hemlines… but that’s another story). Finally, I went to hand-hem the pants because that’s all I knew how to do. After bending and destroying one needle and complaining how tired my hands were after working through just 1/2 of one pant leg, Papa asked why I wasn’t using the machine. Um … I don’t know how?
I realized he was right and I was being silly. After all, I have a nice machine – complete with an instruction manual on how to use that blind hem presser foot. Why not let the machine do the work?
However … while the instruction manual told me exactly how to set up the blind hem foot and stitches, it did a poor job of explaining how the fabric needed to be folded to get the hem just right. Honestly, I don’t know what people did before the days of the internet! I found a wonderful video by Craftsy that walked me right through!
The stitches aren’t perfect – some are longer than others, but they’re a lot more even than my less-than-perfect hand sewing would have been. Plus, I can now say I’ve learned a new skill!