Category Archives: Finished Objects

Gifts for the Interminably Picky

I have a few people in my life that aren’t keen on wearing crocheted goods and their objections vary quite a bit. Some think crocheting looks “hippie-ish”, others think it makes you look like a doily. Whatever the reason, it creates a problem for gift-giving. Since I’m still warming-up my skills after years of disuse, I generally stick to giving simple hats and scarves; they require very little resources and, more importantly, tend to actually go into use. I say this with very, very great displeasure: No one has ever used any of the potholders I’ve crocheted for holding a hot item. So, if I don’t want to give what’s tantamount to wall art, I turn to cozies. Of course not all cozies are created equal; they range from the truly utilitarian to the truly ludicrous/endearing. For my purposes, I think a cell phone cover strikes a nice balance.

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Quick and easy holiday ornaments

Love the look of spinning fiber but don't you don't spin?  Do you have a ton of fiber odds and ends that are too precious to toss, but aren't quite enough to make a skein of yarn? I bought a pack of empty clear glass ornaments at Target - I think it was $6 for a pack of 9 ornaments, although I'm pretty sure you could find them cheaper elsewhere.  In the office, we have samples of the Hanks in the Hood layered spinning batts that just launched on the website, and they come in a really beautiful spectrum of colors and textures and sparkle.

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Holiday Variety

'Tis the season for knitting and general fiber craft madness! It's foggy outside and I'm keeping my cocoa mug topped off while I round out my basket full of finished presents for family, friends and... of course, the various pets! I like switching between something that will give me that instant gratification and those complicated heirloom-quality pieces that demand a greater portion of my brain. So, I thought I'd share some of the products of my industrious little needles, just in case there are some of you out there who need a little nudge of inspiration!

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Stripey Baby Blanket

When I found out that one of my close friends was pregnant, my mind instantly wondered off to all of the adorable baby knitting I would be able to enjoy in the next few months. Tiny booties. Cute hats. Little sweaters. And of course, the baby blanket. This would be the biggest project of all my baby knitting plans, so it was first on my list to start.

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Crochet Away Your Peculiar Insecurity, in Sixty Minutes or Less!

I wear a lot stuff around my neck, a fact that I only fully grasped during a recent clothing cull. I mercifully stopped counting after the twentieth scarf but, even so, it all seems excessive until you consider my persistence in wearing them. The very unstudied guess here is that I wear scarves, say, 90% of the time. Now while I could claim that it's an aesthetic sensibility or just plain cozy, most likely it's because I find my neck rather long and goofy looking. I mean, is that too strange? Is that totally unheard of? At least I'm not complaining about my nail beds. Whatever the reason behind it all, now's my time! I'm the annoying person who likes annoying weather and it's bulky scarf season.  

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My Providence Hoodie

So before I start my Christmas knitting in earnest, I had to finish one thing up for myself: This is my version of the Providence Hoodie from the book New England Knits!  I seem to be on a quest to make every single pattern from the book - this is my third sweater & forth project overall. I finished this project up just in time for the cold weather & have been wearing it every day!

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Baby Hat Sans Baby

There's been an explosion of soon-to-appear babies in my life - cousins, friends, coworkers, they're everywhere!  The news causes my two-part reaction of a) "Congratulations!" and b) furious knitting of wee baby things. The only problem is that, since these babies haven't arrived, I have to show you my finished projects photographed flat on a table instead of on a cute round head.

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Winter is Coming

Or where I show just how geeky I am. Earlier this year I, like many other people, became obsessed with Game of Thrones on HBO.  George R. R. Martin's series A Song of Ice & Fire was on my to read list for many years but I'm rather ashamed I never picked them up until after the first episode of the TV series (I had to know what happened next!).  And I quickly became just as obsessed with the books - I've now been working my way through the audio books - they are great to listen to when kntiting! So when this pattern popped up on Ravelry recently, I had to make them:  

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Cute as a button!

I don't know if this has ever happened to you, but I was browsing through the kazillion of fun buttons at Joann's a while back and found this button "Cute as a button".  Which describes my granddaughter. (I think that's what any nana would say! right?)  (here's a picture of Kalyn -not big on smiling- with big brother, Cole)

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