In lieu of sewing

My basement sewing lair is still packed up because of renovations. Though I've set up a temporary sewing station upstairs, I'm not allowing myself to sew anything new before I finish the princess Leia costume a friend asked me to make. It's not hard, but I keep procrastinating because I don't want to screw up.

Other than that, I've been keeping myself busy with this:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/edwards-menagerie/patterns

There have been a LOT of babies born to friends of mine in the last year. My go-to gift has been a hand made stuffed toy with an accompanying book. I found the Edward's Menagerie book on our trip to Portland and figured that I'd get my money's worth (because of all the babies... so many babies). It's a beautiful book and the makes are basic enough for someone who is an occasional crocheter like myself. And they are ridiculously cute and pretty quick to make. So far I've made the cat, giraffe and just started the bunny—one ear took me 25 min this morning to give you an idea of time.

I've also tried to get back into knitting a little starting with the craftsy class for the Not So Itty Bitty Giraffe. To be honest, I found the class a little lacking. It would have been better to have short you-tube videos of the handful of key points in the pattern where one might need assistance. It seemed to me that there was a lot of chit chat/filler that made me glad I got the class on sale. The pattern itself is great and the end result is adorable. There were some tips Susan gave throughout the class that were very helpful and that translate to the making of other soft toys.

                                                   

My next knitting venture took me to Elijah the elephant. I enjoyed the results of the construction on this one, ie: knitting (grafting??) directly onto already completed portions of the toy instead of sewing together individual pieces. I had never done this before, and it wasn't particularly easy, but managed it because of the great pictures and explanations included in the instructions. I had also never attempted short rows before this make. I'm still not sure if I was successful. I watched most of a free craftsy class on the subject (excellent instructor) but I need to practice that particular technique.

                                     

My most favourite new make is my second attempt at a knitted sweater. It's the Purl Soho Pullover and the pattern was free for signing up for their newsletter. My first sweater attempt was a complete frickin' disaster so I was hoping that this simpler sweater would be easy and successful. I'm using Impecable yarn in "charcoal tweed": 

It's really black with rainbow flecks. I seem to have a problem with only buying rainbow-variegated yarn.
I consider this a baby step into the world of knitting with only one colour. I have two pairs of coloured jeans planned to go with this sweater when I get my sewing space back. 

Last night, I got to the end of the shoulder shaping and realized that my counting was off by two stitches. Lesson learned: COUNT STITCHES REGULARLY!! Erin, you dummy.
I don't think I'm going to rip out more than one row to get back on track. I still have 3 decrease rows and one regular knit row and I can fudge it. The damn yarn is black and I can't see where I screwed up so no one else will. It was also touch and go when attaching the sleeves (the instructions still don't make sense to me), but I relied on common sense and what I could remember from the learn-to-knit class I took a couple of years ago.

There was one very helpful review I found which helped me decide to make this. Susan's make looks so nice I was convinced that this sweater wouldn't be a waste of time for me. 

A friend gave me a whole swack of fabric and yarn she didn't want anymore that included a couple of sock yarns. Guess what I'll be trying next?