christmas crafts
Jan. 3rd, 2010 05:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jainaI made stuff for people for Christmas this year! In point of fact, I made:
Back in...October, I think it was, my brother emailed me with this link and the subject line "Christmas?". Then he added, "Wait, can you double-size it?" Well sure, I thought, how hard could that be?
HAAAAAA. It turns out, it's not really hard, just CRAZY TIME-CONSUMING. The corner bits had to be appliqued by hand, and I was only able to get 3 of them done by the time we had to fly out. I was able to find a box to exactly fit the cube so we could check it on the plane (too big for suitcases!) and then I finished it over the week we were home for Christmas.
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Specs
It's 18"x18"x18" overall (the inner dark gray cube is 16" across, and the corner pieces extend 1" above that). It's made of fleece, with a little bit of pink ribbon. The inner structure was fun-- I quickly realized that just stuffing it with polyfill would leave me with a Companion Sphere, so I used the 1/2" foam I had leftover from making Jafar's headdress and Mickey'sass torso and made a 16" cube out of that. Then I took the leftover big pieces of foam and made another cube that exactly fit inside the first, and *then* I chopped up all the other foam leftovers into little pieces and stuffed the foam cube with those and a little polyfill. So it's still squishy, but there's a good firm cube structure there. The hearts and circles were appliqued with a machine satin stitch, and the outer edge pieces were all stuffed with batting or polyfill and then appliqued by hand. A lot of work, but I was happy with the result, and my brother was *ecstatic.* Apparently his housemates are going to be pleased too; they all love Portal.
2. Bitchin' Flames Hat
Two years ago, I made my brother bitchin' flames socks for Christmas. I realized I had some fire-y colors in wool in my stash, so I thought hey, I wonder if I could use the pattern to make a matching hat? Apparently yes!
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Specs
The hat is 64 stitches around, just like the sock, with worsted-weight Wool of the Andes held double on 10 1/2 circular needles. Took me a few tries to make the stranding loose enough to stretch over his head. He wore it all week so I think it's a success! Definitely needs a fleece cap under it though, if he's going to be wearing it in the wind.
3. A Christmas Neckwarmer
I thought my mom might like a pretty, lacy, Christmas-y neckwarmer for chilly days.
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Specs
Pattern is Pretty Thing by the Yarn Harlot, which is exactly what it says on the tin-- a very pretty thing! I used laceweight yarn (Elann Baby Lace Merino in Ruby) and just held it double, which got me gauge when I swatched. It might’ve turned out a smidge small, but it still seems to work just fine. Blocking was a little weird since I wasn’t sure quite how much to stretch it, but after the second time I was pretty pleased with it.
4. Rogue's Christmas stocking
My mom, dad, brother and I all have handmade stockings-- Mom's and Dad's are felt, bro's is embroidered, mine is knitted. Mom embroidered Rogue's name on a cute storebought stocking, which has worked great so far, but I really wanted to make him a handmade one too. Three years ago, I found a kit I loved-- it had LIGHTS!-- and I've been working on it since. (Felt kits are a *lot* more work than they look!) But I finally finished it, lights and all, in time for Christmas this year.
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- A plush Weighted Companion Cube for my brother
- A hat knitted with BITCHIN' FLAMES for my brother
- A lace neckwarmer for my mama
- A new Christmas stocking for Rogue
Back in...October, I think it was, my brother emailed me with this link and the subject line "Christmas?". Then he added, "Wait, can you double-size it?" Well sure, I thought, how hard could that be?
HAAAAAA. It turns out, it's not really hard, just CRAZY TIME-CONSUMING. The corner bits had to be appliqued by hand, and I was only able to get 3 of them done by the time we had to fly out. I was able to find a box to exactly fit the cube so we could check it on the plane (too big for suitcases!) and then I finished it over the week we were home for Christmas.
. . . Specs
It's 18"x18"x18" overall (the inner dark gray cube is 16" across, and the corner pieces extend 1" above that). It's made of fleece, with a little bit of pink ribbon. The inner structure was fun-- I quickly realized that just stuffing it with polyfill would leave me with a Companion Sphere, so I used the 1/2" foam I had leftover from making Jafar's headdress and Mickey's
2. Bitchin' Flames Hat
Two years ago, I made my brother bitchin' flames socks for Christmas. I realized I had some fire-y colors in wool in my stash, so I thought hey, I wonder if I could use the pattern to make a matching hat? Apparently yes!
. . Specs
The hat is 64 stitches around, just like the sock, with worsted-weight Wool of the Andes held double on 10 1/2 circular needles. Took me a few tries to make the stranding loose enough to stretch over his head. He wore it all week so I think it's a success! Definitely needs a fleece cap under it though, if he's going to be wearing it in the wind.
3. A Christmas Neckwarmer
I thought my mom might like a pretty, lacy, Christmas-y neckwarmer for chilly days.
. Specs
Pattern is Pretty Thing by the Yarn Harlot, which is exactly what it says on the tin-- a very pretty thing! I used laceweight yarn (Elann Baby Lace Merino in Ruby) and just held it double, which got me gauge when I swatched. It might’ve turned out a smidge small, but it still seems to work just fine. Blocking was a little weird since I wasn’t sure quite how much to stretch it, but after the second time I was pretty pleased with it.
4. Rogue's Christmas stocking
My mom, dad, brother and I all have handmade stockings-- Mom's and Dad's are felt, bro's is embroidered, mine is knitted. Mom embroidered Rogue's name on a cute storebought stocking, which has worked great so far, but I really wanted to make him a handmade one too. Three years ago, I found a kit I loved-- it had LIGHTS!-- and I've been working on it since. (Felt kits are a *lot* more work than they look!) But I finally finished it, lights and all, in time for Christmas this year.
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Date: 2010-01-04 02:09 am (UTC)My family's stockings are all handmade as well, so I totally know what you mean! And that's awesome! the lights are hilarious!
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Date: 2010-01-04 03:26 am (UTC)Where did you get the kit for Rogue's stoking? I have been trying to find some for Chris and I that at least matched....
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Date: 2010-01-05 12:48 am (UTC)The hat's pretty nifty, too! I don't like stranded knitting. Maybe I should learn to like stranded knitting this year so I can also make things with bitchin' flamez??
Crafty WIN!
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Date: 2010-01-05 08:13 am (UTC)Thank you so much! :D I really did not like stranded knitting the first time I tried it, but this time around I think I got the hang of it. It definitely helped to be on circs instead of DPNs! And I am always in favor of more bitchin' flamez!!!
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