My Hole-tastic Sweater

It’s getting hot and I hate the heat but I’m not willing to give up my handmade sweaters, so what’s a girl to do? Make a summer sweater of course. I love wearing handmade things and showing off what I've made. This is a super simple sweater; I made it in 2 hours while watching my son, a friend’s daughter and watching dress my nest with a Q size hook and less the 1 skein of super saver. It is an instant gratification type of sweater. It’s great for short attention spans and to make in between larger projects. I feel productive after finishing this project, I know have the ambition to finish my larger projects and can make my non-crafty neighbor jealous. It is super stretchy, so size is not a big issue, my widest area is 37” and it will stretch a lot more, there is no shaping except for the sleeve and not counting so it is great for doing while watching TV. So if you want to make all your non-crafty neighbors and friends jealous here is what you need;

Supplies

1 skein of worsted weight yarn a little more then 200 yards (I used Red Heart Super Saver in Zebra)

Size Q crochet hook

Yarn needle

From the bottom up

Cast on 50 or enough that it will comfortably fit around the widest part of your body or hips join with slip stitch try not to twist but it is not a big deal if it is, mine was and it turned out fine, no one will ever know

Chain 1 *double crochet in next, chain 1 repeat from * around without joining rounds until it is desired length make sure to try on

When desired length, in any random point, chain 15 or more or less for arm hole so that it comfortably fits around your upper arm, be sure to try it on again

Continue pattern in next stitch and half way around

Repeat arm hole and continue pattern around until you have made one full round after you make second arm hole

When you are on the second round of arm hole decrease 2 stitches on each sleeve, basically just skip on space twice on each side.

Do this for 2 rounds for a total of 8 decreases

For the next round dc in each chain 1 space without the chain 1 between each double crochet

End off and weave in ends

Now wear your new holey sweater, show it off and starting making all your friends jealous.

Please do not sell this pattern or anything made from this pattern and if you do make it I would love to see pictures.

New Sweatpants

I made myself a pair of yoga type pants out of a 2XL hoodie (we had two and no one wears them) they are dark green and super comfy I'm going to take pictures of them later and post them. I tried to make a pair out of a t-shirt from my husbands work but the sleeves were too short to make a waist band so i have to get some fabric to finish them. I have 5 small items and one medium item done for the giant swap im in and tomorrow is my husbands 21s birthday so I'm decorating the house with lots of birthday happiness today before h gets home from work. The weather here in Reno is really nice 78 degrees tomorrow and 81 on sunday a super nice weekend to be outside. OOOOOO I almost forgot I got another guinea pig she is so cute, she has really short black fur with a few brown spot and a little white spot on her nose, her name is Puddles I dont think i need to explain that one. when i post pictures of my sweatpant im probably going to put up a picture of her too.

I am so lazy

I am so bad at keeping up with things but heres a little update. I have one sleeve, the back and part of one side of the front done of a sweat I'm making for my self and I started a simplier on that I'm making out of hand spun yarn I got from a friend of mine, I'm almost done with my dads blanket I just have two more border sides to go, i organized a swap on craftsters, the couples swap, and I just joined a huge swap, the giant multi-theme swap. Thats my crafty update now for a personal one, my hubby got two test for two different police departments for May, I'm super excited for him and he has bronchitis again and a broken capulary (I know its spelled wrong) in his throat so hes bee coughing up blood we are just lucky that he broke it when his did and went to the doctor before the bronchitis turned into pnemounia again. I have a new job that I'm unsure if I like in or not yet. I'm still looking for a distance learning school for college I think I've found a couple of them I just have to pick the perfect one and then hope I get the federal funding. Collin is potty training which is an adventure we had a big set back when we went on vacation for 5 day and he was too busy to use the potty so now we have to start all over. MY chest is bruised from a concert I went to with my hubby, the dropkick murphys, we were right up front and the railing was chest height and when there are a ton of people pushing behind you and your smashed against a metal fence pretty much it tends to bruise. other then that there isn't much going on.

My crafty christmas gifts

I thought I'd start this post with a picture of Collin is his new helmet and pads that go with his new baby quad but the quad is broken so hes spent the couple of day wearing them for no reason.

This is the sweater I made for my step mom for her birthday that was in april and I just now got a picture of it. I converted this pattern http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTdragonfly.html from knitting to crochet and I just added the dragonflies after it was done, I used simply soft in two different colors of purple.

This is the gingerbread house I made with my dad and son on christmas, we used a pre made kit, COllin was really helpful when it came to eating the candy.

This is my new sewing machine my dad bought me for my birthday, its the nicest one I've ever had.

This is the sweater I made for a family friend, I used this pattern http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/70210A.html and simply soft I had to add alot of length to it but it turned out really great.

So I have a very short attention span so when I work on larger projects I have to make random little things in the process. I made a pink bear for a friend who also got a sweater from me for christmas na d the elephant is for my dad, he thought it was cute. He really likes the the ears are two different sizes.

I used this pattern for the bear:http://www.rheatheylia.com/index.php?page=patterns&id=2

and this one for the elephant:http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=213510.0

update

I've been slacking on almost everything lately, but heres whats going on,
Yesterday was my brthday so on sunday my threw me a small birthday party which was fun and bought me a new sewing machine, a singer advance, it is so cool. I got a job sewing labels into t-shirts from home which is awsome too.
I have been working on my dads blanket in hope of having it done by christmas and a really cute crocheted sweater for a family friend and I taught my self to knit so I'm knitting a scarf for my step mom. all started, none finished.

Finished diaper bag

I love this bag, it was so unbeleivably easy to make. I followed this tutorial http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=42927.0

I plan on making a couple of much bigger ones probably at the end on december or january.

I didn't put a lining in but I don't think that as a diaper bag theat it needes it. I used a baby blanket that was 29" x 39". It already had the little car and what not on it and the d rings and strap came from a water bottle holder that we don't use and have like 5 of.

The sides are 12" x 15" and it is 8" deep and I used velcro instead of a zipper because I have a ton of it.

new project idea

Right now my husband hates his job and in january he is putting in his applications to become a police officer and he turns 21 in april so when he get accepted he plans on taking a month off of work before he starts the police academy since it pretty much consumes your life when your in it. when he takes that month off we are going to go on a nice vaction to visit my aunt who lives in washington and my grandma who live in california, we live in nevada, so I was thinking about it the other day and I remember the last time we visited my grandma it was a mess since we don't own any luggage just duffle bags, I am going to make use luggage, I found this really cute bag tutorial on craftster and I think if I just make them bigger they will work great, I am making a tester bag that I am going to use as a diaper bag since I hate the one I have now. If it works I am going to start picking out fabric soon.

URRRGGGG SOCKS

My son has really fat feet, he wears an extra wide shoe, so I took that into account and measured his feet twice to make sure I had it right and last night when I tried on the sock that was almost done it didn't fit so now I have to start all over again.

Craftiness update

So the other day I finaly got the second sock from the sock swap I did through craftster. Arn't they awsome.

Yesterday I started a pair of sock for my son in the harry potter colors yarn dyed, they are almost done all I really have to do is add the heels and I am working on a cell phone cozy for my new cheap phone and I think I'm going to make one for my dad too, he really needs one.

More costume pictures

I thought I would also add pictures of the costume my son made himself, he a mad scientist duck. He decided to wear rubber gloves on his hands and feet.

My dads blanket chart

So this is the chart of the blanket I've been working on for my dad since april for his birthday the was at the beginning of may, but I have a short attention span so I had to work on other project too. Each square is 1' x 1' and the ones with the x's are the ones I've already put together and gave him. I was hoping to have it done by fathers day but now I'm hoping for christmas, I keep losing the chart I made so I thought if I make one on the computer I can't lose it. I am going to work on it all week and hope to have another section done to give him and plan on taking it from him when I have all the main section connected and when I'm done with the border to attach it and then wrap it up and give it to him as a present for him so he can show off a completed project to show everyone. My dad loves the homemade gifts I make for him, he brags about how much his daughter loves him to make him something then buy him some lame gift. Hes the greatest.

Teddy bear Costume Done

I just finished Collins costume and He is so cute in it. I know I went picture crazy but he is just so cute I couldn't help myself. I didn't have a pattern just the instrutions and a picture of the pattern. I am so glad to be done with this done.

I fixed it

I fix my sewing machine for now, I put tape under the little arms the hold the bobbin casing in and that pretty much all thats holding it together right now. So after a week of sewing by hand all I needed was some tape, TAPE CAN FIX ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I still hate my machine and plan on getting a new one soon. I really need to get this halloween stuff done so I can finish my dads blanket, I gave him part of it for his birthday in may and I have been adding small peices to it as I get it done and my goal is to have it done by christmas, original I wanted to have it done by fathers day but that didn't work out. urrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggg.

lots of hand sewing

After almost a full day of hand sewing with one sad bent needle I almost finished the paws, I just have to addthe elastic and elastic casing, I finished the booties and I just have to take in the hood I made today a little, tomorrow I have to add the contrasting belly, make the candy bag and add the bow tie, I think thats all but I could be forgeting something and I could have a lot more work to do. I'm almost done with my costume, I just have to finish hand sewing the last 5 inches of one of the legs and add a waist band and velcro and possible get more fabric if I have any money and make a hoodie. OH and I have to make a teddy bear that looks like the costume to put in the candy bag peeking out. urrrrrrrgggggggggggggg I hope this all works out. the good thing is that this thick fleece is really easy to sew and you don't see any seems so there are no mess ups.

Costume update

This is the progress I made before my machine broke, I also have the sleeves on but my son didn't want to pose again. He loves to have is picture taken but he didn't want to sit still.

blown up machine

I have been sewing collins costume all day and the fabric is really thick and I knew my machine was going to blow up by the time I was done with this project but its okay since my dad is buying me a new nice one for christmas and a car for my birthday, I'm getting spoiled this year, I don't really care what happens to this piece of junk. But my machine decided to explode while I was working on my costume, pj pants, made out of thin fleece, really thin and it blew up, the needle got stuck and bent, when I opened up the place for the bobbin and all the pieces fell out. ugggggggggg now I going to have to spend alot time in the next few weeks hand sewing. I hate hand sewing and I'm not very good at it.

Collins Costume

I started my son Collins costume yesterday, Hes going to be a teddy bear. I got this great fabric, it super thick reversible fleece, on one side its tan and looks like an old teddy bear and the other side is darker brown and just plain pile fleece. I have really crappy scissors and had no idea how I was going to cut this fabric so my step mom let me use her electric scissors which are the great things ever. I cut out all of the fabric yesterday and today I am sewing most of it together. I'm going to start posting pictures tomorrow.
I got the pattern instructions online for free so I had to guess on the size and so far its working out and I'm also making it so the velcro is on the front not the back so he can wear it all winter long.

Sock swap socks

I finished my sock swap socks and sent them out and since one person already recieved and the other person should be any day now so I can post them on here Yay.

My first yarn dyeing adventure

So I've been wanting to dye my iwn yarn for a long time and the sock swap I did was the perfect chance to try it. I bought the yarn from this great site http://wool2dye4.com, and I fell in love with it, I had never used wool yarn before and this yarn was so soft for some reason I was thinking it was going to be itchy since the crocheted blanket my great grandmother made me was wool and it was super itchy. Okay, back to the point, I started with 1 pound of yarn and split it into one 2oz. section and split the rest into 3 sections and I bought alot of kool-aid like $5 worth. I wasn't enough as you can see in the first pictures.

I dyed one section pink and purple, one blue and green but green was hard to find so at first I just dyed the blue half, one section orange and yellow, and he smallest section dark red and yellow orange color that was suppose to be gold for a harry potter sock.

SO this was my yarn after all done dyeing yay me, I think I'm going to start dyeing my own yarn more often.