WIP Progress: Pink Kimono

So, apparently it's been quite a while since I worked on the Pink Kimono:

Since then, I've started school, separated from my husband, and moved me and three of my kids out on our own.  Here's the view from my balcony:

You can see two of my gnomes; two more are to the left of the picture, but that side of the view is mostly wall and Whataburger.  It's funny how moving has a way of helping you find old projects you misplaced in the daily chaos; that's how I found the pink kimono. My last memory of this project was that I had somehow messed it up again; the picture in my head was all those bobbins tangled together. Turns out, I made more progress than I remember; I'd already cast on the sleeves and compensated for having forgotten to do a color change at the ends of the sleeves when I cast them on:

It's wider than it looks; the needle wire isn't long enough to stretch the thing out to its full width.  I am also going to make a kimono using a size-altered version of this pattern for my best friend; I do not plan to finish this one first because my poor friend would be waiting until retirement. Hers, however, will not have color changes; we have a variegated yarn she bought long ago that is perfect for this pattern. Thus, no color-changing bobbins! Yay!

FO: Stripey Scarf

This scarf was made as a gift for my daughter's friend, who wanted the Harry Potter Slytherin look.  I didn't want to knit yet another plain striped scarf, so I added smaller stripes between every third large stripe, and mixed up the colors for the fringe.  Bruce Shee(p) was kind enough to model it for me:

Tres sheep chic, non?

This was made with Ella Rae Classic in dark green (125) and Ella Rae Classic Heather in grey (122), using US 5 circular needles, which yielded about 4.25 st/in.

FO: Blue hat

My youngest son and I went to my LYS Saturday.  While we were there, he spotted some blue yarn he loved, so we got it.  The yarn was Plymouth Yarn's Grandiosa Hand Dyed yarn (75% Merino, 25% Alpaca; the boy has good taste).  His challenge: mom had to make something with just the one twist of yarn.  My answer to his challenge, a blue hat:

I used size US 13 circular needles, which produces about 2 st. per inch, and knits very quickly.  The twist had just a little over enough to make the hat, so he insisted I leave the tail attached.  I admit I did not anticipate its transformation into a blue Fu Manchu. 

Alfredo Win

I love Alfredo sauce, and so do my kids, as long as it's not the stuff in the jars.  Pre-made spaghetti sauce can be doctored and made to taste good, but there's just nothing you can do to fix pre-made Alfredo sauce.

I finally hunted down a recipe for Alfredo sauce and made a batch last night, though I was worried how it would turn out since I've never made it before.  I also made some doctored spaghetti sauce as a Plan B in case the Alfredo experiment went badly.

The results?  As they say, a picture us worth a thousand words:

Note the untouched tomato sauce on the right, looking very lonely

The recipe can be found here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/alfredo-sauce-2/

Doozy Yarnblob and WIP

No, this isn't a very late Halloween decoration, it's a doozy of a yarnblob:

The above yarnblob is brought to you by RedHeart yarns; by now the yarnblob has been straightened out and incorporated into one of my current WIPs:

Yes, I am crocheting this one; I realize it's rare that I crochet, but the pattern (available for free here) was just too enticing to pass up. The pattern calls for three or more colors, but I went with just two; solid black (color 0312, displayed in the yarnblob above) and a lovely green hombre I hadn't seen before.  Both yarns are Redheart Supersaver yarns; the green is simply called "Green Tones," color 0629. I decided to go with solid black for the second color to highlight the variegation in the green.

For this project, I'm using a size US-K (6.50mm) hook as recommended in the instructions. It's an easily memorized pattern and works up quickly unless you leave it in a bag and forget where you put it.  (What? You've never done this?)  Once this one is complete I may try a second one in multiple colors. I suspect this would also be a great pattern for using up remnant yarns.

RPG Skeleton Statues

These are generic skeletons I painted for my Hubby that he wanted to use as statues:

I think I did ok making them look like statues. Especially since they started their un-lives as part of a Bag O Skeletons (possibly made by Twighlight Creations, though I couldn't find a pic). Gotta love the original color:

What? Aren't all skeletons hot pink?

FO: It's Curtains for You

These are curtains I made for an interior doorway in my younger daughter's room; she picked the fabric and helped with the measurements, and my Hubby hung the rod. I recently bought a new sewing machine, and it made very quick work of this project (translated: I had no excuse for further procrastination):

I sewed one end of each tieback to the curtains and attached basic black buttons so she can leave them open or closed:

Funny outtake for gamers: while typing this blog entry on my phone, my autocorrect translated "tieback" as "fireball." Had I sewn that to the curtains, it really would have made short work of them.