Tag: style

Finished Object Friday – 1/10

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This post originally appeared on my Ko-fi page in 2 parts on January 10 and 12, 2025.

When I originally finished the first version of my Biased Marie Sweater, I used the leftover yarn to create a tote bag (of sorts, I’m not exactly up to date in my knowledge of bag styles so let me know if it’s got another name) with a closing flap. I even sewed a lining for it and clipped it in, and then I set it down for a very long time. (You may start noticing a theme of that in these posts…)

A crocheted bag with diagonal stripes of pink, red, purple, blue, and green with a flap over the top and a granny square strap in the same yarn hanging on a white door.

Mostly I set it down because I originally planned to stitch the lining in by machine, but I don’t have a walking foot and it absolutely was not going to work without one. So I was going to have to stitch it in by hand, and I decided that was a job for later me.

The inside of the bag with blue and white gingham fabric with machine-sewn pockets, stitched in my band using black thread and a blanket stitch.

Honestly, it took later me all of maybe 10 minutes to do it. But that seems to be the theme with a lot of these that just need finishing. For next week, I’m planning to sew buttons on a sweater I finished at least a year ago. Probably a 5 minute job, that one.

Part 2: I completely forgot that I actually did finish something else this week: stitching Cookie Monster and framing all four of these.

Four framed cross stitches on black Aida fabric in black square frames. Clockwise from top left: Animal, Stitch, Cookie Monster, Garfield and Odie.

You may notice that I switched Stitch and Cookie Monster in the cover image. That’s because my mom pointed out that Stitch should go under cookie monster like he’s waiting for the crumbs. They are in this orientation because that’s how I stitched them and I’m using this image in a video, but that was too funny to pass up.

A finished cross stitch on black Aida held in a wooden hoop of Cookie Monster holding a cookie.

All of these patterns are by MotoRuxin, and I made them on 14 count Aida. They are in 4×4 photo frames, for a size reference.

On a semi-related note, I’m dusting off my old YouTube channel and adding reels from the past few weeks (basically anything not really time-sensitive that I’ve created in DaVinci Resolve and therefore can easily add YouTube-friendly music to). I’m also now on Bluesky which (at least for the moment) is where I’m probably going to be most active.

Six knit hats laid out in two rows of three. From top left: light blue body with triangles of textured stitches and a ribbed brim in shades of purple, a plain hat with puddles of green and blue, a brown and black striped ribbed beanie with blue stripes in the brim, a bubble-stitch teal hat with black and neon blue, purple, green, and pink striped brim, another green and blue hat from the same yarn as the one above it, and a sparkled black hat with short teal brim.

September Hat Roundup

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(Image description: Six knit hats laid out in two rows of three. From top left: light blue body with triangles of textured stitches and a ribbed brim in shades of purple, a plain hat with puddles of green and blue, a brown and black striped ribbed beanie with blue stripes in the brim, a bubble-stitch teal hat with black and neon blue, purple, green, and pink striped brim, another green and blue hat from the same yarn as the one above it, and a sparkled black hat with short teal brim.)

September’s official hat count is six. Technically there are a few sitting here next to me that are finished and waiting for ends to be woven, but since they will be coming out of the bath in October, I’m counting those for October. These hats are made from a combination of scraps, reclaimed abandoned projects, and a couple partial skeins I found in the bag with the abandoned projects.

To keep this easy on me, I’m just going to go clockwise from top left in these explanations. We start out in the top left with a combination of a reclaimed baby hat and one of those found skeins. Process: Provisional cast-on 80 stitches with size US 8 needles, knit until I ran out of the purple and green variegated yarn, which pool-striped nicely at this gauge, and then bring the bottom up to create a doubled brim, switching to size US 10 needles and the teal yarn. Then I worked pattern 18 from “Keiko Okamoto’s Japanese Knitting Stitches” (pg. 13) four times around and repeating all 16 rows twice. Then I worked it in a modified manner across the decreases for the crown, but if I do this again I’d just knit the crown instead of carrying the pattern up.

Next we have the green and blue hats, which I’ll explain together because they are literally the same thing. The yarn for these is reclaimed from a C2C pattern I was creating that I ran out of yarn for. I created a magic knot ball and used some of it for the border of my scrap blanket. Then I decided to chain the entire rest of it, and use that to knit as many hats as possible, which turned out to be a large and a small one. I started each at the top with a crocheted magic ring before picking up
the stitches on knitting needles (size US 13, I think) and knitting a fairly basic hat pattern. You can find a reel of bits of the process here.

Last across the top row is the sock-weight scrap hat I’ve been working as my on-the-go project for a while using the helical knitting method to make sure I ran out of all the yarn at the same time and give the nice stripe pattern I ended up with.Below that is another hat in a similar manner to the first hat, but with an extra 8 stitches to make it a large (going for a fairly even mix of medium and large adult sizes
with some small mixed in), and using pattern 11 (pg. 11 / 45).

Our last hat, bottom left, is the same at the previous hat, using pattern 24 (pg. 15), though it may be difficult to see in the sparkly black yarn.

I’ve gotten into another set of reclaimed yarn from a sweater that was entirely too warm for me to wear ever, so I’m hoping to at least make another 6 for October. I’ve got another blanket to take apart, as well.

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Finished Object – Firefly Bralette

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I was looking to make another sports bra/bralette, and the Firefly Dress and Top from Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop dropped into my email on sale with a bralette option, so I figured it was meant to be.

Pattern pieces of a bralette cut out of gray fabric with Pikachu printed all over and a strip of black elastic laid out on a white counter.

I had just enough of this Pikachu fabric to cut the outer pieces, and I had a bit of plain gray fabric to match for the lining. Instead of the 1-inch elastic that was called for in the pattern, I had this 2-inch waistband elastic, so deviated from the pattern slightly in the finished product.

The front view of a bralette with a printed pattern of Pikachus all over and a band of black elastic at the bottom on a white counter

All steps of this, from taping the pattern pieces to completely finished garment, took less than 3 hours (spread randomly throughout the day). The instructions are very easy to follow, and the finished piece fits so well with no runaway bra straps.

The back view of a bralette with a printed pattern of Pikachus all over and a band of black elastic at the bottom on a white counter.

I used the stretch stitch on my Singer Fashion Mate (stitch 14 if you have the computerised one) for everything except the one line of basting you do before attaching the elastic. You could also use a twin needle for the top-stitching, but I like the look of this stitch on the outside.