Half a set of legwarmers

Hello all!  It's been a crazy weekend full of traveling, but I managed to get some crafting done on the plane.  I made the first of a pair of baby legwarmers for my niece.  I used Serenity Garden Yarn from the Deborah Norville Collection of Premier Yarns.  It's a dralon microfibre yarn, and it's super-soft.  The color is called "Roses," and it fades from brown to bright pink to pale pink and back again.

I made up the pattern myself - the upper cuff is 38 rows of 5 sc through the back loop, then joined.  Then I did a single round of sc all the way around (40 st), then 19 more rows of a pattern stitch, one row with two decreases, five rows of pattern, one row with two decreases, then about 20 more rows of pattern.  (This is to remind me when I start working on the second one!)

Voila!

What I'm up to

Hello out there!  Karen and I didn't come up with a challenge for this week, so instead, I'm going to show you photos of the projects that I have on the go at the moment.  

First, a Christmas gift for a friend.  She may read this at some point, so I'm not naming names or telling you what it will be when it's finished, but it's a cross-stitch project with a recognizable (I hope) Disney character.

Next, a baby announcement for no-one in particular.  I had started it with my sister in mind, but then she became certain that the baby would be a boy.  This announcement is kind of girly, so I set it aside.  Of course, the baby ended up being the most adorable little girl in the world, so I could have given it to her.  Oh well.  Eventually, I'll finish everything but the name and date, so I can do the last bit fairly quickly once someone else has a baby.

This is the top part of a Christmas stocking for my mom.  I've always wanted to have a set of cross-stitched Christmas stockings, so this is the start of it.  You can see the birds, of course, but the blue thing is a hat, which will sit on top of a snowman's head.  After I finish Mom's stocking, I've already got one picked out for Dad.  Then I'll do mine, since I made a felt Tinkerbell stocking for Karen last year.  Then, if they would like some, I'll work on stockings for Karen's family.  Of course, it's taken almost a year to get this far (because I keep putting it away to work on more immediately needed projects), so this is a very long-term plan.

This is a simple scarf that I'm working on for my friend Tanya.  It's really soft yarn, made with bamboo and silk.  The colors are perfect for her, too.  It's just knit and purl, so it's going pretty quickly.  It comes along in my purse quite often, and I've worked on it over lunch hours at work, waiting for the doctor, supervising theatre auditions, and pretty much any time I just have to be somewhere but not actually do much.

This is the latest project I've started, mostly because I loved the yarn.  It's a Bernat chunky baby yarn, and it almost feels like chenille.  It's REALLY fast to do, and once the body of the blanket is knit, I've got two balls of white to crochet an edging.

And what list of projects would be complete without the Riders blanket I'm making for Baby Bear?  I promise, Karen, it's further along than this.  I just didn't want to lay it out for a photo tonight.

Danielle's Headband

Our first challenge was to make a headband - no restrictions on style, colour, or anything else.  Here's my take:

Here it is, in my hair!  It's made from felt and beads and an elastic headband - all supplies available at WalMart.  I searched online and printed out a few sizes of flower shapes, then traced them onto the felt, then cut them out. For this particular one, I cut out two 8-pointed flowers and one five-lobed flower.  I layered them, then stitched through all three layers and added three beads in the center.  I went through the beads a few times, to make sure they were secure.

Here's a close-up of the flower part.  I've also made them in multiple colors, and with contrasting beads instead of coordinating beads.  I used Scuncii brand elastic headbands for this project, because I found them on sale.  This one is a stay-put style, with the sticky stuff on the back.  I think that I'll get the regular ones next time, because they're a bit easier to put on.

This is a close-up of the back.  Once the flower was assembled, I cut a small rectangle of felt from the same colour as the bottom flower.  Then I stitched it along two sides, catching the headband in the middle.  This lets the flower slide along the the headband, so you can reposition it easily.

I hope you enjoyed my headband!  Check back on Friday for Karen's take on it!