Basket Weave Blanket

I was inspired after seeing a video of the basket weave stitch and decided to make a good-bye/congrats-on-med-school-acceptance blanket for N. I pretty much worked on it post-exam and carried it with me almost everywhere in order to work on it in my spare time.

Yarn: Teal Red Heart Soft
  

And since I thought that the calculations were impressive, I will share. :D

I used a little over 18 skeins so...
Total yarn length: 256yd x 18 = 4,608yd = 2.62 miles or 38.4 football fields
Weight: 5oz x 18 = 90oz = 5.625 lbs
"Box" = 10 stitches wide, 9 stitches tall; 25 'boxes' wide, 18 'boxes' tall
Each completed row of 25 boxes ~1 skein. I averaged 4 hours per skein so total time: 72 hours (I started in March and finished mid-July)

Carrying the blanket everywhere I went was pretty tiring, but the result is GLORIOUS if I do say so myself. Without further ado...my basket weave blanket for N!



I am very proud of the fact I finished and was quite sad when I had to give it to N, but his reaction and appreciation was worth the effort.

 

Crochet Project for Feb

So I was going to try a project/month...but school is quite time-consuming now. However, I did start up crocheting instead of sewing! I find it is much easier to start/stop on a whim. Sewing projects were hard for me to gauge in terms of time. Portability is also a bit of an issue. I can't be carrying a sewing machine wherever I go, right?

I got back into crochet when I saw a friend working on this infinity scarf pattern. Extra exciting for us was the fact she is also a med student!! If she can do it, so can we! It took me a couple weeks of working on it in spare time before I finished.

I will put in a pic once I find one/I'm not at home so I can't go into my closet and snap a pic >.<

EDIT: Pictures!

 

Hopefully you can see details in the pictures. It's super soft and super warm...which means I can only wear it maybe 2x/year in sunny Fl. *sigh*

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Over my christmas break, I had a couple weeks to rest and relax [AKA babysit and take a family roadtrip.] Fortunately, I had a couple days to sew and crochet so here's what I made!

For my mom and a friend, I made a linen grocery tote.

Then I fashioned myself a shirt after getting inspiration from Etsy.com. I used the same concept as when I made a version of the ruffle J. Crew shirt by buying a larger-than-my-size long sleeved shirt and then using the sleeves as extra fabric to make the ruffle.

Since this is the first week back to classes, I'm taking advantage of the little time I have free to sew as much as I can-especially since the projects I am working on are supposed to be Christmas presents. >.< So far on this wonderful Friday evening, I have made my friend a ruffle vest and will soon start on her le sac dress.

It feels good to be back at my sewing machine. It's been gathering dust for too long! Maybe a resolution for this year [aside from the obligatory "start exercising!"] should be to make something at least once a month. So far, so good :D

Happy 2012!

Happy Halloween!

It's been quite a while since I have been crafting, but I have a good reason! ish. I was away for the summer in Greece and then started medical school about a week after returning to the US. However, I did pack a few items that I made and when I wore them, I got some nice compliments...and found out that some friends took sneaky pictures because they wanted to recreate this shirt.

 Anywho, I have been stocking up on giant shirts and random fabrics for when I have time to dabble.

Luckily, Halloween gave me a little relief from work to make myself a simple costume. I bought myself a bedsheet from a thrift store and made a skirt similar to the circle skirt. I tried to make it a no-sew kind of project, but I messed up my measurement and cut out a waistline a bit too large. So, I made an elastic band and sewed it up. Here's my finished skirt and costume.

  

I wish I had a tambourine, but I was trying not to spend a lot of money.

Happy Halloween! [in case my costume was TOO minimalist, I'm a gypsy]