Monday, April 4, 2011

A New Sweater

I've been knitting along on an Inaugural Sweater for B. She chose the yarn several weeks ago. She hates wool, and she's not much one for handwashing and drying anyways, so we opted for an acrylic yarn. I don't typically like using acrylic, but hopefully this will work out okay.

this is the pic from the pattern

We have a few places to choose yarn: 1/2 an isle at Walmart, ditto at Zellers, a local yarn shop and Michaels. Since color is always a deciding factor for her, we decided that Michaels would be our stop since they have a few different worsted weight acrylics all in a row. B narrowed it down to Vanna's Choice, Loops and Threads Impeccable and Patons Decor. Despite some iffy reviews on Ravelry of Michaels store brand Loops and Threads yarn, we decided to go with it anyways as it felt soft, looked evenly spun and of ultimate importance: had the right color!



I've knit about 6 inches of this top down raglan sweater and the yarn is behaving well so far. I haven't noticed any pilling and none of the dreaded squeaking that often accompanies acrylic yarns. The Inaugural Sweater pattern is available as a Rav download for $5.50 and easy to follow so far. The designer recommends Malagbrigo worsted on a 3.5mm - 4mm needle, but I didn't have a 3.5 mm circular so I'm using a 3.25 mm circular and am getting gauge. I typically knit very loose, so I wasn't worried. I usually knit with 3.25 mm needles and worsted weight yarn when I design toys, so I wasn't expecting this would feel weird.

Feels good to have some needles in my hands again! Expect a number of progress shots of an amorphous blue blob over the next few weeks!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Fun with Polymer Clay

I have been knitting this week, but after having been sick, and having had sick kids, I had so much laundry and housekeeping to catch up on, I didn't have time to draft a post. Tomorrow I will show the knitting, I promise...



B and I have been busy looking for necklaces for some upcoming events that she needs to dress up for, but haven't found anything she likes. We spent hours browsing on Etsy and found many lovely things, but didn't think they ship in time.



Off to our stash of Sculpey! We made some very cool pendants that she is very excited to wear! We sanded them smooth with 150 grit then 600 grit sandpaper and finished them with a high gloss acrylic glaze.



Such Fun!