Christmas Creations- Emily

Emily is great soccer player and after some ravelry searches this pattern fit perfectly. Little did I realize how much of an undertaking this was. It's made out of 20 white hexagons and 12 black pentagons. Each piece took approximately twenty minutes to make with at let 5 hours of sewing time. The sweet thank you message from her made it very rewarding though.

Because of the crazy amount of time this project took I told myself I wouldn't be making it again for a long while, but there are some definite changes I'd like to do he second time around.

1. Make 1 instead of yarn over. In the pattern there are spots where it says, "p1 between stitches." After searching I couldn't find what this meant. I ended up doing a yarn over in these places which ended up leaving holes. Instead where the pattern says, "p2, p1 between stitches," I would p1 and kfb to increase without leaving holes.
2. Make sure to sew the right sides together. This is a simple tip for better looking edges. The places where it's most prominent that I didn't do this is where the white meets the black and the whip stitch is highly visible.
3. Split up the sewing into small pieces. This way you'll avoid the 5 hour sewing marathon at the end. This would especially help those like me who hate the finishing process by splitting it up into smaller bunches.

Knit Soccer Ball


Soccer Ball Pattern

Christmas Creations- Dad

Dad is always the hardest person to make something for. After a bunch of searching I found an awesome pattern for a beer coozie that looks like a sweater. This was also my first time using double pointed needles an I'm very happy with the results.

Knit Beer Sweater


Beer Sweater Pattern- avalible as a free Ravelry download

I also wanted to do something video game related and decided to try my hand at perler beads. After looking at the Sprite Stitch forums I found a free cross stitch charting program called KG Chart. It works great & provides more uses than just cross stitch. My dad's favorite vintage video game is Duck Hunt, so I set out on making some Duck Hunt perler bead magnets. I hadn't used perler beads since daycare and am now happy to present these two Duck Hunt fridge magnets.

Blue Duck Hunt Pixel Magnet


Black Duck Hunt Pixel Magnet

Christmas Creations- Aunt

One of my aunts asked me to make some baby hats for her. I assumed it was for one of my cousins. So, I set out on a pattern from Michaels Book of Needlecrafts. I bought this book when I was starting knitting to have a multitude of knit and crochet crafts, but now I've realized that I don't like enough of the patterns. This is a book I recommend as a library rental first. Anyway, since my aunt lives on a farm, I wanted to make the blueberry hat. When I did the specified number of increases it looked too small, so I did an extra row of increase. When I finished, the hat ended up being big enough to fit my head. She didn't deserve to be left with just an over sized, albeit cute, hat. I made another hat using a pattern I found on ravelry. This one was knit so it could stretch, but was only big enough to fit an infant. She was thankful for both. Luckily she wanted to use the hats to take pictures of other babies (she's a photographer). I still want to try again someday, but was happy to at least provide a finished product.

Blueberry Baby Hat




Knit Infant Hat

Christmas Creations- Cousin (Once Removed)

A couple of months ago my cousin, her husband,and her daughter came over. was excited to show them all my crafts and books. When my cousin (once removed- there was a debate with a friend of mine when I just said cousin!) saw the little bunny from my often used Amigurumi World book she was desperate to have it. The smile from her was priceless.

Amigurumi Bunny

Christmas Creations- Cousin

I've been wanting a record player for awhile and when my cousin's husband heard me say this at a family get together he informed me he had one he'd be willing to part with. After that I knew Christmas would rock (and have a little white noise with it). :) I just had to make him something. I had a cool pattern in mind from the Son of Stitch and Bitch book, but didn't have the time or resources it is left queued for another day. I settled on a quick Lion Brand Keyhole Scarf pattern. I gleefully purchased my first set of bamboo knitting needles and two skeins of both Pink & Blue Thick & Quick yarn. Now my cousin's husband and her are stylin' with their new scarfs. :P

Thick and Quick Pink Keyhole Scarf


Thick & Quick Blue Keyhole Scarf


Keyhole Scarf Pattern

Christmas Creations- Aunt

My aunt has been bugging me for a while to make her something (bless her heart). She loves chickens & roosters, so the pattern from lionbrand was simple and cute enough for me to enjoy making it. :D

Crochet Chicken


Lionbrand Pattern

Christmas Creations- Mom

The latch hook kit for this has been sitting in my closet for years with only an inch of completion. It was purchased with the intention to make it for my mom. Every time I'd get something from the closet I'd see it and wonder when I would ever finish it. Well, now it's finally done! I also followed the instructions for turning it into a pillow, but crocheted my own back for it.

Latch Hook Bear Pillow

Christmas Creations- Shelby

I love this pattern from Pretty in Punk. I thought the mohawk was awesome, but after looking through pictures on Ravelry of people who didn't felt the fringe on their hats the results didn't look satisfying. Since i was using acrylic yarn I decided to go with a cute pom pom.

The reciever liked it, but after having some suggestions I'll be sure to do a few things different next time:

1. Use wool & go for the fringe

2. Make the large version

3. Find a way to line the inside for extra warmth.

Pretty in Punk Hat

When making projects always keep the reciever in mind, ask them question, and don't be afraid to try again. :)

Christmas Creations- Alex

This was made using the Lucha Libre pattern from the book Son of Stitch and Bitch. It's one of the few books with patterns for guys. Even though not all the patters aren't that attractive, there's still enough good content to be recommended as a great project book for guys.
I'd also like to mention this is my first time trying intarsia. I like how it turned out,but it could definitely be better. I'd liked to try it again to improve my skills. :D

Lucha Libre Ski Mask


Check out this link! Domiknitrix has a great tutorial series for intarsia.

Andrew's Christmas Creations

It's sad that my last poster was way back in summer. We've gone from Christmas in July to it actually being Christmas. I've worked my tail off jetting these projects done (Seriously, I don't have one :P). Mom also so rightly named these posts Andrew's Christmas Creations in order to keep with the ACC aesthetic. So without further ado...