I Know This Is Not Crochet, But...

Taking a break from crocheting, I started a ukulele craft project.  I wanted to do something different, so with my iPhone 5 handy, I snapped various pictures during this process.  I am pleased with the ukulele even though it still sounds like a tinker toy.  I thought it would be a fun and interesting adventure.  I think overall, the adventure went better than I had expected. 

Grizzly Industries, Inc. - Soprano Ukulele Kit purchased from Amazon.com for $29.95. Shipping was about $10.

Soprano Ukulele Kit - Body

The Prepwork

The body came already pre-assembled.  There was some light sanding on the body and neck. 

It took two days to make this picture into a stencil.

The Fretboard

Instead of using the pegs that came with the ukulele, I used Darice Self-Stick Gems.  I applied Titebond Ultimate Wood Glue.  This is serious stuff... and a bit slippery too.

Quick drying wood glue

Darice self-stick gems

Finished fret board

Glued the fret board to the neck and set it to dry overnight. Very messy process.

The Design - The Body

.01 marking pen

Masking tape to hold stencil in place

Stencil looking pretty good.

Expensive Spectrum Noir markers which bled slightly

18K gold leafing pen. The tip is very rigid.

The colors didn't turn out like I had expected.

I tested the marker colors here.

Combining the Neck and Body

Using masking tape and a rubber band to hold the two pieces together.

The Design - The Headstock

Scrapbooking paper style

A flower design cut out

The headstock design

The Bridge

170mm from the nut to the 12th fret and 170mm from the 12th fret to the top of the bridge.

Google helped me with this one.

Gluing the bridge to the body.

Testing to see if I have the same amount of space on either side of the strings. Close enough.

The Staining

Applied masking tape to the bridge and fretboard. Paper stuffed in the hole.

One coat of clear Polyurethane.

After two coats of Polyurethane

I really don't see much of a difference between the coats.

I put Aquila BioNylon Soprano Ukulele strings on this ukulele.

The string color matches the ukulele.

It's Almost Summer

My favorite specialty yarn shop was closing.  Nooooooo!!!!  Whyyyyyyy?!?!  Everything had to go so I took a trip to the store one afternoon.  I had imagined their entire stock would be bare but to my surprise, there were still lots of pretty yarn waiting to be bought.  My hand was eager to squeeze the fancy stuff. I couldn't resist... I squeezed everything!  Thirty minutes later and a basket full of yarn, I headed toward the pattern section.  I bought one book, one magazine, and a few individual patterns.

The pattern I am working on is called the Sedona Shirt.  It's a fairly nice looking shirt that I can wear either button-up or open with a tank top.  It would also be nice if I had a summer drink in my hand while sitting on a beach watching sexy, muscular, guys. Ahhhhh... that's a little TMI for ya!

Sedona Shirt

So far, the pattern is very easy and the stitching is beautiful. I love this stitch and have used it when making baby blankets. 

The yarn I am using is called Ultra Pima Cotton and it is simply amazing to work up.

I may end up having to make a second shirt... but we will see.



Finished Jacket

My friend and editor Annette recently finished her jacket. Here's a photo of the final jacket before she made modifications to the collar.  She said the collar did not sit right and she was not happy with the final version.

 

She ended up frogging the collar part and re-doing it, decreasing and decreasing the stitches until the collar fit more tightly around the neck.  On the final version, the front has two small lapels.  The corners (or sides) of the jacket near the neck look boxy but cute and stylish.

Corner (side) of jacket

The zipper does not zip to the top as the instructions stated. In the photos above, you can see the zipper zips most of the way but not to the top. 

 

 

Instead of having a pouf on the bottom of the sleeves, Annette modified them making the sleeves look more normal.   

 

 The cables are aligned and the ribbing is perfect.   After seeing her jacket, I wished I had made one too.

More Experience Needed

Saturn Sweater - Interweave Crochet

I really don't get it... I mean, crochet sweaters. Sometimes they fit and sometimes they don't.  The Equestrian Sweater sleeves didn't turn out as well as I had hoped and the pockets were too small but overall, it's a comfortable sweater and I like it and wear it as often as I can.

On November 16th, I finished the Saturn Sweater by Linda Permann; the pattern is published in the September 2012 edition of Interweave Crochet.  After blocking and letting the sweater dry, I tried it on.  It didn't fit (I wish I could draw on paper my expression right about now).  Okay, let me take that back... the sweater fit but it did not fit well.  A few thoughts ran through my head... maybe I should have used a larger hook, maybe I should have made a larger size, maybe I should have picked a different sweater to make, or maybe I should just wear it and everything will be okay.

The next morning, I wore my newly crocheted sweater to show off to Annette.  I put on a slimmer which made the front buckle even less.  My friend Annette said, "... well, you can make them into three-quarter sleeves." *frown* I hate three-quarter sleeves.

 

About halfway through the day, I felt pinching from the slimmer and had to take it off (and the sweater).  I'm glad I had an extra sweater in my backpack. As soon as I changed clothes, I felt so much relief! 

From Sweaters to Slippers

Equestrian sweater in Crochet Today Magazine, January-February 2011

I made the Equestrian pullover sweater several weeks ago. It was supposed to be a turtleneck sweater but I couldn't figure out how to get the neck to come out correctly, so I scrapped the neck portion and left the sweater sort of like a V-neck.  Still, the sweater looked nice, despite these weird streak marks in it from my "supposed blocking technique".  Anyway, it's wearable, warm, and soft and I am planning to make a second one. *Update: after its first wash and dry cycle, the sweater no longer has streaks in it.

Streaks in sweater

Since then, I purchased the Panzer Tank Slippers pattern.  Whenever I purchase patterns, I always think the finished product will come out exactly like the photo and I always think the pattern is well-written...  this is not always the case. The Panzer Tanks are a great idea. They are unique but unfortunately the pattern needs more work.  I found one helpful photo which I used as a guide to successfully create/imitate the Panzer Tank Slippers.  Is this something I would make again? Probably so, but I would do some of the parts differently.

 

I'm surprised.... a good number of people, friends, and family liked them.

Annette's Jacket Journey *November Update*

SHE FOUND HER HOOK!  My friend Annette has been working hard to make up lost time.  Mid-October, she completed the back section.

She's quite pleased with her progress thus far.  She showed great concern that the jacket would not fit and briefly discussed with me possibly going up a size for the front panels.  I recommended she stick with her current size since she had gone up one size already... and that she still needs to block it.

On Friday, November 2nd, she showed me the work she had done on the front panel. She said she started the cables over because she made a mistake.  Below is the fixed version.

11/5/12: One front panel is complete. Yay!

Hopefully, I can get one more update post in for Annette in December before we break for the holidays.  Maybe I can talk her into posting her finished sweater. 

Crochet Footwear

9/20/12
When I created my first pair of socks it was maybe 2-3 years ago. I bought the crochet book called American School of Needlework #1308, Learn to Crochet by Kathy Wesley. I made a pair of thick worsted-weight socks. They looked like Christmas stockings.  I found them unusable and gave them away.

My second pair of socks were anklets.  They were quite tight at the ankle and I struggled to get them on and off. I started at the ankle with a foundation hdc and worked my way toward the toe.  The yarn was soft but the socks were still kinda thick. 

My third pair of socks I never finished. I got distracted and ended up with one sock. I bagged the rest of the yarn and never went back to it.  I made another pair of socks on a later date. I used 1-ply yarn (sock yarn) but didn't get that far. I stopped after one sock. I had no idea it would take so long using 1-ply yarn.

Months ago, I purchased two pairs of suede bottoms for shoes/slippers. The first pair were the wrong size size so I bought the larger pair. I had planned to make the bootie pattern that came with the product until I found the Unshaven In Winter Slipper pattern. These slippers are hilarious!
 
9/21/12
I've started the Unshaven Crochet Slippers.  The pattern was a little confusing for the large size.  I had to rip rows but finally restarted from the beginning.

9/27/12
I finished the unshaven winter slippers.  They came out way too large so I trashed everything I had done and restarted... again.  I lost most of the yarn so when I finished the slippers, they didn't go up as high.  The second attempt, I made the smallest size possible and the slippers still came out quite large.  By wearing super thick socks, these manly-looking slippers will fit much better.

As you can see, the shoe is quite large.

My second attempt.

There is quite a lot of room in the slippers.