Category: Challenges

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Creature Comforts – Day 18, More Granny Squares!

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Ugh. I know what you’re thinking. “Isn’t she done with this stupid blanket yet?!” Uh, no. And I apologize for yet another post about the granny square blanket of DOOOOOOM. But I am almost halfway done with this monstrosity. Take a look! 

Granny squares!

Three rows assembled and another in the works!

 

I did not get to work on the Jake pillow today because the Hubster decided to fumigate the house all day. Everything had to be moved and cleaned and sprayed and let dry and then put back and so the whole house was in an uproar all day. Fun times, I gotta say.

Anyhoo, good night for now! Hopefully I can get the Jake pillow done tomorrow. If not, then MORE GRANNY SQUARES!!!!!1!!!

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Creature Comforts – Day 16 & 17, Blanket and Jake

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Once again, I have to stuff two days into one post. January and February are brutally busy times for me, thanks to Girl Scout Cookie sales and Scout Sunday activities. I can get the daily challenge work done, but sometimes I get it done so late at night that I’m too tired to write up even a short blog post. So here are the efforts from today and yesterday!

First, an update on the giant, monstrous granny square blanket…

Granny squares!

Granny is looking good!

 
That’s two rows of granny squares stitched together. The hardest part of this project is weaving in all the ends. Each square has ends to be woven in, and then when I stitch individual squares together to make a strip, I have to weave in those ends as well. That’s a lot of work. However, I spent most of yesterday at a science fiction convention with the kids, and that actually gave me plenty of time to get these two rows all stitched up.

Now here’s today’s work…

Jake the Dog in progress!

I love Jake the Dog!

 
This is the second pillow I’m making for my couch. I love Adventure Time, and I especially love Jake, so I had to make a pillow of him, because you just KNOW he could be a pillow if he wanted to.

I’m going back to work on the granny square blanket. Hopefully I’ll have more of that and of the Jake pillow to show you tomorrow.

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Creature Comforts – Day 14, Granny Squares!

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I took a day off from sewing to do some more work on the granny square blanket. 

 

Granny Squares!

I’m slowly piecing this together!

 
In my mind, this blanket not only qualifies as a “comfort” item; it’s also a “creature.” Or rather, a “monster.”I started this blanket last year, when I 64 granny squares. That’s a lot of granny squares – 8 different colors, 8 blocks each. It took me forever to make them, and once they were all made, it was summer so I just put them aside for later.

Now I’m finally stitching them all together, and I’m discovering that no two squares are the same size. They all have the same number of stitches, but the size varies (sometimes a lot) between the squares.

What was I doing when I made these granny squares? Was I drinking heavily? Possibly. It was Girl Scout cookie season when I started this project. Maybe I accidentally used two different sized hooks to make this, or maybe my gauge wasn’t quite as consistent as I thought it was. Whatever the reason, I don’t care. I’m stitching this blanket together anyway. I know it will be lumpy and misshapen when I’m done, but it will also be comfy and cozy and that’s all I care about. I will do a better job on the next blanket. But for now, I just want to get this monstrosity finished.

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Creature Comforts – Day 12 & 13, Cushy, cozy B-MO!

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I was already to post something last night when my iPad ran out of battery power. I thought about posting this morning instead, but then I got caught up in finishing the B-MO pillow. So here is the picture I was going to post yesterday…

 

B-MO ready for sewing!

B-MO pieces ready to be sewn!

 
And then today I took this picture!

 

B-MO is all done!

“Who wants to play video games?!”

 
You should know, this is the ONLY thing I got done today, aside from yoga and making my bed. It took me hours to get the appliques done on B-MO, but now he’s finally done! And I am going to cuddle up with him tonight and watch a couple of episodes of “Adventure Time!”

Oh, I also took a photo of the cozy purple hat of DOOOOOOM that I finished on Monday…

 

Giant Purple Hat of DOOOOOOM!!

Doesn’t Pixie look lovely?!

 
Aaaaaaaaaaaand I did a litle work on this project…

 

Granny squares!

“Who’s your granny?”

 
I have a total of 64 squares to stitch together and then I’ll have a lovely blanket that won’t match my pillow at all, but will still feel pretty cozy 🙂

So yeah, I’ve been busy this week. Time to cuddle with B-MO now. Good night!

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Creature Comforts – Day 11, Making more cushy pillow goodness!

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I finished the hat. I just had a few rows left to do on the band so I knocked those out today. Then I went to work on the NEXT project…

 

B-MO!!

“Who wants to play video games!!!”

 
Yay! B-MO! I love B-MO, and I desperately need cushy, cuddly pillows for the living room couch. I’ve still got the ratty old camoflague pillow I bought 24 years ago when I was first in the Army Reserves. It desperately needs to be replaced. So I’m making a B-MO pillow and I’m making another character pillow to go with it. I won’t say which character yet. I’ll show you that when I get to work on it 🙂

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Creature Comforts – Day 08 & 09, Slouchy Hat of Doooooom!

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Slouchy Hat of Doooooom!

I obviously have a lot of purple yarn in my stash…

 
Sorry about not posting yesterday. Last night was the Girl Scout cookie rally, and I spent all day yesterday getting ready for it. I put together games and activities for three stations, which is a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. Fortunately, I had a new Creature Comforts project already in progress – this lovely hat! I had already started this earlier in the week, and I managed to squeeze in just one round of crochet yesterday in between Girl Scout activities. Then I got a lot of work done on it tonight. It’s almost done. I just need to finish up the ribbed band, and I’m hoping I can get that done tomorrow.

This purple yarn is the same yarn I used in the Krampus Cowl. I bought a pound’s worth of it a few years ago, and now I’m determined to use it all up. I bought TWO pounds of the same yarn in black, and I’m really going to have to work to use all that up. But I have a few ideas of what I could do with it.

This isn’t the prettiest yarn – it’s got a lot of lumps and small snags in it – but it is very sturdy and perfect for a big slouchy hat like this one. I’ll see if I decide to add any decoration to it. I’m thinking it needs a skull and cross bones appliqued on the back, and I’m pretty sure I’ve got a pattern for that somewhere. Anyhoo, I’ve got a troop meeting tomorrow, so I’m going to bed now! Good night!

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Creature Comforts – Day 07, Black Cat Bolster!

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Black Cat Bolster!

“Yay! I’m finished!”

 
So this is what I’ve been working on the last couple days. I’ve been wanting a bolster for a while now. I like to have something beneath my knees when I sleep; it makes me more comfortable. But I specifically wanted a kawaii style bolster, like the ones in this book…

 

“Sew Kawaii” by Choly Knight

 
I love this book. I bought it last year, but this is the first time I’ve had a chance to work on any of the projects in it. It’s also the first time I’ve worked with fleece and the first time I’ve done an applique. I think I did okay. The bolster certainly feels comfy!

You can find the book here – “Sew Kawaii” by Choly Knight. Definitely check it out! Now I’m going to curl up in bed with my new bolster 🙂