Super Mario Bros Cross Stitch

So I have become very ambitious and decided to make a cross stitch project from a screen shot of Super Mario Bros 1-1. I uploaded the pic I had to a program that is supposed to translate it into a grid. Unfortunately it made the pic blurred and then translated those blurs into random colors. So I trashed it and made the chart by looking at the screen shot and spites from the game. I then used a DMC color chart to pick the colors for it. It took me about six hours total to make the chart, and when printed it is 9 pages. But since the cross stitching is tiny it will fit on at the most a 11" x 14" piece of fabric. The pic above is of the floor. The filled in blocks and one not filled in block represents the width of one page. It had taken me about 3 days to do this much, though I have only been working on it about 2-3 hours a day (and I am a slow stitcher).

Twit Attack

So I have totally become obsessed with Twitter. Not because I can do constant status updates but because I can quickly upload pics.

The Crafting Source

So I have decided that I will post my crafts on here, and use this blog as my crafting pinnacle (I hope that is the right word). Oh and maybe I will learn how to use a web counter in this thing.

Striped Seed Stitch Scarf

I went to a yard sale at a church nearby and found a Lion Brand learn to knit kit that had yarn in it. It was really cheap and came with needle and some yarn, so it seemed like a good buy. I decided to make this scarf using the two colors. I am really pleased with it because I like how the seed stitch pattern incorporates the two colors together in a way that is different from a normal garter or stockinette scarf would. After I blocked the colors looked even clearer and better.

Pattern:

Us #10 Straight needles
1 Lion Brand Jiffy Heather Blue (MC)
1 Lion Brand Jiffy White (CC)

CO 21 sts with MC

Work in seed st (K1, P1 across, end with K1, every row) for 1 inch, ending with a WS row
Work 2 rows with CC
Work 2 rows with MC

Work these four rows until scarf is desired length.

Cut CC
Work 1" with MC
BO

Weave in ends and block.

Cast On Research

So I have only know about 4 cast ons but I have decided to research and learn as many as I can. I am going to post pics of how to do. On wiki I found 14: knit on cast on, cable cast on, single cast on, double cast on, tubular cast on, provisional cast on, double needle cast on, braided cast on, chain cast on, crochet chain cast on, provisional chain cast on Turkish cast on, magic cast on, and circular cast on. I know there's other ones, or at least different names for these. I am determined to become a self proclaimed cast on expert.

Biggest Ball of Yarn Ever

This is the ball of yarn that I am using to make a baby blanket for my friend. I wanted to use a large hook, so I decided to use two yarns together. It took me about two days to finish making the ball because I wanted to wind the two skeins together so I didn't have to work from two balls. Unfortunately I had bought two of those one pound skeins. At the end I had to lay the ball in lap as I wound the yarn on it because it felt so heavy.

Basic Socks

I finally finished the second sock to this pair. I got the pattern from a sock generator website, and it didn't work out very well (see the sock on the left). I was so mad that I hid the sock. I recently found it and decided to make a mate for it, but this time using my own patten. So I counted the ribbing on the first sock, CO 64 sts on four dpns and just went from there. It actually turned out ok and it is hard to tell that they aren't from the same pattern.

Crocheted Pigtail Keychain

This pattern is for a curl that looks like a pig's tail. This will also be sold at a fundraiser for the club. I also used this to have everyone practice increases.

To make a curl the foundation chain is overloaded with single crochet (sc).

Chain at least 15. Turn.

Work two single crochet (sc) in each stitch.

Fasten off and weave in tails.

Attach keychain.

Granny Square Kaychain

Here is a pattern I made for our club at school. The keychains will be sold at a fundraiser. I'm also using it as an intro to granny squares.

Makes a basic three layered Granny Square.

You can use a different color for each round.

• To start:
• Make a slip knot.
• Chain (ch) 5, join last chain to first chain with a slip stitch (sl st) to form a ring

• Round (rnd) 1:
• Ch 3
• Work two double crochet (dc) in ring
• (Ch 2, make 3 dc in ring) three times
• Ch 2
• Join work with a sl st in top of the ch-3 at beginning (beg) of rnd
• Fasten off and weave in tail.
• Rnd 2:
• Join yarn in second ch-2 space (sp) before the join of the rnd you just finished
• Ch 3
• In same sp as ch-3 work 2 dc
• Ch 2
• 3 dc (first corner made)
• (Ch 1, in next ch-2 sp work 3 dc, ch 2, work 3 dc) three times
• Ch 1
• Join with sl st to top of beg ch-3
• Fasten off and weave in tail.
• Rnd 3:
• Join yarn in the second ch-2 sp before the join of the rnd you just finished
• Ch 3
• In same sp as ch-3 work 2 dc
• Ch 2
• 3 dc (first corner made)
• (Ch 1, in next ch-1 sp make 3 dc, ch 1, in the next ch-2 sp make a corner [same as above]) three times
• Ch 1
• Work 3 dc in next ch-1 sp
• Ch 1
• Join with sl st to the top of the beg ch-3
• Fasten off and weave in tail

• Attach keychain.

Broadripple Socks

I made this socks from a pattern on Knitty.com. They were extremely simple and a good step up from a basic sock pattern. I highly recommend it for beginners who want to do something a little fancy. All that is used to make the ripple stitch is YOs, k2togs, and SSKs. The pattern also says to use Cascade yarn, which is an elastic yarn, but I just used a cheap baby yarn from the local yarn shop.