A Busy Busy Busy Busy Week

OMG! I meant to post something every night for the past week..where oh where did all those days go you may ask!
Well I worked everyday this past week and by the time I got home all I wanted to do was sleep! And sleep I did, from about 8:30 right through til the alarm next morning. I was exhausted! Where did my youthful energy go, where did that girl who went out late every night, all those crazy late night bars clubs and all night parties, how often did she see the dawn, shoes in hand...she's 33 now and...asleep by 8:30, just awake long enough to watch Masterchef on the telly...Even on Friday night I did'nt even make the end of Masterchef Masterclass! Asleep on the lounge, crochet in hand! ...boy oh boy how we change through life.
So...here is what I finished this week...I can't remember what day it was...but it was a day ending in y.
For the 12 in 12 challenge, Mays item was something with an enclosed zip.
Taadaa! the KF Everything Wallet completed!

I changed it a bit in order to line the inside of the zipper pocket.

If I were to make it again, I would make it with the correct sized zip, instead of just the smaller one I had in the draw...

I know it's not made for an iPhone, but if I made it again... I'd make it wider and adjust the velcro bit so it would close properly once full of all my cards and my iPhone, and money...

And I'm an idiot, I spent hours choosing the positions of each pocket on the fabric to cut out cool bits of patterns on the fabric to show on the edge of each card pocket...and then promptly realised once finished, that you see none of them beneath the cards..hehehehe.

Still, I love it and it's cute...and the lovely Coles checkout operator made lovely comments about it - Usecase user testing successful:)

Also at some point I think last week even, I finished off my husbands scarf, but I'm not sure If I told anyone or showed it once it was actually finished! So, here it is...modelled by a reluctant, don't-talk-about-me-on-your-blog-husband. ;)

I had to finish this one hat I started about 15 times, unpulled, changed a bit, unpulled, made a mistake, threw it in a bag, found a much better pattern...unpulled and re-used the unpulled yarn, but finally I got it right and finished it! And it was really really simple as it turns out!  I used the Art of crochet, Teresas pattern Little Darling Toddler-Youth Crochet Shell cap. I could only get one ball of this yarn, I really loved it, I wanted it for me, but I can't really make anything much for me out of one ball, I really liked it and couldn't leave it in the shop, my niece loved it because it has pink in it ;) So now she has a crochet shell cap.

Last night I started crocheting a beanie during a run of 24 episodes we were trying to catch up on, I didn't really know what I was doing with it when I started it, and really I should have been finishing off all the other projects I have on the go...but I finished it so quickly I made another one too...no patterns just a crochet hook (4mm) and pink and white and pale pink and pink left over bits of wool. I experimented with them a lot, I made them ear-flappy hats, like I had as a kid. they should fit the twins nicely, if my sister isn't too embarrassed to put them on them! I think they are cute, but I understand that not everyone likes what I like and I'm ok with that. I just say to her each time, if she can't use it give it to someone who can.

On the first one I made the pom-pom old style using two disks of cardboard, seriously painful and annoying when it fell apart while tying it up, second one I made this morning using a Spotlight pom-pom maker, a much easier process not involving cutting out cardboard:) Pom Pom makers:

I also got to use my new Birch split ring stitch markers, I know, not gorgeous beaded glittery jewelled lovelies that I've seen around the net, but they do the job and they don't get heavy or snag the wool:)

And now, to talk about the new crochet project I am starting...
These lovelies came from Bendigo Wool :

And I'm trying hard to make lil hexies...I love love love the little hexies from Attic24's lovely hexagon-howto.

Here are some of the practice ones I did, full of mistakes and perhaps I shouldn't put the two browns next to each other, but none-the-less, once I get the technique down, they will look great and I hope will make a lovely warm blankie for our brown, brown lounge.
I havent yet started anything for my May ornament for the FOSAL...oops.

My lovelies!

It's been a Busy and productive week all around really!
I forgot to tell you about the night I jumped up and down a lot because my lovelies arrived from Spin Blessings. I am in love with these beauties and they have already been amazing in forming many stitches.

They are Susan Bates wonderfully coloured aluminium hooks in a range of sizes. I've popped some Foohy Gooshy Grips into them to cover the grip bit with the writing, which irritates my finger after hooking for a while. For the bigger hooks, the Gooshy grips fit right on the hooks, the smaller hooks the Gooshy grips slide off or rattle around inside. Instead, I've used some bluetac wrapped around them and rolled the gooshy grips over the bluetac. A great idea! Not my idea, Teresa the queen of crochet did a wonderful YouTube video about this:)
I've used mostly, the biggest, size 11 hook to make a scarf for my husband, for all those outdoor recess and lunch duties over winter to come. It makes lovely stitches and they slide on and off wonderfully! I'm in love!

It's made with alternating Single crochet and treble crochet across the width then chaining up. It's a great quick pattern that I can mindlessly do while hanging out on the lounge watching TV at night. It uses two strands of yarn together. I have no idea why the variegated yarn has ended up forming bands of distinctly different sections, it's all along the scarf so far in 10 cm or so chunks then changes for about 10 cm it's like the variegations all line up for 10 rows, then they don't, then they do again..weird...chunks...almost like I made stripes. We'll just say it's meant to be like that?...yes..it's the design. ;)

My apron swap partner Fab sent me this wonderful apron that I have not stopped wearing since it arrived!
It's Gorgeous and fun and yellow delicious!

Now I can show you the one I made, as she has received it, and has blogged about it herself over at Little Cooties.

The fabric is a Tribal range of poplin, 100% Cotton from spotlight. The apron took 1 metre of both fabrics, so 2 metres in total.

I used every ounce of patience to stitch around the scallop edge:)

I used my Bernina Ruffler to gather the top of the apron skirt on a setting of Stitch length 2 and the ruffler set to 6. (creates a gathered fold every 6 stitches). It reduced the 1 metre width down to almost half.

It's fully reversible, mostly to make the scallop edgy bits easier, but also so you get 2 aprons in one;)

The pockets are "tulip" shaped pockets. I unpicked these several times before I realised, like an idiot that I shouldn't try to stitch through both layers together and beg the pockets to be aligned perfectly, I should stitch 1 pocket to 1 fabric layer instead and the other pocket to the other layer of fabric. DUH!
So, theres my apron:) I love it and I think Fab loves it too.
This week I absolutely HAD to finish one more UFO before I am allowed to begin my new project. (12 in 12 challenge for May)
The UFO I chose was a warm winter tartan dress my mum had begun sewing for me when I was a little kid. She gave up on it for 25 odd years and then gave it to me to finish off for my niece who was staying with us at the time, I said I would, then took one look at it and never got back to doing it, because, "zips are too hard" and there were bits missing (the neck facing) and some of the stitching was a little on the weird side..I think my mum may have gone a little nuts on it.
It looks almost done I said on Monday...hmmm looks are so deceiving! I thought, I'll knock this one off pretty quick and get onto my new project...hmmm...nope, wrong again.

The shoulders had been sewn together on the outside, instead of the inside, and then tucked into another seam to hide it, and then there was the stitching around the waist...

And this was one of the neater sections, some were triple zigzagged, triple straight stitched and a gathering stitch and felt lumpy, thick and solid...The fabric was fraying, and I decided to unpick everything and stitch it up again.
3 days of unpicking the entire dress later...

I finally got to overlocking and re-assembling, including the lovely lace on the front, in two rows, which had been tucked and folded over (a bit lumpy) instead of ending in the seams. I unpicked the zigzag and straight stitched it back on in the same curves it had been on, because it was pretty:)

Then I cut a neck facing out of the belt pieces that was supposed to go with it but mum had forgotten to sew into the side seams. I felt it was more important to have a facing to neaten up the neck.
And then...onto the part I had been dreading and avoiding all week, and again, avoiding all day today.

Today I watched tutorials, read new blogs, sipped tea, googled, did everything other than the zip today! I don't know what I was thinking avoiding it. Tonight I sewed in the zip...It wasn't that scary. I did it in a few add breaks during Masterchef. I did remember an old trick my mum showed me of tying a ribbon onto the zipper pull to help move the zip around the foot of your machine in order to keep your stitch straight. Score one for mum, it worked a treat, even if I did forget to use the zipper foot on the correct sides...whoops...still good still good!

And here it is...all overlocked and stitched and finished! Another UFO done!!! Hooray! And thanks again to Karin at MadebyK whose New project plan is the only reason I can force myself to finish 2 UFO's before I can start any new project. Thankfully crafty bloggy sharing people like her are injecting some sanity into my crazy ADHD-like - attention span for starting loads of projects and not finishing! Oh look bright shiny thing!
And now onto the important task of sleep...night all.