Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Work in Progress Wednesday - 2/23/2011

The only one of last week's WIP that I actually managed to finish were the mittens - there are pictures here and the Ravelry page here.

Instead of tackling those other things, I got going on a two other projects that I need to do before I can send the patterns in for pattern testing, plus a third that is just for fun.

First, I've got my two amigurumi that are in development.

Manny Man-o-War, Third Draft of the Portuguese Man of War Amigurumi:
This is my closest to being done. For the amigurumi I'm designing for the Oceans (my undersea baseball team), I always do an "in uniform" and "out of uniform" version. This is the in uniform version, and it should be done tonight!

I tried to make his eyes look tough, but I think they turned out exactly the opposite. Ah well. Maybe I'll write that in to the story about him. :)

Sooper Sekrit Amigurumi WIP
It's really not much of a secret, since I've shared it a little on Ravelry and have a Ravelry project page up with the first draft, but it's secret on my blog so I thought I'd keep it that way.

Doesn't look like much of anything yet. :) Hope to have it done by the end of the week, and once I've got two version finished, it'll be ready to test the pattern and share it! For the second version, I decided just to pound it out in cheap materials, hence the boring black Red Heart...(I can't wait to finish using all the Red Heart in my stash - it's left over from a time when I cared less about what I used to make things, and was broke enough that Red Heart was all I could afford...)

Shawl
This is the WIP that I'm most excited about, but unfortunately cannot do any more work on until the supplies I ordered arrive. This is another one inspired by Nerd Wars over on Ravelry. This is supposed to be my entry in to the challenge called "A Bonding Experience," which is all about using different types of materials and discussing the challenges this involved. I had this idea to marry knowledge gleaned from my favorite craft (cross stitching) with this!

I don't want to spoil what it's going to show, but the idea was to give the white a shimmer by using Kreinik blending filament in silver and multi-colored. Blending filament is this awesome, thin, shiney thread used to make sections of cross stitch shimmer. It comes in all kinds of colors, but the projects I've done have mostly used gold, silver or multi-colored. It's working just how I hoped:

...unfortunately, I only have one spool of blending filament in the house (actually, I KNOW I have two, but I can't find the other, and anyway it goes with a specific cross stitch project - if I use it, I'll have to replace it), and I couldn't find any where local that carried the stuff (truly ridiculous) so I had to order it...and now I just have to twiddle my thumbs and wait for it to arrive. Very frustrating, because I really want to be working on this project! But there's nothing for it, I guess. :) This is another new direction for me, a shawl of my own design. I'm so glad I've joined Nerd Wars, because I'm meeting so many awesome geeks and also really stretching my boundaries and experimenting with new stuff in order to meet the challenges. :)

Want to see what other awesome stuff people are in the process of making this week? Check out Tami's Ami Blog and visit all of the other blogs participating in this week's WIP Wednesday!

15 comments:

  1. The kreinik looks great. I love it when I can use up some cross stitch materials for other things, especially crochet! Perle is great for crochet.

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  2. Ooo, can't wait to see the secret ami! I won't peek at the Rav page. ;) I love the shawl project and can't wait to see more! What a great concept!

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  3. The thread colors look great! Looks like it would be a lot of work though to keep it all from tangling.

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  4. Manny is so cute! The eyes are definitely his best feature! Your mittens turned out great. They look nice and warm. Can't wait to see how your shawl progresses. I love how the colorful filaments are looking.

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  5. The "Bonding experience" sounds really interesting. What a good idea to blend those materials!

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  6. I'm loving how your man of war is turning out! I can't wait to find out what the super secret project is. I guess I could head over to ravelry to find out more about it, but I kind of like the suspense. I really like the look of the filament with the yarn!

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  7. Thanks everyone!

    @CraftyCripple - I just wish I had more time for cross stitching! But it eats up soooo much time, and I enjoy crocheting so much too, that I've mostly switched over.

    @Tami and wrchili - well, if ya'll aren't going to sneak peaks on Ravelry, I might have to try to finish it for FO Friday (which I haven't been participating in, but am thinking about starting. :) )

    @Dutch Hollow and others who mentioned the shawl: So far I haven't had any problems with tangling, but this afternoon I got the discouraging news that my materials haven't even arrived at my intermediary yet, so the chances that I'll get them before the end of the month (by when I was hoping to finish) is very small. But I'm glad ya'll like it! I'm glad that it's working out so far!

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  8. What great projects. Love the shawl...the added pop of color will be amazing. I was looking in the cross stitch aisle the other day and wondered about adding it in to my weaving...hmmm

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  9. Manny Man-O-War is very cool. I like his fin and all the detail stitching. And I love the pop of sparkle in your shawl. Thanks for sharing your lovely WIPS. :)

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  10. Manny is adorable. I think his expression is very sweet. I am also very intrigued by how you're using the blending filament.

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  11. Thanks again! I'm really hoping that the blending filament will really show...so far it catches the light, but it's pretty subtle from any distance...but it's still very little of it. :)

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  12. all of your amis are so cute! I wish I was a better crocheter so I could make cute little animals too

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  13. Using the blending filament is a cool idea. I can't wait to see how it turns out in the finished shawl. The close-up picture seemed to have a nice sparkle. And really, who doesn't smile after seeing some amigurumi? Manny is too cute!

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  14. Thanks to you both!

    @SillyLittleLady - it's really not very hard. In general amigurumi use only the most basic stitches (most of mine only use chains and single crochet! Though Manny also uses loop stitch)...

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