New blog at http://blogs.umass.edu/adanciko/

Happy day!

So the people I work with here at DEFA (East German Film Library - rents and sells films) must really like me. :) For a belated Christmas present, they got me a $25 gift certificate to The Creative Needle, our LYS. They also gave me a copy of Changing Skins, which is my favorite German movie, that only gets sold with Educational Rights, making it $150 to buy. And the secretary got me a very lovely little bookmark. This was a good start to the new semester. :)

Happy 2009!

So here it is, first post of the new year. YAY!

I've finished three projects already: a blanket, a hat and a scarf. I am also almost done with a second blanket, but I'm running low on the yarn I need to join it, and I didn't really want to go out in the snow today, but that will probably be done soon. So pictures! Yay!


The blanket: (also known as The Garden of Possibilities. Pattern from Crochet Today! May/June 2008. Yarn: Caron One Pound - used just under two)

The hat: (It's a little small, but now I know how to adjust the pattern for next time. Made with leftover Vanna's Choice. Will find link for pattern later)


The Scarf: My own design made with Bonnie by Reynolds.


There are also the miniature ornaments that I made for everyone in Corey's family.

An M&M for Pat (brother):
A traffic cone for Joe (Dad - Director of the DPW in Shirley):
A Golden Snitch for Corey:

Snowflakes for Meaghan (sister):
Snowflakes for Maggy (Mom):


Also, Corey finished his UMass Blanket and it looks FABULOUS. No pictures yet, but I'll try to get some soon. :)

So, I got a digital camera for Christmas, which means that I was able to update my Ravelry page (yay! add me - I'm fancysimages) and take picture of finished Christmas presents. Yes, I took the pictures after they were unwrapped. First, my mom's blanket, rejoined and blocked to look fabulous. My mom loved it.


Second, my dad's hat and scarf set. Both parts were improvised and I must say that I am very happy with how they came out. I may make another hat for myself, but definitely using just one color and probably the back loop only method to give it some texture. He also loved it, but he said it was too warm to wear inside, which means it will be perfect for outside. Yay!


Last, my sister's blanket. I finished this late Tuesday night and didn't have time to block it. (We celebrate on Christmas Eve. A walk, a big dinner, then presents. Whee!). She really liked it, but I'm gonna have to take it back from her for a little bit to get rid of the wonkiness in the middle. Oh and it's not small - that Astronomica book in the picture is huge. It's probably more than a foot and a half tall, and it's heavy too.


As for me, I got the camera, a Wii Fit, some clothes, a crochet book, a knit and crochet book, a trilogy illustrated by Edward Gorey, an M&M watch, a wonderful cook/scrap book that my mom made for me that contains traditional Rusyn recipes (both in Slovak and in English) and photos of my family (great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, and us.), and a beautiful hand woven scarf that my sister made for me. It was a good Christmas. Everyone was happy and it was great to be together.

What's going on?

So I finished my Dad's hat, realized that the yarn I need to finish my mom's blanket was left at school, and been stuck inside for the past two and a half days. It's really pretty outside though. I wish I had a camera so I could take some pictures, but I don't. Maybe I'll get one for Christmas *crosses fingers*. I'm going out to get the yarn I need to finish my mom's blanket and then I'll probably spend the rest of the day working on my sister's blanket. I should be able to get that done today. Then I'll finish my mom's and I'll be good for my family. I do still have to make some snowflakes for Corey's parents, but that shouldn't take up too much time. As for Corey's present, I don't have to worry about that just yet, since we again decided to exchange gifts at the end of our winter break, as he doesn't work at school, and I work very little then. We've both got plenty of hours at the Y now, so things shouldn't be a problem at the end of January.

Massive Update

So, I should be doing any of the following:
Reading so I can finish my last paper
Doing said paper
Studying for my other finals
Working on Christmas presents.

Unfortunately, I don't much feel like doing any of them, so instead I will be updating this blog. YAY!

First, things with pictures:



Lion Brand CAL - The Sampler Afghan.
I have two squares done. That's all. I wasn't very excited with the pattern to begin with, but I'm taking it back to NA with me for Winter Break so hopefully it will get done then. Yarn is Jo-Ann's Rainbow Sensation or something like that.



Rogere de Renard - the friendly fox that accompanied my friend Beth to Paris for her semester abroad. Apparently, he's very happy there. The pattern was adjusted from a knit pattern found on lionbrand.com. Made with white and orange Fun Fur.



Rose 'Ghan from Crochet Today - I was very happy with this, but I had to put it aside to start working on Christmas presents. It's coming back to NA with me too, so I really want to get it done. This is made with Caron One Pound in Off-White or Beige, not exactly sure what the color is called.




Socks - I gave up on these some time ago because I have to frog a part of it and I just don't find them important enough to get back to work on. These are coming home over Winter Break, maybe I will finish them. Berroco Comfort DK and a pattern from "You Can Crochet Socks" which I got at Annie's Attic.



Corey's Birthday Blanket - The colors look much better in real life. I'm extremely happy with this, and so is Corey, he has it with him all the time - watching TV, taking a nap, reading, doing homework. He loves it. And I'm really glad about that. :) This was made with Vanna's Choice, and a pattern from Crochet Today magazine - I think it was called graphic grid afghan or something like that.



Radka's X-Mas Blanket Attempt #2 - I am extremely happy with this. It's actually gotten much bigger since I took the picture. I am currently on round 35 of 40 so I just need to keep trudging at it and get it finished. Vanna's Choice again, and the pattern is from Geometrics.



UMass Skinny Scarf - I found that I had a lot of this yarn lying around (both the white and the maroon) in various colors. So I made this scarf to begin with, and then two more:

The pattern was improvised, and I don't remember the name of the yarns because they were 99 cent yarns from Building 19.



Donation Scarves: #2, #4 and #6 in the second picture were made by Corey. The last one in that picture was made by Heather. It was a club project (will explain about the club later), but I ended up doing most of them. :( Various yarns and imporvised patterns.



Scarf for Dad for Christmas. Currently working on a matching hat. Hopefully it will be done soon. Both are improvised and made with Caron Simply Soft Eco.


Here is a picture of Sarah's finished blanket. The colors in this picture are much more true to life, except they're not actually that visible through the black Fun Fur. The other yarns in this were Caron Simply Soft Quick Brites and Red Heart Sunshine Print.


Thick and Chunky UMass Scarf. I knew the cold weather was coming and I wanted something warm for the football game/UMMB (Marching Band), so I made this. I love it. It feels like I'm wearing a blanket around my neck whenever I put it on. It's made from Wool-Ease Thick and Quick.



Meshy Scarf. The yarn for this was rather expensive, so I've been putting off finishing the other half of it. It's more of a spring scarf, so I definitely have time to finish it. I'll probably take this home over Winter Break to work on too. The yarn was Bonnie I believe, but I'm not sure of the brand. The pattern is improvised.



Random scarf that I started making for no real reason. Not sure if I'll ever finish it or not, mostly because I don't know if I have enough yarn, and which hook I used (I think it was a K). Vanna's Choice with an improvised pattern.


Cardi from Crochet Today. I changed the colors, and I had to use quite a larger hook size. This has been on hold for awhile, because it got cold out and I had other things to work on. Maybe I'll get a chunk done on it over Winter Break. The yarn is Red Heart Designer Sport.


Sunshine Scarf - This was a stash-buster scarf to get rid of leftover yarn from Sarah's Blanket. I ended up needing to buy a new skein to finish off the last few double crochets. The picture above is actually only half the scarf, as I haven't taken a picture of it finished yet.


I call this 'Fancy Scarf' even though it's not really fancy, mostly because I can't think up a better name. It's actually quite a bit bigger than it was when I took the picture. It's made from baby yarn, not quite sure which, and the pattern is from Lion Brand Sampler Afghan (see first picture) It's the pattern from square 3. I'm just continuing the pattern until I think the scarf is long enough. I've been working on it between classes to kill time.

Well, that was the last of the pictures. What else is there?

Super Stretchy Blue Blanket - I made this in one night. I used Pound of Love in the annoying turquoise blue color and a Q hook. For how holey it is, it's actually amazingly warm. It doesn't look all that great, but it can stretch to accommodate several people, and like I said, it's warm. That's enough to make me want to make another one.

Homespun Pillow - I started this a long time ago, but haven't really done much on it. It's just single crochet with Lion Brand Homespun yarn. I started it when I was bored and didn't have any other yarn around.

Corey's Scarf - I started this about two summers ago. It's also made from Homespun, but it's knit which would explain why I put it away.

Baby Blanket - I started knitting a regular sized blanket on size 4 needles in a stockinette stitch. It was made with baby yarn and was going to be made of several panels. I gave up on that and decided to make it my "when I feel like knitting" project, as I know of no one who needs a baby blanket at the moment. Pound of love and some other baby yarn.

Snuggle Blanket - I really liked the way Wool-Ease Thick and Quick felt so I decided to make a blanket from it. I went to Michael's with Corey and we both picked out a color - he chose blue and I chose orange. It's going to be made in five strips, which will look like the Thick and Chunky UMass Scarf above, except three panels will start and end in orange and two in blue. I'm calling it a snuggle blanket because it will be ridiculously warm and amazing to snuggle under when power goes out. That will hopefully get done over Winter Break as well.

UMass Blanket - the last pictures I have of this show it less than half done, but I've made some progress on it. Unfortunately, I keep running out of yarn and I probably won't be able to afford to finish this for some time. In the hopes that I make enough at the Y over break (haha that's a joke, right?!), I'm bringing it home with me. Jiffy.

Happy/Angry Fishie - I improvised a fish for Corey's supervisor at work over the summer when she had an expecially rough day. It was supposed to be a happy fish, but when it was turned to the wrong side, it looked extremely angry. This is one that I will probably never get a picture of, but I don't really mind. It was nice enough to see her smile. Baby yarn/yellow Microspun.

Mouse - I made Corey a little red mouse from a pattern I found on Crochetville (KristieMN's pattern I believe). He had googly eyes but they fell off. The mouse currently lives in Corey's house on top of the piano.

Blue Bear - Same as yellow bear in previous post, except blue. Various baby yarn scraps.

Dead stick man - Improvised amigurumi with x's for eyes. Since he's brown he looks like a dead stick. Vanna's Choice.

Cell phone holder man - Another improvised amigurumi. A rather large square, with a square missing in the middle. Also has x's for eyes and fangs. Holds Corey's cell phone perfectly. Vanna's Choice.

Garden Gnome/Dumbledore - Vanna's Choice and random Red Heart scraps. Made from a pattern on lionbrand.com.

EuphMass Mittens - Corey decided to sell Umass hats and mittens to the Euphonium section. He designed the hats and I designed the mittens (the tops flip back for easy playing). He ended up making most of them, but I made the first pair.

Stashbusting Baby Yarn Scarf - to be perfectly honest, I don't know if I'll ever touch it again.

Mom's X-Mas blanket - Done, but I'm not very happy with the way it was joined (I used the slip stitch) so I'm going to take it apart and rejoin it. Vanna's Choice and Circle to Squares Afghan pattern from Lion Brand.

Snowflakes - I've been using size 60 crochet thread and a ridiculously tiny hooks to make snowflakes. I decided to do this after I got bored with making the paper ones. I ordered some books, but had them sent to NA, so I have to wait till I get home to make more. I'll have pictures after they're all made and starched.



PHEW. That was a lot. If you read it all, kudos. If not, I understand.

MUCH MUCH MUCH BUMBLEBEE LOVE

Tonka.

Update coming soon.

So I don't have much time now, but I've made a list of all things that need to be updated on this blog... and I think I came up with some ridiculous number, like 34 or something. Sooooooo, when I get the chance to do it (maybe tonight?), you will all get to hear about the 30-something things I've made/have been working on since the middle/end of the summer.

Tonka