Sooooo Many Projects!

So with the end of the semester and wedding planning I've been working on projects here and there and I haven't updated this in a while. So he's an update on ALL the things I've been working one. Hopefully I'll be opening an Etsy shop in the new year so keep an eye out for that!

This is a scarf I finally finished. It was made with a criss cross pattern that I've learned it came out awesome. It will be up on my Etsy shop when it's up.

This is another MochiMochi by Anna Hrachovec. It's a cute little Christmas tree.

I got these two patterns from mochimochiland.com. I loved the little bundled bear! Hopefully it'll bring snow here for Christmas!

 This is a t-shirt rug. I went through my closet and got rid of all the t-shirts I don't wear. I was just going to give them away but then I found this tutorial http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2012/07/make-your-own-braided-rug.html and I thought it would look great in me and Mikie's new home! It's almost done I've braided everything. I just need to glue it all down and I'll have an awesome rug!

I got this awesome kit from knitpicks.com (http://www.knitpicks.com/kits/Altiplano_Satchel_Kit__D41024.html) I've never done color work before and it was a learning experience. I have most of the bag done and I'm working on the strap now.

I'm working on so many projects and been very busy planning the wedding. I'm going to work on my bouquet for the wedding this week. I might post about that later. Hope everyone is have a great Christmas Season!

Holiday Craziness

The final weeks of the semester are finally here! I'm very excited because with out school I will be able to relax and work on wedding stuff and maybe knit somethings! I did take a much needed break on Friday and created this little guy:

He doesn't have a name but he's really cute and I was very proud because I made the pattern all by myself. Hopefully in the near future I'll be starting and Etsy shop and can sell some of my awesome creations. It's in the makings. I'll keep you guys updated. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Ladybug Love!

I am a member of the sorority Alpha Sigma Alpha and our unofficial mascot it the lady bug! So, today I really needed a break from school so I made up a pattern for this little lady. She is super cute and tiny. I was very proud that I made up a whole pattern all by myself! Hopefully she'll bring me some luck with my upcoming tests!

Pumpkin Family

I needed a break from school. So I made a pumpkin family!

They are very excited for Halloween!

Monkey Business

I made some monkeys for my friend Rachel in my sorority. She says she's going to give them to her nieces! (Super Cute!) Before I gave them to her I took come pictures.

Partying in the jungle!

Fall Time!

Fall is quickly approaching in Chicago which means Halloween is coming! Because of this my Aunt requested some little cute Halloween toys. So I made a ghost and a friend for him. I got this pattern out of the Teeny-tiny Mochi Mochi book. The pumpkin pattern I found on ravelry and I modified it to make him smaller to his ghost friend's size. They are excited for fall and to scare people on Halloween!

Sharing Happiness

I live in a sorority house and one day I saw that our dining room was full of stressed out girls who needed some sunshine. So, I brought down my collection of little creatures. Well...everyone loved them! I now have a long list of orders to be made. All the proceeds are going towards WorldServe Project (www.worldserveproject.org) and help pay for a trip to build a home for a family. Thanks to my sorority sisters for supporting me!

Dinosaur! 

Reindeer (3 months till Christmas!)

Little monkey!

Cupcakes!

Tiny break from school

I took a little break from homework this week and made some little friends. A computer because I'm on one all day from school and this one is way cuter. A corn because I like sweet corn and he's also cute. Still really don't have time for much crafty or knitting but I do what I can. Most of my free time now will consist of wedding planning. Exciting...yes!

School maddness

Well I'm back at school. It is my fifth and final year of architecture school! Because of school my crafting and blogging time has been cut significantly. I'm so sorry. But this weekend my fiancé and I will be starting a new blog about our tiny home! I'll share once it's up an running. The first couple weeks are always crazy. But I have these little mochi's to help me through it!

Socks of Istanbul

One of my great friends, Lauren, studied abroad last semester. While abroad she got me a present from Istanbul. They are these amazing sock/boot things. They are just amazing. They are super comfy and the colors are just incredible. I've wanted to learn how to do color work in knitting for a while. This might be a sign that I should learn. ;-) it's not cold now but I'm still wearing them. I can't wait for winter when I can wear them all the time!

Dinner Last Night

Last night we made the delicious dinner of Mac n Cheese Grilled Cheese! Basically, you make a grilled cheese sandwich but instead of just cheese you add Mac n Cheese. We used Velveeta brand. It was super good!

MochiMochi Friday!

I still love MochiMochi's. Sadly, I have been very busy and not able to make some lately. So, to get my Mochi fix, I'm going to post some pictures about ones that I made a couple weeks ago.

A gnome!!

This a little blue monkey with a banana. 

Little cupcake. Colors picked by my sister Kristie

I recently ordered and received a bunch of yarn from www.knitpicks.com. I got a whole bunch of colors so I can make more little mochi's. Now that I have a ton of colors I can get to knitting more cute mochi's

Hat for a friend

I love hats almost as much as I love scarves. My friend Gwen asked me to make a hat for her. We made a deal if she bought the yarn and found a pattern I would make her a hat and that's just what we did. The pattern I used can be found HERE. It was a pretty simple hat if you've had experience knitting with double pointed needles. Here are pictures of the final product taken and modeled by the lovely Gwen Parker.

It was a very fun project and is going to keep Gwen's head nice and warm in the winter.

More MochiMochi's!

I have so much fun making these little toys. They are adorable and don't take that long to make. Here are some pictures of some the first ones I made. It takes practice the only way to learn is to try. Again these are all from the MochiMochi book that I got for Christmas. I plan on designing some of my own soon. But, I'm not that good yet.

A little island of paradise. I made this one for my Mom.
She keeps it on her desk at work.

A sailboat. This one is very easy to make!
I'm going to make a ton in more colors!

I had a little trouble with this one. It's suppose to be an air plane.
It currently has a mini gummy bear riding it. I will have to attempt
this one again.

They are so fun to make! Also, they are having a give away for Lion Brands new mini skeins. Just go to www.mochimochiland.com and comment on the blog post. You could win some yarn to make more little toys! 

Scarves!

I loooove scarves! They are one of my favorite things about cold weather. For Christmas I made a bunch for gifts! I found patterns and just knitted forever. I started in October. And it took me all 2 1/2 months to make these scarves. I made them for my fiance's family. His grandmother, mother, sister and sister in law. They all loved the scarves and I loved making them. 

I found this pattern here http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/free-scarf-knitting-patterns4.htm. It was very simple yet classic.

I found this pattern at my local yarn shop. They had some free patterns available and I took one. It's an infinity scarf with some texture (you can see in later pictures)

Same scarf as above with different color.

This is a close up of the infinity scarf. Looks complicated but it a very simple knit and purl pattern.

This scarf was very fun to make. It is just three strands and you just braid them together. I found the pattern here http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/free-scarf-knitting-patterns5.htm. It's very simple and looks very cool.

They make great gifts and keep you warm in the winter!

Paper Flowers

Speaking of wedding...

I found these beautiful flowers on pinterest. And I loved them. I found out they were made of paper and I immediately loved them more. So, I plan on using paper flowers for my wedding. 

This is one of my first attempts. I used THIS tutorial to help me make it. I used a card stock paper instead of just text weight paper. I love the texture of it and the color. I loved them so much that I made more!

I tried different sizes and different types of paper. I found a lot more tutorials and my mom got me a book that she found at the half price bookstore that is all about paper bouquets. 

I think it adds a lovely touch to the wedding and personal feel. I'll need help making all these flowers hopefully my bridesmaids will be up for the challenge. :-)

Guest Post: The story of Michelle's engagement ring!

Step 1: Learn what she wants, Make a plan

Michelle had told me early on she did not want to go the traditional route for her ring.  Since her favorite color is blue, I started there and worked on a plan to create her the perfect ring. 

Step 2: The stone

I contacted a sapphire mine in Montana and had them ship me raw, unmined earth.  I panned through it myself until i found the perfect rough sapphire.  I knew it was the one as soon as I saw it: a radiant light blue color.  I sent it out to be cut and polished into a ring-worthy gemstone.

Step 3: The setting

I took the stone to Distinctive Gold Jewelry and worked with Tony D'Ortenzio.  He was committed to making this ring special, with a story worthy of Michelle.  We talked about different metals and their pros and cons.  Michelle likes a more industrial look, so we decided on Palladium. (see photos).  For such a unique stone, a custom setting would be the right choice.  Tony walked me through the steps and let me choose how involved in the process I wanted to be.  I chose to draw it up, and build a 3d model of it on the computer myself and send it to him.  It was a very simple, geometric form with elegant clean lines.

Step 4: The Ring

Throughout the process, Tony was incredibly patient, helpful and informative.  We selected a band, and he built the ring.  It came out perfect- more beautiful than I ever could have imagined.  And more importantly than how much i like it, Michelle loved it.  It's perfectly tailored to her, and it fits Her personality in a way only custom can.  

-Mikie Smit

iPad2 Case

My lovely grandmother got me an iPad for Christmas. I really did not want to spend the money to get a fancy case. So, I saw it as an opportunity to make one! I designed it all my self and I'm going to attempt to walk you through what I made even though I didn't document the entire process.


Things you will need:
- iPad, or something that needs a case (kindle, nook)
- fabric (I used some scraps I had)
- elastic
- chip board (or similar)
- Sewing machine




Step one:
Measure out the chip board. I laminated two pieces together to make it a little stronger. This will be the structure of the case. I just approximated and made it a little bigger then my iPad. In order to make the case I wanted I need three sizes. 1- is the back where iPad will be held in place. 2 and 3 will fold over to cover 1.

Step Two: Get fabric! I used scraps that I had. Line up all the chipboard pieces to measure the fabric. Be sure to allow for extra space in case you screw something up. Make two pieces like this.

Step Three: (Optional) I hand stitched on these pretty flowers to give my fabric some more personality.

Step Four: Sew your two pieces of fabric  together on three sides. The two long sides and one of the short sides. It will look similar to a small pillow case.

Step Five: Once your fabric is sewn you slide in piece 1 of your chip board. This will be where the iPad sits. Optionally, I would suggest adding some sort of cushion, like padding in the case to soften the chipboard (but i didn't add any in mine)  After piece 1 is in, sew it in place so it doesn't move. Do not sew through the chipboard, just right next to it so it won't move.

Step Six: Same as step five with piece 2. Be sure to allow some room (the thickness of your ipad) between piece 1 and 2 so the case can fold over.

Step Seven: Now add piece 3 and close the piece. Get rid of extra fabric and make sure all the chipboard pieces are snug.

Step Eight: Now time for elastic. This will hold your iPad in place. I just cut a strip and stapled to the chip board where I wanted the iPad to lay. (look at pictures to better understand)

Now you have a case!!

Additional: I added a button on one side and a some embroidery floss so the case would stay closed and can be propped up. (look at pictures) 

Happy sewing!