Aran at Last!

After well over a year of on-and-off knitting (followed by some frantic last-minute button sewing), I have FINALLY finished my grandma's sweater! In my usual style, I completely failed to get a picture, so I'll have to use the one from the site where I bought the pattern.

Unfortunately, there were several significant errors in the pattern. Right up front, the instructions left an entire row out of the pattern. Fortunately that one was easy to spot, since an odd number of rows was obviously not going to cause the pattern to repeat properly.

The other problem I failed to notice until I was about half-way through a significant portion of the sweater: It buttons backwards. The pattern says the button holes are on the right side, but once I started working that panel, I realized it needed to be the left side in order to have the correct side of the fabric facing out. This isn't a fatal problem, but since women's shirts tend to button in the opposite direction, it's rather awkward. Luckily Nan didn't care, because I was not in the mood to start again!

Otherwise, the aran pattern itself was quite nice. The sweater is a nice design, which was why I chose it, but if you decide to try it yourself, definitely read through the whole thing first and feel free to ask me any questions about the corrections I made. In the meantime, I'm going to revise it and make myself a hooded button cardigan... eventually...

Tops and Toes

A few months ago, my grandma gave me this cute book called Tops and Toes, which has several really cute hat and sock patterns, for adults and kids. At Halloween, I made the ladybug and bumblebee hats for two of my friends' adorable little daughters, although I unfortunately neglected to take a picture before passing them on to their recipients. The only complaint I had was that the pattern actually sized them as preemie hats, so I had to adjust accordingly, and ended up with two hats not quite the size I wanted, for reasons I still can't figure out (I swear I checked the gauge!)

I've also read online that some people complained about errors in the patterns; since I've only made the two hats, I can't really speak to that. But assuming you're experienced enough to be on the lookout for potential errors (and know how to correct), I think this is a pretty nice book. I'm looking forward to making a few other things once I'm allowed to start new projects again. :P

Halloween

My favorite holiday! We had another awesome party this year, where my friends humored me by dressing up in silly outfits. Not that it takes much arm-twisting.

Since I'm still on a tight budget, I made my costume this year from two white t-shirts, a strip of D-ring tape, some ribbon, and a set of angel wings from Target. Oh yeah, and some leftover red felt for the devil tail. ;)

I've been lurking in an awesome community called T-Shirt Surgery on LiveJournal for pretty much forever, but I've never actually posted anything myself. Some of the ladies on there have a serious talent for revising t-shirts into awesomeness, which is very inspirational. Hopefully someday I'll have something awesome to post. Until then, here's my costume (and my lovely BF)!

Hi!

After numerous inquiries about my seemingly never-ending stream of projects, I decided to create this blog to post photos and patterns of the various garments and accessories I've created, as well as the occasional sketch of things in the works. My primary passion is knitting, but I also sew and crochet, and I'm always open to new ideas and suggestions for future projects.

More information about Trayce Designs and what I plan to do with it will follow soon, as will a full and proper web site featuring my designs once I get more garments actually completed. Feel free to comment or e-mail any time!

- Tray