KAL Disney Blanket - Square 2 - Alice

We've arrived at he second Friday of the KAL Disney Blanket!  We all know what that means.  Time to reveal Square #2.  Have no idea what the KAL Disney Blanket is?  You can read the introductory post here and the FAQ page here.

Last weeks square was dedicated to my roommate's favorite Disney Princess, Merida.  This week is time for one of my favorites: Alice from Alice in Wonderland.  Alice in Wonderland was released on July 28, 1951.  Here she is in wonderful, charted glory:

Hard Chart

Medium Chart

Easy Chart

Costume Chart

With my chosen yarn in hand I got to work on the hard chart.  Here's how she turned out:

I love her the way she turned out!
Ready to knit your own?  You can get the pattern on Ravelry HERE

KAL Disney Blanket - Yarn for Square 2

Welcome to the second Monday of the Knit-A-Long Disney blanket!  For those of you who don't know what this is, you can check out the introductory post to learn all about it.

Time to find out what yarn you'll need to complete Square #2.

Easy
- Light Pink
- Light Yellow
- Medium Blue
- White
- Skin tone

Medium
- Light Pink
- Light Yellow
- Medium Blue
- White
- Skin tone
- Black

Hard
- Light Pink
- Light Yellow
- Medium Blue
- White
- Skin tone
- Black
- Navy Blue

Costume
- Light Pink
- Light Yellow
- Medium Blue
- White

Once again, I chose the "hard" chart for this square.  So let's take a look at what I came up with from my stash!

- Light Pink: Loops & Threads' "Snuggly Wuggly" in Pink
- Light Yellow: Lily's "Sugar 'N Cream" in yellow
- Medium Blue: Loops & Thread's "Snuggly Wuggly" in Cobalt
- White: Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn" in White
- Skin tone: Caron's "Simply Soft" in Bone
- Black: Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn" in Black
- Navy Blue: Bernat's "Comfort" in 9763

Any guesses for Square #2?

KAL Disney Blanket - Square 1 - Merida

The first Friday of the KAL Disney Blanket is here!  Which means it is time to reveal Square #1.  Have no idea what the KAL Disney Blanket is?  You can read the introductory post here and the FAQ page here.

We are kicking off the KAL with my roommate/best-friend's favorite Disney Princess - Merida!  Merida is one of the newer Disney Princesses from the movie Brave which premiered in theaters on June 22, 2012.  My roommate has Merida hair so, naturally, Merida became her favorite princess.  She's helping in the planning process (and also helped spark the idea) of the KAL I've decided to honor her by doing her favorite princess first.  Here she is charted four different ways:

Hard Chart

Medium Chart

Easy Chart

Costume Chart

I took my chosen colors and got to work on the hard chart.  Here's how she turned out:

I love her!  And my roommate does too.  Ready to knit your own?  You can get the pattern on Ravelry HERE

KAL Disney Blanket - Yarn for Square 1

It's Monday everyone!  And for those of you joining in (or just following) the Knit-A-Long Disney Blanket you know that today you'll get a peek at the yarn for the upcoming square.  Hurray!  For those of you saying, "Wait!  I have no idea what you're talking about..." you can check out the introductory post to learn all about it.

One thing I didn't mention in the introductory post is that there will be three different charts per square.  I've categorized these charts as easy, medium, and hard.  This gives knitters of all skill levels the opportunity to join in on the fun!  Then some of the characters have a bonus "costume" category.  As an example: for the princesses I used the easy skill level and took out the skin tone so you are left with a costume for that character.  Note: Not all of the characters will have this bonus category.

So what yarn will you need for the first square?  Well that depends on the skill level you choose!

Easy
- Teal
- Skin tone
- Orange
- Light Blue

Medium
- Teal
- Skin tone
- Orange
- Gold/yellow
- Light Blue

Hard
- Teal
- Skin tone
- Orange
- Gold/yellow
- Brown
- Black
- Light Blue

Costume
- Teal
- Orange
- Light Blue


Did you notice that this character has the bonus "costume" category?

I've decided to work the "hard" chart for this character.  So I went stash-diving with my list of colors and here's what I came up with:

- Teal: Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn" in Antique Teal
- Skin tone: Caron "Simply Soft" in Bone
- Orange: Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn" in Orange
- Gold/yellow: Red Heart "Super Saver" in yellow
- Brown: Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn" in Brown
- Black: Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn" in Black
- Background color (Light Blue): Bernat "Handicrafter Cotton Holidays" in Blue Icicle

Since it's a de-stash I know the yarn varies slightly in weight but that's okay with me.  Feel free to use yarn you have on hand!  It's okay to mix and match as long as you keep things generally the same weight (you do not want to be using a fingering weight and a worsted weight for the same square!)


Any guesses for what the first square is?  I'll even let you know if your answer is right.

Knit-A-Long Disney Blanket

I was recently browsing Ravelry (as I tend to do quite often) and stumbled upon something called the Geek-A-Long.  These two women created a wonderfully geeky blanket and made each square available as part of their geek-a-long.  I highly suggest you check it out because it is awesome.  I thought about making one myself but I don't understand half the references and then half of what I do understand I don't watch.  So I decided that this incredible blanket was not for me.  I will continue to admire everyone else's version through their project pages.

While I was browsing the finished products inspiration hit!  What if I took this concept and Disneyfied it!  Yes, I just made "Disneyfy" a word.  So that's exactly what I did!  Over the course of 2015 I will be releasing a series of blanket squares as part of the Knit-A-Long Disney Blanket.  The specific theme being Disney Princesses.  This includes the different princesses and characters from their movies.  Each square will be approximately 8" x 8".

There are four "official" sizes for this quilt:

Large Afghan:
Total Squares: 63
Finished Measurements: 56" x 72"
Square Description: Princesses, their Princes/Companions, Villains, and other Characters

Small Afghan:
Total Squares: 48
Finished Measurements: 48" x 64"
Square Description: Princesses, their Princes/Companions, and Villains

Child's Blanket:
Total Squares: 30
Finished Measurements: 40" x 48"
Square Description: Princesses and their Princes/Companions

Baby Blanket:
Total Squares: 16
Finished Measurements: 32" x 32"
Square Description: Princesses

You can pick one of these planned blankets or you can pick and choose your favorite squares to create your own blanket.  There are countless possibilities!

Every Monday you will get a sneak peak at the yarn choices for the upcoming square and every Friday a new square will be released!  For those of you who have done the math and are screaming "Hey wait a minute! The large afghan requires 63 squares and there are less than 63 weeks in a year!  Plus you are starting late!"  Don't worry!  Some weeks will be bonus weeks and more than one square will be released.

Stay tuned and get excited!  Your first sneak peak will arrive on Monday.

January Cleaning Challenge

Yesterday I wrote a post about my goals for 2015 and one of those goals was to stick to a cleaning schedule.  As part of that I wanted to reevaluate past cleaning schedules I've attempted and come up with something more effective.  While I was doing that I decided that I would take January to do a day by day clean up of my apartment to tackle some projects that generally get overlooked.  I'm using January as my reevaluation month to figure out how to structure my new cleaning schedule.  So here's what I came up with:

I've assigned myself a few tasks for each day of the month plus a blank day incase I get behind or think of another task.  And for those who want to join me I've included a blank version of the calendar!  Just right click and save the calendar below.

Today is "organize for the challenge."  So that's just what I've done!  I figured out everything I wanted to accomplish and wrote out my plan for the month on the calendar.  I took it a step further and organized the tasks by location.  Of course I had to then organized it all by color.  So each color is representative of a room in my apartment.  Maroon is the kitchen, teal is my bathroom, pink is my bedroom, blue is the living room/dining room/craft room (since it's all one large room), green is the patio, and purple is the front entry.  Tomorrow I'll continue the challenge by making my cleaning supplies!

A Month of Crafts - December

With everyone excited about the fresh start and possibilities for the new year I think it's time to wrap up December! Time to take a look at what I accomplished in December.

Zam Hat

I finished the Zam Hat I was working on in November.  I was running out of gray yarn and had to finish it off much quicker than the pattern called for!  But the hat still fits nice as a beanie and I'm very pleased with the way it turned out.

Purdue Stats Hat (aka Fisher Cable Hat)

I found the Fisher Cable Hat on Ravelry and decided to turn it into a Purdue Stats Hat project!  It was a Christmas present for my brother who just finished up his first semester at Purdue University.  This hat reflects the games from this past football season for Purdue.  Each color stripe (3 rows) represents one game: Gold = home loss, black = home win, gray = away loss, cream = away win.  We both love it!

Antiquity
My first pair of fingerless mitts.  I never thought I'd make a pair because I never really understood their function.  But after discussing the pros of fingerless mitts with some people on Ravelry I decided to give them a go.  They were a fun and quick knit and I'm so glad I decided to make them.  I have plans to make more fingerless mitts in the future.

I have two projects that I'm still working on as gifts so I can't share those with you yet.  But I can share the other WIP.

Tiptoe Slippers

Yup, still working on these.  My original plan was to get a few of these pairs done and give them as Christmas gifts but it just didn't work out that way.  So I'm still working on the first pair I cast on.