Valia, lol. I always plan these great craft ideas for when I am traveling and then never follow through with them

IlF, ooh, a fox pillow, sounds neat.

Summer, good luck with the scarf. I know how it feels to want to do something but not know how to do it. Cloaks are pretty easy, I hope you'll find the courage to make it. What kind of a cloak do you want to make?

I made another baby blanket, this time for my sister's friend who just recently had a baby girl, only I forgot to take a picture of it

I finished a year of sewing classes, and I hope to take another course next year if funds will allow. I've made a couple of skirts and was even able to master the blouse, but I haven't had time to take any pictures of my works yet, I've been busy working on a large sewing order to make historical costumes for a friend and his family. It's a lot of work but thankfully I'm almost done

My plans now are to make a summer dress for my sister (before summer is up, lol) and crochet an amigurumi farm for my nephew's 3rd birthday . And I want to crochet some baby ballet slippers for my sist'er friend's baby (the mother is a dancer, so I thought it would be a fun sort of gift).

Recently a friend gave me a whole bag of yarn which is amazingly awesome because now I can make stuff without having to spend money on materials, lol. Anyway, I hope to get pictures of my works up soon, as soon as I get back from my summer travels

Hello, lovelies! I was wondering if any of you happen to have done freehand patterning, and if you have, if you have any tips/tricks/advice/etc. I have a friend who is an unusual size, but doesn't really have the tools to pattern on a computer, so this is a new turn for me. I've a bit of experience with pattern modification, and I know how to create patterns on my computer, but she would largely be working by hand, and she's further frustrating me by wanting to start working on her project now, but wants to lose weight before she finishes it, so she won't let me make a form to work off of. So I thought I would pop in here and see if any of you had any insight for me.

Wrose, I am not sure, honestly. I had found a pattern online, but I don't remember what it was. I think it would just be a very simple cloak, as the fabric is broadcloth, and I don't have enough for anything too elaborate. I should probably try to look for another pattern and hopefully, I'll have enough fabric and skill to make it work. I have heard cloaks were easy to make, so hopefully I won't have any major problems.

When you get a chance to take and upload some pictures, I'd love to see your work. It's quite exciting you were able to master making a blouse! And making historical costumes sounds quite neat. What time period are they from?

I can't offer any suggestions, Lady Arwen, but I wish you the best in figuring it out.

What sort of a project is your friend doing, Wren? How much time is she willing to put into it?

Possibly the easiest thing to do would be to look into taking a pattern from an existing piece of clothing that fits--or fit in the past and ought to fit again when she's lost weight.

There's a method where you lay the garment out flat on butcher paper or whatever and use pins to mark the seams for each piece. Then you can draw over it with a marker and see what you've got, smooth out the lines and whatnot and then you'll have a basic pattern to work with. (I know there are tutorials for this if pictures would be helpful.)

She's actually doing a costume, Mel. Her goal is to finish it by hallowe'en, since she doesn't usually go to fairs or cons. She's making part of it out of warbla, so she's willing to put in about...three months of work? I'm a little concerned, because she's chosen quite the ambitious project for her first full costume, has basically none of the tools I have, and is expecting me to guide her through it. Unfortunately, the sewing part looks to be the easy part--it's almost all straight lines, and no sleeves.

The butcher paper technique is a good idea, at least for getting the pattern started. If you have any you could shoot over to me, I would be quite appreciative.

Here's a single picture of the process, a slightly more in depth blog entry, a variant on the technique, and another possibility. Hope that gives the two of you something to work with!

Oh that looks good, I have always wanted to use some of my favourite dress designs but with cool fabric i find but I am not great at clothes. Though it is good to go op shopping and re-purposing some old garments. Usually that consists of making old jeans into shorts.

You should try taking a pattern from a favorite dress, ILF, and let me how it works.

Speaking of re-purposing old garments... my little brother is spending time at a fur trade encampment living history thing this weekend and I was inspired to take an item from my costume closet that had developed holes and cut it down to a shirt for him. (Now he wants a rapier to accessorize. )

Nice, Mel!

Okay, I need some help: How do you keep your knitting on double-pointed needles? I've knitted several items in the round before and haven't had trouble on my size 6 needles, but I can't get things to stay on my size 8 ones. They're metal, but surely there's some method of keeping the knitting from sliding right off the ends. I'm pretty sure I'm losing stitches and/or messing up the tightness of the knitting and it's getting very frustrating. Please advise.

Hmm... I have a project on metal dpns at the moment (one that's likely to never be finished at this point ) and I think I've just been keeping one end of the needles stuck in the skein while I'm not working and gathering the work toward that end to keep the stitches on. Metal needles are the slipperiest, I think, so that's a bit of a concern. I don't think my wood needles have had that sort of trouble. (I know my one ill-advisedly purchased acrylic set doesn't slip, even when I want it to. )

I hope that helps. You might also look for point protectors for your needles. It might make knitting a bit slower, but it should keep you from losing stitches along the way.

Thanks, stwin! I may see if sticking the needle ends in the skein helps; if not, I'll have to try to look for the point protectors.
You have trouble with acrylic dpns? I've had far less trouble with them than with metal.

My acrylic needles are terrible to work with. They don't let the yarn move enough for my taste. My wooden needles are the best to work with: just smooth enough to move and just rough enough to hold.

My acrylic needles hold the yarn just fine, allowing them to slide when necessary but not usually enough to drop stitches. I don't have any wooden dpns yet, so no comment; perhaps they will be the best too, though.
And thanks for the point protectors tip! I got a set and they are helping a ton. They may take a few seconds longer to take them off and put them back on, but I'm much faster without worrying about losing stitches.

^So I finished the hat I was working on (yay!) and in time for Christmas (double yay!) and Meadow liked it, but I don't have any photos. Same goes for the headband/earwarmer I knitted for my mom.

However, I wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts on some yarn I bought. I got it in a mill end package and thought it was pretty. It kind of looked like this if you let it lie straight (pardon the blurriness---couldn't get the camera to focus for some reason ):

But if you actually spread it out, it turns out this is really more what it looks like:

So. I'm not quite sure what to make with it. I think it's similar to (if not the same as) a Yarn Bee yarn called "Metallics", but Ravelry has very few projects for that yarn, and most are ruffle scarves which I can't see really anyone I know wearing (and I'm not very fond of their look overall). Any thoughts on what I could make with it?

I made a sweater this winter but have yet to get decent pictures. (Also I haven't blocked it yet. So it's like 98% done.)

I'm currently working on a 3-hour sweater with the leftover yarn. Valia showed me the link awhile back.