This Made Me Smile Today . . .

This birdhouse is just too cute!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18042817

I had to share my smile with everyone :)

Baby, It's Cold Outside

It's starting to feel a little bit like winter. Perfect time to work on scarves! I came up with a new pattern the other day and liked it so much I made it in four colors!

Shells and Scallops Scarves:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18298099
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18298928
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18299508
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18299799

Then the leftover yarn inspired me to think in stripes again!
Chocolate Parfait Scarf:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18300226

I love the way all of these turned out. One of these days I'm actually going to have to make a scarf for myself rather than freeze. Talk about the cobbler's children going without shoes . . . Oh well, one of these days maybe I'll love something so much I won't be able to part with it ;)

More Promotion

Free shipping on all of my knit and crocheted items through Monday.

Need to make some money to buy more audiobooks ;)

Whew!

Just spent about 3 hours listing new items in my shop! 14 new tatted items including Christmas ornaments, pendants, and even a brooch! Take a sec and check it out!

Love for the Frogs!

I've been selling Frogs and Flies hats almost as fast as I can knit them lately! I'm so happy that people are liking this quirky little design of mine. I had no idea there were as many frog lovers out there! Hooray!

Maybe I should start making some in other color combos . . .

Sale!

Having a sale on pendants! Buy one tatted pendant, get one free! Just purchase any two pendants from my shop and I'll send you an adjusted invoice through Paypal! Help me make room for new stock.

http://www.etsy.com/search_results_shop.php?search_type=user_shop_ttt_id_5252351&search_query=pendants

New Pretties!

I've spent the past few days sorting through a big assortment of vintage buttons I ordered from a fellow etsian. I got some really interesting pieces! So far, I've made three new pendants which I've photographed and listed and four Christmas ornaments which I haven't. Here are the listings for the new pendants:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_3&listing_id=17034969
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_2&listing_id=17035747
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=sr_list_1&listing_id=17036202

Off to sort more buttons!

My new theory

I was patrolling the etsy forums last night and ran across a thread that made me think. A woman was questioning why after she'd done all the work printing, embellishing, addressing, etc all her wedding invitations, her fiance took a nap rather than feeling lead to help her with the envelope stuffing. I was thinking about it this morning, and this is what I've figured out about why men don't feel the need to help out with things like this:

They figure it's a lot easier to get us to forgive them for not helping than for screwing it up.

They know that if they don't help, we'll be upset, but we'll move on eventually. If they mess up something for the wedding, they will be reminded of it on every anniversary until they die. Besides, they know they'll most likely do something that isn't up to our standards, get yelled at about it, and then we'll take on the task of doing it ourselves so that it's done properly. They're really just skipping a few steps in the process.

This is not a conscious decision by any means. Men do not realize that this is the thought process. They simply avoiding doing things that they might make mistakes at because we women have conditioned them that way. It's not that we aren't grateful when they help, it's just that they don't help "right" and we're tired of cleaning up the mess. What they don't understand is that, while deep down we may not really want their help because they will inevitably screw it up, we still want them to want to help. Maybe they do, but they just hide it very well.

So, ladies, next time you feel frustrated that your sweetie isn't lifting a finger, just remember that he's actually saving you the time you would have to spend chewing him out for getting it wrong. Be honest with yourself, you know he won't do it right. Save everyone the resentment and frustration. Thank him for not screwing it up by not trying and move on.

Happy Halloween!

Sooo . . . . Not dressing up today. Nowhere to go to get dressed up for. :( But, went to a party last Saturday. We weren't sure if we were going at first, so the costume was kind of last minute. I'll improve on it before next year when we'll get to have a zombie movie marathon again! (Prom themed zombie party, it'll be great! 1st annual Prombie next year guys, be ready ;) Anyway, here I am as a zombie prom queen:

I didn't get a chance to destroy the dress and sash as much as I wanted to. I was too busy trying to make the sash in the first place and alter the dress to fit me. The make-up was also supposed to be a lot better, but I didn't have the best things to work with.

As I did my make-up, I had a real "You know you're a theatre geek when . . . " kind of moment.

You know you're a theatre geek when being forced by the state of the economy to go from Estee Lauder to Cover Girl in your every day make-up isn't as traumatizing as having to go from Ben Nye to Wal-Mart make-up for Halloween!

It was very sad. I wanted to have great big hole in my cheek made up to look like it went all the way to the bone, but cheap scar wax is terrible. It was so soft I couldn't get it to cooperate at all. I was very disappointed.

I still looked pretty good though. If I do say so myself. Not bad for a $15 dress that was three sizes too small ;)

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Goslings ready to fly . . .

Hooray! Sold the first set of Juggling Geese! Relisted them because there's another set all finished. I'll have to get to work finishing the third set now. It's nice to stay a step ahead sometimes. Not that I manage to very often.

Happy Hooking

I realized there's a distinct lack of crochet in my shop lately! Time to get out the hooks and get to work. So . . . . . .

New scarf!

And new hairclips! Off to work on more!

Hooray!

I sold my first pattern today! I've had a few original patterns up in my shop for a while now and I finally sold one today! I was starting to doubt that it would happen. I'd dropped and raised the prices a few times. So excited! Can't wait to tell hubby when he gets home!

Winnifred Choker

Her life was very ordinary. She looked after her house and family, went calling on friends, and did her various handiwork projects. But Winnifred carried a secret. While many of her friends wore a cameo or other token at their throat, Winnifred wore a small bottle with a few drops of water. It was her reminder of a long-ago summer filled with enchantment and the warmth of a family who had taken her in. She carried the drops of enchanted water to remind her of the importance of life and its twists, turns, and eventual end.


One of my favorite books as a child was Natalie Babbit's "Tuck Everlasting." If you have never read it, I highly recommend you do. It was the inspiration for this charming lace choker. After working with the little bottles for other projects, this one popped into my head begging to be made. I had no idea that the trickiest part would be finding the ribbon! Picot-edged ribbon seems to be a dying commodity around here. Perhaps it's going to go the way of coronation braid. I hope not! Anyway, there was no picot-edged ribbon at Hobby Lobby so I had to go allllll the way to Michael's in Greensboro to find some. (Don't worry, I bought lots of colors and I'm pretty well stocked now!)

This project has been in my head for a while, but the nudge to finally make it came when I decided it would be perfect for the latest contest on craftness.com. The theme was children's stories, so this just seemed right. I can't believe I did it, but I got this done in about 3 days, including all the false starts where I made mistakes and had to start all over. I really can't believe I finished it on time given the fact that I spent Saturday night being sick to my stomach. But here it is! Isn't it pretty?! I must say I'm fairly proud of myself on this one, folks! ;) If you want more information about this piece, here's it's listing in my store:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16142397

Frogs and Flies

My newest hat. Well, I suppose it's not that new. I made one for myself 2 or 3 years ago, but this is the first time I've made one since then. And it's done in entirely new yarn! Mine's made with wool and is a pain in the butt to care for, so this one is acrylic. The first has already sold! I relisted and hopefully someone else will love it!

It features fair isle style frogs along the bottom and little knit "flies" instead of tassels on the ends. Check my shop for more pics of this adorable little hat. So much fun to wear!

Sweet!

Okay, I think I have a new favorite etsy store!

tinaseamonster is my new hero:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=10085

I really want this shirt:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13759279

Still laughing uncontrollably and waiting for hubby to get home so I can show him!

More Juggling Geese!

I decided to do French knots for the eyes, mainly because I didn't want to try and pick out beads and deal with sewing them on. I have one finished goose and 5 waiting to be stuffed. I can't stuff them yet, because I was not specific enough went I sent hubby out to get supplies. I neglected to say that I needed nude colored knee highs or footies. I stuff the poly pellets into the toe of the nylons so that they don't try to escape through the knit fabric. If he'd brought home off white, it would have worked, too. Unfortunately, he grabbed off black which will show through too much, so the little goslings are just sitting there with unfinished seams honking at me because they want to be finished. Sigh. Maybe he'll get it right tonight ;)

Juggling Geese

I was watching through my Firefly dvd set the other day and an idea popped into my head. I was inspired by Wash to try to knit or crochet some goslings that could be juggled. And behold:

He still needs eyes, but I'm not sure if they should be French knots or beads. I still need to make a couple more to have a set to list in my shop. But isn't he cute? I used front and back post double crochet on his feet so they look webbed. Unfortunately, since they're black it doesn't show up in a picture :( He's still cute, though. :)

Oops!

Just fixed the pattern for the hat that I'd previously posted. I forgot a round in there. Sometimes my brain and my fingers just don't seem to be on the same page when I type. All better now, though.

Knit a hat to show your support

I recently worked up this hat for a breast cancer charity challenge. If you can't knit and would like one, please go to my shop. All proceeds will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research.

It occurred to me though, that the pattern was so simple, I'd like to just share it with everyone who would like to make their own. I would request that if you make a hat from this pattern that you would please make a donation, no matter how small, to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

It's a very simple variation on a hat knit in the round from the top down. I made my hat out of sport weight yarn in two shades of pink with a set of 5 size 5 dpn and a 12" circular needle size 5. You can vary the number of stitches and round depending on your gauge, this is just an outline. Keep an eye on how your hat is looking as you work it and adjust the pattern as necessary.

With darker pink, cast on 4 sts.

Work I-cord for two rows (any more and your hat will be too "perky" thanks MissKnits for helping me figure out a way to describe that ;)

Round 1: Knit into the front and back of each stitch (knit increase). Divide evenly on four needles. Place stitch marker on first needle to mark beginning of round. I recommend that you place your marker between the two stitches so that it doesn't fall off and you can easily identify how many stitches are in each section.

Round 2 and all even rounds: Knit even.

Round 3: Knit increase in each st around.

Round 5: *K1, knit increase, repeat from * around.

Round 7: *K2, knit increase, repeat from * around.

Round 9: *K3, knit increase, repeat from * around.

Work from Round 10 on with lighter pink yarn. (If you're making a smaller hat, you may need to switch colors earlier.)

Continue working in this method increasing at the end of each of the 8 sections of the circle until there are 13 to 14 stitches in each section. Work even until hat measures 9" from the top or for desired length. Cast off in knit. Weave in ends.

My new pretty

I was looking through some antique books I downloaded and found a tatted edging pattern that I've seen variations of in almost every tatting book I have. This time, I finally really looked at it. It jumped out at me what an gorgeous choker it would make! So here it is:

I would write more, but my patience is at its end with dial-up speed uploads. Hope you like it. Check out my shop for more pics and some other new items!

I think I missed the memo

When did Halloween become Whore-oween?! Why are there no good costumes or even ideas for women that don't involved being the butt of the joke or looking like a harlot?

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. For me it's always been about being creative and intelligent and funny. Now it just seems to be about dressing like a tart. I just don't know if I have the time or the energy to make costumes for us this year, but we are probably going somewhere and need them. I decided to look around online just to get ideas if nothing else. Have you seen the couples costume sets lately? Convict and whore cop, pirate and whore pirate, etc, etc, etc! Honestly, everything is made with about two yards of fabric tops even the plus size costumes. I'm just so frustrated right now. I feel like I've been kicked out of the fun because I'm not willing to dress like I have no worth above my cleavage!

Maybe I'll come up with something over the next couple days, but if I'm going to be making stuff, I know I should start now. I just don't know what to do.

Gifts, Ghouls, and Giveaways!

Did a bunch of listing the other day! I finally found where I had hidden my blue and purple threads from myself. Now I just have to figure out where the pinks and yellow are hiding.

Purple being my favorite color, once I found the threads, I just had to set to work on some purple pieces! I particularly love the way this one turned out:

I've had a bunch of those dragonfly charms hanging out with my beads for a while. I made stitch markers out of them a year or so ago and didn't know what to do with the rest. I got this pattern to work around a bead and thought it was worth a try with the charm. I think it turned out well. I'm hoping someone will want some pendants for stocking stuffers this year. I've been putting them up in all the promotions forums I can on etsy trying to get a little attention. I have to make some for myself, too.

As Halloween is quick approaching, I figured it was time I gave a nod to my favorite holiday. So, I dug out the Halloween socks I bought at the thrift store a few months ago. They had never even been worn! I was really tempted to wear them this year, but they just had to be turned into creatures:

Their names are Boo (the big one) and Eek (the smaller one). The socks had little spots that had flashing lights in them and I transfered those so that each has an arm that lights up! They're so cute. Oh, and they've got some of my hand tatted spiders sewn to each of them!

I've teamed up with another etsian to do a giveaway on her blog! Actually, it's a team, but I've just been talking with one of the two through emails/convos. Anyway, here's a link to the giveaway of a batch of my hand tatted flowers:

http://raechele.blogspot.com/2008/09/keenaskreations-giveaway.html

Okay, off to put some more tatting blisters on my fingers. Working on a choker that should be gorgeous when it's finished. Assuming all goes well. . . .

I'll admit it . . .

I love bad movies. I like good movies too, but I really love bad movies. There are movies that I'm horrified with myself for liking. Movies with no cinemagraphic or artistic merit. Movies with bad writing, bad acting, bad directing, bad everything. Movies that don't even have a cult following that I can hide behind. Movies that aren't simply so bad they're funny, they're just bad. Yet every time I see one of these movies on television, I have to watch it. Sometimes, when it's late and I don't recognize the person behind the counter at the rental store, I'll even pay money for the privilege of watching one of these movies.

I'd never actually own a copy of any of these movies for fear that someone may find it and know that I like it. I'm afraid that one day I may accidentally quote a line from one and then my secret will be revealed. I know that there is no reason on earth for me to enjoy watching them, but I do. I can't stop myself.

Let me illustrate with an example so that you can understand my problem.

I love Troop Beverly Hills. Don't ask me why. There is no reason that I should enjoy this movie. It's terrible. But I will not pass it by if I see it. I've encouraged others to see it on occasion. My shame is great.

Perhaps there's a support group or treatment center than can someday help me rid myself of this terrible demon. Until then, I will bear the weight of it.

When your hobby becomes your job do you give yourself a day off?

The tatting blisters are back. The calluses had apparently gone soft from lack of constant taughtly-pulled thread being run across them so now there are blisters. The scratchy wool yarn from the decrepit old sweater in the back of my closet has irritated the palm of my hand. I'm going cross-eyed from retaking and editing photos all the time. Do I get a day off now?

Of course, if I took a "day off" what would I do? I'd knit shawls from prayer shawl ministry, I'd organize my yarn bins, I'd search online for patterns. I'd do the same thing I do every day! I need new hobbies! Any suggestions?

Water, water everywhere!

The remnants of Hurricane Fay have merged with some front from the North and dropped a whole lot of rain on us. To say I'm getting cabin fever is putting it mildly. I haven't been able to get out for three days because there's a small lake in the front yard. You'd think this would be the perfect time to work on a project or two, but I can't get to the store and get new sewing machine needles so I can't sew, I'm tired of knitting and crochet at the moment, and unispired for tatting or anything else.

Plus, they've decided that it was a brilliant idea to move everything out of the storage room this week, so I'm too busy supervising the organization process to get anything done anyway. I need to get out of this house! I'm losing it! Help!

Ooooooh! Turned out awesome!

Ta-da! The first bottle necklace (which started as the second one) is done!

Like it?

How do you feel in your skin?

I'm just disgusted with the state of the attitude of the world today. I had to turn off Rachael Ray today because I was just getting so upset and depressed.

They were talking about women who'd lost a lot of weight and finally felt "like the person they always were inside." One woman retook her wedding pictures because she'd been so upset on her actual wedding day that she hadn't even invited anyone. Now that she'd lost a bunch of weight she wanted to capture the memory of herself as a beautiful bride.

That's a lovely sentiment in some ways, but the thing that upset me is that we weren't addressing the real problem. I think that losing weight and getting healthy is a great thing. My problem is that you can't say one day that people need to have self-esteem and be happy with who they are then turn around the next day and say that you can't really be happy until your skinny!

Make up your minds!

Do we need to be happy with who we are or who we want to be? I'd like to be thinner. I think I would look better thinner and I'm not exactly jumping in front of the camera now, but I'm still happy with who I am.

I'm just tired of the mixed messages. Getting healthy is great. That doesn't mean you need to be tiny. Some people are not meant to be tiny. You can't live your life waiting for the moment when everything you see in the mirror becomes everything you want to see!

So, I guess the question is, does everyone want self-esteem to be based on who you are or how you look?

The only spiders I'll ever like . . .

Other than Charlotte, of course. I made a couple Halloween cards last year with some little tatted spiders on them. I decided to make some more and try to market them this year. What do you think?

Curses! Foiled Again!

The lavendar cardigan was cut along the front facings! Argh! Okay, now I have to try and figure out what to do with the fronts since they're useless to salvage yarn from. Hmmmm, there's something to think about.

Maybe I can sew them into a purse and line it. I must have some lavendar fabric lying around somewhere. Everyone cross your fingers that this works!

Frogging Friday!

Three more sweaters to frog for yarn! For any non-fiber freaks out there, frogging means to rip apart a finished/semi-finished piece to recycle the yarn or fix a mistake. (Comes from the idea of rip-it, rip-it, ha ha, get it?) Well here are my latest vicitms:

So excited! I got great yarn out of the last three, just haven't had a chance to reuse it or photgraph it yet. I was disappointed that the last lavendar sweater had a hidden surprise. The V-neck shape was cut out of the piece, so I lost a lot of yarn, but I still got a fair amount. Just goes to show that you can't take for granted that the edges are whole under a collar. Hopefully that won't be any such surprises with these latest sweaters, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Musings on Movies

Those of you who know me, know how much I looooooove movies. I grew up watching old movies with my grandmother. After my mother died, while things were still good between my step-father and my grandmother and I, we used to go out about every other week on Sunday nights and go to the movies and out to dinner.

Well, we went and saw a movie today, ("Dark Knight," second time we've seen it) and it got me thinking about something that popped into my mind a few weeks ago. At the time, we were leaving the theatre from seeing "Get Smart," and I was thinking about how at least some of the critics had ripped it to shreds. Now, I'll admit it wasn't "Casablanca" or "Citizen Kane," but it was exactly what I was expecting it to be. It wasn't meant to be extremely intelligent or an exact rehashing of the series. It was meant to be fun and silly. That's what it was. Sometimes I go to the theatre wanting to see something that's going to make me think or cry or scream or laugh. It depends on my mood.

I think I've stumbled upon the reason critics all seem to expect too much from some of these movies. They always seem so "disappointed" with whatever they're seeing. This is the problem as I see it: They've all forgotten how to enjoy going to the movies. I think it's inevitable whatever your job is. There are times I hate knitting or sewing or whatever project I'm working on. It's just the way that things happen. I think it's kind of sad that if your job is going to the movies, you end up hating to go to the movies.

When I was in high school, I considered majoring at college in theatre and journalism with the hopes of becoming a theatre or movie critic. I'm so glad now that I didn't persue that. Because, now I get to give my simple honest opinion to my friends and family. I've rarely seen a play or movie that I didn't enjoy at least on some level. Because we see just about every movie that comes out, people ask my husband and I for our opinions, and I love to give them, but no one is expecting me to analyze every element of every performance.

I'm just so glad that I can still have joy in going to the movies.

Adventures in Unravelling

Hooray! Three more sweaters to unravel for yarn!

No matter how I adjust them, the pictures don't do justice to the incredible colors of these three sweaters. I'm sooooo excited to rip them apart and turn them into something new. Even though, I have no idea what that new thing will be yet.

My Minions Rise Again!

More socklings have emerged from my strange brain. Some of them need names, so I'm opening the floor for suggestions:

Any suggestions will be considered, though some only for a moment. Check my shop for more sock critters!

Swirl Hats Make a Comback!

The mountain of recycled and discount yarn called to me yesterday. I was sitting in my chair trying to figure out what to work on, and I heard it. "Use us! We're lonely and feel unwanted!"

So, I flipped through pattern books, but didn't find anything that I liked that I had enough of any one yarn to make. I decided to venture into the terror of the dusty archives in my brain. I looked into the shelves of patterns I've created and abandoned in the bookshelves of my mind and came out with. . .

Ta-da! The Swirl Hat:

This is not the one of the ones I worked on yesterday, but one of the original Swirl Hats! (sounds like a strange band or something, doesn't it?) I'll post pics of the new ones when I get a chance to take them. I've nixed the pompom on the new ones because it just didn't speak to me. I love this pattern. I think I'm going to have to buckle down and actually type it up sometime. I'll put in on the bottom of the to-do list. That means I should get to it sometime around December . . . 2020. Man, that list is getting away from me!

So . . . today was hubby's third day of jury duty and my third day of going completely insane.

Okay, I've been insane for more than three days, but now I'm starting to notice it. It seems like everything my hands touch are fighting me. The yarn won't behave, I stabbed myself with a sewing needle, I fell on my butt trying to walk to the bathroom. . .

Oh, and about that falling on my butt thing - tip for the future: don't land on a Playstation controller. Funny circle bruise on my hip from the analog stick. Sorry, had to share.

I did manage to make some sock critters, but didn't do anything else particularly interesting. Just tried to think of excuses he should have used to get out of jury duty. I mean, he has an auditory processing disorder. I know he really does because sometimes he says he's listening and then looks at me after I'm done and says "I'm sorry, I was listening, but it didn't stick."
Yeah, loads of fun having a husband who has a hearing problem, ADD, and can't process information he hears. I don't know if a) he didn't hear me, b) something shiny distracted him, or c) it went in one ear and out the other.

If I didn't love him so much, I'd have killed him by now. I guess that's how every woman feels about her husband from time to time. Well, gotta go kick him out of my chair. He looks too comfortable. ;)

It's done!

Well, here are the first pics of the completed scarf.

So there it is: "One Perfect Rose"

I was going to place two 3-d rose squares, one at each end, but Dorothy Parker's poem "One Perfect Rose" kept repeating in my head and I decided to put just one 3-d rose as the second motif on one side and not balance with another on the other side.

Now, for anyone who knows how symmetrically-minded I am, you know that this was a major step away from my comfort zone. I'm very pleased with the results, though, so I may have to spend less time obsessing in my quest for symmetry. Now, when Chris gets home from Jury Duty, I'll have him take pics of me in the scarf (in the nice hot sunlight, ugh) and post it to my store. Hooray!

Isn't it purty?

So here we go, the first pic of the scarf from the recycled yarn!

Not a great pic, I know. But it's dark, wet, and muggy outside, so I had to snap a quick pic inside. I think it's turning out really well. I guess I'm about half done now. I'll just have to see when it feels long enough.

It's soooo soft and wonderful. I really want to keep it! But I won't. I'll sell it when it's done. For now, I just get to enjoy feeling the wonderfully soft yarn running through my fingers as I work on it. One of these days, I'm going to make something wonderful and soft for myself.

Finally!

Well, at last I've finished disassembling two sweaters and washing the yarn to reuse. So far the scarf is turning out well, pictures to come! But for now you can see the pink yarn drying in hanks:

Keep in mind, I wound all those hanks by hand and at least the same amount of green yarn as well. If I wasn't aching for a swift before, I definitely am now. Literally!

I also figured that I might as well work with the second little bottle with something I have a lot of to avoid a similar situation as the predicament I found myself in before. Since I have a lot of black DMC tatting thread, that what I'm working with. I've got the bottle covering done and I just have to work on how I'm going to turn that into a necklace.

The thread ends are still there because the glue hadn't dried yet. I still need to get something better than just Fray-Stop to keep the ends secure before I cut them any shorter. So far, I really like this one, though. I hope it continues to turn out well.

Well, now that I've jinxed it, I might as well go work on it some more.

Oh, did I mention . . .

My husband's a total dork! Before I felted the red and turquoise bag, he put it on his head and claimed to be a Dr. Suess character of some sort. Behold:

Oh, yeah, and there's a small stuffed leopard down his shirt. Sometimes I really wonder about his mental state.

Success! . . . So far . . .

Well, I ran out of the other hand-painted thread I was using on the bottle necklace again, but this time, I'd planned the pattern to be salvageable in spite of it!

It's been a while since I worked on a pattern using the needle tatting method. I think it's because I can't always seem to keep track of my needles, but I can usually scrape up a shuttle. I'm planning to add more along the edges of the split rings I'm using to create the necklace. Probably in black because it will be easy to get a hold of. I'll also add beads because I wasn't able to get the split rings to travel far enough up before I ran out of thread. So far, I like it.

Drat!

So, today I spent 6 hours working on making one of the little bottles into a necklace. I was trying to use what was left of some hand-painted thread and it was looking really good. Unfortunately, I didn't load enough thread into my shuttle and I couldn't join new thread without making a really ugly lump and there wasn't enough left to start over.

Basically, I had something that looked really awesome and now it's trash. Another days worth of work, down the drain. Sigh. I'll have to try it again in some other thread.

Struggling for inspiration

Well, I finally finished and felted these two bags:

The pastel one is done with hand-painted yarn and the red and teal one was an experiment to see if what was in my head would work in the end. It did.

I only wish that was the story with the project I'm working on now. A few months ago, I noticed some tiny little bottles with corks in the jewelry aisle in the craft store and thought that I wanted to tat something around them to create a necklace. So I finally broke down and bought some the other day:

I have two of these cute little guys and nothing I've tried so far is working. I can't figure out if it would be better to do something around the top or some sort of motif that kind of cradles the bottom of the bottle. I hate it when something looks so good in my head and I just can't seem to get my hands to accomplish the finished result! I guess I'll have to keep trying and make something work. Updates to come.

Aren't they sweet?!

I love this pattern. I love it so much, I'm going to start selling it! Of course everyone I know who crochets seems to be busy in the immediate future, so I found a couple people on etsy who are willing to test the pattern for me. It works up so fast and is so much fun to experiment with.

But seriously, don't you just love this afghan?

This is the first one, Creamsicle Dreams. The orange yarn came from Big Lots! Awesome deal! It has a pearly white stripe running through it and it just made me think of a Dreamsicle (Chris insists they're creamsicles not dreamsicles, hence the name).

Someone liked it so much that this one is a special order! My first custom order on etsy! This one is Bubblegum Dreams. It made me think of bubble gum sherbet and those Pink Panther pops I used to get from the ice cream truck with the bubble gum eyes. I miss those.

So there they are the first two afghans made from one of my patterns and the first pattern I'm going to start selling on etsy, as soon as it goes through the editorial process with a few sets of eyes other than mine. I just hate getting patterns with typos or that don't make sense!

As usual . . .

I'm drowning in projects!

I just finished a special order afghan. Pictures will be posted when I get a chance to take them. I'm unravelling a thrift store sweater to recycle the yarn and I have another waiting in the wings, I've got at least a dozen "I Spy" bags to sew, working on a wedding afghan for a friend, helping sew puppets when the pieces are brought to me, etc, etc, etc!

Too little time, too many projects!

Oh, and let's not forget the two multi-week classes I'm teaching.

At least I'm making some money!

Everything Must Go!!!!

Well, at least all the baby afghans. I've started dropping the prices of my baby afghans to get them moved out! If you or someone you know is having a baby, consider a lovely handmade afghan as a welcome addition to any nursery!

Please . . . .

Kind of tired of looking at them all piled up in the corner.


And I need an excuse to buy yarn and make some more! Visit my shop! Take a look! Won't kill you, I promise ;)

Easy Slippers

So . . . . been searching everywhere for a pattern easy enough for everyone I'm teaching to crochet at church for our shawl ministry. We've decided to do slippers to send to all the nursing homes in the area around Christmas because they're quicker and take less yarn than the shawls (though I'm still doing several shawls myself). I haven't been able to find something that felt quite quick enough so, based mostly on one pattern I found, I came up with the following:

Easy Beginner Slippers

Supplies:
2 balls Jiffy yarn (or hold two strands of worsted weight yarn together)
Size K hook, or size needed to obtain gauge

Gauge: 10 sc x 11 rows = 4” square

Special Stitch:
2 sc tog – (uses 2 sc, counts as 1 sc) [Insert hook in next st, yo and draw up a loop] twice, yo and pull through all 3 loops on hook.

Sole:

Ch 4

Row 1: Sc in second ch from hook and in next 2 chs. (3 sc)

Row 2: Ch 1, turn, 2 sc in first sc, 1 sc in next sc, 2 sc in last sc. (5 sc)

Row 3: Ch 1, turn, sc in each sc across. (5 sc)

Row 4: Ch 1, turn, 2 sc in first sc, 1 sc in each of next 3 sc, 2 sc in last sc. (7 sc)

Rows 5-11: Ch 1, turn, sc in each sc across.

Row 12: Ch 1, turn, 2 sc tog over first two sc, sc in next 3 sc, 2 sc tog over last two sc. (5 sc)

Rows 13-22: Ch 1, turn, sc in each sc across.

Row 23: Ch 1, turn, 2 sc tog over first two sc, 1 sc in next sc, 2 sc tog over last two sc. (3 sc)

Now we’ll work around the sole and create the body of the slipper. The remainder of the pattern is worked in rounds, but we will still turn our work over at the beginning of every round.

Round 1: Ch 1, turn, slip st in first sc, [slip st, ch 1, sc] all in next sc, sc in next sc, working in edge of rows 22 sc along side of sole, 1 sc in free loops of beginning 3 chs, 22 sc in edges along side of sole, sc in first slip st, join to first sc with slip st. (52 sc)

Round 2: Ch 1, turn, working in back loops only sc in each sc around. (52 sc)

Round 3: Ch 1, turn, sc in each sc around. (52 sc)

Round 4: Ch 1, turn, sc in next 20 sc, [2 sc tog, sc in next sc] 3 times, 2 sc tog, sc in next 21 sc, join with slip st to first sc.

Round 5: Ch 1, turn, sc in next 22 sc, 2 sc tog twice, sc in next 22 sc, join with slip st to first sc.

Round 6: Ch 1, turn, sc in next 21 sc, 2 sc tog twice, sc in next 21 sc, join with slip st to first sc.

Round 7: Ch 1, turn, sc in next 20 sc, 2 sc tog twice, sc in next 20 sc, join with slip st to first sc.

Round 8: Ch 1, turn, sc in next 17 sc, 2 sc tog four times, sc in next 17 sc, join with slip st to first sc.

Round 9: Ch 1, turn, sc in next 15 sc, 2 sc tog four times, sc in next 15 sc, join with slip st to first sc.

Round 10: Ch 1, turn, sc in first sc, 2 sc tog, sc in next 10 sc, 2 sc tog four times, sc in next 10 sc, 2 sc tog, sc in last sc, join with slip st to first sc.

Round 11: Ch 1, turn, sc in next 10 sc, 2 sc tog 4 times, sc in next 10 sc, join with slip st to first sc.

Round 12: Ch 1, turn, sc in each sc around, join with slip st to first sc. Finish off, weave in all ends.


So far, I haven't worked out any other sizes. I'd call this one average women's slippers. (They fit me). I had a couple skeins of Jiffy and I like it for beginners because it doesn't split very much, so I thought this would be a good pattern for everyone to make their first pair and then we can use it again holding two strands together of something like Red Heart Supersaver when everyone's a little more comfortable with what we're doing. Anyone out there who wants to test this pattern and make ure it makes sense to someone other than me, I'd appreciate it!

Behold My Minions!

Hee hee! Okay, new obsession du jour! Sock creatures! I had no idea this was going to be soooo much fun!

This is Count Sockula, the first of many sock creatures that I've made over the past week. He's very roughly sewn, I've gotten much better, but I still think he's cute!

Reepert (left) and Meebus (right) are two of the later creatures. There have been several between and since, but I don't want to spend forever writing about them. So these are two of my favorites!

I even got Chris to make one, but I don't have any pictures of him. :( Oh well, just wanted to share of few. There's at least one other in my shop, maybe more by the time anyone reads this. Off to make more!

Squiggy's Journey

So lucky Squiggy just got sold to someone in London. So he gets to swim across the pond to meet her, and I get to stay here and get started teaching classes.

Think I can find a box big enough for us both?

Meet Squiggy!

Isn't he cute?! I was playing around the other day. I was going to knit a teddy bear in the round, but when I finished the shape of his head, I realized that if I just divided my stitches and made I-cord out of them, he'd make a great octopus! Squiggy is actually the second octopus. Squidgy was first, but I don't have pics of him. I have pics of Squiggy because I put him up on etsy this afternoon. I think he's precious! Not bad for a little experimentation because I was bored while Chris was at work.

Things to make when you're short on supplies and patience . . .

So, someone broke into our storage room a week ago and until they fix the door and we have time to get back over there, I'm cut off from the rest of my craft supplies. Trying to make do, I've decided to revisit an old favorite project. I'm knitting barrettes!

My beads supply and yarn scraps supply are both rather sparse at the moment, so it's getting difficult not to do the same thing more than once, but I really hate doing that. I like to maintain a uniqueness (is that a word?) in my "art." They aren't done yet, because there are still some supplies I need to pop out and get when I can, but here's a sneak peek at a couple in an almost complete state:

I came up with the idea to do these about a year and a half ago. I'll share how I make them, but I better not see any up on etsy before I get a chance to post these ;) Anyway, I knit a little tube on dpn (about 7-10 sts on each of two needles). Usually I make one side completely stockinette stitch to glue the barrette back onto and do a 5 st cable with beads or buttons in it on the side that's for show. Well, I got that part working pretty quickly when I first did this. That's where I ran into a problem. I needed the tube to hold its shape and be a bit sturdier. At first, I thought of wooden shapes from the craft store, but then I remembered the curve of the barrette back. Finally, I figured out the answer. Are you ready for my secret ingredient?

Plastic canvas! I cut a piece of plastic canvas the same size as the tube, stuff it in and sew the end together. It's flexible, but still holds its shape! Sometimes I'm so smart, I scare myself. Just kidding. This is one of the first ones I made:

The scans don't show it very well, but you can see that the knitted piece follows the curve of the barrette back and it maintains its shape. It's held up for over 18 months so far! This is a great quick little project to use up quick yarn. You can do it as one flat piece, fold in half, and stitch along three sides if you aren't comfortable with dpns, but I'd rather struggle a little in the beginning and save a lot of time overall. Maybe that's just me.

I'm an Idiot

Right so, here's the link I meant to put up the other day:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5061910

Sorry, I'm a dork!

The coolest, cutest thing EVER

No, seriously, this has to be the best thing in the world.

I was thinking of teaching classes in sock animals so I was searching around to find some ideas and I found these:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5252351

If you think the concept is awesome, read some of the descriptions on the individual listings. I only wish I were that creative! Too cool. Gonna have to buy a dozen or so. LOL.

Stash Finds and Happy Times!

Hooray! I finally made a sale on etsy! I feel validated at last!

Anyway, I found the cutest little beads tucked away in a box of craft supplies the other day. I've had them for about 10 years (wow, now I feel old). They're precious little glass hearts with various hues of pink kind of swirled together in them. Okay, I really don't like pink, but I just had to find something to do with these beads since I don't know if I'll ever find any like them again (and won't be looking particularly hard). Voila!

I called them Princess earrings because they kind of remind me of jewels in a fairy princess crown. (Yes, I realize how cheesy that is. I've come to terms with it. Deal with it and move on.)

The pictures don't do them justice! The big beads in the drop are the little hearts. I love these earrings and I don't even like pink!

Oh, I also love these:

I made them because I wanted to find a use for some fuchsia bugle beads I have lying around. I think I'm going to have to make them in another color or two. I just love how the pattern turned out. The scan turned out better than the picture. You can see it in my shop. Sorry, takes waaaay too long to deal with pictures on dial-up.