20 posts tagged “crafting”
In case you were wondering, I am still crafting away like a madwoman. It's just that most of my projects right now are top secret. I've got a good friend's baby to make goodies for and since she intermittently reads my blog, I don't want to post anything. One of the projects is up on Ravelry, so if you're so inclined, look me up over there and check out what's going down.
Luckily, she's pretty much about to pop probably tomorrow and then, I'll be able to show you. I could show you an extreme-close-up-artsy-teaser-type photo, but remember, my camera is dead. So I won't.
More crafty fun stuff will follow shortly. I keep forgetting to snap photos of my swap packages before I send them out. They're most of the stuff that I've been crafting lately.
(hurrah! I found a mini-USB cable! pictures!)
I'm renting a Babe Fiberstarter to get started on the big bag of fiber that would take me forever to spindle. I'm bummed because I can't figure out how to get the bobbin and flyer working independently. Right now, they're kinda just grinding along together. I was practicing with a bit of yarn and was going to ask Vera, the woman who rented it to me, but she's busy getting ready for the Renegade Craft Fair (woo! hoo!) and I don't want to bother her. Any ideas? Also, the instructions they send along with the Babe are crap and the pictures are fuzzy and have been photocopied into unrecognition! I guess I could just call the company...
I really, really want a wheel but figured it'd probably be a good idea if I actually knew how to use one before making the big purchase. They're not cheap! I know that I should really go out to talk to Toni at The Fold, but it's so very, very, very far away!
Nothing on mine yet...despite the fact that it's next weekend. But I do have a project planned and will just tell the Ice about it on Sunday. I am dreading the lace panels, but I will soldier on.
I plan to knit him this from the summer Knit.1 Green Issue. There's lots of really cute patterns in this issue. I've never looked at a Knit.1 magazine before, considering I've only been knitting really for a month. Am I ambitious? Yes. Will I finish it? Maybe, maybe not, but it's so cute! And I think it'll look really good on him. He's such a cutie and can carry this style off well.
I don't know about you, but the colors of yarn they used on the shirt on my computer look a bit like baby poo! It looks much better in the magazine. I've never used the Euroflax before, but was thinking of subbing for some hemp yarn. I think both would be light and airy. Are they comparable in weight? Guess it looks like time for another trip to the LYS to fondle, er, I mean analyze the two yarns. I've been wanting to roadtrip to go to Loopy Yarns and Vogue Fabrics. It's a roadtrip of only about 7 miles, but I must admit, I'm lazy to drive from one end of downtown to the other!
Anyway, what're you making for Dad's Day? The Iceman never reads my blog and anyway, it's not much a surprise since he probably won't receive it until next summer with my knitting speed!
This is the third time I've tried to write this post. It's quite annoying that my Firefox keeps crashing before I can remember to save the post. I've figured out that if I set the post to save as hidden, I can edit it as many times as I like until I'm ready to publish publicly. Kind of like a "save draft" function that Vox doesn't have. Try it! You'll like it!
Awhile back, I finally finished the Chanson en Crochet capelet from Interweave's Wrap Style. I kept forgetting to ask someone to take a pic of me, so I finally did it myself. I hate taking self-portaits. I really, really need to suck it up and buy a Gorillapod. Since the Iceman just handed me a $20 giftcard to Best Buy, you can be sure of what I'm going to be purchasing tomorrow!
I need to change out the closure because the button currently on it is a drop-style button and the metal post at the bottom keeps snagging on the capelet! I purchased these to change it to, but have not yet committed 100%, so that's why I haven't changed it yet. What do you think?
Overall, I'm pleased with the results. I did this one in TLC Baby in sky blue. I love that stuff! However, after seeing a Crafty Cohort's WIP today, I think I will probably make it up again in a nicer yarn. Her capelet in a pretty buttercup mohair was the bee's knees!
I'm trying hard to cultivate my inner yarn snob. I tend to do most things in acrylic because of pricing and I live within walking distance to one of those Joann superstores. Plus, I always think I'll make a mock-up in the cheapie yarn before committing to dropping the dough on something more expensive like the Tahki New Tweed used in the pattern. After all, what if I don't like the pattern when I'm done. Frog the whole thing? I don't think so! Let's do the math. Four skeins of the Tahki at $9US a skein = $36US. One skein of TLC Baby at $3US a skein on sale at Joann = well, $3US! TLC Baby wins!
So I went to the LYS the other day to try out some vegan yarns...bamboo, soy, milk, etc. I got a pattern for this really cute shawl pattern from Fiber Trends. I ended up with some Southwest Trading Company Bamboo in the Parrot colorway. Although it's a bit thin for gauge, I'm going to try to make it work, anyway. It's a shawl! Does gauge really matter too much if it's just a smidge too small? (spoken like a true newbie!)
Just wanted to remind everyone, in case they were interested. Signup ends tomorrow, May 25th! I'll be assigning partners on the 26th.
Here are some links for ideas. Go to my crochet and knitting links page if you want more links:
Knitting Pattern Central
Crochet Pattern Central
I've got this thing against bacteria. I know, I'm all about letting your immune system toughen itself up, but I cannot stand the thought of sponges and dishclothes being used for more than one day. What can I say, I'm a bit OCD that way. So I bought a giant cone of kitchen cotten and began making my own. I've had such fun with it, I've decided to host a swap for them.
I'm hosting my first swap over at Swapbot! I've been having so much fun over there, (so much so, that I've neglected blogging, sorry!) and wanted to host my own swap.
The swap will be for dishclothes, dishtowels, washclothes and scrubbies. Knitted, crocheted, sewn, whatever, they must be handcrafted.
Sign-up ends May 25th, just in time for some crafting over the long weekend. I'll try to assign partners ASAP so that you can get right on it while you're waiting for your brats and burgers to grill while the TV's blaring the Indy 500! Yay Hoosiers! Mail-out isn't until June 15th 30th, which gives you 3 5 weeks to craft your little heart out.
Anywhoo, here's the requirements:
I have recently become addicted to making and using hand-crocheted dish scrubbers, dishclothes and washclothes. I love all the fun patterns that are out there, lots of them are even for free. They can be crocheted, knitted, or even sew. But please, make sure that they can actually be used for their intended purpose. Who needs an extra-special mohair/angora scrubbie? Not me!
These items must be hand-crafted. Cotton and nylon are usually good choices, but I saw one where someone had put wool in the center of the scrubbie and it felted up nicely to clean really well. I leave it to your discretion with the exception of no fun fur! Please!
You will have two partners. You must make one set to send to each partner.
Sets will contain any combination of two items from the following list:
-one (1) dish scrubbie
-one (1) dishtowel
-one (1) dishcloth (at least 6" x 6")
-one (1) washcloth (at least 4" x 4")This swap is international as well. Please remember to give international senders adequate time for their packages to arrive, especially as this package will probably not be a flat envie.
Ratings of 4.5 or higher only. If you're a newbie, join one of the newbie swaps like Gram's Button Box's Fast Turnaround, Jessica Fancy!'s Weekend Newbie Swap #3, or Kimmie's Ratings Booster to get yourself some ratings. Newbies will need to have a FULLY filled out profile AND contact me to join. I'll be watching ratings closely and will ban those whose ratings drop close to the signup time.
Join in the fun! If you don't have an account over at swap-bot, get one, it's free!
Does a rotary cutter get dull rather quickly? I think I got about 15 cuts out of mine before it got absolutely dull and won't cut a thing anymore? Is there a tutorial on these things? I really love it and it's great for cutting felt, I even made a little case for it with a nifty pocket on the back for spare blades, but can't seem to get the hang of it. What did I do wrong? Can someone help a girl out? I'd probably use it all the time, but the blades are a bit pricey to have to change constantly.
Do you like to get mail? No, not junk mail, bills or those other boring and/or environmentally unfriendly bits of paper that your friendly postal-person hand delivers into your mailbox? I do! So the idea of a modern penpal but with gifty stuff and changing partners seemed like great fun.
I am wary of swapping because I tend to get excited and sign up for way too many swaps, then freak out at all the work I have to do. I thought I learned my lesson so many years ago during my scrapbooking phase. But I could not resist the siren call of Swapbot. Clued in through the superfabuloso Sister Diane of the Portland flock of the Church of Craft and her most wondrous podcast, the Craftypod, I had been eyeballing the fun other bloggers seemed to be having showing off their new goodies brought to them by the good ole USPS. By the way, if you don't already listen to the Craftypod, but like crafting, talking about crafting, looking at crafts and craftbooks, or heck, have ever made a macrame owl at summer camp somewhere, then you so need to be listening to Sister Diane!
So I held my breath and signed up. Oh, the wonderful swaps going on! I immediately signed up for Lots of Mail: Cheap and Easy, a quick swap to get my feet wet. Then, I signed up for a goodie bottle swap. I had much fun doing my goodie bottle for my partner. Yes, I basically filled a pop bottle with fun stuff, stuck stamps on it and sent it on it's merry way. Here it is without it's mailing label.
Total fun! The Lots of Mail swap has is now going on in it's fourth incarnation. If you want to join, better hurry, sign-up closes on May 3rd. It was loads of fun doing round three, and so I went ahead and signed up for round four. Basically, there are 5 themes, and you get 5 partners to send envelopes. You send each partner a different theme but it should fit in a basic envie. It's international, so how fun to get mail from overseas! Here's what I sent!
If you're curious about the themes, click on the pic to see the notes over at flickr. I also joined a tea swap. How fun is that? I got three really great envelopes just jam-packed with tea, one all the way from Portugal. I really love it! Don't you wish you had some right now?
So have I recovered yet? Not completely, but I'm getting there. I still need to tidy up, finish packing the winter clothes, and get caught up on the 145 blogs that Bloglines says are updated with unread posts. See ya later!
Well, I've still haven't embroidered a darn thing, but I have been crafting. Still working on that capelet. Only 3 more rows to go, then the finishing. It looks pretty good so far. I'm definitely going to remake this one in a different yarn, but not anytime soon!
A while back Joann's had one of their massive mega-sales where practically everything was 50% off and if it wasn't 50% off, then they had tons of coupons so it would be 50% off. I love those sales, but I have come to realize that they have them about every other month, so I don't need to feel like I have to purchase the entire store right then and there. Of course, they always have their handy 40% coupons every week, too. It is NOT a good thing that it is literally down the street from me. Makes "dropping by" all too easy. Especially since Target is across the street!
But anyway, around the last time they had one of their blow-out sales, I had a hankering to do some collaging. I don't even remember it happening but three little canvasses jumped off their endcap and landed in my cart. They have sat on my shelf, sulking because they have been ignored. I keep wanting to get them out and start painting something, but alas, my painting skills are abysmal. I know, I know, it comes with practice. Today, the urge was something powerful because one of those canvasses jumped out of the bookcase and up onto my desk. I had the color blue in mind all day today as I was going about my business and after I cooked dinner, sat down to do something about it.
Using my handy-dandy visual journal (and reminded by SFGirlbythebay of having to keep visual journals and sketchbooks while in school, I decided to begin again) of which I'll blog about soon, I promise, I used a colorway inspired by a piece of china. Although the collage is nowhere near finished, I at least got my painted background down for tonight. I'll probably spend the rest of the evening with my sketchbook coming up with what might potentially go on top of it. The two naked cousins are underneath, waiting to become some sort of series. Ah, the pressure! But really, I think that I'll never get better at painting if I don't actually do it! I really love to use gouache. Transparent watercolor is too finicky and acrylic too messy. Perhaps the desire to use up all my crappy student Reeves gouache and finally purchase some higher quality stuff will be the impetus to keep painting. And notice, my favorite pink crochet hook has somehow managed to finagle it's way into the picture too. Alas, I can never escape!
It's out! Alicia released the tiramisu baby blanket pattern that I tested for her and blogged about last week! Yay! It's so easy, if you can single crochet, half-double crochet and double crochet, you, too, can be the lucky producer of this gorgeous blanket! And one of the best things...the pattern is absolutely free! Alicia is such a creative, generous person, if you don't follow her blog, you should cause it's just filled with yummy, pretty goodness!
And remember how I was going to make a matching hat? Well, one of my other favorite crochet designers has the very cutest little buttercup baby hat pattern. Here it is! Matching yarn is TLC Baby. Yes, I know that ties can be dangerous for babies, and ribbons too. Not to worry...when I send off the blanket and hat to the parents-to-be, I will be sure to put on my care instructions card a warning about ties and ribbons. (Never leave baby unattended with something tied round their head, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah) I still need to block it so that the waves and edging lie a bit better. I know, most peeps don't block acrylic, but it makes it look so much better. My hat as modeled by a ball of purple yarn. What do you think?
Don't you just love that little leaf at the top? Too cute! I did this in the car on the way down to my parents house for Easter. No, no embroidery got done, but when I get a chance, I'll share what else I was able to finish.
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