A Creative Journey...

Mod Love

2012-01-13T15:45:00.008-05:00

I have an enormous box of fabric scraps...odds and ends leftover from various sewing projects. It was getting rather unwieldy, and I decided to spend an afternoon sorting everything by colour. With my fresh stash of pink scraps, I decided on scrappy quilted hearts (2 of 50) for the mod swap.

A little rough around the edges...

Test model whereby all others will be based on...

Whew! All done!

Oh, and it just wouldn't be right if there was no candy in the packages, so voila!

Valentine Cards...

2012-01-10T14:01:00.009-05:00

for my crafty mod chicas on Craftster (1 of 50). They're simple and heartfelt...and hopefully, they convey my love for being part of a community that nurtures my need to create.

Pacific NW...

2012-01-05T08:34:00.033-05:00

I cherish the time I get to spend with my family during the annual trek to the Pacfic NW. This year, we spent a couple of days in Lincoln City, and I got to see the beach in what was an unseaonably warm winter.

Alas, this is what I returned to. Snow. In my backyard.

As I unpacked, I realized that I didn't buy as much of a variety of craft supplies as I thought I did during my vacation. Ho hum. The only thing I bought was, erm, fabric...gobs of fabric.

And this little gem.

My mama took me to a new craft mall that I've not been to and I fell in love with this ceramic tile. As I was making my decision, it just so happened that the artist (Sheri Medford) who painted the tile was working that day so I got to meet her and chat for a bit. Nice!

Clean Slate in 2012...

2012-01-02T14:25:00.006-05:00

New year, new craft resolutions. I revisited the list for 2011 and was pleased to find that I did get around to achieving some of the resolutions on that list. Nevertheless, there's always room for improvement...so with that in mind, here's my list for 2012 (in no particular order):

#1 Craft more for my family! I love swapping, but I can't help but feel that I need to focus on my family for 2012.

#2 Destash. This is an ongoing resolution because I know I've been blessed with too much!

#3 Craft for the charities that the mod group has made a committment to donate to. It's so much easier to stay on track as a group!

#4 Make another attempt at completing 50 unique proejcts in 2012.

#5 Experiment with cooking dishes that excludes red meat. Fish and chicken will probably be staples in my kitchen, but I'm keen to try new vegetarian recipes as well!

#6 Catch up on all WIPs that have been neglected over the years. There's not much hiding in the woodwork, but I know of at least 2 knitting projects that I've stepped away from and never revisited.

I'm really looking forward to having a good year in 2012!

Strolling mitts...

2011-12-20T00:00:00.009-05:00

The grand finale for 2011...another pair of fingerless mitts (50 of 50). For these mitts, I used an uber soft 100% alpaca yarn (Plymouth Indiecita Alpaca) and this pattern.

These mitts were finished the night before I left for my vacation and I didn't get a chance to weave in the ends...but they're done now!

Tree ornament

2011-12-19T09:19:00.014-05:00

I had an insanely huge stack of magazines, catalogs and miscellaneous print media waiting to be recycled. Before I tossed them in the recycling box, I went through some of it and pulled out pages that were green. Yes, green...with a specific purpose in mind, of course.

Not long ago, I came across a picture of some Anthropologie-inspired earrings made with paper beads and decided I needed to make some paper beads.

The earrings do not appeal to me, but I thought the basic concept was neat...and had the 'duh!' moment of realization that they might make cute tree ornaments! Yep. So here's my tree ornament (49 of 50)...and the second picture is truer to the actual colors.

Thistle Cap

2011-12-18T01:56:00.005-05:00

Came across this lovely pattern (48 of 50) for a cabled hat and decided it would be perfect as a thank you gift for my secret santa (who totally surprised me with all kinds of awesome goodies). Hope she likes it!

Not crafty...

2011-12-18T01:26:00.005-05:00

but it sure looks colourful! I was planning to stick with ultraviolet blue, but the girl who does my hair really wanted to try Pravana's Wild Orchids on my hair. Meh, it's just hair, so I agreed. We (yeah, I say 'we' like I had any say in this) decided to try for a gradation effect as well, so the strands deepens from fuschia, violet, to purple. Did I mention that I love it? I really do.

Done! whew

2011-12-12T13:09:00.008-05:00

It'll be awhile before I pick up another cross stitch project, for sure. Still not quite sure if I should just frame this or sew a decorative door hanger pillow with the finished piece. Oh well, at least the stitching is done (47 of 50).

Susie's Reading Mitts...

2011-12-10T18:24:00.009-05:00

or rather a modified version (46 of 50) of it. Didn't care much for the faux picot edging, so I subtracted that portion of the pattern from the top edge of the mitts and left the lower edges unhemmed. I am loving the slightly longer length of these mitts though! And for posterity, I've made gobs of notes about the modifications on the pattern sheet in the event that I decide to knit another pair of these mitts!

Hive Mitts

2011-12-08T08:49:00.011-05:00

Back on a knitting kick! This pattern (45 of 50) called for 5 different yarns to create the stripes, but I decided to go with Debbie Mumm's Reminiscence yarn in a sea glass colorway. Not quite sure if I'll like the buttonhole thumb bit (most of the other mitts I've knitted offered more thumb coverage) but as I tried it on, it occured to me that the lack of the usual thumb guesset also means that these mitts may do double duty as cuffs! Awfully convenient, no?

Note: Dangit. I can't find these mitts *exasperated* Where did they go? They obviously hate being photographed

ETA: Found them! They were hiding in a bag with another knitting project! Yay!

Lined baskets...

2011-12-06T00:07:00.011-05:00

More simple sewing and more destashing. I love baskets in all shapes and sizes, and lining them with pretty fabrics (44 of 50) makes me happy. It's darn near impossible to get one clear picture of the lined baskets, so I went a smidge overboard!

The ho ho ho one is for sis, but the other one is perfect for the growing stash of mitts that I've knitted in 2011!

Princess Mitts...

2011-12-01T14:07:00.013-05:00

for my mama. She requested a pair of mitts (43 of 50) after seeing the ones I made for Q & S. This pattern has been on my ravelry queue for awhile, so I'm glad I had a reason to knit it! I found some Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino in my stash and thought it was perfect for this project. It's soooo soft and I loved working with it...that is, until I encountered knots in the yarn.

Yes, more than one knot in a skein. Totally unacceptable, in my opinion, for high end yarns. Ugh. I only ended up using one skein of it (and had approximately 1 yard of yarn left), and I'm not sure what I'll do with the remaining skein.

Anyhow, I like the finished product. It feels so soft...I hope my mama will be pleased with it.

Lazy Day Shawl Completed!

2011-11-30T08:24:00.007-05:00

Well truthfully, the shawl (42 of 50) was completed in October...but I was rather lazy when it came to blocking it. So glad it's done...and just in time for Christmas gifting. I hope the recipient will like it!

Dishcloths and Barmops

2011-11-29T12:26:00.012-05:00

Simple is good. These dishcloths and barmops (41 of 50) are spiffed up with fabric strips from my stash. The Christmas themed barmops are for my sis, and the rest will be gifts as well!

Slowly, but surely?

2011-11-28T11:35:00.006-05:00

I was obviously optimistic about my ability to do cross-stitch. Early in November, I downloaded a freebie pattern ("Christmas Morning" by Felicity Hall) and figured I could get this done in a couple of weeks...right?

Here's what it looked like on the first day...

and here's where I'm at 4 weeks later.

Oy vey. Will I get this done by Christmas 2011?!?

Monster Minion

2011-11-23T10:29:00.011-05:00

Meet Mikey, the mischievious monster minion (40 of 50). I found him hiding among my teacups and mugs...probably up to no good, per usual. He was made with the RevoluzZza Monster (aka Monster Ninni) pattern! Eep!!! Mikey has been shipped off to his new home (hopefully he'll be good and won't cause too much mayhem there...), but I will be making a couple more to hand out to friends and family because I think everyone needs a wee monster in their life!

Market Tote Bag

2011-11-21T08:43:00.009-05:00

Measuring in at 18" by 21" or so, it's a decent-sized tote (39 of 50) for a quick trip to the library or market day. The design of this tote is based on a beautiful pillow I saw online.

Birdies

2011-11-06T13:32:00.012-05:00

It has been ages (hmmm, at least 8 years?) since I've played with polymer clay...and I've forgotten how much fun it can be. Saw some cute birdie-shaped pendants and decided that I could easily make a batch of them (38 of 50). I used translucent polymer and painted and sealed the pieces after curing.

Owl Bunting

2011-10-30T22:56:00.010-05:00

I adore buntings! There's something quintessentially festive about them...and just having one hanging in the craftroom makes me smile! I used this tutorial (okay, I'll be honest, I used the template but didn't read through the instructions :P) for the owl bunting (37 of 50). Hopefully, the recipient of this bunting will be pleased with it!

Bird Silhouette Note Cards

2011-10-21T13:55:00.008-05:00

Text from a French book, textured cardstock, lots of glue...and voila! We have note cards (36 of 50).

Latest bit of dyeing

2011-10-17T20:29:00.005-05:00

Squishy, squishy merino...

and some fine domestic wool for fun!

Spa Day Facecloths...

2011-10-13T11:03:00.009-05:00

In all my years of knitting, I can't believe I've never knitted a washcloth till now. For one of my swaps, I decided to make a stack (one for each day of the week!) of nubby washcloths (35 of 50) for my partner. The pattern I used for these washcloths may be found here.

Fingerless Mitts for Q & S...

2011-10-10T00:35:00.010-05:00

For her...

For him...

Both pairs of mitts (34 of 50) were made using this pattern, with minor modifications. Yarns used were Deborah Norville Collection Serenity sock weight in Pink Sugar and Charcoal.

Wee bit of spinning...

2011-10-06T09:55:00.007-05:00

Haven't been crafting much lately...work is getting in the way of my play time! Having said that, it's hard to stay idle, even when I'm tired. I looked through my growing stash of fibers waiting to be spun and came across this little bundle that I received a couple of Christmases ago. MM carded these batts for me and I love the sparkle that comes from the firestar fibers. The bright colours and sparkle reminds me of carnivals!

Carnival - mill ends and firestar, sport weight (plied)

Chunky Houses Halloween Edition 2011

2011-09-28T08:24:00.015-05:00

Halloween! How I love thee. Tricks, treats (candy, candy, candy) and fanciful spookiness. And speaking of tricks, we have tarot cards! For this batch of chunky houses (33 of 50), I incorporated three-card-tarot readings for each house...purely for entertainment value, of course.

And this particular chunky house is the odd one in the bunch. Nary a tarot card card in sight but an ominous crow...waiting to make mischief, no doubt.

Holy Canoli...

2011-09-21T15:30:00.005-05:00

What a mess! That's the current state of my craft table...glue, paper, scissors, markers, paper, ink, miscellaneous tools, paper, gel medium, pens, did I mention paper?

It may be hard to figure out what I'm working on right now, but here's a close-up!

Chunky Halloween Houses!!! Yay!

Little Black Book Of Oddities...

2011-09-19T13:04:00.017-05:00

Mixed-media collage art book (32 of 50) made for LM in the One Tiny Book swap.

First pair of toe-ups...

2011-09-06T10:33:00.011-05:00

Started this today with a delish black/blue/grey bamboo and wool blend yarn! It's my first pair of toe-ups and I used a modified version of the figure 8 cast-on which promises a seamless sock with no need for grafting (dangit...just when I've almost mastered the art of grafting with the last 4 pairs of socks).

As I continue my journey in knitting socks, my game plan is to try out as many variations as possible (different cast-on methods, toe-up, cuff-down, different heels, etc.). I'm not in search of a 'favourite method' for knitting socks, much preferring to enjoy the process of learning the different options for sock construction.

Confessions of a yarn wh*re...

2011-09-01T13:54:00.008-05:00

I figured since I've been knitting, I deserve more yarn. Right? Right...

15 skeins of handpainted merino in fingering weight from Cherry Tree Hill

20 skeins of mostly bamboo/wool in fingering weight

I see quite a bit of socks and shawlettes in my future knitting endeavours!

Three (Two?) Leaf Mitts

2011-08-22T15:56:00.006-05:00

Found a skein of "Full O' Sheep" in the colourway, Meadow, on clearance for 50 cents (yes, it was 90% off) and decided to knit these mitts (31 of 50).

The pattern called for size 5 dpns but it was darn near impossible to use size 5 needles with the single-ply yarn! After frogging it a couple of times, I finally ended up using size 10 dpns (a quick check in the label had suggested size 9 needles...but I'm a tight knitter). Unfortunately, that meant that I had to make a few modifications along the way. The biggest change was a two leaf repeat as opposed to three leaves. I much prefer the three leaf look, so I'll have to try this pattern again with another yarn.

Brought to you by the letter "G"

2011-08-17T10:36:00.007-05:00

As in green. Green yarn? Check. Green/Yellow dpns? Check. Green stitch markers? Yep. I can't wait to get started on the Three Leaf Mitts!

Unplying yarns...

2011-08-15T10:04:00.013-05:00

This was one of those "Duh!" moments for me. While sorting through my yarn stash (yet again!), I found a skein of yarn that I sorta love. The rich jewel tones of the yarn is what draws me to it...but I can't abide the fun fur yarn that it was plied with! The yarn has been in my stash for a few years (circa mid 2000s when fun fur yarn and their derivatives were trendy).

With the help of my favourite top whorl spindle, I am unplying the yarn so that I can do something (finally!) with the gorgeous lofty yarn!

Here it is, all "unplied" and sitting pretty on the spindle.

And in it's final form - one happy shiny jewel hued ball of yarn ready to be knitted.

Now I'm off to find more "not-so-loved- yarns in my stash with the hopes of making them them more useable/lovable!

Dye, dye, dye!

2011-08-13T22:29:00.025-05:00

I rummaged through my stash of fibers and found more squishy undyed rovings to paint!

Lady Victoria (BFL)

My Backyard (BFL)

Colour Palette (BFL)

Fairy Dust (BFL)

Elves & Pixies (BFL)

Everything But The Spindle (Merino/Silk)

Gemini I & II (Merino/Silk)

Tropical Breeze (Merino)

Kiwi Splash (Merino)

Potion 4 Me (Merino)

Lavender Stalks (Merino)

Jader Mitts

2011-08-11T13:51:00.010-05:00

Whee! Done! It was the easiest fingerless mitts pattern to work with...ever! I used size 8 dpns on a hank of over-dyed worsted weight wool that was ~ 100 yards at the start of the project and I have ~ 3 yards left. Close shave!

Pair of red mitts (30 of 50)

Gratuitous close-up of mitts

The spiral rib really does allow for a great fit! The fingerless mitts were quite stretchy and I can see how it'll fit a variety of hand sizes. This is going on my list of gifts to knit for the 2011 holiday season!

The knitting continues...

2011-08-07T20:10:00.008-05:00

I finally finished knitting the Lazy Day Lace Shawl. It lies in a crumpled heap, waiting to be blocked. So nope, no pictures of the final product just yet. I already have the perfect button selected for it, so I really should get going with the blocking!

Meanwhile, I started knitting a pair of Jader Mitts. I was lured by the spiral design of the mitts, which promises good fit with no need for extra shaping in the pattern. Hmmm.

A hodge podge of dyed fibers

2011-08-03T07:58:00.025-05:00

Some handpainted, others dip dyed.

When I first embarked on my dyeing adventures (control freak and scientist that I am), I took detailed notes on all the dye combinations I used to create the dyed fibers...anticipating that I might want to re-create a particular colour combination.

Fast forward four years later and I've long given up on recording as I dye, much preferring to dye with abandon using whatever colours I mixed on a whim. So far, I'm happy with this process of creating one-of-a-kind-never-to-be-repeated-at-a-later-date dyed fibers.

Colourful Thing #1 - Dorset, 2.40 oz

Colourful Thing #2 - Wool/Silk Blend, 1.90 oz

Colourful Thing #3 - Wool/Silk Blend, 2.45 oz

And some dip dyed mystery wool rovings (received from a swap ages ago!) that were rather blah before dyeing...

True Blood - 1.60 oz
Teal Streams - 1.60 oz
California Cabernet - 1.45 oz

Lazy Day Lace Shawl

2011-08-01T10:39:00.013-05:00

Started the Lazy Day Lace Shawl using KnitPick's Palette Yarn (100% Peruvian Wool) in Merlot Heather colourway! In my mind, merlot should be more of a deep maroon colour, but this yarn seems to have more deep brown tones to it.

Another hot and humid day...

2011-07-31T20:22:00.018-05:00

Translates to more experiments with solar dyeing! For this batch I decided to revisit dyeing with Wilton dyes.

And at ~ 8:30 pm, I had several batches of dyed fibers waiting to be rinsed! Lovely!

But I ended up being distracted and didn't find time to rinse all the batches of fiber. Only got around to these two batches but I like what I see so far!

Baktus Scarf

2011-07-29T08:16:00.010-05:00

Baktus Scarf (29 of 50) completed. I couldn't wait to finish it (because it was such a boring project) so that I could start something else that engages my mind while I knit :P

Mindless, but not smooth sailing...

2011-07-26T10:34:00.009-05:00

As I was mindlessly knitting the Baktus scarf during my lunch break, a glitch occured.

See the glitch? Yep, the cable came undone from one of the ends of my circs. Moral of the story? Never. Use. Cheap knitting needles. It's just not worth the aggravation! Fortunately, it was Jumbo Paper Clip to the rescue! It was the only thing I could find quickly enough to hold my dropped stiches.

Still no sewing...

2011-07-24T01:01:00.008-05:00

My sewing mojo is apparently still on hiatus *sigh*

I dug through my yarn stash in search of yarn to play with and found a couple of skeins of Serenity Garden Yarn in the Gems colourway. When I bought this yarn, I didn't have a specific project in mind. The colours were rather pretty and that was reason enough to add them to my stash! This evening, I started on a Baktus Scarf.

It has been a rather mindless knit so far, and I don't think it'll get anymore exciting other than to watch the colours unfold. Sometimes, mindless is good.

Solar Dyed Fibers

2011-07-20T08:33:00.028-05:00

This has been an awesome week of dyeing experiments. I am well on my way to building a stash of fibers to knit and spin with when work gets less busy in the winter months!

Peach Peonies (Peruvian wool, 1.80 oz)

Terra Cotta (Peruvian wool, 1.80 oz)

Potion #13 (Peruvian wool, 1.85 oz)

Love Spell (Peruvian wool, 1.80 oz)

Oregon Seaglass (mill ends, 3.35 oz)

Berries n Cream (mill ends, 3.45 oz)

Campfire Glow (mill ends, 3.55 oz)

Copper Verdigris (mill ends, 1.80 oz)

Natural Amethyst (mill ends, 1.80 oz)

Very Berry (mill ends, 3.55 oz)

Trio of 100% woolen yarns in forest hues

Solar Dyeing Experiments Part II

2011-07-18T15:34:00.008-05:00

6:30 am...

7:45 am...

5:45 pm...

Solar Dyeing Experiments Part I

2011-07-15T07:42:00.016-05:00

Heatwave. Ick. When temps are in the upper 90s and low triple digits, I'm usually not in the mood to do much other than veg indoors. Having said that, I've been eyeing my stash of undyed fibers and dying to do some dyeing. Oven, stove-top, slow cooker and microwave dyeing are all techniques I've tried in the past. Given the abundance of hot summer days, I decided to give solar dyeing (28 of 50) a whirl!

The night before, I prepped everything I needed for the next morning.

Early morning (i.e. before heading off to the office), I mixed the dyes and set everything out on my front porch.

Later in the day, I collected my fiber casseroles (fibers were done cooking, but dinner was nowhere to be found...)!

And voila! The dye bath was clear!!!

Ela's Favourite Hat

2011-07-08T09:22:00.010-05:00

I saw this cute hat while checking out the projects in "One-Skein Wonders: 101 Yarn Shop Favorites" and knew I had to knit one (26 of 50). Though I'm not really into wearing hats, I think I might be easily persuaded to wear this! I decided to omit the three i-cord decorative element in the original design because it's, erm, not my style. The yarn is a lovely olive skein of soft spun single ply that I've had in my stash for ages. So glad to finally make something with it!

Palm Readers

2011-07-06T15:57:00.014-05:00

Mitts (25 of 50). Made for CD using Lion Brand's Amazing yarn in the Mauna Loa colorway. I hope it'll be a good match for the scarf and hat that she's working on (with the same yarn!). The pattern I used for these mitts is published in Vampire Knits.

Bags, Pouches, etc.

2011-07-05T00:17:00.011-05:00

Made by my mama!!! I've hit a dry spell with sewing, but I'm glad that my mama hasn't. As an enabler, I've been fueling her growing interest in sewing by sending her gobs of fabrics from my stash. Mama's a lean, mean sewing machine...as evidenced by all the bags, pouches, etc. that she has made for me over the past couple of weeks or so. And this is only a fraction (I'm guessing 25%?) of what she has sewn lately. Go, mama, go!

7-year WIP...completed!

2011-07-01T13:42:00.011-05:00

This WIP has been hiding in the back of my craftroom closet for close to 7 years - a sweater I started when I first learned how to knit. A rather ambitious undertaking for a new knitter, perhaps? Honestly, the pattern is a piece of cake, but I had a tough time finishing it because I don't do well with large projects (short attention span, lack of patience, etc.). Anyhow, it's done. I made a few adjustments as I finished the last 1/3 of the sweater. Thankfully, the design of the sweater (24 of 50) isn't dated (methinks!), and I should still be able to wear it in Fall 2011!

Easy Mittens

2011-06-30T14:21:00.006-05:00

My first pair of mittens (23 of 50)! The pattern is from "One-Skein Wonders: 101 Yarn Shop Favorites" and I used a skein of hand dyed 100% merino yarn in DK weight from my stash. The summery colours should brighten the dreary winter months!

Still on a knitting kick...

2011-06-26T20:01:00.008-05:00

My lack of interest in playing with bits of paper and fabric is rather disconcerting. I've never been a monogamous crafter and I typically thrive on a variety of craft projects at any given time. But I'm still wanting to knit. So, I'm forcing myself to take a break from sock knitting projects. Easy Mittens to the rescue!

Crabby Toes...

2011-06-20T08:40:00.033-05:00

While looking for another anklet sock pattern to knit, I also toyed with the idea of writing my own pattern. Voila! I came up with Crabby Toes (22 of 50)!

Close up of instep!

CRABBY TOES PATTERN

Fingering weight sock yarn (~ 200 yards or so)
Size 2 dpns (5 needles works best!)

Pattern Rows:
Row 1 - k2, *k1, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k1, repeat from * ending with k2
Row 3 - k2, *ktog, yo, k3, yo, ssk, repeat from * ending with k2
Even numbered rows, knit all stitches.

Cast on 60 stitches and join without twisting.
Divide stitches among 3 needles.

Cuff:
k2, p2 (rib pattern) for 5 rows.

Heel:
Row 1 - s1, k1 for 28 stitches.
These 28 stitches will be part of the heel while the remaining 32 stitches will form the instep of the sock.
Row 2 - s1, p27.
Repeat Rows 1 & 2 for 30 rows.
Turn the heel as follows:
Row 1 - s1, k16 k2tog, k1, turn work
Row 2 - s1, p7, p2tog, p1, turn work
Row 3 - s1, k8, k2tog, k1, turn work
Row 4 - s1, p9, p2tog, p1, turn work
Row 5 - s1, k10, k2tog, k1, turn work
Row 6 - s1, p11, p2tog, p1, turn work
Row 7 - s1, k12, k2tog, k1, turn work
Row 8 - s1, p13, p2tog, p1, turn work
Row 9 - s1, k14, k2tog, k1, turn work
Row 10 - s1, p15, p2tog, p1, turn work
18 stitches will remain on needle.

Gusset:
Start this section as follows - s1, k8 with extra needle.
Needle 1 - k9, pick up and knit 16 stitches from heel flap (for a total of 25 stitches)
Needle 2 - knit 32 stitches (this is the instep section of the sock)
Needle 3 - pick up and knit 16 stitches from other side of heel flap and knit 9 stitches from extra needle (for a total of 25)
Row 1, Needle 1 - knit to 3 stitches before the end of needle, k2tog, k1
Row 1, Needle 2 - start with Row 1 of Pattern Rows (and alternate with Row 3 of Pattern Rows in subsequent repeats of the gusset rows)
Row 1, Needle 3 - k1, ssk, knit to end of needle
Row 2 (Needles 1, 2 & 3) - knit
Repeat Rows 1 & 2 until 60 stitches remain.

Foot:
After the gusset section, you should have the following number of stiches on each needle
Needle 1 - 14 stitches
Needle 2 - 32 stitches
Needle 3 - 14 stitches
Continue knitting the foot section of the sock as follows, until 2 inches before the end of the foot.
Needle 1 - knit
Needle 2 - continue with Pattern Rows
Needle 3 - knit

Toe:
Take the first stitch from Needle 2 (instep section of the sock) and move it to the end of Needle 1. Take the last stitch from Needle 2 and add it to the beginning of Needle 3. Now, you should have the following number of stitches on each needle
Needle 1 - 15 stitches
Needle 2 - 30 stitches
Needle 3 - 15 stitches
Row 1, Needle 1 - knit to 3 stitches before the end of the needle, k2tog, k1
Row 1, Needle 2 - k1, ssk, knit to 3 stitches before the end of the needle, k2tog, k1
Row 1, Needle 3 - k1, ssk, knit to end of needle
Row 2 (Needles 1, 2 & 3) - knit
Repeat Rows 1 & 2 until there are 4 stitches left on each of Needles 1 & 3, and 8 stitches left on Needle 2 (for a total of 16 stitches). Knit 4 more stitches on Needle 1 (using Needle 3). Graft stitches to finish the toe. Block and enjoy!

Another pair...completed!

2011-06-12T19:30:00.006-05:00

This is my 2nd pair of "An Anklet A Day" socks and I used Happy Feet yarn in colourway number 10, a squishy blend of superwash merino and nylon. Although I love how quickly the pattern works up, the "all knit" construction of the foot of the sock is getting a tad boring. Time to move on to other more intriguing sock patterns, I reckon!

Another pair in the making

2011-06-10T15:38:00.007-05:00

Yeah, I'm a smidge obsessed with knitting socks right now.

2nd pair of socks...

2011-06-08T11:32:00.005-05:00

That's right...I'm done!!! The "An Anklet A Day" pattern is a no frills ankle length sock that knits up quickly. For this pair (21 of 50), I used less than a skein of Paton's Stretch Socks in the olive colourway.

More sock knitting (mis)adventures

2011-06-04T19:55:00.008-05:00

Yep, I cast on for another sock knitting project. Finishing my first pair of socks got me all excited! And since my other knitting WIP isn't all that totable, I decided I needed to start on another pair of socks. I chose this toe up pattern because I wanted to try a different approach. See this? Proof that I'm making some progress.

Or maybe not. Right about 25% through the sock, I noticed there were some issues in the pattern. WTF. After frogging it, I decided to give it another try. Guess what? I ended up having to frog that attempt as well (insert colourful language) *sigh* After spending a weekend afternoon knitting/frogging, I abandoned the project and the yarn (yes, I was pissed off at the yarn as well).

The next evening, I started with another sock pattern and yarn:

Glad things are working out so far *fingers crossed*!

Lace Wedge Anklets

2011-06-03T15:25:00.013-05:00

Finally. My first pair (20 of 50)!!! After a miserable experience with my first sock, I'm chuffed that these actually fit! The pattern was relatively easy and the lace repeats kept it from becoming a monotonous knitting project.

After finishing the socks, I realised that I needed sock blockers! It's not something I had on hand, so using this lovely template, I made a few with some IKEA placemats that I've had in my stash (bought them for some other project which never materialised).

I took my time getting this done. One sock was completed in 2010, and yep, the second sock was finished recently in 2011. Hopefully it won't take me quite as long to work on future sock projects!

Maine Morning Mitts Take Three

2011-06-01T11:12:00.007-05:00

Somebody stop me. I've been having so much fun with this easy pattern that I've now completed my 3rd pair (well two pairs for me, and one for my sis!) of mitts. I decided to make the mitts a smidge shorter than my last pair and I'm really liking the shorter length.

If left to my own devices, I'll probably have a pair of mitts for each day of the week!!

Fiber Festival 2011...

2011-05-30T09:46:00.019-05:00

Great day at the local fiber festival! There were fiber animals to see (I really, really, really want to own a herd of alpacas!) and an unbelievable amount of fiber eye candy to fondle. I noticed that there were quite a few new vendors to shop with but sadly, a couple of my favourite vendors from the previous festivals weren't there this year.

My first stop was at Circle Hill Farm booth where I found dyes and lush fibers. I've never worked with the WashFast brand of dyes but I'm excited to experiment with them because they have an incredible range of colours.

WashFast Acid Dyes (Brown, Cornflower, Grasshopper & Sangria)

New Zealand Possum Merino Blend (30/70). Yes. Possum! The ick factor did enter my mind, but this roving is soooooo soft!

100% Llama Roving. I didn't have any of this lovely colour in my stash, so I had to get this!

Right across the aisle, there was an amazing booth (Creatively Dyed) filled with colourful rovings and yarns. It was really hard to decide on what to bring home with me, but I ended up buying a 4 oz hank of 22 micron superwash merino in the colorway Sable.

My last and final shopping stop was Stitch Sisterz. This was where I blew my entire budget. I think I've bought more than enough yarn to get me started on my Fall and Christmas knitting projects. Oy vey.

100% Alpaca Yarns (Gray 50g/190m and Taupe 50g/100yd each)

100% Cashmere Laceweight Yarn in Carrot Colourway (100g/1000yd) I adore the vibrant colour and can't wait to find the perfect pattern for this yarn!

Alana Alpaca/Wool/Acrylic (50/25/25) yarns in Marengo(2) and Chocolate(16) colours (50g/150m each). I am so knitting a shrug for myself...soonish! Mmmm...chocolate!

Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, a merino microfibre cashmere (55/33/12) blend that is sumptious to touch in Tulip(5) 340014 and Wine(2) 340028 colours (50g/125m each).

I like dyed yarns, but I can never resist stocking up some natural coloured yarns for dyeing experiments!!

Taiga Classic Siberia 100% Merino (100g/300m each) in white

And more merino wool yarns for various knitting projects to come!

Taiga Classic L'Attitude 100% Merino (50g/270m each) in black

Taiga Luxury Nostalgia 100% Merino (50g/200m) in hunter green and natural white

And in addition to the yarns, I also found two Ashland Bay 100% merino varigated rovings to play with!

4 oz Baltic Blue

4 oz Fiber Forest

I opted not to buy any of the raw fleeces because I'm still waaaay behind on cleaning the alpaca and llama fleeces I bought earlier this month!

Till next year! Now I need to get busy with knitting and fiber-processing!!

Maine Morning Mitts Take Two...

2011-05-16T09:33:00.006-05:00

Made a pair of these mitts for my sis back in back in February and knew I had to make another pair for myself!

It's a scorching 92 degrees F today so I'm definitely looking forward to Fall 2011 when I can wear them!

Hope Book Chunky Page

2011-05-11T13:32:00.013-05:00

First chunky page...ever. Made for the 2011 Hope Book for CDM's Relay for Life fundraiser. The theme she selected was "Bird". I hope my chunky page (19 of 50) meets her approval!

H.O.P.E. - Bristol board, upcycled bookboard, copper wire, wood veneer, embroidery floss, buttons, gouache paints, chalk inks, varnish, text.

Shop Till You Drop Tote

2011-05-06T10:05:00.009-05:00

This huge shopping tote (18 of 50) was made for one of my swap partners. It measures a hefty 20" by 18", with 30" reinforced handles. This is another destashing project of sorts since I've had the fabric in my stash for quite some time. I like the size of this tote, and I think I need to construct a similar one for hauling my library books!

Happy Ironing!

2011-05-05T18:29:00.010-05:00

I've had this table top ironing board since my grad school days (note the dated look and scorch marks). While I have since bought a full-size ironing board, this one's been great as my craftroom ironing board.

I love that it's the perfect size for crafting with, but I've always hated the cover. So voila! It was time to do something (17 of 50) that I've been thinking about doing for the past 6 years or so!! I added an extra layer of batting to plump it up further (since it was poorly padded anyhow) and made a new cover for it! The bright and cheery colours make me happy!

Rough drafts and what not...

2011-04-24T22:39:00.009-05:00

Drawing is not something I excel in, but I like to sketch out rough drafts for projects to get a feel of things to come. It's also a good way to whittle down possibilities that seem like good ideas in theory, but might look silly in real life.

These are my sketches for a chunky page that I'm working on for CDM's Book of Hope (relay for life fundraiser). A couple of these have potential, but I'm not particularly enamoured with any of them. Perhaps I'm overthinking things...or perhaps it's time to go back to the drawing board...literally.

More "One Hour" Purses

2011-04-19T15:10:00.013-05:00

A couple more of these purses because I quite like the pattern that I used for the first one I made!

One's probably gonna be up for grabs in the STS swap, but I will be keeping one for myself. Question being which one shall I keep?!?

The mustard hued lovely?

Or the dotty cutie?

A couple of things for the fabric lover scavenger swap...

2011-04-14T10:45:00.010-05:00

I'm getting a headstart here! It follows (by reason?) that a fabric lover must love to sew, no? I guess it's also possible that a fabric lover collects fabric for petting or for visual stimulation? Anyhow, I digress. For the fabric over scavenger hunt, the categories are as follows:

* Something local

* Something green

* Something lucky

* Something vintage

* Something tiny (under 2")

* Something related to the letter "M"

* Something sharp

* Something bumpy

* Something cozy

* Sender's choice

And I get to select 5 categories to fulfil! Well, I'm sending the following items because it's sewing-related.

Something vintage...

Something tiny...

Now I need to work on ideas for three additional categories!!

Crafty in Cincinnati 2011!

2011-04-08T09:33:00.019-05:00

Last weekend, I had a fabulous time hanging out with CD for our 2nd Annual Crafty in Cincinnati. After having so much fun the first time round, we booked rooms at the same hotel with plans for trying new crafts and catching up.

Friday evening, we played with paper and made a couple of chunky houses!

My chunky house "A Virgin of Yesterday"!

CD's fantastic cat chunky house!

Saturday was a busy day! We went to IKEA (boy oh boy!) followed by a visit to St. Theresa's Textile Trove (an absolute gem!). In addition to a good selection of eclectic fabric (hand marbled, hand dyed, African batik, etc.), they also had all kinds of beads, whimsical charms and general kitsch. I won't gab about my fabric purchases, but I did find quite a few things that I had to have!

Porcupine quills. Yep, sharp and beautiful. I hope to inject resin in the hollow shaft and turn them into hairsticks for myself...soonish.

Okay, I wasn't planning to talk about fabric but this particular fabric has such a neat story to it. Apparently, the design is based on "ladies of the night dolls" that were handed out as, erm, calling cards in Mexico. The designer, Terrie Mangat actually had names for the dolls in the fabric, and these are names of her friends and family. How cool is that!

Fiber, fiber, fiber!!!

First fiber project for the evening - felted soaps! CD chose a good selection of colours for her bar of soap...and it turned out beautiful! I opted for forest green and hunter green shades. It seemed like a good idea at that time...but in retrospect, I shouldn't have. My felted soap looks like a Brillo pad!

Next, we embarked on making wet felted scarves. I was too excited and didn't get any pictures of the layout of the dry fibers or even take very good pictures of the process...but here's the progress pictures of CD's colourful scarf!

Prewetting the fiber prior to soaping...

Close-up of pre-wetted fiber!

Soaped and partially felted...

It's darn near impossible to take pictures with soapy hands, but here's my soaped and partially felted scarf. I opted for using white wool roving because I wanted to dye the scarf after I was done felting it.

Scarves hung out to dry!

Close-up of CD's colourful scarf...

Close-up of my boring pre-dyed scarf (which is still undyed)...

And then we dyed a couple of skeins of yarn with food grade acid dyes...because we had a microwave in the room!

Close-up of the lovely dye effect on one of the skeins (I love grape Kool-Aid!)

You'd think we would call it a night after all the fiber crafts. Nope, CD promised that she'll coach me on needlework and she made good on that promise.

Awesome scissor fob that she made for me!

Here's the sampler she worked on to show me a variety of stitches that I could learn:

Sadly, I was getting too cranky and tired (hey, it was now Sunday morning!) to learn them. I could bearly keep my eyes open at that point :P I stitched this...

And partially got this started...

But finished it when I got home!

I can't wait to do more needlework!

And for the record, my hair had pink highlights (it was purple for last year's meetup)!

A One Hour Purse?

2011-03-28T08:24:00.010-05:00

I think not *sigh* Either I'm incredibly pokey while sewing or I was sloshed (hey, it was only one glass of wine)! It took me closer to 1.5 hours to make the purse based on Jodie Carleton's pattern. I like the shape, long strap and button details (I have a thing for buttons, I guess). The fabric is from my stash, and I can't remember how long I've had it. But the fabric was definitely too awesome to remain unnoticed. Voila! It's now a purse (16 of 50).

Coin Purse Prototype

2011-03-17T13:02:00.008-05:00

The zipper on my favourite coin purse finally gave out...after 5 years of service. Rather than head out to the shops to buy a replacement, I decided to make one. I've always thought the flex frame style was neat...and I remembered reading (somewhere?) about using the metal strip portion of tape measures to fabricate odd sized flex frames. I searched online and found a couple of tutorials to that effect, but nothing that worked specifically for my purpose. Hence, I decided to make my own pattern. This coinpurse (15 of 50) is by no means perfect and requires a wee bit of tweaking...but it'll do for now until version 2.0 comes to fruition!

Recent handspuns...

2011-03-13T16:24:00.016-05:00

I've been too tired to be productive in the evenings when I get home from work. Much as I would like to sew, knit or play with my paper stash, I lack the concentration to work on crafts that require some sort of planning. Spinning is the exception. It's totally relaxing to watch a couple of movies and spin (which to me, is a mindless activity). My recent handpuns (14 of 50) are all from batts or rovings that I've had in my stash for awhile. Yay! Fiber destashing in the works!!

Water - Domestic Wool, 23 g, Worsted

Peacock Fluff - Alpaca Wool Blend, 24 g, DK

Melon Berry Sorbet - Mill Ends, 52 g, Sport

Veggie Tales - Alpaca Wool Blend, 27 g, Sport

Group photo!

And last but not least, a WIP using the Candy Batts (mill ends and firestar) I received two Christmases ago! I adore the vivid colours and I think I might have to ply this one to make it shine!

Matchboxes revisited...

2011-03-03T23:25:00.007-05:00

Oh poo. One of my matchboxes did not make it to my swap partners. I have no problems making another matchbox...heck I enjoy making these wee things. But it really annoys me that the mail system has failed me...again.

But on to good things. I actually made a mini stash of these matchboxes to have on hand for use at the crafty meetup with CD in April. It was nice to do a quick test to see how my idea would pan out. Yep! A chunky mini matchbox house filled with chunky mini things. Try saying that fast three times!

Maine Morning Mitts

2011-02-25T11:20:00.012-05:00

Found this pattern while hunting for ideas on what to do with my growing collection of handspun yarns. It looked like a fun one and was recommended for single ply handspuns! Instead of digging through my handspun yarns, I ended up using one of my recent yarn purchases...and voila! Another pair of mitts (13 of 50) for my sis. I love the colours and I hope she'll have fun wearing them.

Kisslock frame clutch

2011-02-23T23:15:00.007-05:00

I've been wanting to play with kisslock frames for ages. Finally gave in to temptation and ordered a couple of frames to experiment with. After trawling the internet for tutorials, I ended up drafting my own pattern for the clutch. The sewing bit worked out just fine, but I think I'll have to splurge on getting the recommended glue for use with the kisslock frames. Apparently, E-6000 is good for many things but certainly not the best adhesive for this particular project. The little clutch (12 of 50) is off to live with my mama, but I'll be making another for myself pretty soon!

XL Weekend Hobo Bag

2011-02-21T14:20:00.006-05:00

This bag (11 of 50) was made for a swap using a picture that my partner had in her list of favourite things. It's so much fun trying to reconstruct a bag based on a picture :)

Yaarrrrn!

2011-02-18T10:42:00.015-05:00

My local yarn store sure knows how to make a sale. They sent out birthday coupons for 20% off yarn purchases. Sucker that I am, I brought home a wee bit of yarn to play with. For whatever reason, this time round, I seem to be drawn to yarns by the Plymouth Yarn Company. I adore their Happy Feet sock yarns! I know I'm supposed to be in destash mode. But, but, but...I've already used one of the skeins I bought for a project!

Sushi Fishy

2011-02-16T10:00:00.012-05:00

Something (10 of 50) for the nephew...who is incredibly difficult to craft for and loves sushi. Found this pattern and thought it was rather clever! Hopefully, he'll see the humour in this!

All the bits and pieces of the fishy...

Aw, cute fish!

Oh no, it's now sushi?!?

Fabric button clippies!

2011-02-12T22:41:00.010-05:00

And here's a little something (9 of 50) I whipped up for the girly girl niece. I've been saving cute scraps of fabric and the tiny bits were perfect for covering metal buttons! I did have a helluva time removing the metal shanks attached to the button. If I make another batch, I'm buying the button kits with flat backs!

Mug Rug, Take Two

2011-02-10T09:36:00.018-05:00

I've been crafting in my mind...envisioning what I need to do to make an awesome mug rug (8 of 50) for my swap partner. After reviewing her answers to my questions (more than twice, I might add), here's what I came up with. Gnome...check. Colour match to kitchen decor (since she indicated that mug rug will actually serve as a coffee press rug)...check. Requested size of not to exceed 7" square...check.

Embroidery WIP

Embroidered gnome

As I was embroidering the gnome, this was the story in the back of my mind...

Larry is your average variety garden gnome. It has been rumored that he is a charity shop rescue, but he insists that he hails from Target (or was it Wal-Mart?). He is not happy with life in the chilly northwest. “Ah the cold weather is making me miserable,” he moaned. “There are icicles in my beard and my nose is redder than Rudolph’s!” The harsh winter conditions have taken a toll on his usually sunny disposition. Larry has decided that it is time to make a few changes in his life. He will be a garden gnome…no more! His plan is to spend the rest of his life, snuggled under the warmth of a coffee press (or teapot if it comes to that). He does not mind being squished…not if it means moving down south for good!

Front view

Close-up

Back view

The sewing bit for the mug rug was a breeze (what can I say...I love to sew!) but the embroidery bit was less fun. I kept things simple...but sometimes, simple is good. I hope my partner likes it!

Practice makes perfect, no?

2011-02-09T11:32:00.012-05:00

Here are a couple of practice mug rugs (7 of 50) that I made recently. The mug rug with the pink binding is a scrappy selvedge piece (I've been wanting to work with selvedges for the longest time!) and the other mug rug is a collection of some of my favourite fabrics in green hues.

I like to think of them as mini quilts...because let's face it, I'm probably never gonna complete a full-size quilt in this lifetime. Here's the equation I'm talkin' about:

Large project + Short attention span = Dusty abandoned WIP

But I digress. What exactly are mug rugs? Essentially, they're glorified coasters, and size-wise, they're bigger than conventional coasters (big enough to serve as a mini placemat for a cuppa tea and a biscuit). The approximate measurements for my mug rugs are 6" by 8". So how well do these work? It looks just about right for a normal size mug, but I might have to make larger ones for monster mugs (i.e. my favourite mug, aka the soup mug)!

I have one more to crank out for a mug rug swap. And these two mug rugs are leaving my craftroom soon. One will find a warm and cosy abode down south, and the other will be headed north (hopefully warmed by toasty mugs of tea).

Evangeline

2011-02-06T13:07:00.014-05:00

Fingerless mitts (6 of 50) made with this pattern for my sis! During the last trip out West, we visited an awesomely huge local yarn store (aptly named Yarn Garden). My sis is not one who wanders into a yarn store on any given day, so it was lovely watching her paw through various shelves of yarn. Knitting is a tactile craft...and much pleasure is derived from selecting a favoured yarn for a project. While I was on a mission to find some cute sock yarns, my sis selected a skein of Classic Elite Inca Alpaca in the Morning Glory colourway for me to play with.

The yarn was wonderful to work with but it's probably not the best yarn for cable work. The finished mitts lack stitch definition but they are oh-so-soft!

I had fun knitting them for her, and I really hope she enjoys using her new mitts!

Notecards Swap

2011-01-26T13:05:00.005-05:00

In keeping with resolution #4, I joined a notecards swap because I figured I needed the extra nudge to get started on making a bunch of handmade cards (5 of 50) to send out. After cranking out about 25 of these (18 of which have been sent out partners in my swap group), I am excited to make more notecards!

Sample set of what I sent to my partners:

Close-ups of a few of my favourite cards:

Matchboxes

2011-01-24T08:19:00.005-05:00

Using this nifty little template by Rachel, I constructed a couple of matchboxes (4 of 50) for the fill-a-matchbox swap!

Weekend knits for Baby V.

2011-01-09T22:25:00.010-05:00

A dear friend, LV, is having a baby girl! In addition to stopping by the shops to pick up a gift card, I decided to knit a couple of tiny goodies for Baby K.!

A wee berry baby hat (1 of 50) which took less than 3 hours to knit while watching a couple of movies:

And since we're talking about a baby girl here, a couple of pairs of shoes! This makes perfect sense because Baby K.'s mama is a shoe aficionado!

Baby Janes (2 of 50) in a charcoal colourway,

and a pair of ruby red feeties (3 of 50) to wear around the house!

Annual craft haul from the Northwest...

2011-01-08T21:38:00.018-05:00

Once a year, when I head west to visit my folks, I splurge on craft supplies (typical, when one is away from home, no?). This year, in addition to my usual haunts, I also checked out SCRAP, a store which sells all kinds of junk suited for crafts.

In addition to interesting bits of scrap materials, I also found some fabric at this place. Amazing!

And some squishy goodes from Yarn Garden. I was mostly interested in sock yarns (since I have high hopes of knitting socks in 2011), but a skein of baby alpaca somehow made it into my basket (sis selected it for a specific project which I need to get started on)!

And fabric from Craft Warehouse and Fabric Depot. Lots of yummy fabrics were fondled at these places...but I only brought home, ahem, a few that I absolutely had to have.

And of course, some books for inspiration from Kinokuniya and JoAnn's. I've been searching for that house patchwork book for ages, and I was really pleased to find a copy of it! And since learning to draw is one of my goals for 2011, voila, I found a book to help me out with that goal. The sewing calendar, I'm not too keen on *sigh* The projects in it (yes, I already looked at all the projects) aren't all that exciting. Bummer.

And these two sets of clear stamps that I picked up while waiting to pay for my purchases...

Yep, it's safe to say that I should be good to craft in 2011!

A wee bit of a late start to 2011

2011-01-06T23:19:00.004-05:00

After catching up on some much needed sleep upon my return from my holiday travels, I realized that I haven't made any crafty resolutions for 2011. Gah. Took a peak at 2010's resolutions and realised that I'm rubbish at keeping resolutions (what destashing? 36 finished projects? etc, etc, etc.?). Nevertheless, fool that I am, here I go again...with my list of craft-related goals for 2011 (in no particular order).

#1 D-E-S-T-A-S-H. Seriously. Or at the very least make a concerted effort to work off my stash as opposed to buying more craft supplies to play with!

#2 Knit a few pairs of socks. Heh...easier said than done *sigh*

#3 Make a better attempt at completing 50 unique proejcts in 2011.

#4 Send out handcrafted notecards, birthday cards, etc. No more taking the easy route with Hallmark cards.

#5 Try at least 3 new crafts (weaving comes to mind, and a couple other crafts that have yet to be determined).

#6 Find another charity to craft for.

#7 Start cooking again. Yes, cooking's a craft!

#8 Work on a bunch of Ho-Ho-Ho crafts for a certain special relative who shall not be named.

#9 Learn how to draw.

Tiny house ornaments STS 2010

2010-11-26T09:52:00.011-05:00

I made these ATC-sized (i.e. ~ 2.5" by 3.5") stitched ornaments (36/50) as freebies for the Black Friday thru Cyber Monday sale in the STS swap. It was great fun going through my huge bag of fabric scraps, figuring out fabric combinations for the wee houses, etc. I'm typically quite fussy about my sewing projects and take the time to make sure the seams are straight and what-not. Hence this was definitely outside my comfort zone. But I must say it was quite liberating to let the sewing machine rip!

Back of some of the ornaments:

Set 1:

Set 2:

Set 3:

Set 4:

Little Stash-It-Thingamajigs

2010-11-23T10:50:00.009-05:00

Not quite sure what I should call these little cases (35/50). They can be used to hold some credit cards and cash. Or serve as business card cases. Or for storing jewelry. Or double as mini gift/gift card holders. Or even, erm, for hiding a couple of unmentionables.

Swap goodies for a Secret Santa swap

2010-11-17T12:09:00.013-05:00

I adore the STS swaps! What's even better than the STS swaps? Well, a Secret Santa swap with the STSers...of course. This year, I was given the task of doing some non-creepy stalking to find out what I should make for my partner, AS. Here are the crafty bits I came up with:

1. Mine for Life Shrug made with this pattern (27/50)

2. Carryall Bag (28/50)

3. Sewing-themed Noisy Bangle (29/50)

4. Knitting Pendant with Chain (30/50)

5. Dyed Yarns - "You're Making Me Blush!" and "The New Frontier" (31/50)

6. Log Cabin Style Pincushion - based off ones made by AM (32/50)

7. Wee Critter That Crochets (33/50)

8. Fabric Hoop Art (34/50)

Beaded Things...

2010-11-11T15:17:00.009-05:00

Are not my forte. In fact, I get super cranky and foul-mouthed when working with beads. Having said that, I was inspired to give beading another shot because my mama was working on beaded goodies for a craft fair.

I saw some pretty ornaments made by KL in the STS swap and I wanted to figure out how they are made. Since I'm not a beader, I'm not sure if I did them right...but they look pretty darn like the ones that KL made! After making a few of these, I quit because, erm, they're tedious...and really, the fun bit was trying to figure out how they were constructed. I guess it's a good thing that I wasn't intending to decorate a Christmas tree with these ornaments (25/50)!

The other beaded project I worked on was a crystal bracelet (26/50). Okay, it's more of a joint project between my mama and myself (i.e. I designed the combination and she did the stringing bit)!

Buttercup Bags

2010-10-25T12:45:00.008-05:00

These purses (24/50) were constructed using the Buttercup Bag pattern by Rae Hoekstra. This pattern has been on my to-do list for ages, and I'm glad I finally got around to trying it. The purse doesn't require much fabric, which is a bonus. It's perfect for using some the FQs that I have hoarded over the years. I like the size and shape of this pattern, and I know I will be saving this pattern for future projects!

PJs for Q (23/50)

2010-10-10T17:32:00.008-05:00

It's never easy to craft for a boy. You can't make him a cute purse, a set of pretty hairclips or knit him a lace shrug. When I saw this pattern, I knew I had to make Q a pair of jammies for his birthday.

Aliens and astronauts. This was just about the most boyish age-appropriate flannel fabric I could find in my local shops.

I hope it fits Q. The pattern was a bear to follow, and I have no plans to make another one (well, not in 2010, anyhow).

Blankie for W (22/50)

2010-10-04T09:31:00.006-05:00

Blankie for baby W, measuring approximately 42" by 42"...made with soft cotton flannel and cotton chenille. The patchwork was pre-made, which helped! Anyhow, this is waaaay overdue! CH's baby was born a couple of weeks earlier. But this is how it rolls in my general schedule these days. LATE *sigh* Better late than never, I suppose!

One Tiny Book (21/50)

2010-09-28T16:00:00.011-05:00

Measuring in at ~ 2.25" by 2.25" (with pages at 2" by 2"), this tiny book is full of colour and texture. Per my partner's request, some of the pages are finished, while other pages are left are partially done. I used acrylics, watercolours, inks and various bits of paper and fiber for the collages.

Chunky Houses Halloween Edition (20/50)

2010-09-27T15:14:00.012-05:00

With an obvious nod to Alice in Wonderland! I found these gorgeous papers at Archiver's and it was tailor made for my latest batch of chunky houses (for a swap, of course).

Nui Shibori (19/50)

2010-09-19T14:32:00.012-05:00

Simple designs were created with a running stitch and cinched tight before immersion in a dye pot.

Looks simple, but it took me a couple of hours to stitch it...mostly because I spent quite a bit of time knotting threads and snipping ends!

Another shot of the stitching

The first bit cinched!

All wrinkly...like shrimp dumplings in broth :D

Artsy-shot of dye run-off...just because the colour was gorgeous!

Ah, let someone else handle the hard work while I take pictures!

Blue dumplings? Anyone? No, we're not quite done just yet...

Next we had to remove all the stitches. Oh joy. But check out the contrast!!

Removing the stitches was a tad tedious...but oh-so-worth-the-effort!

After a short spell in the dryer, light press with the iron and a quick trim to tidy the scraggly edges...voila!

The top piece is J's and the bottom piece is mine! I really enjoyed the process and I will be doing this again real soon!

Bonus dyeing! I dumped a batch of sad looking buttons into the residual dye bath and voila! Buttons in a lovely bluish hue!!

Fiber, fiber, fiber!

2010-08-16T15:59:00.016-05:00

Dyeing like a mad woman bent on using up her stash of fibers (because erm, more fiber is on its way *embarrassed*). Recently, I placed an order for several pounds of BFL, merino and falkland. Hence the guilt-induced flurry of activity in the laundry room.

Drying...

Water (domestic wool, 4.15 oz)

Fire (domestic wool, 4.35 oz)

Denim & Taupe (mill ends, 2.80 oz)

Cyanobacteria (mill ends, 2.85 oz)

Koi Pond (mill ends, 2.95 oz)

Desert Sky (mill ends, 2.85 oz)

The Woods (mill ends, 2.80 oz)

The Gardens (mill ends, 2.80 oz)

Under The Sea (merino/silk blend, 7.10 oz)

And now, I need to tackle my undyed yarn stash. Oy vey.

A new subdivision of chunky houses (18/50)

2010-08-10T11:19:00.033-05:00

Snippets of paper, odd embellishments, colourful buttons, recycled aluminum pieces, spent tubes of glue, ink-stained fingers...and the occasional utterance of not-so-nice four letter words. All signs that suggest that chunky houses are in the works! Let's take a tour, shall we?

Chopin strolled among the autumn leaves.

At #9, he found very little creature comfort.

He regarded the stuffy little parlour at #10 with disdain.

Undaunted with what he has seen thus far, with an extraordinarily reflective expression, he feels a connection with #65.

#8 exuded a dissonance in the pealing harmonies, which left him oddly at peace.

With a certain ease and grace that brightened his day, quirky #4 made him smile.

#821 was a sight for sore eyes. He lingered, with carefully coherent recollections of his past.

At #703, he is humbled by a tide of crimson and the realization that a house is but a structure...it's the memories that makes it a home.

Matching outfits (17/50)

2010-07-24T21:36:00.012-05:00

For the wee niece and her 18-inch doll. Butterick has an easy dress pattern that looked rather versatile (i.e. may be worn as a summer frock, and possibly thru the cooler autumn months with leggings and a long sleeve tee...and the buttons may be adjusted as the kid grows). As luck would have it, I found a similar dress pattern in doll-sized proportions!!

Dress for S (the girl)

Dress for S (the doll)

Both dresses!

Small skeins of handspun yarn (16/50)

2010-07-17T22:15:00.009-05:00

Coral Reef - BFL, Silk, Merino/Border Leicester

Faded Denim - Mystery Wool

Blush Blooms - Merino

Dark Lichens - Merino

Deepwoods - Domestic Long Wool

River - Domestic Long Wool

July ATCS...

2010-07-16T15:33:00.009-05:00

Birdie Butler - Bristol board, scrapbook papers, embossing powder, pigment ink.

Sew Somthing! - Bristol board, vintage pattern, tape measure, thread, buttons, pigment ink, chalk ink.

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Cicles - Bristol board, scrapbook papers, text, pigment ink, pencil.

Make A Wish - Bristol board, scrapbook paper, pen, pigment ink.