My new friend!

I made this little guy this evening while vegging out over Degrassi and anticipating my Dr. appt in the morning. I'm fairly sure I have strep or something along those lines. I think I am going to make a couple more of these guys and list them on etsy. This particular guy I'm going to keep for myself. It was made from my great grandma's stash of yarn I got from her and its become a sentimental thing for me to use it. I hope she knows how much I love to crochet and that I want her to be proud of what I am doing with her beloved gift. I wish I'd known her better.

*sigh* enough of my reminiscing! I made a sale yesterday (YAY!) and I'm quite thrilled with how it turned out! I hope my buyer loves it too. It will look adorable on her daughter. It was my first venture into the wild world of cotton. I think I will make one for my little man as well, if I can get him to ever keep a hat on. How ironic is it that I, who almost exclusively crochet baby hats these days, have a son who rips off any hat I try to put on his head!?

I was a crocheter before I was a cheapskate

Therefore, I am forcing myself to become a yarn snob and buy high quality yarns. I just purchased my first skein of cotton and I'm pretty excited about it! I also got two skeins of "haute fur" from Hobby Lobby for $1.19! They will make some adorable baby hats :) I'm busy today, so I must go! I made my first sale in a month this morning!! WAHOO!

Hunter's Orange!

I've created a couple things since I last saw you. The ripple scarf that I bought the wrong yarn for is completely fixed! Its not posted on my shop yet, so here is a sneak peek!!



The other thing I made was a hunter orange beanie for my BFF. It is just a simple beanie. No bells, no whistles, just a cute hat made for warmth and simplicity. With this yarn, I made another hat for my nephew before he was born (2 years ago!). I bought hunter's orange because his parents are big hunting enthusiasts. So, naturally, I thought he needed an ear flap hat in bright orange for safety during deer season! At that point, I was winging it and had no idea how big a baby's head was. So I made it as big as my saucepan and even blocked it on my saucepan! It was huge! But in about three or four months, he grew right into it, right on time. See, he was a June baby, and June babies don't typically need hats until they are 3 or 4 months old anyway. It worked out perfectly! What is even better is that the ear flaps help keep the hat on, and my nephew still can wear his hat even at 2 years old. He takes it everywhere. Its so cute! Below is a picture of the beanie I made for my friend. I hope that the baby she gives it too is able to use it and love it as much as my nephew does :)

Small Lovelies

Sometimes, I just need a break. So yesterday, on the way to my nephew's birthday party, I made this:


Its a handy little pin cushion. I worked it in rounds and stuffed it and tied it up using a slip stitch. Not only did it help on my mission to destash, but its kinda cute, and I like it :)

Yesterday, I ran to the yarnery to get yarn to finish a destash ripple scarf I was working on. After I used it for about 5 rows (alternating colors, so its not as easy to undo) when I realized it was "soft white" not "off white". I need new glasses. BAD.

This is my last week off of work. I will have to start my crap summer job next week, so unfortunately, my crocheting will probably slow down. I'm a little sad about it, but vow to try and keep it up! I've enjoyed my time just hanging around watching hulu and youtube and crocheting. *sigh* all good things come to an end. ALWAYS. Its one of those universal facts of life that is actually quite depressing. Someday. That's what I tell myself: "someday I will be able to sit around and crochet and not have to worry about money or anything other than the stitches in hand"

Its a nice thought, right?

Out of Yarn

So I finished the coozie yesterday, as you can see above ^^. It came out ok. I think it ended up looking like cauliflower, which is hilarity. In fact, I think I'm going to call it a caulicoozie. Witty right? wah wah. That took me all of 20 minutes, and I still had the bug, so I decided to start making a scarf out of some caramel brown and the ecru yarn shown above. I did a typical ripple pattern. Then I ran out of ecru. I was so certain that I had more! So there I was at midnight wandering around looking for ecru yarn. My husband was perplexed and for some reason gets a good chuckle out of the word "skein". Weirdo. Anyway, I think today I shall attempt to continue with my rampant destashing. I want to somehow make a hood with a duckbill, there are far too few animal items in my inventory and repertoire! Or perhaps I will finish my "Here Comes the Sun" bag. Have I mentioned that yet? Its a purse with a sun rising over the hill, its almost done in an amigurumi style, in that you just work in rounds, or maybe like an afghan stitch? No. I think not. More amigurumi. I should probably finish that one first.

Today's project: Cooolzies!

The coozie. Apparently not everyone knows what I'm talking about. I often find myself saying "you know, that thing you put your drink in to keep your hand from getting cold and your drink from getting hot?"

I either get blank stares, or a "oh yeah, you mean a (insert random *incorrect* word here)"

Anyway. I have a ton of destashing to do and I think this is the best way to do it! I think what I shall do is start by making a simple single crocheted circle, then sc a piece as long as the circumference of that circle (or the circumference of a pop can)!

Hope to have pics soon! That's what I'm doing today!

Oh and I started a facebook page for my etsy!

I appreciate your support!

Vintage Time!

So I began over the weekend crocheting with a vintage skein left from my great grandmother's house. I felt kinda weird using it, because she was the epitome of a craft genius. Unfortunately, she is no longer with us, but I'm hoping to capture some of her spirit by following in her footsteps as a crafter! I decided that a vintage yarn deserves a vintage feeling pattern, so I used a standard broomstick lace style. As usual, however, I did not use a pattern and winged it. Wang it? Wung it? Hmmm. Anyway! Here is the finished product, one skein of this "ombre sayelle" yarn in "spice" produced a 60" x 6" scarf:

I hope you like it! Its going to be really hard for me if it sells on etsy. I thought about not listing it, but I really need to destash and declutter, so if someone wants it, its theirs! I have plenty more of Great Grandma's afghans and yarns and incomplete projects that I can complete and keep for myself.

What's funny about the yarn is that it had the Duckwall price tag still on it. It was a small skein (think Red Heart Sport size), and it cost $1.29! That's in the 1970s! I thought it would be much cheaper, but apparently the price of yarn has been stable for many many years! I think we may even pay less than that now, for the really cheap stuff. Happy Needles!

Adventures in Upcycling

So, this morning I made a beanie for my etsy shop. I'm trying to get more adult items in there. I love making baby stuff, and its quick and easy. The adult stuff, I'm finding, is fun as well, I just have to think "what kind of stuff would I want to buy?"




Last night, I cut a bunch of old t-shirts up to make yarn for dish cloths. I have made 2 of 3 that I am going to make. Its really fun and quick! The cutting takes a while, but it is well worth the effort when it comes to crocheting. I love the chunky texture of the thick cotton and it is super fast. I will post pics when I upload them this afternoon! Here are the dishcloths!




To cut the t-shirts up, all you have to do is cut from one side and continue around and around the t-shirt until you reach the sleeves. On one of the tees, I continued up into the shoulder just looping around the front of the shirt, but that seemed to be a waste for an extra foot or two. I am not the most precise, and my scissors were kind of dull, but the yarn actually becomes more interesting with varying weight throughout!

Greetings!

Thanks for stopping by! I'm really excited about this blog. I decided that I want to discuss the home arts by means of a blog, because while there are many of us, we are often scattered. Just when we think these arts are dying, we go out to etsy and craftster and ravelry, etc. and realize crafting is not dead at all. In fact, crocheting and knitting have gotten new life from the creative and resourceful minds of today! Amigurumi crochet is something my great-grandmother would have loved, if she were still alive today. She made the most beautiful afghans, pillows and clothing. Another exciting update for the textile art world is upcycling! I hope to add my tutorial for making plarn (plastic grocery bag yarn) and yarn from old t-shirts. Stay tuned, I will post some pics of my latest projects. Feel free to comment if you have anything you'd like to discuss, or any ideas for me!