YARRRRRN and BEEEEEADS - A Crochet and Beading Blog

Working with wire, a little crochet, and maybe a little crochet with wire?

2011-03-03T16:10:00.007-05:00

Sorry I've been absent from blog and Twitter land for a while. I've been going a little crazy with some family and work stuff, so my hobbies have had to take a backseat to brainless activities like watching TV when I've had the time, because I just haven't felt up to creating much.

I'm planning to come back with a vengeance as soon as I can, though. ;) I had another wirework class last Sunday with a very talented instructor, and I plan to practice a lot of what I've learned with some copper wire I bought. In all likelihood, I'll eventually be making some copper wirework jewelry to sell, since copper is both pretty and affordable. But I'm getting ahead of myself, as usual. First, I must practice!! I've also taken out several books on wirework from the library, so I've got a ton of different ideas floating around. Just gotta harness them. Wish me luck. :)

I do have a small problem, though: I really, really need a good pair of flush cutters for cutting larger-gauge wire. The only ones I have now are good for cutting 20-gauge and above, and I really want to work with some 16- and 18-gauge. But I can't, for now, because good flush cutters cost money and so do the groceries, and it's not really hard to decide which of those we need more. I may eventually cave and just use the plastic to buy some flush cutters, but it all depends on what I can find.

A pair of earrings from my Etsy shop were just featured in this Etsypreneurs Team Treasury! Yeehaw!! Many other beautiful things are showcased there, as well. Please take a look.

As for the crochet, it hasn't gone anywhere since my last Stitch & Bitch, 2 weeks ago (I couldn't make it to last week's S&B). The next one's tomorrow, though, so I hope I can get some good crocheting done. The shawl I am making is going to be beautiful--the tiny little piece of it that I have made already is--but I do not know when/where I will possibly wear it. I haven't really been a shawl person in the past. Maybe this one will convert me, though...Who knows?!

I'd also really like to try crocheting with wire. I have a specific project in mind: I have a beautiful pendant that I bought from a jewelry artist a few years ago (unfortunately, I don't remember her name or have a way of tracking her down). It's a sterling silver crocheted wire circle with a larger-gauge wire frame, and a few beads toward the middle. I should take a picture of it so you can see what I'm talking about.

I want to learn how to make pendants like that one. I may have to figure out how to make it myself, though, since I haven't found anything like it since I bought it, much less anything like it with a tutorial. I've seen instructions for crocheted wire circle pendants, but none of them have frames, and I don't really like the way they look without frames. I do not know if the artist crocheted the frame onto the pendant (which it looks like she did), or how.

South Bay progress and a 3-day weekend!

2011-02-18T15:39:00.003-05:00

I did, indeed, start the South Bay Shawlette. Here's what it looks like after today's Stitch & Bitch:

I would link to the pattern, but the Lion Brand website keeps redirecting me to its sign-in page when I try, and if I link to it in Ravelry, you have to sign in to Ravelry. I think it's silly that you can't even see what the finished shawl looks like without signing in somewhere. At least you can see my version here. ;) (And--hey wait--I guess I did just link to it on both sites. Heheh. You just won't be able to see the pattern and/or finished product unless you're logged in. But you're welcome to click!)

Yes, that is one of my handmade fuchsia butterfly stitch markers marking the middle stitch of the last row. I have one set of those that I've kept for myself. That's right, I only have one set of stitch markers. Period. I will build up more of a collection as I sell more, and can afford to keep some more of what I've made. I do think I will need a set of coffee beans!

By the way, I can make jewelry to go with any of these stitch markers. That's right, you can match your stitch markers! LOL! Seriously, I keep meaning to make coffee bean bead jewelry, but I haven't gotten to it yet. I've seen what some others on Etsy have done with similar beads, but what I'm envisioning is a little different.

I have a 3-day weekend coming up, so I hope I will get to spend some quality time with the yarn and bead stashes! And with my hubby, too. But he's busy working on his dissertation a lot of the time.

I'll be visiting my grandmother tomorrow. Grams has just moved into an independent living facility. Things have been...interesting. I haven't seen her new place for myself yet. I hope it's better than she thinks it is. :-/

If you've made it this far, will you please do me a favor and go to my last post and tell me which yarn you think would make a better Sera Lace Top? Please help! I need some input! :) Thanks in advance!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T17:03:00.007-05:00

Yeah, I know, my last post was titled "Valentine's Day." A little redundant. But today, it actually is Valentine's Day, so I am wishing you a happy one. My husband and I will be exchanging small gifts later this evening, and I have no idea what he got me, so I am really excited! I won't say what I got him, either, since he doesn't know yet. ;) Maybe I'll tell you in my next post if any of you are curious!

I still have no projects on my crochet hooks (well, except the ones that are hibernating, and most of them will probably stay that way at this point). I have, however, spent some time on Ravelry lately (I'm smilingturtle on there, and I welcome new friends). I'm hopeful that tonight, I will start work on a South Bay Shawlette using my Yarntopia Rayon Boucle in the Arizona colorway.

That is the yarn of which I have half a skein wound, half a skein incredibly tangled (wahhh!), and 2 unwound skeins. (Is that right, or am I supposed to call them "hanks" when they're not wound yet? Yarn terminology is a little confusing to me.) I'll start with that wound half-skein and see what happens. I'll probably have to wind more, and I hope it won't get tangled again!

I also really want to start a Sera Lace Top for myself. Actually, the South Bay Shawlette is also for me--I'm being selfish for a bit! Anyway, I haven't decided yet whether I want to use purple Tatamy Tweed or NaturallyCaron.com Spa in Ocean Spray. The tweedy yarn might look weird in such an open pattern, but it might also look really cool. And I've been wanting to work with Spa for a long time. This is going to be a tough decision. What would you do? For reference, here's a pic of my Tatamy Tweed:

And here's a pic of the Spa, courtesy of NaturallyCaron.com:

What do you think? Which would make a better Sera?

I want to start the Shawlette first, since I may be able to take it to Stitch & Bitch on Friday if it turns out to be easy enough to work on while talking. :) I'll just need to have enough of the yarn wound for that. *gulp*

On the beading front, I have been making Purple Butterfly Stitch Markers. I am selling them in my Etsy store and donating 20% of the cost of the item (not including shipping) to the National Fibromyalgia Association. (They have not endorsed my product in any way; I'm just doing this on my own.) One of the symbols for fibromyalgia awareness is a purple butterfly, and fibromyalgia awareness is a cause close to my heart, so I thought this would be a good idea. I have sold some already, and I have 2 more sets for sale in the store now and will make more soon.

I also took a wire work class on Sunday. It was a lot of fun! I finally have the right sort of hammer for hammering wire, and I finally got to actually hammer some. It was exciting. I also learned to make head pins with curly ends, and brushed up on how to make briolette wraps. The instructor tried to teach us her way to make wrapped loops, but I am afraid that I'm stuck in my ways with that one, so I'll just continue to do what works for me as long as it still looks pretty and consistent!

There will be a second class in 2 weeks, and I am really looking forward to it.

And that, my friends, is my long Valentine's Day post. I hope you are all having a wonderful day full of chocolate. Mmmm, chocolate. (And if you don't like chocolate...I still hope you're having a wonderful day!)

Valentine's Day

2011-02-03T16:39:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow, my Stitch & Bitch group's Valentine's Day hat and scarf project for the children's hospital comes to a close. I am very ashamed to admit that I still haven't finished that one scarf. I'm maybe almost about halfway done. The pattern is really slow going, at least for me; and the Red Heart Super Saver yarn is driving me crazy. It's so coarse and splitty. I think it has its purpose, and I might use that kind of yarn for other things someday (at least I hope I will, since I have some in my stash!); but it does not inspire me to make pretty things, or at least not this particular pretty thing.

Maybe I should've used some of my Caron Simply Soft instead? Doesn't matter now, but maybe if we undertake another charity project in the future, I should pick my own yarn.

I have had very little time to crochet lately, anyway. I am going to try to find some crochet time in the mornings before work.

I haven't done a whole heck of a lot of playing with the beads lately, either. I do have a picture of the Valentine's Day stitch markers I mentioned in my last post:

And they can be found in my Etsy store, here. Happy early Valentine's Day!

I really like Valentine's Day. I always have. I used to throw Valentine's Day parties when I was in college, whether I was single and bitter or happily (or unhappily) coupled. I always felt that it was a good time to let my friends know how much I appreciated them. (And to eat CHOCOLATE. Lots of chocolate!) I've been known to send out Valentine's Day cards to my friends, too, but I don't think I'll get to it this year. I hope I will at least send them out to my family. I have a card for my hubby already, and a little gift for him. Yes, I love the Hallmark hype. So sue me. ;)

Love is a good thing, and should be celebrated!

Insert witty title here

2011-01-27T17:11:00.004-05:00

Once again, "real life" has been interfering with my crocheting and beading adventures. *sigh* I keep planning to do more interesting crochet stuff, but I'm still just making that one darn scarf for the children's hospital. If you're on Ravelry, you can check out the pattern here. It's called "Skinny Cabled Scarf." Lots of front and back post double crochet, making a reversible cabled pattern. It's pretty cool, but it takes a while. I've also pretty much only been working on it at Stitch & Bitch. The other ladies have been stitching up a storm, so we may actually make our goal of two dozen scarf and hat sets by Valentine's Day, despite my delinquency. :P

Don't know when I'm ever going to start that baby hat for my family friend's grandson. Maybe when he's about 2 years old? OK, now I'm just being mean to myself. I'll get to it eventually--and I'll make it big-ish, and he'll grow into it. I hope that's a good plan. Anyway, a baby hat shouldn't take me too long to make. (I hope I'm not jinxing myself by saying that.)

Meanwhile, since I last posted, I've made a bracelet to match that cool green ceramic bead necklace. Here's a pic:

I plan to list it and the necklace soon. I also made a bracelet to match the unakite necklace. It's a little long, since I wanted it to have a clasp to match the one on the necklace, and I didn't want to make it too short. After all, I can always shorten it for a customer; I can't lengthen it without re-stringing it. But I'd be willing to do that for a customer as well, of course.

I've also made a whole bunch of stitch markers. I made a set with a Valentine's Day theme, a set with Czech flower beads in 3 different colors, and some purple butterflies, among others. They'll all be listed in my Etsy store soon. Here's a photo of those Czech flower bead markers:

These can also be 3 pairs of earrings, if you'd prefer! I actually had a customer order 6 coffee bean stitch markers because she wanted 3 pairs of coffee bean earrings. The lever back earring hooks are great. These stitch markers/earrings are much cheaper than what I usually make, because the head pins are base metal and the lever back hooks are silver plated. I am a little bit of a snob when it comes to my jewelry-making materials, and will usually use sterling silver or gold filled for jewelry before I'll use "base metal" (confession: I don't even know exactly what that means, besides inexpensive!) or metal plated. (Though I've been thinking about branching out into copper and brass.)

I've also been doing a lot of soul searching when it comes to the jewelry business and how I want to run it and what my goals are. I've been reading loads of books and websites. I bought a book called The Handmade Marketplace the other day, because I'd been reading it in the bookstore and thought it was helpful enough that I wanted to own it. Thanks to the book, I finally understand the concept of "branding," which I really didn't before.

I also need to contact my accountant (she doesn't even know I've started a business!) and make an appointment with a SCORE representative.

Also, I bought a really cute little Sony Vaio laptop for the purpose of watching beading and wire work tutorial videos while I'm actually working on said beading or wire work. I got a very good deal on the computer. Because of the layout of our apartment, my desktop computer is not anywhere near my jewelry/stitch marker workspace, so watching tutorials on that would be useless unless I had a really good memory--which I don't. ;)

And now I must bid you adieu so I can go do "real life," non-crafty things. Boooo.

New adventures in necklace-making, other business goings on, and a little crochet

2011-01-10T16:12:00.007-05:00

Thought I'd start out this entry with a nice big pic of my smiling face. (Yeah, I probably should've put on some make-up, but my husband didn't give me much warning before he took this!) And what's that around my neck? Could it be...a brand new handmade necklace using fabulous green Israeli ceramic beads? Why, yes, indeed it is!

(If you look closely, you'll notice that I'm also wearing my own personal pair of Bali sterling silver puff bead dangle earrings.)

The ceramic beads are handmade and hand-painted by needy elderly people in Jerusalem, and I buy straight from the organization that employs them--it's a total win/win scenario, because they get the support they need and I get really interesting and completely unique beads to work with. I have a lot of these beads to play with right now, in a variety of different colors. It's very exciting.

I absolutely love this new necklace, which I finished last night. The larger round beads have silver glitter on them, and the smaller beads don't; the smaller ones are a slightly different shade and are textured. I've put fair trade greenish pearls (I say "greenish" because some look pretty green and others look more like peacock pearls) on either side of each of the ceramic beads. In between the ceramic bead and pearl combinations are Japanese seed beads in black, dark rainbow and silver. The seed beads make a nice asymmetrically colored design, which I think is spectacular, not that I'm biased. ;)

I finished the necklace off with sterling silver round beads, sterling crimp ends and a plain sterling silver toggle clasp.

It will be for sale in my Etsy store once I've taken good pictures and figured out what the price should be. Pricing is always a little tricky. It's very mathematical--I don't just pull my prices out of thin air. I have to figure out the costs of all the supplies involved and other expenses incurred in making each piece and listing it on Etsy, and then I have to multiply that amount by a certain number and hope that will make me a profit. Definitely lots of hope involved.

I also have a really gorgeous unakite and sterling silver necklace that I will be listing soon. It also needs to be priced first, but at least I already have the photos. I had never worked with unakite before. The more I looked at it, the more enamored I became with the gemstone's color combination of moss green and coral.

Here's a picture of it:

In other Smiling Turtle news, today I shipped off 2 sets of stitch markers to Chile (a woman ordered them for her aunt who lives there), and I will soon be sending a set to Minnesota. I've also had items featured in 2 treasuries (links below):

I'd Rather Make My Own Gift, Thank You Anyway! by PlainJane4 (A cool DIY-themed treasury! Right up my alley!)

and

My hearts a flutter by glamourpusscouture (Hearts and butterflies! Um, also sorta right up my alley.)

As far as my crochet goes, not much to report. OK, nothing to report. *sigh* Most of my creative energy and time is going toward beading at this point. I have yet to start that baby hat I wrote about. My Stitch & Bitch group is working on hats and scarves for a local children's hospital. I started a scarf at our last group, but got really bored with just a simple single crochet pattern, so I'm trying to figure out a good stitch or pattern for a kid's scarf (gotta be unisex for this).

I looked on Ravelry for kids' scarf patterns, but couldn't find anything that fit the bill. (I wouldn't know how to modify an adult pattern to fit a kid--I don't know kids' sizes that well, and I don't really know how to modify patterns.) I should check Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet, which I have at home.

Any suggestions from my stitchy friends? (Crochet only, please!)

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T14:00:00.002-05:00

Best wishes to all of you for a happy and healthy 2011! Hope you did some good celebrating last night/this morning.

Since we're headed into a new year, it's time for a new crochet project. (At least one, anyway!) I've decided to make a hat for a family friend's new grandchild. It's a boy, and he's already 3 months old, which makes this a little more complicated. I've searched lots of patterns on Ravelry, and there are plenty for girly hats, but not so many for boyish hats or for unisex hats that aren't completely boring.

Here comes the part where I must ask your opinions, dear readers! Should I make a hat that's more on the cute side, like a hat with monkey or bear ears? Or a hat with some sort of interesting cable- or rib-type pattern, like this one? Or a very plain hat?

I don't know the parents very well, so I don't know if they're the types to dress their child in a cute animal hat. But part of me thinks I might not care. ;) I mean, this is a kid, after all. He doesn't have to worry about looking "respectable" yet.

If any of you have cute patterns for baby boy hats (crochet only, please--I still don't knit!), or any other input, please share.

More stitch markers and some gemstone necklaces

2010-12-30T15:20:00.008-05:00

I have been making a lot of jewelry and stitch markers lately. Not so much crochet...I do need to finish my friend's scarf for next week, though! Yikes! Well, OK, I don't have to, I just would like to have it finished by the next time I see her. Better get crackin'.

I made a whole bunch of stitch markers last night, including a special order for a set of 6 coffee bean stitch markers and a new set of hummingbirds and flowers stitch markers. I also made some with larger Czech glass purple flower beads, but I haven't listed them yet. And I listed the little flower stitch markers I'd mentioned in my last post. The picture came out looking like it was on a blue background, which is weird since it was on white; the colors of the markers look pretty true, but I will probably try soon to get pics that are not so blue-looking.

I made some labradorite goodies recently. I love labradorite; it's one of my favorite stones. It's generally gray, with a blue or green "flash" to it. This is a necklace I made for myself:

And with the leftover beads and some beading chain, I made this one to sell:

(The picture above is the same necklace as the one below, just wrapped around 3 times so you can see the beads a little better.) I wouldn't mind keeping this necklace for myself, either; but I'm going to try not to be greedy with the labradorite! The necklace is a little more than 20" long. I've been into long-ish necklaces lately (I probably would've made it even longer if I'd had more beads to use).

After finishing that one, I made a necklace with some lovely unakite beads. Here's a picture of that necklace in progress, in my "studio" (ha ha):

I had just started stringing it when I took the picture. As you can (maybe sort of) see, it's got unakite cube beads and oval beads, separated by little sterling silver spacer beads. It came out to be about 20" long. I took a chance and used a clasp that isn't silver, but that I thought went with the feeling of the piece. The only sterling silver toggle clasps I have are very small and plain, and this is not really a small and plain necklace, in my opinion.

I have the day off tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to working on that scarf some more and maybe making some more jewelry (I'd love to make a unakite bracelet to go with the necklace! And maybe some earrings?!)

What I've been making lately

2010-12-22T16:02:00.005-05:00

Time for some blurry cell phone photos! Sorry about the poor quality.

Here's a scarf (yet another Snuggly Scarf) I'm making for a friend. Needed something easy to work on at Stitch & Bitch. This picture is terrible. The yarn is really a little darker and more of a gray-blue color.

I still really, really, really want to start making some sort of a sweater/top for myself. My husband is still working on untangling the fabulous yarn my in-laws got me, but it seems like it may be a lost cause. (I don't know...he is stubborn. He just hasn't had much time to work on it.)

Instead of starting the Sera, maybe I will start the Jewel top from "Everyday Crochet" by Doris Chan. I have some yarn I've been meaning to make that with for quite some time. Trouble is, it also needs to be wound, and I've lost much of my confidence in my winding ability. I'm hoping that if I put it around 2 chairs and try really hard not to let it get twisted, it'll work. However, I don't seem to be very good at that whole keeping it from getting twisted thing. *gulp*

On a different note, since this post is about making things, I made cookies!

They are gluten free chocolate chip cookies. I used a mix from Cherrybrook Kitchen. They are so good! I'd never used the mix before, and I was very pleasantly surprised. I made these for my office's holiday party and for my S&B ladies.

The holiday party was today, and it was great. My coworker and his wife made latkes. *drool* They made them without flour just because I'd told him I couldn't have regular flour! I appreciated that so much. I think I ate about half the latkes, and there were a lot. There was a lot of other food, too, but since I can't have wheat or soy, I have to be pretty careful. I mostly ate latkes and the cookies I'd made, and a little fruit. Tomorrow, I am going to start paying attention to my Weight Watchers online tracking tool again! Really I am!

I made some new stitch markers the other day. They are little tulips made with Czech flower beads. One of my S&B friends thought they were martini glasses! Heehee...That'd be cute, too! I'll post a picture (and list them in my Etsy store) as soon as I can.

A good friend went to IKEA recently and picked up a lamp for me that I can use to light up the top of my light box (so far, I've only been working with 2 desk lamps, one on either side of the box). I needed one that was tall enough to curve above the top of the box and light it up without burning the tissue paper! Mission accomplished--hooray! With any luck, I will soon have brighter pictures. (Except for my cell phone pics, which will still be kind of bad. Sorry.) ;)

Chanukah/Grams' 95th birthday gifts!

2010-12-14T16:36:00.008-05:00

Oh, there are soooo many pics I want to post right now. We had our family Chanukah party/Grams' 95th birthday party on Saturday night, and it was a blast. Now I can finally post photos of my nephew's surprise gift, and of the gifts with their recipients! Hooray!

First, a picture of my gift to my nephew:

A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle beanie! I had kind of an awful time making it, but isn't it awesome?! I am so proud of it. Here's my nephew wearing it and rocking out:

Now I must gripe about the hat. (Skip ahead for more pictures if you don't want to read my complaints!) ;) It should've been simple to make, but the pattern didn't give a gauge (and when I contacted the author, she wouldn't give me one), so I started it out with one size bigger than the recommended hook (G hook was recommended; I was using an H) and it still came out way too small. I frogged it and re-made it with a J hook, and it turned out OK. Also, the hat length measurements from the pattern were all out of whack; the length given for the child's hat was longer than that of my own hat, which just didn't make any sense. So I made it the same length as mine, and that worked out fine.

When it came to the band, I started with the number of chain stitches recommended for the child version (still with the J hook), and it came out barely long enough to go around the hat, much less tie in the back. I wound up using the number of chain stitches for the adult version, which made it long enough to tie and untie in the back. I did the width of the child's version, though, and that looked about right.

Other issues: instructions that just said to sew the band to the hat, without saying how or whether to sew it with thread or yarn or if it mattered; instructions to sew or glue the eyes on, without saying how far apart to make the eyes (mine wound up being too far apart when the hat's being worn) or how/with what to sew them; and instructions to crochet all the way around the band, without instructions on how to do that (I'd never crocheted all the way around anything that wasn't, well, round--I did my best, but I still don't know if I did it right).

This pattern was a pain in the you-know-what. My nephew is so worth it, though!

And now, my beautiful nieces in their ponchos, from oldest to youngest:

And here's my niece wearing her poncho with Grams, who is wearing her Seraphina's Shawl:

We gave Grams the shawl pin, too. It was purchased from a fellow Etsy seller, South4th, and it is really lovely.

The gifts all went over really well! My whole family gave me compliments. My oldest (little) niece (the "real" oldest is the 19-year-old, who wasn't with us that night) wore her poncho to school yesterday. Awww!

So, what am I crocheting now that I'm done with all the gifts? Ummm...nothing. I want to make a Sera Lace Top (pattern by Doris Chan, of course) with the yarn that my in-laws gave me for Chanukah, but I tried to wind some of it the other night, and wound up with a tangled mess after only winding about half a hank into a cake. I need a swift, but we don't have the space for it. My hubby is being very sweet and working on untangling the rest of the hank...We'll see how that goes.

Still trying to figure out what to bring with me to S&B tomorrow!

Now for what I've been up to with beads lately...I made these coffee bean stitch markers the other day:

(This picture makes them look scratched--those aren't scratches on the beads, it's just reflected light.) I haven't listed them yet only because I haven't decided on a price. The beads were expensive, but I don't want to charge more than a customer would be willing to pay for them. Dilemmas, dilemmas. I'll figure it out eventually. (I will list them soon, I promise!)

I sold more Autumn Leaves stitch markers, and finally made more last night and re-listed them. They're popular enough that I decided to make--and list--2 sets.

A close friend of mine gave me a gift certificate to Fire Mountain Gems & Beads for the holidays! I'm so excited about it. I'm going to take my time in deciding what to get, since there are many tempting things on the site. Nothing fair trade that I know of, though I think Karen Hill Tribe silver is a safe bet (I don't think it's technically fair trade unless sold by a certified company, but I am pretty sure all their workers are treated fairly and paid pretty well...I really should look into it more, though). Also, plenty of Swarovski, which is definitely a safe bet, as are Czech beads. And lots of books! And tools and things! Woohoooo!!!

Secret-ish projects, dieting, and more gifts

2010-12-08T17:26:00.006-05:00

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. I am still working on a secret crochet project for my nephew, so I can't post much about that...other than the fact that I am now going to have to frog it for the second time! At least I won't have to frog the whole thing this time.

Had fun at Stitch & Bitch today. It was just me and D. Good thing we enjoy each other's company! ;) It's always nice to have someone (or a group of people) to hang out with during my lunch break, and it's especially nice to have someone (or a group of people) to crochet with!

I'm also working on a beaded bracelet for my cousin's daughter. She's either a tween or a teen, I'm not completely sure of her age but I think she's around 12ish. I tried to make it like another bracelet that I'd just sold, only shorter with an extendable chain closure; but I didn't quite have the right beads, so I'm making it a little different. It's pretty. Rose quartz, amethyst, lepidolite and silver beads. I will take a pic when I'm done and post it here once I'm sure it's been given to her (she won't be there for our Chanukah party/my grandma's 95th birthday party, so I'm sending it back to her with my cousin). I hope she will like it!

As I mentioned, I recently sold a bracelet from The Smiling Turtle Etsy store. It was the only bracelet I'd listed. Amethyst, rose quartz, and silver. I am very happy that someone bought it, and I am also very aware that I need to post more bracelets! (Including the one from my last post!) I've decided to include a little insert with it about who made it and where it was made, the metaphysical properties of the gemstones, etc. I will probably start doing that with all of my handmade jewelry, or at least the gemstone jewelry. It's work, but it's fun work, and it's something I think people will appreciate because I know that I appreciate something like that when I buy a handmade item or receive one as a gift.

Meanwhile, I have put myself on a "bead diet" (I bought waaay too many beads last month). We'll see how long I can keep this up. I am determined not to drive us into debt with my addiction...but...the shinies...they are so tempting!

I'll still be getting little presents in the mail for a bit, because the beads I ordered from Israel haven't arrived yet, and neither have some Swarovski crystal cubes and assorted other ebay purchases.

Ohhh, also, we had a little Chanukah celebration at my in-laws' house last weekend. Guess what they gave me? YARN! And sterling silver beading chain! And they stuffed us full of pot roast and latkes and gluten-free brownies! How awesome are they?!

I am having such a crafty Birthukkah season. I love it.

That's pretty much it for now. And I thought I wouldn't have much to write! HA!!! :)

Jewelry preview - not yet listed

2010-12-01T16:59:00.003-05:00

Here are a few things that haven't made it into The Smiling Turtle Etsy store yet, that I just wanted to show off.

This is a choker made from pink Czech glass coin beads and purple Czech glass fire polish teardrop beads, with some fair trade Bali silver beads. It has a teardrop and Bali bead dangle on silver chain, as well as a silver chain extender on the end of the choker.

Jade and fair trade Bali sterling silver necklace and earrings. The necklace has a fair trade Thai silver rose pendant in the middle.

Light jade and Chinese crystal earrings and bracelet. (There was a necklace, too, but it was sold before I got a picture of it!)

Click on any of these pictures to see larger versions.

Poncho=done, and a birthday full of yarn and beads (and food)!

2010-11-30T20:12:00.004-05:00

Well, my last poncho is done. OK, not really, I still have to weave in the ends. But it's 99.9% done. ;) I am worried that my littlest niece will be totally swimming in it, since it seems to be almost as long as she is tall! *gulp* I'll find out on December 11. Here's a picture of it without the collar, since I hadn't done the collar yet when I took this pic:

My birthday was on Saturday. I had a wonderful day, thanks to amazing friends and family and my incredible hubby. I got lots of phone calls, e-mails, and Facebook wall wishes.

My husband got me yarn for my b-day, and lots of it! It's all cotton bamboo from Yarntopia Treasures. Here is a picture of the various colorways:

The one on the left is called Electric Blue, the middle one is Posiedon (their spelling mistake, not mine--sorry, part of my job is editing, I can't help it!), and the one on the right is Dreamcatcher. He got me 5 skeins of Electric Blue, and 1 each of the others. The yardage is pretty good. About 420 yards per skein, fingering weight. Not sure what to do with them yet, but I will figure that out when I'm not so tied up with Chanukah projects. :) Love, love, love the yarn!

My in-laws got me a subscription to Stringing magazine, which I like to use for beading inspiration. One of my friends got me a rice cooker, which we desperately needed (and are, in fact, using right now!), and a book called "Crafting Jewish." My sister made me 2 gorgeous pairs of earrings. Lots of loot for me.

And then there are the presents I bought for myself! My husband and I went bead shopping on my birthday. First, we went to Beads of Westchester. I hadn't been there for a while. I bought some nice things--a bunch of Swarovski bicones in cool colors I hadn't seen before, a strand of green magnesite nugget beads, some pretty blue fossilized something-or-other beads (I had them write down the name of it and then I lost the card they wrote it on, of course!), some faceted onyx rounds. The ladies there were very nice, and it was an enjoyable shopping experience.

Then we went to Michaels. Not such an enjoyable shopping experience. I bought some more Swarovski bicones (at slightly better prices) and some Swarovski flower beads that were on clearance...or so I thought. They were with the clearance beads. There were many of them with the clearance beads, carefully organized. There were many other beads on clearance as well, and almost none of them were marked. My Swarovski flowers were also unmarked. When we checked out, the saleswoman insisted on charging us full price, without so much as sending another employee over to look at the clearance section. Grrrr. I bought them anyway, because I am a sucker for little Swarovski crystal flowers, and because I am not so good at being frugal.

After that, we went out for dinner to a local Argentinian/Italian restaurant. The food was amazing. My husband had fettuccine bolognese, and I had paella. The paella had lots of lobster in it. I was so happy! Then came dessert: a big cappuccino, and tartufo. Ohmygoodness it was heavenly.

The holiday sales are over in my Etsy store, unless I decide to come up with another one sometime soon. Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale was relatively successful. Not bad, really, for a shop that doesn't have a heck of a lot of items in it yet. The stitch markers have definitely been the biggest sellers. I made some new ones yesterday, but I don't have pictures of them yet, so I'll just have to keep you in suspense.

I ordered some beads from an organization in Israel, and they shipped out today! They are ceramic beads made by needy elderly people in Jerusalem. I am happy to support this wonderful charity, and I hope to make some really nice things.

I have so much jewelry that I've made, and so little time to get it all listed! It won't happen before the holidays, for the most part. D'oh. I will do what I can, though.

Poncho (almost done!), Black Friday/Cyber Monday Etsy sale, my birthday, and more

2010-11-26T17:13:00.004-05:00

Happy Black Friday, everyone! How was your Thanksgiving? We had a good time at my sister's. I ate too much, of course (that's the whole point of the holiday, right?). And yes, I did go shopping today, but only for about 45 minutes during my lunch break because I had to work. It was absolute mayhem (the shopping, not the work!), but I survived. :)

I'm almost finished with the poncho for my littlest niece! Here's a picture of how it looked a few days ago:

I'm now on the last row of the edging, and I still have to do the collar. Easy stuff. I should be done with it very soon. Then I get to start on my nephew's Chanukah gift, which is a surprise, so I won't be able to post it here! How sad. But hopefully, the payoff will be worth it!

I am really starting to worry that the ponchos will be extremely huge on my nieces. I'd forgotten just how small the girls are, until I saw them yesterday...I know they'll grow into them, but I want them to be able to wear their ponchos right away! I'm an impatient auntie. Well, I'll try to get a picture of them all poncho-ed up at our family Chanukah party on December 11, even if the ponchos are huge.

I have to make more stitch markers! I'm having a big sale over at The Smiling Turtle Etsy store for Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend, and I've already sold a few. I'm selling the stitch markers at such low prices right now that I'm not sure I'm making a profit at all, but...My loss, my customers' gain, right?! I'll figure it out eventually! ;)

Right now, I'm offering free shipping on everything, plus a 10% discount if you enter the code CYBERMON at checkout. (Please note: that's CYBERMON, short for Cyber Monday. Already had a little confusion over that today.)

Here are some of the newer stitch markers that I've made:

I also have some other new flower beads to play with, so there may be more flower stitch markers in the near future. There may be some flower earrings, too. Hmmm.

My birthday is tomorrow! I'm so excited! I get like a little kid about my birthday. I don't get very upset about that whole being a year older thing. I just go, "Ooooh! Presents! Cake! Yippeeeeee!!!"

When I went to Stitch & Bitch on Wednesday, my friend D had baked me a flourless chocolate cake for my birthday! (I can't eat wheat, so flourless chocolate cake is my favorite treat!) What a sweetheart. She also gave me a card from the whole gang. 2 of them weren't there, probably because of the holiday.

My mom and grandmother gave me presents yesterday: a renewal of my subscription to Interweave Crochet, and a big blocking board! I have been in need of a blocking board for some time. I know you can make your own, but that would've been a big project to undertake in our not-so-big apartment. Also, I really needed a folding one. Maybe now, I will actually block things like my Queen Anne's Lace Scarf? We'll see! I'm still feeling a little intimidated at the thought of all those pins...

I've recently had items featured in 3 great treasuries on Etsy. Here are the links if you'd like to see them:
Goth-a love it! Black Friday Sale Items in Black!
Red ripe berry colors found on Black Friday
Gifts for everyone on your list

And I guess that's it for now! Please stay tuned.

My new light box, leaf earrings, stitch markers, and poncho progress (or lack thereof)

2010-11-15T13:03:00.001-05:00

I did, in fact, start the poncho that I mentioned in my last blog post. I'm still not finished, though. I haven't had so much time to crochet...I've been really busy with the Etsy store. I'm still trying to master the art of taking good photographs of small stuff like earrings and stitch markers.

I made a light box a few days ago:

It ain't pretty, but it does the trick. I bought 2 desk lamps--1 for each side--and my pictures are coming out a lot better. I used this tutorial to make it. I can now take photos during non-daylight hours, which is nice.

I bought a whole bunch of props yesterday, so we'll see what I come up with. ;) I've already taken photos of earrings on gift bows, which was fun. I can really only do that with the smaller earrings, though. I also took a lot of photos of earrings hanging on a wine glass (but you can't really tell it's a wine glass from the photo), like this one:

And yes, these earrings will be for sale very soon (I just need to take some more pics, calculate a price, write a description, and all that jazz).

Here's a photo of the inside of the light box:

Like I said, not pretty, but it works.

I also made new stitch markers this weekend. You can check them out in the stitch markers section of my store. I've got new butterflies and some flowers. I also re-made some that sold. I'm running out of certain beads, so some of the markers may have to be "discontinued" soon, unless I can find more somewhere.

I'm hoping to finish the poncho this week. I need to start my nephew's gift, and make something for my sister and bro-in-law. I'm lucky our family's Chanukah celebration isn't until 12/10...Chanukah actually starts this year on December 1! I'd really be scrambling if we could get everyone together during the holiday.

Finished Seraphina, my studio, and a piggy friend

2010-11-06T21:26:00.005-04:00

Henceforth, I have decided to combine my crochet blog and my handmade jewelry blog into this blog. It's time to consolidate. Hopefully, those who enjoy reading about my crochet won't mind also reading about my beading endeavors!

First, some crochet goodness: I finished the Seraphina's Shawl for my grandmother!

I am so, so, sooo happy with the way it turned out. What an awesome pattern. I hope she will love it. It's my present for her for both Chanukah and her 95th (!) birthday.

Meanwhile, I've also been hard at work on my beading. I made some new stitch markers - some new Heart Bumpies, and a cute flower design using clear glass "tulip" beads, green seed beads and purple seed beads. The latter aren't listed in the store yet. I'm running out of the beads for the Heart Bumpies and the Butterfly Bumpies; can't seem to find inexpensive, small bumpy beads anywhere. How depressing. So the next 3 or so batches may be the last.

I read somewhere that blog readers might like to see pictures of a crafter's studio. Well, mine consists mostly of our ottoman (and the floor around it)! My bead stash is usually kept in my husband's office, which you don't want to see. Just trust me on this one. Anyway, here is my "studio," complete with our friend Abbey the pig:

Abbey is shown above modeling some earrings that I made the other night. She's such a good model! See below for more proof of her modeling potential:

Here she is wearing one of my polymer clay pig pendants. We just couldn't resist. America's Next Top Piggy, here she comes.

Abbey is one of a bunch of stuffed animals who usually sit next to me on the couch while I'm beading or crocheting. She is a Lubie.

I need to get started on my next poncho! This one will be for my 3-year-old niece, using Lion Homespun (what else?!) in colorway "Antique." It's sort of a dark purplish pink. I hope I will find some time to start it tomorrow.

Seraphina's Shawl - WIP

2010-10-26T17:48:00.002-04:00

Seraphina's Shawl - WIP
Originally uploaded by saintlex

I re-started the Seraphina's Shawl I'm making for my grandma. It was coming out all weird! This time around, I'm following the pictures in the original pattern, and it's making a lot more sense. I am getting close to the row where the pattern "ends" and you're just sort of on your own to continue it...I think I'm close to mastering it, though. At least, I hope I am. :)

This is working up a lot more quickly than I'd thought it would, seeing as how I don't get that much time to crochet per day. I would love to take it with me to S&B on Wednesday, but I think it might be too big for me to work on there. I don't know. I'm not used to working on big stuff at all--shawls, blankets, etc. Well, I did make a baby blanket at one point, but I don't think I brought it with me anywhere while I was working on it.

I think I will probably start my third (and last) poncho at the S&B. This one will be for the 3-year-old. It'll also be in Lion Homespun, in colorway "Antique." It's sort of a dark pinky-purple. I hope the girls won't be unhappy that 2 of them are getting blue and one's getting pinkish purple...Knowing them, they'll all want the pinkish purple color, since it says "princess" much more than blue does. Although, Cinderella wears blue, right? So there. :P

We're going to see my sister, brother-in-law, and nieces and nephew for Halloween. My mom and I are going trick-or-treating with them. (They'll collect the candy, we'll take it when they're done. Just kidding!!) Anyway, it should be really fun and really cute.

Finished poncho, Surreybelle Scarf, Seraphina's Shawl, and Noro Taiyo

2010-10-23T14:24:00.004-04:00

Time for more photos! :) I finished the poncho for my 4-y/o niece. It looks really nice. I took it to Stitch & Bitch on Wednesday, and everyone seemed to like it. Not the best picture of the poncho, but this'll give you some idea of what it looks like:

It's made from Lion Homespun in colorway "Delft." I really, really like this colorway for my li'l niece; I hope she'll like it, too. I've been told that blue is her favorite color.

For a slight change of pace, I decided to pick up a project that had been hibernating for a while--the Surreybelle Scarf (pattern available as a free download on Ravelry). I brought it to S & B with me. I started working on it again, and quickly realized why it had been in hibernation for so long! First of all, the yarn is a real pain to work with. It's Cherry Tree Hill Zebra Caribe, which is made of a few strands plied together, and it's very, very splitty. Second, I'd been crocheting really tightly when I was working on it before. Like, serious hand-cramp tightness. When I started working on it again, I found that I no longer crochet that tightly--but in order to match my old gauge, I had to. OUCH. It sure is pretty, though:

I just hope I can get myself to finish it!

And finally, I'm trying to make Seraphina's Shawl for my grandmother for her birthday/Chanukah present. It was really, really difficult for me starting out. I printed out the directions from the link above, this version here, and the errata. Good grief. I got very confused. Now I seem to be doing OK, but it's still pretty hard to tell what I'm doing, since I'm using Lion Homespun again (I have so much of that stuff!) and it can be hard to tell if I'm crocheting in the right place (especially when it says to crochet into a ch-1 sp, since it's not always clear where those are!). I've made it through the 4th row:

Also, I tried to crochet some fingerless mitts with the gorgeous Noro Taiyo I have, and was incredibly disappointed in the yarn. I encountered some problems and had to frog, and this yarn is VERY difficult for frogging. It tangled, and it even broke in some places. It was awful. I've checked the projects others have made with it on Ravelry, and they seem to have done OK making all sorts of things...But I may wind up having to do something really simple with it, since I can't do anything with it that I might have to frog, since frogging it might just not work at all! *sigh*

Drool-worthy sheep-free yarn, poncho update, and other thoughts

2010-10-19T12:54:00.004-04:00

I created a treasury on Etsy of really nice, non-wool yarn from various sellers, for those who have wool sensitivities or anyone else who's interested. Bamboo, silk, cotton, and more. It's all variegated, and the colors are beautiful. Click here to see.

I finished the poncho for my 4-year-old niece last night! I am so excited. It turned out really nicely. It's almost perfect, except for maybe one mistake which only I know about...Oops, guess the secret's out now. ;) There were a lot of mistakes in the first poncho, but I think it still turned out well, I just hope it'll be OK with wear. (I also hope they'll wear these a lot! But who knows?)

Now, on to the poncho for the 3-year-old. I had planned to make it in a turquoise yarn that I bought that isn't Lion Homespun or bulky weight, but now I'm reconsidering. I'm not very good at modifying patterns (ha, that's an understatement--I've really only done it once, and that wasn't on purpose!). But if I don't modify the pattern with that yarn, it'll come out really weird and possibly won't fit. Meanwhile, I've got some nice dark fuchsia Homespun I could use...I think I'll probably just do that.

I've been thinking about the shawl I'm going to make for my grandmother. I don't know if I should make it in the olive green Homespun that I already have, or buy another color. My goal was originally to use up what I already have, since I have a heck of a lot of Homespun; but that's not working out so well! Anyway, I don't know if she would wear green. But I can figure that out later.

S & B tomorrow! Woohoooo!!! I am going to bring along the poncho I just finished, and maybe I'll bring some of the stitch markers I make just to show off.

Update, with lots of pics!

2010-10-16T16:48:00.005-04:00

Time for a big photo-heavy update. First, here's my finished poncho for my 6-year-old niece:

And a close-up of the scalloped edge detail (also, you can see the color of the yarn better here):

And a picture of the poncho-in-progress for my 4-year-old niece:

And, last but not least, I've been making stitch markers again (these and others for sale at The Smiling Turtle):

I am very happy with the way the first poncho came out. I'd started the second one with a smaller hook, but then had to frog it and re-start with the same hook size as I'd used for the first one, since it was coming out too small.

I got to go to a Stitch and Bitch last Wednesday! I just found out recently that it meets down the street from where I work. Sweet! I had so much fun meeting people and crocheting. I plan to go back as often as I can (probably almost every week).

I have become somewhat obsessed with Noro Taiyo yarn. Here's a pic of the 1 skein I own:

It is so beautiful! It is telling me that it wants to become fingerless gloves. Unfortunately, it's also telling me that it wants to be a scarf and a hat. NEED MORE!!! Heehee. Luckily, my birthday is coming up... ;)

I bought it (and some Lorna's Laces Honor and Queensland Sugar Rush) at Fresh Purls in Providence, RI when I was there visiting some friends for Columbus Day weekend. It's a really nice store, with very helpful and friendly saleswomen.

Guess that's it for now! I'm glad I got some good sunlight for picture-taking today.

Shawls, other gift ideas, and a Renaissance Tunic (?)

2010-09-27T16:13:00.006-04:00

I am pretty close to being done with my first poncho. I just need to do the edging and the collar. I was hoping to finish it over the weekend, but I was too busy doing other fun stuff. Oops. ;) It looks like it might not be too large for my 4-yr-old niece, after all. Or at least, not too long. My gauge is weird. I thought it was right on, but it's not. 4 rows in the "block" stitch of the pattern is supposed to be 4"; in mine, it's more like a little over 3 1/4". Whoa. Guess I should switch to a P hook for the next ones? I'll see how this one ends up first.

I am totally waffling about which shawl to make for my grandmother. It's going to be a combination (95th!!!) birthday and Chanukah present, so it's got to be good! I wanted to make a Seraphina's Shawl for her, but it calls for a very large amount of yarn, which makes me worry about a few things. First of all, I only have 2 colors of Homespun in that quantity, and I don't think either of them would look great on her. Second, the shawl is huge, and she is tiny! She is under 5 feet tall and very petite. Third, it looks difficult!

I am also considering Doris Chan's All Shawl. This calls for less yarn and looks easier to make. However, I know my grandmother...She'd take one look and go "It has holes in it!" LOL. This is what she did when I gave her a Snuggly Scarf a few years ago, and the scarf is not particularly hole-y. But the shawl would be warm and cuddly anyway, so...probably a good option. I'd also like to make one of these for my mom for Chanukah, but I kind of doubt I'll have the time, what with all 3 girls' ponchos and a shawl for my grandma. I have been crocheting maybe an hour or so per day when I have time, and I'm not the world's fastest crocheter in the first place.

I am also considering this shawl, but it looks ridiculously easy and ridiculously boring. I have no problem with the pattern actually being easy, I just don't want it to look like it was!

Decisions, decisions. If anyone has any suggestions or opinions on this, please let me know.

I'd like to make something small-ish for my sister for Chanukah, too. I'm thinking about these Dorothea Dishtowels; then I could make it a gift for her and my brother-in-law, since I never know what to get for him. But again, I'll have to see if I have the time.

We went to a Renaissance Fair yesterday. Now I've decided that I really want to make one of these so I'll have a costume to wear to these things. It's for experienced-level crocheters, though. Ummm...Maybe I'd have it finished by Ren Fair 2012 if I started today? ;P Yeah, I think I'm being overly ambitious.

I'm back!

2010-09-23T17:03:00.007-04:00

I've finally picked up my crochet habit again. Had to stop for a while (about a year!) due to chronic pain in my neck and shoulders. The pain is still there, but I finally got really sick of not having a creative outlet, and one day last week I found myself on Ravelry again and realized that I wanted to make Martha Stewart "Coming Home" ponchos for my little nieces out of all the Lion Homespun I still have... :)

I'm taking it easy this time around, only crocheting for an hour or less at a time. The first poncho is still coming along quickly, though. My little nieces are ages 3, 4, and 6; the ponchos are sized 2-4, 4-6, and 6-8. I started with a poncho for my 4-year-old niece, and I thought the size 4-6 one would work since, duh, kids grow. However, it seems to be turning out too big for her (and my gauge seems to be right on). I don't know if I should give it to her anyway (she'll grow into it), or give it to her 6-year-old sister instead...My little nieces (I keep calling them "little" because I also have another niece who's quite a bit older than they are) are, well, little. Not so big for their age groups.

If anyone's reading this, what would you do? Give it to the 4-year-old, or the 6-year-old? I'm going to see how the finished product turns out before I make a final decision on this, but any input would be much appreciated!

I've just spent a lot of time updating my queue on Ravelry. I've had to move all the clothing to the back of the line for now, because I've been doing Weight Watchers Online and losing weight! Hooray! I plan to lose about 13 more pounds, and I don't know exactly what size I'll be at that point, so I've got to hold off on making garments for myself.

I have to keep reminding myself to focus on GIFTS. Like, things that aren't for me! I'm such a selfish crocheter most of the time.

On top of the kids' ponchos, I'm hoping to make a shawl for my grandma, a poncho or shawl for my mom, and a bag for my sister. Whether I can get all of this done by Chanukah remains to be seen. I'd like to make some things for my friends, too, but I can get away with giving most of them belated gifts, and they'll still love me (I hope).

Old crochet project news: I am wearing my Abydos vest today for the first time in a while. It fits me again! I'd gained quite a bit of weight since making it, but now I've lost it and then some. It looks good, but the rayon chenille is shedding all over my black outfit. D'oh.

The Java Jammie gets A LOT of use. Here it is in its final form (sorry for the crappy cell phone photo):

Aaaand I still haven't blocked my Queen Anne's Lace scarf. It's difficult to find time and space to block things. I'm hoping to do it this Saturday morning before we go out, because that way it'll have all day to dry.

And that's it for now. If you've read this far, please leave a comment and let me know that you're reading! It means a lot to me.

More crochet mishaps

2009-09-05T21:12:00.004-04:00

Still workin' on the Java Jammie. I think it's coming out too small. :( I should've gone up a hook size. Here it is being stretched out on a cup:

Itching to start something new, I decided to try out a Lace Cap from the free pattern by Kim Piper Werker. I used black Caron Simply Soft. It seemed to be coming along fine, until all of a sudden there weren't enough stitches left in a row for me to do what I was supposed to do...Now I don't know if I should attempt to find whatever the mistake was, or start over. I think my gauge is too small (as usual), anyway.

And, last but not least, I am trying to make a scarf for a friend using Cherry Tree Hill Zebra Caribe yarn. I'm using the Surreybelle Scarf pattern by Sarah Cooper, available as a free Ravelry download. Anyway, it's not really coming out like the one in the picture in the pattern, but it is pretty. Beautiful, in fact. That's not the problem. The problem is that this mostly cotton yarn is not soft. Now who wants to give their friends scarves that aren't soft?! *sigh* I don't know what to do. Any way to soften this up? Anyone?

I will probably continue on with this scarf, regardless, if only because I don't know what the heck else to do with this yarn (and it is very tricky to work with)!

Jammin'!

2009-09-03T19:47:00.001-04:00

It looks like I may finally get my Java Jammie! After a few more unsuccessful attempts, I think I've gotten it started the right way. Didn't even substitute SC for slip stitch. It looks like it's coming out right. I can't wait to start adding the little flowers. Heehee!

QAL scarf - pre-blocking

2009-09-03T17:17:00.002-04:00

QAL scarf - pre-blocking 003
Originally uploaded by saintlex

It's done! Except for weaving in the ends and blocking, that is. :) Hope I will get to block it this weekend. What a wonderful thing to be able to wear this Fall! I should call it my Back-to-School Scarf, since I'm about to start grad school after having been out of school for a long time.

I still have a decent amount of yarn left even after making the scarf...not sure what I'll do with that yet.

Still wanting a Java Jammie. I think I will try it with round 1 as sc instead of sl st, since I can't seem to get it right with a row of slip stitch.

Queen Anne's Lace Scarf

2009-08-28T16:34:00.002-04:00

Queen Anne's Lace Scarf, just started
Originally uploaded by saintlex

I had a little trouble getting this started the other day--I messed up joining the first and second motifs, and wound up having to frog. After re-starting, though, it's coming out well. Hooray!!

I love working with this yarn. It's the Handmaiden Double Sea Silk I got in Toronto. I guess I'd better enjoy it, because it was so @#$% expensive! The most I'd ever paid for one skein of yarn, but I think it was worth it. It's so beautiful and soft. I love the colors--this pic really doesn't do them justice. Different shades of purple, and some brown.

The pattern is so easy once figured out. I should be able to work on it in front of the TV...I'm about to go test that theory now. ;)

Hello! It's been quite a while...

2009-08-26T14:52:00.007-04:00

I took some time away from crochet again, and now I'm back. Or trying to be, anyway. I've had some seriously frustrating crochet "issues" lately.

First, there was the lovely Java Jammie. I've been wanting to make one of these for years now. Literally. I had the yarn, so I finally gave it a shot. The first few rows looked weird, but I kept going...and it was coming out really cute! Then, I realized I'd screwed up around the flowers and hadn't increased where I was supposed to. So much for that ever fitting a coffee cup. I frogged it...and haven't been able to get it started the right way since!!! :(

The problem: Rnd 1: Work 1 sl st in each ch around.

A row of slip stitch? How's that work, exactly? Seems like, in my case, it doesn't. Did the designer really mean sc instead? Or am I just missing something? HELP! (Please?!)

Next, I tried to work on the Zen Scarf I'd started and left to hibernate for a while. I got it started up again, or so I thought; but it kept coming out wrong, with really strange edges. I ended up frogging it because I just couldn't figure out how to continue the pattern the right way. I also didn't like working with the pattern very much. It was incredibly difficult to keep track of which row I was on (I suppose I should've been writing it down, or checking the rows off, or something; but I hadn't when I'd started out, and maybe that was the entire problem). Maybe I'll try it again sometime, but for now, it's in the frog pond.

Then, I tried to make a Tunisian Lace Ascot. That didn't work out, either. I think maybe Tunisian crochet is not my thing. I eventually got the first row done, was all excited, and messed up the second row and couldn't figure out how to correct it without starting over. Then I couldn't even get the correct number of loops on the hook again.

GRRRRRRAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH.

I have finally decided to try out a Queen Anne's Lace Scarf. I hope that turns out to be easier; it certainly is pretty. (No working pics with the pattern, but there are a ton of projects with pictures on Ravelry.) I want to make it using some beautiful Handmaiden Double Sea Silk yarn that I bought last week in Toronto at Lettuce Knit, while my husband and I were on our (delayed) honeymoon. :) (Honeymoon was fabulous, by the way!!)

I hope the QAL Scarf is a quick project, too, because I will soon be starting graduate school and probably won't have much time for the yarny goodness. *sigh* We'll see, though; I may still be able to fit in my crochet habit somewhere, now that I've picked up my hooks again.

CPAD and iGive, and yay for Barnes & Noble

2008-12-30T14:34:00.004-05:00

Today, I caved and ordered the CPAD 2009 Calendar. I've had the CPAD Calendars for the past 2 years, and I'm not sure I've used a single pattern from them; I just like to have them. I enjoy the surprise of what the next pattern will be, and I guess in some way I am drawing inspiration from the different projects. And it helps that it was on sale for $7.49 on the web site for Barnes & Noble, where I have a membership (so an extra 10% off for me!). :)

Totally unrelated to crochet: I also ordered the complete Firefly box set from B&N, and yesterday, I bought Coldplay's latest CD at their store. I swear, I am addicted to that place.

In case you are wondering why I chose to order online from B&N and not Amazon, I do most of my online shopping through iGive.com (which I highly, highly recommend) so a percentage of the proceeds will be given to a charity of my choice (in my case, the ALS Association of Greater NY). B&N is currently giving double their usual percentage through iGive, so I think it was something like 3.2% instead of Amazon's 0.8%. Pretty good, eh? I do what I can.

Zen scarfy, holiday wishes, and random ramblings

2008-12-26T17:25:00.004-05:00

Happy holidays!

My holiday cards didn't get sent out, as usual. I always start out with the best intentions, and then...nothing. I didn't even mean to send a lot of them, just a bunch to good friends. Oh well. :(

I frogged and re-started my Zen scarf today. I wasn't happy with the tightness of my gauge. It didn't look right to me, and my hands and shoulders were cramping, so I decided to loosen it up a little. I kept the same hook size but am coaching myself to crochet a little more loosely so my body doesn't hurt while I'm doing it. I think it looks much prettier now. I am really enjoying working with the purple Patons Brilliant, mainly because I just like to look at it! It's so shiny! I have about 5 skeins of it in light blue, too. Not sure what I'm going to do with that yet.

I would really like to make a Divine Hat next. Not with Patons Brilliant, though! Maybe with Simply Soft or something. We'll see if I get sidetracked or not. ;)

I finished my holiday gifts (well, all except 1, which I can't find the yarn for--how aggravating is that?! I know it's in my stash somewhere--or at least, in the apartment somewhere). I want to show off, but I can't until after they've been given to my friends, since of course I want them to be surprised.

It's been a while...

2008-12-11T20:07:00.002-05:00

Things got crazy with wedding planning, so I had to stop crocheting for quite a while. *gasp* Now that I've been married for a little over a month (yay!), it's definitely time to pick up the hooks again. (The wedding was FANTASTIC, by the way--and I am now married to the love of my life, which of course makes me very happy.)

I'm working on a few small holiday presents, which I'll have to keep secret for now. I am also working on a Zen scarf for myself in Patons Brilliant, in dark purple. I'm not so wild about the way the pattern's working out--I'm afraid I may be screwing up a little somewhere. It should still be pretty, though. I mean, how far wrong can I go with sparkly purple yarn?! :)

New yarn and other goodies from the LYS!

2008-07-24T12:18:00.006-04:00

I was having a crummy day yesterday--the weather was bad, I was exhausted, and I found out during my lunch break that my favorite clothing store is going out of business. I needed a pick-me-up and had a little money to spend, so I took myself out to Flying Fingers after work.

What a good idea! :) I'd never been there before, and they were having a BIG sale. 50% off all yarn in the store, 75% off books, and old magazines for $2. I spent an hour and a half there, trying to figure out what I should get! It was a total kid-in-a-candy-store experience. So much gorgeous yarn that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford, and books that I could actually get for prices comparable to the ones on Amazon!

My haul:
*1 skein Colinette Chrysalis (so yummy! I think I'll make a hat out of it)
*1 skein Colinette Giotto (needs to be made into a scarf)
*6 skeins Wool in the Woods 100% rayon DK yarn (will probably become a sweater)
*Tahki Stacy Charles Crochet booklet with adorable Doris Chan bolero on the cover, and many other patterns for things I like (here's a pic of the cover--thanks, Doris, for letting me steal your Flickr photo!):
*Easy Beaded Crochet by Carol Meldrum
*Cool Crochet by Melissa Leapman
*Crochet Today! magazine, a back-issue from this year (May/June?)

I spent about as much money as I wanted to, but I am so tempted to go back. When the heck else will I ever be able to afford handpainted Colinette yarn and other such goodies? (I mean, there's always ebay, but then I can't really see the gorgeousness of the yarn and I definitely can't touch it! And I'd have to pay shipping. Boo.) Sales like that don't come along too often. Then again, I don't want to get myself into toooo much financial trouble. Dilemmas, dilemmas!

There's also this gorgeous pima cotton yarn that I fell somewhat in love with--so tempting. *sigh*

I am still working away on my Cupcake. It's hard for me to get myself to do much at a time, though--it is such a boring pattern!! I'm sure it will come out looking cute as hell, but so many rows of plain ol' hdc. Yawwwn.

I think I will start on my Giotto scarf later. :)

Plum Gulf Shores hat

2008-07-20T17:46:00.002-04:00

Plum Gulf Shores hat
Originally uploaded by saintlex

Here's my latest creation, in Caron Simply Soft Brites yarn in Rose Violet. This one looks pretty good on me, though maybe I should've gone up a hook size.

Also, this hat goes with my fall-weight and winter coats, and with my Snuggly Scarf. Yay! I will definitely be wearing it when the weather gets chilly.

I am not even going to show this one to my mother. :P Not unless she sees me wearing it in the fall, anyway. And by then, it will be too late for her to discourage me. Muahahahaa.

Still workin' on the Moldy Cupcake. ;) It's coming along slowly, since I have been distracted by the hat and by other things I've had to do.

I've ordered some Caron Spa yarn, which is 25% bamboo, with the intention of crocheting myself a Somnambulista (the cute little nightie in Doris Chan's "Everyday Crochet"). That will be a big project for me. The pattern is done in some very expensive 100% bamboo yarn...I don't have that kind of a budget. In fact, I am pretty firm with myself about not spending more to make a crocheted garment than I would spend to buy that article of clothing, and I buy pretty inexpensive clothing. I spent roughly $25 on the yarn (ordered from Joann.com), and that was about right for me.

The other plus about Caron Spa is that it's machine washable. Much as I would love 100% bamboo yarn, I'd probably have to hand wash it, or at least not throw it in the drier.

Gulf Shores take 2, and a Cupcake (yum!)

2008-07-16T15:08:00.005-04:00

After some discussion with friends, I've decided that perhaps my Gulf Shores hat would indeed be better off as a child's hat, so I'm going to frog some of it and make it the right size for one of my nieces. (Of course, then I will have to make hats for the other 2 nieces and my nephew--good thing these are fall-weight hats! I'm not the world's fastest crocheter!) ;D

I'm still offended by my mother's complete lack of tact, but...not much I can do about that. I did tell her how I felt, though.

Thanks to all who replied to my last post. :)

I have started making a Cupcake top from Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker. I'm making it with a 40.5" bust. This is another one that's sized oddly for me. The bust measurement is a teensy bit too big for me, but the next size down (either 36" or 37", can't remember which) would have WAY too much negative ease, especially for a "holey" top. I'm hoping my finished top won't look baggy. I definitely don't want it too tight, though.

Anyway, I'm only a few rows in, and hope to get some more done at tonight's KUTI meeting. There should be at least 1 other person there this time--hooray!! I am looking forward to it. I'm using Reynolds Saucy Sport in a really pretty green for my Cupcake (which I've nicknamed "Wheat-free Cupcake of Doom" on Ravelry). I mean, of course it's wheat-free, or I wouldn't be able to eat it! Uhhh...yeah. ;P

I also considered calling it the Moldy Cupcake, but the green is just too pretty for that!

Had a really nice picnic lunch with a friend today. It is gorgeous outside, and Wednesday is the farmers market here, so we got some good fruit and other goodies.

Gulf Shores hat - finished 7-12-08

2008-07-13T19:24:00.001-04:00

gulf shores hat - finished 7-12-08
Originally uploaded by saintlex

Here's my Gulf Shores. I was very happy with it, until I showed it to my mother. She was like, "That's beautiful! Is it a baby hat?" When I said "No, it's for me," she said "For YOU?!" She looked totally appalled. Then I put it on, and she just sat there looking stunned and couldn't find anything nice to say.

I showed her the Abydos, too, and she didn't really say anything nice about it either!

I must add that this took place in front of some friends of the family, who also couldn't muster up anything nice to say.

I usually feel that my mom has very good taste, so I am feeling really hurt by this, especially on top of the fact that I got NO compliments (apart from the one I had to fish for) when I wore my Abydos the other day. I feel like I must suck at this. I mean, I know my crocheting skills are OK, but now that I've branched out into things other than scarves and potholders, no one seems to like any of it except my Ravelry peeps--and as much as I trust their judgment and feel flattered by their compliments, the lack of in-person compliments makes me feel like crap. :*(

Has anyone else had something like this happen? Please tell me I'm not the only one...

I think I am going to stop showing my mother any of my crochet projects.

wearing the Abydos, and working on a hat

2008-07-12T00:08:00.003-04:00

I wore my Abydos to work today, and the only compliment I got was one I had to totally fish for (which wound up being along the lines of, "It's nice"). Not even a peep from the friend I had lunch with. And here I thought my Abydos was pretty striking. People confuse me.

I have a ton of projects on the back burner right now. I've had a frustrating week, so tonight, I decided to start on a Gulf Shores hat. It was a good choice for instant gratification! It's coming along quite nicely. I'm using Lily Sugar 'N Cream, in the Shaded Denim colorway. I will take a pic of my progress tomorrow if I get a chance.

ARGHHHH crochet frustration

2008-07-09T23:30:00.005-04:00

When I last left off, I'd had to frog my Sweetie Pie cami and couldn't work on the Farpoint Topper because I was waiting to find out how I could make it fit me right. Well, I must add to that my night of further crochet mishaps:

1) I tried to start a crochet vest (pattern from Lion Brand) with purple Lion Chenille yarn, of which I had only the 2 skeins necessary for the pattern. I started it, but then decided to make a gauge swatch using the other skein, just to check to see if I was on the mark. I'm lucky I did, because I could not find the end of the second skein. No idea what's going on there, but it seems to be un-usable. :( So, no purple chenille vest.

2) I started the Light and Lacy, another one by Doris Chan, from the July/August '08 issue of Crochet Today magazine. I got to the 8th row, where the instructions said "sk in next ch-1 space and hdc." Whoa. Double-take. Does this mean to skip the ch-1 space and hdc? Is it a typo, and am I supposed to sc instead of sk? Is there some other hidden meaning there?

ARGHHHHHHH!

I give up. (It's bedtime, anyway. Maybe it'll all make sense in the morning...or something...) ;)

Abydos pic

2008-07-09T19:11:00.002-04:00

Abydos - DONE
Originally uploaded by saintlex

Here it is! :) I plan to get my fiance to take a pic of me wearing it soon. A few more pictures can be found here, but since I took them myself, I couldn't get the whole thing into the picture while I was wearing it. Still, they'll give you some idea of what it looks like on, if you're curious.

I am frustrated with the Sweetie Pie cami. I did the first 2 or 3 rows, only to discover that it was twisted and that I didn't count right for my starting chain. It took an awfully long time to get even that far along. I'm not sure I'm up for starting over yet. I think I'll work on something else for a bit. I really want to make a Farpoint Topper. Here's the Farpoint, modeled by Doris Chan:

Hope she doesn't mind my using her image here! She is the designer, after all. (The Farpoint is also in "Amazing Crochet Lace.") I want to use Lion Incredible in Autumn Leaves, which is the way the one in the book (not the one pictured here, which is Doris's own) was made.

I can't get started on it just yet, though. I am waiting to hear from Ms. Chan on the Ravelry forums, to find out if I can make it a little bigger somehow. My bust measurement is almost exactly the finished bust measurement of the Topper, which would make it too snug for my taste. I was going to just make it and pray that it would fit right, but then someone else on Ravelry asked a similar question, so I jumped right in. :) It is SO COOL to be able to ask Doris questions about her patterns. She rocks.

Abydos=DONE! :)

2008-07-08T19:41:00.004-04:00

The Abydos has been blocked and is drying as I type this. YAY! My first finished garment! I feel so good about that. I can't wait to wear it. The pattern was so easy once I got the hang of it, that now I feel like making them for a few more people. Hmmm.

I started the Sweetie Pie cami. I decided not to use the G hook, but to try the E after all, since the yarn is stretchy. I am a little curious about it, since I am only on row 2 and it appears to be HUGE. I think it must shrink somehow (maybe with the post stitches in the next row?)--if it doesn't, I will be really confused.

I am mildly annoyed that the knitting/crochet Meetup group I belong to, which is called "The (Insert Name of City Where I Live) Knitting Meetup Group," meets in my city every other week and in another town on the alternate weeks. The alternate location in the other town is a good 20-30 minutes away from where I live. Convenient? No. On its own, that wouldn't make it inconvenient enough for me not to go; but when you add the fact that I don't get off work until 6 PM and would have to go home and eat dinner first since I have a gazillion dietary restrictions, I'd wind up getting there too late. I don't like to stay at these things past 8 or 9, and I'm not about to drive for 20-30 minutes to stay at a place for an hour, then drive home, then walk back from my car in the dark. (There's no available, affordable parking at my apartment building, so my car "lives" at a municipal garage 10 minutes away.)

Whatever...If it's convenient for others, that's fine. It just irks me that my city's NAME is in the title of the group, and yet we can't meet here every week. I am probably just being anal. Wouldn't be the first time. ;P

I should also add that I wouldn't be whining about this if not for the fact that I tried to go to the meetup last week, on a week when we were supposed to meet at the location in my city, and no one else showed. Nobody's fault, I know...but it sucked.

I am done complaining now, I promise! Sorry about the rant.

Abydos: almost done!

2008-07-07T23:13:00.007-04:00

My Abydos is now down to my hips. I'm done with the length. I've done the edging on the neck and 1 arm hole; not sure if I'll do the other arm hole before going to bed, or if I'll leave it for tomorrow. After that, I'll just have to weave in the ends and block it.

I'm a little nervous about blocking, having never blocked anything before. Not exactly sure how I'll go about doing it. I had looked into that a while back, and decided that I'd pin the piece to be blocked to a towel on my bed and spray it with water; but now I'm not sure about that. I don't want to give my bed any chance to grow mold. Ick. Maybe if I use 2 towels, the bed won't actually get wet? :-/

Hey readers, any preferred blocking methods?

Got to correspond with some friends today on Ravelry. It was fun. :) Also, my Abydos-in-progress has been marked as a favorite by 2 people! I feel so flattered.

A friend (and bridesmaid) of mine has just returned from a long stay in Israel. Very, very happy she's home (although now she is thinking about moving, but not as far away as Israel, thank goodness!). ;)

Maybe tomorrow I will start working on that Sweetie Pie cami during my lunch break. The pattern calls for an E hook--knowing me, that means a G. Seriously, I think I could only ever use an E hook for fingering weight yarn. I don't ever feel like I'm crocheting that tightly, but I guess that's what I do. *shrug*

I am dying to start using that Bernat Cool Crochet yarn--the Amethyst colorway is so pretty!

Abydos vest (WIP), modeled by me

2008-07-06T14:15:00.003-04:00

Abydos vest (WIP), modeled by me
Originally uploaded by saintlex

It's now the length of the "short version," before blocking. I'm making it longer, though (hopefully tunic-length). :)

So happy with it!!

happy Abydos-ing, Ravelry, and Patons Grace

2008-07-05T23:36:00.003-04:00

I am now as far along with the Abydos as I was with the other one that I had to abandon due to too-small gauge (I haven't actually frogged it yet, though I will when I need the yarn). It's so funny to me that it took me almost two weeks to get to this point to begin with, but after starting over, it took me about 2 days to get back to the same point (with the right gauge)!

Anyway, so far, so good. I've tried it on, and the gauge is just right with the J hook. And so far, it looks adorable. :) I am very happy. I'm also very proud of myself for starting up again right away, before I had a chance to get too discouraged and abandon it.

Spent some time on Ravelry today, updating my library of books and magazines. It's so much fun to see what patterns others have used, and what the results have been. No, I'm not really having the most eventful 4th of July weekend, at least not where anything but crochet is concerned. ;) That's fine by me. I hope you're all having a good weekend!

I just got a great deal on 10 skeins of Patons Grace in Ruby on ebay. Under $20. I couldn't pass it up, even though my wallet may think I should have. ;) I keep seeing all these nice patterns in Patons Grace--although of course, now that I've ordered it, I can't remember what they are! Heehee. I'm sure Ravelry will help me figure that out when the time comes.

Abydos, take 3

2008-07-04T00:54:00.003-04:00

OK, I started over again. This time, I had to use a J hook to get the gauge right--I'd been using an H hook before. Meep. Looks good so far, though. At least, it seems to look more like others' finished Abydos vests. Yay!

Abydos (WIP)

2008-07-03T19:18:00.003-04:00

Abydos (WIP)
Originally uploaded by saintlex

I'm starting to think maybe I should've made the size Large after all. I know myself, and I generally don't wear things as tight as this is going to be.

*gulp*

On second thought...I think my gauge is off. Uh-oh. But I don't want to start over again! Arghhhh.

a weekend without crochet, and new yarrrrrn

2008-06-30T19:09:00.004-04:00

I went away for the weekend, and I brought my Abydos vest with me expecting to have a little time to crochet, but that didn't happen. Oh well. I had a great weekend. :) Saw a very small piece of PA Dutch Country, then went to see family (also in PA). My fiance was supposed to come with me, but he got sick, so I went by myself. I'm still recuperating from the drive home, but it was worth it.

The yarn for my Sweetie Pie cami has arrived! Bernat Cool Crochet in Amethyst. Purple is my favorite color, but I've come to realize that I don't crochet much in purple. Must remedy that!

I will finish the Abydos vest first, though. I'm really looking forward to having a wearable FO. :)

Thursday shopping spree :)

2008-06-26T15:12:00.002-04:00

Today was yarn shopping day. A friend cancelled on our lunch date, and since lunch around here is expensive and I'd brought a back-up yogurt to work just in case, I decided to use my lunch money to get some new yarny goodness.

First, I went to Michael's in search of some Bernat Cool Crochet with which to make my Sweetie Pie Cami. They didn't have any. Boohoo. They did, however, have Patons Brilliant in Blue Shimmer on CLEARANCE for $1/skein! No labels, so I don't have any dye lot info, but I'll live dangerously. ;) It was a good find.

Then, I ordered my Bernat Cool Crochet in Amethyst from Amazon.com. Had to pay $5 shipping, but...whatever. Still within the lunch fund. Heheh.

Looking at my apartment, most people would probably say that I need more yarn like I need a hole in the head. But they'd be wrong! Don't you agree? I barely have any sport or DK weight yarn, so of course I needed to get some. Besides, most of the yarn I have is great for crocheting winter stuff, but not good for summer. I have about 10 tons of Lion Homespun, in particular. I am sure it will not go to waste--I just don't feel like spending my summer making winter-weight sweaters. ;)

I do have some nice Berroco Cotton Twist yarn that I need to use, but it's worsted weight, so I'll have to find a good summer project (preferably something wearable) that uses worsted-weight cotton yarn. Any suggestions?

Abydos progress, and more

2008-06-25T16:17:00.004-04:00

I have now finished the top back part and the straps of the Abydos vest, and am getting close to the Joining Row. I am really excited about this, since it looks like I may actually be able to finish this project without losing patience!

Also, I crocheted a swatch in the yarn I'm using, and handwashed it. I was nervous about things I'd heard/read about MCY yarns. The yarn I'm currently using, however, did not bleed dye AT ALL. Even I wasn't expecting it to be quite that good. YAY! I have other yarns from MCY that may turn out to be problematic, but it looks like I'm safe with this one. What a relief.

I am really glad to be getting such a warm welcome back from my crochet blogger friends. I felt bad for being away for so long, but I guess it's not too unusual for real life to interfere for a while now and then. :) I am glad to be back in Crochet Blog Land.

I've also been spending quite a bit of time on Ravelry. Too much fun. I may join a CAL (Crochet-Along, for readers who may not know the terminology) on there for a cute camisole--I think the pattern is called "Sweetie"? I'm blanking on the author's name at the moment. Anyway, the author made it with Bernat Cool Crochet. I'm thinking I may pick up a few skeins of it as a treat for myself, since it's not expensive and I only need 4 skeins for my size. Anyway, I'm not sure what other yarn I would use for this project, out of the yarns I already have.

I've been thinking a lot about things I want to crochet. There are so many! I hope I don't get myself completely overwhelmed! One thing I'd really like to make is Doris Chan's "Somnambulista." It's a little nightie from her second book, Everyday Crochet. It is so cute...and my goal is to make it in a cream color, for my wedding night. *blush* ;) I have time, though. The wedding is November 2.

Abydos vest, take 2

2008-06-22T09:49:00.003-04:00

I was able to get in touch with Doris Chan via Ravelry to ask her for suggestions regarding my size problem with the vest (being between the Medium and the Large). She gave me instructions for making the Medium a little bigger! Hooray!!! :) ♥ I am so grateful. She has since posted the instructions, along with instructions for some other sizes that weren't in Amazing Crochet Lace, in her blog. Go Doris!

I had to start the vest over, since I'd initially started making the size Large. I've only done the first 2 rows on my Medium vest now, but I know most of the rest of it will go fairly quickly if I keep at it, since the pattern is an easy one.

I'm a little bit worried about the yarn I'm using, since it's from Mystical Creation Yarns, which, as it turns out, is now out of business under some pretty weird-sounding circumstances. Loads of people have complained about bleeding dye with their yarns. The Sweet Pickle colorway that I'm using is fairly light colored, so I'm not as worried about bleeding dye as I would be with darker MCY yarn; but I am a little concerned about what may happen after the garment is washed. When I get a chance, I will make up a swatch and try washing it. I really hope it'll still be OK. Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

I'm going to a folk festival today, and I'm seriously debating bringing my crochet with me. ;) I don't really want to carry it around, but how much fun would it be to work on it while listening to good live music?! Hmmmm. I guess I'll go for it.

It's supposed to rain today...Hopefully I won't have to find out about the bleeding dye that way! Meep. I will bring plastic bags to protect the yarn.

my progress on the Abydos so far

2008-06-21T12:33:00.001-04:00

WIP - Abydos Vest
Originally uploaded by saintlex

Not too much progress, as you can see. ;) I'm mainly posting this to show the yarn and the colorway. Pretty, eh? And I just realized it will go nicely with a tank top I bought the other day, which is a slightly lighter pink. That is, if this vest will look right over tank tops...Don't know if it'll come out too big for that. *shrug* We'll see! :)

Abydos vest

2008-06-21T11:20:00.005-04:00

Last night, I started working on the Abydos Vest from Amazing Crochet Lace by Doris Chan. (Picture at left ganked from Doris' Flickr photostream!) I am very excited about it. It took me a long time to figure out what yarn to use, but I finally decided on Rayon Chenille from Mystical Creations Yarn. I then had to wind it, which was difficult. I had to abandon the first skein because it got too tangled, even with being around the backs of 2 chairs. *sigh* Still have 3 skeins, though (2 of which have now been successfully wound).

It's a tricky yarn to work with, since it breaks somewhat easily. I accidentally broke a strand while frogging a stitch, which was annoying. Is this the way chenille generally behaves, or is MCY just talented like that? ;) Anyway, I'm not too worried about that, as long as it doesn't break while I'm wearing it!

I'm a little worried about the vest measurements. The bust measurements for this pattern are 40" bust for Medium, and 46" bust for Large. Seeing as how my bust measurement is 39.5", I wasn't about to make the Medium--a vest that's practically the same size as my bust wouldn't really fit over any of my shirts, far as I know. But I'm afraid the Large will be too big for me. We'll see what happens, though! If I decide to make this fairly long (and if I have enough yarn for that), at least it will fit over my hips.

If I like the way this turns out and want a smaller one, I can make a size Medium in the short version and use a stretchier yarn. I think that would work?

d'oh

2008-06-20T16:03:00.004-04:00

It's been a really long time since I last posted here. For that matter, it's been an extremely long time since I crocheted anything. There's been so much going on! Between getting married later this year, trying to buy a co-op with my fiance, and loads of other things, I haven't had the energy even when I've had the time. I've started feeling inspired again lately, though (mainly because I know that if I don't use a lot of my yarn by the time I move, I may have to sell or get rid of it! Noooo!).

I am very excited about finding Doris Chan's blog. I love her designs. Haven't made any of them yet, but I have loads of her patterns, so it may be time to get started!

Edited to add: I did start making the Anisette Vest a while back, but I didn't finish it because A) I didn't have time, and B) I didn't have enough yarn in the colorway I wanted to use. Oops.

new Snuggly Scarves

2007-12-28T17:52:00.001-05:00

Mom wearing her new scarf
Originally uploaded by saintlex

I know it's been forever since I last posted. Sorry. :-/

I haven't been doing anything very exciting, crochet-wise. I did, however, make a whole bunch of Snuggly Scarves (thanks again to Deneen!) in various shades of Lion Homespun. Here's my mom wearing the one I gave her for Chanukah! I believe this colorway is called Barley. I also gave one to my sister, in Tudor. I didn't know what color her winter coat was, but luckily for us, it matches! :) And I gave one to my boss, as well. That one was in Sierra; at least, it was labeled Sierra. It looks completely different from the other skeins of Sierra I've seen in the stores, though. *shrug*

Also made one for a friend and am in the process of making another for a friend. No more details on those, though, since I haven't gotten to exchange gifts with them yet. (I doubt they're reading this, but I'm paranoid!)

2007-10-05T15:55:00.000-04:00

Check it out: my first stitch markers! :)

If you feel so inclined, please click on them to visit the etsy listing, and take a moment to let me know if there's anything else you think I should add to the listing. I'm not the greatest at advertising, and sometimes I leave out important details!

Anyway, I am really happy with them. They are cute and cheerful. Gonna make a set for myself when I get home from work.

I have a gazillion projects to work on as gifts, and yet my thoughts keep straying to that little Mei-Mei jacket in Everyday Crochet, and I keep imagining myself a new navy blue handbag (never mind that I don't even have navy blue yarn). I want a Mei-Mei for me-me! LOL. I'm such an impatient little bugger.

I've also got to work on my Anisette Vest for my cousin's wedding, to go over my little black dress. I am a little nervous about the blocking that I'll have to do on that one. I am probably going to spread it out on some towels on my bed, pin it, and spray it with water. I've read that I can do it that way. I hope it works all right. Anyway, I've got a while to go before I get to that point!

Store progress, and new projects

2007-10-04T12:01:00.000-04:00

I am so excited!

1) The Smiling Turtle etsy store has now had its first 2 orders! :) (Both for Bernat Sox yarn...)

2) Last night, I started making beaded stitch markers. It is so much fun. I have so many great beads. I've now made a set of ladybugs, a set of Autumn leaves, and a set of butterflies with colorful bumpy beads. They will be listed on etsy soon.

Whee!

"Everyday Crochet" by Doris Chan, and keeping track of my stash

2007-09-30T11:05:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, I picked up a copy of Everyday Crochet by Doris Chan. I'm a big fan of Chan's designs, and this book had been calling me since before it was released, but I had been trying to restrain myself due to lack of funds. Yesterday, my will power gave out. (D'oh!)

Oh my goodness. This book is a work of genius. I'd been a little bit worried because others had complained about a lack of variety in the patterns, since they all use shells. I need not have doubted Ms. Chan--she explains exactly why that is in the Introduction! The gist of it is that she has created patterns that build off one another. They are similar in order to make it easy for the crocheter to adjust the patterns to her liking. YAY! Designing my own clothing patterns would be far out of my reach at this point, but with these patterns, I can learn to adjust sleeves, add ribbing, change necklines, etc. Also, she mentions that she's chosen to use shells specifically because they are a very forgiving stitch. They can stretch horizontally or drape nicely, making them pretty much universally flattering.

I've been somewhat afraid to take on larger projects because I've worried that what I make won't fit me (the waist could be too tight, the hips could be too tight, etc.--it's not easy to tell from bust measurement alone). I can make the clothing in Everyday Crochet without worrying, as long as I've gotten the gauge right. No clingy waistlines, and she's made it very clear how to adjust patterns for your own proportions; plus, I can rest assured that the shell patterns will be flattering.

My only complaint is that a lot of the yarns used are wool, which I can't use due to allergies. However, in the Introduction, the author encourages the reader to substitute yarn; and if the "Eve's Rib Tunic" is any indication, some of these patterns will still be fabulous in acrylic (it's made with Simply Soft Shadows!).

My favorite patterns:

-"Mei-Mei," the little jacket on the front cover, which I wasn't sure I liked at first. It totally grew on me. Cropped vests tend to look nice on me because they elongate my torso a little (and my torso needs it!). ;) The more I try to picture it on me, the more I like it.

-"Somnambulista," a beautiful little nightgown made with bamboo yarn. I plan to ask for that particular yarn for my birthday, so I can make myself one. I love the texture of bamboo yarns, but I can't afford them.

-"Jewel," a little sweater that's shown with 3/4 sleeves, which I plan to make long-sleeved if I have enough yarn.

-"Insight," a beautiful long vest.

There are also some belt patterns toward the end of the book. I may wind up making one or two of those -- they would look great with the longer sweaters, or with some of my other Fall tops.

OK, that's the end of my little book review. I've been up since some crazy hour of the morning because I couldn't get back to sleep, so I've been entering info about my stash on Ravelry. I've realized that it's a good way for me to keep track of all my yarrrrrn! I am pretty disorganized, but now I can keep track of the yarns I have without having to make my own spreadsheet or do anything equally dreary. Hooray for Ravelry! :)

Ravelry, WsIP

2007-09-28T19:35:00.001-04:00

I got my invitation to Ravelry!

*bounce bounce bounce*

Now seems like a good time to stop slacking on the blog front. ;) Sorry I vanished for a while. I have been having health problems, and just haven't felt much like blogging these days. I have been crocheting, though.

Lately, I've made some more baby booties and some scarves that will probably be gifts. Nothing exciting enough for picture-taking. I've started some slightly more ambitious things in the past week or so, though.

I started working on the "Anisette Vest" from Amazing Crochet Lace by Doris Chan. Haven't gotten too far on it just yet, since it takes too much concentration for me to be able to watch TV while I'm doing it. ;P I am making it so I can wear it to my cousin's wedding in late October--I've got an adorable sleeveless black dress that just cries out for something like this. I'm making the vest in Mystical Creation Yarns rayon boucle in Domino, which is a black and white colorway (probably stating the obvious there!). I only have one skein, so I am praying I won't run out of yarn before I'm done!

I've also started up a pair of Fireside Slouch Socks. Don't know who I'm going to give them to yet, but I'm pretty sure they'll be a gift. I plan on making a few pairs to give to some friends and family.

And, last but not least, I've started making a little something for my sweetie. It's a surprise, and I know he checks this blog every once in a while, so I can't say what it is until after I've given it to him for his birthday on 10/19. :D I'm very pleased with the way it's coming out so far, though.

I still haven't finished my first pair of socks. Looks like the Fireside socks may become my first finished pair, instead. I'm not feeling so motivated to finish that first pair--I was never really wild about them. I hope I will do it eventually, though. Even if I don't want them, I'm sure someone will!

I picked up a copy of The Weekend Crafter: Crochet on sale a week or two ago. There's a really cute bag in there that I'd like to make, and a few other projects that look good.

There's a Lion Homespun poncho from an old issue of Crochet Fantasy Magazine that I really want to make for my mom for Chanukah. I have a lot of Homespun Mill Ends, and I don't think the dye lot varies much (if at all) in the yarn I've got that I want to use for it. Also, I may make mittens for my sister's family from one of the patterns on the Lion Brand site, also using Lion Homespun. I have a TON of Homespun! Gotta use it! :)

crochet question

2007-08-26T20:34:00.000-04:00

When using a pattern, if it says to "join with a sl st" and then "--- stitches" (--- being the number of stitches you should have made in the row that was just completed), does the slip stitch count as one of the stitches?

Thanks!! :)

Creative Limits Meme (thanks, Deneen!)

2007-08-24T17:26:00.000-04:00

1. I have no interest in the following activities:
Tatting, woodworking (only because of a sawdust allergy!), felting (wool allergy), spinning, pottery/ceramics with "real" clay as opposed to polymer clay, lampwork, glassmaking, soap making (again due to allergies), cross stitch, rug hooking, most activities involving really big equipment and/or fire.

2. Would love to try these things:
Wire crochet, bead crochet, sewing, metalwork, fashion design, furniture painting, cardmaking, watercolor, brush painting. Eventually, maybe knitting and embroidery.

3. I do or have dabbled in these things:
Crocheting, beadwork, wirework, polymer clay art, painting (both oils and acrylic), drawing, tiny bit of sewing.

4. Love it! These are my things:
Crocheting, jewelry making, and painting (though I haven't had studio space for a long time, so I haven't done any real painting in years).

Sorry I've been away for so long.

2007-08-24T17:17:00.000-04:00

Wasn't crocheting much for a while there!

I have now finished the baby blanket for my youngest niece, and given it to her. My sister liked it very much. :) I didn't take a picture once it was done, because I was short on time and camera batteries. It looks just like the previous pictures, though, only now it's a big square. ;)

My socks are almost done!! I pretty much just have the toe and heel left to do on my second sock. I'm going to finish it within the next few days and post a pic of the finished pair. YAY!

I have now won a whole lot of yarn from the Mystical Creation Yarns ebay store. *drooool* I hadn't bought any yarn for a while, and they have some great deals at the moment, so I treated myself. I have no idea where I will put it once it arrives. I think I need to crochet myself a bigger apartment! *giggle*

Tunic trouble

2007-07-29T18:25:00.000-04:00

I feel like maybe I'm just not destined to make that tunic. I got a few more rows into it, and I realized that it's coming out too small and I'm going to have to frog it.

I checked my gauge a whole bunch of times before I started. I tried a lot of different hook sizes. The closest I got seemed to be with a J hook (instead of an I hook), but now I don't know if I'd need an L or M; I had tried testing my gauge with both before, and it had seemed too big. *sigh* Too much work and nothing to show for it (except about 8 rows of too-small tunic, which I will be frogging--not right away, though; it's too depressing).

slump-o-rama

2007-07-27T16:27:00.000-04:00

I just read a friend's blog, and she mentioned being in a crochet slump. Well, I have been in one lately, too. I started my tunic, and I'm only about 5 rows in (though I spent plenty of time trying to start it and screwing up--wasn't sure about the gauge at first, or about what size I should be making). No other progress made on anything.

I haven't felt much like crocheting lately. Don't know why, though my neck and shoulders have been achey, which I guess doesn't help. Also, I've been distracted by Harry Potter. ;) After having seen all the movies, I finally caved and decided to read books 6 and 7. I'm in the middle of 7 now.

I managed to get The Michaels Book of Needlecrafts the other day at a bookstore for $5. I was really happy about that, since it was on my wish list anyway, but I would still have paid more if I've ordered it from Amazon--and this way I got to look through it. There isn't too much in there that I want to make (some of it's really silly), but there's an adorable kids' hat that looks like a fruit or vegetable top (Xmas/Chanukah present! Yay!) and a really pretty tote bag made from Lion Incredible. I'll skip the furry arm warmers, though. :P

Also, according to one of the customers on Amazon who reviewed the book, there's a good article on yarn substitution in the "Knitting" section of the book (which I otherwise might not have looked at, at all!). Hmmmm.

Tunic envy ;)

2007-07-20T18:11:00.000-04:00

Deneen made the tunic from the pattern on the Lion web site that I've been eye-ing for a while. She shortened it into a tank top instead of a tunic. It looks fabulous.

I feel inspired. I am either going to start on this or the Abydos vest tonight...

bookishness

2007-07-19T19:00:00.000-04:00

Got 3 crochet books from the library today: "Crocheted Socks: 16 Fun-To-Stitch Patterns" by Janet Rehfeldt and Mary Jane Wood, "Cool Crochet" by Melissa Leapman, and "Easy Beaded Crochet" by Carol Meldrum. I am in big trouble now, because I want to buy all of them. :P I am especially enamored with "Cool Crochet," which I wasn't expecting myself to be. Most of the projects are either Intermediate or Advanced level, and I think I can do Intermediate at this point. They are just lovely. The patterns I would like to make are mostly for sweaters, and a few are for bags. *sighhh* :)

I am going to see how I feel when it comes time to return them all. If I can't live without 'em, I'll buy 'em. I'm a bit short on funds at the moment. Well, not exactly; but I've bought a lot of books lately, so I don't feel that the purchases would be justified!

The other day, I picked up "Amazing Crochet Lace: New Fashions Inspired by Old-Fashioned Lace" by Doris Chan. WOW. Beautiful patterns!

I can't wait to try the "Farpoint Topper" (top left) and "Abydos Vest" (both pics on the right side), among other things. I've even ordered the yarn for the "Farpoint Topper" already (Lion Incredible, purchased via ebay, of course! I got it in Copper Penny; the original was done in the Autumn Leaves colorway).

I also recently got "Crochet from the Heart: Quick Projects for Generous Giving" by Kristin Spurkland, which has a lot of really cute projects in it that promise to be quick to make (the hats are my favorites!). And I got "Stocking feet" from Annie's Attic, by Janet Rehfeldt, which I don't exactly recommend (but please click the link to see my scathing review! Muahahaaa).

Other than that, I am almost done with the cuff of my second sock (6.5" out of 8" finished). It's about frickin' time. ;P Sock progress has been soooo slooowww. I am looking forward to trying some patterns from the "Crocheted Socks" book. Socks seem to be harder on me than other crochet, though, perhaps because I need to concentrate harder due to the smaller hook size? I don't know. I'm only using a G hook, but the way I crochet, that's pretty darn small (yeah, I crochet pretty tightly). Especially with the back-loop-only cuff thing. That's annoying. My next pair of socks will not have this sort of cuff. Haven't decided yet if they'll be made from a book pattern, or an Internet freebie. :)

Sock yarrrrrn!

2007-07-14T10:25:00.000-04:00

I now have a decent amount of sock yarn that is not Bernat Sox. :) Whee!

Here it is:

Mmmm...2 different colorways of Cascade Fixation (no actual color names on the labels), and Panda Cotton in "Picnic." I LOVE the Panda Cotton. I just got it yesterday. I stopped by a local fabric store that has yarn, and was very pleasantly surprised to see that they had it in stock! I had never seen it in person before. It's nice. Soft, too! (And expensive. *gulp*) ;)

They also had it in the colorway that I recently purchased from an ebay seller who'd put it on sale, "Chocolate Almonds." I was not disappointed with what I saw! It should be arriving soon.

Also, I don't know if this link will work, but I ordered the Annie's Attic "Stocking Feet" book on ebay. The patterns look really cute.

And no, I still have not finished my first pair of socks! LOL. I finished the cuff of the second sock the other day, only to find that I'd missed a stitch somewhere...it started out wide and got narrower, and looked really bad. D'OH! I tried to frog it, but Bernat Sox doesn't lend itself to frogging, so I had to just start over. That's OK--it'll go quickly once I actually get a chance to sit down for a while with it. :)

My sweetheart and I are going to a music festival today. I am so excited! I haven't been to a music festival in way too long. I am really big on folk festivals. This one's not all folk, but that doesn't bother me at all! The "biggest name" who will be there is Shawn Mullins, but we're mainly going to see Jonatha Brooke and to hear some musicians we've heard of but haven't heard before.

I am halfway considering bringing my sock to work on. Heheh...I doubt I'll get a chance, though. When I am listening to live music, I don't usually want to concentrate on much else!

Oh, also, I made it to KUTI on Tuesday night! There were so many people there I hadn't met before. It was nice to meet all of them, if a little overwhelming. :) At least 3 of us were working on socks, and if I remember correctly, I think 3 of us were working on our first pairs! How cool is that?! The others were knitting, but I won't hold that against them. ;)

the yarn cake, and things I'd like to make

2007-07-07T21:34:00.000-04:00

I now present to you my very first yarn cake ever!

And a view of the top:

*sigh* So happy. :)

Meanwhile, there is an ever-growing list of things I want to make. Among them:
--socks, socks and more socks
--more Mary Jane booties!
--adorable "Famous Designer" hat (maybe in Olive and Fuchsia? Haven't made up my mind yet)
--color-block pillow
--a very light, mesh mini-shawl or stole with special Blue Heron yarn
--Need For Tweed bag
--Seafoam Vest (still haven't gotten around to it)
--Lacy Leaf Cocoon, even though the largest size may be too small for me
--Four Seasons Bolero
--Tunic (without the pockets)

And there are a lot more in the magazines I have, but I'll be nice and stop there. ;)

Yarn cake! (And some other stuff.)

2007-07-07T10:14:00.000-04:00

As of 2 days ago, I am "officially" back at work, which makes me very happy. :)

On to the crochet-related stuff! I got my yarn ball winder in the mail a few days ago, and finally tried it out last night. Ooh! YARN CAKE!! :D It is so exciting. I want to post a picture of my first yarn cake--perhaps I will get to it later today. I took out this skein of variegated turquoise and dark blue sport weight yarn from MCY (also a gift from my fiance--yes, he IS the best ever). I put it around the backs of two chairs, set up the new yarn ball winder, and cranked it up. ;) It was easy! What a wonderful surprise after dealing with so many tangled yarn "muppets."

I am still working on untangling my other MCY yarn (the cotton chenille one), and it seems to be coming along quicker than expected. I cant wait to make that one into a cake, too. Heheh! I am now obsessed with yarn cakes. Well, at least I won't gain any weight from it (sorry, I had to go with the bad pun there).

I found a whole lot of Lion Suede on sale the other day, including some in Ebony, which I had never seen on sale before. ♥ I bought enough to keep some, and sell some on ebay. ;) I do have yarn in my ebay store, if anyone wants to check it out. Right now, I just have a bunch of auctions for Lion Boucle (in blueberry, rose, and parfait colors) and Bernat Sox in 4 different variegated colors; but I got more Bernat Sox to sell because I was able to get it cheap, and it seems that lots of people are looking for it. Same with Lion Suede. (Heck, there are certain colors of Lion Suede I'm still looking for--I don't have any in rose, ecru, or marine blue (at least I think that's what the blue is called), and I only have one skein of taupe and am sort of fiending for more. Haven't found the right price yet or the extra money, though!)

I am debating getting some Lion Trellis in "Night Life" to sell (yes, I have a source, and I'm not telling!! LOL), since some recent auctions for it that I've been tracking have gone very well. I really don't have the money to get it in the first place, though. Argh. I don't know.

I'm enjoying this ebay "side job" of mine--can you tell? :P

Not much to tell about WIPs, since I really haven't gotten any farther than I had the last time I posted. I've mainly been concentrating on untangling the cotton chenille. It is so pretty--I can't wait to use it! It's a beautiful mixture of purples and browns. Yum.

Tangled yarn, and missing KUTI

2007-07-03T17:52:00.000-04:00

My fiance bought me some incredible Cotton Chenille yarn from Mystical Creation Yarns a while back. As a crochet novice, having never worked with a skein like this before as opposed to a store-bought yarn ball/skein of inexpensive yarn, I totally messed up the ball winding process. Now, I am stuck with a pretty tangled skein of really gorgeous yarn. :(

I ordered a yarn ball winder the other day, so I'll have that soon; but can it help me with a tangled skein of yarn? Can anything? I've spent hours already trying to unwind it; it seems like I unwind about a foot (or maybe a yard, if I'm lucky) of yarn per hour. *sigh* I don't want to just give up, because it was a very special gift and I love the yarn so much. Buying another skein wouldn't be the same. But I can't spend forever trying to untangle it, either!

Any advice?

I've become a pretty solitary crocheter these days. My health problems have gotten somewhat better now that they've been diagnosed and I'm on meds, but that just means that I make it to work for a few hours if I'm lucky. I keep thinking I'll be able to go to KUTI meetings, and then I just don't feel well enough.

Today, I didn't even make it to work...but if I had, I probably would have been too drained and sick afterward to go to the meeting. *sigh* I miss the group. I want to be a part of it again. I am lonely. And crotchety. Wahhh.

I am still working on the baby blanket and the socks. Slow going these days. That's due to a number of things: being extremely tired, having another hobby that takes up a lot of my time, having to spend a lot of time listing things on ebay, and trying to work again. The blanket's within an inch or two of getting to its desired length, though; then I will just have the hood left to make, if I decide I even want to do that. I really like the thickness of it and think it would make a good playmat, so I'm not sure I'm going to bother with the hood. I might do some purple edging, though.

As for the socks, I'm not done with the cuff of my second sock yet. It'll go quickly when I really get down to it, though. I'm just easily distracted these days.

YARRRRRN - acquisitions and, um, de-acquisitions?

2007-06-29T11:02:00.001-04:00

I went yarn shopping yesterday. Bought too much, as usual; but oh, was it fun. :)

I finally got my hands on some Lion Chenille (not Thick & Quick, the regular chenille). I am dying to make the vest pictured on the label--so much so, in fact, that I want to make it in all 4 of the colors I bought! *giggle* I will have to see how the first one goes before I really decide to do that, of course. I'm going to start with the red. I don't wear red very often, but this particular shade is so beautiful.

I got many other yarns, too. I bought a good deal of Lion Boucle, which I am now unsure about using because I didn't realize at the time that it was 20% mohair. Argh. I could probably work with it, and probably make something that wouldn't be worn right next to the skin...But I don't think "probably" is good enough. I did find a cute sweater in a back issue of a crochet magazine that I might like to make from it, though. And there's a capelet that uses it as trim that I really like. (I'm not sure I particularly like the capelet, but the trim is awfully pretty!) I guess I won't make a decision about that yarn just yet!

I am considering selling a lot of my Bernat Sox yarn. I am a spoiled brat and don't really want coarse yarn on my footsies. ;D If I sell some on ebay, perhaps I can justify buying something a little nicer. I don't know, though...I've been ebaying a lot, and trying to save that money. I won't sell all of my Sox yarn, of course; I'll probably still want to make some socks out of some of it, since the colors are very pretty. And maybe the socks I am working on now will turn out to be more wearable than I currently think they are.

I'd really love to get some hand-painted sock yarn. Yum.

Oh, I found another sock pattern! It's in the Dec. '06/Jan. '07 issue of Crochet Today! I bought the magazine for a buck at a yarn store a few months back. Well worth it, I'd say.

baby blanket 6-28-07

2007-06-28T13:41:00.001-04:00

baby blanket 6-28-07
Originally uploaded by saintlex

I am almost done!! :) Just a few more inches to go.

Here's a close-up pic of the pattern:

first finished sock

2007-06-27T23:19:00.001-04:00

first finished sock
Originally uploaded by saintlex

WOOHOOOOO! I finished a sock! :) Didn't take all that long, either--I just hadn't been working on it for a while. I'm not totally thrilled with it. The cuff is a little big, and the seam at the toe isn't great (I think maybe I made the sock just a little too long?). But my mom and my fiance think it's pretty, and some nice people on Flickr do, too. ;D

Guess I'll just have to make another one to match!

I don't think these will be the comfiest socks. I realized, in the course of trying these on, that Bernat Sox isn't the most comfortable to wear. I'll wear them anyway, of course. (Proudly!)

I have a TON of Bernat Sox yarn, so I'll use it and like it, dammit. Heheh.

Here's a pic of it on my foot:

Sock progress and blanket progress

2007-06-27T00:08:00.001-04:00

I finally picked up my sock again tonight. I am now almost finished with the first one; I just have the heel and a little bit of the toe left to do. I am pleased to report that it seems like it will fit! :) I've been trying it on at all its various stages. If it does fit, let's hope I can make one that matches. Heheh.

I am not overly impressed with the Bernat Sox yarn I've been using. Yeah, I know, it was cheap. It's probably not the best quality stuff in the world. But the center-pull skein keeps getting all tangled up in itself. I can't get the other end of the yarn to stay awaaaaaay from my WIP! Grrr.

I am also still working on the baby blanket. It's getting close to being done. I had no idea it would take this long! Anything for the baby, though. ;) I got to hold her for a while the other day. ♥ ♥ ♥

I confess that I have been terrible at keeping up with others' blogs lately. I've been selling a lot of things on ebay (mostly jewelry-making supplies), and trying to take care of some health problems. I hope to get some good reading time in soon.

I am such a happy swapper. :)

2007-06-18T21:35:00.000-04:00

My first swap was completed today--I got my book in the mail (Encyclopedia of Crochet! Yeah baby!!), and she got her yarn in the mail today, too! :) What good luck. We both sent our packages out on Saturday.

I am verrrry happy with my new book, and can't wait to try out a whole bunch of new stitches. I hope my swap partner is happy with the yarn.

And I'm in the middle of a swap with someone else. I'm giving her a whole bunch of jewelry findings and beads in exchange for a knit & crochet book and (what else?) YARRRRRN. :D Some cotton sock yarn that sounds yummy, and violet Fun Fur! Whee!

I like this swapping stuff!!

We saw my sister's new baby the other day. She is beautiful. (As are all of my sister's children! I am not kidding--they have the most gorgeous kids. I may be biased, but wow, they are cuties.) My sister and brother-in-law loved the booties I'd made, and my sis says she'll take a picture of the little one wearing them. I can't wait to see those little feet in the little booties. Awwwww.

I will definitely be making more of those booties. I can't help myself.

Swap update! :)

2007-06-16T00:23:00.000-04:00

I am swapping those 2 skeins of Araucania Nature Wool for Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet. Yippeeeee!!!

It's not a yarn ball winder, but it is a book I knew I would buy eventually, and one I've been drooling over for a while now. ;)

No one seems to be jumping at the rest of the stuff I have to swap, so I guess I will probably try to sell most of it on ebay. *shrug* It gets tiring selling stuff on ebay, though. All that packing and shipping. Hopefully, I will make enough money for it to be worth the trouble.

I went out with my sweetheart tonight, and we happened upon a copy of Total Crochet Fashions by Gayle Bunn while at Wal-Mart (I had to pick up a few things, and of course I had to stop by the yarn section while we were there). ;) It looks like a good book. Have any of you read it/seen it/tried any of the patterns? It got good reviews on Amazon, and it has some nice-looking things in it. I put it on my wish list.

I had a crisis last night--I couldn't find my G hook! ARGHHHH! I got a new one today, but it's a plastic one and the one I can't find is aluminum. I don't really have a preference, but I'm afraid the plastic one will break--it's so thin! Well, hopefully I will find the other G hook soon, and then I'll have 2 of 'em. I should probably have a spare of every hook size. I am way too good at losing things.

Tomorrow, we finally get to see the baby! I am so excited. We were supposed to go last weekend, and then my fiance got sick, and I was worried that I might have what he had and that the baby might catch it if we visited. This weekend, neither of us has anything contagious. *knock wood*

Sorry I haven't been commenting lately. I need to catch up on my reading. :)

swap swap swap swap

2007-06-14T14:18:00.000-04:00

I have a TON of stuff to swap. As far as yarn goes, it's just the Nature Wool and a skein of Lion Wool Print in Majestic Mountain; but I'm also trying to unload a ton of jewelry-making supplies.

If you want the details, please click here. :)

Before I forget...

2007-06-12T20:32:00.000-04:00

Two groups on Flickr I wanted to post about.

Free Knit and Crochet Patterns - pictures of people's FOs made from free patterns, with links to the patterns! What a great idea.

Yarn Bouquet - pictures of how people have decorated their living spaces with yarn! Lots of fun. I'm still trying to think of something clever to do and post. It would have to be some kind of wall hanging, since it's not like I have any free surface space in my li'l studio. (Though I do have some ideas for temporary yarny decorations that I could post. Heheh...)

yarn for sale or swap

2007-06-12T14:23:00.000-04:00

I bought this Araucania Nature Wool (color 47 - turquoise) at a yarn store not long after I first started crocheting. I was just thinking about how pretty it was, not about how I can't wear wool and how no one I know can, either, and how crocheting with it would probably make my fingers itchy. D'OH!

Now, I would like to either sell or swap it. I'd ebay it, but I'm reluctant to do that because I think this yarn deserves better! ;) If you'd like it (I'm giving those who read this blog first dibs), let me know how much you would be willing to pay for it, or what cool non-wool yarn you'd be willing to swap it for. What would be especially great would be if I could swap it for a functional yarn ball winder.

After this post has been up for a bit, I'll probably also post this in some LiveJournal communities; but like I said, first dibs to you folks!

Not much else to report here. Still working away at that baby blanket, which is now more than halfway done.

Successful yarn shopping in RI, and my new jewelry blog

2007-06-09T15:13:00.001-04:00

yarn from Yarns at Lace Wings in RI
Originally uploaded by saintlex

While my fiance and I were in RI, we found this amazing yarn store called Yarns at Lace Wings. Oh my goodness. They had really nice yarn, at prices I could actually afford! I went bonkers, as evidenced by the photo. ;)

The purple tweedy yarn in the box is Tatamy Tweed. The photo didn't quite capture the color, which is a gorgeous mix of warm purples. I got enough to at least make a shrug. :) The other yarn in the box is Debbie Bliss Cathay. It was on sale, so I bought all that was left in these 2 colors! Should be enough to make something nice and stripey. In fact, I'm kind of wondering if the spiderweb cardigan would work in 2 colors, since I think I have enough to do that. We'll see.

Outside the box: the sparkly stuff on top is Berroco Jewel FX. I got 2 skeins of 2 different colors (more sale yarn, so that's what they had). SHINY! To the right of that is this AMAZING rayon boucle yarn that my beloved fiance bought for me (in a very sneaky manner, I might add!). I don't think any photo could ever do it justice. It's made by Blue Heron Yarns, and I think the colorway is called Sandstone? Anyway, I will have to figure out what I want to do with 212 yards of it. I want to make something I can wear, but 212 yards isn't enough unless I do a scarf or shawl (which I might), or mix it with another yarn.

To the right of the Blue Heron yarn is Berroco Boho Colors. I have been drooling over this stuff since I first saw the Java Jammie pattern on the Berroco web site. :) I don't think it was on sale, but I want my Java Jammie, goshdarnit! ;D The light green yarn directly to the left of the Boho Colors is a ribbon yarn by Artful Yarns. I'm a little confused about what it's called. The price tag covering the labels says "Cinema 193" and "Norman Bates." The dark green yarn directly below it is a ladder yarn, Berroco Mosaic FX.

Finally, the yarn in the plastic bag is an adorable eyelash yarn from Sweden called Funny, made by Pelsgarn (or is it the other way around? I somehow doubt that the company's name is "Funny," though).

I also bought some pretty buttons and some stitch holders, not pictured.

Then we went to Joann. Boy, was I askin' for it. :P Needless to say, I am now beyond broke (gotta love credit cards). I bought the box in the picture there, and I found the yarn I'd been looking for for the Snuggly Scarf! It was indeed Corinthian, and they had 5 skeins that looked just like the one I'd bought to make my scarf. I snapped 'em up. A pic is somewhere in the near future; right now, my camera's batteries are recharging.

I also bought a lot of beads. I used to make a lot of jewelry. Then I stopped. Now I've started up again, mainly because I am tired of wearing the same old stuff. ;)

If you'd like to see the beaded earrings I've been making lately, please head on over to my handmade jewelry blog at smiling-turtle.livejournal.com.

I also moderate a community over on LJ about fair trade/ethically made beads and jewelry supplies, which I started a long time ago when I first realized that most beads are made by people working in the worst kinds of conditions. If you bead and are at all concerned about such things, hop on over--I just posted a list of suppliers of good fair trade beads. It's a good start, even though the list hasn't been updated in a long time (but I did check the make sure the companies are still around!).

Losing patience with Flickr...

2007-06-09T10:37:00.000-04:00

The deal with Flickr: you pay $25 to get a "pro" account and store as many pictures as you want, or you get a free account and you only get a certain amount of storage space. That much, I'm OK with. What I'm decidedly not OK with, is the fact that your old photos "disappear" to make room for the new ones. You don't have a choice as to which ones get "archived" (meaning no one can see them but gee, they're still on the site somewhere and you'll just have to take their word for it).

Are there any free, reliable image hosting services that don't do this crap, but that also do the image resizing for you? (I really like the fact that Flickr makes your images into different sizes for you while still keeping the original.) I don't need unlimited image hosting, but I do want to select which of my photos are kept and which ones are not.

Apart from the fact that I don't have an extra $25 right now, I wouldn't choose to spend it on image hosting if I did. (YARN! Need YARRRRRN! And BEADS!) ;D

black crocheted flower brooch with Czech fire polish beads

2007-06-08T14:54:00.001-04:00

black crocheted flower brooch with czech fire polish beads
Originally uploaded by saintlex

Here's the flower brooch I made to fasten the sash for my bridesmaid outfit for my friend's wedding, which was last Saturday. It was a big success (the flower, AND the wedding!). :D

I made the flower with Caron Simply Soft in black, using a pattern from the Lion Brand web site. I sewed the beads on afterward, since I had a limited amount of time to make the flower and didn't think it would be so great to experiment with bead crochet right then. I used Czech fire polish beads. At first, I thought they looked too much like little bugs; but the full effect wound up being very nice. I'm sure I'll get to wear it again, especially if there's any sash-fastening going on. ;)

Back to work, baby blankie, and a request for flower patterns

2007-05-30T11:13:00.000-04:00

My Meez is knitting at the office. *giggle* I've been sick for a while, but I made it in to work yesterday afternoon and will be doing the same today. I won't actually be crocheting at work, but my Meez can get away with it. ;)

I am almost halfway done with the blanket for the new baby. It's a very easy pattern, but it takes a while. It will be a very warm blanket, which I guess will be more useful in the winter...though it would also make a good playmat. It's nice and thick. It's going to have a hood, but who cares if it's a hooded playmat? It's all good.

Tomorrow, my fiance and I are heading out to RI for the wedding of one of my best friends, in which I am a bridesmaid. Before we go, I need to have made a black flower brooch to fasten my sash (our bridesmaid outfits have cute sashes) and a pair of earrings to match the necklace I'm going to wear. The earrings will be easy--I already know what I'm going to do--but I don't know about the flower. *gulp* I've never tried one of those before. I'm not even sure which pattern I should use. I'll be using Caron Simply Soft, and I want a flower that will be about 3 inches in diameter.

Any suggestions for a pattern that would yield that result?

I'm gonna sew beads onto it afterward (I'd start crocheting with beads, but I don't want to do that with a first attempt, since I won't really know how it'll look till I'm done).

I had to miss last night's KUTI meeting. I'd had every intention of going, and then it turned out that the air conditioner repair guy could come fix my A/C sometime around 7 PM, and I had to go for it 'cause it's been HOT in my apartment. I stopped in at our meeting place at around 6:15 and didn't see anyone there yet, though evidently there was a group member in line buying her dinner. D'oh.

It's just as well that I didn't see her, though, 'cause I would have hung out and talked for a little while...and meanwhile, the A/C guy was already at my place! He'd forgotten to take my cell phone number with him, so he was there waiting when I got home at about 6:30. He did a great job with the A/C (and didn't charge much!). YAY!

My mom, wearing birthday scarf and birthday earrings!

2007-05-27T17:51:00.001-04:00

our favorite scarf configuration
Originally uploaded by saintlex

Look, it's my beautiful mother, wearing...the birthday scarf! Yes, today was the day. Not her birthday yet, but the day we celebrated, since her b-day is in the middle of the week.

I made her earrings, too. They were made with sunstone and gold-filled beads. It all looked so good on her!

Here she is workin' the scarf-as-sash look:

Here she is with little ol' me, wearing the scarf loose. It looks pretty this way, too:

And finally, the earrings, for your viewing pleasure:

I put hearts on them.

2007-05-25T21:40:00.001-04:00

baby mary janes with hearts
Originally uploaded by saintlex

I just could not help myself! :) Ooh, I can't wait to see those little baby feet in 'em.

I found instructions for the heart appliques here: Suzetta's Heart Motif

A pair of Mary Janes!

2007-05-25T13:55:00.001-04:00

baby mary jane - pair
Originally uploaded by saintlex

Yay, I finished them! :) I am still thinking about putting some kind of tiny applique on them (a heart or flower or something), but I should probably work on the baby blanket instead. I'd really like to have it done on time.

Baby Mary Jane!

2007-05-25T09:54:00.001-04:00

baby mary jane
Originally uploaded by saintlex

I was thinking about the baby booties last night. The one I'd been working on was coming out nicely, but it was big and thick and warm-looking, and this baby is being born in the spring. I realized that it would probably be a better idea to make something the baby could wear in the spring and summer.

I started looking for patterns, and I came up with one for "Fake Mary Janes." I couldn't resist!

I whipped this one up pretty quickly, though it took me a little while to get the hang of it. The pattern calls for an I hook, but I had to use a K hook, and the sole still came out to only 3 inches (the pattern says the sole should be 3.5"). I am a fairly tight crocheter, and I guess the designer crochets more loosely than most? I don't know what's "normal," or if there is any such thing. ;) Anyway, I am sure the second Mary Jane will be even easier to make. :)

This is Caron Simply Soft yarn; can't remember the color name, but it's more purple than it looks in this picture.

2007-05-25T07:56:00.000-04:00

These baby Ugg boot booties are the cutest things I've ever seen.

I now know what to make my youngest niece for the holidays! (I'm mainly posting this so I don't forget, and so others can see the pattern...)

WsIP: bit of a baby blanket and boxy baby booties

2007-05-24T17:52:00.000-04:00

How was that for alliteration?! ;P

Here's a pic of the baby blanket I'm working on for my newest niece, who has yet to be born:

It's Lion Pound of Love yarn; I'm making this with the hooded baby blanket pattern from the label. It can also be found on the Lion web site.

And some baby booties I started working on today--I've only got one about halfway done:

The yarn at the top is a stitch marker for the instep. They're gonna have cuffs and pompoms. The pattern is from Vogue Knitting "Crochet Basics" (see sidebar if you're curious). I'm using Caron Simply Soft and an F hook (the pattern calls for a G hook and sport weight yarn).

And just for fun, here's the Lion Homespun yarn in Candy Apple that I received yesterday.

Isn't the color gorgeous? Not what I'd expected, and nowhere near as soon as I'd expected it, but very nice indeed. (I think it will make a lovely poncho for my oldest niece. I even have the pattern picked out!)

And another update!

2007-05-24T15:09:00.000-04:00

Now I'm not sure if the "mystery color" of Lion Homespun is indeed Mexicana, or if it was a skein of Corinthian that just came out looking different from the others. I've done a lot of Google-ing on this very important issue, and it appears that many items made out of Corinthian come out in colors very similar to my beloved snuggly scarf.

Hmmmmm.

In other crochet-related news, I've been working on a "Pound of Love" hooded baby blanket for my newest niece, who should be arriving any day now. I am not even halfway done! *gulp* Luckily, it's not my only gift for the baby. ;) I bought a really cute gift set with little short-sleeved bodysuits and socks to match. I'm also going to make some easy baby booties.

Yay!

I am still working on that present for a friend of mine...looks like it may not be done by the date I was aiming for. Arghhhh. She may just have to wait. That kind of sucks. But the gift is taking longer to work up than I'd expected.

And there is another friend for whom I'd really like to make a gift, but that one will definitely be late for it's intended occasion. Well, we'll see how all this works out. After all, I do still have that spiderweb cardi to make for myself, and my 2 bags to work on, and my socks!

I also really want to make a black crocheted flower brooch (I'm planning to sew some beads onto it, too) to fasten my sash with for my bridesmaid's outfit for my friend D's wedding. The outfits are so cute--long turquoise skirts, black sleeveless tops with sweetheart necklines, and turquoise sashes. And I'm making my own jewelry. I already have a necklace I made that goes perfectly; I'll just need some matching earrings and the brooch, and I'll be good to go.

UPDATE: Lion Homespun mystery solved

2007-05-24T01:21:00.001-04:00

Turns out it's a discontinued color called Mexicana.

Anyone know where I might find some? :-/

Lion Homespun confusion and an ebay seller rant

2007-05-23T20:21:00.001-04:00

snuggly scarf
Originally uploaded by saintlex.

Here, once again, is the photo of my lovely "snuggly scarf." It was made with Lion Homespun, and I could've sworn the label said the color was Candy Apple. I received some Lion Homespun Candy Apple yarn that I'd ordered in the mail today, and lo and behold, Candy Apple is just plain red. (Very pretty, but not at all like the colors in my scarf!)

I have been looking everywhere, and have seen no other Lion Homespun yarn that looks like this colorway. The closest are Corinthian and Fiesta, but they aren't nearly pink enough. When I purchased the skein that this scarf was made from, it was the last one of its kind left at Michaels.

Does anyone know what color this is? Is it discontinued? If there is any possible way I can get my hands on it, I would really like to. I want to make a scarf in these colors for my grandma, since it looked so good on her when she tried it on.

I did buy some Lion Homespun in Fuchsia, which is close but without the orange and green mixed in. I guess it'll do for Grams for now, but I so want to get more of this yarn.

On a different (but related) note, the ebay seller I bought the red yarn from was really mean. The listing (and all of her listings) said the yarn would be delivered within "48 business hours." Um, OK. This is ebay. Ebay runs 24/7.

Next thing I know, it's been 2 weeks and the yarn isn't here yet. I send her an e-mail, and she explains that 48 "business hours" means 6 days, because the "business day" is 8 hours long. Uhhh...not on ebay, the last time I checked.

But it gets worse, because it was obviously NOT sent within 6 business days. It was sent via Priority Mail and got here today. That means it was sent on 5/18, at the earliest. It was purchased (and paid for) on 5/8.

I e-mailed the seller several times, and each time she was completely unapologetic. I wound up leaving negative feedback, and she left negative feedback for me, and I wouldn't really care except that she said I "refuse to understand English." WHAT?! Just because I think her whole "48 business hours" thing is misleading, she accuses me of not understanding English?! I'm an editor, for @#$%'s sake.

*sigh*

OK, sorry for venting. I just don't like mean people.

8 random things about me

2007-05-23T00:21:00.000-04:00

Maven "unofficially" tagged me, so I figured I'd give this a shot. ;) Seeing as how this is a crochet blog and I try not to let it overlap with the personal too much, it's gonna be a bit challenging! Here goes.

The rules:
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules
3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

My eight things:

1. I'm a messy person. (If a messy desk is a sign of creativity, what does a messy apartment mean?)
2. I have a phobia of crowds.
3. I rarely crochet when I'm not watching TV.
4. My fiance and I were finishing each other's sentences as soon as we met.
5. We met online (so yeah, we started finishing each other's sentences before we met in person!).
6. I make beaded jewelry, and used to make polymer clay jewelry as well (I'll probably take it up again at some point).
7. I was on HGTV's "Crafters Coast To Coast" (now known as "That's Clever!") a few years ago, demonstrating how to make a polymer clay turtle necklace and polymer clay heart charm bracelet. They still air the episode sometimes.
8. I have had a "thing" for socks long before I started to crochet. I have lots of fun socks.

I now tag anyone else reading this who feels like posting 8 random things about herself/himself. Have fun. :)

Meez, take 2.

2007-05-22T16:40:00.000-04:00

My meez got the knitting needles! YAY!!! :) Now she is happily knitting away on the sidebar of this blog. I gave her a starry background to celebrate.

She's dressed just like I am today, except for the necklace--which is just like one I've been intending to make for a while. I have the beads (they're made out of turquoise-colored shell) and everything.

Me make sock.

2007-05-20T13:18:00.001-04:00

sock 5-20-07
Originally uploaded by saintlex.

My progress so far. I don't think I like the cuff so much. I thought about frogging it and trying a different pattern, but I've been working really hard on this, and it looks so goshdarn cute in the picture. ;) I'll just keep going, and try a different pattern for the next pair.

It has occurred to me that the "Summer of Socks 2007" does not actually start till sometime in June, and I have other projects that are gifts I really should be working on...so many WsIP, so little time. (I mean, I've had A LOT of time lately; that's why I've started so many things! But I'm planning to be back to my regularly scheduled 9-to-5 work life soon. Very soon. *fingers crossed*)

Meet my Meez.

2007-05-19T13:31:00.000-04:00

She is sad because she cannot have knitting needles like Deneen's. (They don't have a crochet hook option, so knitting will have to do.) She's just hangin' out in her messy living room (much like myself!), with nothing to do (unlike myself). ;)

You can help her, though! Just go create your own Meez. When you go to save it and create an account, put in "yarrrrrn" where it asks if another user referred you. I will then get points, which I can spend on knitting needles! Yay! C'mon, you know you wanna. :D

UPDATE: I am now supposed to have "coinz" with which to buy stuff, and the web site says I don't. I'm working on getting this fixed. Meanwhile, my Meez is VERY upset, as you can probably tell. (She is also upset because all her shirts appear to have a hole in the right underarm...)

Sock help?

2007-05-18T23:38:00.000-04:00

I have been working on my first pair of socks. Well, right now, it's just part of one sock. ;) Anyway, I've been trying to work with the pattern for In Your Shoes Ankle Socks from Crochet Me...and I'm having some trouble.

I made the cuff, which looks great. After some deliberation, I managed to sc 2 rounds of 36 stitches each around the cuff, though I was quite confused because it didn't say whether to join the rounds or not (I slip stitched them together; dunno if I was supposed to).

Now, however, it says to "sc across front half of tube." Following the pattern as I have been, I started my rounds of sc at the back seam after slip stitching it together so I wouldn't have to cut the yarn. I thought that was what the author meant...but now, the only way I can think of to crochet 18 sc across the front of the cuff is to cut the yarn and start sc-ing the front part. The pattern doesn't say anything about whether this is what I'm supposed to do or not.

To make matters worse, the author, Pam, appears to be MIA. Her blog link doesn't work, and I haven't found a current one anywhere. I did find someone else who seems to have made socks according to the pattern, so maybe I'll try asking her my questions?

Any help would be much appreciated!

boxes 'o' yarn

2007-05-17T13:41:00.001-04:00

box o yarn 5-16
Originally uploaded by saintlex.

The package I got yesterday from Smiley's! Hooray! That's the RH Symphony up at the top. The 5 "columns" of yarn on the left are all Bernat Sox; the 2 "columns" on the right are Bernat Handicrafter Cotton.

So very very exciting!

And nine balls of Lion Trellis that I got for a steal on ebay:

I was so excited that I ripped the box! ;D

At long last, some pictures.

2007-05-17T12:29:00.000-04:00

I just uploaded a whole bunch of pictures to Flickr, so I guess it's time for some show & tell. :)

Here's my work so far on the Spiderweb Cardigan (crappy yarn and all):

The yarn has a tendency to split, so there's some funky stuff going on, but I still think it looks pretty. If it continues to work up like this, I think I may come out with a decent sweater. :)

This is a bag that I'm working on. Nothing too fancy. No real pattern, though it's loosely based on this.

And another bag:

That is my work thus far on the Donnell bag. (Click here if you'd like to see another pic of mine.) I will post a picture or two when it's finished, of course.

I have more pictures to post, but I'm saving them for other entries. Yes, it's another Image Bombardment Day, courtesy of Alexis. Enjoy! Hope your connection is fast...

Smiley's Yarns makes me all smiley!!

2007-05-16T18:41:00.000-04:00

Remember that load of yarn I ordered from Smiley's Yarns that I posted about just the other day? It's already here! Granted, it didn't have to travel far--they're in Queens, NY--but I am so very impressed. And overjoyed. The Bernat Sox colors are only OK, in my opinion, but it was cheap and now I get to make socks. :)

The Red Heart Symphony yarn is nice and fuzzy and should work well for the capelet I want to make with it.

The Bernat Handicrafter Cotton? YUM. Will have to make some nice things with it. I have some good colors for stripes. Hmmmm.

I have been working on the Spiderweb Cardigan from my last post. It took me a relatively short time to realize that my gauge was actually WAY smaller than what the pattern called for! Frog time. Ribbit. I am going to try using my K hook instead of the H. I even wanted to try my L hook, after what people have said about too-small armholes; but I can't find it! *gasp* I'll just have to see what happens with the K. This pattern is going to be quite the experiment for me. Maybe not the best choice for my first sweater, but I love a challenge. ;)

nice yarn versus...

2007-05-16T12:34:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I decided that I really wanted to make this sweater from the spring 2007 issue of Interweave Crochet:

I had already known I wanted to make it, but I had thought I would bide my time. Suddenly, yesterday, it became "Now now NOW!" Oy vey.

I did not own the amount of sport weight yarn called for in this project, much less the amount of fancy-schmancy sport weight cotton yarn called for. So I made a deal with myself. After spending some time at last night's KUTI meeting (which was lovely, but I had to leave early 'cause I wasn't feeling well), I decided that, if I could find suitable yarn for the sweater at the Wal-Mart across the street for $10 or less, I could make the sweater.

Imagine my excitement when I found sport weight Red Heart "Baby Soft" yarn, and enough of it only cost me 7 bucks! Sweet, right?

Not really.

The yarn is crappy. I mean, maybe it's OK for certain other projects, but it is not soft (funny that), and of course it is not at all cotton-like (100% acrylic). I am making the sweater out of it anyway--it's my first sweater, so I may as well use a very affordable yarn because I may well screw it up. And if it turns out right, it will still look pretty, but it won't have anywhere near the same nice drape that the cotton would.

*sigh*

I am considering getting enough worsted weight cotton yarn for the sweater and just using a smaller hook, but I'll see what this one comes out like first.

Are there any affordable, easy-to-find sport weight cotton yarns out there? I haven't seen 'em, but that doesn't mean they're not there... ;)

I am really, really, really BAD.

2007-05-14T16:28:00.000-04:00

I just got an e-mail from a friend on the KUTI list about the Smiley's Yarns Manhattan Sale. Well, I don't get into Manhattan much--parking there is horrendously expensive, and train tickets + subway tickets = ouch as well. Add to that the fact that they don't take credit cards at the sale, and that I hate crowds, and it's pretty easy to guess that I won't be there. ;P

However...I decided to check out the yarn sales on the Smiley's Internet Yarn Sale site, seeing as how I had clicked on over to their main site anyway. OOPS!

$56 worth of yarn later, I'm feeling a little silly. And a little guilty. And I GOT LOADS OF YARN AT ABOUT $1.50/SKEIN (including shipping). So I'd say I'm also feeling a lot of happy. *giggle*

They have Bernat Sox yarn on sale for $1/skein, and it's the only cheap non-wool sock yarn I know of. I'd been searching for it for a while, but now it's even more important seeing as how I've joined up with the Summer of Socks 2007 sock-along. ;D (By the way, you should all join up if you haven't already, so I can see what lovely socks you make! I've never made a pair of socks before. I'm so excited.)

Anyway, I got a whole lot of sock yarn, a bunch of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton (I've been wanting to try that out), and enough Red Heart Symphony (a synthetic mohair-like yarn) to try out at least 1 pattern I really like that calls for mohair.

WHEE!

The doctor I'm seeing on Friday had better get me feeling better real soon, so I won't have time to spend quite so much money on yarn. *gulp*

A cool link

2007-05-13T21:30:00.001-04:00

These folks are crocheting a coral reef.

Happy auntie-ness for me, and happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-13T13:08:00.000-04:00

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! Hope you're all having a great day with your moms/kids/whomever. I am going to see my mom and my grandmother in a little while. :)

Yesterday was my nephew's birthday party, so my fiance, my mom, my grandmother and I drove up to Rockland County to my sister and bro-in-law's house. It was loads of fun. And here's the crochet-related part: I finally got to give Kristy her hat! And ohmygod it looks so adorable on her. And not only that--she loves it! :) :) :)

I was expecting that she might not like having it on her head and so might not like it or something, but she is already pretty attached to it. We put it on her yesterday, and she took it off after a little while, but you couldn't take it away from her without her bursting into tears! Awwww! And she doesn't seem to object much to having it on her head. We got a good picture, which I would post except for the fact that my sister has Internet privacy issues, so I should respect that.

I will probably post it as friends-only on my Flickr account, though.

I am a very happy auntie! I am also soon to be an aunt again--my sister's 4th child is due in 3 weeks! How exciting. I am planning to crochet at least one present for the newborn--I'd better get a move on!