Let's play catch-up...2012 FO's

Um, holy wow. It's been a very long time since I last posted here. I didn't mean to neglect my blog! Honest! I have a lot of projects I haven't posted here yet (all of these are from back in 2012, and of course I have stuff from 2013, too), so I'll have to pick and choose. Without further ado:


Here's a duck in an apple hat (the hat comes off), pattern from Ana Paula Rimoli's book Amigurumi Toy Box. She's the mommy duck from the Mom & Baby Duck pattern. First and only amigurumi I've made (so far). I gave her to my best friend for her birthday - in July 2012!

I have to say, I love amigurumi (so cute!) but I don't really like making them, or at least I didn't really enjoy making this one. They involve using small-ish hooks so there aren't holes for the stuffing to come through, which makes for some fiddly, fussy work. (I pretty much reserve the words "fiddly" and "fussy" for crochet. Heh.) My main issue with this ducky, though, was the sewing. You have to sew the limbs on, but there are no specific instructions in the book as to how to do that. I searched the Internet and found no further information on the best way to sew amigurumi limbs, so I just went ahead and did it however I thought I should. In my opinion, the beak didn't come out quite right because of it. Oh well. I'd like to try one of Stacey Trock's patterns sometime; maybe that'd be easier? Anyone know?

Oh great...I'd written a whole long blog entry with photos, and then Firefox crashed. Apparently I didn't save the rest of it, so here we go again. I don't have time to rewrite the whole thing, but I'll do what I can.

And I tried again, and it got "eaten" again, this time by Blogger. OK...third time's a charm, right? *sigh*

Here's the finished Seraphina I made for my mom. Unfortunately, she thought it was too short...so she decided to steal my grandmother's instead. I know that sounds awful, but it's not so awful considering that Grams wasn't using hers and has dementia and doesn't even really know what to do with a shawl now. (I mean, the dementia thing is awful, my mom's taking the shawl - not so much.)

 

This beautiful creation is the #09 Cowl by Kazekobo from the 2012 issue of Vogue Knitting Crochet magazine. Love it. Used my Debbie Bliss Cathay, and the yarn was perfect for the design.

And here is my finished Wingspan:

 Here's a bad mirror selfie of me wearing it:

I'm just going to end this blog post here because I'm afraid of losing it again. More to come soon, unless I procrastinate again, which I hope I won't!

And the winner is...

C.C. with this adorable pic of a turtle knitting! Congratulations, C.C.! I will be in touch with you so I can send you the spoon stitch markers. I look forward to hearing about how they work (I hope they work well! If not, back to the snag-free-knitting-stitch-marker drawing board).

All of your entries were so much fun! I highly recommend taking a look at the comments from my last blog post and following all the links. Thanks so much to those who participated.

I continue to knit away at my "Turtle"-colored cotton chenille blanket. It's coming along. I'm on my 2nd skein of yarn, out of 9. Will post better pictures of that soon.

Snag-free spoon stitch markers GIVEAWAY

If you've been following this blog, you may have read about my spoon stitch markers in this entry. Well, a friend suggested that I try making "snag free" spoon stitch markers for knitting. If you search for snag free stitch markers on Etsy, you come up with a whole lot of different designs - most of which I would not guarantee to be snag free, but that's just me being picky. I tried a few different things, and after a lot of effort, I've come up with these:




They are pretty large and will fit needles up to at least size 11. I would like them to be "road-tested," and I could test them out myself, but what would be the fun in that? So I am giving away the set of stitch markers in these photos, on the condition that the winner will use them as soon and as often as possible, and let me know how they hold up.

Here is what you can do for your chance to win: post the funniest/most fun turtle picture or video you can find. The winner's picture or video will be posted to the Smiling Turtle Facebook page, and the winner gets the stitch markers! Please make sure I have a way to contact you in case you win! :)

Feel free to promote this giveaway on other sites. Contest ends on February 9, 2013 at 12 AM EST.

Submitted for listing on Online-Sweepstakes.com. If you know of any other good sites for contest promotion, please share with me! Thanks!

Edited to add: the beautiful dishcloth in the background was knitted by my very talented sister, Ashley.

Yesterday: really good mail day!

I got the most wonderful things in the mail yesterday. Here's a picture:

The goodies: Ravelry Design Contest Project Bag, Selling Your Crafts Online by Michael Miller (which I'd been wanting for a long time after seeing it at the bookstore), The Knitter's Companion by Vicki Square (which I'd been wanting for a long time and just taking out of the library over and over and over again!), and a ceramic turtle business card holder from StrokesofMadness. All are things I ordered for myself, but it was so much fun to get them all at the same time! The business card holder looks great with my cards.  

WIP Wednesday

Here's what I'm working on these days (and probably will be for a while): a garter stitch lap blanket in bulky cotton chenille yarn by Yarntopia Treasures in the "Turtle" colorway (which I found in their Etsy store). When I first saw this yarn, I knew it was meant to be. It's called "Turtle," and it's got purple in it! It practically had my name on it. (Well, actually, it did have my name on it--part of my business name, anyway!) I'd been wanting to make a blanket for myself, and this is the perfect yarn for it.

Of course, in the past week, it's gone from about 20 degrees (F) to about 50. That's what I get for starting to make something warm. ;) I'm sure the temps will go down again, though. It is January, after all.

 
And there's a close-up. Look how pretty this yarn is! I kind of hate working with it, since it has no "give" whatsoever and that makes my hands hurt, and my stitching looks kind of sloppy...but the end result makes me so happy that I can't stop!

Hello out there!

Happy New Year! I realize it's been a really long time since my last post. I was crocheting up a storm for a while there, and I'll try to post about that another time; but now I've returned to my other passion: making things with beads. The Etsy store is open again. Here's a little sample for your viewing pleasure: I've been making loads of stitch markers. The spoons are my latest. They are a nod to The Spoon Theory, a wonderful article by Christine Miserandino about living with a chronic illness. Spoons have come to symbolize awareness of diseases such as lupus and fibromyalgia, which affect many, including some close to me. I plan to make spoon earrings soon, and maybe some other spoon jewelry if the customers want it. Also, snag-free spoon stitch markers just for knitting are in the works. (I may yet try to do snag-free ones for crochet, too...Keep an eye out!)

I've also been working on selling a bunch of things on eBay (click here if you'd like to see). I'm selling my father-in-law's amazing collection of vintage hand-carved pipes--he hasn't smoked since the 1970's and has no place to display them, so it made sense to sell them. They are worth a look at my eBay items just to see the beautiful craftsmanship. I have a new admiration for pipes now! I've got 3 up for auction at the moment, with many more coming in the next few weeks/months. Also available are a vintage 1980's Lando Calrissian (Star Wars - Empire Strikes Back) action figure, unopened; and a few other items.

There are 2 knitting projects that I want to start: a Cloudsoft Cowl with some amazing Filatura Di Crosa Superior yarn in a gorgeous lavender color that my mom gave me over the summer, and a basic garter stitch blanket using Yarntopia Treasures Bulky Cotton Chenille in the "Turtle" colorway (not pictured, but it's got green and purple and oh boy is it yummy!). I want to start the cowl at Stitch & Bitch so I can get some help, but I think I'll start the blankie on my own. I just hope I'll actually do it soon. I've been so busy with the Etsy and eBay shops and various other life stuff.

I now have a Facebook page! Please go "like" it if...well...if you like it. ;) I post Etsy and eBay stuff and some other fun things including cute turtles and funny stuff that's relevant. Please remember to "like" each update so they'll keep showing up in your newsfeed. Thank you!!

And that's it for now. Time to drink more coffee and make more stitch markers!