There should be a bad blogger award. I haven't updates since JUNE! You'll just have to trust me, I've done some crafty stuff. Plus, I'm having another baby! Whoot--due March 10, 2008 and it's a GIRL. So lots of fun, girly crafts, YAY!

Here's some recent stuff:
Up first, a soaker for my friend Betsy's new daughter, Georgia. The trim is Lion wool, the body is undyed Purewool, 3 ply. As usual, I've used the Punk Knitter's free pattern. Size Sm/med because I used a smaller needle on the medium pattern. The legs are a bit snug which is leading me to consider buying this pattern by Radiant Twist.

Also, on the creative frontier, I've made a toddler backpack and crayon roll for our neighbor girl's birthday on Saturday. She already loves to wear backpacks, so I figured this would be a great gift.

My crayon roll is far, far less complicated that the one I gave credit to for the idea--mine rolls up a little chunkier, but I think it was less work. Plus it has a flap like needle rolls so the crayons won't fall out. I cut 2 rectangles, one from denim the other from a woven cotton/poly blend, measuring 15x20. Sew right sides together, leaving a hole to turn. Turn. Figure out where you would like the fastener to be--I did mine almost halfway up the 14" and place it in the seam. I used a bright-colored hair elastic instead of a ribbon since I'm giving this to a 2 year-old who can't tie a bow. Topstitch all around. I folded one of the long edges up approx 2.5" and pinned. Then using a long ruler, I put a pin every 1/2", which holds 2 crayons perfectly. Now, my measurements did not equal 12 (24 pack of crayons) perfect slots--I knew I'd have an inch to account for, so I make 1/2" seams on each end. I sewed each little pocket, making sure to backstich so it won't fall apart down the road. It's done! All you do is fold the flap over and roll it up! Sweet!


Stay tuned, 'cause I've got several Christmas crafts and one neice's bedroom to post about. I swear it won't be another six months.

Okay, who am I kidding? No one is reading this anyway!

My First Time........

with felt--what were you thinking dirty-mind? LOL

I think I might be in trouble. I LOVED felting this crown from Little Turtle Knits. It's for a special little girl's Christmas. Mine came out a little taller than i expected, but I like the result better. She'll be able to wear it for several years, hopefully.

But really, felting is like magic. You put this MONSTER sized knitted tube with pointed ends in the washer and you pull out a cool crown. Impatient me forgot to before pictures of the crown, pre-felting. But trust me, it was huge. Like as long as my whole arm & hand. What's so great about felting you ask? You don't have to be perfect because it all get mushed up in the final project!

I've got a couple more crowns to make and then i'm moving onto slippers.

Beware of UFO's

UFOs everywhere I look! (UnFinished Objects--or as I like to call them, the status quo) The grey soaker was an attempt to make a night time solution for Trapper's diaper issues. He HATES it and will not wear it. Great. Glad I wasted my time on that one. At least I didn't waste time finishing the cuffs. The waistband is bi colored b/c I was trying to use up scraps. The rainbow soaker is for a friends' baby to wear in at least 12 months. It's a tad bigger than I anticipated, but that's my own fault. I hate the mere idea of swatching--so I've never done it. I've yet to have something really be screwed up beyond wearability. The yarn is the skein I dyed way back in the day and the pink is some Purewool I dyed the other week.

Another attempt to avoid the frump!

Update--that fishing line was itchy as hell and I cut the beads off the second I got home. Back to the ol' drawingboard. But it did look cute.

No, the zebra isn't part of the top. That's a napkin strategically placed to help show the neckline and hide the size of the shirt.

I'm total stoked about this. $7 for the tank at Old Navy on clearance, $1.88 for the turquoise beads at Walmart, free ultra thin fishing line from my neighbor--not too shabby. Since I'm the tank top queen, I needed a fancy-Sunday-go-to-meeting tank, LOL.

And the coolest part is that it took me five minutes, so I can just clip the beads off and save them when i want to wear it plain. For most people that would be too much of pain in the ass, but hey, I'm not most folks........................

I'm taking a mental respite

This is the table project that will NEVER die. I may die first at this rate.

In the second photo, you can see what the finish used to look like on the sides of the leaf. It started chipping the day we brought it home--we should have taken it back but we didn't for various (lazy) reasons. All along, I've been swearing I would refinish it. Then I discover it's veneer and not solid wood. Nice. (OT: remember that Frasier episode where Niles & Frasier and Marty watch Antiques Road Show and take a drink every time someones says "veneer?" If you haven't it's freaking hilarious.) I decided that I would do a porcelain crackle finish. Above is the primer and base coat as I was halfway through.

So I started by sanding. The finish was so poor that all it did was flake off and gum up the sandpaper, so I moved onto chemicals. This worked really, really well and very quickly I might add. Then the primer--which here is mistake #2 (or#3 if you count buying the stupid table in the first place). I got an OIL based primer but didn't discover it until I tried to clean the roller and ended up with a roller of white oily dreadlocks.

So it was back to Mecca, I mean Lowe's for another primer. A coat of that. Then 2-3 coats of the base paint. Mistake #4--I used a cleaned roller for the second coat and discovered that i hadn't cleaned the roller as well as I thought. It left little sandy speckles and pissed me right off! Okay, sand that down, one more coat.

Finally (I think) onto the crackle medium. So I put it on in what I would consider a thick coat. But not thick enough. If you're keeping track we're onto #5 on the mistake countdown. The thicker the coat of crackle medium, the nicer the crackle looks. I put another layer on with a roller rather than a brush this time. #6--it left little air bubbles that TOTALLY ruined the crackleyness.

I've sanded it down and taken a mental respite from this Godforsaken tabletop. If I could lift it, I would have thrown it across the yard, similar to the BBQ coup of 2003--a story for another day. What a freaking disaster.

I needed to be creative............so................I got to sewing!



This clutch came out far better than i anticipated. There were mistakes, but nothing so boneheaded that you'd get a chuckle from them. The pattern is a freebie. I was wanting something to carry for Friday night when my uberchic friend from Miami is in town. She knows me pretty well, so it's just an ego-booster for me because she is spectacular-looking and dammit, I don't want to feel frumpy!

So for all my friends who think I do crafts so perfectly, this post is for you. See, I mess up ALL the time--i just don't tell you about it. Wink.

Crazy Daisies for my niece, Malea

I did some decorative painting in my niece Malea's new bedroom. For her birthday, her parents painted, bought new furniture and bedding. She asked me to do paint "flowers and butterflies." You see how cute she is, how could i resist?

This was done using sponges, believe it or not. Her bedding looks like it was sponge-painted so I thought it would work out well. I hand cut the two different petals, centers and leaves.

First, I got my husband to help me draw level lines around the room so it all didn't get crooked. Thank goodness for laser levels! Then I painted the bigger pink flowers, randomly placing them where I thought they needed to be. Then came the purple flowers, centers and leaves. After it was all dry, I went back and added leaf and petal details. Then i stamped a couple butterflies with a chunky foam stamp. The final step was to use a glitter glaze (which probably doesn't show up in the pictures) on the petals.

All in all, I am super pleased with how this turned out. I even surprised myself! LOL! Malea was stoked about it, so that was nice, too! And the paints and sponges were under $10 total. Can't beat that with a stick. I'd love to do this as a side business, but I'm afraid I'd get in over my head! If someone wanted a horse or football player, I'd be screwed!

Chocolate so pretty!

That's what Trapper said when I gave him his new felt doughnut. Then he called it a tire. Boys!

I was inspired to make this felt confection by this website. http://www.sewdorky.com/ I say inspired, but it's more like copying. Hey, I can't think of everything first............

If you want to make one, check out this tutorial on www.craftster.org

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=46368.0

I sewed mine by hand, so if you don't have a machine it's pretty simple to do the old fashioned way. The sprinkles are a varigated baby yarn. In hindsight, I shouldn't have used pastels b/c they are washed out. Next time, I'll use something smaller to make the middle hole--the spool I used was a skoash too big.

Trapper's Easter Basket

Finally!

I really didn't think I'd pull this one out. The only thing I didn't accomplish is the homemade playdough I was going to make. Oh well! There's kind of a color theme going: green, orange, blue, brown.

In the basket is:

1 brown flannel bunny, courtesy of this free pattern:

http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/wee_wonderfuls/downloads/Wee-Bunny.pdf

the carrot is my design!

1 star lacer for hand-eye coordination and dexterity

3 pom pom chickies

3 paper mache eggs

Scrub-a-dub

Dishcloths! These are intended as gifts (shhhhhhhhh!) for Easter. I've got several more to make, though. I'm going to do some solids, too. It might be hard to see in the picture, but there is a wafflely/weavey pattern (yes, that's a technical term). The yarn is good ole Peaches-n-Cream cotton. Surprisingly, I have enjoyed knitting with it. I think cheap cotton yarn is the reason cheap aluminum needles were invented--they go well together, I think.

here's my homemade pattern:

Size 8 needles

1 ball of Peaches-n-Cream cotton yarn

I personally don't think gauge is too important on this project, lol.

Cast on 30 stitches

work in garter for 2 rows

*Knit 5, Purl 5* all the way across

Reapeat for 6 rows

*Purl 5, Knit 5* all the way across

Repeat for 6 rows

Repeat this pattern for 2 more times

Work in garter for 2 rows

Bind off.

I probably wrote that really pitifully, but hey--it's dishcloth, not rocket science!

Boredom strikes

I'm not making anymore of the preemie hats. I'm bored with them and why torture myself? I need to look up the addy to send the 8 I already made.

Onto more Easter crafts! I'm trying to make Trapper's Easter basket mostly handmade. Okay, Peeps aren't handmade, but he really like "mishmellows" as he calls them.

So far, I'll be making:
a simple stuffed bunny (I still don't know how to hotlink or whatever it's called where you light up the word and it link you, yk?) http://weewonderfuls.typepad.com/wee_wonderfuls/downloads/Wee-Bunny.pdf

Some "lacers" which are wooden shapes with holes in them and a long shoelace attached to "thread" through the holes. It's supposed to be great for hand-eye coordination and dexterity.

a trio of chickies

some paper mache eggs. The egg shapes I got at Hobby Lobby-3/1.00! Now i just need to embellish them and Trapper will have permanent Easter eggs. i want a clear 1/2 dozen egg carton to put them in, but I don't know where to find them by the each rather than a lot.

I'll be updating this post as I get this stuff done!

Something fuzzy this way comes......AGAIN!

I've changed my design just a bit. I'm using glass beads for the eyes which is much better. At the bottom of this post, there's a tutorial for those interested:

Chickies! I have grown a bit obsessed with making the perfect pom-pon. Why? Who knows? That's just the way I am. Once I get an idea, I work on it until I'm bored. Hopefully, inspiration will hold out for me to make a bunch to give out for Easter. Pom-pons are surprisingly tricky. I googled and found a plethora of pom-pon "makers" which I am way too cheap for. Then there's the traditional method of cutting out 2 cardboard circles-blah,blah,blah--it's so time consuming I don't want to even type it. What works like gangbusters for me is using a stick. Okay, it's a spatula handle--but stick-like in its essence. For the larger poms I used the sheath to my microplane. I think the reason these work so well is that you can wrap a ton of yarn along the length and it's all relatively the same length.

TUTORIAL:

Materials:
Wooden sticks (see instructions), two slightly different sizes.
Cheap acrylic yarn (Red Heart is great for this project)
Scissors
glue that tries clear
orange or yellow felt
black glass beads
straight pins

Find a long slender object, like a wooden spatula handle, paint stirrer, dowel rod, etc. It has to be perfectly straight so the yarn can slide off.

First, tie a 18" gathering string (just a piece of the yarn) to the handle on one end. The other end is secured with your hand, but you could tie it there,too.

Then wrap and wrap the yarn down the whole length of the handle. That's the key--you get lots of similarly sized loops this way so that it's nice and full. Okay, so you keep wrapping. Wrap more than you think you should!

Once it's wrapped, untie the gathering string and tie the ends together over the yarn wraps in just a simple knot (this is a temporary knot!).Then slide the whole shebang off the handle and tighten the gathering sting as tightly as you can and secure with a double knot. It must be very tight--get someone to help you if you have to. If this knot is loose, then the chick will fall apart. After the knot, it's going to look like a yarn doughnut.

Then you cut all the loops and shape it with the scissors. To get a nice full pom, you'll have to trim alot. Don't worry! Just try to make it as round as possible.

Make two different sized poms (by using different sized sticks). One's the head, one's the body. Tie them together tightly and secure the knot with some glue.

To make the beak: The beak is a small felt triangle that has two corners glued together. It's best to make the beaks ahead of time so the glue is dry. Beaks should also be placed first because they dictate where the eyes will go. Part the yarn and run a vertical line of glue down in the pom. Then place the beak--you can secure with a straight pin.

The eyes are black glass beads. Find the best placement for the eyes and part the yarn to apply the glue. Then using a straight pin, place the eye carefully. You can use a pin to secure the eye until the glue dries.

Wow. I am boring. But happy ;)

Well, know I know

Now I know why handpainted yarn costs so much. It's a total pain in the rear! And you have to be patient for the color to really sink in. I'm not so good with patient. This was supposed to be primary rainbow colored instead of the bright pastels it is. The secondary colors were supposed to be in equal amounts to the primary sections. They aren't. Oh well, lesson learned. Either I need to drop a hunk of money on some good dyes and supplies and work on my patientence, or leave the dying to the pros. At least I didn't totally ruin the yarn--it's still usuable but I find the color to be feminine and not gender-neutral as I had intended.

Teeny Tiny Endeavors

I've decided to make preemie hats for the babies at Vanderbilt. A woman on my message board is doing 40 in 40 days for Lent--I don't do Lent, but I can knit several hats. I was so inspired that I made this this afternoon:

Here's another I am adding (2/22/07) What baby isn't a L'il Punkin? I might by some red and/or spring green and do apples, too.

More added during my vacation. Now, I'm up to 8!

Cupid, draw back your bow............

Okay, I admit it. I love Valentine's Day. I love it in such a childish way, too. I just want to send everyone I know a cartoon character Valentine. When I was a kid, my favorite one ever was of a little blond boy doctor with a stethescope that read, "my heart beats for you, Valentine." Awwwwwwwwwwww!

Anyway, now that I have a kid, I get to be a kid again,too! We have playgroup tomorrow and here's what Trapper is giving his friends: a set of 3 bean bags each and a conglomerate crayon. The tag reads, "Valentine, you color my world!" I totally stole the crayon idea from a magazine, but it's not like they are the first to think of melting some crayons, LOL!

Newborn Longie Goodness

For those who don't know what longies are: they're wool pants that are used as a cover over cloth diapers. Trust me, it works!

These are probably a newborn size, like fresh outta the hospital size. Hopefully, they will be going home longies for a future, yet-to-be-conceived child!

The legs are the same length but I was too impatient to straighten them for the photo because my camera battery was barely hanging on.

Because I've admired so many of these!

I love craft blogs. So inspiring. I doubt I'll be so inspirational, but hey--I get some points for trying!

Here's something I've made in the past. After this post, I'll only have pictures of newly completed or in-progress projects. I've made so many things and never taken pictures of them so now all I have is my memory--no good!


This is the first soaker I knitted. I used the Punk Knitters pattern (link b/c I don't know how to hotlink:http://community.livejournal.com/punk_knitters/110889.html)