LionBrand

I pop in to Lion Brand's free pattern section a lot. Poking around to dream about what I may someday do but I only noticed this today.
Lion Brand has a blog called the Lion Brand Notebook which has a very interesting article on how to make Recyclable Bags. By Recycled bags it means reusing plastic shopping bags and making them into a messenger bag, or a crocheted mini shoulder bag; or using the ribbon from VCR tapes and making a sling bag. (I'd call the last two purses, but that's my opinion).
It looks very interesting. Could especially be good for the bags that had ripped or slitted on the way home and can't be reused as is. Just so happens that's the case for us a lot.

flossbox findings

One word,wow.
Emily, of The Flossbox, (a site with tons of interesting info and wonderful free patterns) posted about a comparison she did of a few crafts such as cross stitch, knitting, crochet, scrapbooking and more to see what people are really doing for crafts.
The results are so interesting.

stitchie good times

I am struggling to make the bookmark. I am just not in the mood to cross stitch! I may have to do blackwork or something if I am to get the thing done in time.

On other stitchie things:
The black/charcoal grey mix Webkinz blanket is coming along. I stitched on it more last night. This pic is of the day before or so I think. I added some stripes to it, a thin one on the end, and a thicker one in the middle. I will add another on the other end. I am not counting or anything, just winging it. It's good mindless stitching.
Here's the test swatch for DH's navy blue afghan. It's the original yarn I picked up, with the same stitch and a (much)larger sized hook,a Q hook.I love how it looks! It feels like a dream too. I am not sure if I will stay with this size or not. And yes I know it's all bumpy, this is my second time "really" crocheting. Check out how much yarn I have used. With the smalled sized hook I had nearly finished the first skein and hadn't even gotten the second row done!

an afghan

DH asked me (which he never does!) to make him an afghan. He wanted it soft like DD's sweaters and navy blue. DD's sweaters are something chenille like. Erm, too expensive.
SO it began- the search for an easy pattern and the yarn to go with it.

The pattern was this and called for thick yarn. The thick yarn was Homespun which has a bumpy texture, and I have used before, but the color is not so uniformly navy blue. So I grabbed several skeins of it on sale this weekend at the Knitting Festival (aka a sale at AC Moore). Then while at Michaels I grabbed more of it (yeah coupons!) and some of the Caron Simply Soft Quick which is about $3.50 a skein, and is only a 3ouncer (50yd) but the perfect shade of navy blue! It is sooo soft!
DH after "inspecting" them decided on the SQ. So I returned the other yarn and picked up a few more of the SQ. It's going to be expensive.
So the other possible option is to use a different pattern, so loved the fast one, *sigh, and possibly use the regular Caron Simply Soft with the Quick as stripes or edges or something....... Could pose a challenge as they are different weights.

I am going to try and crochet this one- two the girls at Craft Night have done these and wow, they look great and seem to be faster than knitting. Never mind the fact that it's easier to rip out rows of mistakes in crochet than in knit for me I think.

the other updates:Started round three on the Bookmark for the exchange, and again, not liking it so I am going to change tactics completely and do something totally different. Let you know how that goes!


I have put aside the baby blanket. I got too frustrated. Other things to work on at the moment.

A little this and that

Well I have been on, I swear. We can watch those YouTube videos now! Hello, enough old cartoons and drum solos to last for hours of enjoyment.
I am still sorting out the activation with Roadrunner. And seems that I can't comment on Blogger, it sort of hiccups, but, I can zoom around the internet now!

Let's see, in crafty news, I have done:

A little shopping for my flosskid Poppy. :)

Knitted all the parts for a baby sweater, as of now it isn't assembled. I need a little help from my neighbor Knittykitty.

Knitted, ripped out completely, restarted, ripped out a row, and now pausing the matching baby blanket. Seems I am goofing the purling somehow and I just don't trust myself to try it later at night. Maybe I can squeeze some time during the day. *cough, yeah! Maybe!

I have received the name to send to for the exchange going on at EMS. It's an exchange to start your Christmas stitching. Sounded like fun, especially since I can just buy stuff and send than stitch....

Started cross stitching the piece I wanted to do for the bookmark exchange. I made the mistake of starting it on 14ct aida, and simply put I hate it. So I will still do the same design I had started, just on another piece of fabric. I haven't decided yet which type or color fabric, just that it'll be at least a 28ct piece.
No pics yet, just seem to be eating camera batteries lately.....


Oh and wish me luck. I am job shadowing on Thursday morning. Not a clue what to wear just yet.

August, in a blur

I was here, I swear. Just not much in an online sense.
And I have no idea where to begin!
The Stich'n Bitch (aka Craft Night) has continued on. This week we are meeting on Thursday night as Knitty Kitty's house. I plan on working on the baby sweater that I started the gauge for last night. Starting the matching blanket would be even better then, meaning that the sweater was already done, but I won't hold my breath. Life always has a way of changing the plans we make. I am not making it for any particular person. I just wanted to make something besides the several dishcloths I have made so far. I thought that making a full sized sweater (*cough, my size) would take a long, long time. So, making a smaller one still gets the process down with making the pieces and then putting them together.
*update on the sweater- the gauge is "close enough" and I have begun the first piece, the back of the sweater. I am also going to learn how to do both sleeves at once I think. *grin.
Our little private road has turned into quite a crew! We have spent many an evening or afternoon with our many neighbors. Cooking out, horseshoes, pool(s), wiffle ball. This year has been the best of them all. The kids were riding their bikes to each others' houses and having games of "Manhunt", wiffleball, kickball, and many more. It was neat to have so much going on. My two would complain about the busyness of the week only to ask on the Saturday, "Can _____ come over? Or can I go see what they are doing?" One day Knitty Kitty and I took 9 kids to Dundee Park. You should have seen the faces on the beach as they saw out huge group walk up. It was great. Hubby and I have other couples to hang out with.
We had our first successful yard sale. By successful I mean we made more than $20 after sitting out all day. This time we set up with two other neighbors. Which draws more people and makes the time pass by so quickly. DH and I took in about $56. And it cleaned out the house a bit. Now we will continue on. Cleaning things out and possibly have another sale. If not, Goodwill and the Salvation Army will make out very well.

Knitting news:
I have knitted up two practice dishcloths.(pink and red)




Then I played with some soft yarn with the same pattern. (in blues)


Then I bought some pretty cotton yarn and made this one. I think I will keep it for myself. I don't use them as dishcloths. Instead I use them as potholders, like for bowls of soup, to protect the table.

I ordered two books for my collection:
Crochet for Dummies
Knitting for Dummies
The crochet one was recommended by a fellow Craft Nighter. Just couldn't beat the price so I got the both.
Another I think on my to-get-in-the-near-future is one called Knitting for Peace. I took it out from the library and think I may "need" it for my collection. Yeah, I usually get things through the library first, then decide from there what I want to keep on hand or not.


~Now for the Van Rant:
I blew a tire Saturday night while in the Subway parking lot. It was about 6:30PM and I had both of the kids with me so they could use their free meal certificates for participating in the Summer Reading Program. Anywho, it blew, and I didn't have the cell phone on me, which I almost always have on me so it was odd. Never changed a tire in my life and as I was starting to tackle it, a passerby stopped and helped me. It wasn't long though before we realized my spare had rusted on the underside of the van! So by about dark I was able to reach DH and have him come down to tackle it. Still stuck. So DH took us home and drove out with a pump to get the tire inflated enough to get home.
Lucky for me, VIP was open on Labor Day. I didn't bother Sunday since I have been fighting this cold for about a week now. So I have a spiffy new rear driver side tire just in time to get down to get the can inspected and have it fail. Why you ask? It needed new tire rod(s) and stuff in the front. Bad, bad van.
Then tomorrow a.m. I have an appointment for the two new tires in the front, now that the original problem is fixed. *Sheesh!
So what does that bring me to? Um, $567 spent at a quick count on the van in under a week.
*sigh
~End Rant~
OH and 5 appointments this week between the van (four) and my dentist appointment. Yeehah!


And for fun, this is the sunflower I started from seed indoors. It's over my head now (which isn't saying much ;) )

Yarn Over

Craft Night was at S's house. All four of us made it. And I learned a couple of new knitty things!

I am reading/using a knitting pattern.

Doing a "yarn over".

And increasing and decreasing stitches.

Go me!

I am using a simple online pattern for dishclothes, some odd, icky yarn to practice with and size 9 needles or so I think. Yep, size 9.

I'd like to make some as presents for Christmas. Keep your fingerscrossed for me!

Knitty Kitty was great deciphering the pattern for me and showing me the stitches I needed to do. She's a teacher (professor), it shows, such patience!

H. won't be able to make it next week, she goes on vacation with her family. But since DH is planning on attending the Red Sox game next Wednesday.... Wait should explain that- DH is taking the Downeaster train down with his cousin, her husband, and their son down to the game. They will be there most of the day. Well they won't be hopping back on the train home until 6pm, and where it's Craft Night, we usually start by about 5 or so. So I will have my two kids, and one of DH's cousin's daughter (she's not a baseball fan ;) ) and so I was thinking of hosting Craft Night here, at my house. With kids this time, since there's no other choice really. DH usually takes the kids out if I host, or keeps them busy while I am gone.

Sorry for the jibber posting. I am tired. Been a busy day!



And for all of the flossmom fans, there's a new exchange starting!!!! This time it's for a Bookmark.

Goodnight everybody!

A Mini Vacation

So, "Where did I go?"
Well the double eye infection cleared up with meds and I managed to finish the Webkinz blanket. It was in use right after completion. DD liked it I think *wink.
There have been two Stitch'n Bitch nights. The first Wednesday was at my house. The second at S.'s (must ask her if it's okay to link to her from here, or mention her name here) They have been wonderful. We were discussing it last time as a matter of fact. Seems the crafting isn't the main reason we are getting together! Hee hee. The humpday laugh until you cry has done wonders for me. I look forward to it, and by Monday start planning what food to bring. Yes, got's to have the good eats!
The kids and I went with my Mother-In-Law on a mini vacation too Boothbay Harbor. Headed out from Portland Friday, early afternoon. Met up in Gardiner, then traveled on to Boothbay from there. We stayed at the Smuggler's Cove Motel . What a blast! Hit some of our favorite shops, like the saltwater taffy shop. The weather was hot and humid Friday but had leveled off after a huge thunderstorm Friday night. What a site that was! Gorgeous! With the second story view we haad over the water and pool you could really see every flash. We returned home by about 4pm Sunday. Seems as though I needed an extra day in there to prepare for the regular old days to come! Hee hee.

I logged into EMS today and had only 1600 messages to catch up on! I am here guys. Just trying to catch up on all the stuff I missed during my eyes troubles, day-to-day busyness and then vacation. So I may not be posting, but I will get to what you wrote, hopefully soon!

And thank you all for the nice comments- the well wishes on my eyes troubles.

Webkinz blanket WIP

Here it is.... so far. I can't remember what the yarn is called. I may have the slip in the bottom of one of the knitting bags so that I can post the brand and color name. The yarn has this neat crinkley look and feel. It winds up as I knit so I have to untangle as I go from time to time. But it looks great. Very homey I think.

Anyone notice I am using a different floor than usual? That's the livingroom.
I won't be knitting as much today - I am battling eye infections. Joy. I get so blurry it makes things a challenge.

A little stitch here or there....

No Stitch Wednesday yet. I think the way to get it started will be to hold it at my house and send invitations out. Real simple ones. Left in their doors. *chuckle. I am thinking along the lines of, "Craft Night. Bring your craft and some drinks to enjoy." Then the date, time, blah blah. I keep talking with the other girls , with them saying how we should be getting our nights going. What better way then to get it rolling, eh?

I need to update, for future reference "Chiblums". This refers to the three kids I am watching over the summer in addition to my own two. Odd though, they all even like the name. Almost makes them a club I think. So some weeks I have 5, others I have four. So I have been rather busy this summer. Most days I try to take them to a local swimming place, not really the coastline beach, though I still refer to it as such. It has a sandy area, swimming, picnic areas, and so on.... I pack a cooler and let the Chiblums exhaust themselves. *grin

I have managed many rows on a mini blanket for my daughter S. I bought this yarn at least a year ago because of the color (yup, purple, who knew!) and how soft it was. OOoooh so soft. The set back was that it has this sort of ripply texture to it. Not twisted, more of crinkled I think. Well, I had tried to get it started with no project in mind over and over again a few weeks, maybe months back. The knit monsters were definitely against me. Then I sat down the other day after the Chiblums left and started it. I wasn't getting all tangled in it or anything this time. So I rolled with it. My daughter came out admiring it and asking what I was making it into. Then I asked her if her Webkinz would like it. She giggled and said "Yes". I told her it will be simple, soft and homemade. She said her Webkinz like things that way.

The Chiblums have been gone two days now and I have had some alone time with the my son and daughter since Wednesday. They seem to be enjoying it. I have too. We visited my Mother-In-Law, Sister-In-Law and her two girls today. I haven't seen the baby since she was born. She's 9 months old now! Yikes!

Tomorrow the kids -B., S., and I will be off to see my Grammy. We plan to go out to have some seafood in Old Orchard. We already argued about who was paying. So I 'd better have all the money out and in my hand when we order.

Then on Saturday we go as a family to Funtown/Splashtown USA for hubby's employer's annual picnic. The year they decided to pay our way in, but we are on our own for food. Grrr. Better eat before we get there!

It's a midweek thing.

I forgot to mention. There may be a Wednesday night Stitch'n Bitch thing happening on my little side road in the country pretty soon. Not entirely limited to just (needlework) stitching. We have about 4 people including myself interested and, so far, the midweek works for all of us. I am not sure if we are going to shoot for next week or not. Especially since this Wed. was a holiday. We hadn't discussed the first night.
So far we are all in agreement that we will probably swap houses. Especially based on who has what with other family members. I think we are all sort of hoping to kick out any other family members to the other neighbors' houses. Since I have a pool table, another neighbor has a swimming pool- well you see what we are getting at.
This could be really cool.
One neighbor crochets, another makes light switch covers, another I have sort of crafted with, no, wait I should say I have gotten my hands on her... Hee heee. She's a fellow cross stitcher, knitter and now blackwork can be added to her what she can do list.
The best part is I think that we all would get along very nicely.

Another Spring storm

No green grass yet!
Just when the snow had started to go away.... Including the poor snowman DH and the kids made. Which DH encouraged they do so the kids wouldn't use him for target practice. *chuckle


This happened! This is a shot from my daughter's bedroom window at about 6:30am. Sorry about the screen showing. Nice view she has, huh?


And there's another storm heading out way for Sunday night/Monday. Yippee.

The good news, I have undone my scarf and am planning a new tactic. I think if I start it again it will stop being so cold and snowy. Could work. Right?

Biscornu Babble

Okay, I am jumping on the bandwagon. But, I may have started on the wrong path. I have created a design. With no experience other than observation of the overall rhythm of how they seem to be. The sizes. The normally symmetrical way they are set up. I chose a not so perfectly centered way to do it. The balance is still there I think, visually.
The point? Well maybe I should try another design to get the assembly part of it done. Then I can apply it to what I am doing. Sort of learn the ropes so to speak and go from there.
But it is so much more fun to be able to do it all on my own.
Oh this is a test stitch. Once I have it looking fairly decent I plan to post the pattern.

Knitting
**Just how do you restart a messed up section in knitting?*** I was going along and realized a few rows too late that I should have started it not as wide, or however that's said. I was going to make a scarf for myself and sort of lost the gusto once I messed up and and the weather changed so much. Funny, it's snowing again and I want to work on the scarf.
And I need to make a little something to practice different stitches. Something sort of practical. Not something to just toss aside or away when I am done. Ideas?

Wishlist

Updated April 15, 2008

L&L, Passione Ricamo, Mirabilia,etc:

~Romantic Stitcher by Passione Ricamo

~Earth Angel

~Snow Days

~Enchanted Alphabet

~Button Box Babies: Angel Girl



San Man Originals:

~A Little Lovin' in the Oven




Miscellaneous:

~Sit and Knit

~Be Silly, Etc.

~Nemo


Pattern books/booklets:

~Pamela Kellogg's:
"Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments" Volume 1

~Rudolph merry present to me!

~DMC Flower Fairies

~Purple Pansy Angel

~Birthstone Fairies

~Chinese Calligraphy




Valerie Pfeiffer Birds:

~Lady In Red

~Sitting Pretty

~The Blues

~Chorus Line


Birds:
~Haiku

~Chickadee Christmas

~Jingle Birds

~Feathered Friends

~One Bird Caroling

~Cardinals and Dogwoods

~Baby Birds

~A Vision in Red

~Nestling Sampler



Sweetheart Tree and Just Nan:

~Amethyst Snowflake

~Victorian Violets

~Pointsettia Gingham

~Lavender Luminescence

~Enchantment

~In the Land of the Free


Threads and other dodads:

~Glissen Gloss ESTAZ Thread

~Wisper thread

~Mill Hill Treasures and Beads
..especially crystal or glass! ;)

~DMC Rayons!

~Threads of any kind, I am not picky and love to try new things



Knitting and Crochet:
~Bamboo yarn