happy birthday Janet

Today is my sister's birthday and I made her this swarovski crystal and sterling silver mother's bracelet. I'm really loving making jewelery!

Houserwares

I needed some things for the kitchen of our travel trailer so I decided to knit and crochet them.  I have three hotpads.  Two are crocheted and double thickness and one is knitted with 2 strands held together once again for added thickness.  The tiny one is for pulling things from the microwave, not the stove.  And two dish cloths knitted with a crochet border.  They are diamond shaped.  I will need to make some dish towels too and possibly some other accessories but here's the start.

scrappy bag

I had some of my scrap yarn left over from the skirt that I made earlier this month and decided it was enough for a little coordinating bag.  I knitted it myself freehand, my own pattern.  It's a little bag just for my wallet and cel phone and a few other needs like lipgloss and tylenol.  Oh yeah, it would also hold some keys.  I am still deciding as to whether or not I'll line it.  It's not super sturdy since it's not felted so I probably will need to.  It's a good scale for the skirt.

some spinning

I had no roving :( so but I wanted to experiment with my spindle so I tried my hand at spinning some 2 ply weaving cotton together.  I spun 4 strands of the 2 ply together and produced this which I haven't wrapped it to see how much wpi but it looks like a thick worsted or a thin bulky.  I can already see that this spinning thing takes coordination.  My strands at times are overtwisted, and at other times, under twisted. . . It's kind of fun though so I'll be looking to experiment more when I finish up some other projects!

a closure for Jaime's bag

I made a bag for my friend Jaime, but didn't put a closure (see June posts for full view of the bag).  Basically I wasn't sure she'd want one. Well she did want one so today we got together and colaborated on this beatuiful glass pendant as a closure toggle. 

Going for a spin

My sis put a bug in my head about spinning my own yarn after she had a run in with some FFF's (fellow fiber finatics) I decided I wanted to try my hand at it but I didn't have any spare cash to buy a hand spindle, so as usual I turned to my trusty internet sources to figure out how to make my own. Luckily for me Hobby Lobby was having a 1/2 off sale on all unfinished wood so one dowl cost $.22 and my whorls were $.49 each. I got a package of picture hanging hardware from the framing department and used the tiny eye hooks with screw ends and used my plier to open it up into a hook. When I mentioned getting out the radial saw to cut the spindles Rocky jumped up and volunteered to cut my dowel down to 3-12" pieces. . . I just pushed the whorl onto the dowl, added a daub of wood glue to make it stay, screwed in my hook and then dremmeled the other end to death until I got a suitable blunt point for resting the spindle on a surface. With babies anything more pointy sounded like a bad idea. As it was Charmie was begging me for the "stick" right after I got home. Lord only knows what he intended to do with it! Maybe I'll pick up another whorl piece and make a top down spindle. I plan to give the top spindle in the picture to my sister so that she can have a whirl herself from time to time.

yarn scraps. . . . skirt?

On our recent vacation I enjoyed visiting with Rocky's Aunt Patty becasue I really feel as though we have similar likes. . . shopping and yarn! She had this awesome idea and I have to say I copied it. She resourcefully used yarn from her past projects to make these beautifully striped scarves. Each one was unique and so fun looking. I haven't done much with the novelty yarns that she had for her scarves and Actually I don't have much yarn that's in a similar color family, but luckily my sister did and was willing to graciously part with her scraps. We raided her scrap bin for pinks and she gave me some neat yarns that I've never worked with before. After getting them home I found some other yarn scraps from her that went with the theme and the yarn ball above is the result. I cut the scraps into 15 and 20+ foot lengths and tied them together then wound it all into this ball. I was shooting for abut 400 yds. Just seeing the ball was exciting. I could really see how the yarn colors and textures would work together as I wound them up. I have been wanting a knitted skirt and liked the one in The Knitting Experience, The Knit Stitch, knit-round around scarf. I think the fact that they model the scarf in Noro made me see how beautiful it would be in stripes.

Here's the finished product. I'm quite pleased and it passes the Hubby test as well.

Cel phone pocket

Right before our trip Rocky and I had to get new cellular phones.  His was malfunctioning and mine was starting to.  He got a leather case for his as he's the one who's phone normally see's the most abuse but I decided I wanted/needed a way to carry it around in a little pouch so I've been playing with the idea of a this pocket.  Last night I got some craft thread and decided to crochet one.  I used a little less than 5-10 yd. skeins and a # 0 steele hook I got on clearance on our vacation.  Had I not had color changes it may have been as little as 4 skeins.  I started with a chain and increased at the corners while crocheting around it building the base of the pocket, and when it got to the right diameter I just continued in the round.  I re attached the main color as trim around the top and a small loop for the strap to snap through.  Then I added the strap,  It is a foundationless dc chain.  I doubled it back onto itself for strength and attached the snap so that I can move it to whatever bag I'm carrying.
Rocky suggested a snap closure but the phone sits pretty securely in the pocket so I don't think one is needed.  I can always add one later though if I need to.

An adventure in jewlery making

Here I stand with Aunt's Jan and Liz and Cousin Jackie.  Unfortunately I didn't think to take this picture before Patty and Chris had left for their lake vacation or Patty could have also proudly displayed her transformable necklace to bracelet red coral creation.  We are all wearing necklaces that we made except for Liz who made a bracelet at this bead store called the  Middle Bead.  We originally went into Chelsea MI to try to visit the lys but they were closed for the holiday but across the street the Middle bead was open.  After going in and looking at all of the beautiful beads and jewlery I suggested that we make something to remember the trip by.  The store owner set us up to make bracelets, and after some time of struggling with what to do we all selected our beads and created these unique pieces.  I don't know the content of all of the other's but mine has Mookite stones that look like Chicklets and as the pendant I combined a Cowrie shell and a small woman figurine.  This was really fun and I want to do this again! 

Rocky's Aunt Patty had some beautiful felted bags that she had completed when we visited, and then while we were visiting she whipped up another collossal sized elaborate and beatuiful one with all of her wool scraps, arranged in spectrum like  a rainbow.  I'm sad that I ddin't get a picture. 
She advised that my felted bag was not felted enough so when I returned I followed my sister's advice and added boiling water to my front load washer and voila.  This bag felted almost another 50% more from what it was before.  Evidently with a front loader just running it through the cycle it not enough.  It's now about 8" wide and 8.5" tall, the guessett is about 2.5".  It's more purse sized than tote sized.  It may have felted too much, but I like it.  I still need to add a button to the pocket.  For pictures of this bag from when I originally made it check out the February archives.

Knitted Three Way Bag

Before we left for vacation my sis let me borrow her Knitter's Dozen Book for bags and I fell in love with this one.  I recycled some wool ease chunky yarn that she had given to me and made this on our trip.  It has a zipper closure as well as the toggle and button.  I'm using it right now as a project bag for my knitting.  I would like to make another one some day with a less fuzzy yarn. 

Twizzler

I needed to make a phone call. . . need I say more?

Metal Snaps

I received my metal snaps today. I am really impressed. I put some onto the trainer I made for Charmie, two rows of studs so that if he gains some weight I can adjust them.

Jaime's Bag

I finished Jaime's birthday bag. . . Well I finished crocheting it. I have to decide if it needs anything else.

jeep ride

Mardie's second jeep ride. He kept falling over onto Charmie and Charmie kept stopping and pushing him up saying get off baby! I don't know if when Mardie is able to choose to ride with Charmie if he will actually do so after episodes like this.

Charmie ham's it up

Charmie decided that since Mardie climbed up and got his picture taken he could climb even better and get his picture taken.  Here is one of his poses for the camera.  This pose demonstrates Charmie's abillty to balance and negotiate uneven terrian.  Ok so it really just shows that he can climb up and that he's jealous of his brother, but as his mommy I'm proud of him, even when he's showing off.

Mardie climbs up the slide

Yesterday we discovered that Mardie could master the steps to the boys in-room slide.  Today I found out that he had mastered climbing up the slide side as well.  He's so proud of himself!

Happy Father's Day!

Here's the shirt I made for Rocky. I used photo iron on transfer paper and printed photo's that I had taken this year of Rocky and the boys with our digital camera. I also used my embroidery machine to write out Dedicated And Deovted. I had some trials with the machine last night. It ate my shirt a couple of times. I had one ans a half motifs completed and had to rip it all out because I accidentally sewed the back of the shirt and collar into them, of course after the ripping I had to re-hoop and restabalize which on a t-shirt is challenging in and of it self to get it centered. . . . needless to say I finished up around 4 am. I wrote on the transfer paper the scripture Joshua 24:15, "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord." And ironed that on flanking the embroidery. Then first thing this morning I got the boys ready for their handprints and we did those so this should have time to dry for tomorrow!

This wonderful lady in the craft isle gave me a great tip; put lotion or oil onto kids skin when you're painting them for handprints because the paint doesn't stain their skin and washes away easier. . . also it creates a barrier if you're concerned about their skin absorbing the fabric paint. This was my concern because I couldnt find the fabric paints that I needed that were non-toxic.

Over all I'm pleased with how it turned out, though as I downloaded the picture to post it here I realized that I messed up and embroidered "Aand" vs. And. Oh well. I guess it pays to not do stuff like this in the wee hours of the morning. I'm just glad that it's the shortest word, I don't think it's as noticable.

I got the idea for this shirt from a ready made T-shirt of course it had no photos or handprints. I like mine better!

Well it's 10:19 PM on father's day and the shirt was a success! Rocky wore it today, all day, even for his sermon!

Mr. Fixit boxer trainer

Here's my 2nd trainer attempt. I recycled a pair of Rocky's unused boxers. Charmie is a big fan of power tools so he loves this print. I didn't make this one a pocket trainer. I put in a soaker layer and this one also has a FOE binding. It will need snaps.

Charmie's pocket trainer (tools)

I got inspired by Christi's training pants and decided to try to make Charmie some with side snaps. I also wanted to try to make a pocket thingie cause I've only made fitted diapers or aio (fleece) dipes but never a pocket one. I tried using FOE before but it was not successful. . . Since I had purchased yards of it from my first attempt, when I was cleaning up my sewing area and found it I thought I'd give it a try for this project. IT WORKED!!!!!

My plastic prong snaps by Dritz, color snaps, did not however! I have put in 4 studs and 2 sockets but they are not very strong and would pull apart too easily for charmie to actually wear it. I'll have to remove them and get this snapped with some plastic snaps. I'm going to see if one of my friends with a press can help a sista out!

This is my 2nd attempt at a trainer pant. I tried to make my own pattern yesterday and if I desired to fiddle with it I could have adjusted it and plowed on but What I came up with I turned and top stitched so it was way to small. I also serged off too much for the flaps so the waist area was nearly impossible to even squeeze onto mardie. Harold, Charmie's toy monkey, who used to be Rocky's and before that used to be Rocky's mom's now wears those tiny little pants. I found this free pattern at for a pocket trainer to fit from 25-40lbs and thought that this would be a good place to start.

After trying the pant on this morning with just the one side snaped I learned 2 things. I will need a second set of snaps to allow it to be bigger becaue this first set just barely fits, and the snaps I have work, but not well. my friend Karina has a press and will be able to bring it and some snaps for me to try. but in the meantime, here it is on Ch.

thread cross bookmark

I couldn't resist using my steel hooks so I picked up some Aunt Lydia's #10 Crochet Thread in Shaded Purples.  I wanted to make a bookmark for my new bible.  I found this lovely pattern for a Forget-me-not Cross bookmark but I didn't have 2 colors and I didn't want a flower on it.  I just made it without and I absolutely love how it came out.  I'll be looking to make some more of these.  It's interesting to create stitches on such a small level.  I used a size 7 hook which is 1.7 mm. 

Charmie's Backpack

After posting my breastfeeding diaper bag to the blog, reviewing updates to Jan's page(see link in previous post), looking through my scrap fabrics and hearing my son run around calling."backpack, backpack" like Dora the Explorer I decided it would be neat to make him a little bag to tote around his cup and a few small toys. I used Jan's revised smaller diaper bag for the bag pattern but instead of putting a shoulder strap, I put two and attached them like backpack straps. It has the main pocket and 4 pockets around the outside, one on each side of the bag. I didn't put a closure because he's still very young to try to figure one out, but when he bent over and everything dumped over his head I thought that maybe a closure may not be so bad. . . velcro or a button it's another decision for another day. . . Anyway he loves his backpack, he hasn't taken it off yet since I put it on for these photos.

Here's a more centered picture where you can see the embroidery more clearly.

breastfeeder's diaper bag

I made this bag before Charmie was born. I have decided that I can use it. Charmie is 2 and Mardie is 9 mos. Neither one is potty trained so I still need to carry diapers and cups for them at minimum. I realized that I need much less stuff than I thought I did before. If I need more I can either stash it in my car or just grab one of my larger bags. For most of our outings this is perfect. Thanks Jan for designing it!
I am only using 2 of the pockets in these pictures so as you can see I still have 6 available to stuff with the baby's or my stuff. This back rocks! I even put two cloth diapers into it on one of the pictures and it can hold much more.
Yes I realize that one zipper is bright red. The other is navy. . . I did it this way on purpose. The bag is symetrical. I hate having to zip pockets opened and closed searching for a needed item. . . I don't have to search if I remember what is in the red zipper pocket and what is in the navy one! ;-}

Pull, Pull!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I was doing laundry folding last week in my bedroom I had to take a break and record this moment. Here Mardie sits sucking on one end of Rocky's belt. Charmie has the other end and is trying to fasten it to his bike like a trailer hitch, or wench chain.

Here you see Charmie back in the sadle, ready to tow his brother, shouting, "pull, pull!!!!!!!!! at the top of his lungs" as he "reved" his bike and rocked it back and forth trying to get this apparatus to work. Of course luckily he doesn't know yet how to tie a knot, or securely affix a tow line, otherwise Mardie would be in real trouble. That and the fact that Mardie still has no teeth saved him from a potentially serious mishap!

Steels for a Steal

I lucked up last week.  My local Hancocks Fabrics Store had a 50% off discount bin and I found knitting needles and crochet hooks!  Now mind you I don't like metal so much for either, I prefer bamboo, but I didn't have any hooks this size, and have never seen any this size in bamboo.  I've been wanting to experiment with thread so for $.75 each I picked up my size d,c,10,9,7 and 5 hooks!  They didn't have any other sizes that I saw, which was disappointing.  I would have liked to have gotten a complete set, but I'm just thrilled to have gotten these for this price.  I'll add the others as I have a pattern, or find them cheap!

I think I'm going to experiment with some polymer clay to make handles.

Fish Bible Cover

I finally got my Mom's Devotional Bible and I wanted/needed a cover and I wanted something unique. . . I decided to design and sew my own. It was a little harder than I thought to make it come out exactly like I wanted. So here's the finished functional product. I had this fish batik fabric left over from my 2nd diaper bag attempt. It was the lining for the bag. I said finished but I am still contemplating a pocket with some embroidery, maybe a scripture or something. I'm just not sure yet. This works for now. It has 2 layers throughout, except for in the guesset that contains the zipper. The backing layer is a coordinating canvas. I figured that it would give the cover some extra body as the batik fabric is very flimsy. What you probably can't see very well from these pictures is that there is a handle on the spine side of the cover. A zippered opening that goes around 3 sides, and pockets or flaps to hold the bible into the cover.

I would have liked to make a pencil loop but was too lazy to engineer it into my pattern. I can always add it later.

I finally made some pads for me!!!

I love cloth pads. And I finally made some for myself. I have been trying to buy some from my friend as she sells them on ebay but at the last minute I kept getting outbid. I bought this fabric but didn't have the motivation or desire to sew them on my own, until today! I don't have some of the materials that I thought I needed to make these nice so I feared investing my time and having them come out ugly or not so comfy but I love how these turned out. I put metal snaps on all but the blue one. It has velcro. I may rip off the velcro and add a snap but for now here's my pads! I used fleece for the backing because of it's stain resistance and it's waterrepellancy. I have some other cloth pads that I purchased that are fleece backed without wings or channels so I know the fleece won't leak, but mine are prettier, and more importantly I made them myself!

A Ruana Wrap for my mom

I started to crochet this ruana wrap from Jo Anne's Sensation's boucle for myself, but it ended up being for my mom. It's basically a merge of 2 different patterns. One from the Knit Stitch Book, that's were I got some of the dimensions from. And the stitch is from an online pattern. I hope that my mommy can use it to keep warm and toasty when the weather is cooler. Right now it's up into the 90's here so she won't be wearing this any time soon!

A sock for M's sandal

I've been wanting to crochet M some socks since I found this cute and inexpensive sock yarn, Bernat sox and since my sis made him some. . .but I couldn't find a pattern that I liked. I finally found one and made this sock, then I promply got sick and have yet to finish the mate.
In the first picture you can see that like shoes he's trying to remove this sock so I put on the sandals that he cannot remove over them, hence the second and third pictures. He's wearing one of the tickle turdle crochet wool diaper wrap covers that I made for him too!

Anne's Chenille Fleuri

I've been eyeballing the fleuri from crochetme and I finally decided to make one for my dear ex neighbor's birthday. I lined it with an asian inspired print. This didnt' take long. The Chenille yarn is bulky and crochets up really fast so the most complicated part was finding the right handles.