finished...
i finished 2 capelets, one based on the lacy shells poncho from
luv2crochet, the other one came from a booklet at joanns... i'm working on a snood, trying to replicate the ones we have bought from different suttleries... i don't understand how people can sell them for so cheap when they take so much effort to make... i think once i figure out the pattern, it will get easier, but still... i'm expected to have a bin full of them in assorted colors, and i can't even make one yet... but it should be done soon, if i actually keep at it... i think i used up most of the yarn i bought the other day... i'm gonna have to start buying it in bulk somewhere for cheap... maybe ebay... hmm...
Shopping!!!
My mom took me to Joanns today, so we got to buy yarn... we went just a little bit crazy, lol... we bought yarn for the fur trim on my friend's cape... its this gorgeous chocolate brown mink yarn, it looks absolutely yummy with the cape... then we bought lots of yarn to make capelets to sell at reenactments, and some size 3 thread so i can practice making snoods... so i finished the cape, i will take pictures of it on my friend at her birthday party... i'll hate to see it go, but i know its going to a good home... lol... it just looks so good in my closet, i didn't know how proud i could be of something with such an easy pattern, but here i am... maybe i'll make one for myself... my mom wants one first... and she wants me to make a few to sell, as well, she thinks they could go for $90 or so... i think it depends on what yarn i can find on sale... i really need to find a place to store my stash... i think i need to convince my parents to build a castle, with really big rooms... that way i could partition off my room into three sections: bedroom, computer room, and craft room... maybe 4... a sitting room area would be nice so my friends can't mess with all of my stuff... lol, i seriously want a castle...
anyways, i am using lion brand jiffy for the capelets, with the sensations mink for the edging... that stuff looks great, it seriously looks like fur from a distance... i am envious... i don't understand how i can feel envy about a yarn, but i do... i want to be that yarn, or maybe i want to be the cape... who knows... it just looks so good! anyways, the jiffy is great, it feels like mohair, but is actually acrylic... so i still have yet to work with anything besides acrylic (oh, and cotton)... but man, that fiber is versatile... so many different textures out of one fiber! I'm impressed... but i'd love to work with animal fibers, for a change... i can't wait until my mom starts spinning, so we can realy make everything ourselves... i think raw fiber is cheaper than yarn... it just takes more work, but thats all the fun... or if my mom won't spin, i wish she would let me use her wheel so i can spin... she just doesn't want to set it up...
at the reenactment a few weekends ago, we met Nancy... from Sewing with Nancy... but i didn't know that... i mean, she was standing at a table filled with books and videos about sewing with Nancy, but i didn't put two and two together until just now... i did pick up a nifty copy of vogue knitting, from winter 1961, i think... i'll look at it later... so i might dabble into knitting again eventually, but crochet is so much faster and easier for me, its relaxing, while knitting still makes me tense... but i still prefer to look at knitted things than crochet... i think its just the artist inside me, never being satisfied with my own work...
ow...
i really need to start using my camera again... i think most people who read blogs secretly do it for the pictures... anyways, so far, my progress on outstanding projects:
1. Cloak- no progress since the last post... i've been lazy... i'll work on it sometime during the week, i need it finished by the 30th.
2. mile-a-minute afghan- again, no progress... i'm lazy...
3. daphne blankie- still no progress... wow, this is getting old...
4. rainbow scarf- i started this because i had a skein of rainbow yarn and wanted to get rid of it... the scarf is for blair... its almost finished, just needs fringe... its sitting in my backpack, in my car, along with my math homework which is due tomorrow but i haven't even started... its got an interesting twisty pattern to it, i got bored on my field trip to Bergamot Station.
5. simply soft scarf- another scarf for blair... she loves the scarves i do with this yarn... i made her one before, and then another for her friend, and she requested yet another, so i'm working on it... just a simple double crochet scarf, with a single crochet border... its pretty thin, like, 3 or 4 inches, and will be about 6 feet long... she likes them long... i have about a foot done, and am in no hurry to finish it...
6. IHS- still no progress, i have to remember where i put the danged thing!
so i bought Stitch n' Bitch Nation today, and i love the patterns in it, i can't wait to stock up on knitting supplies and get started... of course, i think most of the things i would make for blair, she wears that kind of stuff, but still... but i promise not to start anything else until i finish 3 things from my list... okay, maybe 2 things...
now to explain the title... my arm is killing me.... seriously, a few hours ago, it started out as an ache in the middle of my forearm... annoying, but managable... over the past few hours, it has spread to an almost intolerable ache going from my right ring finger, to the right side of my jaw... i don't know what to do, nothing is helping, i just want to cry, or scream, or cut my arm off... so this means no crocheting or knitting for me until the pain goes away... at least, no knitting, i think i can crochet with just one hand, being left handed and all...
oh, one more thing, am i weird? seriously, i am a lefty, and i've heard that its easier for leftys to knit the continental way, as opposed to the english way (or is it the other way around? i forget)... anyways, i knit the right handed way, but backwards... switching right and left in patterns... which gets confusing, but at least it makes sense to me... i have tried it the other way, and i don't get it... it doesn't matter though, right? as long as it works, i guess... but still, everything i see tells me i should do it the other way, and i don't see the point.. of course, i would love to learn how to knit right handed, too, that way i can do stockinette withought having to turn, and without having to do any purling.. just knit from right needle to left, and then back onto the right needle.. that would be fun... lol...
Cloak!
So I bought the yarn for my friend's cloak the other day... Its working up pretty fast, which is good... the body calls for 60 rows of DC, i'm on row 57... but its too short, and walmart doesn't have any more of the yarn i need, i think i have just enough to finish the cloak according to the pattern, but i think it should be longer... the model is tall and skinny, so i was worried that it wouldn't be wide enough, but its turning out great, its just not long enough, i think the particular piece modeled for the book was made longer, because it goes all the way to the floor, the model is tall, wearing heels, and is holding part of it up... so this is rather dissapointing.. this might mean i will have to go search several walmarts looking for the right yarn... not that i care about dye lot... if i were making something nice to sell, i would be more careful about that, but this is for a friend, and she'd better be happy that she's gettign anything at all for her birthday! I'm PMSing, if you can't tell, so that explains the mood... anyways, my mom's friend brought em a book of patterns for crocheted purses, which would be perfect to sell in our suttlery, once we figure out our name and get the paperwork filed... i think we need to come up with our name in the next week or so, so i can go ahead and start on the paperwork... i wonder if i'm going to be considered a full partner, or if i'm just going to be an employee... i hope i'm a full partner, i'll be making most of the small stuff that people will buy, as opposed to expensive dresses that only serious reenactors will buy... which reminds me, i really need to whip up a batch of soap, and try my hand at some candles. soaps and candles are staples for a suttlery... any other knicknacks i can think of would be great, too... maybe some homemade toys... those are great, fun to entertain kids with... but i'm rambling again... anyways, i think i'll have the cloak finished by wednesday, i might need a full day to work, and that won't be until tuesday...
Baby stuff!
last night my sister asked me to make something for her friend's baby. So i got bored, pulled out some yarn, and hunted for baby crochet patterns... i made adorable booties (i want to make more, they are so easy and cute... maybe if i make them smaller, they will fit Daphne?), some mittens, and a hat. baby blue with white accents, very sweet. i had trouble finding patterns using worsted weight yarn though, thats all i've got on hand... anyways, i'll try to get blair to take a picture of the baby and his new accessories when she sees him, and then i'll post it here... babies are just too darn precious...
another useless day...
so i made daphne a quickie crochet sweater out of that nice fuzzy yarn... i still need to add one more thing, and she damn near killed me when i tried to put it on her... she does not like wearing clothes... so after screaming at her and trying to hold her mouth shut to prevent her from biting me, i got it on her, and its so fuzzy! now my friend has requested a crocheted cloak... that seems like a lot of fun, but that would require a lot of yarn, i would prefer wool, probably wool-ease so its washable... and that costs money, which neither of us have... i swear, i need to start making something that i can sell for cash... and thats not gonna happen because i lack talent and original ideas... everything i make seems to come from a pattern from someone else, which i can't very well sell... i wonder if people would buy crappy dog sweaters... i don't know if i could make these in different sizes though, it would require some serious trial and error time... and a lot of extra yarn... maybe i'll make one for Zena, she's big, and Blair likes to put her in sweaters... i'd make one for Alfie, but he might have a new home soon! yay for new home... i want a kitty now... a little tiny fluffball, like Oliver was...not that any of you would know who he was, he was a tiny thing that we rescued from the shelter with an advanced case of upper resp... sadly, he didn't make it, but we were able to keep him alive for 10 days longer, which is more than he would have had at the shelter, and at least he got to snuggle with me when he died... imagine waking up in the middle of the night with a dead kitten laying on you... not pleasant... especially to a necrophobic, like me... but anyways, back to pleasant thoughts, of cute fluffy kittens... so i'd like to take a kitten over spring break, and let it live with me and be all snuggly, even bottlefeed it if its that young... and if its over spring break, then i can spend all day with the baby... but thats not going to happen, not while i'm living here... does anybody want to hire me? i can be a nanny... except i can't yet drive with children. but i'd be a great live in nanny... then i could move out, and everything... heck, i'd even babysit if snb-ers need to bring kids along to a meeting... that might be interesting work... i'd charge a few dollars per kid... then more people could come because they wouldn't need to stay home with the kids.... cool idea... i'm so smart...
today...
the other day my mom was going through some boxes in her closet, stuff that belonged to her grandmother... she handed me a bag full of old crochet projects... there were several granny squares of various patterns, but not enough of anything to actually do anything with... thats a bummer... i can still make some into pillows, using 9 or so, for the front, and then doing one big granny in a solid color on the back... my mom seems to like that idea... there was also a cute granny skull cap (not sure what they are called) that needs a few more rows added onto it... i'm gonna need my mom to finish that one for me... its a simple shell pattern, but my great grandmother was right handed, and i'm left handed, so i think it would look funny, especially since she left off mid-row. i'm gonna do a cute flower though and attach it on, and it will be very retro... thats in right now, right? i guess so... i'm not really into what's in though... i just started buying new "bohemian" clothes, i'm really glad they are in, i had been trying to attempt that look for years, and now the clothes are widely available, and they look so cute... lots of long flowing skirts... very earthy/hippy, without looking like some kind of freak. anyways, back on topic. so we were at biglots today, trying to buy wagon wheels... we are doing a pioneer theme for the living room, and my mom wanted to get some wagon wheels to hang on the walls... needless to say, they were sold out. but i found some cute yarn, Caron Feathers... so i bought a few rolls of it, and am debating whether i should do an irish hiking scarf (even though i haven't yet finished the first), or if i should make a sweater for little daphne... i need to find some gold fabric and make some tiny throw pillows for daphne... we got her this adorable little loveseat, its made for dolls, but its the right size for a bed for her, and its burgundy. i'm redecorating my bedroom to look like a brothel, kind of a moulin rouge look, with gold and burgundy. my next step is to find some burgundy satin sheets for a twin size bed... but anyways, this isn't a redecorating blog, if it were, it would be very boring, considering i don't know what i'm really doing anymore...
I'm so lame...
i haven't gotten much work on anything done in these past few days... too much other stuff going on with the dogs, and with school, and everything... but i've had a request to make a doggie sweater for my sister's friend's new dog. she's a doll! but daphne is getting one first, and not even until i finish the doggie blanket, and then my friend's afghan... i need to stop starting projects until i finish the ones i'm currently working on... anyways, i have been looking at other crafty blogs, and i just adore
monstercrochet, and then i looked at her website, and found her resume, and realized, she did a show at my school sometime last year! but i wasn't a student there at that point, dammit... if only i hadn't taken that semester off... oh well... so she's one of my crochet idols, someone that i'm absolutely dying to meet. i would love to just sit and crochet with her... seriously, how lame is that... except its actually plausible, considering she lives in the area, and she's a stitch n bitch member... so i would just need to find out which group she goes to, and then i could start going too... i'd meet a lot of really amazing people that way... but anyways, i just thought it was weird because i found her blog while doing a google search for crochet blogs... seriously, its a small world... school was so boring today, i swear, one of these days i'm going to bring my knitting and knit in math class while the teacher is going over the previous homework assignment, and i'm usually falling asleep because its stuff i had no problems with... anyways, this is my knitting and crocheting blog, not my stupid life blog, so i guess i'll end this here, because i have nothing craft related to blog about anymore... i swear... i think it would be cool to start a stitch n bitch group at school, we could all hang out in the student center once a week and it would be fun... there are couches in there and everything! perfect! okay, i promised i'd end this... over and out.
