Anastasia Scarf

Anastasia Scarf

Not much to say about this one. It's hdc with rows of 2 kinds of unknown yarn. Beautiful yarns though...and it's soo soft. *Sighs* This is one of my favourites folks. My mother borrows it to use it as a belt. Argh!

ETA: Drew the Crochet Dude (who's super awesome) asked me what kind of yarn it was so I looked it up. The pink edging is a hand dyed nylon yarn called Mountain Lullabye. It's basically pink with soft touches of lavender. The center yarn is Cascade Rio in #244 (pink).

My First Granny Square

I did it! I made my firstever granny square!! SQUEE!

It wasn't easy at all. Well, it was after I did my first but I'm the dumb ass who refuses to follow directions so I only skimmed the pattern and went off to my room to do it on my own For all I know what I made was a variation and not a standard/traditional one but still...it's a friggin' square! SWEET! My friends tell me I'm working backwards. I don't think so. It's perfectly acceptable to make hats, scarves, bags, jewelry and throws before learning to make granny squares. Silly friends...

My mother wants to frame the granny square hehe. I actually ran into her room last night and woke her up just to show it to her. She told me she was proud. BTW, my mum doesn't crochet at all...she's more of a hammer and nails crafter and leaves the fibers arts to "you girls." :p

In other news I am so excited about the secret pal swaps on Crochetville. I'm already making a list of things to send my pal. It'll prolly change once I get their name and interests but I like making lists. It keeps me nice and organized.

I'll post a picture of my first granny square sometime today or tomorrow. Oh and Brandon, if you're reading this, an email should make it's way through cyberspace to you sometime today. :)

To Follow Patterns Or Not...

I have a confession to make: In my three years of crocheting I've only followed patterns about 3 times. I hate patterns! Well no, hate is a strong word. I think I just tend to rebel against them. I like crocheting one of a kind things. I like just making stuff up as I go along. But lately...well lately I've been aching to find a good easy pattern and just follow it. I think the true test of whether I'm a good crocheter or not will be if I can follow a pattern.

I understand patterns just fine, I can do most crochet stitches (even if I don't know any of their names haha), they just never appealed to me before. Well dammit, I'm going to try. So this is where my fellow crocheters come in:

Recommend a good pattern to me. I would prefer it be something relatively medium or small (in other words, not a king size afghan) and something I can make with regular acrylic yarn like Red Heart or Caron. If you do, you'll get to see my oh-so-funny progress. Expect to see posts on my blog like "What the hell does that mean??" "5th row? I only have three rows! Ahh crap!" "What the hell is a single crochet stitch?? Oh...oh. I knew that."

This is going to be oodles of fun.

Finish or Frog It!

Ladies and Gents I am taking the UFO pledge.



No more
UnFinished Objects lurking in my WIP box!
No more
"What the hell was this going to be?"
No more
Crackers in bed!

Um...okay that last one has nothing to do with UFO's but it's still a good thing to stop. *ahem*

Fellow crafters, crocheters, knitters and crackers-in-bed people, say it with me now: No more, no more!

Oh...Oh Man...Oh No

I feel SOOOOO sick. No crafting from me for a while. I did stock up on supplies though. I got 22 skeins of yarn for 7 dollars on ebay ($18 with all the shipping) and Another 5 skeins for 8.99 with shipping. I ordered $70 of beading supplies and gemstones. Plus, my mother and I went grocery shopping so I have a good 80 plastic bags to crochet with. I'm storing them in a huge plastic container until I think I have enough to make another tote bag. And with that, I am done. Good night folks. Happy crafting!

Mmm Mmm Pie!

"Mmm Mmm Pie" Messenger Bag

No...no words. No words to describe it. They should have sent a poet. So beautiful...so beautiful. I had no idea...no idea...
Oh sorry, I was watching contact. *Ahem* Anyway this is my happy accident bag (you can read more about it here ). I think it came out beautifully and I am so proud of it. *pets bag* You done good, gal. You done good.

Rose and Lilith
Gemstone and Swarovski Bracelets

These are two bracelets I made for sale. Rose comes with matching earrings. They will be put up on my online store, Saw Ocean, Felt Small when the site gets finished up.I'll link it here when it's done.

What? What was that? *cough* Did I finish my messenger bag? Or my cigar purse? Um...I don't know what projects you're talking about. *covers up WIP list* Okay I give up. No, I didn't finish those. But I just had to make these bracelets. The "Mmm Mmm Pie" bag is almost done anyway. I already started making the sides/straps. And now I'm off to make some hats! I mean work on the bags...yeah.

Take A Swallow As I Sip

"Mmm Mmm Pie" Messenger Bag

Yes, I realize this is an awful scan of the bag. It's not done anyway. I'll take a pic of it with the digital camera in the sunlight tomorrow. Yes, I WILL finish it by tomorrow. No more slacking off for me, dagnammit. The bag is a pretty good size and I like the way the flap is slightly wider than the rest of the bag. That's good for all my button and patches.
Oh...oh god. Oh I think I need some unchicken soup. *pats sad tummy* Being sick sucks.

New WIP added: My piggy tail hat. I forgot I was making it. Doh! More on that tomorrow.

I Finally Did It!

I did it! I finally did it! After years of not understanding, after years of trying to comprehend...wow. I can't believe it. Ladies and gentlemen, I have done what I said I could never do....

I tried to crochet a square, and got a triangle.

SCHWEET! Wait...hey don't walk away! Let me explain. See when many people learn to crochet, they make the mistake of making a stitch in the very very last loop that's on the side. Doing so adds an extra stitch each row which results in an increase...or something. Okay I can't really explain the mistake but crochters will know what I mean. Now, I was quite the perfectionist when I learned to knit and crochet (and I had 3 women around to teach me) so the increase problem never plagued me. In fact, I didn't understand how anyone could make that mistake. Now I do. *hugs fellow crocheters/knitters* Now that I have experienced your pain, the healing process can begin.

Actually, I didn't frog the work. Instead of making a hat, I am now making a messenger bag. I've stopped increasing so the triangular portion will simply be the flap. Why yes, I know I rock the casbah. Thank you for noticing.

Pictures of my beautiful accidental triangle will come tomorrow.

Also, I practiced a new stitch. The uh...um...crap. No no it's not called "the crap." I don't know the name of it. Basically you yarn over six times, push hoop through stitch, yarn over, pull hook through stitch, yarn over again and pull that last y/o through the other 8 loops on your hook. The effect is a very puffy, cute stitch. I've experimented with y/o up to 9 times. It's a bit hard at first but you get used to having to twist your hook a little quickly.

In other crafty news, someone please give me a boost to finish my "Magnifico Espana (Magnificent Spain)" cigar box purse. My mother has it on display on our bookcase and it gets a lot of compliments but honestly, it's not done. I really gotta finish her.

I'm going to finish my messenger bag now. :D

How to Wind a Ball of Yarn

The cheapo Jess way. See, most yarns come in hanks, which is basically yarn looped and then tied in a figure 8 formation. Hanks are great because they minimize space (which means you can hoard...um..store more yarn), let you see the colour and texture of yarn better and they are the easiest way to go from just spun/dyed wool to a managable object. You can't knit/crochet from yarn however so many people invest in yarn winnder. I, on the other hand, put my money in toilet paper!

You'll need:

Empty toilet paper cardboard roll
Two medium height, heavy objects
Hank of yarn

Take the cardboard tube and rip a notch diagonally at the top (illustrated in the red circle).

Take your hank and unwind it from it's figure 8 shape. Place the hank around the two heavy objects:. I usually put it over the back of a chair or over two mugs. This is to ensure that the hank doesn't become a tangled mess as you wind the yarn. Find the loose end of the yarn and pull it away from the rest of the hank.

Tuck the loose end into the notch in the cardboard tube. Make sure it's secure and make a loose wrap around the cardboard tube.

Wrap around the tube 50 times. Make sure you don't wrap too tight! Not only does it make getting the yarn off the tube more difficult but it'll also stretch out your yarn which messes with the stretchy feel of a knit object.

Begin to wrap the yarn slightly diagonally on the tube.

Alternate wrapping straight around and diagonally. Also at this point I like to "compress" the yarn. To do this, push the top edge of the yarn down with your index fingers while simultaneously pushing the bottom edge of the yarn up with your thumbs. This is what really holds my skeins together. Continue wrapping the yarn until the hank runs out. Tuck in the end wherever you see fit (tuck it though, or else you might confuse it with the center pull end!). Release your center pull from the notch and pull your new ball off the tube. Voila! A ball of yarn!

If you find your yarn is too flimsy, keep practicing. My cardboard tube method has never failed me and after practice I've been told that my skeins "look just as beautiful as the ones in stores."

Stash Tip: Once I start working with a yarn, I place it in a sandwich or ziplock bag. What I do is cut a tiny hole in the corner of the bag, feed the center pull through, tie bag and throw into my stash box. This way my WIP yarns don't get tangled with each other. You can work with the yarn still in the bag: just pull on the yarn and it'll come out through the hole. This is great when you're doing a multi-skein project.

Sorry the images aren't great. MS Paint is only my friend on Thursdays; any other time of the week she's a hating whore.