Update on Projects

I suppose it is time i write another one of these. i've been busy with lots of projects and school over the past few weeks but it has all been fun. i wore my civil war dress for halloween and it was a huge hit!

i have also sucessfully cabled in crochet, and made a wonderful shawl (which will now be produced in wool, probably on my trip to boston). due to a wonderful sale at Michaels, i purchesed a large amount of wool and felted for the first time! i looooove wool! but only when it is 2.50 a skein instead of 5.00. basically i stocked up, i think over all i bought 11 skeins, but i couldnt help myself, it is sooo warm and the colors from Paton's are beautiful! of course i felted a pair of slippers, the most wonderful things ever, and i've made a wool cowl as well.

up next on my to do list is spinning yarn! i bought 2 ounces of purple alpaca and started carding that today, so that when my spindle arrives i can spin spin spin! i also bought a pound of llama to be carded and dyed perhaps! we shall see. this shall all come in handy when i have to give a presentation in class next week about a personal item, hand spun yarn kicks ass and is easy to break down for people...it came from these animals bla bla bla.

in other news i joined a website called ravelry to keep all of my projects in order, and see how long it took me. it is really fun to search for patterns and such! then i decided i'll crochet a sweater seeing as my shawl wasnt so bad!

of course i am off from school in 1 week so i will have loads of time to venture into the world of hand spinning and crocheted garments. i'd say shawl #1 will soon have a friend. Perhaps i can do some cleaning and organizing as well.

but now for the most exciting bit of news! i have gotten my first tattoo, an incredibly daring... ball of yarn and crochet hook :) it's purple and absolutely wonderful. when it is done healing, a picture shall be posted. in two weeks i think i will go back and get a little book on my right foot (the ball and hook are on my left :) )

oh and Jessi and i finally taught mom how to crochet, now shes working on a scarf, has made two hats, and working on a third. i simply cannot get enough of this crochet business!

happy crafting!

Regency Gown

Happy Crafting!
Just dropping in to write down my accomplishment of the day :) i managed to find some addicting white fabric with tiny blue flowers at hobby lobby. at first i passed it up, but it was on clearence and it was perfect for a regency gown so i decided to get some. then, after thinking about how awesome the dress would look when it was completed, i decided to draw up a pattern...actually i just free handed it on the fabric, and go. three hours later i had my masterpiece :) and i got to sew in up with my wonderful new sewing machine, which has already produced a quilt.

Figured it was time for a post

Ah, it is finally october, my how time flies. have you ever noticed how you wake up and its new years, then you blink, and you're out of school for summer, the next thing you know the first homework assginments are being handed out and then comes christmas. every year the same thing happens, and as i get older, the years go by quicker...which isnt really saying much since im 18 going on 19, but still. i can just remember being a kid and waiting for my birthday to come around so i could ask for my hearts desire of the moment, but it's only be may or june. Siblings birthdays were the worst because i'd get jealous waiting for mine. However, i have come to appreciate my birthday much more nowadays. To start off with, i am the only person in my immediate family to have a fall birthday, my individualism comes through yet again :). secondly, Fall is my favorite time of year, the colors, cool temps, and attire just make me ecstatic. Plus, my birthday is exactly one week before halloween, which is always a fun time of year. To top it all off, my birthday marks the two month count down to christmas eve.

quick note on christmas eve, i have come to realize that as i have gotten older i have enjoyed the days leading up to christmas more than the actual day. Sure, i love to get and give presents, but i love the magic of the holiday season, and since we dont really do the Twelve Days of Christmas thing here, it seems that at 12:00 dec 26 christmas is done and over, and we have to wait a whole year till it comes around again. However, from thanksgiving till christmas the magic is alive and kicking. the sights, sounds, and smells of the holiday season just intensify as time goes on. I love the waiting, guessing, anticipation, and pure joy of counting down the days till we can give and recieve. i go over how i think people will react to my gifts over and over in my head till im sure ive alraedy given it to them. all in all, christmas day is nice but thanksgiving till christmas eve is the real holiday for me :D

Back to my birthday. since my parents are divorced i usually get some big thing from each of them, which is nice. this year i am pining for an ipod touch to replace my 1st gen video ipod. i've been cleaning and organizing my itunes library, downloading apps, and contemplating what kind of ipod sock i'll crochet in order to protect the ipod. I havent been this excited for my birthday in quite a few years. From my mom i am going to get a brand new sewing machine! This is going to be like entering the lightness after 18 years of darkness. The only sewing machine i have ever known was my moms ancient and incredibly moody jc penny sewing machine. i cant tell you how many times i have been close to tears because i couldnt even get one stich without the thread breaking. Now alot of the machines are electronic and have all these neat knobs, and speed things. it all seems so foreign to me, so i am really looking forward to playing around with the machine before i start my first project.

I really want to cut up a bunch of band shirts that i dont wear as often (i have about 100 band shirts... no joke, and want to get rid of them with out getting rid of them) to turn into a blanket quilt thing of sorts. i figure it'd be a pretty kickass blanket, and it'd be unique and entirely hand made. all i need to do is get stuff to line the blanket with so it is actually warm, not just some giant shirt thing. Perhaps a trip to jo-anns is in store.

as for current projects, i am going to crochet 13 little christmas tree ornaments for family, and then i have to think of things i can do for friends for xmas. i figure if i start now i might actually attempt to get some stuff out of the way before dec18 (when i leave for boston). haha. i'm thinking little knicknacks would be awesome for friends, since they dont take much yarn and would be quick to do. i just have to figure out what those do dads should be. cool ipod socks? hats (too much time :p), socks?

i found the best pattern for socks a few weeks ago. i was so proud of it i made three pairs, two for the bf and one for myself (i had to alter it by a bit to fit my feet). my sister made a pair and i'm thinking i'll make a pair for my mom for xmas. i also found a pattern for moccasins that i tried out for the bf. we actually bought soles for them and i sewed them on, so they are legit shoes and kick ass. perhaps i'll mkae them for dad for xmas. the pattern couldnt be eaiser. and they look really hard and complicated! so its even better. i think the only thing i'll cahnge is adding a drawstring to them so they dont fall off. actually, i might start another pair tonight or tomorrow so i have a pair for myself. wait no, jk, thats my sister project for the weekend...phew :p.

quick note about the ipod touch i'm pining for, it has a copy paste thing so you can copy something like... CROCHET PATTERNS, and save them on the ipod...other wise known as my dream device. music, movies, iternet, crochet :D plus there is a crochet/knit project app so i can keep track of what im doing...basically its awesome. the ohter day i was playing around with my brothers touch and actually copied a pattern for xmas tree ornaments, watched the video on tjw1963's youtube page and then made the tree. it was incredible. so much so that my crocheting partner in crime is lusting for one as well. we figure this device would come in handy for things like trips, where we want to crochet but might not have access to the internet and dont want to bring a book of patterns with. we can jsut pull one up on the ipod.

right now i've jsut been enjoying the genius thing on itunes, its pretty cool. i was in a mellow mood so i choose a song to play and it made a playlist around it and i have enjoyed every song since... Really tempted to make moccassins now :P

ah i'll wait. there are always ipod vids to watch.

Happy Crafting!

Update

So since i finished my hat i have crocheted pair of mittens, some small lace motifs and a pair of slippers, i have also finished one book and have been working on a few more. I am starting school on monday so i probably wont be able to keep up the pace of my crocheting, but hopefully i can do a project or to on the weekends. Oh, yes, i did crochet a hat for my boyfriend and a pair of socks for him as well. hopefully i can finish cleaning my room today before radio...:D

Ah, summer is almost over, but im excited for school to start. there shall be many exciting things to look forward to this year. And in almost a week it will be my two year anniversary with my boyfriend.

Happy Crafting.

Mittens

I am hopefully planning to start a pair of mittens today. we'll see how far i get with them...im really tired today after a wonderful show on the radio last night. I did also mangage to get my hands on a copy of civil War: a history. i am quite excited to read this, and then i will also try to finish "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" which is an incredible book.

Wish me luck.

Lace

So now that i have finished with my civil war day dress i can go back to my crocheting. Last thursday, me and my boyfriend went up to geneva for the day. we had a really raelly nice time and found two yarn shops which was a dream come true since the jo-ann near my house closed (nothing against you michaels, you just have a poor collection of yarns). So whilst in geneva i picked up a size 4 crochet hook and some beautiful cotton thread. i then procceded to crochet two doilys. then yesterday i picked up some smaller white thread and a size 10 steel hook. since then i have completed one small doily and i must say, i am proud of my lace.

so for now i return back to the world of hooks and yarns.

happy crafting :)

Hooray!

After slaving(not literally) over this dress for the past two and a half days i have finally finished it! The dress looks incredible and im so proud of it. the color is perfect, the style is just right! and it wasnt a total pain in the ass to make. i had so much fun sewing it together, and i can say i did it the old fashioned way :D