KCCO- Spring equinox swap and a sweater for me

 I apologize for being away. Between drowning at work, a sick family and Randy getting into a motorcycle accident I have not had time for creating and crafting. I have missed it terribly and forced some last night which made my heart sing. The Hobbit movies and soundtracks have been on to remind me of a childhood comforting story, something I hope to ingrain in my children on how those stories create such solid memories, or nightmares ( I was always terrified of those dang spiders!).

I signed up a few weeks ago to participate in a spring equinox swap for some new decor as it use to bring me joy and found it hard to get enough approvals. We finally decided on raindrops and clouds as nothing says spring to me more being in Illinois.

 

I have also finally located my missing yarn bag from New Years that had my Wisteria cardigan. As much as I hate using acrylic as of lately I chose Caron Simply Soft as I was too scared to use something nice and expensive for my first "official" clothing endeavor. 

Goldenrod goodness

Over this weekend we went on a nature walk to collect goldenrod flowers for dying yarn. Originally the plan was to make flying stars for Michaelmas however that will not be happening so I may just use this fun yarn for another project.

 

I found this process to be fairly simple however I am unsure of how color fast it is. Only time will tell after the final projects are made.

We chopped off all of the flowers and threw them in a pot of water then let it heat for about an hour or so without boiling.

I then strained the flowers through some muslin fabric and a colander with a toddler underfoot and managed not to spill any of the hot liquid on his newly bald head. Score!

I threw about half of the tiny bottle of Alum powder in and it clouded within the dark brown and turned to a super bright gold. Chemistry is awesome. I threw in about half of a skein of the wool yarn. This dye will not work on acrylic yarn so if you try this at home please don't waste your time!  

Rinse and let dry in the ucky bathtub which is highly overdue for a cleaning but obviously I'm too busy crafting instead.

It is still drying currently from last night but I cant wait to make something from it!

KCCO: Art therapy

I realized that I have not done a KCCO post in forever. Well not that long but close enough. With my hands flaring up as much as they have and work entering overtime mode 3 months early I have not have the strength to do much crochet or knitting. I did finish one Christmas gift however and started a second so they may be all done in time. I mostly have been journaling lately as I need something mindless to do in this time of stress. My brain is pretty mushy and needs a break for sure. I need encouragement and strength with all of these pressures pushing in on our family so many of them are Biblical based or just happy words or sayings.

I also created a window transparency which Ry promptly crushed me by saying "hey its an elephant!"

When 3 children agreed I had to just shake my head since in my vision its a hedgehog under a tree. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder right?

What have you been crafting lately?

My first MCAL {KCCO}

I have taken the plunge and decided to try a new mystery crochet a long{MCAL}. This event is a shorter one, thank goodness for summer called Veronica meets spring. I will be sharing some photos along the way. This is a one size fits all accessory full of color and texture. I am hoping if it turns out well that the girls may all get one to wear to be "matchy-matchy" but in different color combos.

 My gauge is already HUGE even with going down a hook size but since it is a 1 size fits all  I am hoping it will be ok.

Feel free to join us as there is a knit and crochet version and hundreds of us participating all over the world!

birds and hedgies {KCCO}

After searching the internet I had found 2 tutorials for needle felting a little spring bird. They gave some great instructions and inspiration and can be found here and here . Ryguy had also been asking me for some hedgehogs since our evening/bedtime song involves squirrels and hedgehogs so I decided I would try to tackle those too. Not too shabby I think!

What are  you crafting this week?

Project bags

I am joining One Grey Elephant for her project bag swap. It is a mama swap with a project bag filled with all sorts of goodies. I finally have borrowed a sewing machine from my in-laws and was able to whip it up quickly now that I have a machine that actually works. I am still working on the hearts for Peyton's heart project as well and have a ton to go before Easter gets here.

What are you crafting this week?

Oats Cowl {KCCO}

So I have finally figured out knitting...well ish. I attempted the Tin Can Oats pattern and butchered the ribbing. Wrapped the yarn around the bottom for each of the stiches so it has a nice tight spiral bound edge. Pretty, however not even close to the idea of a rib. I gifted it to Nanners as she was excited to have something that Mama made.

I have begun again with my Ravelry notes to make a real one for myself. I am using this beautiful fallish colored yarn. It is one of my favorite color combinations. I have been trying to push myself in more colored accessories vs all black so I  felt it a was good start. My goal is it will be able to hide my TENS unit if i need to be a little more socially acceptable and not have to answer dumb questions about all the wires around my neck.

What are you working on today?

BTW Happy Ash Wednesday! I will have a nice update regarding our Lent goals in the next post.

Adult coloring books {KCCO}

My husband got me one of these "adult coloring books" for my Christmas present this year.  It amazes me what some of these costs for simple pages printed and bound but I guess whatever sells right? I am enjoying having these at my desk at work to slowly go through since it will take me a good long while due to how detailed it is. I am thinking of splurging and bringing my nice colored pencils from home vs dollar store colored pencils that are breaking every pencil stroke.

So excited!

The last few christmas gifts... {KCCO}

Remember how in the past I have always said, "I don't sew"... Well. I didn't. Until now. Randy was supposed to have helped me with Beanie and Mark's PJ pants for Christmas after the entire sweater fiasco.  One thing lead to another and they ended up my lap at work. I will be finished with them with maybe 2 days to spare but they will be done! Mind you they are not perfect but I hope all of the kids enjoy their handmade gifts this year.

What are you crafting this year? 

 

A birthday sweater

I have made an effort this year to have each of my kids get a handmade piece of clothing for their birthday. Nanners got a dress that I ended up buying from Etsy that she loves that included a matching dress for her doll. I did start this sweater for Giddy however it seems HUGE even with the hook adjustment for gauge. I am thinking of just making this for Ryguy and making a new one for Giddy's birthday in 2 weeks. I am using this pattern for the sweaters. It is written kind of confusing for assembly however the individual pieces work up very quickly due to the thickness of the yarn and hook size. I am super excited to see the boys together in their sweaters. Now to pick out buttons!


 

Yarn doll

Many times I am commissioned to crochet projects for a family friend.

I got a message from our friend and she asked  "Can you make this for me?"

I of course had no idea what it was. After some looking on the internet I have become knowledgeable about Enderman. He is a character from the Minecraft video game. He is a bad guy and destroys things.

 I looked for patterns around the internet and did not like any of them. Most of them had square bodies and round arms. In a pixelated world round arms don't work well.  I did sit and create my own pattern for him via the photos on Google and unfortunately it took  much longer than I anticipated

due to my arthritis.

 

Yay for Enderman!

Sewing my first skirt

  

I finally made my first attempt at a skirt for Nanners. I had put it off for YEARS since I was so scared of it looking horrid. Our sewing machine is highly temperamental so I decided to save myself a headache and  just hand stitch all of it.  I purchased 3 bed sheets from Salvation Army and cut all the pieces from this pattern.  

I love how it ended up and am planning on making "matchy match" versions for the bigger girls. 

Dying yarn

 As the deadline nears for my unicorn hats for my swap I realized I did not have the perfect yarn for the manes. I decided to dye my own using Kool-Aid and food coloring. It is not perfect by any means but since it will be cut up into fringe I feel it adds character. I am decently happy on how the striping turned out and hope to do it again soon with much more time and patience.

rainbow dyes

Pre-dye

 

All wrapped up

The final product!

 

Kcco: another crochet lesson

 As always I am working with a coworker to teach him to crochet. For awhile he has asked to make a beer koozie. I told him to hold tight and learn some stitches so he made his bunny from a square and a scarf for his girlfriend.  Finally I felt he was ready and we created this together on our slow day last week.

Update on our rainbow unicorn hats from Repeat Crafter Me. Got 1 base done and 5 more to go since Nanners wants one as well.

 

What are you crafting? 

Keep Calm and Craft On...

 

I am currently elbow deep in Shrek. Working on the production team I have been selected to come up with costumes. My biggest challenge currently is making Dragon. The prototypes for the head were shot down however as they want them BIGGER! We formed them around milk containers and the jumbo sized dishing soap bottle. Our new form is going to be made of wire coat hangers, chicken wire and paper mache. Here is to crossing my fingers I can pull it off.

 

 

I did get the pattern from these at cRAfter chick however the link is not working at the moment. Hopefully it will be back up soon if you would like to make these for your little ogre at home.

I am also going to make some fingerless gloves for the big green man from this pattern. Lots to do!

 

This whole production will take up a good chunk of my time but I did sign up for a Waldorf Swap with a rainbow birthday theme so I will have those started soon too.

What are you crafting?

linking up with KCCO and Yarn along

KCCO: a birthday gift

 My littles have a birthday party coming up for a friend. This friend is the only one that does birthday parties so our kids are always excited. The family is a bit more mainstream than us so we are the oddballs that give handmade gifts. This is going to be a troll/ogre house when completed. I'm still unsure if I will stuff the roof to give it more shape or leave it flopping depending on time constraints. We will be painting a peg guy or 2 to go along with it.

Since we can't have only one project at once I am practicing me knit and purl stiches for washcloths with some cheapo rainbow cotton from Walmart.

 

What's on your hooks/needles today? 

Granny Stitch Fingerless Gloves

So I finished crocheting a granny style shawl a few weeks ago from this pattern and felt that I needed some gloves to go with them. I used this pattern as an inspiration however modified it heavily to make it into a granny squares vs the lacier look. Below is the pattern I created so I can make them again for gifts.

Yarn: Worsted weight

Hook: 4.5mm/U.S. G

Abbreviations

Ch: chain

Sc: single crochet

Dc: double crochet

Sl st: slip stitch

Cuff

Ch 28, join with sl st, being careful not to twist the chain,

Round 1: Ch 1, sc in every stitch around, join to ch 1 with sl st

Round 2-4: Ch 1, DC in each around

Glove

Round 5: Ch 3, 2 dc in same stitch, *skip 2 stitches, 3 dc in third stitch, repeat from * around until there are only 2 stitches left, join to ch 2

Round 6-10: Sl st in middle dc of dc cluster, ch 1, 3 dc in same stitch, *3 dc in every open space*

Thumb space

Round 11: Repeat Round 6 until the last dc cluster, skip the last dc cluster, and join to 3rd chain of ch 4 with sl st

Round 12-14: Repeat Round 7

Round 15: Ch 1, sc in every stitch around, join to ch 1, fasten off.

Weave in all ends

Learning to knit

 As you may start to notice a keyboard, pens and notebooks are normally in the background of most of my crafting photos. I spend a good amount of time crafting at work as I work in a call center so there is some down time in between calls. I am not slacking I promise and crafting is AWESOME stress relief  from the yelling and crabby people I speak to daily. I have had a few coworkers ask me to teach them to crochet so there will be more of that on another day as I am teaching macho men to create crochets bunnies and scarfs.

Well during some free time I was checking out Wee Folk Art which is one of my favorite blogs to visit. If you have never been... You need to. Tons of crafty fun goodness.

For the last 3 years I have wanted to learn how to knit. I would sit down with directions from here and get a good cast on and end up with a knotted mess. Several swears later it would be in a ball and I would pick up my crochet hook for something more comforting. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't figure out: In, Around, Under, Off. Until now.

I figured I would Youtube it as Google and Youtube can teach you how to do ANYTHING. Ask my husband. He has learned how to fix nursemaids elbow, completely rebuild computers with motherboards and hard drives and rewire our vans.  The internet is wonderful, but back to knitting.

So I ended up here which had a wonderful step by step video. I finally figured out it was the wrong prepositions for me to understand it. For myself I have to go: In, Under, Around ( wrap) and (push) off. The story I tell myself in my head is quite a morbid one pushing someone off a cliff but whatever works right?

The final result. 

It is not straight or even but it is beautiful as it is the furthest I have ever gotten before.  I am very proud of myself and am looking forward to making my first scarf. Knit on!

Bit o' Spring- Grateful Sunday

Finally finished a bit o spring to go on our fireplace. Kool-aid dyed yarn for the flowers and some Patton's blue wool for the chain. I've had it sitting for weeks so glad to be done.

Here is the flower pattern in case anyone else would love to make it too!

Other things I'm grateful for:

Nanner's having learned and respected our rules for dressing and remembering to apply them at all times, even when its her dance costume.

Finding a breast milk donor for Giddy so that although I am not producing as much as I use to that he can still get breast milk.

Koda finally turning 18 and getting the ambition to take her driver's test soon. *crossing fingers*

Ryguy finally talking more.

Randy is able to go riding a few times with his cousin and enjoying having a motorcycle buddy again.

What are you grateful for?

Mandala

The value of life does not depend upon the place we occupy.

It depends upon the way we occupy that place.

St. Therese de Lisieux