New toys!

My poor little netbook got smashed a few weeks ago, so I decided to replace it with a Kindle touch.
Not exactly the same thing, I know, but I was wanting a kindle anyway, and I'm hoping being a little bit more unplugged will help me be more productive in my crafting and around the house (she says as she sits and blogs...)

I just got it last night, so I'm still figuring it out. So far though I really like it, and you can load PDF documents onto it too, so I've added some crochet patterns for easy access when I'm on the go. Figures that one of my first thoughts was "how can this help me crochet?"

Stash busting!

Not only am I a procrastinator, I'm also a pack rat. The result is I have had yarn in my stash left completely untouched for long enough that the manufacturer has discontinued it. Now, depending on the timing of when I bought this yarn, that actually might not be as bad as it sounds, it's possible I bought it on clearance after they stopped making it...but I know I didn't. I know this because I bought two balls of Lion Boucle about six years ago in hopes of making something for a contest Lion was hosting to promote this yarn....yeah, that didn't happen. It has sat in my yarn box for years, lovely but unused until this last weekend when I rescued it from its unused existence and whipped up a little hat that I just *adore*.

Isn't it fantastic? I love it!

I'll be posting it in my etsy shop as soon as I work up the description and such.  The size is newborn to 3 months and I think it would make a great hat to wear for some super cute baby pics.


Speaking of pictures...why is it that I can never take fantastic pictures of my kids or my projects? I manage decent pictures (most could be better), and the snapshots of the kids are fine....but why, when I'm not trying to do anything but appease a sick three year old who wants a picture of his toy do I end up with something really great?

See? boggles my mind.

Crafting ADD

I've heard several other crafty people talking about 'crafting ADD'...the inability to focus on a single project at a time, or perhaps even starting one, then abandoning it in favor of a better project.

This is completely me, no excuses....except that my kids totally don't help when it comes to focus and finishing.

As for the focus part, my five year old daughter is constantly asking me to make her stuff for her Barbies, or other dolls, or hair bows for her, or whatnot. Most of these things are quick, small projects that don't truly interfere with my other crafting, and they can actually be beneficial to me because I am suitably distracted from my main project just long enough to fulfill the crochet wanderlust that comes over me in the middle of a larger project. But they still take time away from my other projects.

Now, the main problem the kiddos contribute to is the actual finishing of a project. I make a lot of toys, nice small projects that don't take weeks, don't require worrying overmuch about sizing and gauge and other little things that I don't want to mess with. There have been many times that my kids will see me working on something and 'claim' it before it's done...pieces go missing, whole projects go missing, and it's usually just faster to make another than to find where on earth they've managed to hide it when there are only so many places in one dwelling to stash things.

Last night as I was doing the dishes my five year old told me that her almost two year old sister was messing with some scissors. At the time I didn't think much beyond it other than taking the scissors away from the tiny toddler hands...but I later found out that she had some craftiness on her mind too...and she had snipped little bits of the ant head that was just waiting to be sewed.

Perhaps she wasn't being needlessly destructive...she might have been displaying an aptitude for extermination...

Perpetually late

I'm rarely on time...I think it runs in my blood or something.

About a week after I wanted to get the motifs done for the little purses I finished them! Yay! I've also completed one of the purses, but I haven't taken a pic of it yet.
 
I asked my husband "don't they look yummy?!?" and he seemed baffled by the description. Weirdo.

I think they look yummy...maybe because the colors remind me of Skittles?

Still on my list of things to do is of course piece together the second purse, then I need to make the ant for my nephew, and the gloves for my mom (and I need to find at least *one* of my dozens of yarn needles...where do these things go?)

I've also been searching for a good DIY nursing cover for the new baby, but I can't seem to find a style I like. Most of them just seem to be a blanket with a strap attached, and with my acrobatic eaters that will *not* provide enough coverage to suit my modesty. I guess I'll just go with what I've done in the past, when I converted a crocheted poncho pattern into fabric (why not crochet? TOO HOT! babies are little space heaters).

Works in Progress

I have three (well, four) Christmas gifts that still need to be finished. I was smart and told everyone that they would be late, but I was hoping to get them done today. Totally didn't though. I took a nap instead.
Okay, I took two naps...but the massive work in progress of gestating justifies it in my mind.

My nieces are getting little purses that I'm making using this beautiful motif I first saw on Pinterest:

Wool Eater Instructions


Check out the rest of her blog too...beautiful pictures.

Each little purse will be made of two motifs, and I'm using DK cotton yarn. I have three out of four motifs done and I was planning on taking some pictures of them, because they are pretty, but yeah...I took those naps instead.

My nephew is getting an ant made from my own pattern. I asked my sister what his favorite color was and she said orange and green, which works out *perfectly* because I have a bunch of orange yarn that I don't use for many projects. This little ant will be quite vivid and fantastical, but I think it will be rather nifty.

Lastly I told my mother I would make her some fingerless gloves...and I started them, but I was wanting to try out some modifications to the pattern, and those really haven't worked out so well. I figured mom was going to be the most patient of recipients, so I will revisit those after I get the kiddos stuff done.

Back to Blogging!

I used to blog *all* the time...Mostly just a random collection of what I had been thinking and doing (*super* exciting, let me tell you!) that day/week/whenever.

I'm hoping that this blog will be a nice outlet for my craftiness...I post pics all the time on facebook of my finished projects, but it doesn't really provide a platform for explanation and storytelling. I'm too much of a diva to not want the attention that a good story provides :-)