Fun With Mud

A couple weeks ago this was the result of Sofie having a really fun time in the mud at the park. I actually stood her up on the back of our car and stripped her down to her diaper before buckling her into her car seat for the drive home. Both Sofie and her clothes ended up mostly clean after a good scrubbing.

I Made These!

Basically, two different takes on the same pattern. A simple mini-wallet with three pockets. They aren't perfect but making them was good practice with my sewing machine. I used my newly learned needle felting skills to do the flowers on the felt wallet. Yay for making things!

Just in Time For Valentine's Day

I finally completed my first ever original knitting pattern!


This is somewhat of a personal victory for me. As some of you know, I usually refer to myself as a "crafter" not an "artist" because I do not feel like an artist unless I have created something out of my own brain that, as far as I know, is totally unique. Usually when I correct people and make this distinction, they tell me to lighten up and just take pride in my work but it is hard for me to truly take ownership of something when all I have done is use someone else's instructions for what to put where and duplicate their results. I do not deny that there are certain skills necessary to do the crafts I enjoy and I definitely take pride in the fact that I have been able to hone some of those skills, so I do not want you to think I am belittling that. I hold good craftsmanship in high regard. But artistry is in a different category and until I actually took the time to write down this formal knitting pattern for something I used my own knowledge of the craft to create, I did not feel comfortable calling myself an artist. I have by no stretch of the imagination "arrived" as a knitter, but I feel I can now officially be comfortable with the label "artist," at least in regards to knitting.

The pattern is currently up for sale in my etsy store. Just for fun, the following pics show the evolution of the design...

Crafter's Delight

Last weekend I attended the CHA Supershow in Anaheim and had a super good time. My friends Susanne and Megan also came and geeked out with me over things like book binding machines, cutting machines, resin molds and endless amounts of fun ideas. We got to do lots of “make and takes” and even walked away with some free goodies. Here is what I came home with…

I silk screened a T-shirt using Plaid’s Simply Screen system. The print quality is decent but I don’t absolutely love any of the designs they have available. Supposedly they are working on a way to make blank screens to be used with original designs. I’ll be keeping my eye on this because it could be a cheaper alternative to the Yudu screen printing machine, which so far, looks like the most slick silk screen at home system I have seen (wow, say that ten times fast).

I made an attempt at creating something with the Waxmelter Batik Pen. Way fun. Basically you can melt wax of any kind and use it to draw designs on fabric (they were using broken up candles and crayons at the booth) . When you paint over your design with water based paint, the wax repels the paint and creates a neat batik texture. I almost bought one of the pens but decided I should probably use up some of my yarn before I get wrapped up in another realm of crafting.


I colored a pillow case with soy based fabric crayons. It came with a pre-printed design (I chose Lightning McQueen because Sofie is currently a little obsessed with Pixar’s Cars). Supposedly, if I heat set the back of the design with a hot iron, the colors won’t wash out. I haven’t tried that part yet but I’m hoping it works.


The next one was kind of just a silly little craft but I was excited to do something with yarn (my favorite). I was also excited to try out Clover’s Wonder Knitter spool knitting tool and their Pom Pom Maker, both of which I have been curious about for some time now. Pretty fun.


Another kind of silly craft but we had fun making them and we scored some free ModPodge, tacky glue, and paper! I decided to make mine a statement about society- I dare you to interpret it.


The next craft is from the rock star portion of the day. I have been curious about duct tape wallets since I heard about them but have never just taken the time to make one. I have to say this was fun and easy to do. I plan on doing more of this in the future- I have a whole roll of red “Duck” Tape just waiting to be made into something fabulous.




I had my first ever experience with needle felting and I think I’m totally addicted to it. After walking past the tools for this craft at various craft stores on various occasions, I was happy to finally get the chance to test it out before I spent any money on it. I have since spent money (I had coupons so it was reasonable) on my own tools and am having a blast playing with my new toys. I think it will be a good way to use up some of my excessive amounts of yarn. The first pic is the front and the one below it is what the back ends up looking like.



The next craft literally took five minutes to make. We ran into a few “crafting under pressure” situations but this one took the prize. There were a lot of people gathered around this crafting table so they were trying to cycle people through as quickly as possible. I don’t think I even ever sat down in front of my project, I simply unwrapped the bag the woman threw at me, tossed a few doilies down on it, and sprayed it with the fabric dye. I ended up with blue fingers and a tie dyed bag- not really my style but I was still pretty happy with how it came out. I think I might try staining the whole thing in some tea just for fun.


Next is the first of our sewing projects. We had a good time making them and then wearing them the rest of the day. Very stylish- in a crafty kind of way.


Even though we all agreed that the color choices for the next sewing adventure (made for us by the people assembling the kits) were hideous, this project gave us the chance to try out some fun decorative stitches and we learned how to use a satin stitch to do edging. I will definitely use these skills again. Since this is intended to be a postcard, we all threatened to send them to each other when we least expect it.


The gift card holder was the third of our sewing projects. It came out pretty cute. The button on mine is a little off center but I plan on fixing that. This was a great opportunity to get some practice with a small project. All of this sewing really made me want to try some new things with my own machine. We’ll see how that goes.




It was a busy day and when I thought about everything we had made I really felt like we had accomplished good things. I feel inspired, encouraged, and empowered to make more stuff and things and stuff, etc.!

Seduced by the Soft Side

I wrote the following yarn commentary a little over two years ago. Surprisingly, my opinions and obsessions haven’t changed much since then.

I have probably walked right past Red Heart brand Simply Soft yarn about a million times during countless quests for the perfect, inexpensive yarn in the color I need. For some reason I’ve mostly gravitated toward Lion Brand yarn and yarn accessories- they just seemed to always have what I was looking for. It isn’t always the most affordable yarn but in my loyalty to the brand, I am usually able to justify the price. Red Heart on the other hand, always seemed like the “cheap” brand to me and in my yarn snobbery, I usually didn’t even give it a chance but I recently had a knitting life-altering moment that changed my entire outlook.

I was conducting my usual search for something that I was starting to think didn’t actually exist and was about to bypass the Red Heart brand section, as usual, when a particular shade of red sitting next to a particular shade of goldish yellow caught my eye. Finally, the perfect colors for the “new and improved” Harry Potter scarf I wanted to start! I reached for a ball of the Red Heart Simply Soft yarn to examine the label for gauge and suggested needle size when suddenly my finger tips casually brushed the surface of the amazing luxurious texture. The whole world slowed down around me while I had “a moment” with the softest yarn ever. I pulled my hand away, startled by the intense softness but wanting more. Feeling a little guilty, I looked behind me at the neatly arranged rows of Lion brand yarn on the shelf just across the aisle. “It’s not what it looks like!” I wanted to explain. “It’s just that it’s so soft and inexpensive and…” I once again turned my gaze toward the Simply Soft, hypnotized by its magical powers of softness.

I glanced in either direction to make sure I was alone and then stuck my hand into the pile of smooth ecstasy. Wow! It was like it was made out of some perfect mixture of bunnies and kittens without any claws or teeth. I probably would have stood there all day but I was jerked off of the yarn cloud I was on and back to reality as an older woman turned the corner and made her way down the aisle. Afraid she had seen me fondling the yarn inappropriately; I quickly fumbled to regain my composure and picked up one of the balls of yarn, pretending to stoically examine the label as she got closer. “Don’t you just love this yarn?!” she said as she began filling her cart with a mountain of softness. The look in her eyes told me she had done her fair share of inappropriate yarn fondling and I just smiled awkwardly as she carted her new stash toward the register. I realized that I was not the first to be seduced by the soft side and that this could easily get out of hand.

I resisted the desire to buy at least fifteen balls of Simply Soft in every color available and limited my purchase to only the amounts and colors necessary for the Harry Potter scarf. As the girl behind the cash register was ringing up my purchase, I swear I caught her giving each ball of yarn an extra squeeze as she ran them past the scanner and placed them in the bag. I could feel myself breaking into a cold sweat as my eyes followed each ball across the counter. I felt a strange compulsion to dive into the bag after the yarn just to touch it again. The girl behind the counter looked up as she squeezed the last ball, dropped it in the bag and said, “I love knitting with this yarn, it’s the best.” I nodded and trying to remain calm and aloof, said, “Yeah, I’m really excited about it.” Before she hit the total button on the register, she asked the crucial question, “Will that be all for you today?” I started to shake and hesitated for a moment before finally blurting out in one hysterical breath, “No I think I’m going to need a few more balls of the Simply Soft because I’m just not sure if I’m going to have enough to last through the weekend what if I run out and I don’t have enough to finish my project what then? WHAT THEN?!” Calmly, she looked me in the eye and said, “I think you have enough. Now, I’ll just total up your purchase and you can go home and start knitting.” I nodded my head, trying to calm down, “You’re right. I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me. It’s just that yarn it’s so….” I looked at her hands, they were inside the bag, “Hey, stop touching my yarn!” I yelled as I snatched the bag and my receipt from her and stormed out of the store. I’m glad I rescued my yarn from that freak!

A Lovely Way to Spend a Sunday Afternoon

I know I've been silent for a while- it's been an incredibly busy summer- but I had to stop and put down a few cents worth about a recent movie going experience. Yesterday I ventured into "the city" along with two of my crafter friends, Susanne and Megan, for a screening of "Handmade Nation." This simple documentary by Faythe Levine about the current crafting community in America was both delightful and inspiring. It was great to get a glimpse into other peoples' crafting lives and be able to relate on some level to what they were doing. The common ground on which all of the interviewees seemed to stand was simply the need to make something and their desire to share it with the world.

There was also a bit said about speaking out against the mass market and not supporting poor labor practices, as well as recycling and re purposing through crafting in order to minimize waste. These ideas used to only come from a stereotype of extremists who wore a lot of hemp jewelry that happened to go perfectly with their Birkenstock sandals. There was a time when I felt like I would have to stop shaving my legs and live in a tree in order to fit in with the arts and crafts folks. I also thought I could never pass as deviant enough to have art cred and gain the respect of the people who could pull off the look of sunglasses with heart-shaped frames and pink lenses. But the community I saw represented by the filmmaker was so much more balanced and non-threatening than I expected. Yes, there were a few people that most would label "weirdos" but there were also "normal" people who, at the end of the day just desire respect for their craft.
Overall, it was an enjoyable experience. Special thanks to Susanne for having her finger on the pulse of all things fun and "indie" and sharing this event with me and Megan.

New Scarf Colors!

Thanks to everyone who already stopped by my etsy shop. Now here’s a reason to go back! I have added lots of fun new scarf colors so go take a look at them and tell your friends to take a look at them and tell them to tell their friends and eventually maybe I’ll sell something. Here's my nifty new color swatches (thanks to my wonderful husband and his Photoshop smarts).


Also, watch for other fun non-scarf related items coming soon. Here’s a sneak peek…


And, last but not least, my inner mad scientist recently created this…


…any guesses as to what it is? Once I’ve perfected it, I’ll give a free one to the first person to answer correctly.