Getting Ready

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2015 starts next week! I love the motivation that it gives me, especially when I've been neglecting my blog this semester. I'm hoping it'll give me the boost and accountability this coming week to get back into the groove of things.

If you haven't checked out the prompts yet, click the link above to do so. Or if you're on Ravelry, check out The Blog Hub. The community that's out on the web for crafters is so great.

This year for KCBW, I'm trying something different entirely. I'm setting up the whole week as if I was being interviewed for a project by my students. I think this will allow me to get out of my comfort zone a little bit more, and hopefully improve my writing skills.

Will I see you this coming week for KCBW??? I certainly hope so!

xoxo
~Mary

Sophie

Sophie's universe crochet along in Vanna's Choice--colors-- duckie, radiant orange, terracotta, dusty purple, eggplant

Trying to get my mojo back.

When Knitting Becomes Friends With Me Again.

Crochet was my first love. One hook and a bit of string. Knitting came second and came less naturally. I tried making it work many times, but always fell back on crocheting, envious of all the awesome knitting patterns out there. I found Ravelry and the great crochet community there, which encouraged me to branch out in my crocheting. I still came back to my needles every so often, but struggled with it, projects that should only take days took months or more.

a few baby rows

This is my cast on for a baby sweater. According to my Rav project page, I started this on January 30. Starting small made me feel like I had a higher probability of finishing. 

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Here I am, the beginning of April, the need for this sweater slowly fading. I've gotten as far as one sleeve in progress. Double-pointed needles are not my friend, so I switched to circular again. I have a shorter circ that I want to try, but haven't quite gotten there yet.

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Ravelry says I finished working on this project April 4. Sounds close to accurate. I gave up on the sleeves and just went for the cap-ish sleeve created by the yoke. Not 100% successful, I suppose, but it took less time to finish than my last "big knitting project". I think I may be able to pull off knitting with dpn for a bigger project, just not this one. Despite sometimes feeling like I don't have it, this sweater reminded me that knitting has its place, and definitely some benefits.

I'm still going back to my hooks. :)

WIP Wednesday

I hope everyone's been enjoying the cold weather!! It was zero degrees yesterday when I got up for school, and it barely got warmer than that.

My students are taking exams all week, so my teaching is minimal, and I've had a little bit of spare time to crochet. I started a Juliana again, this time with the proper yarn. It is definitely turning out better this time, and I love the colors. I'm using Knit Picks Palette in Mulberry and Chroma in Gossip. I doubt I will use all the yarn up, so I'm planning what to make next. I really love this Chroma colorway, and I'm sad that it was discontinued. You can't tell from the photo, because I hadn't gotten far when this photo was taken, but the pink in this colorway is AMAZING!

When I need something a bit more brainless, I go back to working on infinity scarves. I'm in the middle of my fifth this month. Making infinity scarves is an ongoing project, and I really hope to finish up many more between now and graduation.

My fiance was over this past weekend, and brought a book with him-- he thinks I have time to read. Oddly enough, he's right, as I've been able to read nearly 3 chapters of Service, by Marcus Luttrell. Luttrell is a Navy SEAL who lost his team and wrote about it in his first book, Lone Survivor. This second book is much more palatable for me- one, because my fiance is no longer deployed, and two, because I'm not walking into the book knowing that everyone dies. E keeps bringing around these military books for me to read, to help me understand what he went through. It's eye-opening and sometimes scary, but we really do need to face what our military personnel go through to defend our freedoms.

Linking up with Tami for WIPW and Ginny for Yarn-Along.

Crafting Differently

Normally, I blog about yarn and knitting and crocheting. This week, I'm trying some ideas I found on Pinterest.

First: tile coasters.
The instructions I followed are from this blog. The blogger is clear and has a lot of pictures, making it easy to follow along. I was originally inspired by this pin, but, obviously upon further looking, it links to an Etsy seller. So I sought out DIY instructions, leading me to the previosly mentioned blog.

My Materials (Using Something Like Susie Homemaker's list and altering it):

1. 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch tiles --from Menards-- 12¢ each-- might've been on sale
2. Sheets of felt in desired colors-- you won't really see this, I had green, maroon, & black on hand. If you pay more than 30¢ for an 8x11" sheet, you are being robbed. Michael's has them for 26¢ (I think).
3.  Scrapbook paper-- My sister and I did our fair share of scrapbooking, like 3 years ago, so I have one of those really big stacks that orginally cost $20, with a 40% coupon or something. If you don't have that, Michael's has open stock paper- a 12" x12" sheet will cover 9 tiles. Get several coordinating prints for variation! (Shouldn't cost more than a few dollars)
4. Decoupage -- The blogger uses Mod Podge, which is too expensive for me, so I substituted-- 2:1 white glue & water. Mod Podge is just paste anyway.
5. Hot glue gun-- if you're a crafter, you don't need to go out and buy this, so I don't count it in final costs.
6. Scissors and ruler OR Paper cutter--- I am investing in a paper cutter after this. Scissors and ruler were not precise enough-- I actually took my scrapbook paper to work to do the cutting part. Joann's has a Fiskars for $25.
7. Sponge brush-- Hardware store, 69¢
8. Clear Acrylic Spray-- my mom had this already. Triple coat glaze, Krylon. probably $5 if purchased new.

two piles of felt covered tile!

Preparing to glue

First coat of glue

Note: cutting felt during the season finale of Castle is not a good idea. My edges were crooked. I personally cut a bit bigger than needed, just in case. I trimmed them after I glued. I do my best hot gluing before bed, which means I don't get impatient about the next step.

Note: Magazine pages do not work, they are too thin.

16 tiles $2.04
2 sheets of felt $.60
Paper $1.00
Sponge Brush $.69
Total $4.33


Second: polymer clay charms
Inspiration: this pin, step-by-step here.
Gifts for bridesmaids, to be made into keychains.

Polymer clay costs around $2.99, depending on the brand, and whether or not you have a coupon.
I used leftovers from my yarn bowl projects for all of these.
Stamps I had on hand.
Jewelry findings I had on hand. Eye pins are under $5 for a pack of either 50 or 100. Same for the jump rings. The key rings are a bit more expensive- $5 for a pack of 10, 1-1/4"
Acrylic paint borrowed from sister.





First batch of charms!

Close-up

Chugging Along

Busy as a bee would be an understatement. Running around like crazy may be more accurate. Luckily, we are on break from school this week, and I'm slowing down enough in hopes of getting my crazies under control for the final push to the end of the year.

Pretty Horses Swap-- VCFC on Rav hosted this swap, and I've been really enjoying myself. Chatting with other women making afghan squares in the same color palette and sending them to various corners of the country is a great diversion for me.

I'm joining mine in sets of four. A good friend of mine is a quilter and she always encourages "more borders!" so this double/triple bordering is for her.

First set of four

Besides this project of giant proportions (it'll end up as a 24 square blanket), I've been working on bits and pieces of other things. Nothing major. Hopefully different noteworthy things will be coming along soon.

Linking with Ginny again!

Updates

Still working on afghan squares, but also a few other things. Baby JT keeps life interesting, and combined with school, I have very few moments to myself. 

This face. <3