five-year blogiversary

It all started with a felted flamingo ... what a crazy way to start my foray into the crafting blogosphere, huh? I can hardly believe it's been five years. I thought I'd take a look back over the years to celebrate.

It's interesting to see how my crafting techniques and interests have progressed over the years. In the early years, my knitting obsession was felted bags and baby blankets. Not surprising, given that was my comfort zone at the time. My very first knitted project was the classic newbie project--a garter stitch scarf. My first "real" project after that was baby blankets for my friends and co-workers. Felting was my first venture into more complicated knitting techniques, like decreasing and increasing and knitting in the round. I definitely had plenty of hits and misses!

the pink dottie tote, one of my successes

This blog's early years are also dominated by another one of my favorite crafts, beading and jewelry making. I still make jewelry, but with a curious toddler around, beading is much more difficult (I can already envision someone dumping millions of tiny sead beeds on the floor) and my jewelry making has diminished a bit in the past two years.

simple beaded necklace

I've knitted my first cardigan, cables, colorwork, socks, mittens, and lace ... and had plenty of flops as I struggled to learn about ease and fit in my first few knitted garments.

coronet, my first cable project

Sewed my first quilt, and then went on to make another and another and another and another...

my first (and so far only!) king-sized quilt

Thanks to a great sewing class at my local (but now closed) fabric shop, my sewing confidence grew by leaps and bounds ... starting with simple tote bags and progressing to placemats, tablecloths, and making my own laundry hamper liners ...


Documented our cross-country move from the Washington state to Mississippi ...

Published a simple garter-stitch scarf pattern and my first felted tote pattern ...

the Tapered Tote pattern

Made jewelry out of pop cans ...

Participated in my first craft fair ...

Kid's lion scarf.

Earned a reader's choice Blue Ribbon Blogger award from Country Living magazine ...

And took lots of pretty flower pictures ... apparently my favorites are dahlias, daffodils, lilies, and tulips ...

It's been a wild, fun ride ... I'm so excited to see what the next five years will bring!