beads, incognito

Just blending in with the local scenery ...

Here's a better view:

I stumbled across these paintbrush jasper pendants at a Spokane bead shop and fell in love with them. They were strung together horizontally, like a belt. Lots of mottled grays and agate-like accents. They've inspired a bunch of necklace designs, but these are the first two creations!

pearls of summer

I love making earrings. Such instant gratification! Here's a few pearl combos that will be going into the craft fair inventory.

a new bag story

Excited by my success with this little pink number, I charged ahead on bag numero dos ... this time I thought some lime green polka dots would be kind of fun. Had I ever tried intarsia before? Nah. Did I bother researching the proper method? Nah. Full steam ahead!


This polka dot turned out perfect ...


This one? Not so much ...

Struck by the fear that all those wholes and bumps would lead to a pretty lumpy finished project, I abandoned my polka dot dreams. Luckily I hadn't gotten too far in my knitting.

One finished bag, ready to felt! (sorry bad evening lighting)
I should have put something in this photo for scale--it seemed huuuge. It could cover my entire head and shoulders. Look honey, I'm knitting a humongous sack!

Hooray! Another successful finished project! It even stands on its own. Amazing!

(an inside shot)

beaded bonsai

(Photo: The Needle Nook)

How fun! Ever wanted a bonsai tree of your own? Why not bead one? :-D I'm bummed, because one of my local yarn shops, The Needle Nook, offered this as a class this summer while I was on vacation. They promised it will be offered again soon ... (like I need a new project with all my current knitting and beading!)

lessons learned

So you can better understand my excitement over the success of my most recent felted bag, here is a quick history of my previous attempts at felting. Enjoy!


My first bag! Not so bad, eh? Knit in the round with an attached i-cord handle. The only problem? The contrasting yarn I chose to line the top felted at a faster rate than the rest of the bag, forcing me to stop the felting process before the stitches had fully disappeared.


And the bag's opening is a smidge cozy....


Second attempt: this time I seamed the bottom together ... which turned out a little wonky. Kind of apple-shaped, in fact. Oops!



Third attempt. I loooove these colors! This time I knit a bunch of rectangles and seamed them together. Not so bad--if I had blocked this guy, it would have turned out great!

Fourth attempt. This is the felted version of the "tote in progress." I still enjoy the switcharoo in dominant colors. But this yarn shrunk up much more than I expected.

And my seaming still leaves something to be desired.

baggin' it

(Really high-tech blocking materials here: plastic grocery bags)

I think I have finally stumbled across the recipe for creating a felted bag that I can be proud of. Ingredient #1: knitting a rectangle bottom as my first step. Ingredient #2: picking up stitches around the entirety of the bottom and then knitting the bag in the round. Ingredient #3: blocking the bag immediately upon removing it from the washing machine. Knitting an actual bottom for the bag improves the shape so much--previously I had been knitting large rectangles and sewing them in half (which didn't mesh well with my utter lack of proper seaming skills!). Those initial bags pale in comparison to this method. And I am embarassed to admit that I just didn't block my previous attempts at creating felted bags. It makes a world of difference! I'll never skip blocking again.



No wonky bits or bumps!



Next step: attach the handle and add cute ribbon as a final touch.

beaded beauties

A little more progress on my craft fair inventory ...


Double-stranded pale green pearls.


A summery blue-green combo.

one bag, two ways

Triangle, or traditional square-edged tote--take your pick! The "triangle" version is the result of folding in the top corners, which happened naturally as I was constructing this recycled sweater tote. (Recycled sweater crafting is surprisingly fun: find a fun wool sweater at a thrift shop, purposely felt it, and then use the material to sew into your object of choice. Martha makes stuffed animals, mittens, and more out of re-purposed and felted sweaters this way.) Originally I planned on adding a snap that would purposely close the bag into a triangle shape, but I never found any I liked enough to add. The fun heart on the corner? That's hiding the only blemish the sweater had--a hole that was badly sewn shut. Probably the only reason the sweater ended up in a thrift shop! The lining? I ended up opting for the orange rose pattern. I love how funky and fun this bag turned out, but it's orange overload for me. Into the craft fair pile she goes!

moss stitch diamonds

One, soft and snuggly yellow baby blankie done. Hooray! I can finally check something off my "Crafts in Progress" list. I just finished my recycled sweater tote as well, but those photos are looking somewhat, um, orange. Granted, it is probably the most orange project I've ever made. But still. So I'll be re-shooting those!

Pattern: Moss Stitch Diamonds Baby Blanket, by Barbara Breiter
Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver, Pale Yellow (0322), 2 1/3 skeins (364 yds/skein)
El-cheapo yarn, but it's soft and machine washable = great for babies!

Barbara Breiter's website, http://www.knittingonthenet.com/, is awesome. Tons and tons of free stitch and project patterns, and most of them extremely do-able, even for a beginner like me. Great place to get ideas for blankets--baby, lap, or full-size. What's up next? I've reached the "I signed up for a craft fair in November, what am I going to sell?" panic stage. So I'm busily starting to crank out more bracelets and felted purses to that aim. I need to perfect my technique for blocking my purses in order to produce anything commerce-worthy though... right now they're a little lumpy! LOL. To be continued....

spotty progress

Finally, I've gotten back to those placemats I started so long ago. Here's a peek at the reverse side ... one down, four to go! Then the true challenge: binding.

I'm seeing red ...

All over! New buttons, new coral beads, and a new retro necklace.