My New Tattoo

This was taken right after she finished it up, so it's all red and blotchy still, but I'll get a better pic once it heals up in a few weeks.

I swear I'm going to get back to blogging pretty soon.

Emmaline Sweater

This is a fully finished Emmaline Pullover from the Spring/Summer 2010 issue of Knitty. I started it three days ago at work and finished it just now.

This is the fastest sweater I've ever knit, but probably because I made the Small size to fit my headless, armless dress form lady here instead of the XL size to fit my 40in boobage. It's top down, super easy, and would be a great first sweater for someone to make. There was just enough shaping and stuff to keep me from getting bored, which is what usually kills most sweaters I start.

I also finished a hat for my Mom this week, and finished weaving the white scarf that is on the loom in that picture. Of course there is no pic of the scarf because I gave it to my friend Julia as her super late xmas gift before I thought about taking one. Oh well, I'll get a picture of the next one.

There is a post coming later tonight about the Tulsa Fiber Fest I went to last Sunday. Stay tuned!

CUM Yarn Sampler Anyone?

Gee, I wonder why this yarn company didn't stay in business....

For the curious, this is an ad from the fall 1980 issue of a weaving magazine that one of my customers gave me. It cracked me up all day the day I got it, so I had to share it with the world right away. That's why this is a blurry cell phone picture. haha

Polaroid Pogo Printers & Photo Manipulation/Destruction

Pogo printers are pretty much dirt cheap on ebay right now. My friend Nic got one for just $25. I remember wanting one back when they were new and selling for about $100-150, so this is great news to me. Even better news, the ZINK paper that the Pogo prints on can be manipulated in all kinds of fun ways. I don't know how long these prints will last, and I'd for sure spray anything you've altered with a good coat of sealer, but this looks like a lot of fun.


Photo Manipulation: Zink-PoGo from Frenky on Vimeo.

Week Ending Recap - Craft or Bust Week 12

I had a decently productive week,  but I still feel like a slacker. Why is that?

I seem to be following my pattern of abandoning a top-down sweater just after the arms get separated and the boring body knitting starts. I only did about two repeats of the lace pattern on the Feb. Lady Sweater this week. Work was busy, but not without knitting time as evidenced by this over half-complete Citron Shawl.

Besides that, I managed to get some time in the basement to clean up the dye area from the last class I did down there and to dye myself 4 reasonably matchy-matchy skeins of sock yarn for the Featherweight Cardigan KAL that I'm having at the shop. I don't have photographic evidence of those, but they turned out pretty awesome. I used "gunmetal" Jacquard acid dye and dip-dyed them so one end of the skein is a dark, almost gunmetal type color which fades slowly to a nice light blue-grey on the other end.

I also got the heat press going and put these iron-on's from the lobby of hobbies on some t-shirts for the baby. They're super cute, but I don't know how long they'll last before they start to crack and peel off. I wasn't impressed with the quality of the materials. I guess if they do suck and come off before he outgrows the shirts I can always draw my own skull and make some more.

Speaking of drawing, I need to start doing that again. Maybe I'll actually start filling up one of those sketchbooks I have laying around here. Oh, shiny...over there!

Craftin or Bustin

This week I put up all the paper flowers and things that I made a while back with the Silhouette Machine and started the big spring clearance sale at the shop. YAY! I also took more pictures of my Grandson Artie aka AJ aka Babyman. Here's one of those because he's insanely cute and has the best widow's peak ever.

In case you're wondering how the heck I have a Grandbaby when I'm only 37 years old, let me explain that. I had AJ's Dad (my son Ian) when I was barely 20. He's almost 18 now, and despite my best efforts to put a cramp in his style he managed to get some "private time" with his girlfriend. Well, condoms aren't 100% effective kids. So now we have Babyman and we love him more than we love Ian (just kidding, but he does make a better model for cute pictures).

What else did I do this week? Oh, I made some really cute bobby pins using my 1 inch button press. There is a blurry pic of the first ones I did here on flickr, but I'm going to post this photo of the second pair because I just took it with the good camera in the window with the good lighting. haha

To make these you need a 1" button press, the special attachment for the press and parts to make the flat back type buttons, some bobby pins with a little round pad for sticking stuff to, and some E-6000 industrial strength craft glue.  I'm seriously thinking of making some with yarn/knitting type images and sayings to sell at the shop. I might also do some more generic type things to sell elsewhere. It's looking like a pair of these goes for around $5 on etsy.

Making buttons has gotten a lot easier with my new circle punch. I used to use a Fiskars circle cutter on a self-healing mat to cut out button designs, but the punch is so much faster. I just flip it over, and I can get the design centered every time easy peasy! The old way I probably threw away about 10% of my circles for being wonky. 

They sell 1.33 inch circle punches at the button supply places for $150, which is INSANE. I got one from a scrapbooking supply place online for about $15. You can also get them at Hobby Lobby. Mine is only 1.25in, but it doesn't make a difference at all. The design still wraps completely to the edge. The one I got is called "Paper Shapers Whale Of A Punch". It's completely made of metal and very sturdy so it'll last a really long time.

I barely worked on my February Lady Sweater at all this week. Things were super busy at the shop with the sale and a new shipment of Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn going on, so I didn't have much time, and I'm only working on it down there. I also started a Citron Shawl, but it is still undocumented until I decide if I want to actually finish it or not. I'm still on the fence about that one.

A Couch Full Of Collinette Jitterbug

Just so ya know, this is what 30 colors (55 Skeins, I already sold 5)  of Collinette Jitterbug looks like all spread out on a couch.

February Lady Sweater

I've been crafting my butt off over here. Really.
OK, mostly this week (March 1st - 7th) I just worked on my February Lady Sweater. I'm using the new Debbie Stoller Bamboo Ewe yarn from Red Heart, and despite the brand name, this stuff is pretty nice. It's supposedly "Exclusively at JoAnn's!" but any LYS can order it from the distributor if you ask them to. A bit of LYSO trivia for you, Coats & Clark owns both Red Heart AND Rowan/Nashua/Westminster Fibers. Crazy isn't it?

Anyway, so I finally made it past the boring garter stitch part of this sweater. That was my big accomplishment for the week. I also made some stickers on the Silhouette machine and used it to cut out some super cute sale signs for the shop. I can't show you those yet because it's a Spring Break Clearance Sale that doesn't start till Saturday, but I'll show them next week.

Sticker Making Fun

My new Silhouette SD die cutting machine got here this weekend, and it works just as advertised. I love this thing! It can cut out any .bmp file and any TrueType font you happen to have on your computer. No stupid, expensive cartridges to buy, and it'll cut without being on the computer if you save your image to an sd card then load it up before you go wherever it is you're going.

I made this yarn zombie sticker tonight in about ten minutes. It took a little tweaking to get it to cut out correctly because the first font I picked had too many small sections, but once I got it going it was no problem to cut out as many as I wanted one after another. The only complaint I have about the vinyl is that it will peel up on really thin sections if you don't get it rubbed down FIRMLY when you're applying the sticker.

They're saying that iron-on heat transfer material will be available in March. I can't wait to make some spiffy t-shirts and things with that. It'll be great for one or two of a design when burning a screen and dragging out the ink etc. would be too big a deal to bother with.

So, if you've been thinking of getting yourself a die cutter this is the one to get. YAY!

Fuzzy Sample Scarf of Doom!

Man, this thing was fast even doing other stuff at the same time. It's a sample scarf to show off two new yarns at the shop, and it looks much better in person because it has sparkles that the iphone camera can't capture. 

1 strand of Universal's "Star Light", plus one of Plymouth's KAOS series "Mystify", then use US11 needles and do one repeat of Feather & Fan stitch over and over till you run out of yarn. The end.

Skully Bracelet

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I finally finished this bracelet last week that started out as a necklace a long time ago. I need to get back to the beading before I forget how to close up the jump rings without a gap. haha

Am I Nuts?

I just purchased a Silhouette SD Die Cutter from Overstock.com at a really good price. I rationalized it by saying if I make and sell 60 6-inch vinyl stickers at $5 each It'll pay for itself. That's perfectly reasonable, right? (On second thought, I may be asking the wrong people about this. haha) I chose this machine over the others available because it can use fonts already in my computer and it'll let me design my own shapes instead of always needing expensive cartridges. Those cartridges and stuff are what has kept me from getting a die cutter in the past. I don't scrapbook, but I've wanted one for stickers and stencil creation.

This is part of my scheme to make a bunch of things to sell at the Arkansas Fiber Arts Extravaganza this year. I've been a vendor there two years in a row, and packing store inventory to up the mountain is kind of a pain in the rear. Last year my best selling items were more gift things and do-dads than yarn or fiber, so this year I'm thinking my booth will be almost all gifts and do-dads.

I want to make a bunch of yarn bowls, stoneware buttons and pendants, one inch pins, resin pendants, have some travel mugs (which I buy from a place), some screen printed bags, the stickers, Addi Turbo knitting needles, ball winders, swifts, and a few high end knitting bags like Jordana Paige and Namaste. I can pack all that stuff up the night before so it's ready to go as soon as the shop closes on Friday, get to the location pretty early, and have plenty of time to relax in the cabin with my friends instead of spending the evening running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to get the booth set up before they kick us out of the show space at 9PM to lock up. I'm thinking if I work on making things all year I should have enough come the first week of December, and it'll make Craft or Bust more interesting since I'll be working on a variety of things all year.

Craft or Bust Week 4

This is a late, photoless update because I'm lame like that. During Week 4 again all I did was knit on things every day and add more unfinished projects to my Ravelry counter over there.

I guess I also did more research on the resin jewelry. I read enough to know that I won't be doing that until the weather is nice enough that I can mix it and pour it outside because it is super crazy stinky and full of chemicals that will singe off your nose hair. haha

Other crafts you'll eventually see me do are
Pottery - still waiting on a new outlet for the kiln in the garage.
Sewing - I have a new craft area I'm wanting to get set up and the sewing machine plus a place to cut things out will be a big part of that. I'm not particularly good at sewing, but I have a new-ish machine and I want to learn.
Weaving - I have no excuse for this one. I own two floor looms and two rigid heddle looms. They all work and everything.
Screen Printing - I have a Yudu machine, which is just a big exposure unit/dryer and frame to pull prints on all in one. I like it a lot, but haven't used it much. I need to print some shirts and bags for the yarn store, so I'll document that.
Yarn & Fiber Dyeing - I do this pretty regularly for the shop when I run out of handpainted roving and/or I feel like making some sock yarn. I can document that too. I'm currently out of roving.
Beading Jewelry - I have the stuff to make some necklaces just sitting there at the house doing nothing in a tackle box.
Block Printing - I have the stuff for this at home in a box too.
Painting - I have at least two canvases and some acrylic paint out in the garage. I had plans for it, but never got around to using it.
Needle Felting - I do this once in a while. It's very stress-relieving because the way you do it is to wad up wool then stab it over and over with special needles. I like the stabby stabby aspect.
Nuno Felting - There are supplies for this in the basement at the shop. I have the scarves dyed already, I just need to felt the wool on there and jazz them up a bit.

So now I've talked the talk. I'll try to do a less boring job of walking the crafty walk around here. There ya go.

Craft Or Bust Update Weeks 2 & 3

  OK, so last week I was a slacker and didn't make an update post. During Week 2 I finished up this baby blanket for Artie and got my Ravelry projects page a little more organized. I also took more pictures of projects and added that progress bar over there on the right.  The blanket is about 24in. x 24in. and we use it mostly in the carseat, but he also likes to use it for naps. The pattern I started out with was the Ribbons Baby Blanket from Fibertrends, but I didn't follow it exactly. I almost never follow a pattern exactly. I don't know why that is.  Oh well, so anyway, there's that. I managed to knit every day on something not work related, which when you own a yarn store that is not an easy thing to do. I need store samples, and those things don't knit themselves. haha

This week I finished up  a Baby Surprise Sweater that was formerly a store model for a class I did last year. This was the "what the sweater looks like after you knit it, but before you sew it up" model, so all it needed was some shoulder seams and buttons. It looks super cute on Artie, but he wouldn't model it for me without making a stinker face so you get this shot of it laying out on the counter.

I had almost an entire skein of this yarn left after sewing up the sweater, so I made a quick beanie hat for my friend Jeff to take to the clients where he works at Logan County Day Services. He wants to collect enough hats that they can each have one by next winter. I think that's a totally do-able goal and I'm happy to help him out.

 Near the end of the week I decided to start a Shalom Cardigan with some Cascade Ecological Wool I got in a swap a few years ago. I have two giant skeins of this stuff, which should be enough for a long sleeved version. That got started on Friday night, then on Saturday I started ANOTHER one in Berocco Peruvia Quick down at the store because I saw one a customer made with that yarn, and it looked so awesome I couldn't quit thinking about it. haha So it looks like I'll have a vest type version and a long sleeved cardi version in two different yarns. Pics of those will come once they start looking photo-worthy. Right now both are just barely getting going.
I've also been looking at seed catalogs and drawing diagrams of garden possibilities. Next month it'll be seed starting time around here so I need to get going on that if I'm going to do more than stick a few tomato plants in the old Earthboxes.

The Post Where I'm Lazy & Don't Get Much Done

Well, the end of the first week of Craft Or Bust is here, and I haven't done diddly squat in the way of getting my WIP's more organized or documenting them. All I did this week was make that new banner up there for this blog, make a badge for Craft Or Bust, and work on a few knitting WIP's. I'm gonna have to step it up.

The projects I actively worked on this past week were:
- A blanket for Artie. It's a no-pattern center out square type deal. It's almost done.
- A pretty standard two-row stripey scarf made with Plymouth Boku.
- I started a Feather & Fan scarf with some Regia Hand Dye Effect sock yarn. I probably shouldn't have since there are eleventy twelve things on the needles already, but oh well.

None of those are documented on Ravelry, but I swear I'll fix that tomorrow :)

I also got supplies to make some Resin Jewelry this wek. I'm planning on doing that as soon as I lay my hands on some popsicle sticks and cups to mix the resin in. If you're not familiar with the process, this is the first part of a 3-part tutorial on how to do it that I found on youtube. Just watch this one then follow the links to the next two parts. It looks pretty easy.



Part 2 & Part 3

Craft or Bust 2010

I'm going to participate in Craft or Bust 2010 in an effort to get better about documenting my crafty pursuits in the new year. What does this mean? You can follow that link to see the rules, but pretty much it means I've committed myself to working on at least one crafty project per week and documenting it here all year. I don't have to finish a project every week, but surely some things will get finished over the course of the year.

I have a LOT of UFO's (unfinished objects) over here, so first up is trying to get some of those things wrapped up or unraveled so that the yarn can be used for new stuff. Most of them are knitting, crochet, and weaving projects, but I think there may also be some half-made jewelry around here somewhere. Once I get through that (or more likely once the weather warms up so that the garage/pottery studio isn't freeeeeezy and the electrician comes to install the outlet for the kiln) there will be some pottery things and maybe some really awkward beginner sewing.

I can't wait to see what everyone else does :)