i've been gone awhile....

so, here's some stuff i've been working on since august:

wedding afghan #1:

 homemade macaroni and cheese recipe:

wedding afghan #2:

commissioned necklaces:

scarf recplica (crocheted): it's a christmas present for someone, but i'm not telling who!

homemade meatball and cabbage soup recipe:

coca-cola sleep shorts!

crochet owlets (that's a quarter for reference):

mi frist amigurumi! link from zelda (he got sent away in a craft swap and has a happy new home now):

another in a long line of christmas presents - a cutesy fuzzy hat for a friend's daughter:

i've got about a dozen projects in the works right now, and for today, i cleaned the kitchen so i could cook, put on a roast, started the laundry, and i'm in the process of cleaning our bedroom so the laundry clothes can migrate from the hallway, clearing up the hallway for the as-yet-unpacked boxes from the game room, so we can get the old couch out of there, so the boxes can go back in and hopefully be unpacked, so we can move the big green chair in so the new loveseat can come in from my parent's garage.

i'd rather be knitting.

plus side is we had some $ for furniture as a wedding present from my parents. my brother and his wife chose to get a leather sectional couch, but we waited until we saw a store going out of business and we got a new coffee table, 2 matching end tables, a couch, a loveseat, and a dresser and mirror for the same price. it was pretty awesome. the one end table and the mirror is in storage right now, but we managed to find room for the rest. we got rid of the old tables and gave the couch to a very deserving family we know. the old couch from the game room and dresser are on their way to being sold - we might even turn a profit on the little couch.

*sigh* commercial break over. back to work.

the countdown begins

16 days until the wedding. i have five seven more projects to do. it was five (pillow, basket, 3 pairs of earrings), but then i made my final trip to the rental place and the "wood arbor" they had us renting for $250 was painted plywood that was so flimsy they have to stake it to the ground so it doesn't blow away. shit, i can make one for about $50 and then sell it after the wedding. and we need something to put the wedding cards in. i shouldn't even count that one, all i have to do is wrap a box and cut a hole in the top.

i made this yesterday; my headpiece for the wedding!

the flowers are my grandmas, from her wedding headpiece about 50 years ago, then i used seed beads and 2 sizes of swarowski bicones to fill in the rest of it. there were a ton more on hers, but i'm more of a delicate gal. i had my hair done today for my bridal photo session and it looked pretty good! i just can't get good pictures at night because the flash washes everything out.

i went shopping with pauraniente yesterday, ostensibly to find something to put wedding cards in, but instead i rescued this guy from the thrift store:

i think he's some sort of giraffe. anyway, technically he's supposed to be a planter but i put my crochet hooks and scissors in there. handy, i thought. i was also going through my cupboard trying to figure out creative ways to store stuff and came up with this idea too:

just an old vase i had lying around and the leftover tiny balls of yarn from projects. i thought the tape measure ribbon was appropriate.

oh yeah, and i made this tonight too:

yep. a giant hat. no, not really, not a giant hat. it's a produce bag for fruit! it just seems silly that we go to all this trouble to use reusable shopping bags and then throw away our efforts by putting our fruit and veggies into plastic bags. i'm not a fanatic about recycling or anything; all i'm saying is sometimes you can't choose your packaging (for your food), and sometimes, you can.

it still needs a drawstring cord, so more photos and a pattern tomorrow. but i'll leave you with an artsy close-up of the yarn; peaches n' cream twist in some colorway i forget, but it reminds me of a cherry candy cane. (why do they make the cherry ones rainbow colored?)

so much work... so little to show

so, bunch of little things, and probably two posts tonight, since i'm waiting for my darling FH to get home so he can take pictures of my new shrug (that's right, it's all finished!!)

i've entered into the "black hole" on the baby blanket (for those of you unfamiliar with the concept, check here). so no progress pictures on that one... come to think of it, i don't think i've shown any pictures on that one. i'll post one after the stitch and bitch tomorrow.

here are three pairs of earrings i made to angel for the swap i was just in... i think my favorite is the third pair.

oh, and this one was hard to send off! it's a big bang theory charm bracelet (i love that show... i love it so much i put the first season on my wedding registry).... problem is i don't think my partner shall be reciprocating. she seems to have disappeared.

and progress!!! the second mitten has been sewn and the top has been added. now we just need the cuff and the thumb!

and in an immense feat of personal growth, i finished the second slipper. i had the first one finished and sewn, and three of the small squares made for the second one (they're the kabouter slippers from ravelry). so i undid and re-sewed the first slipper because i didn't like the way i did it before, then made the fourth small square and the large square for the second one.

note to self: when leaving a project for months (like... january...) try and stick a note on it that tells you which hook you were using. still, i think they turned out ok.

tomorrow i plan on going to yarn group, doing all the laundry, soaking my shrug in eucalan (after i test it on a swatch, of course) and bleach stenciling and tie-dyeing a few shirts for a different swap. think i'll get it all done??

jewelry blitz

i joined another swap. i don't know why... i'm always so... underwhelmed... when they're over. like the art doll swap i just did? i made some pretty awesome dolls, i mean, they were really hard to send away...
i don't mind if the person has sincerely put a lot of effort into their art - not everyone is created equal and such, but it really bothers me when a swap partner treats things somewhat flippantly, because then you never know if you're getting their honest effort. but you never know.

i figured earrings were pretty safe, so here's the five pairs i made, all for different people.

this one was copied straight off of my partner's wist. it turned out to be originally a post from craftster, so i don't take credit for the design. i think i did a decent job with the execution though.


this pair was for someone who loved all kinds of metal, except bright gold, vintage themes, and greens and earth tones. et voila:

ah, this partner was fun to craft for. we had a brief e-mail exchange and i think i nailed her tastes right on. yes, she has two piercings in each ear. the charms are a rose on the left, and a key on the right.

this particular girl liked shorter styles, pearls, swarovski, blue, and birds. she also liked the color orange, but it didn't seem to go with the theme too well.

and the last pair. this partner, i believe, was brand-new to swapping, and i really didn't get a lot of information off her, but what i did get i think worked okay. she liked dangly earrings, yellows, blues, and greens, beach themes, squares and circles. the pieces in the middle are natural shell beads, and i had to wrap them a bit with really fine guage wire to get them to hang right.

all in all i really had fun designing all the different pairs. my fiance wonders why i don't design for a living, but i know i just do this for fun. if i could get someone to bite, sure, i would. as it is though, it's just a hobby. and now i'm heading back to school (university in the fall!) so i might have to enjoy buying beads while i can!

speaking of, how come i will never pay $30-40 for a bracelet in the store, but i'll happily spend that much money to make it myself? i made this bracelet after seeing all the loaded charm bracelets in a different swap, and i haven't taken it off since! (well, i do to sleep). my palm was still bruised when i started all the earrings too, so it's been quite a weekend.

but, yes, i am returning to college in the fall. gettin' out of the current business, and i'm not too sure how i feel about it. i'm excited to go back and study something different, and i know the change will really open up my career opportunities, but in principle i feel bad about leaving my current industry. as for my specific situation, i'm not sure i feel so bad. but in general, the career field... i'm having a little trouble coping with leaving. maybe i can take an independent study to keep myself current or something.

anyway, if i dig up any photos of the art dolls i sent away, i'll post 'em.

i actually have homework to do already - i'm taking a six week writing course through the u, and it's free! one of the perks of being chronically ill with something or other. it really is pretty good therapy. sometimes i don't feel so good right after i write, you know, digging in and exploring all those feelings, but it's like pouring peroxide in a cut. stings and first, feels better later.

if i get up the courage, i should post some writing here. not the uber-personal stuff, but some of my routine exercises.

why no more crochet?

the answer to this is because i've been working on an afghan from the 8-petal square motif i posted last month. it's about 20% done, but when it comes to crochet that's really the only project i have 'on the burners' right now. i started a shwal, i suppose, and i have plans for tons of yarn stashed in my cupboard, but i'll keep you updated on the progress.

meanwhile, i do have a crochet-related post coming up next, and this little ditty for today. my mother and i spent the day together, and it is always an adventure. lunch was good, the movie was good (Julie & Julia), and our trip to michael's craft store was productive. too productive. our original intention was to get beads to make matching earrings for a tiger's eye/turquoise/pearl necklace i got her for her birthday.

not finding anything that fit the bill, she picked out these beads instead:

ithe top is some kind of marbled stone, with silver flat diamond-shaped beads and mother-of-pearl dangles, and the bottom one (my favorite) is rose quartz with shells, small silver spacers and seafoam green seed beads. of course, the benefit of making these for her was i got to keep the extras and make some for myself.

i also made this necklace for myself as kind of a splurge. i don't think it's quite finished yet... i really adore the random look of some of the 'steampunk' necklaces i've seen on craftster but can't quite get it down yet. i think i need to add some chain in there somewhere... ceramic, metal, and possibly a kind of jade stone, and backing the dragonfly pendant is what looks like a leaf dipped in enamel so only the veins remain... it was worth the splurge. but still, not quite right yet....

it felt good to get back into making jewelry, if only temporarily. meanwhile, the laundry churns away at home, which is where the content of my next post is stashed...