Here is a picture of the triange prayer shalw knitted with all of the remainder yarn from
my aunts stash that my sister and I rescued on our last visit. We sent home boxes and boxes of yarn and fabric and it is all slowly but surely making its way into finished projects. I know that all of the recipients of the prayer shawls appreciate the gift and all the work that goes into them.






I finished the blue bracelet last nite and I just
the look of it. I will admit that beading through multiple layers was tricky at times and I did need to use my pliers (a lot) to get the needle through. Great finished look though. Now to make a special gift box for it to reside in.

My helper Sailor decided to help me get ready for the next beaded bracelet by trying out the bead drawer. I had taken out all of the boxes of various beads to get the next great bracelet planned. He is a cuddle bunny lately, wanting to snuggle on the bed or chair. It's cold outside but I think he justs like to watch the crafts. He loves to lay on a plastic project bag and paw at the items inside.

Here is the next bracelet in it's infancy. The light blue 11's will be the inner netting. The matte triangle and dark, shiny green 15's for the diagonals and then for a final touch of elegance either the glass gold or matte gold beads down the spines. I had a lot of fun picking out the color combinations. I do tend to pick out monochromatic color combos. With a pattern I like after the first one it's much easier to let go and let the colors fly.

The house is slowly, slowly getting cleaned as I work on getting all of the craft projects, current and future all organized for later on tonite. A crafter and her toys are never parted or even very far apart.

New beaded bracelet

A project from the magazine 'bead and button last summer' was all ready for me to start with this week. You do a square stitch all around a 3" brass ring. After the entire ring is covered the next layer is a combination of size 15 and triangle beads in a diagonal stitch. There are two more rounds of the triangle layer left and then you add accent beads along the seams. A fun project with totally new techniques.

In the knitting department, a triangle prayer shawl got finished and blessed this week and will be on to it's new home soon.

The holiday weekend plans for crafts include house cleaning and some sewing and finishing. A few dvds at the ready make for a crafty good time.

Lots of knitting

I know that the beaded panda is not knitted but I've been knitting a lot this week. The panda was just a diversion and respite. Cute with a sprig of bamboo, it's destined to be somebody's mascot.

This is what I've been concentrating on this week. I finished yesterday morning, added the fringe and took it's picture. Soft and yummy yarn made this a really nice shawl for someone. I only used two skeins of the yarn so the left over skein will join another left over, from another knitter, of the same color, a coincidence we think not. This shawl went to work yesterday, got blessed and than ferried across the street to the church, ready to give away. When I asked my other prayer shawl knitter to help me bless it we excused ourselves from the main desk and went to the back room. I just said it would only take a few minutes but 'we needed to take a minute for jesus'. The other co-worked after we were done thought that that was a good thing to do, just take a little break for him. They all know how hard we work on these shawls and to give away. Some of our co-workers have been recipients. A tangible way of showing that we care.

My sister brought me some yarn from her stash this week and I went through it and selected a crazy mixed yarn. There's not a lot of it so I cast on and am knitting a triange shawl. So much need and not enough knitters in our group. But there is a meeting tomorrow morning so I'm pretty sure the shawl will come with me.

Super Bowl of Crafting

To celebrate Americas favorite un-holiday Sunday (Superbowl day) I had a great afternoon with my favorite past time, crafting. While the dinner was in the oven, I was sewing away on this lovely, but never to be made again bag. I loved the shape and could see endless possibilities of fabric choices and started out with great hopes for the end project. The pockets and zipper went in easily but after that it got tricky. This is a project for advanced sewers. Admittedly the pet screen fabric is a little stiff but the side and bottom construction left a lot to be desired. I'll get some other craft input on this project but for now, never more.

This tiny little wagon pin is going back to my mom, finished. Cute and quick to sew up she'll wear it for spring and get good comments.

A yarn counter for a fellow prayer shawl knitter came into being today so she can get back to the basket weave shawl started a few months back. This is her first project actually keeping track of rows and a more complicated pattern so this simple pony bead counter will help. You just slide the beads up and down as you knit. It can be pinned on your knitting bag or on the knitting itself. I have one that I use a lot for repetitive projects and find it really helpful. All you need is pony beads and slippery cording. The plastic ring is an added touch.

This is the craziest project I've done in a long time. I bought the pattern and fabric thinking it was something more than it was. You stitch a design ( mine is changed of course) and then sew it up and it becomes a faux wine cork scissor fob. The idea is good but the end product is just weird. I don't even drink wine. Using 'pcstitch', a computer program for cross stitching design, the font, wording and spacing were changed to a more meaningful design for me. "Live Long & Prosper 2009" are on the sides and a heart on the bottom. The top has an eyelet opening that allows the cording to be attached to a jump ring contraption inside. It's nice but there is no need in my sewing box for another fob. They usually last for a while and then get in the way so I take them off. I sense a display box for all of them in the future.

The big game is on but the ads are more interesting than the game to me. I'm just waiting for the half-time show with the boss. The prayer shawl needs some more rows done on it.

Out of the crafting closet

More projects got finished today as I stayed home sick, unable to talk. I realize how much I talk to the little gang of cats and felt funny not talking to them. It hurts to talk. We all hate being sick. So to relieve the boredom I pulled down a few project that needed just a bit of finishing. This plaid snowman had all of the parts stitched, cord twisted and backing covered. The back got sewn to the front, the cording attached and plaid snow guy is ready to back to my mom's house, finished at last.

It's my mom's birthday next month so I cut out this pull up card and glued it together. It's from the canon paper crafts website. You have the choice of candles or numbers to glue on top of the cake. I decided just candles was fine for an all round birthday greeting. Again easy to do and quite the card.

This little snowme was an Alan Dart pattern that I had started a few months ago. I had knitted the body, arms, legs and nose and had even started putting him together. Some stuffing, careful stitching and he started looking really cute. I raided my yarn stash and his matching scarf and hat ensemble followed quickly. I chose the seated pose for him as an easy to display position. The yarn is super soft but you use purl side to add even more texture. I have 1.5 balls of the white snow yarn left so I'm sure another snowme is in the future.

Who'll stop the snow

A snowy day in New England left to world as we know it closed for duration. I shoveled snow, then slush then rain but left time for crafting. By the end of the day I had completed two projects from the closet. The first is this table runner from printed fabric. It's extremely, lightly quilted but has nice hand sewn binding. It's a nice 'church fair' project for someone in the future.

Snow cook or snow baker was a 'bucilla' felt kit that I bought I few months ago. I started it but was unhappy with the white felt. I pulled him/her out today and just went to town sewing all of the accessories. These kits are lots of fun to display when they are finished. The instructions though, are in multiple languages and can be a little confusing. I'd really like to make the 'lighthouse' or 'santa in an antique car' in the future. I've only seen those on the web but maybe someday I'll get lucky and spot them in the local crafts store. Lots of work but extremely cute. I even managed to get some knitting in on the prayer shawl today. A few more rows and it's on to the second skein of yarn.

Pet additions

Introducing little Foo Foo, the newest pet in the family. Foo Foo is a white cuddly furball who loves to play with her toys.

This is Bun. She's been a member of the family for a while now and is the same breed a Foo Foo. She tosses her toys around and loves to cuddle. They are both members of the lionhead bunny family but look so different.

Craft updates are as follows: Prayer shawl knitting and knitting. I bought new yarn this weekend and have knitted about a foot on the new shawl last nite. It's a boucle yarn that is very bumpy so I'm only doing garter stitch. I need to get cracking on it because there is a backlog on recipients. So a little fun stuff and then lots of garter stitch.