Friday, March 27, 2009

Completed Project: Cotton Baby Wash Cloth

Using the Lace Dish Cloth pattern, I used some green striped cotton yarn to make this cotton wash cloth to go along with the Shades of Irish Green baby blanket.

Believe it or not, these are three photos of the same project. The lighting and background made them look very different. All the details are on Ravelry.

Baby Washcloth 03

Baby Washcloth 02

Baby Washcloth 01

The blanket, the wash cloth and some baby onesies will be shipped off to South Carolina next week. Baby Decklin or Saoirse will have them all for his/her arrival in May.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Saving the Craft

Celt's Vintage Crochet site was down because of unsavory capitalistic crocheters but now there is a Yahoo Group you can join to access all those fabulous patterns. Check it out.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Completed Project: Evening Fat Bottom Bag

Another one crossed off my 2009 crafty resolution list...

3) Try to sell a project - either on Etsy, at a craft fair, or word-of-mouth. (I'm thinking a purse or coaster set are possible sellers.)

I sold my first bag!!! Yay!!!

Dale Purse 04

Dale Purse 05

Dale Purse 03

The colors and handles were chosen by the client - black cotton yarn, a gorgeous red and black fabric lining and black bamboo handles.
Details on Ravelry.


I gave it to her yesterday and she loved it! And guess what ... I've got 3 more orders! And maybe more on the way!!! Yay!!!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Sweet!

First - a quick update since my last quick update... My car died after cake class the weekend before last. Yep - right in the parking lot of Joann's, she took her last breaths and was eventually carried off into the sunset on a tow truck sent by AAA.

But life is good and we got a new car that has plenty of room for cake class supplies and any yarn I happen to pick up after class. :)

Now - on to the cake!

I'm three weeks into the second course of Wilton cake decorating class at Joann's. Here's what I've created with color flow and royal icing so far.

Royal Icing Flowers

Look, Ma! No cabbages!

NOT Cabbages

I really like royal icing more than butter cream for flowers. I've got to find some time this week to make another batch of frosting and make a bunch of flowers that will dry before the finale cake on Saturday.

This class helps cross off one item from my crafty resolution list for 2009. But I'm feeling like an over-achiever. And because I'll be making cakes for both my boss' retirement party and my future sister-in-law's bridal shower, I'll be taking the third course of Wilton cake decorating in April. Bring on the fondant!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Quick Update

Cake class was good.

Car almost on fire was not good.

Details some other time. By the end of this week, there will be a new car in which to cart my cake supplies and yarn purchases.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Sweet Flowers

I'm off to my second cake class of Wilton II. I'll be making some royal icing flowers. I hope I'll have some photos worth posting later.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Lesson Learned

When NOT to try to learn to knit socks...

1) When tired
2) When watching something interesting on TV
3) When drinking scotch

Yep - I was doing all three of these things two weeks ago when I finally tried to teach myself to use DPNs and knit a simple sock. Believe it or not, I was actually getting it for quite a while. I won't lie to you - the whole working with 5 needles was quite stressful but I had cast on, divided the stitches, and made my way around about the circle about 6 times and I was doing great!

That is, until the three things one should not do when learning to knit socks coincided with a break to use the bathroom.

I sat back on the couch and proceeded to knit/purl - you guessed it! - in the wrong direction. I didn't notice until I got back to my stitch marker - which was at the end of my needle instead of at the beginning.

Damn it! I cursed under my breath.

But not to fear! I tried to reassure myself. I'd been here before and knew I just had to work my way back to where the problem began.

I successfully unknit/unpurled my way along two DPNs and then...

::SWOOSH!::

...the DPN slipped, 2 stitches slipped, and I swore like a sailor.

Sean quickly came to my rescue by getting my crochet hook holder. I took out an itty-bitty hook and tried to reloop my lost stitches. I could not for the life of me get those 2 stitches back. And as items 1-3 collided with frustration, I gave up, pulled out all the DPNs and rewound the yarn. I was not amused. ::insert more salty sailor verbiage here::

Sean, being the wonderful and supportive husband that he is, tried to reassure me that I had done a great job getting so many stitches on 4 needles on my first try. I, on the other hand, could not be consoled. So much work for nothing...NOTHING! I was in no mood for a lesson. I wanted a pair of socks in the making. But I knew my emotional limits for one evening and did not touch the needles or yarn again that night.

The next day I was in better spirits thanks to a good night's sleep. I was able to more realistically look at what had happened. There is only so much one can expect will or should be accomplished the first time one attempts to learn to knit socks. I was too hard on myself and I needed to try again under more ideal circumstances.

The following weekend, I tried again - this time with much better results.

Knit Sock 02

Now mind you - there is only like 3 or 4 rows on this sock so far and I'm not anticipating that it will turn out to be a wearable sock. But as a first go at sock knitting, I'm enjoying it thoroughly. We'll see how much I like it when I hit the snag in my lessons.