I have been waiting for The Loopy Ewe to have the Namaste Oh, Snap! pouches available. They’ve been out of stock for quite some time, and I feverishly kept checking in hopes that they would magically appear in stock.

Instead I got an email notifying me that there was a special red Oh, Snap! pouch set would be available. Um, yes please! I’m not necessarily a huge fan of red, but these are lovely. I wanted to buy all sorts of other stuff but with the San Diego Comic Con coming up next week I figured it was better for me to be good with my spending, use my $25 credit (which only lends to the fact that I spend plenty of money with them anyway) to buy only the pouches.

Since this is a limited release, I’m glad I was able to get in on the fun and pick up a set. I always feel like carrying a separate bag is cumbersome and the small project bags I have take up a lot of space in my purse. They’re also not very good at keeping things like scissors, or a crochet hook (for picking up stitches), or a stitch holder. Those items always end up at the bottom of my purse or the project bag and I have to rummage.

The hope, of course, is that these will help me be a little bit better with organizing and make carrying a larger (or nearly finished) project around not nearly as cumbersome.

And they’re a lovely shade a red… not that my iphone took a very good photo.

Tags: accessories, goodies, loopy ewe, namaste, tle
Filed under: Goodies, The Loopy Ewe

So it seems there’s a week coming up in which you pick one of the days and it’s Knit in Public day. There are plenty of them out there all over the place, but I’m unsure there are any near me. I don’t want to try to plan anything, but I figure next week will be a good way to knit in public every opportunity I get. I might even start on Saturday, who knows. I think this is a great way to get people to see each other and meet other knitters and crocheters. Yes, I realize it’s not Crochet in Public day, but since I’m truly a crocheter at heart, I’ll never exclude.

And as someone who’s taught many friends both, crochet is almost always easier to teach than knitting… but that’s only in my experience.

Onto other news. The Colusa County fair kicked off yesterday, but the fair entrant judging for the Arts and Crafts was something earlier in the week. I turned Mirella the Bunny and Girasole in last Friday.

Yesterday I was informed that Mirella the Bunny got 1st place. Mind you, she was the only doll entered into the fair, which makes it seem as though I’d be give the 1st place prize by default. From my fair contact person (a lady I work with) this is not the case. The judge this year had no qualms about giving out 3rd even if it was the only entrant in that category.

The bigger news is the Girasole I finished a little bit before Xmas won Best in Show!! This is BIG news for me. I would never expect a prize like that!! I’m so excited and can’t wait to enter all of my items into the Yuba-Sutter fair and see how I do.

Wow. Best in show. And to think, I only really started knitting a couple of years ago, with Girasole being my first circular knit item, and my first lace item. I have no pictures of Girasole, because I’m lame and not very smart. When I get everything back I will be sure to take some photos.

Tags: colusa, fair, kip, knitting
Filed under: knitting

When I decided that I would make an amigurumi doll as a fair entrant, I browsed for colors and yarn on Knit Picks to see if I could find all of the colors I would want/need for the project. My experience with the human-like dolls were from Elizabeth D.‘s pattern and from her book as well as from Dawn Toussaint. I’ve made a total of four dolls down, with Mirella being the newest one.

When I looked at yarn colors I had Dawn’s sweaters and skirts in mind, but when I imagined what my doll would look like I had Elizabeth’s doll in mind. Except that I had things I knew I would want to do differently. So the basic pattern is similar in different ways to both of these amazing amigurumi pattern writers and creators, but in the ends, the majority of what I did for Mirella was off the top of my head.

I named the doll after a friend of mine from the days when I worked at Starbucks. She was one of the few people who was nice and kind no matter what. At the time she was very young, just out of high school. A baby compared to my nearly 30 self. Her innocence was endearing and her shock of what was actually out there in the world was cute. The idea in my head of the style and color of the dress was inspired by her, so who better to name the doll after. Not to mention she has one of the most unique names I’ve ever encountered.

The flash on this photo is a bit harsh. I spent most of the day working on her, and when I got to this point I didn’t want to try to figure too much out with regard to lighting. That will come eventually. I also need to get one of those fancy doll-holder-thingies so that I can stand dolls up without leaning them up against walls. The intention was to make one of those fashionable (I think they’re ugly and would never wear one, but it’s what in fashion these days) half sweaters with short sleeves. Something you’d wear in the spring/summer because you don’t really want to be warm, but you want a little bit of covered. I was so tired by this point I gave up on making a sweater for her. Though I tried! A few times. *sigh*

I also had other ideas, but after making the dress my creativity was running on empty. And so, This is her.
Here is a shot of the dress. I under estimated the amount of fabric I would need to comfortably go around the doll, especially the bell. So I added the clasps afterward to keep her, uh, a little on the appropriate side. I need to spend some time in the near future learning the order in which you’re supposed to put things together, because I didn’t do the most amazing job putting this dress together. On the right side, it looks okay, but on the back… not so much.

So here it is. She went off to the fair for judging just like this. I can’t wait to find out how I did. This particular fair is next weekend, and I’m sure someone I work with will tell me how I placed.

Next on the needles are some rainbow arm warmers. It’s nearly summer, so truly I don’t need arm warmers, but I love the yarn so much I simply couldn’t wait to get started. I have forgotten how much I enjoy striping yarn and how easy socks and such are when you’re not doing a lace pattern. It goes so much faster to just go and go in knit stitches.

Tags: Amigurumi, Crochet, doll, rabbit
Filed under: Amigurumi, Crochet

I had always heard stories of people who had “Yarn Rooms” or “Craft Rooms” and I never really believed it were possible. I mean, who has that much extra space in their homes? Apparently more people that I would have imagined. But upon moving in with the boyfriend, and a couple of arguments over the use of the now empty room, I was able to get myself a proper Craft Room.

Over the years I went through many different craft phases. I wanted to pain miniatures so I bought a bunch of pain and such for that. That lasted only as long as it took me to pain one mini. I wanted to learn how to paint watercolor on small little cards, and that lasted only as long as it took me to make about 4 (the first of which was terrible). I understand now how watercolors work, but yeah, not my cuppa tea. I also spent a significant amount of money on cross stitching with the intention to make a lot of items and that fell by the wayside.

All in all, the only crafts to actually stick by me (and me with them) are those involving yarn. Particularly, crochet and knit.

Mind you, I knew when the decision was made to move, that I had a lot of craft supplies. And by a lot of craft supplies I mean I could easily fill a room with all my junk. At the apartment I had it stashed all over the place. At the top of that closet. At the bottom of this other closet. In the corner in boxes. In plastic bags inside other boxes. My apartment was truly the worst possible place to try to find anything craft related. Except, of course, the yarn. Which invaded a particular section of my kitchen/dining room. Yeah. Needless to say, the desire and need of a craft room was beyond necessary. I also need to stop playing World of Warcraft and start, y’know, crafting with all that… craft stuff.

From the doorway of the craft room you can see the drafting table on the left. My old entertainment center. The cat’s bed. The cat-sitting-in-the-window area. My bookshelf chocked full of all things crafty (books are only along the bottom). In the center is my new sewing table. It is still a work in progress and hopefully it’ll be less cluttered (or full of boxes) after awhile.

So now we see the yarn closet. Which, is very full of yarn. All the bags along the top are projects… involving yarn. The roll-away basket is Works In Progress. There is an alcove between the two closets which currently has a small bookshelf up on it. The black thing on the bottom right is the corner of the sewing table. Truly I have some serious spending issues with regard to yarn and I might want to consider seeking a therapist for my obsessive problem. *sigh* I swear, it was meant to be projects!!

And lastly the view from behind the door. There’s the drafting table no longer being used as my desk (though my netbook is still there). The milk crate table in the corner and some shelves. I’d like to see a little more of this around the room, but we’ll see. I like using the wall space for sticky notes (though there were none as of the photo). On the entertainment center next to the drafting table is the “printer” computer that’s only there as a printing hub. And the printers. It’ll be interesting to see how this all works out, since the setup is very different than it was at my apartment.

And there it is. Now to deal with kitchen stuff and some more boxes to unpack and I might actually get to spend some quality time in this room.

Tags: craft room, Crochet, cross stitch, knit, yarn
Filed under: Crafting

There has been a lot going on in my life the last few weeks. Most of them involve moving and the stress that it causes. There have been good things. Like the prospect of being financially stable-ish. This move isn’t going to solve all of my money woes, nor is it going to mean that I have unlimited funds to do anything and everything. It will, however, mean that I will be able to pursue some of the ventures that I want to.

Including writing and designing patterns. And dying yarn. Unlike my friend Brianna, I don’t think I could actually go quite a gung-ho and she has. I adore her yarn, and at some point I will finally finish many of the projects I’ve started with yarn I’ve purchased from her. Which, a shameless and unsolicited plug, you should try some of her yarns. Definitely.

Another thing this move is going to help give me is time. Because I won’t be strapped for cash all the time, and thus having to spend every available minute/day at work in order to make ends meet, this move is going to allow me to pay off the few credit cards I have left (2 of 5 are paid off to zero!!) within a few months (if all goes well and nothing catastrophic happens), pay my parents back the money I borrowed from them to cover my dumb car breaking, and pay back the boyfriend for the stupid speeding ticket. And then save money so I don’t have to borrow money anymore. Ever. Again. The hope is that by March of next year, when my student loan deferment is up (again) I will officially be able to pay them without fear that I won’t eat or have money to get to and from work (this post has turned into a whine-fest, hasn’t it??)

The plan as of right now is to get my craft room dealt with somewhat. This eliminates a whole bunch of boxes from the living room and gets it into places where I should be able to find what I need. I’ve got less than 2 weeks to finish my amigurumi doll for the Colusa County fair (which I have a shawl and the doll as entrants). There’s still lots of cleaning to be done in the old apartment, so the hope is that next week I’ll be able to work completely on getting the Ami doll finished.

I’m still carrying around a lace-weight knit shawl with me, though I haven’t had much chance to do anything with it either. I need to take progress photos of what I’m working on at some point.

Oh! That was my other point, that the move and the fact that I now have a craft room and such, will mean that I will not only have time to work on writing patterns, but to actually blog about them. *crosses fingers*

Tags: Real life, update
Filed under: Real life

I’m unsure how long ago it was when I lost the domain, but it was a pretty frustrating time. I was annoyed because I, like so many others, had great plans for this domain. I intended to chronicle my writing career, or at least the career I thought I was going to have.

I’ve done little writing, however, even thought I got a new domain to house the writing progress I didn’t do. Ah well.

But good news! Today I got my domain back! The squatters who snatched my domain out from underneath me (while I was busy working and going to school more than full time) decided to release it a few months ago. It finished it’s “hold” period and is officially mine again. Originally I offered about 3x the normal domain registration cost in order to get it back. I mean, c’mon, the spelling was a mistake I made years and years ago, and it just sort of… stuck. No one was going to want the domain. No one. My original offer was mocked and the response told me to make a more substantial offer and they might consider it. I ignored them.

Months later I received an email asking for another offer, to which I explained the circumstances involving the domain. That I, alone, would be the only person who wanted it, and I wouldn’t be offering them the hundreds of dollars they had hoped. I wasn’t lying about this, or trying to rip them off. They, however, were trying to rip me off. I made an offer I was willing to spend, but really, it’s a virtual place on the internet. I didn’t need it. It wasn’t something I was earning money doing, or writing on. If that were the case the need to get the domain back into my possession would have been great.

As it stands, my patience has been rewarded and I am now the proud owner of my domain… again. And I’ve made sure to have the domain locked to my account as well as auto renew. No need for this nonsense again.

As it stands, the purpose of the domain will now be changed. There’s no need to go back and make this a writer’s site again. I went through the traumatic process of exporting all of the entries (Really, WordPress made it easy to export, so I’m being facetious) and moving them to the other site.

No, this will become where I share all my crafty goodness. I have lots of ideas of amigurumi dolls that I’ve been toying with in my head for months and months (and easily surpassing years). So this will be where I document all of my crafty goodness, and if I end up actually writing a pattern for something I create, where I will indeed share or sell those patterns (I will likely use Ravelry or etsy for that though).

Ahhh… it sure does feel good to be home.

Tags: craft, intro, introduction, plans, techie
Filed under: blah blah blah