Thursday, July 19, 2007

Going camping

Leaving for the annual camping trip in an hour or so. Going to see Deb and Suz. Going to renew vows with the hubby. Yippee! Gotta go!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Angels and organization

Taking a short break from a massive cleaning/organizing blitz. I have filled 3 12-gallon bins and 8 rather large drawers of 3 storage organizers. With yarn. The bins are filled with acrylic (and there is still more to organize!). I haven't separated them into colors or types. They are my lap-blanket and oh-my-god-the-baby-shower-is-this-weekend-and-I-completely-forgot-better-whip-up-a-
generic-baby-blanket yarns. I have had a couple of large donations. Most notably, 5 trash bags filled of yarn that a coworker gave me after sorting through his mother's house before they sold it. Some of it was pretty nice. A lot of it was hideous. A lot of it was thread. Size 10. Filled up all three drawers of one of those organizers. Anyone out there make doilies? And really like white or ecru?

I have put some of it to use. I made this little angel for my godfather's mother:



My mother and Greg were incredibly impressed that I made this with my own two hands. I don't think it's that spectacular, but they liked it a lot. You'd think that everything I ever did before was crap the way they kept carrying on. :-)

I'm also working on a filet crochet altar cloth. I've come up with a pattern for the phases of the moon Goddess symbol, which I am going to repeat around the edges, with the outstretched-arms Goddess symbol in the center. Like the one from the tarot bag. I really want to play and experiment on it NOW, but I have more important things to work on.

Such as the booth I will be having at Pagan Pride Day. I will be selling some of my handmade goodies there. I know that I will have a plethora of washcloths, and probably some tarot bags. I'm also thinking of making some felted bowls, in elemental colors. They would look cute on an altar. If I still have time after all of that, I will then work on the altar cloth, see how fast I can work that up, and maybe make one or two of those. They would cost far more than some of the other stuff I make. This designing your own patterns thing, then having stuff that needs blocking, is hard work. :-)

OK, I need to get back to cleaning. I can't stay up too late. Have to go to work tomorrow. I haven't been there since Tuesday, I'm sure they all miss me. Of course, I'm only working 2 days, then taking another week off to go camping! Yay, camping!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

A tarot bag

While at work yesterday, I created this little Tarot card bag:



I designed all of it myself, not liking the patterns I saw online for Tarot bags. It was my first attempt, and I figured out all the stuff that I wanted to change about it as I was working on it. I could have frogged it when I was a bit over half-way through, but it seemed like an awful lot of work for me.

It was made using A-MAIZing corn fiber yarn. Used most of the skein of green, not too much of the white. I like this yarn, but I think it would be more useful in knit patterns. It's light-weight, but works up almost like worsted-weight yarn. It would drape lovely in a knit pattern. Not so much for crochet. (Almost sounds like I know what I'm talking about, eh?)

I'm gifting this bag to Kris. I plan to make more using the same pattern, may try other designs such as Celtic knotwork or a pentacle. I finished it rather quickly (maybe 6 hours total, probably less). I think the next one will be made from cotton, or maybe wool.

Tomorrow is Greg's and my anniversary. 10 years! Woot. Unfortunately, it looks like we might spend it at the hospital with my dad. Yippee.

I need to take a bath and get out of this house for a bit. It was supposedly a beautiful day (wasn't it, Weather Avatar ------->), but I spent it sleeping off the effects of a 36-hour shift. 'Sokay, though. I don't have to go back until Monday. Then, I work Monday and Wednesday and don't go back for a week! 'Cuz I will be CAMPING! With NIPA. And Deb and Suz are coming home to camp with us!!!!! YAY!

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Staying up late....

...finishing this:




It's a tote bag made from the tape from a VHS cassette. Pretty nifty way of recycling the tapes that we have replaced with DVDs, huh? I still need to work out the strap so it's more secured... I sort of did a Frankenstein on it. Here's the pattern I used on it (I used an N-hook):

Chain 30
Round 1: HDC in second chain from hook and in chain across (front loops only). DO NOT TURN.
HDC in free loops along other side of chain. Join to beginning HDC with slip-stitch.
Round 2: Chain 2. HDC in each HDC around. Join with slip stitch.
Repeat until bag measures about 11 inches or so (however big you want the bag).
On next round, HDC in next 27 HDCs (to opposite end of the bag). Chain 40 (or length you want the strap). Join with DC to HDC just before start of new round. Slip stitch into HDC just before that. HDC across chain. Join with DC to bag in HDC next to chain. HDC around remainder of bag. Join with slip stitch to strap. Fasten off.

OK. So this is the first pattern that I have written out. I'm not even sure if I can understand what it says. Like I said, I need to work on the strap. I tacked it on a bit better after I did what I wrote above, it seemed a little flimsy. I want to use this as a grocery bag, so it needs to be sturdier.

If I ever do the Etsy thing, I might include these. They don't take much time (I finished it in one evening after taking it apart multiple times and taking many breaks). And they really don't cost me much except for my time. The tapes were going to get tossed anyway. I'll work on the pattern a bit more before I would actually sell them, though.

Gots to get some sleep now, though. Way past my bedtime! 'Night!