Monday, January 31, 2011

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

oh my goddess, i LOVE this felt alphabet book

from feltorama. and  you can find the tutorial HERE

pic from the felo-o-rama tutorial linked above and below is the link to the ORIGINAL tute

craitlyn.blogspot.com

here's an idea.............

do some volunteer crafting!

how about knitting or crocheting a nine inch square for pine street inn knit along

visit their site for the faqs and the abouts and the this' and the thats. c'mon. a nine inch square. how hard is that?

Monday, January 24, 2011

cowls, hoods, neck warmers, they're ALL my 'thing'

i can't stop knitting them (by the way, of ALL the ones i've knitted, i've NOT kept one of 'em).  they're easy to knit and fast too! they make a great gift and are useful (especially on a day like today where the temp is below zero WITHOUT a wind chill factor)

whipup has links to a BUNCH of patterns

enjoy!

pic from the whipup posting linked above

from etsy storque

debbie stoller's hip hop blanket (oh i SO want to make this)   designed by Jennifer Lippman-Bruno,

Photo by Stitch 'n Bitch Superstar Knitting

Thursday, January 20, 2011

i've been waiting and waiting and waiting...........

FINALLY the winter issue of knitty is UP

photo cover from the winter 2011 knitty by Sean Rangel

there's a pretty darn cute

tutorial for embellishing socks over at alisa burke's blog (found via whip up

the winter edition

of elizabeth abernathy's magazine is out. stop by her website and take a peek

i have her forest nuno (fall 2010) and LOVE it. i WILL get the winter  shades of gray one as well

Monday, January 17, 2011

my latest piece

it is NOT blocked yet
a beaded neck piece
modeled by the lovely sharon

pre-thread lots and then lots more size 6 glass beads on yarn
cast on 72 stitches and join without twisting (and of course place a marker at join)
k2, p1around placing a bead in each purl on every other row
continue this pattern for about 4 inches give or take
make a little ruffle on one end by k2, k1 f&b all the way around
next row, k5, k1 f&b all the way around. do this a few more rows and bind off
then cut several lengths of yarn for fringe. attach to neck piece then put a bead on the end of each length of yarn. tie a knot on each end.
BLOCK (which as i said above, i have NOT done yet)
size 4 needles 16" circular

Saturday, January 15, 2011

blocking a beaded neck-thingy i made

it's way too wide for a neck warmer but not wide enough to double. well, live and learn. i used sport weight baby alpaca and smallish circulars (probably a 5). i cast on 88 and did it all in double rib; K2, P2. every other row on the pearls, i slipped in a bead (of course ALL of the beads have to be strung PRIOR to you starting to knit. here it is being blocked. (i'm trying to make it longer and skinnier. we'll see if that works out


if you want to see some absolutely STUNNING crochet work

look NO farther than the flickr stream of fibreromance. man, i don't get jealous but if i did.........................her work would do it

Friday, January 14, 2011

seriously jealous, serious WANT

 some buy shoes. some buy clothes (of course i buy them, but i don't DESIRE them or DREAM of them). what do i dream of? YARN and YARN and MORE YARN (and ok, beads sometimes too)

world's biggest yarn stash from mochimochi land (pic from there as well)

love this from craft!

wicked cool AND stuff you probably already have (i do) How-To: Make a Perpetual Button Calendar for 2011 (and Beyond)

pic from the craft tute linked above

wow!!!



egg carving

via

stop by

living crafts and take a look around. there are free patterns at their blog and ideas and there's a GREAT tutorial for dyeing your own wool fabric

pic from the dye your own wool fabric part i and part ii

by Annette Ringeisen

Thursday, January 13, 2011

craftzine has a link to

how to dye fabric using snow which would be VERY appropriate for those of us in new england. we just got hit with a giant nor'easter! here's the link to craftster how to dye fabric using snow. i'm guessing that's where craft got their pics from. the outside snow pic i took yesterday

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

beading arts has a bunch of links

for online jewelry and beading education

check 'em all out!

knitting and healing

but it doesn't necessarily HAVE to be knitting. i do lots of crafts but knitting makes me the MOST zen. 



Crafting a Recovery

I HAVE been knitting a lot lately — as I do whenever the New England weather turns colder. Baby hats and fingerless gloves. Blankets and dishrags. I’ve returned to a scarf I once grew bored with, a sweater I never finished.
I learned to knit in 2002, six months after my 5-year-old daughter, Grace, died suddenly from a virulent form of strep. I was unable to read or write, and friends suggested I take up knitting; almost immediately I fell under its spell.//////////

 

 

pic:

Harrison Hayne

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

The Daily Irritant: Steve King is my New Favorite Congressman.

The Daily Irritant: Steve King is my New Favorite Congressman.: " And by favorite, I mean most unintentionally entertaining. I've decide that since this country seems hell-bent on electing the most ri..."

truthfully, i only watch the FIRST video. that was enough to convince me. i needed nothing more. that dude is WHACK (and NOT in a good way)

from the sisters 4

say more is more a beaded bib necklace tutorial. looks pretty darn cool!

pic from the sisters 4 tute linked above

Saturday, January 8, 2011

i love sea glass

even though i live in a state with an ocean, i don't get to the short that often. PLUS we don't  have a heck of a lot of sea glass in connecticut (that i've seen at any rate)

here's an idea (from boing boing but really from Rich Faulhaber at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories).............now all i need is a cement mixer (put-i put-i)!

How to make sea glass

Mark Frauenfelder  
pic from:
the beach glass machine

Friday, January 7, 2011

look at this wonderful revereible felt basket

at resurrection fern (pic from there as well).

in addition to being a doctor AND a mother the woman crafts and photographs like NO ONE'S bid-nez. i really do admire her

here's a link to her cool etsy shop; knitalatte

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

i'm not the biggest chocolate fan in the universe

BUT i like it, don't get me wrong. there is a wonderful vegan chocolate maker in manchester (connecticut) divine treasures. they also carry them at the whole foods in west hartford center (not the one at bishops corner though????)

anyway i saw the following making chocolate video on on craftzine and wanted to share. it too is VEGAN


Mast Brothers from Cool Hunting on Vimeo.

mast brothers chocolate

pic from the mast brothers website linked above

if you're a member of ravelry

please take a look at the patterns of frankie brown

they're amazing. they're free and even though they LOOK complicated, i think most of them have a simple basic process behind them.

like i said, frankie's patterns are free BUT if you're of the mind, she (or i guess it could be he) says you could give a lil' donation to children's liver disease foundation (it's in the uk but i'll bet if you're here in america you can donate too!)

man, just check out the ten stitch wave scarf or the lightening shawl

or really ANY of the patterns. wow, i am WICKED IMPRESSED

Sunday, January 2, 2011

oh YUM

and unlike STOREBOUGHT nutella, this version is VEGAN (well if you use vegan sugar it is)
again, OH YUM

(pic from the bonvivant site linked below)


home made nutella

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

found via

project i'm working on now

a beaded neckwarmer. no pattern.

what i did so far:

used blue sky alpaca sport weight. needle is circular 16" i believe a 4. cast on 88 stitches (it is going to be tight, not a loose one. i'm going to do a ruffle on the bottom as well. haven't decided if i'll crochet that on or just knit it). i'm doing a k2, p2 rib. every other row i've put a bead in each of the 2 purls. oh yeah, you have to string the beads FIRST of course. how many? well i don't know. i strung a LOT. when i'm done, i sure will be able to give an accurate count.

 the beads are a size 6 and they do fit on the sport weight yarn. i used one of those blue dental thingys to thread the beads. pics are from my phone so they're not as good as camera pics