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Have you stumbled across The Bright Side Project yet?
A couple of weeks ago, I saw it popping up on several of the blogs in my Google Reader, so I clicked over. As it says in their FAQ’s:
The Bright Side Project is a website dedicated to daily giveaways. Each day we feature a brand or product we think will add a little sunshine in your life.
Not only this, but The Bright Side Project is dedicated to supporting independent artisans. They offer prizes both from well-known companies (E.L.F. Cosmetics!) and from etsy sellers.
Was I tempted to keep this wonderful site to myself? Of course! But that wouldn’t be in the spirit of the site, now, would it? So hop on over and win something wonderful!
As I promised on Twitter last week, I can finally reveal my latest crochet project. Saturday was the shower for some dear friends, who are due next month with a little girl. Since I have so few opportunities (that is to say, no opportunities) to dress little girls, I had to go for a garment.
Pattern: Lacy Cardigan by Hilary Mackin, Sue Whiting
from The Big Book of Weekend Crochet
Yarn: Knit Picks Risata
Hook: 3.5mm (E)
I’m very happy with it, although I didn’t find the pattern too easy to read. I got it done though, and it’s adorable, and that’s the point! The yarn matches embroidery on the little dress I picked out for her, and it was a dream to work with. It has some stretch to it, and it created such a nicely-draping fabric.
Today, the baby fun continued when I drove out to meet a good friend from high school and her new baby boy. She and I had lost touch for a number of years (12!) before we met again at her baby shower this summer. Talking today, it was like we’d just been hanging out together last week. Good friends like that don’t come a dime a dozen.
Remember the Sólás Caomh blanket? That was for Little Baby Thomas:
Babies are so cooperative when they’re napping, aren’t they? Thomas, like both of my boys, was born prematurely due to preeclampsia. He is thriving, though, and ate like a little piggy while I was there today. (And his mommy is doing well now, too.)
He continued napping long enough for us to grab lunch…
…and then woke up to let me capture my favorite photo of the day. I love the look on Monica’s face.
(How freaking adorable is this baby?!?) Of course, when Thomas heard about Bench Monday, he got really excited and begged his Mommy to play along.
The tips and tricks have been flying in the Jessica Sprague class I’m taking! Over the past week, I’ve been more and more excited by learning the little things I’ve missed out on by self-teaching.
Kalen helped with this one – titling and colors. (Hint: photo fun, whether with a digital camera or in Photoshop, is a great way to distract a cranky kid! They love seeing photos of themselves!)
Believe it or not, Jason snapped this shot with his camera phone. These were my Mother’s Day flowers from him.
Selective coloring – I’ve done this before, many times, but this technique is much easier. Well, by easier, I mean it allows me to mess up more often, with less frustration. How could I not love that?
And now, my favorite…
This one just may get printed and framed. What do you think? Office? Guest room? Living room? Although we tend to have browns in our living room…I guess I could change the tone. Thoughts?
The boys and I are home after our lovely staycation at our best friends’ house. They hit the beach, and we spent the week puppy-sitting and making use of their extended satellite TV, cozy reading chairs, and neighborhood pool. It was a good deal all-around.
Of course, Monday meant that I could take advantage of a new-to-me bench…
Tuesday, the boys each had a swimming lesson with the neighborhood’s swim team coach. This young woman has such a way with kids! I hadn’t been able to get Kalen to do anything resembling a stroke before this day, and look at him swimming right to her!
Nicky also made great progress in the pool, and he got the hang of side breathing. He can now make it all the way across the short width of the pool without putting his feet down. This kid has come a long, long way in just over a year. I’m in such awe of him.
I also spent an awful lot of time reading (Lynn Kurland – one of my favorites!), and I got a start on that baby gift I mentioned before. No details until after the shower, but a little sneak peek can’t hurt, can it?
We really enjoyed our little faux vacay, and it was made even better by the knowledge that Jason will be coming to see us next week. He flies in Tuesday night to spend a week and celebrate Kalen’s birthday. We’re all so excited.
I set to work on the latest Digi Dare yesterday afternoon (main components of the challenge – one word title and one photo containing only one subject). Looking through my 2005 photos, I found this one of Nicky with his listening equipment. His occupational therapist at the time, Ms. Yolanda, had determined that he was a prime candidate for a program called Therapeutic Listening to help with his Sensory Processing Disorder. Nicky continued with TL for many months. I don’t know how much it helped, and how much was the other forms of therapy or simple maturity, but he did show improvement over that year.
(Credits behind the cut)
Today I finished up another baby blanket. This one’s bound for the NICU, to warm some little baby while he or she is having feedings. I needed something mindless to work on while the boys and I watched the original Star Wars trilogy last week, and j. had sent me a great skein of bright orange yarn, so this was born. I’m halfway in love with it, just for the colors. I’m so tired of pastel baby clothes and blankets, I swear I’ll never make anything pastel for a baby again!
I love this pattern!
Sólás Caomh by Jodi Euchner
Yarn: Wool-Ease (wool/poly blend for washability)
G hook
The finished product was well worth the rows and half-rows I frogged each time I realized I’d put a cable in the wrong place or forgotten a part of a cable. It’s a pretty small blanket, not big enough to keep anyone warm, really. However, I hope it will be perfect for little Thomas to drag around behind him, cuddle up with, and generally treat with tough love.
My hook is flying madly whenever I find time to park myself on the sofa…mostly in the evenings, watching Jane Austen movies with Mom and Dad. Doctors’ waiting rooms also make fine crochet studios, especially once you’ve been through the pattern repeats a bit.
Sólás Caomh by Jodi Euchner
This is one of the most difficult patterns I’ve ever done. Now that I’m going strong, it isn’t so bad, actually, but the first few repeats were murder. Cable crochet in and of itself isn’t so hard…what makes it fiddly is the “Shut up, I’m counting!” nature of the pattern, plus the unfamliar motion of working front post stitches behind stitches you just made.
Anyway, I’ve now completed six of eleven repeats, and I’m supposed to have it done for a baby shower on Saturday, complete with border and blocking. Eh, piece of cake, right? Riiiiight…
Or, it would be if I didn’t keep taking breaks to scrap a bit. Hey, in my defense, the poor hands need a rest now and then.
Yesterday (yay!), PencilLines posted the sketch for this week. Sketches help so much when inspiration is scarce. As you can tell, I’m a bit behind in my scrapping. (Yes, that 19-month-old eating the green popsicle is entering First Grade in a couple of months. Don’t even ask about their baby albums.) In the past, I jumped all over, scrapping whatever photos hit my mood at the time. However, I’ve taken a cue from my dear friend (and scrapping/design guru), Karah. I’m approaching it methodically now, working my way through 2005. In a few months, I should have an album to show for it!
Sweet Treat Credits:
Sketch (reversed) by Anna Bowkis for PencilLines blog (#137)
Background paper by Audra Little (A Little Ensanada)
Krafty Brackets Paper by Christine Honsinger for ScrapArtist.com
Noteworthy Alpha by Birgit Kerr
Stitching by Birgit Kerr (Easy Living)
Scrolled Alpha (recolored) & Bird by Lori Musser/Page Frocks (Paper Dreams)
Swirl Stamp by Amber Clegg (Tranquility)
Cardboard Circle and Scalloped Border by Amy Martin (5255 Collab Kit)
Flowers & “Cool” Word Art by Shabby Princess (Happy Go Lucky)
Journaling Lines by Designs by Lili for ScrapArtist.com (Pieces of My Heart)
Two things have been missing from my blog lately: me and crochet.
Me? That’s an easy one.
My brilliant, fabulous, incredible and now highly-educated little sister graduated from law school on Saturday. I so want to call her a lawyer and send cute little notes with an “Esq.” on the end, but she says I’m not allowed until she passes the bar. Details, details. (I still inscribed the book I bought her with her name, Esq. It’s fun, and I’m freaking proud of her. So sue me. I’ll have a good lawyer soon enough.) So, we were up in Virginia for a long weekend celebrating, watching her speak (yes, she was elected speaker by her class!), and sight-seeing in D.C. (Pictures of that to follow later…)
Crochet? Ah, never assume that the absence of crochet from the blog equals an absence of crochet from my life! I’ve been working for the past month solely on Heather’s graduation present…and since it was in her school colors, I exercised an awful lot of restraint and did NOT post the progress here.
However! Graduation is past, and the gift has been given.
When I read about Laughing Purple Goldfish’s Event Plaid, I knew immediately that this is what I would make for Heather’s graduation gift. After a few trips to Goodwill for sweaters to frog and a session with my Wilton’s and Kool-Aid dyes, I had three green yarns and a gold. Perfect for a George Mason U. grad. (This is the largest project I’ve made completely of reclaimed yarns. Yay!)
The whole idea of this blanket is to utilize the numbers from an important date to create the pattern. Heather’s graduation was on May 16, 2009, or 5-16-09. The numbers I would use to make the blanket, therefore, were 5-1-6-9. I needed four yarns for this; the first would be used for five rows, the second for one row, etc. Voila, a pattern!
It was going well, until I got to the third yarn in my pattern, and I quickly realized that I would run out of my third and fourth yarns if I kept up that pattern. I modified the numbers and ended up with a 5-1-3-6 pattern. I’m not sure if anything important happened on May 13, 2006, but we’ll just assume it’s around the time Heather decided to move to Virginia for law school and call it done.
I have to agree with Sharon’s assessment that this is an ugly, ugly pattern until the very last bit is done. The pattern is worked in dc, ch1 spaces for row after row. It’s not very attractive. The magic happens after the crochet portion is done and the weaving begins. Weaving is done in the same row patterns, obviously worked in the other direction. Once the strands are woven through and the tassles tied, the plaid is obvious and incredible. I can’t imagine a color combination that wouldn’t look great.
I learned an important thing during this process. This pattern takes forever. I mean it. It just goes on and on, especially when you want a blanket of some size, like I did. I really wanted to give Heather something she could snuggle under on the couch. I managed to watch several great miniseries on DVD with Mom and Dad while crocheting this thing. The weaving took a lot longer than I expected, too. Thank goodness for Mom. She spent most of the day and evening last Wednesday working on the weaving, and it saved me a lot of anguish and scrambling.
It was worth it, though. I finished the weaving on the road on Thursday and tied the tassles that night in the hotel room. It’s one of my favorite pieces ever.
Here’s an idea of the size…Heather says it will be perfect for her office someday. She wants a chaise where she can curl up and read briefs and cases, and of course, she must have a blankie for the space. This one has the added bonus of being very tartan-like, which speaks to our proud Scottish heritage.
She looks pretty happy with it, don’t you think?? It even matches her eyes.
Cozy Girl, Esq.
Mother’s Day has presented me with the opportunity to attempt something I’ve been wanting to for awhile. I’ve long been intrigued by knitalette’s beautiful crochet-covered stones. I could see them as something Mom would like, which she quickly confirmed when I showed her the photos a few weeks ago.
Yesterday, I sat down with stone, thread, and hook in hand. While Mom was in the dining room working on collages with the boys, I fiddled away in the living room…and was able to present her with this a short time later:
I’ve not had much luck with freeform crochet in the past, but this medium worked well for me. I’m quite happy with the results, and Mom is even happier, having requested a small pile of them. Success!
Yesterday, I made a stone.
Today, I made time. The boys and I spent a nice portion of the afternoon on the back porch, reading and drawing and coloring.
Nicky had Book Fair books to devour, and I’m reading yet another historical fiction set around the British monarchy. Kalen was incredibly patient with us, flipping through Nicky’s new Pokemon guidebook for some time before finally asking to play a game. I sheepishly put my book aside and “encouraged” Nicky to do the same. When Kalen realized he had our attention, the game idea was quickly scratched in favor of coloring. True to their forms, Nicky chose a coloring book, and Kalen grabbed a sketchbook.
Nicky likes being inside the lines. Kalen likes making his own lines.
When I was a little girl and unable to let go of my perfectionism, I preferred coloring books, too. I still like them, but I’m now able to embrace non-realism in my own drawing…to view drawing as an extension of my ever-present doodling rather than trying to make my hands create precisely what my eyes see.
It’s a wonder what an hour with crayons and markers will do for your morale.
Happy Blogiversary – to me!
One year ago today, I began blogging our family’s letterboxing adventures over on Blogger. The place quickly morphed into a more life-encompasing adventure, with a heavy emphasis on crafts, and for reasons I have long since forgotten, I moved over here to WordPress last summer. I suppose a blog, like any journal, will take on a life of its own.
I don’t have a huge following; my stats show my busiest days as those surrounding the 12th of the month for some strange reason, and they also have a nice little blip when I participate in Pip’s challenges. However, I appreciate each and every one of you who visits, whether it’s on a daily basis, or once a month…or less!
So, as a thank-you for commenting enough to keep me blogging for a full year, I decided to offer a gift. But what?? Realizing my blogiversary was approaching, I began to fret and wonder what on earth I could share with people that they might find worthwhile.
The answer came when I began tweeting about and then posted pictures of the Washi eggs Mom and I made on Saturday. I’m sure there are plenty of tutorials out there on how to make these, but why not make it easy on my readers and put the tut right here, where there’s no laborious Googling involved? (To honor the occasion, I even created a new “tutorials” category over there in my category cloud. Maybe this will be the incentive to start adding to it!)
So, without further ado, Happy Blogiversary to Me, and Thank You to You!!
Washi Eggs
Supplies
~Eggs (blown out, rinsed, and allowed to dry thoroughly)
~Decorative paper (traditionally, Japanese Washi paper is used, but we use leftover scraps of wrapping paper and decorative cocktail napkins)
~Scissors
~Ruler and Small Tape Measure
~White Glue, Water, and Paint Brush for applying it
~Spoon
~Matte Varnish
How-To
1. Measure the egg and cut out the paper
Use the tape measure to measure the circumference of your egg around its middle. Add 1/8 – 1/4 inch (5 mm) to this measurement. This is Measurement #1.
Now measure around the egg the long way. Divide this number in half and add 1/8 inch (3 mm) for Measurement #2.
Cut your paper to size:
2. Cut paper to shape.
Fold the paper in half lengthwise, as shown in the above drawing. Cut slits in the paper about 3/8 inch (1 cm) apart, from the cut edges towards the fold, leaving about 1/4 inch.
Now, cut halfway up each flap to make “picket fence” points.
(Much like my drawing, these cuts do not need to be precise. I encourage you to embrace the okayness of eyeballing it! If, however, that freaks you out, go ahead and measure. I won’t tell anyone.)
3. Apply paper to egg.
Unfold the paper, and lay it down with the wrong side up. Mix a little bit of water with the glue and brush it onto the paper carefully.
(This picture is too much fun not to include.)
Center the egg carefully on the paper. The ends of the egg should “point” in the same direction as the pickets. Gently wrap one side of the paper around the egg, and begin smoothing the pickets (one at a time!) into place on one end of the egg. Use your fingers to smooth out air bubles and wrinkles as you go. Take your time, and reapply glue if it starts to dry out. Don’t rush on this part! After one end of the egg is covered, turn it over and do the other end.
4. Spoon the egg!
Use the back of the spoon to gently rub wrinkles out of the paper and smooth the seams.
5. Let the egg dry.
6. Spoon the egg!
7. Varnish the egg.
Dip one end of the egg in varnish, and roll the egg in your hands to apply it evenly. The number of coats of varnish is up to you…I do at least three, although some instructions I’ve seen say to do up to ten! Just make sure you let it dry in between coats.
8. Spoon the egg! one last time when the last coat of varnish is not quite completely dry.
9. If you make eggs using this tutorial, please leave me a link! I would love to see them.
10. Repeat, repeat, repeat, until you have a basket (or a tiered plate) full! These last for years. (My mother, sister & I made the eggs in this photograph in the early ’90’s.)
