Thanks to Swagbucks and MyPoints (earned enough for $40 in Amazon gift cards!) I got four crochet books... well, I have three and one is on the way. I got two by Christen Haden: Creepy Cute Crochet and Yummi Gurumi. I now have the patterns to make a crocheted bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwich... and a crocheted Death. ;-)
Besides that I got Crochet Patterns for Dummies and am waiting on Learn to Crochet Visually. Whee! I'm going to finish the present I'm working on for my sister, and then I have another present to make - Cameron the Cow. I just need to pick out the yarn for that.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Magic Ring
I've spent a lot of today surfing Magic Ring/Circle/Loop videos on You Tube. I still can't get it to finish right. I will keep trying until I get it, because I really need to start the Brain Slug pattern for my sister. Her birthday is May 31, and I'll be back home where she is the 27th (or around there), so it needs to get -finished-. I have the yarn, so it's just about learning to make that top part right.
After I get her Slug done I'm going to start another hat for L., and then a manta ray. I'm also trying to track down the maker of a Bender Hat pattern so I can buy that - it is for my sister, but I'm sure it will end up a Christmas present.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Well, crap.
I made a hat for my friend L. I was so proud of how it turned out, and she loved it. I set out to make another and tried a larger hook. Bzzzzt. It's way too big! *sigh* I'm moving back to a smaller hook and will try it again. I wasn't as thrilled with the colorway (Sugar 'n Cream Twists: Cottage) anyway... so I'll start again with Twists: Lava Lamp. I love the Twists, I want to do something with every one.
I also started a shrug for myself out of some acrylic I got on sale... it's nice and soft (yes, I'm fine with non-natural fibers, provided they feel good, wear well, and clean nicely). If the pattern works as I've altered it, I'll try it again with nicer yarn. The pattern calls for Bernat Bamboo, which is my latest Object of Lust, so I might give that a whirl.
So disappointed about the hat!! *sigh* I won't frog it, I'll find someone it fits... but it still gripes me.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Just Fiber
I was streaming my biz blog to Ravelry, and then I realized that I don't want to blog about fiber there unless it's something I'm selling. Since I don't plan to sell anything I crochet or loom, linking that blog there seems kind of purposeless. So... a new blog! For all my fancies in fiber... projects, links to patterns, new fibers I find, who knows what else. Such excitement.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Sunday Sensations - ColtPixy!
My second buying experience from among my Plurk Buds was with ColtPixy. There simply aren't enough good words in the dictionary to sum up this woman - she's a wonderful artist, she's a great business person, she's a delightful friend and she is also the Super Ultra Amazing Guildmaster for my guild, the Polymer Clay Smooshers.
My Mom is the most amazing lady around, and she loves jewelry. She's usually seen wearing one striking piece, sometimes a strand of beads, sometimes a single focal. She loves color, and she always looks gorgeous. I fell in love with ColtPixy's Pixy Stones, and got one for my Mother for Christmas.
Mom was just blown away by how lovely it is, and immediately modeled for me. She loves it, and wears it often!
ColtPixy then started doing something that is so cute and so adorable it's not even funny... the Bunny Butts (as we Plurky folks affectionately call them). Her Lucky Bunny Charms are done with an amazing technique (one of my favorites) called Mica Shift. The bunny looks raised, but the piece is completely smooth to the touch. It's hard work, and ColtPixy pulls it off beautifully. I found an orange one in her shop and it had to be mine.
An example of ColtPixy's wonderful business ethic is that, when mine didn't show up way past the time it should have, she immediately shipped me another one. When the first one arrived almost immediately after, she refused to let me pay her for both. I now have two gorgeous bunny butts and am percolating ideas to create a piece of jewelry I can wear often to showcase them both.
Her items always arrive beautifully packaged. It's a joy to do business with this lady, and I'm incredibly glad (and lucky!) that she's both my friend and my guildmaster. You can find her online at her shop, on Facebook with the Smooshers, and at the Smoosher's blog. I highly recommend checking out all three!
My Artfire Blog
My Mom is the most amazing lady around, and she loves jewelry. She's usually seen wearing one striking piece, sometimes a strand of beads, sometimes a single focal. She loves color, and she always looks gorgeous. I fell in love with ColtPixy's Pixy Stones, and got one for my Mother for Christmas.
Mom was just blown away by how lovely it is, and immediately modeled for me. She loves it, and wears it often!
ColtPixy then started doing something that is so cute and so adorable it's not even funny... the Bunny Butts (as we Plurky folks affectionately call them). Her Lucky Bunny Charms are done with an amazing technique (one of my favorites) called Mica Shift. The bunny looks raised, but the piece is completely smooth to the touch. It's hard work, and ColtPixy pulls it off beautifully. I found an orange one in her shop and it had to be mine.
An example of ColtPixy's wonderful business ethic is that, when mine didn't show up way past the time it should have, she immediately shipped me another one. When the first one arrived almost immediately after, she refused to let me pay her for both. I now have two gorgeous bunny butts and am percolating ideas to create a piece of jewelry I can wear often to showcase them both.
Her items always arrive beautifully packaged. It's a joy to do business with this lady, and I'm incredibly glad (and lucky!) that she's both my friend and my guildmaster. You can find her online at her shop, on Facebook with the Smooshers, and at the Smoosher's blog. I highly recommend checking out all three!
My Artfire Blog
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Sunday Sensations!
One of my favorite things to do is help support my fellow artists. I do this often by passing their links on as often as possible in Plurk, Facebook and Twitter... but every once in a while I splurge a little and buy something from their stores. I'm going to start a regular Sunday feature that will showcase or review my friends' stores and it starts today with a review of a purchase I made last year.
My Plurk Buddy MzzThang is awesome. She's Fo-Shizzle Designs where you can see all sorts of fabulous things like book thongs, recycled eyeglass necklaces, hair accessories and some really cool chainmail. She is also Earth Wind and Artfire destash shop, which is where I made my purchase. Actually a bunch of really fabulous purchases, including some amazing wild magnetic pink beads that I'm making a necklace for myself from, curved flat connectors that I've made some awesome earrings from and another couple lovely bits that you'll probably see in my shop soon. Everything was gorgeous, just as advertised, shipped fast and packaged beautifully. I love it when I find excellent people to do business with.
My Plurk Buddy MzzThang is awesome. She's Fo-Shizzle Designs where you can see all sorts of fabulous things like book thongs, recycled eyeglass necklaces, hair accessories and some really cool chainmail. She is also Earth Wind and Artfire destash shop, which is where I made my purchase. Actually a bunch of really fabulous purchases, including some amazing wild magnetic pink beads that I'm making a necklace for myself from, curved flat connectors that I've made some awesome earrings from and another couple lovely bits that you'll probably see in my shop soon. Everything was gorgeous, just as advertised, shipped fast and packaged beautifully. I love it when I find excellent people to do business with.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Giveaways
One thing I'm going to try to do from time to time is highlight cool events elsewhere on the net. I hope to start blogging about giveaways my friends do, as well as stuff I run across in craft blogs. Feel free to email me if you have something coming up you want me to mention!
You all might not know that I'm a closet greeting card maker. After I get my studio re-fabbed I plan to start bringing some of my cards to my shop. I love everything that has to do with paper crafts, including (of course) rubber stamps. Over at FaveCrafts I found a contest you can enter by blogging (like me!) or tweeting. It's for a really nifty gadget that lets you put your rubber stamps into a scene and stamp them altogether. It's called the Stamp Factory by Fiskars. I know I want one!
You all might not know that I'm a closet greeting card maker. After I get my studio re-fabbed I plan to start bringing some of my cards to my shop. I love everything that has to do with paper crafts, including (of course) rubber stamps. Over at FaveCrafts I found a contest you can enter by blogging (like me!) or tweeting. It's for a really nifty gadget that lets you put your rubber stamps into a scene and stamp them altogether. It's called the Stamp Factory by Fiskars. I know I want one!
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