Girls, remember being 12?

And completely mortified at the thought of *anyone* knowing it was "that time"? I do. And while I wasn't one of them, there were girls at my school who didn't carry a purse 3 weeks out of the month. Well, Kat is 12 and doesn't carry a purse. So in an attempt to make "that time" as inconspicuous as possible for her, I combined her favorite color and her love of monkeys to make a cutesy little pouch for those "personal" items.

I had found a site (which I've since lost) that would turn a pretty simple image into a needlework graph. Kat found this (in my opinion) freakishly scary monkey and LOVED it, so I transformed it, cross-stitched it up, and stitched it onto this lime-green polka dot remnant I found at the evil place (translation=Walmart). It's lined with a solid lime green and has a zipper. Finished measurements are 3 1/2"x 5 1/2", so it can be easily tucked into her backpack, gym bag, or even coat pocket.

Whether she'll use it for its intended purpose remains to be seen. At least in my attempt to be a mom who understands what she's going thru, I've given her an option.

It's a penguin!!

So here's my latest creation. I got the pattern from knitty.com. Here's

the link.---> http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter04/PATTpasha.html

The beak didn't turn out quite as well as it should have, but Breeze loves him nonetheless.

This was my first attempt at knitting any kind of animal, and I learned a lot in the process. There are mistakes, but I'm not pointing them out. ;)

Monkeys and Ponies, oh my!

What happens to socks and cutesy "My Little Pony" figures when my daughters and I get our hands on them? Keep reading and you'll see.

I had found a tute for sock monkeys online, and since my youngest LOVES all things monkey, I knew I had to make her one. I searched everywhere for the funky stripy socks I've seen them made from. BTW, if you see any of those socks in stores, let me know where!

So since I couldn't find "fun" socks, my youngest daughter picked out a pink pair. There was a gray pair packaged with them, so my oldest wanted a monkey from them. I cut and sewed, they stuffed and picked out buttons for eyes. I think they turned out really cute, even if they are out of plain socks. They're WAY on the goofy side, but they were a fun project. Of course when Kat spotted the basketball button in my stash, she decided that hers needed a belly button. It doesn't show up very well in the pic, but it made her happy.

Since Kat was only here for Spring Break, I wanted a project for the three of us to work on all week that was different than the usual crafty stuff and would allow each of them to express themselves in it. Over on the craftster board, I had seen a swap done with altering "My Little Pony" toys. hehehe...Game on! We each got one, thought about what we wanted to do with them, and began. Our personalities really did come thru in the end. The first pic in each set is what we started with.

Mine...

Complete with tats and lots of earrings!

B's...

She went for Greek goddess for hers. She's been studying Greek mythology and is SO into it. Her artistic tendencies and girliness really shine in this pony, I think. Did you notice the gold sandals she painted on? She even made it a necklace and an olive branch headband from wire.

and Kat's...

Yep, Kat's my little athlete. Her sister painted the shoes on.

Aren't they CUTE?

We had a lot of fun last week. I also got a dishcloth knitted, but I didn't snap a pic yet.

From my heart (and needles) to her head

Two down, a gazillion to go.

I set a new personal record with this hat. I cast on last Monday night and weaved in my ends tonight (Sunday). I just LOVE the pattern! Since this one's a gift for a very special person, I'll have to make myself one now. I used Bernat Baby in lilac, and it is SO soft! The pattern is from the winter issue of knit.1 magazine.

Meet Moo. Isn't she adorable? I rescued the poor nekkid thing from the bottom shelf of a thrift store last week. She still needs some cleaning up, but I couldn't stand for her to be in the buff anymore. I took some vintage dinner napkins and made her a dress and angel wings. Until I can decide what to do for a halo/headband/whatever, she'll just wear this little ribbon.

The next project I'm tackling is a joint effort with my daughters. We each got a My Little Pony today, and we're in the process of altering them this week. I'm stoked, and I hope mine turns out the way I've envisioned. I'll post before and after pics when they're finished.

In the meantime, I'll steal and tweak a line from Vickie Howell of Knitty Gritty. "Craft on!" ;)

I have a thing for bags. Purses, totes, you name it. I just can't get enough of 'em. I had some old placemats laying around that are cool in their own way, but not as placemats. Because I'm a packrat who "might make something out of that", I couldn't bear to throw them out. I decided that they were just about the right size for a tote bag for WIP's, magazines, etc. on those days when you're out and about. After a little hacking on a couple for the sides and bottom, a little sewing putting it together, a lot of knitting (because I'm the world's slowest knitter), and attaching a couple of buttons, placemats become a tote! To keep the handle from stretching out, I knitted it as a tube and ran twill tape the full length inside.

Ignore the scary mess in the closet back there. Once my pegboard is done, that will all become neat. That's another post, though.

I attached two buttons so that it could be closed no matter how full it was.

Still haven't fixed the look of the place yet, but I have completed projects!

This one was a quick whip-up without a pattern to give The Hub an extra creature comfort on this deployment. Because I couldn't find buckwheat hulls on short notice, it's stuffed with poly-fil.

And FINALLY!! The gauntlets are done! I had to do some tweaking b/c they didn't want to stay up, and I don't love that yarn. After ONE wear, it already looks fuzzy. *sigh* Lesson learned.

Here's the full view, complete with my first attempts at thumb gussets!

And a close-up of the cables. See...fuzzy yarn. *grr* Kiddo loves 'em, so I'm not going to complain. I will say that at this point, I don't EVER want to knit with black yarn again!

And in knitting-related stuff, I ventured into my first yarn store the other day. I'm not talking yarn department full of acrylics at the local craft store. I'm talking YARN STORE. Floor to ceiling with gorgeous, uber-soft natural fibers, silk yarns, hand-dyed yarns, BAMBOO yarn, etc. Yes, bamboo. You wouldn't think it would be soft, but oh my gravy. They were like little balls of the softest kind of heaven. *sigh* I'm already a paper snob in the scrapbooking world. I can see now that I'm probably going to become a yarn snob, too. That thought makes my wallet cry.

In other crafting accomplishments, I'm putting the finishing touches on a bag. I'm groovin' it b/c I made it from old quilt pieces. It'll have a knitted handle and button closure. You'll see.

I've changed things around a bit as you see. In the process, I managed to lose my links. *sigh* When I have more time and patience, I'll fix that and put those back. In the meantime, here's the token cute and fuzzy "cat of a crafter" picture. This is my Gracie. Caught in the act.

Looks like I haven't accomplished anything in a while, huh? Honestly, I have been a productive little crafter. I just suck at posting my progress. I'll have to change that.

Anyway, here's one of my latest creations. There's a craft challenge over on craftster.org to create a clock. I took a plain wood plaque and clock mechanism from the craft store, added some paint, crackle medium, more paint, Modge Podge, magazine clippings, foam stamping, and this is what I came up with.



Since I love all things tropical, this is my "happy place" reminder when I'm running short on time and feeling the strain.



I've been working on a lot of ATC's, scrapbook LOs, and some knitting, too. After I finish my current knitting project, I'll be sure to post pics b/c that thing is taking FOR-EVAH!!

Recon time! This time it's a mirror. The Hub and I bought a bedroom suit YEARS ago, and over the years it just wasn't us anymore. So we took the mirror off of the dresser and did a little reconstructing on it and both LOVE it now.

This isn't a great before pic, but it's the only one I've got. It's rustic with black iron scrollwork in an arch at the top.


Now, here's what we turned it into...


I painted the oar myself a few years ago.

Finished knitting project!

When Knitty's Winter issue came out, the project that most knitters I know jumped on was "Calorimetry". Since my ears get SO cold in the winter, but I hate wearing hats, this little number was PERFECT for me. I used Lion Brand's Homespun in Baroque, and while I had to tweak the pattern a bit, I'm stoked with the result. Check it out! Ignore the "no makeup". I've been putting up lattice today, not entering a beauty pageant. ;)



And a view of the back...


Instead of the recommended CO of 120 stitches, I CO 90, and it's still plenty loose. Next time I'll probably CO 80 instead. If you wanna give it a try, go to knitty.com for the pattern. For some reason, I'm having issues with posting a link tonight.

Memory boards!

IRL, this one's olive green with sage ribbon and gold buttons.


I didn't notice the fading where the fabric was folded on this one, but I don't think my daughter will mind/notice it.

New projects finished!

Since we can't be with our girls on a daily basis, I decided to make a mini book of some of mine and The Hub's favorite quotes and some "words of wisdom" for each of them. I left some blank pages so that they can add their own favorites, too.

Covers


Inside

It seems like it's been forever since I finished anything crafty, but I did manage to crank out a couple of ATC's and finish a knitted skull cap today. Pics of the skull cap will have to wait until tomorrow at least.

Here are the two ATC's from today. The challenge over on the craftster board was to only use black paper, white paper, one 6-letter word, nail polish, foil, and a credit card. I didn't use a credit card, but I managed to use everything else on the list. Of course we could use glue, paper trimmer, regular hole punch, etc. Anyway, enough of my babbling...

My scanner isn't the greatest at actual colors, but I did the best I could. Oh, and both cards are black, so the white border isn't a part of the card (I just can't scan and crop things straight tonight).

Here's the one I did for last week's Scavenger Hunt challenge. The supply list varies each week.

Success with attempt #2!

I frogged the other fingerless glove (wrist warmer, whatever you wanna call it) b/c I just didn't like the result. I used a smaller needle and a different stitch this time with much greater success. I crocheted (or at least attempted to crochet) the white trim around the edge and embroidered the flowers on. I think dd#2 will be pleased. Since her hand and arm are smaller than mine, it'll fit her much better than it does me. Now, what shall I do next? Well, aside from moving in the next few days. ;) Hmm, shrug for dd#1? Cabled skull cap for The Hub? Wrist warmers for grandma? I dunno yet. But for now, I'm quite pleased.

Birthday prezzies for my pixie goth!

Now that they've arrived safely in her tiny little hands, I can post pics.

I attempted knitting a pair of socks with this skull pattern on them, but I'm SO not advanced enough for socks yet! Using dpn's has been compared to wrestling an octopus, and that's a perfect comparison. So I frogged that and went with the scarf instead. There's a skull and crossbones on each end, but in the pic the back is showing on one end. It's backed with black velvet, so I hope it keeps her super warm this winter.

I had some penguin fabric left from a worry doll dress, so I thought my NessieBabe would dig a penguin pillow with a white satin back.

BAG RECONSTRUCTION!!

Because I never know when I'll be stuck somewhere waiting, I always carry a bag of WIP's and a couple of craft/scrapbooking mags with me when I leave the house.

I bought this bag a couple of years ago. There's nothing *wrong* with it, but it's just kinda generic, plain, blah. It also had no lining and therefore, no pockets.

I, being one who alters almost anything that'll sit still long enough, had my fill of the "blah bag". I was in Hancock Fabrics last week, and saw this oh so pretty remnant. It was *just* big enough for a small project. Since I recently bought a purse that I simply adore, I didn't want to make another purse. A lightbulb came on that said, "Ooooh! Messenger bag flap!" So I added some interfacing, lined it with some black fabric that I had in my stash, free-handed a palm tree and moon (ala South Carolina flag, b/c no matter where I go, SC is HOME), and embroidered them on it. The Hub says it looks like a pot leaf, but I'm not redoing it. I LIKE my atypical tree. I added a strap (should've been a little longer), and voila!

Since I just can't deal with no pockets, I made a lining for the bag. I didn't want to go with black b/c that'd make it like an abyss, and I didn't have a green that even came close, I chose to put in a beige liner. Yeah, kinda blah, but less chance of getting completely icky looking than white and it's still light colored. There are four pockets, two fairly shallow and two deep enough to hold a pair of knitting needles.

*sigh* I'm happy now.

*~*My first attempt at a fingerless glove*~*

I didn't follow a pattern (tried to do my own thing) and should've done some increases and decreases in there around the wrist, but I don't think it's *too* bad for a first attempt. I did some ribbing at both ends with some diamonds and diamond seed stitches in there. I think my gauge is making it not show up very well. *sigh* I AM going to get this knitting thing down! I think I may have to swing by BAM tomorrow for a copy of SnB. I've heard nothing but rave reviews about it.

This mini chipboard clipboard (say that 5 times) was plain Jane brown. I used paper, K&Co puzzle pieces, ribbon, and alpha tags to decorate it to match this photo. That's one of my absolute fave landscape pics (taken when we went to Lake Havasu, AZ back in '97).

"The Dress" aka Ball dress 06.

As promised, here's the full view of my dress for the Ball this year. I had to snap a pic today since I was packing costumes and ball gowns for our move. Since I feel like a bulldozer is wreaking havoc on my insides today, I didn't put the dress back on for a pic. Maybe you can tell from the pic, but the hem is higher in front than in back.

More of a close-up of the hem.

This pic is more true in color and gives you an idea of how it fit.

Here's Gracie. Pay no attention to the stained carpet. It's a rental, and we're out of here soon. Oh, and that's *her* ribbon behind her. Gracie is 6 and 1/2 years old and is TOTALLY spoiled.





And here's Gracie's ugly baby!


After the seriousness of working on my dress for the ball this week, I had to do something completely funny/stupid. He's totally free-handed from scraps of felt, completely ugly, but he made me giggle, and Gracie loves him.