Thursday, October 01, 2009
New craft entries are now
Main Blog There 
It’s still this domain, but just a different blog section. The old craft entries are staying, but new blog entries will be shown at that link. For those who are already at that link, you’ll still see this post. That’s because all the entries made on this blog subsection show up there as well. I’m making this change to ease some stress in regards to keeping organized on the blog. Click, bookmark, read
You’ll need to read the main blog and not this subsection for future crafty entries. There’s already some there to read that you haven’t seen!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Handy Hands!
The newsletter is here! YAY! I subscribed at the Handy Hands Tatting shop site. It’s here wheee! There’s coupons, and patterns, and articles, and a great list of the “what’s new!” stuff. Gonna get comfortable with some tea later and read it through. For now though, I need to walk to the post office. New regulation requires me to provide photo ID and proof of address. Who knew.. no idea how long that’s been a rule, but our post office is now enforcing it. No big deal, it means I get two walks in today most likely!
Hopefully some good penpal mail is waiting. I’m waiting on my list and officially the four weeks isn’t up till mid October. I’m hoping it arrives super fast though heehee.
I thought about also signing up with the other IPF. It’s confusing both are “IPF” but one is American based and one is run from France or Australia or something. It makes my head spin a little to try and figure out which is the one to use. I signed up with IPFUSA. Then I think what if all the penpals are active writers. That’s a lot of letters to be writing if I also sign up for the 20 the other IPF offers. Aah! -hand cramp-
Today I’ll be practicing making butterflies with my tatting shuttle (it’s a metal DMC.. it’s kind of crappy but it works) I don’t like how the edges feel a bit less than smooth. I’m going to use my HHTatting newsletter coupon I think to purchase some plastic shuttles to try out. Maybe some thread if it’s not all super fine. I like 10.. I could probably tat with 20 once I get more practice with the shuttle. I can definitely use 20 as a needle tatting project. Too much more thin and I’m afraid I’ll break the thread. It looks so fragile.
Off for a walk, back later with some more blogging I’m sure.
P.S. Hah, I like harvesting people’s pineapple farms. That’s the highest cost crop I’ve harvested. It wins the day. I bought a cute little house on FarmTown. I can’t believe I’m enjoying it.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
hoop tapes
Hoop tapes! These are the same as in the other photo at Flickr too. See that glittery teal one, they sent that for free! Thank you!
Ordered from Identi Tapes
tatting shuttle ds september 23
Look! I did it! The rest of this chain practice is a bit rough but today it finally went smoothly.
I can do a DS with a shuttle now
Shuttle: DMC’s metal w/ bobbin
Thread: DMC floss in a pink and yellow shade
I’m now ready for tomorrow’s beginner shuttle class. Google for Georgia Seitz and class details are listed there if you wanna join too!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Online Tatting Class, day 1!
I went to the 3pm class and it was great. They talked about what techniques they wanted to learn this semester and about some tatting they’ve all done. Something about tatting conventions too, I think that’s what they were talking about. We were supposed to all print out some pages but thankfully it wasn’t just me who couldn’t figure that out. Turns out it was all of us! So she’ll fix it and we’ll all get them, and some of us will attend tonight’s class too at 8:30. Looking forward to that!
Next week the half hour before class will be for needle tatting class, so I’ll attend that too. I think I’ll probably just attend one class each Monday rather than going to both afternoon and evening. It’s a lot to do on a Monday otherwise.
We walked to the post office, at a speed approx 17 minutes to a mile. Not bad! 21 minute walk, just over a mile in total. That was definitely a good walk. Exercise and a postcard! Soon we’ll have to begin them daily. I’m hoping that by about Friday maybe my IPF list will come. Ik now! I know! She said 4 weeks. But.. but.. 4 weeks.. that’s so far away *weeps all over Mr Wall* I think Friday is a good day for it to arrive haha Plus I do have a fountain pen catalog on the way that I really want to look at. I hope it’s not all fancypants pens that cost 200 or more. I’ll be taking my name off the mailing if that’s the case!
I’m tired, far more tired than I should be. The weather is getting dreary and it’s due to rain all week. Boooo.
All the books I got the other day, I guess.. Saturday? Well most were just sort of reference style, one on calligraphy turned out to be really uninteresting and not helpful about fountain pens. A couple others were on letter writing and I read them real quick. One more was on communication manners but it was mostly in relation to faxes and business dealings. Boring! One was a YA novel that was boring as all get out, when I typed in letter writing it came up on the search so I thought I’d try it but yeah.. boring. So all of those will be going back. I’m left with two Monica Ferris novels and the Emily Post book. It’s a massive book. I can’t read it at night while laying down, it’s too heavy to hold up haha. It will require sitting at the table to read it I think.
I have embroidery to do today, some tatting practice for the Thursday class to do (the beginner shuttle course), some vintage pattern pages to look at for tonight’s class (the OTC class), and dishes to wash, laundry to finish, a class to attend tonight, and after 7pm I can use the bathtub wahoo! So yeah, I have to clean the tub too. Bleh.
Tomorrow I go to the dentist nooooooooooooooo *clings to the doorway*
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Tatting Beginners day 1
I went to meet and greet for beginner shuttle tatters. I was worried maybe everyone would already be real good at it, but I had a little more experience than a couple because I’ve already attempted to wind a shuttle and try some DS. I’m glad we’re all beginners at this! Less nervous now.
So this week my lesson is to practice winding the bobbin and doing some DS.
Then on Monday starts the regular tatting classes. The beginner one runs for 6 weeks on Thursdays. So it’ll overlap for a while but I’ll just save whatever lessons the main class does for doing after I’ve finished the 6 week beginner series.
Wheee.. I’m off to go try some DS practice.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tapes for hoops
Wheee. So I settled on some tapes to order. I didn’t get the glow in the dark one yet. I was afraid to have such a big order when I wasn’t really sure what kind of tape quality I’d get. So I went with some gaffer tape, a shiny metal looking tape, and a few colors. I ordered from Identi-Tape. They even have sew on reflectives as well as sticker reflectives. I think my next order I’ll get some of those plus glow in the dark tape. I’d feel better about riding my bike if I had some reflectives happening. My seat is too low so the reflector isn’t visible!
Well I ordered and went off for a bath and fix some tea, came back and they’ve already shipped and sent me my tracking number! Yay! It’s scheduled to arrive on the 22nd. That’ll be good. I have to see the dentist for a couple small fillings.. not for cavities, for teeth anomalies! *hisssss* Then I can come home and play with hoop decorating! Yay me
Can’t wait.
I found a great penpal info site online today called Friendship-by-Mail. There’s a lot of good articles. Tips on good letter writing, what “FB” means aside from “facebook”, even a section on how to handle boring penpals haha. That topic alone made me giggle, but one lady’s response was great! Two of her “boring” pals were actually disabled and it wasn’t that they were boring, it was just the act of writing a letter was difficult. There’s info about stationary, things you could send your penpal like tea, stickers, stationary even. I had a bit of trouble navigating at first but once you get used to it, it’s much easier. There’s a lot going on and a lot to see!
I feel completely unmotivated to do anything. Not even.. crafts. I know, it’s terrible. Hopefully tomrorow is better, I have my first beginner tatting class chat tomorrow! I know we’ll have homework. eek! hehehe
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Oh! I’ll make my own
I googled “writing paper” this time and found tutorials on making my own! Plus to solve the issue of me being incapable of writing a nice straight line, I saw a recommendation to make some heavy lines on a piece of paper to pin under the stationary you’re writing on. Then what you send has no lines, but it looks nice! That’s what I’ll do. That way, I can even print it out with my name/address so whatever penpal I send it to can know instantly it’s my letter.
Now to figure out what design I want! I think maybe if I draw something cute, I can color it in on GIMP and then add my address in as well that way. Then print out whatever I need. I could do the first page cute, then the remaining pages done in just black/white printing with my address in the corner. I think I’ll draw a little kitty. I might have some little doodles already drawn up that I can crop around into the stationary design.
This sounds like a fun project and will be a whole lot less hassle to make my own than to go trying to find stationary that is exactly like I want. But, I am still hoping to find some colored typing paper to print on! Maybe some light green or blue. Then I can mix it up!
(For those who only read the craft blog, the main portion of this whole topic is on the main blog under the Pen Pals category. All entries from here show there as well.)
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Priscilla Irish Crochet
The PDFs for many old antique pattern booklets can be found online, for free at the Antique Pattern Library. I’m trying to figure out irish crochet. I joined a group but Yahoo is being a poop today and I’m having issues downloading files to read. A lot of them are word files so I actually need to download to see. I managed to get lesson 1, but whoa.. I do not understand. It’s referencing figures and sounds like I should know what’s going on and… I don’t!
So I thought maybe I’d give a look at the vintage directions and see how it goes reading them. I haven’t a clue what a cambric is and why I need to sew to it? I think I’ll try this again tomorrow. My head hurts haha, adding new skills in just isn’t going to work when I’m cringing.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Do I really wear a medium?
I’m looking at crochet cardigan patterns, just seeing what pretty patterns I can find to bookmark. Do I really need to be sizing down that much? I don’t know and I’m kind of in shock. I wish that the patterns for things with sleeves also gave arm and waist sizes too, then I’d know for sure. I’ve always bought XL clothing. It’s what used to fit.. in fact for a while, even XL was almost too small, but lately I’ve started to really notice I look a bit like a slob. I have no idea what size I wear and shopping and trying on clothes brings me to tears. I think I should find some dress patterns, maybe start wearing sundresses that I can wear cardigans over. Year round wear that way out here, except for maybe in March if we get snow.
I just always buy XL tshirts, XL shorts.. but lately when I hula hoop, my pants have to be hiked back up quite often. My black pants no longer fit. I keep thinking well, why buy clothes if I’m still working on losing weight. I need to check the thrift shop. I won’t maybe end up in tears since the cost is so much less than Walmart or the mall. I don’t think we have a short person’s shop out here. When I was younger I remember there was one in the mall and it was great.. my pants didn’t drag around my ankles and I could get skirts that looked nice. I hate buying clothes. It all needs alterations.
Surely I don’t actually wear a medium, do I? That’d be so neat if I do but I don’t feel that thin.
Not sure how accurate the sizing is on crochet cardigan patterns. Dude.. if I wear a medium, that totally rocks! *high paw*
Cardigan Thisone is pretty, but I don’t know how great it’d be at keeping my arms warm. That’s kind of the point of making myself a cardigan, to keep warm.
Cardigan #2 There’s also this one, but I’m not sure.. I’ve always bought clothes that go long enough to my hips.. and it seems most of these cardigans do not do that. Not sure about sweaters that just stop right there.
Lion Brand has one, it’s about the right length but what is up with all the giant holes all through it? I won’t be making this one.
There’s this one but this site is terrible with model photos. Why not have them stand up, photograph the length of the sweater, show me the back too. I can’t tell where this one ends because the logo covers the base of teh photo. I do like that one’s design though, that’s pretty. If I did it in a solid color, I could do the ruffle edges in another color.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Wedding!
Yay! A friend of ours is getting married! *high five*
So I’m planning what to make. I think I’ve decided.
PBS and Japanese books
Bah! PaperBackSwap doesn’t have these books listed from the Crafting Japanese blog. The one I was hoping to get on my wish list was the one with the Aminekos in it, scroll down a bit it’s the white book with the sleeping kitty photo, followed by all the kitties. I tried a few others and they didn’t have those either. I did find a couple other japanese craft books I put on wish though. They also don’t have the otama book it seems.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Another granny square cardigan
I tried to start the Caron granny square pattern I posted previously, but the pattern makes no sense. There’s no listing of how many full and how many half motifs. I googled and found someone had posted that Caron wrote and said just to use up all the yarn. Well that’s not useful, how many half ones do I need before I go using everything up.. and that can’t be right, the pattern mentions some edging and there’s the whole joining process too I guess? Not only that, the pattern at Caron’s site mentions a diagram. There isn’t one, so I can’t get an idea of what placement is.
So I posted over on CrochetVille and the best part is, the person who answered.. her name is Granny Square That’s so cute and funny! She found another granny square jacket for me to look at, yay! This one has a diagram. I think I’m set now!
Granny Square Jacket by Coats and Clark
Who knew it’d be so difficult to understand a pattern that uses only granny squares, whew.
Christmas socks
I could make granny square Christmas socks, you know the kind Santa puts fruit and little toys in? No idea what I’d do with them, but I guess at Christmas I could draw a fireplace on a piece of paper and hang it, then we could hang our socks around it. I’ll have to make a little one for Mr Wall. He may not be my kitty officially, but he deserves a little sock too.
I’m psyching myself up for a big project, it’s just granny squares. Easy peasy.. and if I give up on the cardigan, I can put them together into something else so no lost time or energy. Yah I can do this.
I’m playing bingo at BigSeaGames, blogging and reading forums till a bunch of numbers appear. Then I click away and repeat.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Granny Squares
Dang, there’s a massive list on granny square, crochet square, crochet motif books on PBS! *shakes a paw angrily*
So here’s some sites I found in my quest for a cardigan pattern.
Circles Square I like this granny square a lot, I’ll give it a try this week.
Granny Projects Here’s a small list of things to make with granny squares!
6" Squares Here’s a ton of 6” square patterns, this site also has other sizes too.
Granny Square Pattern Here’s a standard granny square lesson
Granny Jacket I think this is a cardigan, it’s… bold.
I was going to start sorting some yarn out but the longer I sit here the more tired I realize I am.
