Stay In Bed Day

Today is designated Stay In Bed Day as in, I should have stayed in bed today. Actually, I think I should have stayed in bed for the last six months, but who's keeping track anyway? Suffice to say that things are going wrong and there's a flu virus involved. It's cold and icky outside too and all in all everything is just contributing to a crappy mood. But, lucky for all of us this is not a blog about my life but about my hobbies! So ya'll are all off the hook - this time.

Anyway, I have pictures of the Christmas gift I made for my mother. This began as my first large tatting project and took me about six years - largely because it is my misfortune to have to work for a living instead of sitting around making things all day which is, believe me, what I'd much rather be doing. So, six years later, here it is:

I'm so proud of it even if I can still see every little mistake I made every time I look at it. Mom's going to frame it and I'm glad because she will finally have a large tatted piece to frame. My great grandmother, Ske, was a pretty prolific tatter and my grandmother has quite a few framed doilies that were tatted by her but none of these have trickled to Mom yet.

The only frustrating thing is that I can't integrate my binges (that's what I call whatever crafting frenzy seizes me at the moment). After I finished this, I went on a tatting binge and started a few things and then for some reason went on a knitting binge. I wonder why that is? It's very frustrating to be excited about starting a project and then lose interest in it just to get excited about another project in a different craft. I have about a million unfinished projects laying around and it's not like I need anything else to make be more blah today.

And on that note I guess I should end this entry before everyone has to hear about my currently pitiful existence. :) Peace out hommies!

Ta Da!

Okay so I've reached my daily pinnacle of boredom at work and decided to post. I don't really have anything all that interesting or new to relate but I do have more pictures (coming up). We made it through the longest ice storm Texas has had in the last three decades but it's still wet and icky - not real hospitable weather. My dogs are bored out of their gourds at having to stay inside all the time where there's no cat poop to eat or little moue hors d' oeuvres provided by my serial killer cat. It's just me and I guess I'm boring. Look how cold it got!

I did get to take almost an entire week off from work but I have very little to show for it since I stayed up way too late every day and then slept in. I did make my first sock though and I'm so proud of it I could bust. For my first attempt I used Lion Brand's self striping sock yarn and the pattern on the label and by the end it was obvious that I had made something that would fit Paul Bunyan so I frogged and fell back on a pattern from my favorite knitting site, knitty.com, and used leftover Kureyon wool from the Lizard Ridge afghan pattern on the same site. I have to say that Noro's Kureyon is one of my favorite yarns EVER. I love to knit with it and my second sock was so much fun - and it fits! I like the toe-up pattern alot better than traditional sock patterns and I really like the whole wrap and turn thing - which is probably why I'm knitting the Lizard Ridge pattern too. My only problem is that I can't keep enough Kureyon around to knit!

So here are the photos as promised.......

That's my sock, and here's what I do at work (other than post to this blog).............

Am I useless or what! :)

Day Two

Okay so I went home, took some pictures, knitted a little bit and now it's time to see if I can figure out how to get pictures on here.

First things first, here is the tatted/beaded necklace I'm currently working on:

Not too bad considering it's my first design attempt and I have an awful time stringing the right beads on the right shuttle - especially when I'm doing split rings which this necklace is entirely composed of. The darker seed beads are hex cut delicas I ordered online and I LOVE them! They are just beautiful and I think they've helped fuel my newfound beading interest. The next tatting project floating around in my head is a pair of earrings addapted from a pattern I found online - I'm going to add a lot more beads and see where it takes me.

As for the knitting, the yarn I bought myself after Christmas is gorgeous. I'm going to get so spoiled with these yarns that I'll never go back to acrylic again and I'll have to wander the streets begging for spare change to support my yarn habit. At least Christmas will be easy for everyone wanting to get me presents next year - yarn and beads! What a deal!

Anyway, here's the yarn,

And here's what I've doen with it so far,

It looks a little bit more like a raspberry colored candy cane than I intended but who cares? It feels great. I read once that great knitted lace shawls could be pulled easliy through a wedding band and this will come close even if it's not really knitted lace. I wonder what I'll ever wear it with?

Greetings!

Okay, as this is my third attempt at a blog I'm hoping this one will prove to be a charm. I've had alot of time latley to peruse the web (thanks to a ridiculously boring job) and I keep coming across some amazing crafting blogs so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Most of the stuff I make goes to somebody else and I forget I've made it, but I've resolved to try and take pictures of everything from now on so I can post them here. I've learned alot from some of the other bloggers and I hope that I am someday good enough at my crafts to help others who want to learn.

As for the crafts themselves they include knitting, tatting, crocheting, needlework, and now I've added beading to the list. My grandmother taught me to knit when I was eleven and after that initial project (a pair of really hideous slippers) I did nothing else until high school. Then I began knitting washcloths which are pretty much the standard fare for the knitters in my family. I have since taught myself how to tat and crochet and I'm now making an attempt at beading. My grandmother also taught me how to cross stitch and do needlepoint and I taught myself how to embroider. I think it must be a genetic trait to do these things because I come from a long line of knitters/tatters/embroiderers so I can't take any credit for creativity.

Currently I am working on two knitted afghans (I have plans for a third crocheted one soon), a tatted doily in black thread instead of traditional colors, beaded rosaries, and tatted/beaded jewelry. Generally I have "spurts" of creativeness where I acquire a lot of projects that I don't finish and then a dry spell where I do absolutely no crafting but for now I seem to be steadily creating things and especially using up my yarn stash which means *dramatic pause* I get to buy more yarn! Yippee! Tonight I may try to begin knitting my newest yarn acquisition (a wonderful merino/alpaca/silk combination) into a shawl which is a completely useless garment to me because I never wear them but I can't seem to stop making them. I have ambitions of knitting one of those feather-light gossamer lace creations one of these days but for now maybe I'd better focus on my current overload of projects!