Barefoot Sandals + Fire!

When we had our little heat wave, I didn't feel like doing too much yard work and I certainly didn't want to be be inside anymore than I had to so I spent some time in the garden working on projects like these - are you familiar with barefoot sandals? There is a loop at one end to go around your second toe and then long straps to go around your ankles in a variety of tying patterns.


They can be worn on the beach, for a beach wedding, they can be worn to festivals (Hello BASSCOAST!!) or on stage for performances  plus worn under or over flipflop straps or other shoes.

This is the most recent pair I just finished making - they have a beautiful soft blue trim and a textured cream section in the centre. (In my shop, ready to ship if you're interested)

Currently our heat wave is over and a little rain has fallen. Hopefully more rain has fallen in the mountains - the Vancouver/Whistler area is known as one of the wettest places in Canada, and parts of the area are even considered to be a  Rain Forest, yet during this last heat spell we were on fire. Smoke filled the skies from Whistler to Chilliwack. And crews came from many places to help fight the fires. This is one time many of us are okay with seeing the rain, in fact, we welcomed it. Especially if it means that our precious forests may be spared from being destroyed by fire.

Pill Bottle Pals

I was asked to make some little hats for a friend who takes a lot of medication. She wanted a quick way to identify her pills in the dark or without her glasses. Here are of the ones I made:

These little hats could be resized for people, or kids or as finger puppets or egg cozies - lots of options when you know a knitter! 

Cherry Blossom Time

It's still a little chilly in the mornings when Eco and I go out for our walk, but it's spring here - lots of flowers in bloom - it's time for colour and fun, so I decided to make these Cherry Blossom Fingerless Gloves:

My favourite colour for the gloves and I love cherry blossom imagery. What else reminds you of spring?

Finished Hats - Custom Work

Lately I've been getting some orders for my shop - fall is a great time  to buy. As well I've had some custom orders, here are some samples:

Newfoundland Fisherman's Cap

Ladies Hollywood Turban

Adult sized Owl Hat

Finished Hat - Traditional Newfoundland Hat

I found an old "passed down from generation to generation" hat pattern for a Newfoundland Salt-n-Pepper cap and so I decided to give it a try in cream coloured acrylic yarn for my mom (she's sensitive to wool). Here's the finished cap:

It turned out pretty good and my mom loves it. Mission accomplished.

Except what she doesn't know is that I HATED the pattern. In fact, when I was done making the hat, I threw the pattern in the garbage(well actually in the recycling-but you get the point). Now she wants another one in a different colour. Hmm, I guess I could knit it again. I'll have to think about it.

Do ever have that? Something you make that you didn't like but others did?

Fox Stole - Part II

Remember when I posted a teaser the other day of my fox 'stole'?? Well, here's the finished scarf, it's over 50" long and all made with wool so it's very warm.

I am very happy with it. I think I should keep it, Jp thinks I should put it up for sale  - but it has over $40 in wool alone, not even counting my time to make it - one general rule is to double your materials, would someone pay $80 for this scarf?

I think I like pink

I bought this wool because I loved the colours, I had nothing in mind for it. So one night as I tried to fall asleep, I thought about what I should make with it - arm warmers kept coming into my head and so I decided that's what I would make:

I think they turned out really good. They are 100% wool, beautifully coloured and scrumptiously warm! I'm not much of a "pink' person, but I like them!

Cream Felt Hats

here are the two wool felted hats that I made:

I used two different yarns to see which felted better. My mom had found a buyer for one and was going to keep the other one for herself. It's possible I might start making a few more of these, although knitting first and then felting isn't usually the best way to go when making a felt hat.

Fox Stole

You were wondering why I hadn't been posting on my blog? That's because I was making things!!!

Here's another project, my fox stole:

This is a crocheted scarf that includes 4 black legs and a white tipped tail. I have already crocheted 48" of his body, and I just need to sew in his legs and then finish the tail. It's crocheted as a 'tube' so it's nice and thick and any sewing is concealed inside - which is why the pattern maker has us complete all the sewing before we finish. I'd better hurry or the fox craze will be gone and winter is over!

This is made from Peruvian Highland Wool so I think it will wear well and will keep me warm. What do you think of it so far?

MultiColoured Arm Warmers

I had a really nice yarn that had some very lovely colours and I looked at the ball and felt that making arm warmers would be a really nice project for the yarn, so I made these:

And then I rearranged a bunch of stuff and I haven't seen them in a month! How much you wanna bet that by the time I find them, it'll be spring?

The Fox Says....

Currently there is a video going around with a catchy line of "What does the fox say?" Here it is, if you haven't seen it:

 Before that dang video came to the surface, I had made this fox hat... now I can answer the question...

Projects - one done, one to go

I finished my mom's shawl/wrap and it couldn't have come at a better time since she fell and broke her left arm and cracked her wrist on the right arm - now she's having difficulty getting her arms into coat sleeves so perhaps just pulling a wrap around her shoulders will help her while we still have some chilly spring days. Here's the finished piece :

I've also been working on this Marie Antoinette doll. I don't normally make toys but I fell in love with the curls and so I had to make it. Ravelry is a site where knitters can log in their projects as well as record what yarns they are using and what patterns they are doing. This is helpful because you can see all the different projects make with a certain yarns or how other people interpreted patterns. I don't like to be negative but if I had've seen how other people were making this pattern before I started, I probably would never have made this pattern, here's an example:

It's nice to see their interpretations, but I intend to follow the pattern as closely as I can. This is what I have so far: 

Her hair curls and bottom skirt still need to be sewn in place, 

plus an outer skirt, arms, leg and face are needed

Soon I will get off the computer and pick up the needles again. It's a cold and rainy day so no need for gardening yet, and I did all my housework yesterday. What are you doing today? 

Hey look - I do have something to show you

I do have something to share after all - first up a pair of black lace wristers. 

You'd be surprised that even with big holes in them,
these actually do feel warm on your arms.

***

And also finished, this cute little black and white
baby hat with crimson rose: 

There. Now I feel a bit better. 

Looking for a wee leprechaun

With less than a month until St Patrick's day, I thought I'd get this little hat made up

It would also look cute on a pets, I just couldn't get Eco to keep it on her head besides, as you've seen, she's a terrible photography model - she gets all squinty!

EDITED FEBRUARY 27TH - Good news! This hat has been sold and it's already begun it's journey to Florida! I hope I get to see pictures of it in use.

Tipping My Top Hat

Just finished these crocheted top hats for my shop - they can fit babies, toddlers, kids - even adults and pets!

French Boucle Cowl

I'm kinda in between projects and I've kinda lost my crafting mojo so I was floating around looking for a project that would grab me when I came across two skeins of 100% french bouclé wool in burgundy. It's a big heavy wool and to me if felt like I should make a cowl out of it, so I check the suggested stitch count on the label and measured an approximately size of what I wanted the cowl to be, created my own pattern - et voila! Here's my finished cowl:

I've been wearing it almost steadily for two days and really like how it came out, it's very nice to have it wrapped around my neck and not have to deal with the ends coming loose like some scarves do:

Besides completing a project in about 2 hours, this yarn was also a bargain as I bought it on sale - 2 skeins for $3!  Now that's a good knitting project!

Looking for a Little Mermaid

I just finished this little mermaid set which includes the tail, shell bra and starfish headband - now I just need a little mermaid to bring it to life!

The whole set

Closer view of the tail

Fin Detail

You need to see it in person because I think the yarn is absolutely perfect - it's a smooth strand, not really twisted, giving it a soft underwater effect and the blue/green transition is lovely. I just need to get some photographers to see it. And so making the items is only 1/2 of the work, the other half is the marketing and emailing it to potential buyers and getting exposure. And it really is about 1/2 the job.

Oh and if you're interested in making one for yourself, pattern credit goes to: www.BizeeB.etsy.com

Valentine Kitty Hat + Ground Hog Day!

I just finished this cute Valentine Kitty hat which fits kids with heads from 19-22 inches:

I did not write this pattern, it came from Knot Your Nanas Crochet, but I think it turned out pretty good. My favourite part of the pattern with the curly-cues on the ear flaps - although Jp wanted to know if the hat was for Hasidic children

Since I now have two styrofoam heads - one adult and one baby, I fashioned a hook out of a coat hanger so I could suspend them by the hole in the bottom and hang them as they were so light they would often topple from where I tried to keep them and I didn't want them to get damaged. You can see that the adult head has a nice bang to her nose (although I kinda chuckle because it's the same place I have a scar on my nose from a fall about 4 years ago). As I hung the head up I realized, I just made the  Owl and the Pussy Cat. Too bad I didn't colour co-ordinate them.

And in other news, EtsyBaby is having a Valentine's promotion - a free shipping event - and I am one of 14 vendors on the list. Fingers crossed it brings some traffic  - and SALES - to my shop.

Today it's finally sunny, so I think I'll be outside re-shooting some of my hat pictures with my new baby head. Thank you sun - it's always nice when you come to visit.

And Happy Groundhog Day -6 more weeks of crafting my friends, so if you feel like crafting - here's two groundhog projects - phone case  and this cute stuffy

Happy Birthday Janis

As I was finishing this week's project, I was listening to radio station Jazz 91.1 San Mateo, California (on the interwebs). The program was celebrating the life of Janis Joplin who would have been 70 years old today. It was interesting hearing her range of styles of the years and comments and stories from friends and peers. At first I was a wee bit surprised because I've always thought of her as a rock singer, it never really occurred to me that she really was a blues and jazz singer first and foremost. I heard one story that was sad, she was voted "ugliest man on the campus" - how cruel people are to each other, I wonder if bullying will ever go away.

I can't think of a clever segue into this weeks project, so I'll just start - this is Hoot the Owl Toque:

I wasn't going to make another owl hat but when I held the yarn in my hand and started to knit with it, it really seemed that an owl would be the best thing for it. I would like to thank Honey Nutbrown for providing the pattern, I am very happy with the results. I used a really bulky yarn, so I used the number of stitches for the smallest size but used the measurements for the bigger sizes.

Oh and by the way, do you like my new "baby"? I felt it would be much better to display my baby hats on a baby head to give viewers a better idea of how the hat would fit, instead of just being put on a rock or christmas ornament, or whatever else I've used in the past.

Finished Projects for the week

Well I'm kinda proud of myself - I made and finished three projects this week.

First these Vancouver City Wristers in a lovely soft grey donegal (a yarn with flecks of other material)

These are interesting to me because they have the appearance of being cabled but they are not, the pattern is made by increases and decreases - not by holding stitches on a needle and passing them behind (or in front) as you do when you make cables.

Then these Jade/Teal Green Wristlets  in a Peruvian Highland Wool - too bad the colour is so off in this photo, because it's actually a very rich jewel tone.

I used my little mini digital camera because I have a gorilla pod for it and it has an easy timer, but it's been a while since I used it, maybe I should've turned off the flash because it's a sunny day today and it seems to have really affected the colours - the actual colour of the wristlets is actually the third colour from the left:

See how completely different it is? And I've tried several other times to capture that colour but I neve get close to that lovely jade as it should be.

I had just taken off my nail polish - what was I thinking - so I sorta hid my hands today. I will have to re-shoot these two photos.

And third, I made this little Doggie Baseball Jersey - it'll fit a 20 pounder or so.

Front

Back

I didn't have any one particular dog in mind, I just wanted to make this sweater. I am very pleased with how it turned out. The raglan sleeves have lovely decreases and it all sewed together very nicely. As well, it's a nice loose knit making it easy to get on and off Fido. Now I just need to find a doggie model.

And in other news, we had our soffits redone this weekend  - ripping out the old painted press board and replacing them with proper white aluminum soffits. They are awesome. Now the roof can breath better and it's all finished nicely without any rotting, done professional so everything's finished very well. The guys will come back soon to install a new front and back door and then our next big outdoor project is painting the house, but that's going to have to wait until at least May so everything can dry out. I also need to decide whether I'm going to keep the same colour scheme (blue and white) or change colours - I'm thinking maybe a dark taupe with white and/or black accents.

Oh and you know what else? It was a very beautiful sunny day yesterday - a wee bit cold (-3 celsius) but a glorious sunny day. It was so nice for all of us to be able to work outside and not have to do it in our typical January rain. I am so very grateful for the sun! How glorious. And today too, so soon I'll be off to walk Eco.

Hope you're having a swell Sunday too. Whatcha doin?