Bittersweet Moment - Fox Scarf

I'm sad and happy that my fox scarf sold last weekend: 

I'm ecstatic that is was purchased. A lady bought it as a gift to her niece. But it was a lovely one-of-a-kind piece (even though I used a pattern, it was still very unique) that I really liked. It just means I will have to make myself another one, doesn't it?

She's also asked for a custom item, which I'm also very happy to make. I hope she decides to proceed

Charity Crochet Project

This weekend I was busy crocheting 7 cup cozies to help out a friend. She's a volunteer at the Greater Vancouver Zoo and had made a stack of cozies to be sold to raise money for animal care. Except, she came to work the other day to found out several of the ones she made had been stolen.

She was so upset, I offered to help her out and make some too, to replace the stolen ones. Here's my collection:

The giraffee, elephant and monkey come from Repeat Crafter Me's Animal Alphabet. The fox, I can't remember where I found the pattern and I made up the tiger and the lion by copying a photo on pintrest. The lemur was completely made up by me.

I sure hope they don't get stolen again.

Whoops, I let time fly again....

Wowza, it's been almost a month since I've been here? Time flies that's for sure.
It does seem like I had the 'I'm so busy' illness the last few weeks. A big part of  it was a large volume of work at my day job. I don't know why, but I always get so heavily invested in work to be done. So much so that I end up stressing myself out, making myself sick - and I'm the only one at work that notices! My boss never says anything - good or bad, one way or the other - and neither does anyone else really. It's all self inflicted. I don't like owing reports or invoices etc to people. Jp never gets like that for his work, and it seems that this is more of a female thing doesn't it? I never even used all my vacation days last year.

Well, it has to stop. It's just not healthy. It's not going to do anyone any good if I get sick from stress. I only made that decision on Thursday, so I only practiced my new rule on Friday. I'll let you know how it goes!

December was also busy with handknit orders for my little Etsy shop. I had lots to do. I guess I haven't shown you. Here's a couple of items:

Crochet and Knit Converse Sneaker Slippers

Crochet Christmas Tree

And lots and lots of pairs of finger cymbal aka zill, covers, for my fellow bellydance friends. The rainbow ones seem to be the most popular

There were a couple other items but I guess the photos are on other devices so I will have to show you later. 

Happy New Year! My resolution is to post more frequently on my blog!! But I have to admit with Facebook and Instagram etc - it's hard to repeat everything more than once when you have to post everywhere, isn't it? How many other platforms are you on? Where else do you post? 

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.

TV and the Granny Square Afghan

This is a really good article about the Granny Square Afghan and it's presence in TV shows - read this now. If you are a crocheter (or a TV Sitcom watcher), I am sure you will enjoy it.

Although I like the black border on many of them, I do really like the fresh springy look when a white border and bright colours are used. Just google the words "granny square afghan" and you will see that literally thousands of variations have been done. The blanket has been made by many crocheters across the world of 40+ years.

There are two other styles of aghans that I really like. One, I guess, could be considered a variation of the granny square. It is called the Babette. I love it because of the large and small squares and the way the colours are exchanged from one square to another. If I was going to make an afghan, I think I would start with the Babette. Here's just one example of one still in the process. This is probably about 1/4 of a full blanket.

The second style I like, currently flying off people's hooks right now, is the 'graphghan". This is where an image is charted out and then the whole afghan is crocheted like a large pixelated image. Again, you have to google it to see the incredible pool of talent and variations that have been done - everything from Walter White of Breaking Bad, to Disney princesses, sports team and college logos, to images of pets or family members. Computer programs and/or apps can help you create your own personalized images and some will even chart out the colours you need.

Of course there are many, many other styles of afghans done including Tree of Life, Ripple  and the list goes on. Did you have one in your house? Or do you currently have one? What's your favourite TV afghan? 

(all photos courtesy of the web, for demonstration purposes only)

Almost Christmas (yup I said it)

Ha! As many of us in Western Canada are going through a heat wave, and thinking about swimming pools, lakes, boats, mojitos and sunscreen, I am thinking about Christmas.

Why you ask?

Well I have a little shop - check out the pictures and the link on the right side of the page --------->

Last year I knit my little heart out and continued to steadily fill orders until March. It was glorious!

After that, I took some time getting ready for my trip with my mom to Holland and France. Then I had a big dance show to prepare for and then I worked on some other projects - a sweater for my mom, some socks etc.

But now I must think about Christmas items. Since it is only 6 months away and I my selling cut of is around the beginning of December, so there is time to ship it. I would dearly love to bake in the sun all day but apparently there's this thing called skin cancer that scares the bejesus out of me. So I can only sit in the hot hot heat for a while and then I must sit in the shade. There you will find me knitting or crocheting.

I have some ideas I need to get working on - and fast. The last couple of ideas I had were scooped by others or something in the news happened that changed how people would receive the item - I shouldn't procrastinate. Creatives - do you have ideas like that? Some are time sensitive aren't they?

Well, enough typing I guess I'm better pick up some yarn and make something.

Don't forget your sunscreen!

Happy Easter to YOU!!

I made a few more Easter Egg Cozies. First, a traditional bunny in lavender:

And next a Viking Helmet. For the Crusades, or should I say "crus-eggs"? yuk yuk

When we were kids, my dad told us about a game that he played on Easter. Before you could eat your hardboiled egg, one person would challenge another to a duel and then they'd bash the eggs together. The broken egg was the loser and you would continue on peeling your egg and then eat it. This Viking Helmet reminds me of that game. Let the battle begin!!!

Easter Projects - chick and sheep

This is how I spent my Saturday - making egg cozies.

I'm not sure how many more I will make - they are rather fiddly, two took me all day!!

If you want to make these yourself, see krawka.blogspot.com

Crocodile Stitch Slippers

Just finished these slippers. They don't look like much but man they kicked my ass. It took me almost a month to make them. I just kept ripping them out and re-doing them. I'd like to blame the pattern, but I'm pretty sure it was me, all me.

The biggest issue was that dang crocodile stitch cuff. It make a couple of rows and then try it on only to find out it tightened up too much so I couldn't put my foot in them, so I would rip out and start again.

Anyway, they are down now and I think I'll be taking a break from slippers for a while. It's a good thing it's almost spring and they shouldn't be needed for much longer

LLovely Llama +a New Lens

A friend of mine really likes llamas, so I decided to surprise her on her birthday with this crocheted llama

It was a good pattern, lots of little parts though. I think if I were to design it, I'd probably try and do more of a one piece design as sewing legs and ears and heads and a neck is a wee bit hard - plus I never seem to get them as symmetrical as I would like. Do you ever experience that?

But this pattern did include the making of eyebrows/eyelids - which I absolutely love. And want to incorporate in more of my future patterns!! Heck, I may even go back to add some to any that are laying around! Love them!

One other thing .. ( I sound like Columbo -for those of us old enough to remember) - didn't my photos turn out pretty good?  There is no retouching here - just some cropping. And, I even turned down the resolution just to make it load faster on this site. This is because  I finally got a new wide angle lens to replace the one I broke last year. With the help of a $100 Visa Christmas present and that fact that Jp went to the store and bought it for me. I would never have spend that much on myself, so I am very very happy that he made the executive decision for me! It is a very good lens.

He also bought me a bluetooth selfie stick to take pictures with my phone. You might see more of me than you want to  from now on! LOL!!

Local Yarn Bomb # 3

Remember back in April when I posted about some local yarn bombing and again a couple of days later? Well the mystery person is at it again  - this time I was delighted to find this lovely scene at a local park:

I love this so much. I must write to the local paper to let someone know it's been seen and appreciated.

Mad Hatter Crochet Top Hat Challenge

The Crochet Crowd put on a Mat Hatter Challenge where they provided a crocheted top hat pattern and then challenged the makers to create anything related to Alice in Wonderland - just under 350 hats were sent in for the challenge and I must admit I am really impressed with the creativity and variety. The instructions were "anything that represents any part of Alice In Wonderland Fairytale. Keep in mind that the story is filled with imagination and that there are so many different elements to the story that can be represented by a Top Hat." Well let me say, they certainly rose up to the challenge. 

Here's a gallery of the submissions (in alphabetical order): Mad Hatters contest

The top 5 hats will win $500 but there were many more prizes given away as well. I honestly don't know how they'll be able to pick just 5 top winners. And by the way, in case you're wondering what happens next - they hats are auctioned off with money going to charity

Yarn Bombed

For years I've heard of,  and seen photos of, yarn bombing - sometimes in some very famous places, such as these:

And sometimes whole groups have put them together and you hear about a type of 'flash mob' descending upon a location to decorate a public place or space. A couple of times over the years, my sweet brother has clipped a photo from a newspaper and mailed it to me, showing me another inspiring knitting or crocheting story especially about yarn bombing and as a knitter and crocheter myself I've always enjoyed seeing them - mainly because they are usually so very colourful. Just google "yarn bombing" and see all the images that come up.

So then you can imagine my surprise that I came down a side street in my residential neighbourhood, in a little suburb outside of Vancouver to discover this walkway fence had been yarnbombed with multi-coloured hearts! So neatly done, in three little rows :

I love it - SQUEE! Isn't it fun?

            well I thought it was.

(ha! I didn't realize that Eco was in this photo too--she's probably 

wondering why I was standing there facing that fence) 

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?

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?

Crochet Mudkip -finished project

I was in the middle of crocheting a reindeer for a Christmas decoration when the kid asked me if I could make him a Mudkip. First I told him after the reindeer but since he's only here for the weekend I put down my project and started on his.

This is  Mudkip from the Pokemon game:

This is what I made (yes only the head, I ran out of wool) :

Since it was short notice, I pulled wool from my stash - the kid has no idea that he has butter soft Italian wool - it's actually too nice of a yarn for something that'll dangle from his backpack but the colours were right. The head is about 4" across. I did not create it from scratch - I did use a pattern, why reinvent the wheel right?

I have had the buttons for years, always wondered what I could do with them - they seem to be perfect for this project. Again, a detail lost on a kid but that wasn't the point, was it? I'm pretty pleased with this one.

And by the way  - I still have't finished that reindeer....

Snow Day

It was a little too bright outside when I woke up this morning so I knew instantly it had snowed. We have about 3" at the moment although it's starting to turn to wet snow or snow/rain. This is good snow for snow men but not good snow for shovelling because it's wet and heavy.

Today is a vacation day for me, so I am enjoying a break from work. This morning I made this mouse ornament

It's rare for Vancouver to have snow before Christmas so I'm sure it'll all be gone for the weekend and we'll be back to a green Christmas by Wednesday. How are you surviving the winter?

My new favourite baby hat

I made this little brown hat a while back, and have spent weeks trying to figure out how to adorn it, then I came across this cute little lion applique and felt I found the perfect piece!

The applique was to be ironed on the fabric but I wasn't sure how well it would stick to the acrylic yarn, especially when acrylic doesn't like to be ironed (it actually loses all it's elasticity and becomes "dead"which isn't always desirable). But while search around a sewing box, I found a spool of invisible thread and so I've sewn on the applique as well. And the thread really is invisible!

Little Dog Ornament

Here's a little dog that I made for my shop. I think he would look really cute hanging in a Christmas tree, don't you?

Speaking of Dogs

Remember how I mentioned the other day about resetting Eco's internal clock? Well, I had forgotten all about Daylight Savings Time!! Now, she's waking up at 4:30am! Dang it!! I guess I can expect at least a month before I can sleep in. (sigh) the things we do for our beloved furry family!

And speaking of dogs, I'm a wee bit excited about this dog I made for my shop:

Just a quickie phone photo - since I broke my good camera. He has button eyes, a felt nose and a gros grain ribbon for a collar plus he has wires in his legs to make him posable. I plan to made some other colours/breeds too. I think he'll make a cute Christmas decoration so I think I'll add a thin red ribbon so he can hang in a tree. What do you think?