Coming Right Up!

Guess what I finished last night?

Yeah. That's right.

All four. Done. So guess what I'm starting soon(ish)?

Yes, I did get out all five needles. I figured that since I separated all five, I would keep all five separate. And I'm going to get something to put the beads in. Because that seems like a better plan than trying to get them out of that thing.

Unfortunately, I probably won't have any time to do things this weekend. I have a lot of stuff to do! :O But take a look at this:

I agree. And by the way, I guess Dudley has hung out with a lot of dementors! :)

Have a great weekend!

Gingerbread Factory

Can you imagine how good that would smell? Anyway, on Thursday afternoon I made these:

I am seriously considering redoing this one's face. It's kind of ugly.

Then on Friday I made this:

Well, I actually finished some of the knitting on Saturday morning, and I still have to put in the mohawk. But still. I did most of it on Friday.

When I was helping my friend move, we found a plastic container filled with little erasers. She didn't want them, so I took a bunch:

I took all the whales and parrots! Plus some fish. I'm thinking jewelry.....

Yesterday I went to Michaels (again) and got these things:

Charms, pliers, mohawk yarn, and glass things. I now have everything I need to finish Christmas. I honestly can't believe it! (OK, so right after I typed that sentence I had a little panic attack about masking tape. I seriously thought that I didn't have any, and because of that sentence I would be unable to find any anywhere. But it's OK. I found some under the knife drawer.) Now all I have to do is make it all. Speaking of which:

My Crafty Christmas To-Do List

• make two etching projects
• put the mohawk on the mohawk hat
• make two charm necklaces
• finish catnip ornament
• make another cross stitch ornament

I'm getting to the end. I'm super excited. On Saturday I spent a lot of time making a list of things I was going to make, just for me. For fun. After the Christmas stuff is done. I can't wait.

I Went Shopping!

I am super happy, because I went to Michaels and AC Moore on Monday, and I got almost everything on my list! Here it is:

• a bunch of black 10/0 seed beads
• size 10 16" circular needle
• chain for bag handle
• assorted jewelry items (chain, music charms, jump rings, crab closures)
• glass etching kit

The only thing I couldn't find was the cord for the globe knot necklaces. I'm not really sure where to get that!

I've also been messing around with my Christmas list, and I think I have the final copy here:

My Crafty Christmas To-Do List

• make two etching projects
• make a mohawk hat (I have a printed pattern, I just can't find the link right now)
• make two more globe knot necklaces
• finish catnip ornament
• make another cross stitch ornament
• make both ornaments from this pattern

New and improved! (improved because there's less cross stitch!) What I'm going to do for the ornaments is pretty simple. I'm going to make them like I did last time, with worsted weight and beads. Then I'll join them together, to make one ornament. I might also be making two more girls to go with the globe knot necklaces. (Or instead of, if I can't find the cord I need.) It mostly depends on time, and how bored I am! :)

Have a great afternoon!

My Favorite DIY Jewelry

For today's post, I put together a list of my favorite DIY Jewelry projects I've found online. Enjoy!

1. I love this washer necklace from The 36th Avenue!
2. These macrame bracelets from Honestly WTF are awesome, and so are the other tutorials on the site!
3. This braided bead bracelet tutorial is from the same site, but it is my other favorite, so I had to show it too!
4. I've seen versions of these wire knot rings all over, but this one from Handmadeology is my favorite. I think it kind of looks like a rose, too.
5. I already mentioned this wrapped cord bracelet from FusionBeads.com, but I really think it looks cool. The one I'm making is a little looseygoosey and thrown together, but I think this could look really nice.
6. This was an interesting find for me: what I've known as gimp, the rest of the world calls box braiding. These bracelets from sketch 42 use the same technique I learned, but they have a different start and end, making them better bracelets.
7. I had to link this cool Heartknot Necklace to a Pinterest page, because I don't think the link works. I love how simple but intricate-looking this is. That's the trick, right? Make stuff that looks hard, but is actually really easy!
8. I think this adjustable knot tutorial from FusionBeads.com would be really useful if they gave an example of how to use it in an actual project. Or maybe most people are smart enough to figure that out on their own! (:
9. Finally, this video shows how to make a little globe knot that I think would make a perfect necklace!

Paper Piecing? Oh, Ummm

Yeah, I didn't actually start a paper piecing project this weekend. I did start this embroidery project:

I was originally going to cross stitch something completely different on the bag, but I didn't know about the blue lines. Nowhere on the package does it say that it is printed with the picture to embroider! It's OK, though, because I have someone else I can give the bird bag to. This is my first embroidery project, so I am starting to love those little blue lines. They better come off, though!

I also started this cool bracelet (tutorial here). I am doing the biggest size, but I have small wrists, so it might be even more than five wraps! I kind of jumped in to doing this, so I used what I had, but I might want to go to Michaels to get better supplies for this. Right now, I think it's fine to practice with less awesome materials! :)

I'm going to be going on a short vacation this week (Thursday to Sunday) so I'm going to try to schedule posts for Thursday, Friday, and maybe Monday and Tuesday. If I don't, I should be back in full swing by Wednesday the 15th. have a great day!

Sorry for the bad pictures, by the way. I was kind of rushing when I wrote this!

BO is now FO!

And by BO I mean Branching Out, not Body Odor. And by FO, I mean FINISHED OBJECT!!!! Yay! I finished Branching Out, and I am super happy with it! I had a few problems, most of them involving my inability to count, but I still really like this pattern. Here it is:

All I have left to do is block it, which I am a little nervous about, but hopefully that will go well and I can do one of those awesome photo-shoots-on-a-bush. I'm really excited to have my first completed lace project!

Yesterday I made this bookend

from a cardboard box. It isn't perfect, but I think it's good enough, at least until I can go for a second try.

I also made a little ornament from an empty sprinkle bottle and some beads. Plus a ton of hot glue.

Here is an update on my list:


1. the Zigzag Lace Scarf from Persnickety Knitter
2. this Mohawk Hat
3. another Branching Out
4. another Zigzag Lace Scarf


Have a great day!

Look! I'm eliminating some UFOs!

For all of you conspiracy theorists that just got really excited, no. I'm not talking about alien spacecrafts, I'm talking about UnFinished Objects! (At least I think that's what it stands for....) I have the rest of the jewelry pictures, some hat progress, and something you haven't seen for a long time!

The bracelets are all made with elastic thread, so they are pretty casual. I like the top two the best, because they are longer (not sure how that worked out between the two on the left, because they're identical) and the thread doesn't show. The necklace is double stranded, and I got a lot of compliments when I wore it! Only one person realized I had made it, so I'd say that's a score!

I have just one last piece before I can assemble my hat. It's absolutely killing me that you have to do all the knitting before you can start the finishing! I did the 2x2 ribbing strip all this weekend (I finished it at about 11 this morning) and I started the seed stitch a little while later. It looks like I haven't done much, but I didn't spend a ton of time on it, and I also had to get used to seed stitch. This is probably the most complicated project I've done so far, between knitting in the round, decreasing, and the two new textures, but I think it's going to be fine. There is one thing I don't like so far, and that's the hat. I think in my eagerness to finish it, I didn't do enough and now it's a little short for my taste, and it's loose around the bottom. I'm going to see how it feels when I sew the braid on, but if it doesn't work I may sew some elastic into the inside to give it some more structure.

Surprise! I broke out the baby blankets and I'm ready to finish! I'm trying to completely clean out my UFO, so once I finish the hat, I'm going to pick up my tree skirt. Then all I will have left is the sewing projects from a weekend or two ago. It's slow going, but I can't wait to start some more projects after those are done!

Hat progress, clothes, and some beads.

Hello again! I am working on designing a top, so here's what I have so far!

This is the pattern I drew for each section. They're 5.5" at the top, and it goes straight down to an eight inch base. (It was a very old newspaper, but I read the story anyway!)

This is the front part: orange, not that electric blue, and red.

The back is the rest of the red, purple, and green. In between the purple and the green is a slit at the top where I am going to put a zipper. I'm quite ambitious! :)

It was originally going to be a skirt made from these two fabrics, but I decided to try it out on fabric I liked less first. That was a good choice, because it was too tight as a skirt and I couldn't move my legs! I think I will make it curvy so it gets bigger faster, but I will have to research that.

I have about 4" done out of the 6" of ribbing before a decrease round and more ribbing. So I'm super excited!

Yesterday I made a bunch of jewelry, and I'm probably going to make more once I finish this. Anyway, these beads came from a gorgeous necklace from a friend that unfortunately broke after only two uses (by me, I think it was used) so I put them to new use. I made earrings, a bracelet, and a new necklace. The clasps are the same, because they were perfectly good. I just had to replace the string and restring them. Most likely, I will put a bit of hot glue on the earrings to make sure they don't fall apart when I wear them.

These are kind of Aztec-ish, and I didn't have enough of one color to do them exactly the same, so they're fraternal twins, of a sort. 

The different size beads didn't come together, I just thought they look nice next to each other. As you can maybe see, the necklace and bracelet are the reverse of each other. When I do this kind of thing, I don't like things to be exactly the same, just related.

I also made two more bracelets, but I haven't taken a picture of them. I did get a lot of compliments on those, so I'm going to make a few more to give to some of my friends that liked them. So, I'll take a picture of them all together. Most likely.