Save the Rhinos. Seriously.

Today is Save the Rhinos Day, which is a really great thing to be aware of. There is a really neat group called the International Rhino Foundation, (their site is here), and I encourage anyone reading this to go check it out! Now, I have some rhino patterns for you to help you get inspired:

Crochet:
-This is not free, it is $6.20, but this feminine rhino from Delicious Crochet was just too cute to leave out!

Sewing:
-A rhino applique pattern from Free Applique Patterns

Other:
-A rhino beading graph from Unique Beaded Jewelry

There are surprisingly few patterns available online, but I'm ignoring that. See me ignoring it?

There has been more work on the sock: a few rounds here, another few there...... nothing exciting. It's coming along slow and steady, but according to Aesop that's what wins the race anyway, so there! Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with some more progress.

Mad scientists, assemble!

I know I said no more BH for April, but I found this really neat test tube chandelier from Handmade that I wanted to share with you guys. Anyway........

I am making a strip. It is a Waterfall Strip, adding to the collection of other Waterfall things I have made. (Waterfall Wrap, Waterfall Pillow, and a Waterfall Hat that I never posted about. And I gave it to a friend. So it's kind of gone.) It will probably either be another hat like this one, or a wide scarf. And no, I have no idea why I am making warm fuzzies in April.

For the sock update, I give you a conversation.

SJ: Hello Sock, how are you? 

Sock: Well, I was put in a little bag for a week and a half, but then yesterday I was worked on!

SJ: Worked on? How so?

Sock: My heel flap is now half way done! 

SJ: But what about the other half?

Sock: Baby steps, baby steps.

So true, so true.

This is the Magnificent Mantle, a bit of the way into Row 32. This is yet another prime example of me making unseasonably warm things.

Have a wonderful day, and try not to blow up your labs!

Ah!!!!!

OK, that seriously just looks like I'm sighing kind of loudly. I meant it to be something more like this: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! That's better. Carry on!

I just want to throw it out there that April hates me, my blog, and all that it stood for the entire month of March. First, I was sick for three and a half days! I am not supposed to get sick! It makes me so mad! (rant over ) Then, it gave me no good material for the BH. I mean, in the rest of the month, we are supposed to celebrate everything from Newspaper Columnists to Jellybeans to Garlic to Shrimp Scampi! And while I have nothing against shrimp scampi, work with me people! I can only even imagine links for the 25th, the 26th, and maybe the 29th. Depending on what kind of mood I'm in. So, for the rest of April, I am officially shutting down the Bizarre Holidays feature. And just for the record, May and June aren't looking too friendly either. I'm just saying.

OK, so since most people probably don't even care, we will just be moving right along.

I have been crocheting. I thought I saw a few knitting needles somewhere in there, bust mostly crocheting. I am on Row 38ish of the Magnificent Mantle, which is coming along just fine. So well that I'm already looking ahead to my next project!

My candidates are:

-The Hot Button Beret from Crochetvolution
-The Magdalena Doll from the Saturday Evening Post
-Pleasance Platypus from ROCKIN4GOD

This was kind of quick, but hopefully I will be able to get back in my posting groove! I would appreciate any input on which project Is hould pick! (Feel free to suggest one you have done or want to do too!) Have a great evening!

Eagle! Birdie!

First, I just want to say that I had a post all written up and ready for yesterday, but the computer ate it and I didn't realize until this morning. Sorry! So here's a combobulation of today's links with yesterday's info, plus today.

OK, I know almost nothing about golf, and I'm not very good at it, but that's not going to stop me from celebrating National Golfer's Day!

Knit:
-I don't play Angry Birds, but these golf club covers are still pretty awesome!
-I like this argyle set because you can very easily make them to suit anybody.
-For those of you with some cabling skills, these black cable covers are pretty neat! (There's a picture if you click the link that says large picture blah blah blah)

Crochet:
-Golf club covers from Yarn Lover's Room. I think. Maybe.
-Along the same line, an adorable gopher golf club cover form Red Heart. It is definitely very cute!
-OK, so I kept looking around on Red Heart, and they also have the very cute and girly poodle golf club covers.
-I promise this is the last one. :) I can't tell what site this is (but it's through the Wayback Machine) but they have these super cool Starry Golf Club Mitts.

This weekend (Saturday night) I decided I wanted to do another big crochet project. Not anything completely huge, mind you, but I had no crochet WIPs and I needed something to do. (Besides my knitting, but I'll get to that later.) So, I started the Magnificent Mantle from Crochet Kitten. I did the first five or six rows, then I stopped to pin it out, then I got up to row 20 last night. Hopefully it won't take me too long. Here's what I have so far:

OK, so knitting. I used up all the yarn I had left for the baby blanket, and now I have a good excuse to not work on it. :) Once I get more yarn, I can do the last four stripes, seam it up, and I'll be done!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: The Secret Project! Here it is...... (drum roll, please!)

Socks! Or more accurately, half of one sock. I just kind of winged the cuff and leg (which is really more of an ankle) and I'm using the Knitty Gritty Plain Vanilla Socks instructions for turning the heel. Which I've never done before. Right now, I am making the heel flap. It hates me. And I hate it. These are socks full of love. :) There is no way I will be able to wear these socks, but that's the whole point of first socks, isn't it?

Have a great day, and get out on the greens!

It's spring!

I know it's been spring for a while now, but I'm really starting to feel it this week. Spring cleaning (lot's of it), warmer weather, birds, bugs, and all kinds of flowers are making their way into everything. Since this month is Records and Information Month, I thought I would share how I organize my crafty stuff!

First up, yarn. YARN!!!! OK, so I have this big white thing that I hold stuff in. Mostly yarn. I don't know how to explain it, but maybe you can see from the pictures. I have the yarn sorted by colors: cool, warm, and neutral. (I got a few skeins of Sugar 'n Cream today, so I pulled everything off anyway. I wouldn't just randomly do this. I swear.)

This is all my warm yarn. It's mostly pink, despite the fact that pink is one of my least favorite colors! (can you see the white metal thing?)

I have a lot of cool yarn. Mostly blue, and it barely fits into one compartment... Is that a bad thing? :)

I have about the same amount of neutral yarn as warm, or maybe a little more. I also have the partial Pound of Yarn attached to the tree skirt.

I also keep most of my fabric in one of the sections. It's mostly fleece, from when I made about a bazillion 18x18" fleece pillows. By hand. I was a little crazy!

This is a really big binder. It has a lot of pockets and secret hiding spots in it. Well, they're not really secret, but that's not the point. I have all of my swatches (that would be a total of one) in one pocket, but mostly I use it to organize ball bands! 

This is something I recently started doing, maybe in August or September? Before that point, I didn't know what those were for.... at all. But now I do, so I cut them out (carefully) and glue them into this notebook, sometimes with one edge flapping up so I can read the back, sometimes with the back rewritten on the page. In total, I have about five pages filled.

I keep that binder on a bookshelf with my craft books next to it. 

I also have bins with my WIPs or random FOs and general supplies (you can kind of see the latter at the left edge of the picture).

And finally, my sewing machine gets a little cupboard all to itself. And the instruction manual. And the pedal and spare bobbins. But other than that, all to itself. 

Alright, that's all for that! (Just a note, if you think there's a lot of pictures now, when I first wrote this there were about two or three times as many. But then I trimmed it down, and the only "fluff" picture left is my blue yarn, because I wanted you to see how much there is!)

****We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog post.****

Here is a picture of the monstrosity:

(It's getting kind of hard to photograph this thing!)

My goal is to have all the HDCs done by next Monday. That's 7 rows in 6 days, plus maybe a little of tonight. I'm not sure how well that's going to work out, but here's a look at the chart:

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

(Up until this point, it will be HDC all the way, with a few increases thrown in here and there. 21 will be SC to set up for the shells, which will be Row 22.)

21

22

We'll see! As for other things, not much as been happening. I've really been concentrating on the tree skirt. Toodles!

Just saying hey!

I haven't done much on any of my projects. But I did want to say hi and post some links for Something on a Stick Day, so here I am!

Knitting:
-A Bomb Pop pattern from DIY Life. Could be done in many different flavors, but this one may be the most recognizable! (For anyone wondering what a Bomb Pop is, just think patriotic popsicle)
-A teeny tiny popsicle on Ravelry from Gulnoza Akhmedova

Crochet:
-A Ravelry popsicle pattern from Amber Fry


Although it is only spring, it's still a good time to start thinking about staying cool! As I said, nothing much happening on the crafting front lately. However, I should be fixing that soon...... Hopefully....

Be creative today!

Today is Make Your Own Holiday Day, so I thought it would be a good day to link to some DIY tutorials.

Knitting:
-A woven wool rug from diy Network. This is pretty simple, but very neat! It would make a good stashbusting project, too.

Sewing:
-This is for sewers, but you need some power tools too! Here is a tutorial, also from diy Network, on how to make a flip top counter for your sewing machine. Ugh, I can't explain it, just go look!
-A cool button bracelet from diy Network (again. I kind of looked around on this site for way too long........)

Miscellaneous:
-It's one of those stepping-stone things from, you guessed it, diy Network.

I did some serious work on the tree skirt this weekend. I got four rows done on Saturday, and three yesterday, bringing me to 7 total rows on the new chart. 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

(Up until this point, it will be HDC all the way, with a few increases thrown in here and there. 21 will be SC to set up for the shells, which will be Row 21.)

21

22

I got it to lay flat again! However, the edge isn't cooperating as well as I'd like, so I'm going to have to start increasing a little bit more.

I also finished something:

Yep! The felt doll is all done, after a disastrous attempt at the face. It was so awful, I had to cut off the hair and reattach it to the other side of the head to cover it up. Then I very carefully redrew the face, and while it wasn't as good as my practice (oh the irony), it looks fine, I guess. Here's what the hair looks like now:

And a closeup:

This picture took me way too long to get right. I was trying to show how the threads attached it to the head make it look like the hair is done in some kind of intricate braid or something. I think it's pretty cool, but apparently, my camera disagrees!

A little closer to her face, and I'm done! I'm happy to get this one of the list, because it shouldn't have taken as long as it did. I just have a (well justified) fear of drawing faces!

Be careful!

Today is Near Miss Day, marking the day (3/23/12) an asteroid came very close (within 500,000 miles) of hitting the Earth. This made me think of the day the dinosaurs weren't so lucky, so today's Bizarre Holiday links will be all about dinosaurs.

Knit:
-Dinosaur Hand Puppet from Knitting from the Heart. (You have to go to the sidebar and click on the link.)
-A seamless dinosaur from At Knit's End

Crochet:
-An adorable baby dinosaur pattern from My Skills Guide
-A really neat baby triceratops from somewhere. Yep, it's from somewhere. So helpful.

Sewing:
-It's a dinosaur, but I have no idea where it's from.

It's a mustache on a string! It doesn't work very well, so I may wear it as a necklace! Either way, I'm calling this one done.

It's the tree skirt! I have absolutely no idea what happened to that picture, but at least it's a new one, right? As I mentioned earlier this week, there was a..... misunderstanding about the size my mother wanted, so I did some measuring and I now have a final row count. (I didn't do the math, because my increases will be based off of how ruffly it looks.) 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

(Up until this point, it will be HDC all the way, with a few increases thrown in here and there. 21 will be SC to set up from the shells, which will be Row 21.)

21

22

I have done Row 1, and I'm almost done with Row 2, so I'm going to finish! I can feel it! Oh, and I wanted to mention that yesterday I managed to get it to lie completely flat. I was super excited, so I did a couple of increases in Rows 1 and 2.

Have a nice day!

UFOs! And a spider. It was scary!

This time, I mean that both ways. Today I will be linking in honor off Extraterrestrial (I spelled that right on the first try!) Abduction Day. Then, I will do a UFOs update. (I haven't finished anything recently... at least that I posted about.)

Oh! And I'll tell you about the spider. It was scary!

Crochet:
-First, an amigurumi alien from Crochetville
-An Alien Amigurumi pattern from Free Patterns by H
-Finally, a three-eyed alien from yarnyokel

Knit:
-An alien headband from Bernat
-Super cuddly alien pillows from Red Heart
-A stuffed alien from treeknits


So now, for the UFOs.

This is the doll, which now has better fitting clothes and the start of some hair. It's a big improvement from this! The dress just got a new side seam on one side, and the hair is Take 2 1/2. The first time, I tried to do it with yarn, which came very close to working, but I messed up right at the end and I tore it all off in frustration. Then, I took an old pair of tights and I'm using the foot to frame the face. The 1/2 part comes from the part where I had to rip it off a little to cut out the heel and get rid of some bulk. I'm going to keep chugging along on this one, because it's going pretty well!

Ooh, look! It's the Secret Project! It's hiding in a little felt pouch, because it's still a secret! I haven't done much on this one lately, but I'm not going to give up.. yet! (give it a few more inches... that's when it'll get really unpleasant!)

It's the tree skirt, dropping in to say hello! How nice! What isn't nice is that my mother gave me the wrong measurements to base this one off. I had a lot more than 24 rows to do. Speaking of which:

1-274

2-285

3-296

4-307

5-318

6-329

7-340

8-351

9-362

10-373

11-384

12-395

13-406 

14-417 

15-428

16-439 

17-450

18-461

19-472

20-483 This is where I'm supposed to be today.

21-494

22-505

23-516

24-527

I did about four or five rows between last night and this afternoon, which just caught me up to my usual level of behindness (five rows for one day). Luckily, it's still ruffly, and I won't be increasing for a while, so that will help. I might get another row in today. Maybe. So, I'm erasing the end-of-March goal, based on the fact I have a ton more left than I thought.

The odds of me finishing this are minimal. I have nothing to do it, and needle-felting really isn't my thing. I will probably use the leftover stuff as thrums, which I saw in this pattern from Knitty.

This little pouch? Well, let's just say I had completely forgotten about it! It's holding my t-shirt quilt pieces, which I posted about here, all the way at the bottom. I don't know what's going to happen to this, but it's taking up so little space, it won't be disturbing me for a while.

OK, now for one little doo-dad, then the spider.

Mustache! Which may or may not become a mustache-on-a-stick. I haven't decided.

Spider time! So last night, I was just hanging out, eating some really awesome taco soup, when I decided I wanted to toast a tortilla to eat with it. I went to take it out, when the little mini pan fell onto the counter. A spider came with it! I screamed. Loudly. I have no idea where it came from (I'm hoping not near any food) and it just popped out of nowhere! It fell on the floor, so I tried to capture it with a little pot until I could get someone braver than me to smush it. No such luck. It took me three tries to get the pot on the spider, and then I realized that the handle made it so the pot did not sit flat on the floor! The spider was able to crawl out from under it, so I tried to capture it with a cup, but it crawled away and I have no idea where it is! Which really makes me quite nervous. OK, see you guys tomorrow with   some cool crafts! Probably!

Happy Poultry Day!

As I'm a vegetarian, I will not be eating any poultry today, but I can enjoy the eggs we get from birds! Speaking of which:

-An egg cozy from Crochet n More -in the shape of a chicken! So cool!
-A vampire egg from Fun and Fang
-A Thanksgiving turkey from BitterSweet
-A duck or chicken on Crochetville

Luck o' the Irish

Since tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, I will post the patterns for that today.

Knitting:
-A St. Patrick's Day Necklace from About.com-I am totally going to make this! (I found these links on Tuesday!)
-A simple shamrock dishcloth from Knitting Knonsense. She has a lot of cute dishcloths, many of which I plan on making.
-A little shamrock from Natural Suburbia

Crochet:
-A leprechaun hat toilet paper cover from Maggie's Crochet
-The Shamrock Shawlette from Crochet Spot

Sewing:
-A really neat felt banner from Holiday Crafts and Creations
-From the same site, a felt bracelet

So now, some random talking. I have a really hard time concentrating sometimes. I have no idea why! When I'm doing the links, a lot of the time I will switch windows before I have made the hyperlink... and then I have no idea what I was trying to link to. Plus, when I'm working on the tree skirt, I have to count into the 30s, and eventually the 40s, and I get lost a lot, and I have to find the increase, (which makes me really happy I'm not doing this in a really dark color) and count from there again. OK, so speaking of the tree skirt, here's some information about it:

1-274

2-285

3-296

4-307

5-318

6-329

7-340

8-351

9-362

10-373

11-384

12-395

13-406 

14-417 

15-428

16-439 This is where I'm supposed to be today

17-450

18-461

19-472

20-483

21-494

22-505

23-516

24-527

I know, not happening.

Last night, I made a doll! Here it is:

Here it is, as of last night.

This is a little red dress I made, but it doesn't work like that. More about that later.

A circle skirt!

Censor bar!

Close up!

See? I changed it! But now two or three people could hop in there with her!

So, I need to add facial features, hair, and fix her wardrobe. Au revoir!

Beware the Ides of March

Today, many (many) years ago, Julius Caesar was stabbed by Marcus Brutus. If he had listened to the soothsayers, maybe he would have lived... Moral of the story: the Ides of March are dangerous! OK, not really, but whatever. In honor of Caesar, I have some Roman patterns:

Knitting:

-Roman Princess Scarf from Sleepy Garden

-A tutorial for Roman Stitch or Roman Rib

-An Amazon link to a Roman Shoulder Shawl. I'm not sure where the name comes from, but it's really pretty!

Sewing:

-A toga tutorial from Rabbit Originals? I think? Anyway, it isn't really sewing, but you do have to go to the fabric store (at least, most people will)


OK, so remember the purple nacho I posted about? Well, I decided he needed a mouth. I mean, this was just getting creepy:

So, meet the new and improved...... Purple Nacho! (v2.0)

 See? So much less creepy!

And, of course, the real colors:

I think I can call this one done for real now. Yay!

OK, tree skirt news. I did a row yesterday. Which is seriously pathetic, because I'm not even increasing right now. (confused? Go read about it here.)

1-274

2-285

3-296

4-307

5-318

6-329

7-340

8-351

9-362

10-373

11-384

12-395

13-406

14-417 

15-428 This is where I'm supposed to be today

16-439

17-450

18-461

19-472

20-483

21-494

22-505

23-516

24-527

 Only one row! Well, four to go today... Again.

Have a nice day!

Happy Pi Day!

Today is 3.14, or Pi Day. Of course, 3.14 isn't the exact value of pi, but it's pretty close, so let's just go with it!

-First, we have a little pi plushie from Create!
-Next, the Pi Scarf, from 47's Knitting and Crochet Patterns, which uses the first 100 digits of pi to create its stripe pattern. So cute! So nerdy! So definitely something I want to make!
-Along the same line, the Berry Pe/Pi Beret from abigailscraftshowto.com which I partially put here because the name is so cool!
-And just for fun, a cute little cherry pie pattern from pieknits.

OK, so I have a small problem with my tree skirt. I thought I had worked out a good system for the increases, but as I finished Row 10, I realized it was not so! The edge is starting to ruffle! 

That is quite bad, so I did a little thinking. Ruffles are caused by having too many stitches, or by increasing too fast. In the middle, I had a few problems with ruffling, and I did a few rows without increases to straighten things out. It worked pretty well, until now, so I think I'll do a few rows even until it looks better, then switch back to my pattern as planned, but if I see signs of ruffles, I will do an even row or two. (That does, unfortunately, mean that I have to spread it all the way out after every row.) The other rows will stay the same, so here is my updated chart:

1-274

2-285

3-296

4-307

5-318

6-329

7-340

8-351

9-362

10-373

11-384

12-395

13-406

14-417 This is where I'm supposed to be today

15-428

16-439

17-450

18-461

19-472

20-483

21-494

22-505

23-516

24-527

Only four rows to do today, so I'm catching up!

This is what the tree skirt looked like at the end of Row 10! You can really see the ruffles in this picture, but other than that it looks pretty good! I will take a measurement when I finish Row 12, because it should have grown 4" by then, to 13 1/2".

This is the Pound of Yarn I'm using (the smaller one) and it is actually significantly smaller than a full one (don't ask why I have two) so I'm pretty happy. After all, yarn is like toilet paper. The smaller the roll (or skein), the faster it goes!

I made one other little thing yesterday:

It's a purple nacho! With arms! OK, it's weird. But it's really cute, so I'm just going to go with it! This is what the colors actually look like:

Have a nice Pi Day!