Once you start.... you CAN'T STOP!

So I received my needle felting supplies 3 days ago, and I haven't stopped since.

This was my first time at needle felting, and it's so much fun! Now I know what to do with my mountains of unused roving.

Here are my first three attempts:

Attempt #1: Spot- the dog (?) with no appendages.
He looks kind of cute this way, so I never added any arms or legs.


Attempt #2: Mini Schnauzer.
Made this one for my hubby, since this was one of his first dogs. The hardest part of making these is the face. It didn't seem right to me, and I gave up fixing it, but looking at this picture, he is pretty cute.


Attempt #3: Bermese Mountain Dog.

This one is my favorite, and the most difficult so far. It's time consuming to layer the different shades of "dog" hair to make it seem natural.


It goes without saying that there hasn't been much knitting or spinning since this new obsession has started.

More doggies to come!

New Can of Worms

So I went to Borders bookstore today, with my 30% off coupon in hand searching for new craft books to buy. My book collection is really getting ridiculous by the way.

Found two new treasures:


Fleece Dog by Sinco (Nobuko Nakakubo)

A really adorable book full of tutorials for making felt dogs. The likeness is really amazing. There isn't a Maltese in it though, so I think I'll have to improvise to make one of Ronin (my furbaby).

I already have been searching the web for felting kits and glass eyes. I'm such a craft junkie.

This is my favorite: It's the one on the cover. Miniature Schnauzer- Like a little old man!

Second book:

The Cute Book by Aranzi Aronzo

You can make your own little Aranzi Aronzo stuffies. I'm such a big fan of Japanese stuffies, amirugumi etc. This book shows quite a bit of them. I can't wait to start making some. You can make some and add it on t-shirts or totes.

Too cute!


I think I just added felting and sewing to my repertoire. Stay tuned for some stuffies!

Miss you much!

Bah, been gone for a long time- again.

Had a worthy reason! Me and hubby have been trying to concieve a baby. (Try being the operative word).

Who knew it was so difficult? It's been 8 months now, and for the last few months we've just been too frustrated.

Remember when you were in high school sex ed and the teachers told you that you can almost get pregnant just by looking at each other? Apparently that's only half true. hah.

Here's a cute pic of me and the hubs. Wouldn't we make a cute baby? Sigh.



Enough of that.

I swear I have been knitting, but these days spinning just seems more of a stress reducer.

I've been dyeing up some roving and spinning.

Wanna see?

Berries Merino Roving


Bruise Merino Roving


Green Apple Merino Roving


Grapevine Merino Roving


Berries Roving spun up

This one ended up being about 250 yds of soft yarn. I think I'm going to make some socks out of it. So soft. Must eat.

Here's a close up of it:



I also dyed up some yarn while I was dyeing the roving:

I call this one Seabreeze. Blue is my favorite color. Don't know what to knit with it though.



At the end of the day, I'm so glad I have these hobbies to keep me busy. It makes me happy to make things out of scratch.

You know what ices the cake though?


Crafting with a buddy :).

Monkey Business

I found this monkey online while I was browsing around Flickr. He came free (only in the UK) with bags of PG Tips tea. Now if you want the same monkey he can be found on Ebay for about $30-100 US. Crazy eh?

He is so adorable, and after some digging I found the pattern to make it online.

Here's the link: Digital Monkey

You can find a bunch of pictures of the monkey online on flickr if you search "PG Tips chimp".

I know. I'm a nerd.

On the knitting front: I've been working on the cropped leaf cardigan from Stephanie Japel's "Fitted Knits".

Pictures would be boring right now, since it's just endless stockinette at the moment. Pictures will definitely be taken once it's finished.

I love this book. Everything knit from the top down which means no messy seams. I'm HORRIBLE at seaming, and her patterns are all adorable. If you haven't bought this book, you definitely should. It really is great.

I also can't wait for Yahaira's "Sensual Knits".

I have already pre-ordered it on Amazon. Isn't the front cover beautiful?



I am such a book collector. You should really see my collection of knitting books. It's pretty ridiculous. It's just so inspiring!

Hope to see you soon with more knitting news!

yet another long while

sigh. i wish i had the time and energy to post every week. I lurk online and yet I'm too lazy to take pics of my new ventures, but yet I visit all my frequent blogs EVERY DAY.

how lame is that?

Well today I ventured back online- to post a few new babies from this weekend. I spent an eventful Friday dyeing some roving, and spun a bit of it, although I haven't had a chance to post them on etsy. I'm thinking about knitting them into a scarf and selling that instead.

Here they are: in all of their glory (aka bathroom lighting at 11:39pm).



See these lovely little hearts? I found a pic of someone who knit these up on flickr. You can find the pattern here. Check out her other patterns too- the little gun and the hippo are oh too cute. I sent her an email and I think that there are way too many "adorable's" in it. hah.

This is one of my first successful forays into the world of superwash yarn. I dyed this up the same time I dyed my roving for spinning, but this yarn took up the dye incredibly well. I see more of this lovely stuff in the future!




These are handspun hand dyed merino wool roving, spun in a bulky thick and thin yarn. The purple one is plied with a magenta silk thread, and the grey/blue one is plied with a white silk thread. Yardage still unknown.

That's it for now!

Blogitis

You all know what it is. Inflammation of the urge to post on your blog. hah.

Medicine humor. How lame.

As for what I've been doing the last month, a lot of knitting and crocheting, and some spinning.

For some reason, my camera picks and chooses when it wants the colors to be accurate.

On the spinning front: The little boy loves to help me blend fibers together on my drumcarder. I wish I took some pictures before I spun them, hopefully I remember next time.








I also had the time somehow to knit and crochet two baby hats.



Ugg baby hat from Candi Jensen's book Candi Babies. It's amazing how fast crochet is compared to knitting. I finished this hat in the time it takes me to knit one baby bootie.



Cutest knit ever. The top down bonnet from Hello Yarn. Isn't it adorable? I love it. She's super talented. Go visit her blog here for the free pattern: Hello Yarn

I also did a bit of yarn shopping. As for all of you who don't know me, I'm somewhat of a penny pincher. I have been living off of acrylics for SUCH a long time. Namely, Caron Simply Soft, and the yarn available to my grubby hands from Michaels, Joanns, and Walmart.

Just recently I found a yarn store near my house- Unraveled in Monrovia. I've been there twice in two weeks! Is that considered yarn obsession or what? I could already tell that I'm going to break the bank if I keep going on like this.

Some of my purchases:




Look at that sheen! Isn't it gorgeous? It's SOOO Soft. fondle fondle.


This is a horrible picture, I know. The Lorna's laces is going to be my first attempt at entrelac for a scarf for my mom.

Hope my next post won't be this lengthy!

:)

ooooh baby!

Is it just me or has there been a recent baby boom? It must be the weather because quite a few people I know are pregnant.

Can I just say how much I love knitting for babies? All the knits are so small and gratifying.

I've just started a new job this month, and since I'm in training, I have had PLENTY of time to knit. Here are a few of my finished baby knits.




Hooded Cardigan
Finished December 2006- took approximately 5 days- on and off
Pattern: Hooded Cardigan Pattern (still missing the buttons)
Yarn: Knitpicks Merino Style in Storm
Alterations: This pattern originally calls for knitting in pieces, but my seaming is pretty horrible. *please see below. So I just altered the pattern as a (almost) seamless raglan pattern- the only exception is the hood, although as an afterthought, I should have made the hood seamless too so that the baby won't be uncomfortable sleeping on it.

I know it looks funny in the picture- hubby says it looks like a KKK hood; but take a look at the baby posted on her website!
Isn't she adorable? Go ahead and take some time to buy some of her baby patterns. I can't say enough about them.
Shescrafty Vintage Baby Knits


Floral Wrap Cardigan
Yarn: Knitpicks Merino Style Natural
Finished January 2007- took approximately 4-5 days
Pattern: Floral Wrap Cardigan from Shescrafty Vintage Handknits
Alterations: Same as the hooded cardigan, instead of knitting the sweater in pieces, I just guesstimated the number of stitches and knit it seamless raglan style. I absolutely love this sweater. I'm knitting another one in red.

Earlier I mentioned my lack of seaming skills:

Please see below for reference. This is the first hooded cardigan I knit. I knit this one in pieces like the pattern suggested, but after seaming, look at the seams! That looks hideous! Can someone tell me how to fix that?


My new knitting project is a pair of footsies from One Skein for hubby's grandma in Hong Kong. It's cold over there right now, and her apartment is like an icebox. I'm knitting it in Knitpicks Dye your Own worsted weight yarn, and I'm going to attempt to dye it after it's finished.

Has anyone ever tried that? I guess it will be a good trial and error run.