Cute Japanese Miniature Crochet Book

Feb 22 - 2018

Part of my Valentine card swap was this wonderful little book of miniature crochet !!! Everything is so cute !!!

It's in Japanese so unfortunately I can't read it, but it has CHARTS !!! and very good photos as to how to work the project.

Of course first thing I did was sit down and crochet something out of it!!  A little basket that fits perfectly on the bookcase in Poppy's sitting room. How great is that !!??

So I see myself crocheting more out of this book !!

Lots of cute little items to crochet !!

Poppy says Thanks !!

New Classes Start Next Week !!

Friday, Feb 9, 2018

New classes starting next week !!! Beginning Crochet and Beginning Knitting. 

And we can't be short on class project bags !!! 

This should be a good selection !

I found a great bag for me !!! I needed a project bag for my latest spinning project !!

Squeeeee !!!

Just Right !!

Blue Dress for New Doll

My daughter has a new Obistu 27cm doll that is in desperate need of clothes !! (yes, she is naked !! blush !!)

So I offered to crochet up Afternoon Tea Dress for New Doll  a pattern by Nicky Epstein out of her book "Crochet for Barbie Doll".

New doll is almost big enough at 27cm to be able to use fingering weight yarn, but of course I think she looks better with lace weight yarn and so the project increases in difficulty. Now I have to do the math to use a smaller yarn with the pattern.l

I actually picked out this pattern cause it's very simple and my daughter hopes to be able to crochet one herself for her doll.

Let's Go !!

Starting at the bottom

Feb 5, 2018
Have the body of the dress done and blocking.   It’s a form fitting dress that is crocheted flat and then buttoned together in the back. Because of the form fitting nature of this dress, the pattern was more difficult than I first thought.  But that makes it fun, right !!??

My Hujoo Suve doll is 11cm(4inches) and what a difference that extra height makes !!! Alot easier to crochet/knit for the bigger doll !

My doll is more childlike without a bosom, so I haven’t had to do any torso garment shaping before. My daughter’s doll is full figure adult and this is more of a form fitting dress, so I had to shape for hips, waist and bust !! It was fun and is turning out to be ok for a first time.

However, I can never keep things simple so I decided to sew a zipper into this dress. First time I have sewn in a tiny zipper into a tiny dress !!! Yikes !!! :-)

Ouch !!! Sorry for the color clash !! :-)

Feb 9, 2018

Dress is done !!! Yes !! I'm happy with how it turned out. My first form fitting dress !! Still has a few wonky bits that have to be sorted if I ever make another one, but it was a fun project.

I hand sewed in a zipper in the back for the first time !!  That was WAY easier than I thought it would be ! Here is the zipper tutorial I looked at before I started, Zippers in Knits - Purl Soho

Nice !!!

Love how this doll stands up so well

and the Zipper !!!!

DK CoBaSi Fusion socks

I wear wool socks non-stop during the winter and my feet love, love, love wool socks. However, I sadly wool becomes itchy as Winter slowly turns into Spring. So I need a Spring/Fall sock to wear around the house when my tootsies are chilly, but I don't want to get hot feet from wearing wool.  If you get hot feet, you will know this is not comfortable !!

I really like the CoBaSi sock yarn by Hikoo.  This yarn is cotton, bamboo and silk with some nylon. Makes a nice sock, specially if you are one of those people who does not care for wool.  My daughter does not like wool and I've made her a couple pairs of socks with the sock weight yarn. I want to make a couple pairs for me to try out for summer socks, but that's for another blog.

CoBaSi also come in a DK weight yarn which I think will be great to go with my slippers and running around the house.  They have a nice selection of colors so I can see me crochet/knitting several pairs for myself.

Here is a link to my Ravelry project page DK CoBaSi Fusion Socks

Lets get started. First sock is off to a good start !

Feb 4, 2017
Socks are coming along. I have the first one finished and ready to start the leg on the second one. I decided the lavender needed a bit of perking up so I bought a ball of the Bubblegum pink and it's a pretty color of pink.

Just to say, those pinks spirals took a bit of work to get them organized !!! Don't miss them !

Feb 8, 2018
Done !!!! Ta Da !!!

Got the socks finished off today and am really pleased with them. I need to do some tweaking to get a better fit, but since these are slipper socks, they fit good enough !

The legs are crocheted, but I did not do a typical tapestry crochet for the color work.  I didn't want them to be stiff, so I carried the yarn in the back of the stitching.  Just have to keep my toes out of the loops !!

Just so you can see the inside !!

And then the finished socks with their sock forms so they will look nice !!!

Looking forward to wearing these in a couple months

Comfy looking !!!

 

Doll House Sitting Room Update

January 28, 2018

Have some fun things going on with the sitting room for Poppy !!  I was able to buy a bookcase that I'm eventually going to fill up with fiber, yarn and craft books.

I have  her set up with her own knitting project !! Squeee !!! That tiny scarf was so much fun to knit  !!

And.... her little crocheted Valentine's rug !!!  She is a crafty little miss 💖

The bookcase won't be bare for long

I crocheted several heart doilies to see what would fit for her house and the others will be gifted.
There are 2 designs and they are in my Ravelry projects, Poppy's rug is Hearts Doily and the other pattern is Heart's Desire

Poppy wants to keep them all !!

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Cat Toys - Rolly Balls

Decided to try to make some little roll around cat balls for my kitties !!

They sleep too much in the Winter !!

Bitty Squeak and Comet (on my chair !!)

So I thought, Cat Toys !!!!

Yarn - wool batting/filler - hook - Catnip !!!!

Rolly Ball #1 - Catnip !!!
Well, the catnip ball worked pretty well, Comet played with it some, but mostly she just wanted to lay there chewing on it while she tried to disembowel it !!! :-P

Bitty Squeak like it too, but we found out she is one of those cats that drool big time around catnip so.......

Rolly Ball #2 - Jingle Bells !!!

Yellow/green with catnip the others with bells inside

I put some little Christmas jingle bells in the second and third ones with a little batting to fill it out and Wow !! Comet really liked playing with that one !!!  It has a little bit of weight to it and she could toss it around.  Although  I spilled the catnip a little from making the first one, so not entirely sure if it was only the jingle bells or maybe there was a hint of catnip in there too......

Now for some play time !!

Comet in action !!

Why I oughta......

Ninja Cat Back Kick !!!

Bitty Squeak is chill. Plus she likes the catnip ball better !

Catnip !!

The Cute photo !!

Now we see some teeth !!!

The Smoodge Factor

Who are you human and why are you talking to me ??

T-Shirt for a cold Pup !

Feb 6, 2018

Our little dog is 12 years old this year and is finding Winter to be pretty cold any more.  She used to just carry on through the long cold spell and walk for blocks through all but the coldest weather, but this Winter she is not wanting to be outside very long and now on walks she gets what we call "cold foot" and she won't walk any farther. You have to pick her up and carry her.  :-(  Even in the house she seems to be cold.

Poley does not like to wear her sweaters, so I thought maybe she'd be more comfortable in something like a t-shirt.....

So here we go !!

I fount this cute T-Shirt pattern from Mimi and Tara.  She has lots of darling dog clothing patterns !  Decided that I had a spare t-shirt that I could use for fabric, so an easy start to this project. Actually I could get 2 of these dog t-shirts out of one of my shirts. Advantage to being over weight and having a small dog !!

 Dachshunds are very hard to fit. (at least to me !) Mimi's medium size pattern seemed to come the closest to Poley's measurements, but not sure how this will work out, so this is totally a beta project. I'll make it and see how it fits.  Maybe it's a good thing I can get more than one t-shirt out of mine !

Love Printable Patterns !!

Cutting out was easy too !!! So far so good !

Now to remember which is the right side.....

Sewing it up was not too hard. My sewing knit fabric skills are a bit rusty, but I didn't make too many goofs !!! However I'm glad this is a beta run !!

Here she is !!! Not too bad at. Needs some tweaking but so much FASTER than knitting or crocheting her a sweater !!!  Yes !!

Why does she always look so nervous when I take her picture !!?? :-)

Warm Memories Wrap - FWA KAL 2017

Warm Memories Wrap

Working on a KAL project with the Franks Williams Aussie Spindles (FWA) group over on Ravelry

The objective of this KAL is to knit something with our handspun yarn, from a select group of knit designers who contributed prizes to the FWA Tour De Fleece game in July 2017 !!

I chose Seaside Sparrow by Susan Barstei, a wrap that you can button up to wear like a like a poncho, or several different ways. Love the possibilities.  The pattern calls for fingering weight yarn, but I'm using it like a stash buster so I can use up some of my older handspun, which ranges from bulky to fingering. I had this yarn set aside to crochet another big vest for me, but when I joined the KAL, I decided I could transfer that yarn to the Seaside Sparrow !

Starting in September 2017, we had 2 months to spin the yarn we wanted to use for our project, luckily for me I had all my yarn spun up !  

Then November 1st we could cast on and get started knitting !!!  I thought 3 months, no problem getting this done.  Very simple pattern and mostly bulky yarn will make it a quick knit !!!

However, come the end of December 2017, I was just barely halfway done !!! Yikes !! and only a month left to finish !!  Now I'm wondering if I'm going to be embarrassed the end of January and not be finished with this simple knit ???

January 21, 2018 and I am "almost" done !!! Yahoo !!  Have to finish up the green yarn and put the last of the white yarn on the end and block !!

Last thing - I must find Buttons !!! That is my job this week;  more paper for my dollhouse and buttons to finish my wrap.

January 25, 2018 - So close to the end !!! I finished the knitting and wove in the ends.  Here is it with the buttons I found.  Was really disappointed in the lack of button selection in Cedar Rapids. Hobby Lobby and Michaels have a very tiny selection. I wound up at Joann Fabrics, who really didn't have much of a selection either, although they had more than the other stores.  I remember when Joann Fabrics had 2 long walls of buttons and it could take you an hour or more to pick out buttons for a project !!! The good old days !!

You see all yarn that was left by the time I bound off !!  Have to figure what yarn I'm going to use to attach the buttons

Now for blocking !!

January 28, 2017 !!  Final Photo !!!

This was a very fun project. First time I have knit with so many skeins of my handspun yarn.  I've never been really happy with any of my yarns, but working with them was a totally different insight as to just looking at the skein.  I think knitting is very forgiving of the thick/thin of my handspun.

The opposing stripes and the gray/white really make for some wild dynamics

 

The Clay Sheep Diz

It you have not been to The Clay Sheep, take some time to check it out. Anita Moore is the owner/artist and does a wonderful job of making whimsical polymer clay items for spinning, knitting, weaving and some just for fun.

She makes these very pretty Diz sets for prepping wool fiber for spinning. I've been wanting one for ages and recently won a gift card from The Clay Sheep in a Ravelry game.  So over to Anita's I went and she just happened to have a pink Diz set in stock !! Lucky me !!!

Here it is !! It came in the cutest little pink striped box that I will save to send a gift in !

Pink on Pink !!

And the non-box glamour shot !!

 

 

 

 

Can't wait to use it !!!

Japanese Knot Bag

I've always wanted to make a Japanese Knot Bag (JKB) and FINALLY I got around to it at the Winter Holidays 2017.  I had some left over Christmas fabric and went at it. Turned out pretty good for  first time. Sorry no photo

Now I've got bag number 2 going here, just to see if I can do it again. 

Getting started

There is a wonderful little quilt fabric store in Mnt Vernon, Iowa that I just love !! It's called Hellios Stitches N Stuff and they have the coolest fabrics in all kinds of bright colors.  I was lucky and caught their end of the year sale !! And also bought some fabrics that were not on sale !! ;-)

Got them cut out right sides the first time !!

Done !!!  This second bag went together alot easier than the first one !  I have a friend sending me some fabric to make her one and she is paying me in wool fiber to spin !!!  Yes !!!

Next bag I want to see if I can get a flat bottom JKB like another friend sewed up !

Frank Williams Turkish Spindle !!

It arrived !!! Woohoo !!!!

I've been wanting to get a Turkish drop spindle for ages and finally worked it into my Christmas money this year !!

It's made by Frank Williams who lives in Australia !!  I like that he uses alot of native Australian woods.  This is the second spindle I've bought from him.  My first one was a Saturn Tibetan support spindle.  I bought both spindles from his Etsy shop - FWAussieSpindles
 
The Turkish spindle is just beautiful !! The arms are crafted from a beautiful piece of Goncalo Alves and has a West Australian Jarrah shaft. All hand finished with wax polish. Sigh..... so gorgeous !!

 A little sample of Liz Green Arts alpaca roving !!! Yum !!!

and it spins like a dream !!!

My lovely Dachshund Bag !! 💖

Doll House Sitting Room

Doll House Sitting Room !!

Off to a good start

I really enjoy having Poppy sit by my crafting chair on the end table. But she's sort of just sitting there in among all the craft stuff that piles up around her.

Usually there is alot more junk piling up around her

So I'm going to fix up a little sitting/craft room for her to do fiber crafts with me while we sit together !!

Just a little corner space, maybe 8x8 inches floor space and 6 inch high walls.

Hmmm... almost the right size

Now let's fix it up !

There ! Now to get the flooring and wall paper !

Went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some paper to use for wall paper and flooring. Lots of other fun doll stuff going on there too ! Be careful or I'll be spending too much money !!

Pretty papers... not sure about that flooring....

Ta Da !!!! Now to decorate !!

First thing, a Valentine Rug, or maybe a window, or maybe a bookcase !!

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