I looked and looked for cotton yarn from every thrifty means available to me and finally caved and bought some from a craft store. Now, all I see is cotton! I got a nice sweater that’s in the unravel pile and the above lovelies for a buck each at a garage sale. I may have gotten a little out of control and bought a pink and purple, too. Oh, well. You can never have too much dishcloth yarn, right?
Hey, y’all. Sorry for the blog silence. I didn’t mean to disappear. Last week was filled with Serious and Important Decisions. Some were planned, others were not. I was surprised that it affected my blogging because creativity and writing are usually how I deal with those kind of things. I did a lot of mindless crafts — thank goodness for charity blanket squares — and a lot of reading.
Since my last post, I’ve received some questions about my granny bookmark yarn. I can’t think of a better way to start up the blog again than to tell you about The Big Spool of Wool.
I have used it for packages, gift tags, bookmarks, flowers, vases and little boxes. I’ve just scratched the surface with this stuff. I wonder how long I can go before it gets passed on to someone else. Like I said, there is a lot of it!
My little granny bookmark is finished. Actually, this is my second one. I gave the first one to my mom and now I’m working on a third. I went down a hook size since the first and I think I prefer the tighter stitches for this wool.
The book I’m reading is The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone. I just happened to pick it up at the library because it was on display next to the knitting books. I had to give up beef and dairy once before when my daughter had an intolerance. I remember thinking how hard it must be to go vegan because you had to give up even more!
Her book got me thinking, though. Here I am trying to save all of these things from the landfill for a better earth. Then I go out and order a hamburger for dinner. The dairy and beef industry are definitely not nice to our planet! I might have to rethink how I spend my food dollars.
in search of: currently looking for an inexpensive, used version of this book for my home collection.
Today in my creative space is a little mindless crochet. I had started knitting my second charity blanket square (here’s the first one) and it just wasn’t turning out right. It may have had something to do with my daughter messing with my row counter, stealing my pattern and pulling stitches off my needles. I finally gave up and pulled out my crochet hook. She still tries to “help out” with it, but does a lot less undoing with this version.
This photo was taken at one of my favorite places: our screened-in porch. The evenings have been lovely for outside time this week. Speaking of lovely, you should check out the beautiful spaces over at Kirsty’s blog.
After a few weeks of circles, I really needed to get back to squares. I didn’t have anything particular in mind. I just grabbed this little basket of wool that I use for wrapping packages and started making grannies. I’m thinking it will be a bookmark. I need a new one for my summer reading. Speaking of which, look what I happened to spy at the library today: three of my favorite Rs! After just flipping through the pages, I’m already in love.
Check out other creative spaces that you’re sure to love over at Kirsty’s blog.
question: I check out a ton of books from the library on sewing, knitting, crocheting, and vintage/cottage style. I never thought to write reviews of them on my blog, but it just occurred to me that maybe someone out there might be interested. If you are, let me know. I’d love to share some of my favorite books with you!
Yesterday when I told you this pattern was addicting, I really meant it. I just finished one for myself today, which makes six total! (I’ll spare you the sixth picture.) I think I am finished for awhile — need to get back into a granny square groove.
I chose the colors because my friend is a UCLA alum. Of course, after having her second baby boy, she’s probably up to her eyeballs in blue. In hindsight, maybe I should have done something in pink! The blue and yellow coordinated nicely with the little drawstring bag I made. I included more soaps from yummy suds.
stash: I am really putting a dent in my stash. It feels good. Just in time for garage sailing on Saturday!
Do these look familiar? I posted a sneak peak a few weeks ago. I made these washcloths for my daughter’s teachers, added a bar of soap and put them in a little fabric drawstring bag. Actually, I made a lot more than these. This pattern is addicting!
details: Yarn was from my stash. (Boy, do I have a lot of brightly colored cotton!) Fire Blossom pattern is a free ravelry download. Soaps are from yummy suds on etsy. They smell delicious!
In my creative space today I’m finishing up the details on a few gifts.
First up is this little teddy bear for my friend Lisa, who is expecting a baby any day now. Lisa is all about cute crochet stuffies, so I figured an amigurumi bear would be perfect.
Want to know the coolest thing about this teddy? She’s made completely out of recycled sweater yarn! Don’t you just love her even more now?
The pattern is from the amigurumi volume of Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts! If you are interested in Japanese craft books, but are nervous about following the diagrams, this is a good place to start. It’s translated into English!
I’m off to finish up some more gifts. You should head on over to Kirsty’s blog for more creative spaces!
I love looking at photos of Japanese craft books online, but I’ve never really felt compelled to buy one. Then I got sick, slowed on the crafting front and spent way too much time on ebay. (I’m feeling MUCH better, by the way. Thank you for all of the well wishes!)
I saw this book and immediately fell in love with the cover. Isn’t that blanket motif beautiful? I got even more excited as I scrolled through the sample pages. Here are some of my favorites. (All photos from the ebay listing.)
Now comes the waiting for shipping from Japan. I’m already impatient!
resource: There are lots of places to buy Japanese craft books online: etsy.com, ebay.com, yesasia.com and amazon.co.jp. The best site I’ve found to track down ISBN numbers is Crafting Japanese. If you’re just interested in browsing, search for “japanese craft book” on flickr for tons of eye candy.
My creative space is filled with other creative folks today. I woke up feeling a little under the weather (ok, a lot under the weather) and decided to take it easy. I spent the day curled up with this blanket, reading my copy of Craft Corps, and working on more of these.
Visit Kirsty’s blog for more creative spaces. I’m off to bed and hope to be feeling more crafty tomorrow.
