Decorate Yourself

"Without a care in the world,
she danced with Feathers in her hair."

Alright, I may have worries and stresses, but I will dance around with these feathers in my hair.  While watching American Idol, I keep noticing Steven Tyler's feathers in his hair.  I love them...and Steven Tyler. Each time I see them it brings me back to the 1980's when I was a little girl and wearing the alligator clips with feathers in my hair.  So of course, this means Sunday I went on a venture to find alligator clips, leather cord, beads and feathers. 

Everything was fairly easy to find, except for the feathers.  With it being Sunday, all of the locally owned stores were closed, so I was limited as to where I could go.  For the feathers I had to buy a cat toy that had feathers and cut them off.   With my first ones done, I now am on the hunt for more feathers and different beads.

What do you think?  Not bad for my first attempt?

Dealing with Boredom

This last Monday I underwent a minor surgery.  Unfortunately during the surgery there was a complication and I had to have exploratory surgery as well.  All this means that I am home for the week to recover.  Some people may find a week off of work to be delightful, but I have had too many days off in the last month and a half that I am tired of it.  Plus I am not able to do a lot of things and pretty much stuck on the couch.  Should I also mention that daytime television stinks!

Good thing my hobby is crafts!  My latest creation a granny square bag.

The bag is not my idea.  I found the idea on Raverly, an online community of knitters, crocheters and spinners.  With a general idea of how to construct the purse, I did the rest of the design as I went.  It was a really easy bag to make.  All I did was create three granny squares and seam them together.  The strap was made by braiding 18 strands of t-shirt yarn and knotting the ends.  Easy.  The entire bag was created in about 3 hours.  I am still trying to decide if I want to sew in a liner to prevent smaller objects from falling out, but until then the bag works great.

Harvest

Beautiful, beautiful herbs!  For Christmas I received an AeroGarden and two different seed packets, an herb assortment and tomatoes.  I decided to start the herbs first, as I figured they would be easier to maintain than the tomatoes...and boy was I right!!!!  With very little work, I have managed to grow some large, beautiful, healthy plants.  Today I decided to harvest the crop since there is no way I could use them as quickly as they are growing.  I now have 7 plates drying on my counter with three different Basil's, Oregano, Thyme, Mint and Dill.

I am in no way getting paid for promoting the AeroGarden, but I feel compelled to give my opinion on this product, so here it is.  If you are like me and live in a place where it is hard to grow outdoors, this is a great product (so far, we will have to see how well the tomatoes grow).  It is very easy to maintain.  It tells you when to add water and nutrients.  The lights are on an automatic timer, as well as the hydroponics.  It doesn't take up too much space on your counter and doesn't make a difference on your electric bill.  It is just wonderful!!

Below is my AeroGarden after the "harvest".  I will be interested to see how long it takes for the plants to grow as full as they were.

Doubled

Being Focused.

The triangle scarf has doubled in size.  Which doesn't mean that it is closed to finished by any means, but it is starting to take shape.  I am finding quiet in the focus it takes to knit.  More important, I am finding joy in creating it, which is one of the biggest reasons why I craft (besides not being able to just sit still).

Challenges this project is giving me?  The edges are rolling up, and I have tried what all the books say to prevent this problem.  I am hoping that once I block the project when I am finished, that it will solve this problem...but I am not very optimistic.

What is going well?  The design.  The whole design is just "knit on the fly".  No pattern.  This is giving me freedom to just knit and not have to worry about whether I am following something correctly.

Forever

What was I thinking??  While browsing the local fiber store, a while ago, the owner was opening up boxes of new inventory.  I couldn't resist, I love watching boxes being open.  A new sock yarn emerged, Online SuperSocke self patterning yarn.  With such beautiful colors, nice texture and durability, I immediately started picking a skein I liked.  The price tag...about $20...ouch!  Did that matter at the time though, not really. 

This skein of yarn sat, unattended for months.  I thought about making a pair of socks with it, but a $20 pair of socks??  Plus, I haven't knitted socks before and find them a little intimidating.  So fingerless gloves came to mind next, but I couldn't find a pattern that called for the weight of this yarn.  My brilliant idea...a triangle scarf and I would make it as big as the skein allowed.  Simple and easy.

What was I thinking??  Although I am loving the colors and the way it is looking so far, this project is going to take me forever.  It only keeps my attention for a short time (knitting is like that for me), the needles I have to use to make the self patterning yarn do its job are so small which means the rows are very short and well I am just not that fast of a knitter.  To say this is a challenge for me is an understatement.  My commitment to this project is 100% though and if it takes me years to get this done, oh well, all I have is time right?


Picture:  Start of the Triangle Scarf.  Would you believe I have been working on this, on and off, for a couple months?

Moving Forward

2011...a year that was supposed to hold great new beginnings has not started off as hoped.  I do not wish to go into such personal details as this is supposed to be a crafting blog.  But I am well and intent to move forward with a positive and hopeful attitude.

As for crafting...hmmm, well....ah....nothing, so far.  Stay tuned though as keeping my hands and mind busy with crochet, knitting and sewing may be the way to keep me sane.