Who wants to read my journal? You people scare me.

What easy-but-awesome things are yall thinking of knitting your friends/family for the holidays? I need ideas! ^^;;

Thanks! ♥

My poor little old baby's got a skin condition due to it's old age. So the vet says it is better to keep her shaved down as it will be easier to maintain her skin.

But the first night that she was back, she was shivering really badly. I thought she must be really cold without her fur.


So I quickly rummaged thru my bag of unwanted clothes and found this sweet pink top that i used to love. A pity that I can't fit into it anymore.

But well, Snip snip Snap snap, SEW sew sew. I think she loves it too!( Doggy models )

Sometimes it comes out looking too jumbled, sometimes its nice.

( Night Empress )

Night Empress is an 18" necklace/choker made from oxidized sterling chain, wire, and garnets. It took me an hour to attatch the tiny chain to the frame and about five hours to complete. It was fun to make. :)

( Never Ending Story )

26" long necklace made of oxidized sterling silver (I left some bright for contrast), a huge london blue topaz frosted pear with polished dots, swiss blue topaz, amethyst, freshwater pearls, onyx, labradorite, and apatite.

An embroidered belt, messenger bag shoulder straps, and a roll up screen for my patio... but what do I do with the other 57 pieces? I hate to see these thrown away, but I won't allow myself to take home more stuff if I don't have firm plans for it.
166" x 2", natural cotton color with gold stripes on one side (what look like grey stripes are lint, these are from an industrial ironer. The lint brushes off easily)

Happy Holidays :)

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Send some lovin' thanks to your friends with our holiday vgifts!

Photos of the week

We're so delighted with the immense talent of our growing, global lj_photophile community that we've decided to introduce a poll. Each week, we'll choose a half-dozen photos (based on user comments and staff feedback) and ask you to select a photo of the week. The winning photo will be announced in the next newsletter. If possible, please limit photo size to 350x350 to ensure that images display properly on friends pages. We want to thank you again (and again!) for sharing your passion.

Check out this week's photo poll and more fantastic user content after the jump!

( Read more... )

Curtains

Thanks for joining us. To our American friends, have a fantastic Thanksgiving. To all of our international neighbors, we'll eat a little extra for you!

As you may know, I am making the Fancy Pants from Caffeinated Knitter. I must admit to not reading the pattern through intelligently and with due diligence. (whistles)

I got up to the gusset part last night and the whole section just didn't work right, even if it looked sound.

this whole section seems to be missing some vital information
"Part A...Next round: K3 then slip those stitches onto a dpn, K30 (35, 40, 45, 50) then slip those stitches onto waste yarn, K 6 then slip those onto a different dpn, K 30 (35, 40, 45, 50) then slip those stitches onto waste yarn, K 3 then slip those stitches onto the other end of the first dpn

Part BGraft the 2 sets of stitches on dpn together.

Part CLegs: Transfer the stitches from the waste yarn evenly onto 3 or 4 (whatever you prefer) dpn.

Part DPick up and knit 2 stitches (one from either side of the graft) and knit around, PM..."

The parts in bold are my additions to help sort this out.

Part A - I followed, (12 stitches for gusset and tweaked to be 48 on each leg rather than the 45) but then I ended up with the working yarn between the two sets of three stitches on the DPN. What did I do with the yarn? Where was the working yarn supposed to be? I cut it and threaded it through to the end so I could graft. The rest of the stitches were on waste yarn and I didn't like my chances for moving them all around to have the working yarn where *I* thought it needed to be.

Part B - grafting. Ok...usually its with the end of your yarn (yes?)...which was left between stitches, three stitches away.

Part C - was ok, except it didn't say where your working yarn was. Easily fudgable.

Part D - assumes you have some working yarn TO pick up and knit any stitches, which I didn't, so I had to attach it. And why is that PM there? I can't see any place further down that might use it.

I have left a comment asking about the gusset part, but as the last comment was May 08, I'm not expecting an answer any time soon.

Here's a few of the things I'm bringing to the craft sales this weekend:

( See the rest. )

I have a wooden stand for displaying my necklaces, it was graciously given to me by another necklace-maker, but it has her name burnt into the wood. What's the best way to cover this up? Should I try spray painting it (all I have is black) or should I hot glue some fabric to it?

Hey everyone -- I am moving to Boston (from New York) and one thing has been keeping me up at night... how will I ever familiarize myself with a whole new city's hidden crafting gems? In addition to not knowing anyone in Boston other than my boyfriend, I don't know the first thing about where to go to buy anything there.

Where do you get your stuff? I knit, hand embroider, draw and have been attempting some painting lately, and am often looking for all kinds of general materials. Lately I've been itching to carve my own stamps. Tell me where you go and where it is (a link if you can manage it), from the big chains to small indie stores.

Thank you!

I picked up an old breadbox at the Salvation Army for 3.99. It was pretty grimy and weirdly black inside, but I rubbing alcohol-ed that sucker to within an inch of its life to get it clean, and then gave it a light sanding, primed it, and gave it a good coat of spray paint.

Before: breadbo-RING!



( After: Bread-SEXY! )

So I finally got off my butt and did something productive today. I made this bubble gum machine necklace. And I'm REALLY proud of it. :)


Ain't it just sweet?

More pics under the cut
( Gum Balls )

What would you make your mother for Christmas if you had 1 yard of fabric that you picked out because it reminded you of her?

ETA: You guys have so many great ideas! Thank you!

been a while since I posted anything steampunk inspired so I thought I would post a few of my new pieces. The first four are Steampunk bugs that I made out of paperclay. On the back I added a pin back so that they can be worn on a shirt or jacket but I also left the antenna with loops at the end so that jump rings could be added to the end and they could be worn as pendants. Each one is made by pressing watch parts into the clay then latter painting them, some parts of the bugs are sealed in a glossy finish and some are in a matte finish.


( Read more... )

I'm knitting this shape to become a super simple dress for my baby daughter. I figure two of those rectangles (with garter stitch at the neck/arm holes) stitched together, maybe with some cross-stitching added later could be made pretty cute.

Anyway, I want to add some increases to make it wider toward the bottom to accommodate for her fluffy bum. Where should they go? I was thinking they could start at the bottom of the garter stitching for the arm holes, but should I add them in the middle? On the sides? What's going to look okay?

('m a new knitter, and have mastered knitting/purling/increasing/decreasing and know what to do to get what I want, but having only made up my own crochet patterns I'm not quite sure with knitting.)

It's almost time for ornament making!!! Here are a few I did last year


( more under here!!! )

Hi :)

I'm looking for a cute and simple apron pattern, maybe something a bit vintage. Or tutorials, I looked in the memories with no luck.
Thanks a lot!!! :)

Below the cut are four art trading cards I've created for swaps on Swap-Bot. I'm having lots of fun with it and it has really sparked my creativity in new ways!



( Art trading cards )

I have a mild obsession with Narwhals. They're the unicorns of the sea! So I made a pendant :)

NARWHAL

It's sawn out from sterling silver, using a doodle of a Narwhal that I drew.

I vote Narwhals should be the next fawns and owls.

me again =)

So I am making these Fancy Pants, and in them are some short rows using wrap and turns. I can manage W&T's in flat [sock] knitting fine (or at least I think I did), but for some reason I am getting holes when I do them in the round.

I tried to follow this UnWrapped Short Row page, but it doesn't seem to have made a difference. I could be reading/interpreting something wrong though.

( pictures )

I'm back to a new purl wrap and will try again, but is there another fabulous way to avoid W&T holes in circular knitting?

A few more pieces I made recently.



I really like how this one came out. I think it's my favorite bowl so far.

( More after the cut )