Happy 10 year anniversary to this blog!

So the automatic post schedule doesn't exactly work...this should have gone out on the 18th, forgive the inaccurate post date.

10 years ago today blogs were a big deal. You could consider yourself a published writer if you had a blog. You could claim it was your own personal website, if you didn't have an actual website. I started mine with the thought that it would motivate me to draw more, to animate, to paint.

While I didn't do so much animation (sorry college degree, you've collected so much dust), I did produce a bunch of drawings, several paintings, and low and behold I kind of went crazy with the knitting and crochet.

10 years has seen the following:
- 1 relationship that's still going (Hi Gonzo!)
- quite a few job changes
- 2 layoffs
- 6 moves (one of those being across the country...hello CA)
- Approximately 147 pieces of art (Drawings, paintings, vinyl customs) (that I posted)
- Approximately 36 knitted/crocheted pieces (that I posted)
- Approximately 2 sewing projects (that I posted)
- Approximately 3 craft items (that I posted)
- Countless other crafts and art that I didn't post or keep track of
- Many other things...

I've learned a lot about myself in the last 10 years. I've done a lot in the last 10 years. There are some days that it feels like yesterday that I started this blog, and some days that it feels like forever ago.  There have been days that I feel like throwing in the towel and just letting my blog hang out in cyber space for eternity, leaving people who read what I write here, to wonder, "what happened to her?"
Whenever I think of getting an instagram account, I think, "Well, would I still post on my blog?" which I bet I wouldn't. I could hashtag it out, instead of leaving a whole bunch of non-sense here. But I'm a creature of habit. I like my blog. I like that I have low viewership/readership (although, Groot...that post...it's still crazy and I've seen it linked to news stories for crafty people-Say What?! Little 'ol me over here? So many page views- so many messages on my Ravelry account- THANK YOU!!! To everyone who looked at that post or made a comment or asked a question or reached out- THANK YOU!!! That was really unexpected and wonderful!)

The next 10 years? I'm looking into writing (some of you may know that), maybe I'll self-publish something soon (fiction, don't take what I write here as my writing style); I'm even designing some knitting patterns (maybe I'll post another free pattern soon) I'm looking into dying my own yarn and fiber for knitting; I've gotten back into spinning fiber into yarn, so maybe I can sell some hanks of hand spun fibers; I'm still drawing, and don't see my style (of semi-photo realistic portraits) changing any time soon- but who knows what the next 10 years will bring. I do follow Loish online and absolutely love her style, so maybe more digital art...we shall see, we shall see.

Thank you all for a wonderful 10 years. Thanks for reading!

Oye with the Poodles already!

I heard there's a thing called "The Olympics" going on right now. Unfortunately, I've completely ignored them this year. I've opted instead to binge watch all 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls (you know, just in time for the next 4 episodes to come out in November- I like to get an early start).

I thought binge watching the episodes would give me plenty of time to knit and finish the long list of projects I have going, but I kind of forgot how amazing that TV show was. So I find myself actually watching the episodes, even though I've seen them all too many times to count.

Currently on my needles:
1. A crochet mermaid tail for my niece. It should be done in time for Christmas (here's to hoping)
2. My dad's knitted socks...I knit them two at a time, I've just turned the heels and am working the foot- a few more weeks of of the easy part of the pattern and I should be done.
3. A Dobby hat for my niece for Halloween. This should be soon, I'm practically done with the hat, I just have to knit the ears and attach them.
4. A pretty little Capelet/Shawlette/short sweater for myself.

I'll post these as I finish them.

I just purchased the yarn for the Virgo Shawlette for the Toshstrology collection. I'm pretty excited about it, cause it's really cute! Can't wait until the yarn gets here! It's my favorite shade of green!

That's it for an update right now. I've got to get started knitting today.

Tuff Granny Throw

I've been doing a bit more crochet recently, than I ever have in the past. There was a free pattern on Knitpicks.com that I had seen some time ago, using the large Tuff Puff yarn that they sell, which is basically barely spun roving.
The throw worked up extremely quick and the pattern was ridiculously easy. (Pardon the light streaming across the photo above, that's my only large enough, decently lit space, to photo completed work and the sun wasn't having it)

Just know, that if you ever come visit, this throw will most likely be on the bed you're staying in. Decorative greeting piece and all. It's not a full size blanket, but a decent lap/leg warmer, for sure.

Penny's Pony

What does one do, when an adorable little girl, makes a request for a present?

I create a special surprise.

My friend's adorable toddler asked if they were expecting any deliveries, and her mom replied that they weren't. Then her daughter said how much she would like someone to send her a package. Which resulted in my heart strings being tugged and crafting this:

From the same woman who inspired "The Granite Cape", I crochet a pony for Penny, my friend's daughter.

While mine turned out looking slightly different than the one in the instructions, I think it's still pretty cute.

I'm still figuring out the whole crochet thing when it comes to making creatures. The pony is actually the first crochet creature I've completed. There's a sheep made by the same woman, that I am going to be making for my niece since she was born in the year of the sheep.  I'll post pictures once it's complete.

"The Granite Cape" by Stephanie Lau of All About Ami

In January, I discovered a link, from a crocheter that I tend to follow, that peeked my interest.
She's had quite a few patterns that I have wanted to try, but was too scared to begin because my crocheting skills aren't that great.
She had created what she called "The Granite Cape". The stitch pattern was a fairly simple repeat for a whole bunch of rows. You can click on the link above to check it out in more detail.

I used Lion Brand Yarn: Wool-Ease in Blue Mist. Approximately 10 skeins.

I figured crocheting a sweater would go a lot faster than knitting one (I've made a few caplets and shawls- but not a full length sweater), and while this one did take the better part of January and a couple of weeks into February, it did go by pretty quickly.

The actually Cape crochets up larger than the photo indicates. I don't have anyone around to take a picture of it on me, but I did take a picture of the drape while it is on the back of my desk chair:

The oversized style makes the sleeves come down past my elbows, and the bottom of the sweater comes down past my butt (that's without blocking it). I'm 5'7", so do with that what you will.

The link for "The Granite Cape" will lead you to the creators post where there are photos of her wearing her version. I highly encourage you to give it a try if you are slightly scared about making a sweater. Her instructions are pretty straight forward and easy to follow. You pretty much only need to know SC, and Chain stitches.

Now that I've made this sweater, I'm thinking about making her "Easy Chunky Crochet Sweater" as it's something similar to what my mom has been wanting me to make for her. It'll have to wait for a little bit as I've got other things on my to-do list that I need to complete first.

Stay tuned this week for more things that I have completed.

This year is already speeding by

January is practically over and I haven't completed much.

The hats I made for my niece that were mentioned in the previous post, turned out to be too small. So once I receive them back I'll re-knit and send back.

I haven't drawn much of anything this month. Yes, I have at least 3 drawings I'm supposed to be working on, but there are just some days that drawing isn't my priority. If I don't feel like it's my priority then I won't do my best work.

I've spent most of the month crocheting this awesome Granite Cape. Since I'm not the most experienced crocheter, I thought this seemed like the least complicated garment to attempt. Fingers crossed I'll be finished with it in the next few weeks and can show it off.

I also want to bring something up that I'm kind of ashamed of. Last year, I posted this knitting pattern of Baby Groot. I'll be honest, I set up the link on Ravelry.com, under my account, in case there was anyone who was looking for a knitting pattern, since there were a bunch of crochet patterns available. Then I kind of sort of forgot about my Ravelry account. Sure, that pattern has a bunch of views on my blog, which is great to see, and I hoped it was helpful- but wasn't aware of the messages that had been sent to me via Ravelry. For all of you who read the blog and looked at the Groot pattern, I thank you. I'm extremely grateful to each of you who left a message for me over on Ravelry and I feel completely awful that I never responded. I'm glad I inspired so many kind folks to knit their own baby Groot. You guys are awesome! I'll just go ahead and apologize for the fact that I don't check my Ravelry account very often because I'll get side tracked and take time away from my current projects...I don't need additional help in the procrastination area.

Anyway, I've got a list of knitting projects to work on this year, and a bunch of yarn that I don't know what to do with (I'll find something, I'm sure). I may have a problem, though...I want to go to the L.A. County Yarn Crawl again this year...I don't need any more yarn, but I can't not go, right?

Oh well. January went quick, maybe the rest of this year will go as quickly.

Goodies for my first Niece

The package arrived for my sweet little niece who has finally made her grand entrance.  I've been told a photo shoot is taking place involving some of the goodies I sent.  Can't wait to see how they turnout.

My brother and his wife are fairly big Harley Davidson fans, and several months ago my sister-in-law requested a helmet, diaper cover and boots in black with HD patches...how could I pass up the opportunity to knit that?

Using this pattern I managed to fashion the adorable little helmet, complete with Harley orange flower to distinguish that she's a girl.

Sewing the patch on was a bit of a challenge, but it didn't turn out too bad, if I do say so myself.
The diaper cover was an entirely different beast.  Several years ago I picked up this ebook from knitpicks.com, promising myself that the minute one of my family members had a kid I would make the pig diaper cover and bonnet...that didn't exactly happen- The diaper cover pattern came in handy for making the Harley pants.

Again, the patch was a bit of a pain to sew, but it made it on the back side.  I made it a little large, since I knew my brother might have to put it on his new daughter and I didn't want him to feel like he was going to break her or anything.  So it's a tad on the large size for her...give her a few more months to enjoy it.
The booties were my favorite part of the whole outfit.

There's a bunch of crochet patterns out there, but I was determined to knit them.  So using the same knitpicks.com ebook as the diaper cover (diaper soaker is what the pattern calls it) I managed to knit some cute little black boots for her.
You can read about the blanket I made for her here.
I managed to knit a larger version of the helmet as well, so if they want, once she grows out of the smaller version, they can remove the patch and attach it to the larger helmet.  Hopefully it'll be a bit before she grows out of the small one though.

She already has my heart and I haven't even met her yet.  Soon though. 

Crocodile Stitch Baby Blanket

I'm a knitter.  That's how I classify myself when it comes to needle art.  If anyone sees me working away on something and says "are you crocheting?" I immediately correct them and will happily explain the difference- even though I'm sure they don't care (I care- crocheting and knitting are not the same).

While I am knitting some cute items for my soon-to-get-here niece, I did want to make something different for her.  I don't know why my decision to start something completely out of my element coincides with the birth of a new kiddo (and here is where I realize I never posted anything about the quilt I made for my friend Tania when her daughter was born...super- just pretend you've seen an adorable animal themed quilt on here), but that seems to be a trend.

So while I say I'm a knitter...I don't think I would have become a knitter if my mom had never shown me the basics of crocheting.  Which is why I didn't feel like it was any skin off my back to tackle the crocodile stitch- in a full on baby blanket...you know, because I might be slightly crazy.

That looks tiny, right?  It's roughly 35" x 34", so not that tiny.  Hopefully my niece will be able to use it well into her toddler years- maybe even longer.

Crochet can be easy.  I, however, still struggle with the language and can't read a chart to save my life (where as with knitting that's like my second language and the charts make a ridiculous amount of sense).  I learned how to do the crocodile stitch by watching this awesome video.  I know how to chain and how to single, double and triple crochet thanks to my mom, but other than that I'm out.  Without my mom close by I couldn't read the pattern that I had downloaded from Ravelry, so I had to resort to learning from someone on youtube.  Nothing wrong with that.

The first time I saw the crocodile stitch was on pinterest.  I loved the way it looked and spent a ridiculous amount of time online looking for a knitted version...which I didn't find.  Now that the blanket is complete, I'm glad I went with crochet.  It worked up quickly with only a few slight hick-ups along the way. 

The border...since I can't seem to read directions, was my own creation.  I wanted it to be slightly wavy and girly, but I didn't want it to take away from the crocodile stitch itself.

I would have made the final edge more decorative, but my fingers were aching.  Early onset arthritis I'm assuming.  

If I knew more about sewing items onto yarn-y things I might attempt to line this with some sort of fleece, since the back of it looks like a jumbled mess, and I can't imagine would actually feel very good against skin (then again, this girl is going to be in Wisconsin...warmth is all that matters most of the year).

It was a fun little exercise in knowing my creative limits, and pushing past them.  I have one more knitted item to go before all of this fun gets shipped off to the frigid north.  I will leave you with a shot of what the colors actually look like in natural lighting, instead of the crap lights in my apartment:

Sadly that is all the natural lighting the window would allow.