Creativity by Knitgirlll06

I noticed that I’ve been blogging for the past 3 years as of April 29th and thought I’d have a little party with favors. Since I quilt, knit, crochet and sew a gift from each would be offered. What I’d like to know from you is what propelled you share your crafting life with all of us out here in blogging land? For me, it was a chance to meet others with the same interests, glean as much knowledge as I could from the more experienced crafters, and share my accomplishments and failures with you while building a sisterhood of sorts with each of you. I will be running this contest for 1 week and will choose the winners by random draw and post here May 8th. You have until midnight May 7th to leave your comment answering the questions posed in this post. Good luck and thanks for participating.  5/1 I forgot to mention that with each prize listed there will be an additional prize catered to the winners personal taste.

Quilting Prize

Knitting Prize

Crochet Prize

Sewing Prize

As time has gone on I have tried to step it up a notch as you learn what draws people to your blog. No, I don’t have this down just yet but there has been remarkable improvement. I hope you’ll continue to stop by from time-to-time and be a witness and encourager of my growth.

Yesterday I made a giant leap into the frog pond. I don’t know if I was just overlooking a major flaw in my Ruffled Shrug. I was just about to put my sleeves on holders and discovered that now my collar wasn’t going in the right direction and it wasn’t the right size. Look closely at the garter stitch ridge after the buttonhole it’s suppose the be the other way so that the collar can stand and then flow over the shoulders.

I kept debating as to what I could do but the more I tried to compensate for it the worse it got so I just decided that if I was going to do this I had to do it right. So I frogged my sweater that I’ve been working on for over 3 weeks and cast on again making a few changes so that the size would come out correctly. On a brighter note I did find the button for the shrug at JoAnn’s

I realize that as a crafter we strive for perfection in our work so as to be able to showcase our creative talents and therefore we may wrestle with the decision that I had to make. There are some times when you can fix a mistake and still come out with a great project in the end.

My question to you, how do you handle your crafting mistakes? Are you a perfectionist? Do you see you flaw as an artistic marker showing that no one but God is perfect? (asking this as I’ve heard this many times) Or do you feel that those who aren’t crafters will never know that you made a mistake and wear or display your finished crafts with pride?

Be Blessed, be productive, be truthful, be at peace and be CREATIVE.

Hello everyone, I didn’t want to neglect my weekly offerings. Unfortunately school and family has me making zero progress in my crafting world the last 2 weeks. I still have my Ruffled Shrug on the needles and manage to knit at least 3-5 rows before I sleep this is really moving at a snails pace. I am about an inch away from putting the sleeves on scrap yarn so that’s progress. My daughters footies are still in the same stage and that’s 1/2 way to making the toe section of the footies. I have been thinking of doing a Blogversary Celebration to commemorate my 3rd year of blogging.  That is still up in the air.  My Blogversary is officially on April 29th.  I have a few days to make a decision on that.

I have been listening to my IPod and love love love Y Knits so very much. It’s so nice to see our male counterparts bringing their creative perspective to the knitting and crochet table. As women I don’t think we really take the time to realize that the market hasn’t gotten into including the men in the design and pattern offering process. With podcast like Y Knits and Sticks and Strings it’s a good chance that we’ll see more knitting geared towards our male partners. I have also found Carrie of Socks in the City this podcast is all about socks with interviews with Melissa Oakes-Morgan and the likes. I enjoy hearing about socks and the different patterns and methods and yummy yarns that she talks about on this podcast.

I’m hoping to have something to show on next Friday. In my sewing corner there are 2 tops and a quilt that need to be finished my creative mojo has been replaced with books and tiredness. Have a great week and I’ll see you next week.

So here we are? It’s another Friday and I want to share a bit of what’s been going on in my world. First I would like to say that I made this little dress for my niece that turned 5 on April 9th.

I used cotton print fabric with pink lace trim on the top bodice and on the hem of the dress. She absolutely loved it. My next FO is my first pair of Fetchings made using KnitPicks Merino Style yarn in Dusk. They will be shipped out on Tuesday to my SWAP partner on Ravelry group College Knitters.

I’m currently working on 5 projects. My knitting projects include socks for my oldest DD, my Ruffled Shrug from Knitsimple Magazine Holiday 2007 issue.

In the magazine they used Verikeri by Muench Yarns I love the colorway. My other project is my Green Gable Sweater that has been on the needles for close to a year. I plan to finish it by the summer. I have come to understand the love of starting and finishing projects in a more timely fashion.

Just want to take some time and discuss my feelings for what Ravelry has done for my crafting life. Not sure about you, but I look forward to my Ravelry time everyday. It has been the catalyst for me becoming more accountable to completing projects and stepping out the box and participating in SWAP’s and KAL’s. When you’re a self-taught crafter there is always a sense of inadequacy when reviewing your work. Although I have been knitting, crocheting, quilting and sewing for some time now, you’re always leary of your work as it is very personal and a true extension of yourself. Since being on Ravelry I’ve done several things that have changed me. One, joined over 70 groups and actively try to maintain activity in all of them and that includes staying in contact with all of the people listed on my friends list. How can you call them friends if you never take the time out to say hi? Two, I participated in 2 SWAP’s so far in the past 6 years. Three, I became accountable for my crafts and my crafting area(s) by joining several groups on Ravelry that address these issues. So far the one that has been most craft changing for me has been the Year Long Gift A-Long. I want to thank BrownBerry for starting the Year Long Gift A-Long group on Ravelry.

I hope that you will take the time not only to get the most out of Ravelry but give back to those who so freely give and participate, donate and share your knowledge with someone not at your creative level. The best gifts are those that are a true extension of yourself.

Until next Friday…..Be blessed, be positive, be truthful, be at peace and be CREATIVE.

Hello Everyone  here’s this weeks installment of FOF.  I will also be sharing my newest hobby and it’s HOTTTT.  My first offering is my second pair of Basic Toe-up socks for my youngest DD in Red Cascade Cloud 9 yarn knitted on size 2 Addi Turbo cir using the ML method.

My next offering is my first attempt at the very well known pattern Fetching from Knitty.com and I will have to say this is a very quick knit and I love the finish product.  The one thing I will have to say is this pattern has lessen the apprehension of making gloves in the future.  No, I’m not about to cast on for a pair but they are in the future.  These are being made for the College SWAP on Ravelry.  I made these using KnitPicks Merino Style in Dusk using size 5 DPN’s.

I thought I would have some sewing offerings this week but that wasn’t the case.  I hope to have at least 3 items ready for show on next week but I have to see what my class load will be like as the new semester starts on Monday.

Drumroll please………on to my new hobby, it involves these items:

Do you know what my new hobby is yet?  It’s fun, feminine, seductive, puts your body in tune with itself.  Do you know yet?  Okay, well here’s one more clue and I think you’ll know exactly what I’m up to.  Close your eyes……….NO PEAKING………..I see those fingers spreading………………….

You guessed it.  I’m belly dancing yall.  This is the most fun I’ve ever had with fitness.  That’s because the method gives twofold benefits.  First, it’s something that gets your heart pumping while allowing you to become one with your body.  Secondly, you get to shimmy and shake and feel feminine.  I would love to thank Lamira over on Ravelry for becoming my belly dance mentor.  This is a great new venture and I will keep you updated on my progress.  My goal is to perform one day.  When that happens I will share it with all of you.   Until next week as always Be blessed, be positive, be truthful, be at peace and be CREATIVE. 

I have one item to offer for this week.  Since I have finals this week that has been my focus and not much else has been getting done.  I have next week off and many items I plan to complete.

My first love, crochet has made it back into my life and finding Ms. Afya Ibomu on Uncommon Threads lite the fire under me and got me grabbing my hooks out of the closet.  So here’s my offering for the week.  This is my fifth Soldier Cap from Afya Ibomu’s book Get Your Crochet On!

This was crochet on size G hook and scaled down from the pattern by 6 rows for the body and on the brim I eliminate the last 2 rows since this is for a child.

Until my next post Be blessed, be positive, be truthful, be joyful, be at peace, and be CREATIVE.

Here are my WIP’s for the week.  First we have my newly reformed Ruffles Shrug in Serendipity Tweed from my Flair project.  I’m currently on the ribbed collar as this a top down raglan styled shrug.

Next is my youngest daughter’s Basic Toe-up socks using Cascade Cloud 9 in Red.  As you can see I’m making good progress on these using the ML (magic loop) method and my trusty Addi Turbo circs.  I cast these on 3/19 and hope to be done no later than Weds.  If only I was a faster knitter.

Here’s a new take on Oatmeal Cookies.  I call it my Oatmeal Cranberry Orange Bar w/Orange glaze.  I added orange flavored cranberries to the mix with some orange zest and it turned out pretty good.  Added the orange glaze and OMG sinfully rich now add a scoop of Vanilla Ice cream and OOOOPS there it is a nice twist to the average cookie recipe.  The girls and I loved it.

Now on to the confession.  I have been working on a quilt for the past year and I will through pictures let you take the journey and then I’ll give the present status of this project.

Photo 1.  Black backgroud to make the T-shirts pop.   2.  Switch to Red and pink backgroud per request of recipient.  3.  Trying to place the t-shirts so that the quilt is appealing  4. Ripped all that out and started from scratch and it’s working better.

Current status.  I tried to machine quilt this and even with my walking foot it was not going well.  So now I’m hand quilting this project and it’s long and tedious work but I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I know the recipient can’t wait to get it.  Now I do have to say in making quilts and have things not work while someone is expecting it puts the creative process in a totally different place.    I finally shared these truths of the Year Long Quilt as a way of making myself take the time to complete it and ship it off.  There have been some times of frustration and then some times of joy while working on this but the biggest thing I have come away with as I near the end of this quilt is that you can’t take things to seriously and to expect the unexpected.

I hope that you will take time to revisit and come to terms with some of the frustrations of creating a piece of work.  Rather it be knitting, sewing, quilting or whatever your crafting media is it’s a learning process and at the end you have grown in knowledge, gained a new perspective and will know what you can or can’t venture into.  It’s all a part of finding your niche.  Until Friday, I hope you all have a great week and as always Be blessed, be positive, be truthful, be joyful, be at peace and be CREATIVE.

I’m back for my second installment of FOF and to share some new findings or better new direction. The one thing I was looking forward to sharing in this post was 3 tops that are various stages of completion but that maybe in next weeks gallery. I do however, have 2 crocheted and 1 knitted objects to share.

First on the list is a Cap that was being made for my youngest DD from Afya Ibomu’s Get Your Crochet On! I’m fixated with Soldier and so is everyone around me so that’s what I’ve been making.

I had been making this cap for her and it was too big so I omitted the brim to have a different look. I like it and think you could embellish it with a flower in brown or white for some contrast.

Both of these caps where crocheted using Red Hearts Multi in brown, tan and white on size H hook for the body and top of hat and size G hook for the brim. One skien in 141g 244 yds can make 2 caps.

My next offering to my FO pile is my 5th pair of socks using the ML method of knitting socks. I used Cascade Cloud 9 yarn in Pink on size 2 Addi Turbo circs. The pattern is Cat Bordhi’s basic sock pattern. I love this method and look forward to meeting my goal of 12 pairs of socks by years end.

There are just a few things I need to tell you about new beginnings. In each day we have a rare opportunity to start anew and I’ve always been a crafter with that view. It’s not always the method but the course that makes the difference in the end. Have you learned something new? Did you take the time to really look and appreciate the art in your creation or does it have to look exactly like the pattern pic? I love the little quirks that are uniquely mine and keeps me grounded that God is perfect and I have yet to achieve perfection but I’m perfect in the scheme of who he made me to be with all the gifts and wonders that are now in my life. I brought this up to ask you to look at your approach to your crafts and although we want to be and do our best we are human and mistakes are allowed. Don’t beat yourself down because something doesn’t work for you just take another look at it, reevaluate your approach and keep at it or start anew. I shared this with you because I had this experience this week. I started Flair for the Ravelry group EbonyElite Sister Friends and as time went on I got frustrated with it for the lack of understanding in my mind’s eye. I let it sit for a week and begin to look for answers to the things that puzzled me. I found the answer and the light bulb went off but I just wasn’t excited about the pattern choice. The next day I was going through my paper pile and came across some old magazines and found a pattern more to what I had wanted to knit during our KAL and gingerly set about froggin’ Flair and casting on KnitSimple’s Ruffled Shrug from Holiday ‘07. I’m a lot happier with the progress and because it fit what I had envisioned for a nice spring and summer cover up to go with some summer dresses. I have this Shrug on the needles along with a pair of Socks in the Cascade Cloud 9 in red for my youngest DD. Will show progress pics on Wednesday.

Have a safe and Happy Easter weekend

Be Blessed, Be positive, be truthful, be joyful, be at peace and be CREATIVE

I feel bad that I wasn’t able to post on my FOF but all I have are WIP’s on the sewing, quilting, crocheting, and knitting front. But I will include photos. First, I’ll talk about my sewing. I did cut out my second top made from McCalls 5401 and I also have my Burda Easy 7793 Shell cut and pieced just need to make the shell that goes underneath. So I’m really making some headway in my sewing endeavors. My youngest daughter and true fashionista in the house designed a skirt a month or so ago, bought her fabric and asked me to make it for her well last week we started it and here’s a few pics:

this is the front of the skirt                    this is the back w/markings for the darts and zipper

My next project that I thought would have to take a high dive into the Frog Pond is my Flair sweater that I’m knitting for the Ebony Elite Ravelry Group. The problem that I run into at times is second guessing myself when reading some patterns as I’m unsure still of certain techniques. So far I ran into the thing of casting on the additional stitches with the backward loop cast on as it is a loose cast on that caused me some panic until I thought about won’t be seen once the neckline is applied. The second area where I couldn’t get my mind to comprehend what I was reading was the making of the first button hole. I just couldn’t figure out the whole process while maintaining the seed st. pattern indicated on the pattern. Well with the help of googling and asking questions on Ravelry I finally got is figured out. Here’s my progress on my flair and thank you CrimsonPurl our EESistah Moderator for extending this KAL. I’m using Serendipity Tweed in Cherry Blossom from Brown Sheep Company

My next items are Library Enhancements for my Magic Loop Knitting I’m really getting into this method for sock knitting and glad that I’m adventurous in trying new techniques. First I purchased Antje Gillingham’s Knitting Circles around Socks

I found two patterns in this book that caught my attention right away and that’s Fixation and Lace the lime green ones on the cover and Diamonds and Lace (not pictured) both seem pretty straight forward at first glance of the patterns Her book focuses on using 2 cirs at a time which is fairly quick knitting for those of you are coming from the 4 DPN’s. I also purchased Melissa Morgan-Oakes’ 2-at-a-time Socks I’m not so drawn to the patterns as I am drawn to the technique that she gives. With that being said, I do like Belle Epoque and Spice(like the colorwork) First she has all patterns sized and coded in Women’s med., Womens’ Lg/Mens Sm, and Men’s Med.

Now although I like both of these books for they offer a wealth of knowledge they leave out two items that would complete the whole spectrum of sock knitting and one would be to include toe-up and secondly short row heels. No this is just my take on what I’m would like to see in a book of this nature that would make me feel that every option to socks was included.

My Next venture is Fetching……..yes, I’m the last knitter who hasn’t just started knitting to make a pair. I will be using Knit Picks Merino Style in Dusk these are for a SWAP partner on Ravelry.

Well it’s time that I run so that there will be something to show on Friday. Be blessed, be positive, be truthful, be joyful, be at peace, and be CREATIVE.

This weeks post will have to be postponed until next week due to illness. Mine. I have some type of allergic reaction to something and my back, chest, stomach and thighs are broke out. So I haven’t done much if anything productive in the last 4 days.

I’ll be back next Friday.