my creative space

adjustable elastic kids pants

In my creative space today is an unfinished tutorial. I was hoping to have it posted this week.

If you follow me on Facebook, you know that was feeling a bit like a mending rock star last week when I figured out how easy it is to add adjustable elastic to kids’ pants.

I took all of the pics—just need to get them in order and write it up. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, head on over to Kirsty’s blog for more creative spaces.

custom bag: laurel burch fanciful felines

custom bag

My friend Cathy loves bags, loves fabric and loves cats. When she saw my faux leather bag, she wanted the same thing, only bigger and with two handles. She’s going to use this to store and transport her mini swift and yarn winder. (Yep, she loves knitting, too!)

tapestry bag

thrifting: Most of the bags I make for Cathy are from thrifted materials. She’s the only one I know who goes to Goodwill more often than I do. I forgot to ask her if that is where she got this tapestry, but I’m betting it was! It’s a Laurel Burch from the Fanciful Felines collection.

finished: granny square scarf

granny square scarf

Yay for pictures! I was so excited that the sun was out today, as we were expecting more rain. It’s still kind of chilly — perfect scarf weather.

lion brand wool ease scarf

Some squares were a little smaller than others. I’m not sure if it was daily life that messed with my tension or my learning curve. I arranged them smallest to largest for seaming and you really can’t tell.

woolease granny square scarf

I got 7 squares out of each skein for a total of 14. It blocked nicely considering it’s only 20% wool. I can’t wait to wear it tomorrow!

project details: here and here.

a gray day filled with brown

It’s one of those cold, autumn days where it feels like snow, but all you get is rain. It’s not a very good day to be taking crafty pictures for the blog, but it’s perfect for cuddling with my daughter and reading lots of books. Our favorite one right now is The Apple Pie That Papa Baked. I love the illustrations, which are done in warm browns, rich blacks and candy apple reds.

Jonathan Bean illustration

I’m also knitting a pair of brown mittens to match her brown hat, which I finished last night. I wound up making a plain stockinette hat with ribbed border, just like the one she’s worn for the past two years. I abandoned the Marsan Watchcap after she complained that the larger size was still too tight. I think she just didn’t like all of the ribbing.

Tomorrow and Wednesday we’ll be out in the cold, wet weather, so today is all about snuggling with some warm tea and milk. I wonder if I can convince my husband to stop on the way home to pick up some apples?

reuse-or-recycle package labels

reuse recycle envelope labels

Usually I just handwrite this message on my packages, but sometimes I forget when I’m rushing to get things in the mail. Now I have labels! I printed them on the back of already used paper and just slip them under the packing tape. I suppose you could print stickers, but that’s too involved for me. Until I find a way to seal packages without packing tape, this will work just fine.

The image is a striped, felted sweater. I’m thinking of making some with holly leaves and berries for the holidays.

resource: I also made a template for you! Please download it and use it often!

my creative space

crochet holiday star garland

I think this picture of my creative space might be a little misleading. I’m not really in the Christmas spirit yet. November is my favorite month and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s just that I have finished up a lot of the projects on my needles and found myself with nothing to take to knitting group last night.

crochet holiday star garland

I’ve decided to crochet some stars for the holidays with this fancy yarn I got at my knitting guild’s trick or treat swap. I have no idea what it is, but it sure is festive! I’m going to work on these stars in between projects until I have enough to string a garland for the holidays. I should be able to have them done before December, when I actually will be in the holiday spirit.

Visit more creative spaces over at Kirsty’s blog.

pattern: I just working the first five rounds of the Chromium Star blanket.

handmade gift: branching out scarf

branching out scarf

Remember this scarf? It’s finally finished! I gave it to my mom for her birthday and she loves it. It’s my first lace project and I’m very pleased with it.

lace knitting with acrylic yarn

I wanted to knit a lace scarf for my mom, but she can’t wear wool. It took awhile (and a lot of ripping and re-knitting) to find an appropriate acrylic yarn and a pattern that didn’t rely too heavily on blocking. Actually, this blocked better than I thought it would. The leaves opened up nicely.

blocking acrylic yarn

Eventually I’d like to try this pattern with some wool, but I need a little break from all these tiny leaves.

details: Pattern is Branching Out from Knitty. Yarn is Red Heart Luster Sheen. Bow tied with a re-purposed Nordstrom ribbon, which probably came on a gift from my mom.

i have this little sister lola…

Actually, I have this little “niece” in Florida. She just turned eight and I know she used to like Charlie and Lola when she was younger. We’ve just recently discovered Charlie and Lola. I checked out some paperbacks from the library, but my daughter’s favorite is this pop-up book from her “Aunt Lisa.”

I made a Formula One t-shirt for my “nephew” last spring and wanted to do something similar for his sister. I absolutely adore Lauren Child’s illustration style, but was worried that it might be too young for a grown up eight-year-old. I decided to create my own applique flower and add two small Lola-like butterflies.

charlie and lola applique t-shirt

I really love how this turned out. I hope she does, too.

refashion: Scrap fabric and heat-n-bond is from my stash. You can download a pdf file of my flower pattern here.

another chapter closes, but doesn’t bring much closure

I don’t think much about the Fall of 2002. It’s hard to avoid the anniversary of September 11th, but that was just the beginning of the terror. A week later, the post office that handled all of my office mail was closed because of anthrax. People were getting sick (and dying) from the mail. We had to open envelopes wearing rubber gloves,* just to be safe. People were talking about dirty bombs, and I carried Cipro with me to work.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who felt on edge for months after these two events. Honestly, I don’t know if I ever relaxed enough for things to feel “back to normal.” Then, just over a year later, the shootings began. They were completely random: gender, race and age didn’t seem to matter. I tried to tell myself not to feel paranoid, but the fact was that people were being hunted. It was awful. I thought twice about taking a walk during my lunch break. I was nervous about pumping gas. My husband picked me up at the train station so I didn’t have to make the long walk to my car in a parking lot surrounded by trees.

Today that chapter is scheduled to close, but I don’t feel any closure. In fact, I don’t feel much of anything at all.

I try not to think about those events. I am so damn tired of feeling terrorized. That whole mentality of “go on with your everyday life so the terrorists don’t win” is just crap. You go on with life because it’s life. The memories of fear and anger are always inside somewhere.

I just choose to focus on happiness and optimism instead.

*Comic relief: When my coworker bought gloves for opening the mail, she bought the powdered kind. How are we supposed to look for white powder in the mail if we’re wearing gloves covered with white powder? It was just what we needed to break the tension and stress. We laughed until we had tears in our eyes. Ok, maybe you had to be there.