Tying up Loose Ends

Another teaser pic. I just have to put the finishing touches on this and then I can get them all wrapped up and present-ed. But for now you can see the 95% finished product in action. Hopefully in my next set of pictures I'll be able to show the whole thing...

The Secret is Out

...or "My secret project is not so secret anymore..."
...or Cotton Balls

So the pink yarn was kind of a decoy. Pink was just one of the many colors I wanted to play with. I love Bernat Cottontots--mostly for the vivid, fun colors, and also for the fact that it is cotton. Cotton is great for random little projects and crocheting. My only complaint is that it's a little hard to work with since it's not as smooth as wool, and this yarn has an extra string twining around it (there's probably an obvious term for this that I'm forgetting now), which is rough on the hands after a while. Gives a little bit of that rope burn feel if you go too fast. But did I mention I love the colors?



And here's a teaser pic of what came out of all this yarn. No, I can't give everything away just yet. I have to physically give it out first. Fun, fun, fun. I should make a set for myself--in which case I should write down the patterns, shouldn't I.

A mug to call my own

Somewhere along the way this knitting blog has turned into a crafts blog. I'll try to get back on track soon, but I've been so distracted lately. I picked up one of the more recent distractions last night. The ceramic mug I painted a couple of weeks ago. Hastily painted, I should say, because we didn't get to the store until an hour before they were closing. I was a bit nervous about how the globbed on paint job would come out, but happily it turned out okay. And now my new mug will model for you.

"Panoramic" view:













An aerial shot:






And last but not least...

You may or may not have noticed the little splotch by the bottom of the handle. That's the...

...secret Kipper!

And then there was one

Like I said a couple of posts ago, earrings and scarves just don't get along. Or is it earrings and hoods? Either way, on the way home last night I discovered that one of my earrings was gone. I was upset because this was the pair I made myself!! Not to mention this was the second earring I had lost in a span of maybe a week or a week and a half. My big comfy scarf pushes the hooks/posts out of my ears, sigh. So here's what I was left with.



Here was the one I lost last week. Luckily it was easily replaced after a trip to Express.


And there was a happy ending to this story as well. It just took a little more work, and the right supplies.


So far so good...


Success! I have a pair again! Apparently my jewelry-making skills haven't improved significantly from my first go at it, but at least that means they're pretty symmetrical.

Tasukete...!

I want to make this, but I can't read Japanese... woe is me. Perhaps I can just figure it out by looking at the pictures...





By the way, I swear by Clover's Takumi needles.

Pink Ramen

...at least that's what it looks like when you unravel knitting and crochet. I decided to start over, so I went on a yarn-pulling spree. It's surprising how much yarn that looks like for the size of the swatch I had. Oh well, the second time around is going to be much better. The results shall be revealed in due time...