Work in Progress Wednesday

So instead of a Wordless Wednesday I'm sharing a work in progress Wednesday.

I look for fabric and yarn in varying places. Mostly I like to obtain my supplies free as purchasing really cuts into profit. One of my favorite places to get this is through Freecycle and Craig's List. So many people are getting rid of things that find great use in some of my projects. A year ago, I obtained a box of yarn through Freecycle. At first glance it just appeared to be someone's grandma's stash of cotton. After sorting through (and airing it outside or running much of it through the dryer to remove the dust) I found skeins and skeins of acrylics, cottons, and wool blends from all over the world - Holland (it says Made in Holland), Europe and the US. Recently I pulled out several skeins of this bone colored yarn and loved the feel of it. It is a Columbia-Minerva "Amy" brushed acrylic and is so soft. (I guess it is vintage yarn too) I originally decided it would be beautiful as a table scarf. The color looks so nice with the cherry table below it. So I began working in rounds in a lovely "V" stitch pattern. Easy, and quick. This is how far along it was the other day. I'm not sure how big I will make it but am pleased with how easy it is to work with....and so soft on the hands.

Workin on Wednesday -pink millipede

So the New Year has renewed my desire for accomplishing something other than dealing with boxes and I'm ready to get back at it with Workin on Wednesday.  This week I am trying to trudge through my custom order list that piled on with the move.  Today I'm finishing up the custom order for a little girl who loves pink and purple and was caught between my millipede lap pad and my bunny lap pad.  They chose a pink millipede with pink and purple fidget legs.  It's 1 1/2 pounds for light weight for her lap or around her neck.   I will be working on better pictures this afternoon but here he is: 

Workin on Wednesday - Craft fair prep

Today's working on Wednesday is a bit different. This week I am not starting any new crafty projects (not that I don't have some in mind but I'm writing them down for another week). This week I am going through my inventory and preparing for a craft show next week. I am also working on a new display idea to better display my therapeutic back, neck and eye pillows. They tend to lie flat on a table which isn't the best looking display so I'm trying to develop an effective tiered display that allows for the weight of these products. That's what I'm working on.

This is a new craft show for me. I haven't even been to this venue but I have been told it gets a huge attendance (well over 2500 people last year). I'm thrilled to be part of such an established show. Pickering Barn Spring Craft and Garden Show March 25th-27th. It runs Thursday & Friday 10 AM - 7 PM and Saturday 10 AM-5PM. My product will be there everyday and I'll be there all day Saturday so come on by and see me.

Workin on Wednesday - mittens

This week I am starting a new feature for Wednesdays "Workin on Wednesday". This will be a time where I will focus on something new I'm working on or something I recently made. As I have recently begun taking care of a 6 month old, this week's entry is about something for her. With the winter upon us (but not really affecting us much thank goodness) I found that most of my mitten and outer wear was not only used - a lot but mostly too big for her. With a 7 year old I had weeded out most of the baby and toddler things out of the coat closet in recent years so I found myself deciding to make mittens. I made a pair of these easy mittens earlier in the Fall to send to my niece (that never happened though as they are still sitting in my crochet bag). I decided to copy that pair but make them smaller to fit a 6 month old. These are what I came up with. I added a little elastic in the cuff area to potentially keep them on (theoretically that would work but in reality kids can be determined at any age). I like the multicolored yarn and actually have used that yarn to make a wine bottle cozy. I also decided she has enough pink and hot pink (never really was my favorite colors). So this is what I've been working on. Check out next week for the next project.

Workin on Wednesday - carpool lane crochet

As we have moved to a new community, new school, new state, we are discovering a lot of things we miss about our old community.  I could begin to list them all but won't at this point.  The one major thing we are missing right now is our son's school.  There are so many reasons why we are missing his school (academics being part of it) but one major change for me is the afternoon pick up.  At his old school, parents were encouraged to park, come into the school, mingle with other parents, discuss difficulties and successes, talk about up coming community events, pick up fliers for community activities, meet and greet your child and their friends, and sometimes get a chance to talk briefly with the teacher.  At this school, parents are told (at least we were & it appears it's schoolwide) that they are to stay in their cars and drive through and pick up the kids - like a conveyor belt or drive-through restaurant.  Very different and quite isolating to a new family.  I also must arrive about 10-15 minutes early or I have to sit in my car out on a busy highway waiting for all the cars to pull forward so it can be my turn in the parking lot drive-up lane - yikes!  So as we've been adjusting to it, I've been fidgeting in the car waiting for my turn in line to pull up and summon my kid.  I didn't do that for more than one day.  Boring.  So now I bring along my crochet bag.  I didn't have a lot of yarn out of boxes since we are still in move-in mode but I did have a couple skeins so I went to work making something to brighten my day.  I expect as the school year goes on, I'll be sharing several "carpool lane crochet" items.  These are fun sunny doilies or washcloths.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet as my son does not want to use them in his shower. :)  Happy Wednesday!

Friday round up -this week's project

This week was definitely better than the previous few weeks (although I didn't get my Workin on Wednesday post up) - we are all finally feeling better in this house (knock on wood). I am finally kicking the crud and the kiddo is finally feeling well enough to become much more mobile on his crutches and scooter. The doctor warned us that by the 7th week we'll be freaking out about the potential for more breaks due to the kid's speed on crutches. He has several newly made items to make his week go a little more smoothly. The first project was a slipper cover to go over his cast to keep his toes warm. I made it much like slippers I've made for him before over the years and just expanded it to make it fit over the cast. The trick was to make it tight enough to stay on without crowding his toes. It seems to work well as he asks for it every day and wears it all day at school.

The second project came out of necessity for him at school. He isn't allowed to go out to recessso he is hanging out in the library and writing stories or drawing during recess. He found that it was difficult to take his favorite pencil along to lunch and then to recess while on crutches or on the scooter. He had been tucking it into the cast (ew) or the scooter which we discouraged so I quickly designed this pouch for him to carry on the scooter or the crutches. It is big enough to carry a book, some paper and his pencils but small enough to not be in the way when traveling around school. The straps adjust with velcro so he can take it off his crutches to put on his scooter and vise versa. Works great!

We'll see what next week demands. Hope you had a good one!

Wordless Wednesday

Workin on Wednesday - baby headband

This week I have taken my love of fleece roses and added a beautiful touch to any sweet girl's look. As you know I love fleece roses. I make brooches and hair clips out of them and have even attached them to clothing (watch for that in my store). So when I was out at storytime the other day with the baby I saw so many other babies wearing giant ribbons on their heads - definitely knew they were girls. That got me thinking....and here is how it turned out. I have this in maroon and in white.

Wordless Wednesday - 4 gone in 2 weeks!

Wordless Wednesday - The Fort

Wordless Wednesday - Fall is wonderful!

Fall Harvest festival at Camp Corey - gorgeous!

pumpkin carving party

Trick or treating with son's best friends (aka Luke & Anakin)

Tackle it Tuesday - crutch covers

This week has been quite the adventure for my family. During martial arts my son broke his leg. He had to wear a splint and keep it immobilized and elevated for a week before they would put a cast on it. Luckily keeping him home and keeping it elevated allowed the swelling time to go down and he was able to get a cast on. Thankfully during this time (and to this day) we were loaned a wheelchair from my friend Kayce which has been a life saver (and back saver). Thanks Kayce! Now that he has a cast he is able to use crutches some. We all know how much fun those are. When my sister was here and broke her ankle (don't ask) I crocheted her covers with padding to go over the tops of the crutches. She loved them and sent them back afterwards to have me make more for my store - that didn't happen but still could. So when my son started using crutches, my sis asked if I was going to crochet toppers for his. I thought about it but thought that a 7 year old boy probably doesn't want crocheted tops to his crutches - he probably wants something cool and evil or something. So I asked my son - this is what he chose. I used flannel skull fabric with tons of batting and a drawstring to cover his crutch tops. They are perfect for him. I can add more padding as needed and remove the cover for washing. I'm quite pleased with them actually....and he thinks they are cool.


Tomorrow my Workin Wednesday will share another of my creations designed for cast wearing! See you then.

oh the weather outside is........

beautiful! Snow, snow, snow! So after a no-snow snow-day off from school on Wednesday (they thought this storm was coming to us then), we woke up yesterday to a real snow-day off from school. It snowed and snowed and snowed - steadily all day in fact. We are used to just a few inches a year here but this was a few inches and then some - 10 inches by mid-day when I took this picture. We couldn't believe it. It was like we were back in Wisconsin again - although I don't have any of the gear we had when we lived there. We didn't need it here - or so we thought. It was so much fun and so quiet and beautiful. No cars, no plows, just people walking with their sleds or on their cross-country skis. Very cool. We spent a lot of time clearing the walk and the driveway only to have them covered again by the time we were done. We made snow angels (this is our son making one and catching the snowflakes on his tongue at the same time) and then after my husband got home from work (he walked to work) the boys made the coolest snow fort - complete with a tunnel. We will continue to work on it today as it is again a snow-day off from school. I guess it's time to officially start Christmas Vacation. It sure looks like it could be a white Christmas this year.

Fabulous Friday - Spring Cleaning Art

Well I was all prepared for a Fabulous Friday when it became a Friday Flop! Earlier this morning as I was wrestling with a package to send out, I knocked over a glass of water all over my pile of business cards (they were out to become part of the package). Ugh! Thank goodness my son was at school because this was a language lesson I didn't really want to share.

Now on to the Fabulous part of today. Earlier this week we had incredible weather. I took this picture of my beautiful hellebore in full bloom. We were able to get out and really do some clean up of the gardens (and a bit of sprinkler running as noted on Wordless Wednesday). We further cleaned out the dead stuff from this winter and began by cutting branches off the rosemary bushes to make it easier to dig out. While doing that, my son grabbed several branches and claimed them for his own. Who was I to argue with someone helping me? So I allowed him to take them off to his patch. After digging the bushes up and putting them in the yard waste recycle bin I suggested N do the same. He said he was going to make yard monsters out of these to keep the dogs from pooping in our front garden. HUH???

So yes, we live in a frequently walked neighborhood where people have the nerve to allow their dog to wander our yard and poop in our lawn.... and in my gardens (on the flowers no less). Some do pick up after their dogs but most do not - which I find extremely annoying when gardening with a child (ewwwwwwwwwww). So dear N wants to create some monsters to scare off these dogs. I say go ahead!

Well it had been on his mind for the rest of the day and the next morning he drags my husband out first thing (hubby was a bit bleary eyed = pre coffee) to help him "create" these monsters.

I think they are the coolest things....rosemary branches, electrical tape, yarn, pinecones. My son embellished his with a bit of paint yesterday and they are fabulous! (click on the picture to make them bigger to see the detailing) Can't wait to put them out front and see if the mojo works.

Have a fabulous Easter!!!!

Work in progress Wednesday

Here is a sneak peak of what I've been working on - more coming soon. :)

Wordless Wednesday - how long?

Wordless Wednesday - Hard day at the beach

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

It's my party and I'll do what I want to.....

Wordless Wednesday - True Blue