Crafty Pants!

Pretty much exactly what the title says! I made some fun lacy fingerless gloves to keep my hands toasty while I type at work. I’m wearing them right now, and I have to say they are quite effective. I used this pattern and made them using the instructions to make them smaller. I guess I have incredibly small hands, because I had to remove two rows of shells! One from the palm area, and one after the thumb opening. I used the same Lion Brand Cashmere Blend yarn from my slouchy hat, and this stuff really is bliss to crochet with. It takes about one skein of the yarn, so this pattern is a great for a nice-but-pricey yarn!

One tip: don’t bother cutting the yarn after the wrist ribbing. Simple slip stitch one stitch over, and begin the shells from there. The seam is barely noticeable, and then you have four less ends to weave in.

I’m a crochet pattern “designer“. No, I would never consider myself a designer:P BUT, I did hook up my Ravelry account to my ‘patterns’, which is fun! Now I have to get around to finally posting that Owl I made so long ago!

Crocheted Bone, originally uploaded by craftypants.

I’ve been terrible, and haven’t been crafting as much as I would want. Having a “real life” job takes some getting used to!

I did however make this wee crocheted doggie bone for my co-worker’s dog, Romeo. Here is the “recipe” since it is really just a teensy tiny modification of another pattern.

Crocheted Dog Bone
worsted weight yarn
F or G hook depending on yarn weight

1. Crochet Pepika’s 3D Heart, but stop at rnd 9
2. Continue crocheting in a spiral for about 10 rows
3. Crochet another 3D heart, also stopping at rnd 9
4. Stuff both pieces and sew together!

That’s it! Alternatively, you can crochet both halves for 5 rows after rnd 9, so the seam is in the middle. Your choice.

Romeo is a teeny timy dog, so he couldn’t chew through this thing. However, I would supervise larger dogs to ensure they can’t get to the polyfil inside.

Thanks to much to Pepika for posting the original heart pattern.

Here’s some in action pictures:

This stunning paper cut by Rob Ryan  is such an inspiration! The arrow is pointing to the word “gorgeous!” I think I may have to try my hand at making something similar. Too bad I didn’t find this before valentine’s day:P

Remember Owly? Well, he now has a buddy that is adept at hiding cottony stuff too!

Along with my cotton puffs, I use cotton swabs quite often for makeup application. So of course, I had to make myself something to hold those, too. Who wants an icky cardboard/plastic box on your counter?

I made stumpy using Lionbrand Lionsuede, which has a great texture and gives a very sturdy result. The pattern is quite easy, so here it is, incase you’d like a stump to hide your cottony treasures in:

Stumpy the Swab Stasher

Yarn: Bulky (Lionbrand Lionsuede)
Hook size: G

Special stitch: Bpdc, Fpdc

Main Stump:

1: With light color: ch 4. In 1st chain (4th from hook) dc 15. Join with sl st. (this makes a circle).

2: With main color: Bpdc around each post of each dc [15]. Join with sl st.

3: Fpdc around each post of each dc [15]. Join with sl st.

4: repeat row 3 until the stump is the height you like. Mine was 7-8 rows. Finish.

Little Branch:

1: With light color: ch 2. In 2nd ch from hook, sc 5.

2: With main color: sc in each st around until branch is the length you desire. Sew branch to stump

And that’s it! I’ll try and get the owl pattern up soon, but I want to experiment some more, possibly with felting, or using lion suede…

What secret is he hiding, sitting there on the edge of the cabinet?

Why, he’s hiding my cotton pads! I was looking for those!

I diligently use a toner every night, and I have been keeping my cotton puffs/pads in their original bag, in the bathroom cabinet. The only problem with this is that the bag is oddly shaped, and it is a bit annoying having to repeatedly open and re-seal it every night and morning. So, I experimented and made myself a cotton pad holder. The yarn was way too soft and thin, so I had to starch him with white glue. I also crocheted some wire circles to the edges to keep him nice and round. I’m thinking I want to make another go at him, but with thicker yarn so that he wouldn’t need starching or wire. I also plan on making a matching stump Q-tip holder…

So I really failed at thing-a-day… I started strong, but with a weekend ski trip, and late nights till 10pm+, I really haven’t the gumption to be creative each day. Honestly, I’ve had to save all that creative energy for work lately. But, I did use day one to complete a project I had been meaning to get around to. I LOVE my tea, but I am in reduction mode, so I refuse to buy more than three or four types of tea, and I have to finish one before I can buy another. I had three ugly tea tins that I was re-using, so I decided to cover them in some beautiful Amy Butler paper.

The brown/blue one is black tea, the pink one is red tea, and the green flower one is green tea!

The penguin is my teaboy. I LOVE him! He automatically lifts my tea from the water when the timer goes off, so I never over-brew my tea again!

So, I’m participating in thing-a-day, and one of the participants has some great videos on youtube. I really like this one. Looks like it’s animation and stop motion, and it’s really quite stunning for a class project. Sometimes, things like that make me wish I had pursued a more artistic degree… But I love my job, so I will just live vicariously through other people!

Mr. Ele, the Elephant, decided he was quite unsatisfied with the gentlefolk of San Francisco. So he tipped his hat to the Golden Gate Bridge, and flew up to Seattle. No, not with his ears, silly! On a plane, of course. There, he met a a beautiful girl, whom he fell madly in love with.

But alas, he towered over her, and looked quite terrifying from her viewpoint.

Egads! He had encountered the Seattle Freeze!

Made using this pattern.

So when I moved to SF, I had to leave my precious computer behind; it couldn’t very well fit into a suit case! I still lament the fact that it had Photoshop and Fireworks on it that I got through school. I’m not in school anymore, so I can’t get copies of the software anymore. But in reality, I pretty much only used those programs for basic re-sizing and cropping, so there was no need for such powerful pieces of software.

So now, I needed something to edit my pictures before posting them. But what? There doesn’t seem to be a huge selection for safe, free desktop editing programs. I did a quick Google search and I found THE solution for me:

Picnik!

It’s all web based, so no downloading. It’s free. It can save directly to Flickr. It’s easy. It’s awesome.