When life hands you compliments....

Make lemonaid??? Not sure if that applies here but I just wanted to share something sappy with with everyone. We are way too hard on ourselves. We expect so much or our selves at times and sometimes what we expect is unreasonable. So when someone gives you a compliment, be gracious, say "Thank You" and then believe it.

It seems sometimes in the hustle and bustle of daily living, that we don't always feel appreciated or respected. So we have to relish the compliments we get, not discount them. Take every compliment that is offered as being sincere and listen to the input of others. No I don't mean to derive all your self worth from others opinions of you but instead, listen to what they have to say. They may have an unbiased point of view. So my advice for today, tomorrow, the next day, and so on? Be true to yourself. Find a way to express "you" in everything you do and when life hands you compliments.....reward yourself because "you done good!"

OOOHHH! Jogless stripes!

I am quite tickled about the jogless stripes concept. It's so simple, and see how it really works. I'm sure as I practice this technique more, I will get better. But so far, so good.

I can hopefully post a link to the blog that solved this problem for me. I'm just waiting for the owner's OK.

I taught my first Sock Hippo class this past Friday. It went pretty good. I have to refine my teaching technique a bit but overall I am pleased with the result. Second session is Friday and I'll have a better opportunity to see how I should refine my process. I had fun though.

Farmer's Market this year has been a little slower than usual, but still fun. It keeps me busy. After the market on Saturday, I cleaned off the back patio so that my dad and I could Dye cotton Sunday.

All I can say is WOW! He tye dyed two shirts, and I dyed lots of cotton yarn. I am eager to see how it turnes out. The process for dying cotton is much more involved and takes a longer time period than the wool. Its no wonder there is a shortage of hand dyed cottons. Perhaps when I have more time I can go into detail but for now, lets just say I feel accomplished and will post pics as soon as I have them.

Thank you all again for reading the ramblings of a madwoman and stay tuned....

It's Monday!!!! Woo Hoo!!!

Actually I'm not that excited about Monday. Not because I don't like my day job, but that I can't stay home and work on all the exciting ideas I have spinning around in my head right now. :( I'm sure we can all feel that pain.

It's OK though. I had a productive weekend and whipped out a few more oven mitts for the market and my Etsy store. (Someday soon I may be able to update my website.) So here they are. I had a lot of fun making them and actually have several more to make. I do feel like I'm living in a crafters pig sty though. Everywhere I look there are fabric and yarn scraps, and I clean it up regularly but I make a mess just as soon as I do it. I bet we can all feel that pain too! I am eager to finish the oven mitts because then the supplies can be put away and there will be new mess to deal with, LOL.

The first stocking is almost done. I'm currently knitting the solid band and after playing with graphpaper and names, decided against knitting the names. I just don't have enough stitches to knit them in to look good. I did however come up with an idea to use ribbon to embroider them in. That will be fun. I really do wish I could figure out how to make a frayed ribbon so that there is some texture as well to the names. I think that could be fun as well. Thought about cutting 1 inch strips, carefully putting a very thin line of fray check down the middle and trowing them into the washer several times to get the fray. I could trim it up afterward so that it looks nice then using that as the ribbon. But we will see as we get to that point. Thank you to all my readers who read on my ramblings.... Will post tomorrow hopefully about what I come up with tonight after work.

Today's Journey

A couple weeks ago I recieved a custom order request for three of my "non traditional" Fair Isle Christmas stockings with the names of each family member. After dyeing and drying the yarn, I finally began the knitting. I originally thought it would take two weeks per stocking, but after working the toe and the first pattern repeat I realize it will be done much quicker. Woo Hoo!!!

The next item of business....How do I add the names so that it doesn't interfere with the patterning. I came up with three ideas. 1. knit the names vertically along the back edge of the stocking on blocks of color where the patterning isn't worked anyway. Problem with this idea, I'd have to put it on both sides of the stocking because I don't know how they will be hung. 2. Use fabric applique to stitch each individual letter into place vertically down the front side. Problem with this idea is again, would have to do them on both sides. And the fabric would have to be just right. Perhaps felt? Haven't totally discounted this idea yet. 3. Just replace one of the pattern repeats with the name fo the family member. This seems like a winner but since I've begun composing this blog entry I have actually worked out some of the details and may still need to decide. Any ideas would be fab and much appreciated.

As for my little doggie that I posted earlier this week, I think I'm going to put little jewels or the like around the collar. When I pinned the collar in place, there were little holes left from the fabric adhesive. And since the pin baubles actually looked kind of cute, I think that will add just the right amount of something special. As if the little cutie isn't already really stinkin' cute!!!

I will keep you updated on my progress.

Mybootee Sock Monkee 2.0 has inspired me to create another little critter which will remain unnamed for the time being. I believe this "secret" project will be fantastic, but I find it hard sometimes to express what's in my head with physical mediums. I will however share my latest stop in this continual journey.

After making about 100 different foldable fans, I got to thinking, "What else can I make using these great fabrics?" So I started making oven mitts. I know, kinda cheesy, but it takes a special kind of person to appreciate a unique oven mitt. And I'm sure everyone reading this knows, there are many special kinds of people in this world, who am I to decide that the ones who like unique oven mitts are any less special than those who don't. Here's my fave. Its sold already, but I will be working on a couple more that are very similar and perhaps sets of potholders and oven mitts of my more popular designs.

There is something appealing about green and brown together. I'm also trying to find a way to couple browns with other colors. They just seem eye catching to me.

Next in my journey... This little guy. He is completely hand stitched because he measures H=3.5 in, W=5 in, L=5.5 in. I found a pattern for a larger version of this little dog, and scaled it down. I immediately thought he'd make a cute pincushion. We shall see what becomes of him.