good karma

karma
Originally uploaded by mama k nj

My latest WIP... a baby bolero from the One Skein book.
The needles, stitch markers and squishy sugar n cream cotton yarn all came from the Yarn Karma Swap group over on Ravelry. And the One Skein book was an xmas gift from the in-laws a couple years ago.
I just thought it was so cool that all the supplies for this one came to me in such a way.
The sweater is going to be a baby gift for a shower this weekend. Hopefully all the good "vibes" that went into this sweater will be passed along to her. : )

amigurimi angel

amigurimi angel
Originally uploaded by mama k nj

Well, I haven't been blogging, but I have been crafting. I even started the nativity for Peanut for next Christmas. Here's the progress on the Angel. Her sparkly wings are my favorite part! :)

so addicted.

Must. Step. Away. From. Ravelry.

They have these cool groups called “Yarn Karma” and “Random Acts of Kindness” It’s like swapping but without any pressure or deadlines and you don’t have to buy anything new. Just send of bits of your own stash to people who actually want it. And the “karma” comes back around so you can get lots of fun new stuff too. Eeek!

I have already sent out a buncha Fun Fur to someone who makes them into hats for chemo patients, some funky "confetti" yarn to someone who likes working with textures, made a small purchase from someone's stash to surprise a friend w/ a yarn she wanted to try and am packing up my acrylic scraps today for a gal that makes blankets for animal shelters. Seriously, how cool is that?

Not to mention some of the destashing I've done while swapping for some different yarns I've wanted to try. I've also worked out a couple swaps too that I'm sure I'll be posting about.

Oh and the yarn karma has been very good to me too. If all the ppl who have my address follow through I am going to be getting so much fun mail next month. :)

Tu-Tu Easy!

I made this tu-tu for a darlin' girl's first bday gift. It was easy and fun to make. I'll put up a little tutorial soon so you all can make one too. It could even be no-sew if you like.


Doesn't she look so cute?!

Doing a NORO Happy Dance!

DSCN8386
Originally uploaded by mama k nj

I am the furthest thing from a yarn snob. In fact, the few skeins of pricier yarns in my stash have never actually made it into a project. I can never find anything worthy of them.
Lame I know.
Red Heart gets much love in my life.

Anywho, I have been obsessing over trying some Noro. I'm probably the last person in the blog-o-sphere to jump on the bandwagon. I really wanted some Kueryon but the LYS only had Silk Garden. I also really want to learn entrelac. (Another party I'm late to join.) So I'm planning on making the Quant headband/head wrap with it. I definitely overpayed by internest standards, but when you figure in shipping it made sense for one skein. Still within my budget for fun money this week and quite a nice treat for me.

The irony of it all is that I'm not sure I have the right sized needles. I can remedy that tonight at AC Moore with a 40% off coupon. This is one reason why I prefer crochet. Buy a couple packs of hooks and you are good for any project. With the circulars, double pointed needles, straights, etc you could spend a fortune before you even get to the yarn!

Rainbow Scalloped Tea Pot Cozy

Rainbow Scalloped Tea Pot Cozy
Originally uploaded by mama k nj

Well here's the cozy! I sent it out last week so my partner should have it any day now. This is a bad pic, but had to use the flash. It turned out so fun! The scallops reminded me of flower petals. Sadly, I broke my french press, but when I get a new one I want to make another one of these for that.

Pattern found here:
http://crochetroo.blogspot.com/2006/05/scallop-tea-cosy-instructions.html

Love Dishcloth

Love Dishcloth
Originally uploaded by mama k nj

I've been bitten by the knitted dishcloth bug. Even a slow knitter like me can turn one of these out in a few days.
Hurrah for instant gratification!
I initially wanted this to be a washcloth, but the kitchen cotton is a little stiff IMO. However I LOVE using knit/crochet cotton dishcloths so this will be finding a home in my rotation. (I've made two before and have purchased a few more.) I don't exactly use them to wash the dishes but they are good for cleaning sticky little hands and wiping up counter tops. Basically I use them for all the jobs a paper towel used to do. And they are cute too!

Pattern found here.
Yarn was just some mill-ends kitchen cotton in a rose color.

wow

I am pretty sure my brain is going to explode from all the project inspiration over on Ravelry... eek! Must. Go. To. Bed.....

The Teapot Cozy is in the mail! I can't wait to post a pic 'cause it turned out fab and I want to show off.

Tomorrow I must get back to sewing up a bday present for this weekend.

(random post tonight, no?)

I'm in!

I got my Ravelry invite. It only took a few weeks. Not bad at all. So I am looking for "friends" now! I'm MamaK on there. LMK your usernames please!

Ravelry

When I first heard of Ravelry, I don't know, like a year ago? I thought whatev. Like I need another on-line time suck. But I finally bit the bullet and signed up about a week ago. We'll see how long it takes for an invite. Oh a friend told me that they are having a CAL for the very same nativity that I am planning on making this year. neat-o

help!

**NEED ADVICE!**

Ok, so I have lots of experience tie dying with procion dyes and I've also dyed protein fibers with kool-aid. But I am thinking about dying my white towels off white. I want the look of "unbleached" or natural cotton.

(As an aside, I bought white towels for my bathroom thinking that if I always got white towels they would always match and I could keep them bright with bleach. Not so. Something in my water is making them really dingy and no matter what I try they still look that way. So I'm on to plan B. Only buy unbleached cotton. Besides, I want my next towel purchase to be unbleached organic anyway.)

So do I try Rit or procion in ivory? Tea or coffee dye? Anyone have any advice for me?

no pics again

What good is a craft blog with no pretty pictures? I don't know. Once again I am working on swap gift that I do not want to reveal. This one is a teapot cozy. Crocheted with this awesome pattern I googled. It is funky and I love it. I like it so much I'm going to make one for my french press next.

Oh and I just saw this awesome MARTHA good things swap. Man, I so wish I could participate, but I'm afraid my swap-que is full at the moment. After all, I do have a crazy toddler to chase after.

Destashing...

I know that the title of this blog is "Confessions of a Stash Junkie" but I am trying very hard to break the old stash hoarding habits.

I have already sold some acrylic yarn I had taking up space. I still have much more that needs new homes, but there just isn't much demand for skeins upon skeins of FunFur. ;)
I am contemplating heading over to Ebay but I don't like that they charge you the fees and again, FunFur is not hard to find so there is a good chance it wouldn't even sell. I think I'll hold on all of my cheapo Red Heart. It is good for amugurimi and little novelties like that.

And of course now that I've been bitten by the sewing bug I feel that old stash addiction creeping up on me again... must resist cute new fabric!

I think it would be too restrictive to say "CREATE ONLY FROM YOUR STASH THIS YEAR"
But I am really going to make a conscious effort not to purchase anything new unless it has a specific and immediate purpose.

How about you? How do you store and manage all the crafting supplies stash? Am I the only one with this strange addiction of collecting supplies and patterns?

am I crazy?

To be thinking about Christmas '08 already?

I really enjoyed doing a partially handmade Christmas last year, and I am thinking I want to bump it up a bit this year. But in order to actually accomplish this goal I'm going to have to work on it through out the year.

Here's what's mulling around in my mind at the moment...

*Matching PJs for DH and DS (gotta wait on this one until the new xmas fabric comes out in the fall)

*Homemade Lemoncello for FIL, stepdad, stepmom, brother and maybe some friends.

*Hats/Scarves for my 3 half-brothers

*Crochet throw for my bro (bought the yarn a year ago)

*Handbag w/ tissue holder for MIL

*Evening Clutch w/ tissue holder for Mom

*Amigurimi Nativity for Peanut-boy

Where to begin???

doing a happy dance

Lucy (from My Byrd House) is hosting a "Sassy" spring apron swap.

Click the button to join the fun!

I just love swaps. For some reason it's just more fun to make something for a complete stranger than yourself. I think I just like getting fun mail. :)

Love it!

Lucy beat me too it! Check out the fun apron she made with that rockin' Hobby Lobby fabric. She even did the red/white dot ruffle! She makes the coolest "sexy aprons" Sadly my apron has not been made yet... maybe soon!

And The Apronista is holding another apron-y giveaway! Maybe I'll win this time? :)

A Crafty New Year!

I have to admit, I'm a little sad when I look around the craft blogs I frequent to see beauteous Flickr collages of finished projects. While I did finish a few projects, most never made it to Flickr and I know that I didn't accomplish quite as much as I would have liked. I have serious project ADD and it is becoming an issue. Thanks to a toddler and household responsibilities I realize I need to be a bit more methodical in my approach or I am going to drive my myself (and poor Papa K) insane.

When I started this blog over 2 years ago, I was strictly a yarn-a-holic. Then I ventured into other various crafts and most recently rediscovered the joys of sewing. The result? I have many many unloved and unused crafting supplies hanging out in my spare room. As my fabric stash grows I realize I need some help. So the point of all my ramblings? These are my crafty goals for this year....

1) Destash! Via Ebay, FreeCycle or Goodwill, my supplies MUST be contained in either the dresser, closet, underbed or shelving in my spare bedroom. No more bins in the attic or boxes beside the beds.

2) Spend less time on the net, and more time crafting.

3) Formulate a plan for handmade xmas gifts and start working on them this summer.

4) Upload finished projects to Flickr for goodness sakes!

that was fun

Seriously that was both fun and easy. The hardest part was picking out the fabric and getting up the guts to try it. Oh and hemming a 2.5 yard swatch is kinda a PITA, but not hard. I am going to look for a 6mm hemming foot for my machine now to make that job easier.

Without further ado, here are some majorly bad, potential blackmail pictures. For some reason DH didn't understand that he was supposed to take the pic of the ring-sling and not his disheveled, no makeup, hasn't brushed her hair since this morning wife.

the one where my son looks crazy...

the one where I look surprised...All my project details are in the previous post.

.

PS If you don't feel like making your own fab silk sling, I really like this gal's work and she is affordable as far as a silk sling goes. Her shoulder style is different though.

slingin' it

I've been a big fan of "baby wearing" since Peanut was about 6mo old when I realized I could have a happy baby AND my arms back to myself.
My on-line friend made me a comfy Mei Tai (Asian-style carrier) and also a soft wrap (sorta like this). This summer I won a sweet sling from here and realized I really like the versatility that a ring-sling has. I really wanted a silk one but the $$$ price tag was prohibitive. They look simple enough to make so here I am! I ordered this fabric and a set of these. I have my directions from Jan's site.

(ETA: I used the Medium sized Aluminum rings in silver.)

Stay tuned for the outcome! Has anyone else out there attempted sewing their own baby carrier?

Ta-da!

As promised, here is the doll with clothes. I cut up some old shirts to make them. I think I rushed them a bit because the sleeves are too long. Oh well. I don't think Peanut noticed. I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. I'll be posting some pics of our celebrations over at Mama K NJ.

Once again, doll kit (pattern+materials) came from http://www.dancingraindolls.com/

Oh and look what I got for Christmas....

Don't mind the bad pic of me... look on my lap. It's Bend The Rules Sewing! yay!