5 more days!

To sign up for the Craft My Wists! Swap over on Craftster!

You know you want to! ;) There's only 2 spots left.

I admire metalwork and these are fabulous Etsy finds.

Swap Out!

These little guys will be on their way to Canada tomorrow! I'm swapping 1 full set of my amigurumi jellyfish for one of Dahlia's amazing Tardis Quilts! She put together an 'Invite your Partner RD 17' Swap over on Craftster. I'm so happy she agree'd to swap with me! I even sent her an added bonus! I spied through her Wists and noticed her love of Cardinals. I quickly, at the last minute, decided to crochet her one. :) I used this pattern on Ravelry and made a few additions. I think he's rather cute. :)

Yarn Review: Noro Cash Iroha

One thing I must say about Noro yarn, you cannot beat the color! Their yarn is always so vivid and lush! It's an eye catcher and for good reason! I just can't help myself I have to buy at least one skein! I purchased two skeins of Noro Cash Iroha at only 99 yards per-skein. (holy crap! not much right!?) Despite that, I had a very fun time knitting with it. It's not to thin, it's about as thick as sport yarn. Very soft to the touch. The only problem I came across while knitting with this yarn happened during my bind off. In addition to my hat below I made a pair of gloves. I used Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn bind off. This yarn does not appreciate any kind of tensioned pulling or constant use in the same place. The yarn broke every easily before I could get to end of my work. I tried a blunt needle as well as using my knitting needles while binding off and had the same outcome. While I love the color, I'm not sure I'd re-purchase this particular type of yarn.



Robin's Egg Hat on Ravelry. I cannot believe it knitted up on only one of my Noro skeins! I love this hat. Very easy pattern to knit and it knits up quick! This Noro yarn is a bit itchy though. The button came out of a vintage jar of buttons that was started by my great grandmother. I hoped it came off one of my grandfathers uniforms...unfortunately that wasn't the case.

Free Crochet Pattern: Zip Line Scarf

Free Crochet Pattern: Zip Line Scarf

Gauge: Not important. Judge by your yarn weight. I used an H for my medium worsted yarn. I recommend an I or J for chunky yarns.

**Remember The chunkier your yarn, the thicker and wider your scarf will be.

Stitches Used:
ch – Chain Stitch
dc – Double Crochet
slst – Slip Stitch
fpdc – Front Post Double Crochet
bpdc – Back Post Double Crochet
Shell - Shell Stitch (2 dc, 1 ch, 2 dc in same stitch)

If you are unsure how to make a fpdc or bpdc I recommend looking up the stitches on youtube.

*This scarf takes roughly 2 skeins of yarn. I use about 340 yards. *If you use specialty yarn that is less around 100 yards a skein, I recommend getting 4 skeins.

*Note. After finishing with your first skein of yarn, I recommend cutting your fringe. It will lay nicer if the yarn is cut from the top of the skein. Towards the end the yarn gets curly. I cut 4-5 strands for each set of fringe, depending on yarn weight. You will need 12 sets of fringe.

*We will first be creating loops. These are important because they are used to attach the fringe to the scarf. The double crochet is also important, it acts as a filler stitch so there will be no gaps.


Pattern:
1. Ch 19. (Leave a long tail, it will be tucked and blended into the fringe later)
2. Ch 3, dc in your original 19th stitch. (4th chain from hook) Skip 2 ch, slst in 3rd ch. *Ch 3, dc in same stitch, skip 2 ch, slst in 3rd ch. Continue from * to end. (you should have 6 loops total)



*Do not turn, instead continue on the top stitches of your original 19 chains.

3. Ch 3, Shell Stitch into first chain (ch will be connected to your slst knot), *skip 2 ch, dc, skip 2 ch, shell, Continue from *. (Last stitch should be a shell), Turn.



4. Ch 3, shell in first shell stitch gap. (the chain between your dcs), *bpdc around next dc, shell in next shell stitch gap. Repeat from *. Turn.
5. Ch 3, shell in first shell stitch gap, *fpdc around previous stitch's bpdc, shell in next shell stitch gap. Repeat from *. Turn.
6. Continue alternating bpdc and fpdc pattern until desired length.

F.O.
7. Ch 3, *dc in same stitch, skip 3 stitches. Slst in next stitch. Ch 3 repeat from * to end. (last stitch will fall on outside chain stitch)

8. Attach Fringe through the chain loops only, don't pull fringe through the dc's.



This scarf makes a great gift for family and friends! Or just make one for yourself! It's really easy and relaxing once you get the hang of it. I love this pattern and I hope you will too :) I also put this pattern up on Ravelry. If you make one I'd love to see it!

For Personal Use Only Please. :)

DWR5 Received!

I received a fabulous package from Angie yesterday! Everything was made with so much thoughtfulness and care. I am so happy to of had her as my partner! See the full Craftster Swap Gallery here!



I admire plushie making and Angie made me an AMAZING plush Tardis! She also sent me a banana since bananas are her thing :) Next, she knitted me these wonderful Tardis and Dalek beanies! I'm so happy it's still a bit chilly at night here in FL. Can't wait to rock these! Last but not least a T-shirt with one of my favorite Who Quotes "Would you care for some TEA!" I love the little Dalek with a tea cup! Genius! and so cute!

Designer Animal Plushes!


This week I stumbled across these amazing handmade plushies! Each one is hand stitched to perfection! You can see more at Nonesuch Garden's Etsy Store.


These plushies make me want to attempt a cute hand sewn project!

Amigurumi 10th Doctor!

I have been waiting to post these photos! Oh I'm such a proud crafter! Absolutely Thrilled with how he turned out. The most difficult part was figuring out how to do his hair. I had to do justice! David Tennant has great hair! I think this method was perfect! :)


Squeee! His little sideburns are my favorite part! :D


My partner LOVED him. I'm so happy. I plan to make one for myself and write down the pattern as I go. Then I'll be able to post it online. :)

I'm hosting!

I'm hosting my first swap over on Craftster! :D Excited! Here's the link if you'd like to check it out. Possibly join.

Wonder what a Wists is?? Here's the website. It's basically a site that groups your favorite items that you see online. Its your online wish list! Hah! I bet thats how they decided on the name Wists! It helps your swap partners figure out what you like. Helps ensure a happy swap package. :)

Happy Swapping!

WHEEEE!

Disney Store called earlier and they got 3 more Rapunzel Dolls for sale! Since I put my name on a hopeful waiting list, one of those has my name on it! :D Wheeee! Excited! And believe me, even that photo doesn't do her justice.

I found out she's number 5 in the limited edition dolls. Here's the ones that came before her. Princess Tiana, Snow White, Belle, and Talking Buzz and Woody.

Genius!

What an amazing, innovative idea! A wine rack turned into a yarn rack! I couldn't help but repost about this, its a brilliant idea. Check out the full blog post here: Prudent Baby Blog

Just Because....

I mailed out my Doctor Who Swap Package this morning and its taking every bit of resistance not to post what I made, soooo here's some Doctor Who Awesomeness I found on the web! A blog called SpringFieldPunx has lots of amazing artwork done in the Simpsons style. I liked the Doctor Who characterizations so much I even edited and Frankenstein-ed my own Tori look-a-like character! :P Hehe! It's like I'm the Doctor's Companion! MUAHAHAHA, Seriously though, I made it purely for personal icon-uses only.

Happy Valentines Day!

This is Valentine. He's a Tenta-Teddy. And he's wishing you a Happy Valentines Day. May it be full of chocolates, flowers, and love!

Random Amis!

Will I ever finish these? Probably not. Photo was cute, so I thought I'd share.

Patchwork Pillows!


I recently came across this tutorial for making your own pillow cases. What a fun idea! And what a great way to use up some of your stashed fabrics! I then came across this kirby patchwork pillowcase. How fun! Take your favorite 8-bit character and turn it into a pillowcase! Here's the link to the original craftster thread.


Since I'm on the subject of patchwork, I wanted to share GatheredThreads' AMAZING Tardis mini-quilt. I am in LOVE! She agree'd to do a private swap with me :D! I'll be sending her a full package of my rainbow amigurumi jellyfish, and shes' going to make me a Tardis quilt! And it has LEDs so it even lights up! I am so excited! :D I have to find the perfect place to hang it!

Doctor Who Craft Swap!

I have exactly 1 week left before I have to mail out my swap package. I badly want to post pictures of my completed projects, but I don't want to risk spoilers. So it'll have to wait. So far I have 2 completed projects, 2 more in process, and one more I'm debating about. I have some scrapped mess-ups so they'll be going through some stress tests. lol See the Craftster Doctor Who Swap 5 gallery so far. :)

Cables!

I only learned to knit about a month ago, and I decided to take a stab at cables! I had a stash of chunky yarn lying around and I figured it was time for a new scarf. I used Kiersten Brandt's Backbone Bookmark Pattern and thought it would look awesome as a scarf. I used size 11 needles and the scarf ended up being a good 6" across. Perfect! Not bad for my first stab at cables! :D I also wasn't sure if I liked my yarn choice after I started knitting with it, but it's one of those 'the more you look at it, the more you like it' kinda things.

Disney's Tangled

I am a Disney girl at heart and I must say Tangled was an absolutely charming movie. Rapunzel would definitely be my new favorite if I were still a kid. Browsing the Disney store I came across this Limited Edition Deluxe Rapunzel Doll. You can only pre-order her for $99.50.



I'm not one for dolls but this one was beautifully crafted. So much crazy detail! They've only made 5000 worldwide so she's been sold out for a while. I still wanted to post it though, since its such a stunning piece.

A few days ago Elise sent me a link for a papercraft owl from a blog called How About Orange. This site has an amazing amount of DIY links. I definitely recommend checking it out. This blog is being added to my list of daily checks. Plenty of projects to be found here. I am feeling quite inspired. Hurray it's almost the weekend!