Dinos, Dogs, and a cold

Kali and Katie ready for bed.

As you know I decided to take the week off from orders. I think it went well until I caught my father's cold. So since about Thursday I've been battling the first sickness of the season. That was also my first full day of doggie sitting in the windy city of Troutdale. While everyone was pulling up to tables of turkey dinner, I was on the couch trying to feel better. Thankfully Kali and Katie were awesome pups, glad to spend the extended weekend with them (Wednesday night through today). Lots of chilling and marathoning tv and movies on Netflix. Nothing better when you're sick than to just try to relax.

It wasn't a total bust week. I did get to make a few little Dino clad dolls. I kinda love this pattern too. I made the green/yellow one first. She is a keeper, and I do mean that. She is mine now I have claimed her. But I wanted to make a few adjustments to the pattern once I was done. Which is why I made Mr. Gray. I was happy that the adjustments worked out and I was able to make them both before I got sick.  

Adjustments:

• I decided after getting most of the first one assembled it needed a tail. So I whipped one up right fast. So glad I did. Looked off without one. The back spikes looked off before the tail.
• On Mr. Gray I decided that the body was a little fatter then it needed to be, so I reduced that a touch.
• I also widened the tummy strip too. Thought that was a bit wimpy. 
• I centered the hood design too. 
• Next was giving him actual feet. Stick legs were easy to make but bumping out the feet wasn't hard either. And looks better.
• I gave a little more of a hand. It looks more like the pattern picture now.  (The thought of thumbs came to mind but on something this small I didn't see the point.)
• And since I didn't have buttons I did yarn eyes. Which came out pretty good. Might stay with those instead of buttons in the future.

Aren't they cute!!!

~REVIEW: Dino Dayne~ 

▪ Pattern Readability - 

5 Yarn Balls. Very well written, no issues there. 

▪ Ease of Pattern - 

5 Yarn Balls. Great pattern for a beginner.
The hood is probably the hardest piece and it was easy to follow.

▪ Adjustments - 

5 Yarn Balls. Honestly you don't NEED to adjust this pattern. I just did for personal taste, cuz thats how I roll. 
 

▪ Final Product -

5 Yarn Balls. Super cute and bigger then the pictures make him look.  
 

▪ Personal -
 5 Yarn Balls. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE! First dino pattern I've come across that works. Next is to find dinosaur pattern that isn't humanized. 

▪Overall Score -

Easy math. . . .  a full 5 Yarn Balls!!

 I also started on a minion pattern but since I wasn't feeling well he barely got started. I will most certainly get back to that pattern, just might be a bit. Sad, because I thought my off week was going to be super productive. But instead of projects, I just made mucus, Eeeeewwwwww.

 Now I'm at a new pup gig, not far from the last one. This is a two weeker, came on suddenly. Rocco is a cutie, pictures next week for sure. And as I try to get over this cold I will again start on orders. That is once I pick up the yarn I need from home.

So I hope everyone else enjoyed the holiday and I'll write next week. *fingers crossed*

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Happy Crafting!

Elmo

So this week I worked on Elmo. I got frustrated by about Thursday because I ran out of red yarn and I thought I had more. So I couldn't finish him till after Saturday when I picked up more yarn. Not the biggest fan of this one. I think his head came out funny, mostly because of the open moth pattern. I think I put the eyes on funny too, but the kid getting it won't see it that way I'm sure. She'll just be happy to have her own Elmo. His nose is actually orange, the flash just washed it out in these photos. 

I cut down the original mouth pattern because I thought I was going to be too big, and it would have been. At the size I made it the moth on him was too big. I think the way the head is constructed makes it look weird after you stuff him as well. So this probably isn't a pattern I'll do very often if much at all.

I do think I could make a cute Dino out of the Head/body bit of this pattern. We'll have to see on that though. . . .  Elmo also marks the end of the Christmas orders. I still have more orders to get to, but he was the last to be finished for the holidays. So I think I'll take this week and work on something for fun. Of course I also might just get working on the rest of my orders. Who knows, I have to decided fast though. I have to pack for a house sitting gig that starts Wednesday. 

REVIEW TIME

▪ Pattern Readability - 

5 Yarn Balls. Its actually a well written pattern.

▪ Ease of Pattern - 

4 Yarn Balls. Part of the pattern for the Head/Body is a little funny. It tells you to 'increase/decrease (blank) times evenly spaced'. I hate when people write this. It makes it harder on the reader.
 

▪ Adjustments - 

4 Yarn Balls. The moth adjustment I made, plus I think this can be improved on. Just not totally sure how I should go about it yet.
 

▪ Final Product - 

4 Yarn Balls. Its cute, fairly easy pattern, and mostly accurate.
 

▪ Personal - 

3 Yarn Balls. The head on this guy really bugs me and he needed thumbs too.
 

▪Overall Score -  

4 Yarn Balls even. 

He may have scored high but like I said I'm not likely to make him in the future. At least not without making some changes. I do want to try the dino thing though. Now that could be cute.

We also did our Thanksgiving festivities early this year. With me house sitting and one of my sisters working retail, we thought it would be easier on everyone to go ahead and do it early. So a normal Thanksgiving Saturday for us around here. Hope everyone else has a good holiday and takes it easy on the Black Friday sales. No need to kill yourselves over a lousy deal (as you can tell I'm not a Black Friday fan. I just don't get the camping out and killing people to get to the door and certain item thing).

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Happy Crafting!

Experiment #626

Since Bowser was finished on Halloween, I've been working on a cowgirl rag doll and Stitch. I'm happily surprised that my orders are almost finished out. I only have one more doll to make on the Christmas orders list. But more lined up after the holidays, Wooo!!

For the Rag Doll I had to change up the leg pattern. I wanted to give her cowboy boots and took some time to modify the original pattern to fit my needs. I've said in the past, pattern making isn't my favorite and can be a really big pain, but this worked out pretty good on the first try. I also brought out the hat pattern I used on Rufus the dog back in July. I guessed on the hook size I needed to fit the doll and got really lucky. Although once I added her hair I wish I had used a bigger hook. I underestimated hair volume and had some trouble figuring out how to place the hat and how to do her hair. Live and learn I guess.

For this doll I also add a horseshoe design on the dress. I couldn't find any patches I liked that were small enough for her dress and went the rout of embroidering it myself. Not too bad for free hand. And I'm glad I had the PERFECT button for her dress too. I think this doll came out perfect and I couldn't be happier with it. I really hope my niece enjoys her new friend.

 Next we have Experiment #626 a.k.a Stitch. Our lovable outlaw alien. 

If it wasn't for this order it probably would have been a while before I got to this great pattern. I will most defiantly be making this one again, and in more colors too. I have almost no bad things to say about this pattern. Almost. 

The pattern as a whole is quite solid and I didn't notice, what I'm gonna call a typo, till I was assembling. I think the ear patterns were miss labeled and just need to be reversed. Not the biggest of deals but I made note of it for next time. Its why the pink inner ear looks lumpy. Either it was miss labeled or someone forgot to mention that the directions are in UK crochet and not US. Yes there is a difference in stitches between the two. Not sure which is right but I'm gonna go with typo. 

I also decided to make a few extra pieces with this. I started with the tummy strip. They wrote that into the body pattern but I've had issues in the past of these just coming out wonky and made the decision that a little more work was better then not being happy with the look later. And honestly it wasn't that hard to do up. They also addressed this issue in the pattern and gave a tip on how to fix it, but I just passed on that potential headache. The next two pieces came at the very end after I'd put this adorable alien together. If you've ever seen Lilo & Stitch you know he's got markings on his back. This pattern didn't have them at all and I just couldn't stand not putting them on. He didn't look right to me without them. So I took maybe the better part of an hour to make them up. They aren't perfect by any means but they are, kinda, close. This is me being super anal, again, about making things look correct when they are reproductions of popular characters.

And I love that he sits up on his own. I love this little guy.

 Review Time:

▪ Pattern Readability -  

 5 Yarn Balls. This has been one of the best written patterns I've had in a while. A+
 

▪ Ease of Pattern -  

5 Yarn Balls. This is a decent pattern for a beginner. They even give a GREAT brake down on how to assemble.
 

▪ Adjustments - 

 4.5 Yarn Balls. Honestly it was mostly because of my preferences. But the ear thing is the only knock down. And it's not even a big deal.
 

▪ Final Product -  

5 Yarn Balls. Anyone can make or have this adorable guy.
 

▪ Personal - 

 5 Yarn Balls. I'd give it a higher score if I wasn't on a 1-5 scale. And I think the makings make a difference.
 

▪Overall Score - 

 4.9 Yarn Balls. . . .  technically. We'll just call it an even 5.

It was super fun making Stitch this week. Next up we have Elmo. I doubt he'll be much of a pain, just a lot of red yarn. But you never know right?

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Happy Crafting!

Halloween is gone.... But Bowser is done!!!

So to start. . . . . .  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! A day late but its my favorite holiday of the year so I gotta say it. Hope everyone did something fun. Be it trick-or-treating, partying, or chilling watching movies. Everyone has their own way to have fun. I did the latter and watched Doctor Who as well. I happily wore my Dino hoodie and tail I made years ago around the house all day.  (Side note: In the picture, my hair isn't actually blond. The flash just washed out the very light green. Annoying but there it is.) Easy to make any hoodie into a Dino Hoodie. I found the tutorial on Pinterest. It may be targeted for kids but I could care less. I made one for me and my brother, we love them to say the least. As for my tail, I winged a crochet tail and added matching felt from the hoodie. All I gotta do is loop a string to a belt loop on my pants and secure with a button and walla I have a tail. 

Its my go to costume if I didn't have the time or brain power to come up with anything else for the year (I usually space until the last minute. A curse but I now have my favorite stand by). Next year I kinda want to dress up as Osgood. Not sure which outfit of her's though, but I kinda want my own Baker Scarf. All the Whovian's know who Osgood is. If you don't watch Doctor Who, she is the embodiment of the fan base in one character. We ARE Osgood. 

I also finished off Bowser yesterday. Dear Lord is this guy a beast. He might not be much bigger then some of my other projects have been but he took a lot longer and was a ton more pieces than any of them. Most projects I can do in about a week as you've seen by my earlier entries here on Blogger, but Bowser took me the better part of two weeks. 

I am proud of him, although I have adjustments if I ever get a request to make him again. And with that statement we will begin the review.

 Most of Bowser's pieces are easy to make and require no adjustments. In this pattern, however there was one piece that the writer guessed on the number of rounds and essentially told the reader to crochet until you felt it was enough. This was irksome, especially since it was the shell ring (not pictured to the above), one of the bigger pieces to this creation. So I went about counting my rows till I had a tube big enough to go around the shell piece. I made sure to note this so I don't have to guess again. This was point one of bad pattern writing. 
I made an adjustment to the shell spikes that seemed like a no brainer and created less work when it came to assembly. The original pattern had the crocheter make a band of orange to go around the spikes after they were placed on the shell. I skipped that in favor of a color change on the last round. It seemed way simpler to me and honestly compared to their pictures looks just as good if a little different. My goal through out this project was to not make myself insane with the shear number of pieces involved. Which was why I opted to use felt on some of his facial features and nails. This was my first time using felt in a project and I think it made a bit of a different to how it could have looked other wise. Thumbs Up for felt!!
After the assembly of the shell I moved on to the daunting task of his jaw and head. Now the jaw its self is made of 10 pieces and is the only piece in which the writer went into some detail about assembling (helpful). And by far the only pictures of assembly that were provided. In all fairness the writer noted that they weren't the best at explaining how to put him together and said to look to the photos for placement help. This would have been just fine if the pictures weren't of about 3 angles and lacked in clarity. 

The Jaw was less difficult then I had anticipated. But I think the lower jaw would look better if it wasn't made out of three pieces, not to mention make assembly a tad simpler (me trying to make things easier on myself, again).  But it wasn't till adding the lower jaw flap, head piece, felt for the inside of the mouth, and collar that things got complicated and the directions too simple. They didn't mention where things should be attached at and left the reader to figure it out on their own. This was frustrating to say the least and cause a bit of stitching and un-stitching, then restitching. I joked that 'either I was going to bleed or get the head finished' while trying to figure the whole thing out. As you can see the head was completed and thankfully no blood was spilt. I learned a few things for next time. You must do the jaw, then the felt, head piece, stuff, and finally place the lower jaw flap. With the collar I wish it had been a tad smaller. I just think it was too big for the size of the head or you don't need the lower jaw flap.

The other helpful bit of information that was left out would have been the feet placement. It never specified which end of the leg piece they were meant to go. I believe I put them on the wrong end to start and before attaching the legs to the body decided to un-stitch them and put the feet on the other side of the leg and it looked better. Still I might try to rework the legs for the next time because I find them a bit bulky for the final product. Maybe its just me or how I put the legs on. 
I do wish that the writer had made a template for the eyes (the mouth as well), it would have made that bit a bit easier too. I ended up embroidering the iris on because I couldn't get the tiny pieces of felt to work with me. And other then them not look exactly the same, I think they came out well. 

Bowser's hair and eyebrows were about the only thing I could figure out form their pictures. They weren't very well described in the instructions. His tail and tummy strip were hardly a thought (in the instructions or in the pictures) and took some time to figure out the best placement. All in all this isn't a horrible pattern, especially if you like a puzzle.

 ▪ Pattern Readability - 

3 Yarn Balls. . . . the assembly and lack of good pictures brought this down. Any harder and the rating would be much lower.
▪ Ease of Pattern - 

 3 Yarn Balls. . . .  again it comes back to the assembling instruction. I can not stress how horrendous they were.
▪ Adjustments - 

4 Yarn Balls. . .  Most of the pieces were well written and I just replaced some with felt.
▪ Final Product - 

4.5 Yarn Balls. . . . He looks good, but maybe he could look better???
▪ Personal -  

3 Yarn Balls. . . . this would be a 4 if it was just about the final look (the legs just bug me personally). But the, at times, aggravation of this project has to factor.
▪Overall Score - 

3.5 Yarn Balls

WOW assembly dragged that score down. But thems the breaks.

So last weekend I did my first bazaar of the year and first 2 day one at that. I had some fun hanging out with one of my sisters, but it was a slow weekend for us down at the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars). This was my booth on day two. It rained really bad that Sunday too. But it wasn't a bad experience and there is always next year and other bazaars this year too.

 

Well on to the next thing on my list of orders and I should write next week with that project done. 

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Happy Crafting!

Lets try this again...

Well HUZZAH HUZZAH, I've finished the beautiful TARDIS blanket.  It has been completed as of October 1st. It measures at about 7ft x 4ft, and will surly keep the recipient warm.

I was so happy to see this project finished, and I would truly love to keep it for myself. Alas it is spoken for and shall be shipped out soon. I loved this project and have a greater idea of what it would/will take to do another such project down the line. I do know I have a few revisions as to assembling something like this. Thats where I came into an issue. What method, because there are so many, will I use to put this thing together? I chose the whip stitch this time. Pretty much just like sewing squares of a quilt together. But I think for the next one, whenever that may be, I'll try my hand at another one of the techniques I found. If any of you have a favorite way to assemble granny square blankets I'd love to hear about it.
A project of this magnitude is by request only as it takes 6-8 weeks to complete. Which is why I won't be taking any orders for this type of project until the new year. So if you are interested in requesting such an item you have time to pick out a pattern and size of your choosing. You are welcome to submit or just talk over your request at any time with me in my Etsy page (link below), but just know the order will have to wait to be filled until after the holidays.

Since finishing my favorite geek project to date, I've had a house sitting gig. I got to hang out for a weekend with Miles, Boo boo, and Steve (the cat). Great group of boys, and I was happy to be up to do this gig. Parking was the only draw back about this gig. No parking lot for this little apartment building and close street parking was difficult to find. I managed something fairly close and didn't die on the walk to or from the car. YAY!!

Boo boo sleeping on the couch next to me.

Miles, isn't he a cutie.

STEVE! Nice cat, loves to cuddle.

After that weekend I went to a going out of business sale at a local furniture store with my mother. We (finally) are getting a new sofa and chair for the living room. We all need to be sitting on something other then a futon. Great idea, lousy reality after about a decade or more. Those should be delivered just before Thanksgiving rolls around. 

What the new couch is gonna be. So happy!!!

Once I finished with the blanket I set aside orders momentarily (or more like for the first half of the month.... eeekkkk) to work on a few things to take to an upcoming bazaar.  I wanted more poppies and a few more Rag Dolls to take with me. This bazaar is being held by Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post #4248 here in Portland on Oct 24th & 25th. So if you're in town come swing by between 11am and 5pm.

The poppies were cake to make and I finished putting steams on them today. The Rag Dolls took a little longer.  But I think these new girls look great. I was trying to do some to sell and my two orders at the same time but decided I was taking on a bit much all at once and focused my energy on the inventory. I did manage to get half of an ordered doll done along with the two in the second picture and can't wait to finish her. But that is for another post.

They are coming along. Wasn't sure about the one on the right just yet.

Love the combos I came up with in these girls. I hope they find good homes this weekend.

After finishing these dolls this week (Thursday I think it was), I started on another big order. Bowser! And holy wow this guy has a lot of bits to him. I've only made 27 pieces and thats maybe the bigger half of the doll. I'll have to post pictures of him in pieces next time. 

This will be the first doll I've made that will have felt pieces on them. I general feel that you can and should at least try to make all the bits out of yarn. I've avoided felt pieces in the past. But after going over this pattern I decided that some of his minor pieces (i.e. his nails and teeth) are better made from felt and will save me time in the long run of making this beast of a doll. Along with time it may even save me some of my sanity. I've got most of the bigger pieces done and am a bit excited to see how he will come together. A full review on the one of two patterns I've found for Bowser once I'm finished. The two are quite similar looking, but over all I liked the finished Bowser in the pattern I'm going off of.

So thats the skinny for the past month. Continue work on Bowser and the bazaar this coming weekend. 

Oh and its still slow going but my sciatica is getting better. I can walk and stand a bit longer. 

Thats all for this post.... hopefully I have something for you next week and I can get back to the weekly postings.

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Happy Crafting!

Heres whats been going on...

Post that was started 8/30/15- Not much to report this week. Made it past 100 squares, although later in the week I took a brake from making them. Started on the rag dolls like I wanted. But mostly dealing with back pain and pinched nerve while house sitting and hanging out with Zeva and Lucy.
I've had a couple of really bad days with my back. Just as I thought I was getting a bit better I had a set back. But as of today I think I'm doing much better. I've gotten a routine of starches that seem to be working wonders that I've been doing diligently the last few days. . . . . . . . .

Well this is awkward. I haven't posted the last three weeks and really it gets chalked up to my back pain. Hard to sit here and type when A) you can't find a comfortable position to sit in that allows you to type or B) have almost nothing to talk about but the back/leg pain. . . . also the TARDIS blanket.

Inky all cuddly on the couch.

As you can see I had started a post on the 30th but for one reason or another it never got finished. Since then I had been home for a week and was getting better. Then I had another house sitting gig over Labor Day weekend. Got to hang out with Inky. She's another frenchie, high energy at times and super cute. But while I was there I had another, and fairly painful, set back. And I was on a walk with Inky at the time and not all that close to the house. Oh man was I in some pain, and with much urging from my parents and employer/second mom, I finally made an appointment with a chiropractor. 

Dr. Dan confirmed that I've got sciatica, oh joy. And for the past two weeks (or so) we've been slowly getting me better. I'm feeling much better, although not 100% yet. My leg pain is mostly gone now and it seems to be sticking to my back, which is what we want. Walking is becoming easier and so is standing, which is nice because I think I'm starting to get a little stir crazy not being able to do much unless I can sit to do it. Even though I am getting and feeling better I'm still not allowed to help out with the dog walking part of work with Fairy Dogmother, docs orders. Over doing it could set me back or, Eeeek, possibly make it go really bad. But were working towards getting me back in tip-top shape. I go back in to see them tomorrow.

 

first of the two pizza nights

Cooking is interesting when you have to sit in a chair to do it. But quite manageable considering your not really above the counter or stove. I've made pizza twice, and it tastes so good. Even better since the new oven cooks it properly. I did burn it a little bit last night when I did pizza though, was in a touch too long. 

Now that I've covered the personal life junk, on to the crochet side of life. WOO!

Somewhere around 170 of 273 squares done in this pic

Its much easier to try to find a comfortable position to crochet in, as long as you can get to the yarn and your hands aren't impeded. So thankfully I could still get stuff done in that area of life. 

I finished making all the squares on September 14th. Recounted to be sure I had all the squares made, twice. 

Then came putting the rows together. I first made stacks of 13 squares in the order they will be pieced together in the blanket. This way all I have to do is find the right stack and add it to the previous row, rather then hunt for the right square in a bag.

All 21 rows stacked up and waiting to be put together

side view

 It took me a day or so to figure out how I wanted to piece this project together. Using a slip stitch was possibly simpler but posed an issue for me on the back side of the blanket that I didn't want to deal with. So I changed to a whip stitch that so far I'm happy with. Right now I only have the rows connected horizontally, (hence the weird gappiness you see in the photo) but I'm still very pleased with the look. My Whovian half is excited to see the end result, and a little sad that it has to be sent away once its done. All together so far I've put in 35 days of work into this blanket. Shouldn't be to many more days left in it either. This is truly a labor of love.

Ahhhh its coming together. The vision is becoming realized.

New Poppies

I did take some time out and made a few poppies. Since I wasn't at home and wasn't going to pack up the massive blanket project just to hang out with some pups for a few hours. I decided it was a perfect time to make some more poppies. I changed up my pattern slightly to make the centers easier. But these are to gear up for a bazaar I'm going to next month held by VFW Post 4248. I've got just over a month before that two day bazaar and I wanted to have plenty of poppies and hopefully soon a few more rag dolls to take with me. So I'll be doing a short pause on orders to get ready for that big event.

I guess that covers whats been happening and whats to come for me at the moment. I still can't believe I stopped posting for so long. I guess I failed a little on my post challenge for the year. But life happens. 

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Happy Crafting!

Slow week, but good work anyway

As of August 22nd

I intended to work on more than just the blanket this week. . . . I didn't get around to anything else, but I'm around third of the way done with the squares. So happy dance. I've been keeping track in a note book about what I've done on what days. I figure it will give me a good timeline of how long it really takes me to do one of these for future possible orders. I've also gotten it down to just under fifteen minutes a square if I'm focused on one. Oddly I'm not bored yet of making these, even after 96 of them (so far 3 for the day). 

I want to get to work on the two Rag Dolls I have on the order list this week. Crossing my fingers that I get to them. Which means I should see about getting some yarn from home.

At a new house sitting job. So happy to spend this week with Zeva (K-9) and Lucy (Feline). They're a great pair.

Zeva was being silly. My flash always gives me demon dog.

Pretty standered slow week for me. Although I've seemed to have tweaked something in my back again. Which has got me decided on starting back exercises to help with this sort of thing. Walking has been a chore this week because of the tweak. Somethings just gotta be done to try to help it.  

Oh, been binge watching Doctor Who, or rather re-watching. Netflix just got season 8 and the newest season starts September 19th. Super excited about it starting up again. 

So back to the blanket for the night and Rag Dolls later this week.

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Happy Crafting!

Woodstock gets a hat

For starters one of my Christmas orders it calls for a themed Woodstock. It's to go with a Snoopy I made last year. The Snoop has a red and green scarf so I gave Woodstock a similar hat. The stripping is different on both of them but I think they will still look quite nice together.

I decided that Woodstock needed a an elf hat and since I couldn't find a pattern for a doll I made one myself. I've said before that I'm not overly fond of making my own patterns, but this one was fairly simple. I used Double Crochet stitches (Dc) to get the wide strips and not a stiff piece. Mostly played it by ear till it was a good length and then to fit his head properly. But I was smart and wrote what I did down as I was doing it. In the past I've made the mistake of not doing that and having to try and recreate what I did again. Its a pain and a lesson learned the hard way. So this project is done and only a Rag Doll left on that particular order.

What I have so far of the TARDIS blanket (as of 8/11)

The Blanket is going well. I have 57 of the 273 squares done up until now. Thats about 21% complete if I did my math right. Ive also knocked the time it takes me to complete a square down to about 15 minutes rather than the 20 I had last week. They are just supper easy, even if there is a lot of them. Almost four of the six colors are complete. I'm close to done with the navy square, after that its the royal blue and a cream left. Can't wait to put this together. 

I found a new app after getting one of those new inkjoy stylus pens. Love the pen, it even writes like a dream. But I got a sketching app, the Autodesk Sketchbook app,  and I've been finding it really fun. So I did some messing about on the app just doodling and then I did a new sketch of something I posted a month or two back out of my art journal. (Art Journal Post). There isn't much of a change up in the doodle, but looking at it this way and giving it a bigger view is refreshing. I think its more polished this way and maybe I'll finally do something with it, who knows. I plan to do more from that page of my journal.

From the journal

Meet Billy.

 Then my sister and her man came over to get a few things from the garage and brought along little Billy the kid. He's part of a new litter in the house and I think he may be staying there. He is part of the second litter since Lugnuts. Same mommy and possibly same father. But who knows. This should be the mama dogs last littler. Hopefully they get her fixed, she's getting a bit old to do this.

And finally I'm at the first of two house sitting gigs that span till the end of the month. Not gonna lie I kinda miss my own bed and cuddling with my own pups. But I do love this job. Right now I'm with a couple of grey hounds that are just delightful. I'm here till the end of the week and straight on to the next house with a lovely pup I haven't had the pleasure of hanging with and Lucy the cat who I've gotten quite fond of. 

Well back to the yarn minds. Oh the lovely fiber that it is.

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Happy Crafting!

Green once again

As I stated in my last post I'm going to go over the elephant snuggle pattern(s).

First up for review is the Granny Square. I got this pattern off of my Color-Bay blanket, pattern by Cat Mazza. I snagged this particular pattern out of the book Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker. Love the square pattern for this one. Not sure why I didn't think of this when I was looking for a good and simple granny square to make for this blanket, but I'm glad I finally thought of it.

I originally went looking for a pattern for two reasons; 1) there wasn't really a readable one attached to the pattern for the elephant or attached to another pattern similar to this one and 2) the pattern was translated into broken english or a general 'this is how it should look'. Although one was a solid attempt (the broken english one) and the other had pictures, I decided I need a crash course in granny squares and a pattern that was super simple to follow. And I found that in this square.

▪ Pattern Readability - 5 Yarn Balls. Although there isn't a skill rating on this pattern I would give it and A+ for being simple to read and understand.
 

▪ Ease of Pattern - 5 Yarn Balls. Again the ease of this pattern is great. I can whip out this three round square in an average of 20 minutes. This isn't complicated at all.
 

▪ Adjustments - 5 Yarn Balls. I only changed the chain (ch) 6 at the beginning to a Magic Ring (MR) the first round. I found that simpler.
 

▪ Final Product - 5 Yarn Balls. Simplistic and good looking Granny Square.
 

▪ Personal - 5 Yarn Balls. I will be using this square whenever I can.
 

▪Overall Score - A Perfect 5 Yarn Balls.

Next the Elephant Snuggle pattern. Saw this ages ago on Pinterest or somewhere and a dozen times since. Found a similar concept on Ravelry with a few more variations like a little girl, an owl, a sheep, and so forth. Loved this idea of a stuffed animal and blanket combination. So glad I got to make one and I want to do more. Saw a Doctor Who version on Etsy the other day and I about died.

▪ Pattern Readability - 4 Yarn Balls. Only because of the attached granny square pattern. Other wise I think the elephant itself was easy to read and follow.
 

▪ Ease of Pattern - 4 Yarn Balls. Again since the granny square pattern is attached it lowers the score. The Elephant is very simple to whip up though.
 

▪ Adjustments - 4 Yarn Balls. I feel like a broken record at this point, but other than changing the blanket pattern I have no adjustments.
 

▪ Final Product - 5 Yarn Balls. Its cute and cuddly.
 

▪ Personal - 5 Yarn Balls. I want to make a bunch. So want to find a way to make some geeky ones like with Yoshi and what not on them too. The possibilities are endless if you have an open mind.
 

▪Overall Score - 4.4 Yarn Balls

 Now that the reviews are over. . . .  Other than finishing that order, (and I'm happy to say that the woman this is going to had her baby. About a month early from what I understand, but it is a healthy baby boy named Homer. Thats about all I know on the subject) and starting on the TARDIS blanket after picking up all the yarn Wednesday, I finally got around to making a new watch band for myself. 

A while back the band I had had started to come apart and one of the little tabs to keep the extra band laying flat came off. Well I glued things back together and they seemed to hold up till the end of my trip back in June. A few days before I came back from Arizona the other little tab busted and the band was really just bagging to be replaced. So I stopped wearing my watch and decided instead of trying to find a band that would fit my watch face I would just get my craft on and make one out of macrame or something similar. This week I had a little relaxing time and decided I wanted my watch back Damn It! I pulled out a bunch of my hemp and beading rope ( I think thats what it was called), dusted off my friendship bracelet skills, and got down to it. I have to admit I needed some internet help to get started. It has been I while since I weaved like this, but once I did that I just blazed through it. I picked black and tan hemp pieces and the green beading rope. I like the simple, yet very me color combination. For the clasp on this I made a button hole and picked one of my favorite metal buttons out of my stash. I could never find the right project for this button and truth be told I didn't want to use it on anything I was going to sell or give away. And now I don't have to. I really like how this came out and it doubles as a super cute bracelet if it happens to turn on my wrist, which it does frequently. I don't mind though, its one of the reasons I picked a very cute and stylish button.  

This was a fun and simple project that I think I'll be happy with for some time to come. 

 Another thing I'm Super Duper happy about . . . . . . I got my hair dyed this week too. I'm green again and I couldn't be happier about it. Since April my hair had slowly faded to blond. Thankfully it was still plenty colored for Megs wedding and for a while after that. But in the last month it went to a pale green to almost completely gone. So I called up my girl Carson on Friday and we went and got it taken care of that day. Didn't expect to get it done that quickly when I talked to her, but we were both free so why not. Thank you, thank you, thank you Carson for doing my hair. I'm so much happier not to be blond. I don't really think it works for me, especially since my natural color was growing in (brown, my hair is actually brown). Plus I just love being green.


This week I'll be working on the start of Christmas orders. I've got the biggest project started and want to look into some of the others. Hopefully I'll have something interesting to post about next week.
Back to work on those granny squares.


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Happy Crafting!