Things Treasured

Hello...
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Echoes anyone? 

It has been a long time since I updated regularly. It's been a long time since I consistently created anything. That is going to change. I need to create. Even if all I am doing is creating inspiration for myself. 

I'm working on a small sweater. When that is finished I shall show it off. In the meantime, feast your eyes on some things I found that I love. 

The Crocodile Stitch tutorial!


Czech Glass Spider Buttons!!

I'm hoping to buy these buttons today!

Badge for my challenge 3 participants.

Work in progress, work in progress...

Crochet Thestral! If you don’t know what a Thestral is, get thee self to a library and read the Harry Potter Books… seriously.

Tiny Barbie Bloomers! I got them from a pattern for an 1866 Atlanta Bell. It’s an outfit based on the one Scarlett O’Hara made from her curtains in Gone with the Wind. I’m looking forward to tackling the dress. That is so massive that even though I am looking forward to the dress, I will likely start with the hat next.

Octopus Jar Cozy! I’m thinking I’ll use this as a weight loss tool. It was originally meant to be a savings jar to go to GG’s big 2015 gala event, but I need the motivation right now for my health. So I will put colored glass and plastic stones in this jar for all of the weight I want to lose. Then I shall get another clear jar. When I lose a pound, I will fish a stone out of the cozied jar and drop it in the clear one. I don’t need to constantly see how much I have to lose, but always seeing how far I’ve come has got to boost moral.

And this is my in progress Haruni Shawl. It’s coming out so beautifully, and I really like working with this yarn. It’s Blue Heron Metallic Rayon. It’s giving such a lovely drape to the material. I’m afraid of running out of yarn before it’s complete though. I need to finish chart A so I can weight it again and see how it’s going.

I want to be really excellent at Sewing. I’m not though. I think most of this is afraid of doing poorly and wasting materials, and a lack of practice. So I began to remedy this. I have made my first drawstring bag. It’s blue and silver stripy material that my mom had in a big trunk. So I have no idea what kind of fabric it is. It is a little bit weighty and had good body to it though.  I designed it with a round bottom. To make sure that it stays round when objects are inside it, I’ve sandwiched some plastic canvas in there to give it structure.

 

I did almost the entire project by myself. Mom helped me sew one part that I couldn’t figure out how to get into the sewing machine, and she gave me general instructions on when to flip it inside out and if I should be stitching right sides or wrong sides together. The final sewing around the bottom had to be all hand sewn, so I also asked her to show me how to do that. But I did all of that sewing. I’m really happy with how it all came out. I hope my swap partner enjoys it! 

I’m looking forward to trying more projects now. There is a little box shaped bag I am eager to try!

 

I had a treasured moment today. Hubby and I decided it was a perfect day for an adventure. We looked around on line at things to do locally and were coming up a bit stumped. Several of the places were for various pick your own fruit farms. Most of them in the area are for blueberries. Now I like blueberries, but no one in the house really loves them. So we kept looking until we found a local (miraculous) farm selling pick your own strawberries.

So we got ourselves into the car and headed to the farm. It’s really a lovely cute little place and the drive was scenic. We weren’t quite sure what to do when we arrived because you just pull into this field and there are crops on one side and a building on another. We went into the building and the people were incredibly friendly.

The strawberry picking was such fun. All of their crops are hydroponic and planted vertically. There is no stooping over to pick berries. We picked a little over two pounds and then headed inside. Inside of the building I found ALPACA wool for sale! The woman there owns and shows champion alpaca and was selling wool. So I bought several ounces to try.

We struck up a conversation and she showed me her electric spinning wheel which I’ve never seen before. I explained how I can spindle spin ok, but my wheel gives me fits. She then put me on a list to contact when she has spinning classes this fall. It was a magical fun day and I can’t wait until our next adventure.

 

If you follow the rest of my blogs, you will know that I am currently in a resurgence after a blogging hiatus. As I explained in my health and fitness related place, I've been suffering from a general over-lode of life and a liberal sprinkling of depression. (Self Diagnosed)

My husband and I struggle with infertility. We have been trying to start our family for... oh... 6? Years now.. I think. It's begun to run together. Sometimes I think I might just collapse from watching everyone around me have babies.

Sometimes I try and find ways of coping. Often, those ways involve making things for our future babies, however we might come by them.

This is a blanket I made not too long ago when I was going through a particularly down moment. It's a lovely lace pattern knitted with some soft worsted weight yarn. I love the colors. They are a bit on the feminine side, but I'm not one for color coding children. My favorite color has always been blue, and I wouldn't find a boy who's favorite color is pink to be any less masculine.

Right now, I'm going through another hard spot. So I once again have reached for my yarn to help me get through it. I'm making another baby blanket. This one is crochet and it is the lovely ripple pattern by Lucy at Attic24.  I've chosen white and blue in uneven, yet rhythmic ripples. There will be pictures soon.