Catching up...

Remember back in May when I blogged about going on a family vacation?? You can read about it here. Well, now that I have my camera back, here's a couple pics. We stopped at a rest area that featured this geological site. My prego-baby-brain is preventing me from remembering the name of it even. It's on Hwy 12 in Washington.

We also took a family pic on the concrete, you can see my prego belly and the square of the camera on my head.

Once at the Great Wolf Lodge, I learned about MagiQuest, I had briefly heard of it before, but as a video/computer game (I don't even know which it is). The resort made it an actualy wave-your-magic-wand game that you can do quests, adventures and the like with. The little one really enjoyed it, it requires A LOT of walking on foot, back and forth down hallways and in the lobby, and up and down stairs, sometime five floors worth. It's great for wearing out kids. :)

Here's a couple of WIP's...they both started out for my PIF but my super creative brain just went with the flow of how they were laying out and both are not want I had intended them to be. But, they're not bad.
This one is copper pearls, square matte onyx, black faceted glass, copper seed beads, Swarofski AB bicones and the center bead is a stone that again, baby-brain is not allowing me to remember. The button is one from my vintage stash that I blogged about months ago here. So, just to tell you a little bit about it...I'm beading along with my needle and thread, going back from having finished the button end of the clasp, when I get my needle stuck in the first copper pearl from the end. I pull and shove with the pliers to get the needle through, which I was beginning to feel like was a bad idea, when the thread breaks!!! AAHHH!!! I was SO CLOSE to being done with it, now it has to be completely restrung. That's why it's a WIP.

For this one, I bought these lampwork glass beads on the craft retreat I went on with my mom, aunt and grandma back in February. I wanted to play with some wirework, just the simple loop and wirewrapping. I had plenty of beads in my stash to match to the focal lampwork bead. Again, this started as a simple elegant necklace for my PIF receiver, but turned into something more elaborate than I wanted and some parts became difficult to find. The copper chain is not right and the focal lampwork needs a couple tiny pendant drops. I don't know....it headed in a completely different direction, so I took a break. That's why this one is a WIP.

I have a ton more WIP's to show off once I find my other camera cord to download them. They are all crochet related. I'll be catching up more soon!!

Happy Valentines Day!

A day late, but that's okay! I currently don't have a computer at home. I came to visit my parents who live 3 hours away and am using theirs to catch up. The little one and I had a full day with our friend, we had lunch, then went to a movie, then went to the mall to have a snack and play in the kiddie area. By the time we got home we were exhausted!

A couple years ago I went and saw The Golden Compass. Towards the end of the movie, Lyra, the main character, was wearing a knitted hat in the fight scene. Since I had an infant at the time I just HAD to find the pattern online and make one in blue for him. I ended up finding a few blogs that provided knitted patterns and upon making them, found that there were a few areas I was unhappy with. I ended up changing the patterns I found and created one of my own. Here's a pic of the current one on the needles...


It was for my friends daughter for Christmas, I believe it's a little too big and since it's not finished I'm saving it for next year. I'm currently working on writing up the pattern, hopefully I'll figure out how to add it to the blog as a downloadable pdf. But for those who would like a sneak preview, here's a list of materials:

LYRA HAT (from The Golden Compass)

Materials:
1 Skein Lion Brand Wool Ease, color: Natural Heather
1 Pair 19mm US 35 Knitting Needles

Gauge:
Using both ends of the skein and doubling up the yarn: 6 stitches and 7 rows to 4 inches of stockinette stitch.

Pattern:
STAY TUNED!


Here's another WIP I started a few years ago. I finally finished the main body of it. It was a free Red Heart pattern I got at JoAnn's Fabrics for a knit cell phone cover. At the time I started it, my mom had still had a really OLD phone that would have fit into it once it was hemmed up and a flap and handle were added. Recently she finally got a new phone so the size will not work but it is a good size for an eyeglass cover. I thought I would line it with a soft flannel fabric and still add the flap and handle. It was my first cable pattern. I wanted a challenge and it ended up being very fun!