( Lookie! )

I made him myself.

I am a nerd. That is all.

I have a slight obsession with saving every fortune I get. Any ideas on how to display them? Right now I just tape them to my desk and stick them in my wallet or any pouch with a zipper.

( Lookie! )

I made him myself.

I am a nerd. That is all.

Not this past weekend, but the one before, I put the munchkin down for her afternoon nap and headed out to Ladyfest Ottawa's Tarts n' Crafts show. I'm pretty sure that it was the best craft show I've been to this season, although specific sellers have stood out from the crowd at some of the less-than-fantastic shows. For example, I spotted some intricate quality chainmail jewelery by Jean-Guy Dubuc of Stand Alone Art at the St. Martin de Porres Craft Fair, which otherwise was a bust. Dubuc's business is a brand new start-up and he doesn't have a website yet, but I would highly recommend contacting him at (819) 639-0745 or standaloneart@hotmail.com if you're looking for a custom chainmail piece. I also discovered Sugar Free Organic jams and preserves at the Fisher Park Christmas Craft Sale, and though that show definitely wasn't a bust their product was the only thing I purchased there.




Anyway, as a highly-competitive juried show (I was told that of 300 applications, only 50 were accepted), the vendor list for Tarts n' Crafts read like a list of the who's who of the indie art and craft scene in Ottawa. I could have done pretty much all of my Christmas shopping at this one show, except that I had already bought or made things for most of my friends and family. That's the downfall of holding a show later in the Christmas shopping season. I was extremely tempted just to pick up some things for myself, especially that "re-cycle" T-shirt with a bear on a unicycle, except they didn't have it in my size. I wish I had grabbed a card from that shop!

I liked just about all of the goods offered by the sellers, but here are the ones that really stood out to me:

• Karin Norstrom jewelery (blog); she has an interesting new line of lightweight leather jewelery in addition to her specialty in resin.
  
• This Ilk jewelery is a lot more lightweight than it seems because it's mostly lace on chains; you can see her work in the fourth picture from the show.
  
• Roadkill Roadkill (blog) mostly does jewelery, but I'm also a big fan of her clothing; her hoodies especially are tailored and classy yet comfortable.

• Koko Chocolates was giving out samples and I don't think I have ever tasted chocolate quite so savory -- and I'm a big fan of truffles.
  
• Three Cheers Cupcakes creates perfectly decadent edible art!
  
• Furni Creations (blog); they had a number of products, but what really stood out was their wood-encased clocks.

• Paméla Desrosiers (otherwise known as Pink Pam) creates colourfully insane art.
  
• Coucou Salut does awesome things with screen printing.
  
• Abi Lyon Wicke (Etsy shop) has a fantastic line of pottery; I also fell in love with her community bowls, and my some of my friends and family may remember receiving magnets like these a couple of Christmases ago.

I think I'll be attending the rest of the Ladyfest Ottawa shows in the coming year!

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You can view more awesome user content after the jump!

( Read more... )

Curtains

Thanks, again, for joining us. Until next time, stay snug!

Hi everyone! I have two FOs to share today, one a gift and one for me:

( Pembrokeshire Pathways ) ETA: sorry about the double LJ-cuts... somehow LJ screwed up the formatting on the cuts when I posted this. Just click one of the links and it will take you to the (nicely formatted) page with the pictures :-)

It just occurred to me that I have knit a LOT of projects that I have yet to share with all of you! I'll keep the comments brief, and won't waste space with ravelry links. You can search me on there as "shawnooke".
( Knitting abounds... )

I was asked for some advice recently and I wasn't sure what to tell the person, as I'm only an adventurous beginner, myself. Did any of you learn to crochet before learning to knit? Which knitting method do you currently use?

Do you think it'd be easier for a right-handed crocheter (hook in right, yarn in left) to learn continental, so that the yarn would be controlled with the left hand? I'm thinking it'd be less awkward than trying to learn to hold the yarn on the opposite side of what you'd be used to, but I don't know for certain. I'm hoping someone has some experience with this.

Thanks in advance!

Made a couple new things recently.


My friend and I did a craft exchange where she knit me up a pair of wonderful, glorious, soft, warm socks (can you tell I really like them?) and in exchange she wanted a yarn bowl. So first I had to figure out what a yarn bowl was. Then figure out how to make one. It was quite an adventure of trial and error, but I'm reasonably pleased with my final result!

( Other pottery projects below the cut! )

My #10 - Textured Tunic with Side Buttons by Stefanie Japel from Fitted Knits
Yarn - Tahki New Tweed
Ravelry Project Page - Hot Pink Textured Tunic
( Pictures )
Subbed the yarn. Ravelry claims this is an aran weight but really it is a little thinner. I kept the needle the same size and prayed it would all be okay sans gauge swatch. Turned out fabulous - nice drape and fairly soft. Have noticed it does stretch a little but should shrink up in the wash.

Other mods: Omitted the split at neckline and at hip. Added waist shaping. Knit the whole thing in the round.

x-posted to personal livejournal

A knit gift for my manatee-obsessed friend.

Pattern: Knit Manatee Pattern by NeedleNoodles
Yarn: Mystery worsted-ish gray yarn
Needles: size 2
Mods: I knit him a little longer than the pattern directed, since the pictures of the FO on the pattern bear a strong resemblance to a balloon with flippers. At round 28, instead of knitting one round of 44 stitches, I knit 4. He is still the shortest, roundest little manatee ever, though!! The real things are pretty round, too, I guess.

Ravelry Project Page is here


( Please sir... do not run your ultra-fast propeller-driven pleasure craft over me. )

Well I THOUGHT I was done with my Christmas knitting until last night when I was reading a thread on the Ravelry knitting community and found the most adorable little pattern for a Christmas tree pattern that looks like a knitter's bag, complete with needles and little balls and skeins of yarn. I had intended on picking up a cake or some sort of goody like that to bring in as a holiday gift for Liz, my knitting teacher, and the other ladies at Keep Me in Stitches, my yarn and bead shop. Its a fairly traditional thing in this store to bring in something yummy to snack on while everyone sits around the table and knits. But once I saw these ornaments, I HAD to do them, especially since they were something I could make with scrap yarn and leftovers. I stayed up insanely late to do it but I made 5 of them in one night (3 of them for the knitting ladies, one for me, and one for mom who requested one when she saw mine) and the hardest part was working the glue gun. (Ouch! Hot wax hurts!) But they came out so cute and I can't wait to give them out!!!

( Pics Here )

J for J2- I'm considering graphing an amulet bag with Sam on one side and Dean on the other and some of the lines from Carry On Wayward Son in the strap.

J for Jello Biafra. Who has a free album up on Amazon right now. Audacity of Hype.

J for umm.. what's your favorite thing that starts with J?

Everybody is doing holiday memes right now. I'm having problems getting truly enthused, but that's normal. Mike isn't a fan of the holidays and the constant "Prove you love her with diamonds" commercials aren't helping in the least. I've been trying to help by doing as much as I can to keep him out of the malls and stores.

I have Alaska road maps to wrap presents in. Of course, all my presents will NOT be holiday gifts. That's just not the way I do things. I buy presents for friends when I think of it but the holidays followed immediately by William's b-day combined with my holiday blues of missing my mother.. it's a bad time for me to think of mailing things. Not to mention the fact December always shatters my budget.

Have any of you tried cold porcelain? There are lots of recipes out there, and it looks like the perfect thing to use with our Dr. Who ice tray, plus Miss Teri is giving us some candy molds that she used with her kids when they were younger.

Hi! I'm new to this comm, and I am also new to the beading/jewelry making scene (I had to come up with an art project..this is what I chose. :))

I have made several different stone-chip necklaces that are popular with us girls down here in East Texas, but I want to add some pizzazz that no one around here has.

I was wandering through etsy.com and one project really stuck with me... it was a basic beaded necklace but it had a polyeurathaned mum flower charm! I get the concept of dipping the flower after it's dried, but I'm not sure on the how-to-make-the-flower-a-charm part?

I was thinking about attatching it to a metal back of some sort and soldering it to a hook? I have no idea how it was done, and it really stuck with me. Is there anyone here that solders or even remotely has an idea of how to do this project?

Thank you for your input!!

:)

A friend's daughter wants to make some of those square, woven potholders we all did as kids...with the stretchy loops on a pin-type frame. Easy, right? Not necessarily. I found her a frame, and a bag of loops. Now she tells me she doesn't want the "pukey colours" available in the bag...she wants "cool colours". Black, red, purple, cobalt blue, burgundy, silver(!), etc.
Any ideas where (or even if) these might be obtained?

Hope this isn't going to take 500 years to complete.

I've looked on every craft site, searched dozens of word combos in google, and tried tons of other things to find an answer to my question. I NEED you guys.

How in the world would you cover REAL leaves in plastic to create the earrings I have included under the cut.

The plastic is very hard, and there are some bubbles on the back side.

Is this covered in some sort of art gel? plastic sheets?

( Pictures )

I've always used acrylic and oils, but I've only recently started playing around with water color. I used to think it was too light and, well, watery looking. I didn't take into account the embelishments that can be made by mixing mediums. I painted this bird, but wasn't really satisfied with it until I had a stroke of genius to go over it with flourescent pastels, I think it made all the difference...




but I'm particularly fond of this one...