Mrs. Octopus and the Tea Party

Mrs. Octopus is the perfect hostess, she always has every situation in hand. She serves cake and tea on cute white porcelain with lavender roses. This is entirely designed by me, made by hand in polymer clay, hand painted with acrylics, the background is done in watercolor. I plan to do an entire series showing off her awesome ability to multi-task.

A Tale of Two Kitties

I just finished two watercolors, they are both of the same cat, but there is another cat involved, from a print I have long admired by Beth Van Hoesen. You can find it here, look for "Bugs". I have wanted to make something similar for a while now and when I saw a picture of my friend's cat, I thought, this is my chance! So I showed my friend the print and asked her to take a similar picture for me and in exchange I would give her one of the watercolors. The problem now is, which one?

Day Lily Silk Scarf

Here is another silk scarf, this time with yellow day lilies on a blue watercolor style background. It's on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/listing/73834962/yellow-day-lily-hand-painted-silk-scarf

Owlivia

I made an owl before, from a pattern by Ana Paula Rimoli. But I wanted to make one to sell on Etsy so I needed something original. I had chosen my own colors before, so there are some similarities to those before, and similarities to Rimoli's because they are both still amigurumi, but other than that, there are a lot of original details and I did not follow her pattern. In my pattern I added a couple ears, chose a different type of eyes, crocheted a beak instead of embroidering one, improvised a feathery kind of wing, made the bottom flat so that it stands better, and added cute little chain feet. It's on Etsy.

Batik Dot Messenger Bag with Knitted Outside Pocket with Crocheted Octopus

This is one of those projects that came to me in a series of small inspirations. First I was going to decorate a pre-made canvas lunch bag. So I knitted the pocket and improvised a crocheted octopus for the pocket. It just was not working out, the lunch bag could not live up to the cuteness of its own pocket. So then I thought I might make a tote for it, then I remembered the dot batik fabric which matched the pocket perfectly with its ocean-y color and bubble goodness. Then I remembered the messenger bag pattern I had and it all came together. I so want to keep it! But more than that I need to sell something! I can make another, or several, eventually I'll get one, lol. The fabric is really special and handmade, not printed (but it is store bought.) I did all the knitting, crocheting and sewing myself.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/71623004/batik-messenger-bag-with-crochet-octopus

Pink Bird Scarf version 2

I made a new pink birdie scarf! I listed it on Etsy.

Butterfly cosmetic bags

I made these for my new Etsy shop. They are hand painted on silk. I used both plain and black resist for the design. The black resist was much harder to wash out and left little black bits here and there, so watch out for this. Also I think I maybe should have used a different background color because this one washes out the butterfly too much. I meant to use a more contrasting green which would have been better, but it got bluer.

Sea Turtle Silk Tie

I painted this silk tie. It faded a little more than I would like, perhaps I should not have saved the fix for the second application of dye but mixed another fresh batch. I'm finding that to be a big problem with silk painting, getting the dye to really fix even when you do all the steps and wait full days for dyes and resists to dry and iron and use fixative solutions and do the hokey pokey and everything. Blue is really resistant to sticking. But it really is a satisfying art in that in that if it all works out you have a really beautiful piece of fine silk that people love to touch and look at. The subject is an endangered green turtle with a starfish knot placement holder. (I just made that up :) .)

Oh and a few more xmas items I forgot....

I crocheted an xmas pickle. It goes on the tree and the person who finds it is supposed to get a prize. Don't ask me where the tradition comes from, there are many stories out there but I have wanted to get one. Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts magazine had a pattern to knit one but since I cannot hold several tiny little needles at the same time, though I have tried (!) I just made up a pattern to crochet one. I copied the idea of having pretty glass beads meticulously strung onto the yarn beforehand.

I made a cup corset, a sexy little cute thing to help you hold onto a hot cup of coffee, I knitted it with supporting lines to indicate where boning would be and added red ribbon laces. I'm kind of thinking of making a bunch and selling them, do you think I could make big bucks??

I also made my sister a hat.

Sweater Vest

I made this vest for Alfred in gray green to go with his eyes. The pattern is from Norah Gaughan Collection Men. It came out a little big, but still looks pretty nice. It has a nice vertical knit pattern.

Lily the Christmas Elf

I made this for my niece. It came out pretty cute. The pattern was from Lily Sugar 'n Cream (hence the name) and was free and in perfect time for the holiday. It whipped up pretty fast and I think the bells really added something to the enjoyment of the toy. She liked tossing it into the air and catching her, she was a "circus elf" apparently. :)

Hot Water Bottle Cover

The pattern was from Debbie Bliss Knitting Magazine, Fall/Winter 2010 I just love the gingham stitch pattern in red and white, it's kind of thick and cushy too, perfect to protect you from water that's too hot. I changed the tie ends from pom poms to little red flowers.

No Peeking

This blog has been pretty quiet, but that doesn't mean I haven't been a busy little elf around here. I just can't show you anything, until they are revealed on xmas that is.  Well I guess you can see the gingerbread house cookies.

Julian's Hoodie

I wanted to make Julian a hooded sweater because he is sensitive to light and sound and these sweaters help him to block out a little of that. I wanted to make it non-itchy because he is also sensitive to that. I chose the boy's pattern from Berroco Vintage family but used the Berroco comfort yarn instead of their Vintage. I like the look of the pattern and the fact that it has a zipper. Everything worked out pretty well and the sweater looks nice, but unfortunately it's a bit too small. :(  I think the pattern was kinda small but I measured Julian and checked my gauge and added stitches to the largest size, but with this yarn, if you knit 10 inches a couple days later it's 8 inches. I think this is what really shrank it down. It has a lot of stretch though.

Bike Seat Cover

I crocheted a cover for my bike seat. Pretty cute. I wanted to use the gel out of an old ripped bike seat cover because my tailbone has been sore after rides lately, Mom says its because I have less "cushion" lol. I wanted to show off my new bike and new baskets too ;D.

Swiffer Wet Jet Crocheted Cotton Pad

I crocheted this up in single crochet using a large K hook with Lily Sugar n Cream in beach ball blue. I started with a chain to match the width plus a little bit and then made it long enough to fold up and stitch the sides for pockets on the ends.

Thread crochet edging for my cut offs

I love my new cut off capris but the edges were unraveling too much.  I didn't want to hem them, I liked the raw edge and the length, so I needed to secure them by sewing near the edge. Then I thought, as long as I was sewing, I could add some lace or something, but instead of buying some, I picked up a ball of burgundy thread and crocheted it.

Pink Dolphin

Another toy for my niece, this time she wanted a pink dolphin. I used a pattern from Crochet! July 2010 by Sonja Hood. I changed the colors, used pre-made plastic eyes and added a yellow plastic flower button. I like to think that dolphins would wear flowers if they could. Sometimes in real life they will carry a piece of colorful coral for no practical reason and others will follow the "fashion" and carry one too.

Blue Birds of Happiness Scarf

I made this for my sister for her birthday to match her new pink purse. She wanted bright colors to cheer up her days of Seattle gray. It took a full day to apply the resist and another full day to apply the dye.

I had made her one with pink peonies and a green background but it got ruined when I tried to steam set it. Moisture got into it and it and some parts blurred, other parts looked washed out and since I was using newspaper instead of unprinted newsprint (which I found out later I was supposed to use) it got some black on it too. So, since this was the third project ruined while trying to figure out steam setting, I decided to go the chemical route and bought the chemical dye set. It was super easy compared to wrapping in paper and carefully placing it somewhere over boiling water on the stove for an hour and trying not to let the silk get wet by placing it under a makeshift aluminum tent so that condensation doesn't collect on the paper, which didn't work anyway! Whew! So I mixed up the chemicals in a quart of water, stirred for five minutes and voila! perfection. But before you use the chemical dye set, make sure your project dries for a full day first and then press it with an iron for good measure, especially if you use resist.

Tie-dye!

For our end of the year art project, the kids in Julian's class made tie-dye shirts to wear on the last day of school. It was very fun and all the kids were very excited. We outfitted them in disposable aprons and gloves and my mom told them that they looked like doctors. They put the rubber bands on their shirts in the classroom then we all went outside where we laid down some newspapers on the grass and went to town with squeeze bottles of dye. Afterward I had a lot of leftover dye, so I bought some sheets on the way home and my Mom and I dyed a set for Julian and some for myself. They really brighten up our bedrooms. Alfred, my Mom and I made shirts for ourselves too.