Adventures.

We traveled around today. There's still a lot here that we've seen, but never actually gone and done. We found a mall. It appears to be, at least from the outside, just a strip mall. Turns out, it's an actually mall. There's not much in there, but it's a mall nonetheless.


We also decided that since we experiencing new things, we would try our hand at some antique stores we haven't checked out yet. There's an abundance of antique stores here. And I love them. Seth isn't as much of a fan, but some of the amazing things found at our stores are just amazing. The best part is, people here don't really know or understand what the stuff is worth, so it's usually incredibly cheap.


Well, we found a store called Antiques and Accents. It's in a part of town that doesn't have many things around it, but a gas station. It appears to be an old house, and it's just covered from top to bottom with amazing antiques, most of which are wonderfully priced, as expected.
I found this stove, which I fell in love with. If only I had a kitchen big enough, and $800 extra in the bank. :)

But then, I stumbled upon this. After seeing that they didn't accept credit cards, I even walked to the gas station next door just to use their ATM. I've been eyeing the Pier 1 imports ceramic cow creamers for a while now. At the cheap price of $5, I still haven't purchased one though. I think it's a necessity for any 50's style kitchen. However, at the original price of $46, marked down to $26, I had no problem grabbing this up as fast as possible. I LOVE HIM!!

In addition to all of this, I was brought home to MANY emails letting me know that people have been commenting on my jellyfish on Craftster. Everyone loves him! I added the pattern, which is just ridiculously easy. I'm glad he's such a hit though. He is a truly great stashbuster project!

Now, I must get to some stuff around the house before going to a friend's for dinner tonight.

My computer is back! Hopefully it'll continue working now. So, here's an update on my newest projects. I edited my hat pattern a bit, and made a more 'holey' hat. I like it and think that it would be a nice spring or summer hat for those bad hair days. :)

And now, for my ultimate scrap project. About a month ago, I had a terrible lapse of judgement. I told my husband that I would not buy anymore yarn until I get rid of most of what I have now. This was a terrible decision I made.
Anyways, I decided that I needed to start getting rid of my yarn, and QUICK! I'm dying for some new wonderful yarns, and I can't do that just yet because I still have tons leftover. So, I want to present, my ultimate scrap project! My jellyfish! He doesn't have a name yet. I will probably end up posting him on Etsy though. He's quite large. His body is made from acrylic super bulky yarn, and his tentacles are made out of whatever pink yarn I had in my craft closet. Now, I literally have NOTHING in my closet that is any shade of pink. All in all, turned out to be a good stashbuster!!
His tentacles took me forever though, there's TONS of them there!!

**PATTERN**
Jellyfish
I used bulky yarn(I believe this is wonderful Wal-Mart's Homestyle USA) and a size K hook. However, a worsted weight can be used with a smaller hook, I would probably use a G. On the tentacles, I ran out of my bulky yarn, so I used 2 strands held together. Remember, this is the ULTIMATE stash buster! haha.
And feel free to PM me or leave a comment with any questions. I'm far from a professional pattern writer.

Body:
Make a magic ring
1. 6 sc in ring
2. Inc around
3. *inc, sc in next* around
4. *inc, sc in next 2* around
5. *inc, sc in next 3* around
6. *inc, sc in next 4* around
7. *inc, sc in next 5* around
8. *inc, sc in next 6* around
9. *inc, sc in next 7* around
10. *inc, sc in next 8* around
11-19. sc around
20. *dec, sc in next 8* around
21. *dec, sc in next 7* around
22. ch 2. In FLO, make 2 DC in each sc around. This gives the jellyfish his little skirt.
Fasten off.
I made the bottom piece completely seperate, and then sewed it on. I found that much easier than working from the last row. I've done that before, and it's caused a lot of gaping and holes in the bottom.
Bottom:
Repeat rows 1-8 from body, sew to the bottom of the body after attached safety eyes. Again, I ran out of my bulky yarn at the bottom, so I finished him off with 2 strands of what I think is Red Heart Super Saver.
Tentacles:
Have fun with whatever yarn you have! I'm considering making a rainbow one next! I also FINALLY got rid of all of my Lion Brand Homespun that is so pretty, but I HATE to work with. I finally found a nice way to use it.
Ch about 15-20 stitches over the length you want. For example, if you make a chain that's 20 stitches, and you want your tentacle to be that long, make it about 15 or 20 more stitches than that. This really all depends on how long you want your tentacles. Feel free to play around with different lengths too. If one comes out too long, just fold it in half!
Next, just do 2 sc's in each sc down the chain. This causes the curl! If you want it to curl even more, you can do 3 sc's in each.
Attach the tentacles all over the base. You can judge how many you want. I made 33 of these , but mine is VERY full on the bottom.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Poor blog...

I know that you're missing my blogs, I'm sure. However, due to my computer problems, I can't post new projects just yet. I'm hoping to get my computer back today, and then I can post my ULTIMATE scrap project that I just finished today.

I have been pretty busy crafting while I've been gone though. I finished everything for my swap, and sent that out a few days ago. I'm so excited for my partner to receive the package!!

I'm really hoping that I can post more very soon though. I'm excited to post my pictures of the project that I just finished. :)

Check back soon for updates!!

New Look!!

I have a new look for my blog now! I became addicted to searching online this morning for different backgrounds.
In the meantime, I'm having computer troubles. :( I'm currently searching for viruses on my computer, and hoping that there's none. There could be a plus side to this if my computer crashes, perhaps I can finally get that Mac. I couldn't before because I was working on my computer, and my company didn't support Macs. Now that I'm unemployed, perhaps I can! But of course, I do hope all works out with my computer.
I'm also in the middle of a project that was supposed to be easy, but isn't. I will conquer this soon though.
I should be hitting the post office tomorrow and sending out my swap package!! I'm so excited about this swap, and I really hope all goes well. I can't wait to post everything I sent her, and everything I get.
I promise, I'll work on getting some more crafts done just to blog about them. From what I hear, a certain someone isn't too happy that I'm not posting new projects. Hopefully I can get some posts up tomorrow with some finished projects. :)

The "Feel Better Facehugger"

I woke up fairly early this morning. When I went in to check on my hubby, I could immediately tell that he's getting sick. So, I decided to let him sleep for a while. I found a pattern for this online. We went on a kick with all the Alien movies, so when I found a pattern for a facehugger, I was sold. I made it in about 20 minutes. Excuse the blurry pictures, they were taken quickly with my phone.


And, an action shot.

I feel like I've been on a crafting hiatus lately. We spent the day today shopping at thrift stores. I have a little bit more to finish with my swap package, but I should be sending it out within the next week. I'm so excited to send it all off, and then I can finally post pictures!

Because Jackie said so.....

I finished my very first knitted hat where I used double pointed needles!! It did turn out to be a challenge, but after a few rounds, I think it all went smoothly. Unfortunately, I think that the hat does look a little big on my head, so this might be one for Etsy. haha.
And, you get lots of pictures because, well, I'm just very proud of the hat.
Also, the mannequin head was a thrift store bargain for only .95!

Next up I'll be crocheting more. I'm in the process of working with a friend for designing a logo and still coming up with some shop names. If you have any ideas, feel free to email me some names. I'm really excited to get everything going.
I'm also continuing work right now on my swap project. My large item is getting to be a pain, but it's still coming together. I'll be happy when I can post all my items that I made for the swap here. Snow storm is supposed to be coming through this afternoon, so it looks like I'll have plenty of time to craft. :)

2 blogs for 1 day?! Madness!

It's only because of my Giant Yeti. I love him. And I had to show that he loves all the snow that we're getting today. You can't see how giant he really is in these pictures, but you can take my word for it, he's pretty giant, and amazing.

A Crafty Mess....

I haven't blogged in a few days out of frustration.

For my swap, I've been attempting a pretty large sewing project. Now, if this was a large crochet project, I would have no problem, I've done that a thousand and one times, so it would be easy for me. However, a large sewing project is actually a lot more than I was bargaining for. Problem is, I'm very set on my idea right now, so I don't want to just scrap it all and start over. It's the only part I have left too, so I'm determined to actually complete this.
I have, however, created quite the mess on my table for all my crafting. I was also attempting to work on a pair of fleece convertible gloves, but that was an epic fail. I feel like I need to crochet something just to actually accomplish something right now.

However, I'm also determind with my newest project: knitting with double-pointed needles. I found this pattern and fell in love with this hat, but was disappointed that it required DPN's. I usually skip that part in all the other patterns I made, and hoped that it would come out right. It never did, but it did result in a hat way too small for me, but does fit my niece nicely. haha. So, this time, I'm going to get it. I'm sure they're super easy, and I'm just making it seem like it's more than it is. But anyways, here's my progress so far. I'm hoping that it comes out ok since I'm actually following the pattern this time. :)

Happy early Valentine's Day.

Well, at least for me. My hubby and I have decided that we're going to celebrate tomorrow, so that we don't catch all the crowds. I know, sounds weird, especially for our first Valentine's Day as a married couple, but to us, It's just easier.
We seem to have a horror theme this year as well. We decided that our new living room is a movie theme. It's slowly turning into just a horror movie theme though. haha. We have new zombie artwork(my Valentine's day gift from my hubby). There will be pictures of that coming soon. However, with a giftcard from my Mom for Joann's, I found this fun fabric. We had a kick for a while with all the Universal Monster movies. We've decided to take that kick and bring it to Valentine's day, and we're celebrating by going to see The Wolfman. So, I decided to celebrate a bit by making this.

More fun projects to come tomorrow. :)

:(

I had a big blog planned for today. However, in an act of frustration and just plain not thinking, I was trying to fix my oven top and placed my hand on a burner that was just shut off. I now have rings on the palm of my hand. **OUCH!!**
I've also typed this whole thing with one hand....
This is not a good day. Time to take a nap.

The big blog I was planning was posted today...See below!

Time to start unpacking, cleaning and crafting.

Ok, I'm going to now try and post the blog that I was going to post yesterday until I burned the hell out of my hand. I'm also quite excited because yesterday my husband got a package in the mail with his new camera charger. Now I get to take MUCH better pictures!
It's been a week since we've moved in, and it's time to really start to get the place together. I've enjoyed procrastinating about it. Today I really wanted to craft, but realized that I should clean instead. To compromise, I cleaned my craft closet. Plus, due to a huge box received a few days ago, and another package today from my mom, it was time to really start getting stuff together. Here's the before shot:


And after:


I feel much better now that my stuff is much more organized. I also found a huge bag full of stuff that I made forever ago. I took a few things out that I thought I should sell. I put those all aside for Etsy.
But I also found these! Score! I made these armwarmers when we were driving to Seattle, back in September. I think I can put them to use now.

And then I found these. I scored at an estate sale when I was in Florida. I got this amazing huge tin of old antique buttons. In the tin, I found these bottles. They look like old prescription bottles to me, and I don't know what to do with them. Does anyone have any suggestions? Feel free to email me at amyldice@yahoo.com if you have any ideas!

My first dye job.

After reading this site a while ago: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html, I decided that I really wanted to dye my own yarn, so I started today.
I used LionBrand Fisherman's Wool. I really love the yarn, so I figured it would be a good yarn to start out with. Warning, I took way too many pictures! haha
I wrapped the yarn around a piece of cardboard so that I didn't dye the whole skein. It said to wrap it loosely so that all the yarn was dyed, so I just figured this would be the best way.

When I went food shopping at Wal-mart, I really tried to get grape Kool-aid, but all they had was cherry. I settled, but it was a nice one to start out with anyway.

When it first went in the water...

After about 10 minutes in the water...looks like a brain, doesn't it?? haha

And this is the finished result!! I really loved it. It was actually a lot of fun. I do want to try other methods, like painting though. The good side to Kool-Aid is that since there's no gross chemicals, you can use regular pots and pans and such. It's currently drying, but I'm already thinking of what I can make out of it!

All in all, if you love yarn, I think you should definitely try this out, because if nothing else, it's fun.

Snow Day

It's super snowy out today. Perhaps I'll get a bit of crocheting done later since I'm on my own. My hubby is out ice fishing for now, so I don't think we'll be going with our original plans of cleaning today. :)

I found out a fun fact today. Since my hubby was up at 5:45 to go ice fishing, I couldn't go back to sleep. I started to read a book, and it gave a brief history on crochet. I learned that doilies were originally made because the Victorian men used to wear really thick grease in their hair. The women would put the doilies on the back of the couch so that it was easier to just clean that than the couch. I found it interesting since I've never seen much of a use for doilies. lol.

In the meantime, I thought I would just throw in my last post and pattern from Craftster.

I've recently fallen in love with Coraline. After I fell in love with the movie, I read the book and fell in love all over again. After watching the movie yet again, I went away to crafting. I really wanted to make the cyclops squid, but couldn't find any patterns I liked. It took me a little while to make him just because I'm in the middle of moving. But, I finally finished him. I'm quite happy with how he turned out, and I think I found a very appropriate button for his eye as well.

Here he is from the movie, and then my version. :)

And here's the pattern for anyone interested in making him!

Pattern:I'm not great at writing patterns for anyone else to understand, so let me know if you need any help.

-Size G hook
-Worsted weight yarn
-large pink button

Body: Starting from the bottom and moving up to the top
1. 6 sc in magic ring
2. inc in each st around
3. *1 sc, inc* around
4. *2 sc, inc* around
5. *3 sc, inc* around
6. *4 sc, inc* around
7-21. sc around
22. *4 sc, dec* around
23-25. sc around
26. *3 sc, dec* around
27. sc around
28. *2 sc, dec* around
29. sc around
30. *1 sc, dec* around
31. dec aroundf
inish off

Ears
I attached the yarn directly to the body, so I didn't have to sew anything. Just a couple rows from the top is fine. Let me know if this is too confusing.
1. 5 sc up rows. ch1, turn.
2. sc across, ch1, turn.
3. skip first st, 4 sc, ch1 turn.
4. skip first st, sc2tog, ch1, turn.
5. skip first st, sc.
Finish off and weave in ends. Do the same on the other side of the body.

Legs-make 5
1. 6 sc in magic ring.
2. *inc* aroundrows
3-40, sc around.
Attach legs.

Let me know if any of that is confusing. I would love to see if anyone makes any!!

You know those things that are so ugly, they're cute??

Well, this is one of them. I really needed a new pincushion. I made a cupcake one before, but it rolls around while I'm sewing and I just didn't weight it very well. I needed something with better access while I was in the middle of sewing. So, I Made a new one. I introduce you to, Ugly Bunny. I love him! :)
I put a strap on him so I can easily fit it on my arm. This way, it's always right there for me! I also put a piece of cardboard in the back. See, I'm kind of a clutz, so I would have ended up stabbing myself. Hopefully with the cardboard I won't stab myself as much. :)

My first blog....I think?

I'm pretty sure I tried this before and I couldn't keep up with it. However, lucky me, I don't have a job anymore, so my life can now be fully commited to blogging and crafting. It doesn't get much better than that. :)

I'm currently in the process of moving. My hubby and I just moved to a bigger apartment in the same town. It's causing more trouble than anything. Today I thought things were really getting better, then he tried to fix the bathtub. That not only resulted in our bathroom being flooded, but our downstairs neighbor as well. Lucky for us, our downstairs neighbor is also our landlord. We're praying for no eviction notice within the next 24 hours. :)

Anyways, I thought this would be a nice way to start to catalog my work that I do. I feel I do so much, I should share it somehow, right?

First, my newest work, my unpacked kitchen. :)

The cabinets have sold me on the apartment. They're all metal. And yes, those are crocheted robot magnets on them. haha

I'm seriously working on getting an Etsy shop up and running. I'm brainstorming through ideas for shop names, prices, mannequin heads and stuff like that. Of course, I'm also doing a Wizard of Oz swap right now, so that's keeping me busy as well. Here's a couple of hats that I'm planning on putting in my Etsy shop when I get it.

The button may be my favorite part!!

Next, and probably my most proud project, is my new ottomans. We moved into this apartment that's much bigger, but we felt we needed to let our legs rest on something. We also have a projector instead of a TV, which makes our living room like a movie theater. It's fabulous! So, I went off to my very first sewing experience. I brought my machine up here over a month ago and have barely used it! So, I bought a pattern for these and my hubby and I each picked out our own fabric, and we bought beans for bean bags. About 3 hours later, after a very large mess was created then promptly cleaned up, my ottomans were complete. They're now a wonderful new addition to our living room, and I'm hoping to make a floor pillow as well. :)