what is calling to you?

'all life is an experiment.'

~ ralph waldo emerson

fibers - different kinds used in unexpected ways...

lying in bed at night thinking about crocheting - even though i have been more of a knitter... my grandmother taught me how to do both...

lately i have been feeling like a snake about to shed its skin, nearing a rebirth of sorts... on thinking of snakes the nagging biases from judeo-christian idealogy seem to rear their heads... this is unfortunate... in other very old cultures, snakes are guardians entrusted with protecting sacred spaces... the naga in hinduism and buddhism represent rebirth...

do you experience moments where in the midst of utter chaos, you simply must make something? right then? even though in your right mind you know that it is no time to do such a thing? welp, i did... and i am so glad... i love this - i plan on working with it more - in different fibers, mixed with fine wire... now if i could only order up a little less chaos... but maybe it was the chaos that caused me to focus upon what brings me calm... so it was all balanced after all...

Folksy Friday: Comic Relief 2011

All these lovely Folksy sellers are donating to Comic Relief/ Red Nose day this year, so why not pop along to their shops to show your support. 

Red and white crochet hearts by HeloiseV

AuntyJoan is also donating to Tsumani relief, so there's a double reason for getting beautiful cards or ACEOs like this one from her shop...

A tea cosy, or you can wear it on your head!  By Hippo House

Release your inner terrier with this fabulous ACEO by Stone Soup

Folksy Friday: Comic Relief 2011

All these lovely Folksy sellers are donating to Comic Relief/ Red Nose day this year, so why not pop along to their shops to show your support. 

Red and white crochet hearts by HeloiseV

AuntyJoan is also donating to Tsumani relief, so there's a double reason for getting beautiful cards or ACEOs like this one from her shop...

A tea cosy, or you can wear it on your head!  By Hippo House

Release your inner terrier with this fabulous ACEO by Stone Soup

BESTeam feature: Chasing the Nuns on Etsy

Today it's my pleasure to introduce you to Sarah from Chasing the Nuns on Etsy. Sarah from McHenry, IL, is a stay at home mom who's into crafts.  Her shop is full of beautiful knitted and crocheted items and she's happy to make any of these up in different yarns for you if you see something you want customised, or if you want something like a bag made out of a T shirt. How cool!

I've chosen some dishcloths, hats, a cuff, bags and booties from her colorful selection.  That turkey hat is perfect for Thanksgiving, I think! And that red lotus cuff would look really striking with jeans.  Click on any of the pictures to go directly to the shop.








You can catch up with Sarah at the following links:

http://chasingthenuns.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/chasingthenuns

http://www.facebook.com/pages/McHenry-IL/cerlandia/273587627352

and be sure to visit her other Etsy shop for screenprints:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/charlesandsarah

BESTeam feature: Chasing the Nuns on Etsy

Today it's my pleasure to introduce you to Sarah from Chasing the Nuns on Etsy. Sarah from McHenry, IL, is a stay at home mom who's into crafts.  Her shop is full of beautiful knitted and crocheted items and she's happy to make any of these up in different yarns for you if you see something you want customised, or if you want something like a bag made out of a T shirt. How cool!

I've chosen some dishcloths, hats, a cuff, bags and booties from her colorful selection.  That turkey hat is perfect for Thanksgiving, I think! And that red lotus cuff would look really striking with jeans.  Click on any of the pictures to go directly to the shop.








You can catch up with Sarah at the following links:

http://chasingthenuns.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/chasingthenuns

http://www.facebook.com/pages/McHenry-IL/cerlandia/273587627352

and be sure to visit her other Etsy shop for screenprints:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/charlesandsarah

New Prototype....Watcha Think? Help Me Name It!

I wanted to have these ready for spring....well, you know how it goes!


A travel mug cozy. Should be named "Don't burn your hand" cozy!


They were crocheted using super-soft baby yarn (as well as the hand embroidery). And, of course, you know it has to have buttons on it! These are antique utilitarian pearl buttons.


...and you have to have the button closure!


I have been using one on my stainless steel handle-less travel mug (constantly full of peppermint tea!). My mug gets so hot because it's stainless on the outside as well as the inside and sometimes it is just too hot to pick up....hence these little babies! I love it (mine is baby green)!

So, whatcha think?
What should I call them?
I will consider any names! If I choose yours, I will send you one :) (Yes, Duni, you can try for it, too!)

Etsy Blogger of the Month: Handmade by Sandi

This girl knows how to celebrate! Her birthday is this month and she is celebrating by offering 50% off everything in her shop! She has a variety of items in her shop. My favorite are her Boo Boo Bunny's. Sometimes the boo boo isn't that bad, but it sure helps the calming process to give you child a little something to make it all feel better.

Now while the kid is nursing his or her wounds, mom can sit back and have a margarita. Cute little charm earrings.


At Handmade by Sandi, she's got all your birthday and holiday gifts covered. I find that teachers would be especially grateful to one of her crochet items. Here are other great gift ideas that you can peruse at your leisure.

• Felted Bowls 
• Coffee Cozies 
• Chokers 
• Earrings 
• Adult Crocheted Items 
• Kitchen, Bath and Beyond 
• Go Green 
• Children Items 
• Warm Weather 
• Cold Weather  

 Don't forget to stop by her blog too! We are bloggers afterall.

 

Folksy Friday - A little crochet

I love the retro look of these Folksy finds!




This crochet satchel by The Sunroom reminds me of some great summer sunsets and the crochet handbag by Eva B Designs is so pretty and practical!


This top (made to order by Blue Fish Handmade) is a great summer colour, I think,and the table ware by Marti Rich Creations has a lovely traditional feel.


Proving that crochet goes beyond the traditional is this great bouquet arrangement by Chez Penny and I couldn't miss out this spectacular scarf by Victoria Jackman in the most amazing colours!

I wish I could crochet but my stitches were always too tight or too slack...

Which is your favourite?

Folksy Friday - A little crochet

I love the retro look of these Folksy finds!




This crochet satchel by The Sunroom reminds me of some great summer sunsets and the crochet handbag by Eva B Designs is so pretty and practical!


This top (made to order by Blue Fish Handmade) is a great summer colour, I think,and the table ware by Marti Rich Creations has a lovely traditional feel.


Proving that crochet goes beyond the traditional is this great bouquet arrangement by Chez Penny and I couldn't miss out this spectacular scarf by Victoria Jackman in the most amazing colours!

I wish I could crochet but my stitches were always too tight or too slack...

Which is your favourite?

Tunisian Crochet

click pic to find on Amazon.com

I was tickled to see so many commenter's interested in Tunisian Crochet. I did not learn this from a website, however, if you Google it, you might find something worth looking at.

I learned from the book, Tunisian Crochet: The art of Knitting with the ease of Crochet by Sharon Hernes Silverman. Mind you, I didn't pay full price for it. Why should I when there are 50% off coupons floating around!

I seriously recommend this book if you want to learn to knit but can't for whatever reason. I didn't buy the book for the patterns, I bought it so I could learn the stitches and must say I am so glad I did. I will probably never use the patterns in the book. I'm more of a take-the-technique-and-design-my-own-stuff kinda girl!

I think some commenter's misunderstood why I cannot knit. I have what is called (are you ready?) Task Specific Severe Focal Hand Dystonia. I know, what a mouth-full! Basically what is going on is the area of my brain that controls motor function sends signals to my hands and forearm muscles to uncontrollably spasm while I am doing certain things (hence, task specific). You don't see the muscles spasming, I don't feel them spasming, I only feel pain for a few minutes and then the muscles lock up and don't move. I am choosing not to undergo treatment for the condition. When you read them, you will understand why!

Treatments:
1) One treatment is Botox injections into the muscles every 3 months, but the dystonia is so severe, I would need large quantities of Botox which would take 2-3 hours to inject and would greatly increase contracting botulism in my brain. Not an option.

2) Another treatment would be to have a pacemaker surgically implanted in my brain to stop the spasm signals. Okay, brain surgery is not an option for me unless it is to save my life.

3) The final treatment is narcotic muscle relaxers. Okay.....no!

So, I either don't do the things that aggravate the dystonia or learned to do things a different way or for shorter periods of time.

So far, the only things that aggravate it is:
- knitting
- writing
- holding a book while reading
- holding the phone
- driving for long periods of time
- hand sewing
- stringing beads by hand
- bowling....bowling of all things!
- long photography sessions

This will never become more severe than it is nor will spread to different areas, thankfully, but I am learning all the time things that I can no longer do, especially if I haven't done them in a long time. The good news is that you know me...I refuse to let anything get in my way of doing what I want to do. I will find a way to make lemonaide with any lemons that fall into my lap!!!

BTW...I did not get paid for this review. I am simply sharing this book with those interested in Tunisian crochet!

My Creative Space

I'm embarrassed to say that last weeks beading project is still on the bead board. That's the problem with working out new designs: just when you think you figured it out, you find another improvement and have to start all over!

So, I'll take you to my evening projects: Tunisian Crochet. Since my severe focal hand dystonia prevents me from knitting, Tunisian crochet is basically knitting on a crochet hook. It is believed that Tunisian crochet originates in either North Africa or the Near East. I started learning this technique a month and a half ago and the blue sample in the picture is the first "Perfect" sample I have created yet. It is a real difficult stitch to learn, but when you get it, it's worth the time it takes for the learning process!

This particular stitch literally resembles knitting, from the "v" shaped stitches in the front to the "perl" in the back. I am so glad I can knit now without hurting my hands!

For more "My Creative Space" or to play along, visit Kootoyoo's blog!

Crocheting Frenzy

I believe I've mentioned recently that my sister in law is in the hospital with complications with her pregnancy. They are hoping that they can keep her healthy enough to avoid having to take the twins out for another two weeks, but it's still going to be early! Why does that mean a crocheting frenzy?

Well my Mom and I decided to make the matching blankets for the boys. Her's was finished a while ago, partially because she had a lot of time to work on it while she was up north with my dying Granny. I, being the slower crocheter, and having other projects going too, have been plugging alone on my blanket.

I thought I had a month left. Now it's any time in the next two weeks! I have a feeling I won't get the blanket done in time, but I want to try and get it done as soon as possible! Of course, spending time helping out with their two year old, and running errands, and all that other stuff is cutting into my time crocheting!

Crafty ADD #31

It's the start of another week - and more crafty stuff to report! Woohoo!

Crochet

I was a bad girl and did not get anywhere near as much done on this as I should of. That's because I was really focused on the two jewelry projects below. I have one more that I REALLY need to get done, but as soon as I'm done with that I'm going to have to bust out the mad crocheting skills...

Cross Stitch

I think I only worked on this one day this week. But it was an important day! I added purple! Always a landmark day right?

Jewelry

The butterfly is finally finished! Well...almost... *sigh* I still need a proper pin back for it. Haven't found one in the right size yet. This little bugger took me HOURS longer than I think it should have :P I can't even begin to tell you how many problems it caused...in fact...I don't think I'll even try :P The good news is as soon as I find a pin back it's going on my back pack that I carry everywhere! Yay for a beady project for me! To show off!

This is my challenge piece for the Etsy Bead Weavers monthly challenge. It's what I've spent the last three days working on (when I could). I'll tell you more about it tomorrow. It deserves it's own blog post :)

Craft on!

Crafty ADD Weeks 21 - 30

I've had so much fun doing my Crafty ADD posts! And one of my favorite posts of all is when I get to the end of a 10 week (approx) stretch and look back with a slide show on all I've done. It's a lot of fun to revisit my projects, frustrations, and triumphs. I hope you have fun looking at the slide show as well :)