Whew... Long time no blog

Although, I have been crafting! Sort of. School has kept me going here and there and everywhere. I have parent teacher conferences next week (all week) and then I'm off for a week, so maybe I'll get some crafting done!

First up are some old, old projects that I did way back when I was first learning how to knit. I was going to wait to psot these until they had their counterparts done, but they've been sitting my "take pictures" pile so long I got sick of it.

The first up is a pink and white hat & scarf set made from knitting looms (the missing counterpart is mittens)





The second is an orange/yellow/red fingerless mitt and scarf set (the missing counterpart is the hat). I'm still learning how to circular knit with needles, yes its not that hard, but I have a small head.





I just LOVE this yarn!

The 10,897 bead scarf!

Here's the story: I love scarves. However I live somewhere where is about 100 degrees all year long. Not a good place to wear a scarf. Not at all. So I came up with this "bright" idea to make a scarf completely out of sead beeds. What a beast. It took me weeks (working on it here and there) to complete it.

It took 10,897 seed beads (about $6.00 worth of beads) and completed it is 4 feet and 11 inches long.

I told my boyfriend when I finished I was never doing another one. That was until I finished it:

An up close shot at the design:


Action shot:


Action shot of the length:


I think next I'm going to do a green and black belt. I've already go the method picked out as well as the design. Now I just need the materials...

So many uses...

I saw this fantastic yarn at Hobby Lobby by Yarn Bee (I don't remember what it was called) and was marked down from 8.99 to 1.99 so I scooped up a ball of yarn... I wish I had purchased more. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to make a belt out of it. But the belt can also be used at a scarf. I did four pegs on a knitting loom

Using it as a scarf:




Now as a belt:




And I had some leftover yarn and decided to make a necklace from it based on a necklace by Ralph from Crafster. You can see the Firefly inspired jewlery here.

Product Review

Today while making my (almost) daily trip to JoAnn Fabrics I finally broke down and spent $4.99 + tax to buy the Boyle Loopy Scarf Tool.

It took me a while to get into the swing of it, but once I started it went fairly quickly. I used two strands of yarn, each of a different color. Both were Red Heart Super Saver Yarn. One strand of Petal Pink and another of Shocking Pink. I won't make that mistake again. My resulting scarf was THICK. Now, that would be all well and good if I didn't live in desert where its only cold enough to wear a thick scarf about 2 1/2 months out of the year... at the most.

Next time I'll use thin yarn for a thinner scarf.

The hardest part is securing the loops so that they don't unravel. I did both the binding technique and fabric glue that was suggested. No go. I dropped it and tried to pick it up and had a loop come undone. I'll have to figure out another way to secure the loops.

The directions given were kind of foggy and I'd prefer better techniques on how to bid off the loops so that they did not unravel. Overall though I would recommend this product to anyone who loves scarves. The final product is fun enough... both to make (though not finish) and to wear.


The scarf laid out


Me wearing it. Sorry about the poor photograph, but I was home alone and impatient to share.


A close up shot to show just how thick it is. Excuse my facial expression but this was about my 4th time trying to take this shot. I hate doing self-photographs.

Loom Knitting Rocks My World

Braided Tube Scarf

Pattern by Provo Craft

I changed it slightly from their instructions, but I love it all the same. I wore it school right after I made it and my students (6th graders) just fell in love with it. They're always asking me why I'm not wearing it. I used all the tools listed on the pattern (I love provo crafts tools)

A close up of the braid:

This actually took me several attempts. I'd never braided five strands before.


Fingerless Gloves Attempt


This was my first attempt at fingerless gloves, my second "major" (at the time) project on the loom. They're a little too wide and not long enough but I learned from it and that's the important part. :)

The gloves in action: