Happy Turkey Day

At this time last year I saw a random video on YouTube .. talking about a virus .. knew right then things were going to get rough... 

I put everything I was working with on hold.. all of the yarn items that I had spent months getting ready for holiday sales online and in town.. started to look into making face masks.. got my bearings and spent the next 10 months almost exclusively working on masks.. got a break when an order went awry and had to replace a crochet scarf  and tiny thread bag.. oh and one order for two custom tiny thread bags.. 

going from working with yarn or beads 10 to 12 hours a day to working with fabric 16 to 20 hours a day was a shock to my whole system.. I kept telling myself I would be able to play with yarn again after masks were more widely available.. not that I don't love playing with fabric or really wanted to help any way I could... I just had so many yarn projects I wanted to do as well..

I am still making masks.. but started getting more requests for yarn items.. only thing to do divide my time between crafts.. which is much easier said than done.. I have very limited working space.. takes a fair amount of time to switch everything out.. so half of the week is play with fabric.. got a couple of landscape quilts that need to be done besides the masks, bags,  pot holders and clothing items.. the other half of the week is all yarn time.. got a couple of free form hats that must be along with the shawls, fingerless gloves, scarves and bags.. at some point the beads are going to come back into play along with my looms..

Pulled out many of my finished items that had been waiting to be listed in my shop.. took hours but got some usable photos and they are now listed on Etsy.. two of the hardest parts for me.. photos and coming up with names for the items.. 

photos.... wind wasn't helping much but it was so bright the colors showed nicely.. 

names... yeah I came up with Red Scarf... LOL 

Stay safe

Halloween Blue Moon

 

Had a blast staying home Halloween night, home grown pumpkins, enjoying the blue moon..

 was cloudy coming over the mts

 

 as it came over head clear and very bright 

with a halo

 

Quilts in my future

My grandmother used to make the most wonderful quilts.. she was so thrifty in her crafting it was awe inspiring..
not one bit of anything was tossed if it could be reused..
my favorite quilts were the ones she made out of grandpa's overalls for the top and his flannel shirts on the underside...
she used whatever fabrics that were worn too much for a sturdy outer side piece on the inside.. didn't matter if they matched weights she would layer the light ones..

 then she tied them with yarn as they got so heavy it was impossible to machine stitch them..
They were so heavy you could barely move under them.. the idea of the new weighted blankets makes me laugh.. they have nothing on hers lol..
Movement may have been limited but you were definitely toasty warm..

very functional and to me beautiful..
she would let me help cut and even do some sewing.. on her treadle machine.. at the time I started helping I was about three so it was a very big deal to me.. she knew I  couldn't get it moving too fast as I wasn't able to reach the treadle very well.. but loved every second of it..

 I have dabbled in sewing ever since..
 made a large part of my kids clothes..
made some for myself..
but never got to those quilts I had dreamed about doing..
 I plan on doing some purely out of salvaged fabrics.. recreating what she made I highly doubt I can pull off..
I am not lucky enough to have such a strong sewing machine or wringer washer for that matter..
grandpa used to have to help wash them as lifting when wet wasn't an easy job...
machines these days couldn't handle it :( ..
I do want to try a few others.. what we used to call fancy ones.. she was pretty good at them too..
I have been making masks for months now.. I didn't think to safe the smaller pieces of fabric until I had made a few hundred or so..
Dawned on me I could stitch them together to make a bigger fabric.. found out afterwards it's crumbs quilting for small pieces and scrap quilting for the bigger ones..

I am as careful as I can be when cutting fabric so there isn't much 'waste ' to begin with but I  did take a couple of hours off to just play with making bigger pieces... 

Good practice for my future quilting projects 

Stay safe.. wear a mask.. wash your hands.. 

Best wishes 

Facemasks.....

Been planning on making freeform knit, crochet and beaded jean bags again for some time now.. took up strap weaving.. learned more freeform crochet techniques.. worked on my beading designs... last step to take was to dust off my sewing skills.. was gifted a vintage sewing machine.. perfect.. timing.. not for making the bags I have dreamt of for ages now.. no the timing was perfect for making facemasks..

I had also been looking into making facemasks for a bit now too.. allergies are not fun in the slightest.. son has been asking for a knit or crochet one.. I gave a few tries at it but just can't get a tight enough tension to stop anything but the cold weather ..

 so as it turns out as this virus was just starting up.. I was already seeking info on good designs.. learned surgical mask are meant to keep you from spreading your germs not so much to keep you from picking up germs, although any face covering will help to some degree.. 

The style they refer to as N95 form-fitted and meant to keep you from picking up any germs.. 

Polypropylene liners are breathable, washable and affordable..

Elastic straps behind the ears hurt after awhile.. ties don't, can be adjusted, washes and doesn't matter if they stretch after time as you just retie them..

Bias tape is time consuming and a bit of a pain to tie.. my solution shoe laces.. 

Outter layers of cotton fabric .. 

To make the mask form fit over the nose I shaped a piece of 20 Gage jewelry wire and stitched the fabric around it.. so if need be you can make a small cut and replace the wire with a new one and just close with a couple of hand sewn stitches .. 

Double seam everything... These need to be durable

The sides need to hold shape as well.. not buckle out.. so placement of the ties should be adjusted with that in mind.. but I noticed that didn't always work... double seaming around the nose did though.. so I started to add a lot of stitches to each side.. not the neatest looking seams lol.. but they work... 

as I am getting all of this worked out.. the masks were suddenly needed by many...  

Friend in the medical field asked if I could make some not knowing I was making one right then.. 

Heard Joann's was asking for help to get millions made.. 

Posted about this on Facebook..

So many requests came in for masks there was no way I could afford to keep it up without help.. asked if anyone wanting some could donate some supplies... turns out if you don't know how to make things like this getting the supplies is a pain.. much easier to hand a couple of bucks to the person making them...

Too many requests .. to deliver all .. socal distancing is definitely helping.. 

plus the risk is too high for family members.. now what.. Etsy puts out the plea for anyone who can make masks to please do so as they are getting requests for them.. win win...

Then hear how the post office is hurting... Bonus win

I am using the funds after costs to get more supplies.. I lost count how many I've made dozens and dozens ago.. spending 12 to 16 hours a day.. vintage sewing machine was heating up too much.. the machine my husband said couldn't be fixed he revisited.. good as new.. much stronger than the other one.. has a better zig zag ability.. doesn't over heat as fast.. but when it does I just switch between them.. 

Please stay safe out there... 

D

What I've been doing

Updated... tried doing the post on my cheapie phone.. clearly that didn't go very well.. editing was a nightmare.. finally gave up after 1am.. hopefully this will be easier to read lol 

Been super busy with orders over the holidays.. I have created a few of my own patterns but as of yet haven't had the time to write them out.. 

Working on learning more free form techniques so many of the items I have created I won't be able to write out patterns for but have been so much fun and such a great stash buster

 ..

A few of the projects I have been working on... latest ones first... just finished tonight

Octavia the Octopus

My son "displaying" Octavia lol... think I might have to give a go with doing a hat now lol

I was asked to make a paid pattern spotted on Facebook of Falkor from The Neverending Story... 

pattern was on Etsy, but the shop is currently on a break however this is the link

Falkor 

 hopefully they will be up and running soon..

I really like the overall finished item..

there were a few difficulties, couple of mistakes in the pattern, not hard to work out, slows you down for a bit but nothing big..

 the second issue was coming up with similar enough yarns here in the states, pattern designer is from the UK, to get the same look.... 

the first one pictured, which is actually the second one I made ...

 I went with Bernet Baby Sport in white. 

Which was so much easier to work with then the Simply Soft I went with on the first , a d hook and Simply Soft is not going to happen again lol.... normally I love working with it, love the sheen... however the endless splitting of the yarn with the smaller hook added days to the overall project.  Came out looking great but I really like the look of the second one as well..

For the ears and mane I used Yarn Bee's Snuggle Up in white, the pattern calls for eyelash yarn but I think the substitute of a fun fur yarn worked out quite nicely even though it was a real pain to knit on size 1 needles, seeing the stitches through the "fur" added eve more time.. no sooner then I posted a photo of the first when I got a second request ...  might be a couple weeks before I do another ;) lol cute pattern worth the work

I was gifted the baby Yoda pattern just before it was pulled... I didn't follow the pattern exactly, somewhat... I changed  the yarn, I had just spent a week working with bulky blanket yarn and flat out was not going to go there again.. I will do simply soft on D's again before that happens.. ugh... lol. even with 50mm needles it was a pain to deal with... so worsted weight it needed to be..

 Which meant the hook size needed to change as well, the length of the body seemed off then.. so the length of the robe plus the collar, cuffs and colors needed to be adjusted, ok the color was purely due to what I could get in the same weight lol..
       the eye size changed  as did the shape of the head.. just because I preferred it .. and how the ears were colored.. I used the marker technique instead of using blush and hairspray.. overall look came out pretty darn close.. but will hopefully last longer..
   sounds like a lot of changes but as detailed as the pattern is I'd say still pretty close..
      I am making my own smaller pattern as I wanted even more changes  Like smaller lol .. but definitely will be keeping the fingers and toes similar.. so cute .. I learned a lot from this one and the other two toys.. a plus for sure

This one was also inspired by a friend seeing the pattern online.. on Pinterest which leads to YouTube.. the link on Raverly takes you to Youtube without the bother of searching through Pinterest.. that could take hours with having to check all of the other cool ideas you will undoubtedly come across LOL
it's called

Easy Braided Crochet Cowl With Buttons on Pinterest and Youtube

  ..  on Raverly

I used 2 skeins of Big Twist in white easy pattern, but a yarn eater.. and takes a fair amount of time... end results well worth it 

This last one is just a simple keyhole scarf.. I had a ball of random yarn someone had gifted me awhile back from their stash clean out, no clue what brand just that it is acrylic.. soft textured, easy to work with and pretty, I wanted an easy mindless knit to work on.. so I just used Gardner stitch.. size 10 and a half needles ... cast on 25 stitches I think.. after a dozen or so rows I bound off the center stitches then added them back in the next row.. kept going until I had enough length to go around my neck plus the dozen or so rows to match the length before the keyhole.. very quick and easy yet warm and stylish..

A few of the patterns I am working on are keyhole scarfs and cowls.. some quick and easy .. a few more complex works..not sure when I will be able to get back to them..

I was just gifted a older model sewing machine.. the scrap fabric doggie blankets and then custom bags are getting closer to reality..  where free form, weaving, sewing and beading all come together .. stay tuned