futuregirl craft blog

Craft Bar

2010-03-08T03:40:35.000-5:00

A friend and I made plans to go to Craft Bar last Thursday. In between making plans to go and the big night, I got an email from a wonderful woman with the Museum because she saw my post about Open Source Embroidery. She thanked me for my post invited me to Craft Bar. And I said, "Oh, yeah, I'll be there!"

And then my friend had to cancel. (o_O) At this point, normally I would have waited to go to the next one, when I'd have friend-back-up*. But I decided that in 2010 I was going to try for more community involvement, plus, I'd already told someone I'd go ... so I went alone. And I'm so glad I did!

I totally should have taken photos ... although I'm not sure I would have had the guts to, being by myself and all ... because it was pretty amazing how many people were packed into that cozy Museum. There were two main areas. One where Amelia was demonstrating how to make plarn out of plastic bags and teaching people to crochet a little project with their plarn. The other was where Marita was teaching people to knit.

I started off in the crochet area and made a little ball of plarn and crocheted myself a plastic coaster. I was surprised that the plarn felt soft and was easy to work with. I had fun talking to Karen (a glass artist) and Anna (a weaver) about crocheting, plarn, and crafting in general.

I ventured over to the knitting area because I heard someone say that you could keep the knitting needles and yarn that you used to learn with. Free lesson? Free yarn? Free knitting needles? Awesome! I scooted my chair into a group of people that were just casting on, someone handed me a ball of yarn and a set of needles, and off we went.

Look at that stockinet ... boo-yah! By the end of the night, I'd learned knitting, purling, and had big plans to try some ribbing. Yes, my swatch is in wool (which I'm allergic to). I wasn't itchy while I was working with it, I think I was concentrating too much to itch, but on the walk home I did some serious scratching.

I can't wait to go back for the next Craft Bar on April 1st. I'm hoping to be more involved, maybe help out as an instructor. That would be so cool! I love my online crafty family, but nothing beats being in the same room with someone and having them be able to reach over and say, "No, wrap the yarn *this* way."

* I am a classic introvert. I'm not shy, or fearful of social interaction; I just like being by myself. I never get bored when I'm alone. In fact, I'm not sure if I could ever have too much "alone time." I'm super-comfortable hanging out with people I already know, and I'm happy I now live close to many crafty friends. But but stranger-situations can leave me feeling drained/stunned ... like when cough medicine gives you that "wide-eyed-baloon-head" feeling. I didn't feel drained after Craft Bar though, and I think it's because we were all participating in the craftiness and that crafty-connection made everyone feel like a once-and-future friend. Crafting kicks ass.

Mark Your Calendars

2010-03-07T22:37:22.000-5:00

OK. So I have a couple spare minutes to post and I can't find the camera cord to get my photos. Is there an emoticon for gritting your teeth and making that awesome gutteral growl Marge Simpson makes?

( * ww * ) < Gggrrrr >

How's that? See? The "ww" are my bared teeth.

Ooooo or even this one ...

<@> wwww <@>

... except it's maybe a little too evil-looking. Almost barracuda-y. Maybe even hypnotizing.

Sidenote: I'm trying to use more of these Asian style emoticons. How's this for fascinating:

Two separate studies, in 2007 at Hokkaido University and in 2009 at Glasgow University, showed that Japanese and other East Asians read facial expressions by looking mainly at the eyes, and the researchers noted that this is reflected in East Asian emoticons which put emphasis on the eyes, compared to Western emoticons which emote mainly with the mouth.

I find that so interesting! I think the eyes say more than the mouth. Well, when the mouth isn't screaming obscenities.

When I get the photos off the camera, I'll tell you all about the awesome time I had at Craft Bar at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art last Thursday. If you live in the area you should totally come to the next one on April 1st. The details aren't up on their site yet, but I'm guessing it'll be 6-8 PM again. And for $5 you get drinks, snacks, craft supplies, and crafty instruction.

Here's a teaser: my fun times involved two pointy sticks ... yes, the sound you just heard was the earth cracking in two. :)

Spanish Starling Help

2010-03-03T22:58:25.000-5:00

I've been getting emails from a woman who has questions about the Starling Handbag. The problem is she doesn't know English very well, and I don't know Spanish very well. If you know Spanish and English and can answer questions about the Starling Handbag pattern, or translate her crochet questions for me and my answers for her, we'd both really appreciate it!

Say, "Sleeeeve"

2010-02-18T02:25:21.000-5:00

In the War between Blogging and Crafting, Crafting has been kicking Blogging's ass.

Which is why we have a sleeve ...
and a tiny, no-info post.

SLEEVE!

Maybe you should send Blogging some reinforcements so you can get some details about the sleeve. Oh, isn't it lovely?!

Live Blogging Event - All About Free

2010-02-15T16:58:16.000-5:00

If you're available tomorrow from 5 PM to 7 PM (Paific Time) you should attend the live blogging event Free Thinking my friends at Make and Meaning are hosting concerning the hotly debated subject of “free.”

This is a participatory event, so you can ask questions, share your opinion, and be involved in the conversation. It should be awesome! Whether you offer free on your site, you love to get free stuff, or you think the whole idea of free is ruining everything, you should attend and let your feelings be known. It's a pretty deep subject that I think our community has only begun to explore.

If you're like me, and can't attend in real time, the whole discussion will be archived for us to read later. I have a ton of "free" on my site, and I have some conflicted feelings about it. I wonder how it might encourage and restrict the future growth of my site - maybe it will do both. I'm anxious to see how everyone weighs in on the subject.

Alice Merlino, FSC Ph.D

2010-02-10T08:13:59.000-5:00

When I posed Adventures in Neckdom, I asked if anyone knew a standard way to join an fsc chain to another piece of crochet because my connector row was just sorta floating out there.

As you can see in the photo above from that post.

Karin of Make By K left THREE suggestions for dealing with this issue in the comments. One of them is the one I'd already tried - using the end yarn to weave a fake attaching stitch. I wasn't super-thrilled about how it looked.

The next suggestion was to make the next row's stitch into the last (aka floating) fsc to help anchor it. Oh, that sounded pretty good. But it still wasn't exactly what I was looking for.

The third one sounded totally impossible. I had to read it several times just to figure out what she was saying:

why are you leaving a fsc tail in the first place? assuming that's the third row of the "back" pieces, would it work to do just TWO rows on the "left back" and bind off, then complete the THREE rows on the "right back", fsc over to the "left back," and do the third row of the "left back"? and that would put your yarn right where it needs to be to start the next row at A...

OK ... she's saying that I should just make the fsc row as a part of the third row without fastening off on either the left or right back pieces. So smart!

Once I wrapped my head around it, it seemed like the obvious answer! But how!?!

There's more! Read the full post -->

Peepshow - Midweek Edition

2010-02-09T01:15:11.000-5:00

Look what Megan made with my pattern ...

EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Megan of Ducks In A Row, creator of the cutest birthday party invitations ever, has totally outdone herself!

Please please please click through to see all the photos, because she put her special little brand of cute on each and every one of the Supercute Sea Creatures. Science confirms that they are 300% cuter than the original sea creatures.

OMG! The tiny red hearts glued to the ends of the white-yarn jellyfish tentacles makes me want to hug someone and smother them in kisses!

Comments are turned off on this post because I want you to channel all your comment-love to Megan.

Get all my hand sewing and crochet patterns on the free downloads page.

If you'd like to be featured in a future Peepshow, email me your project photo!

Link Fest

2010-02-07T09:42:33.000-5:00

Check out these amazing crafters and makers!

Ansie is a very sweet blogger that I've corresponded with a couple of times. She created this beautiful self-portrait using patchwork, mola appliqué and quilting. I think it's so incredibly beautiful!

It was created for a competition that will select 11 South African artists to become Design Indaba Superstars.

Here is what she has to say about her entry, "I am one of only a very few entrants who uses needlecraft as a medium. I believe that it is a medium that needs more recognition in the art world. I hope that my entry will not only receive votes from people who want to support me, but also from people who support the craft as a medium of expression."

If you'd like to support Ansie and/or give needlecraft some props, vote here. Check out the other entries, too. They are pretty awesome!

I was awarded the Sunshine Award by Jo from Sewing Is For Girls. I'm usually pretty bad about passing these things on, but the Link Fest post is the perfect place to do this ... so here I go!

There are some rules that come with the award which are as follows:
- Put the logo on your blog or within your post
- Pass the award onto 12 bloggers
- Link the nominees within your post
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

1) Elsie Marley
2) Paperclips And Playpens
3) No More Disco
4) Becka's Project Journal
5) Crochet By Faye
6) Designing Vashti
7) Made By K
8) Ann Wood
9) Bitter Betty
10) Wax & Wool
11) seaschell
12) Green Kitchen

OK, so I'm going to cheat a little and not go comment on their blogs (some of them read my blog and are actually my friends ... so they don't need a comment from me). What would be awesome is if you visit them and leave a comment if you see something you like. You don't have to say I sent you or anything, just share the comment-love with these nice people!

Peepshow

2010-02-06T09:10:51.000-5:00

Look what people made with my patterns ...

I found this bright, striped Starling Handbag in Daphna's Flickr stream. Check out her adorable sampler-snakes while you're there!

InStitches52 made this A-freaking-dorable Starling Handbag in Lion Cotton. She also has another gorgeous one in jute-colored Red Heart Eco-Cotton. Lots of great photos of the bottom and other details. BUT, you have to look at all her other crochet work. She is amazing! I'm thinking I need a mobius shawl ... and a tiny little girl.

Get all my hand sewing and crochet patterns on the free downloads page.

If you'd like to be featured in a future Peepshow, email me your project photo!

Do I Love You? Yes. I Do.

2010-02-03T03:36:11.000-5:00

I've been a terrible hostess lately. I haven't answered comments like I should have. If you've left a nice comment the last handful of months and I didn't say thank you (ugh! there are so many!) I want to say sorry ... but I personally don't think sorry cuts it.

No. It sure doesn't .

Actions speak louder than words. I'm going to try to be a much better hostess in the future. You'll see. :)

I spent my weekend craft-time coding a "reply" feature that threads my responses in the flow of the comments AND emails them to you. I can't wait to start using it! Hey, you know what? I'm going to spend all my craft time this week going backwards replying to as many comments as I can. I may not make it all the way back to yours, but I'm going to try.

And, as just a little extra bit of earnestness, my Make & Meaning post for this week is all about how to treat your commenters, because Commenters Are King!

Did You Sleep ALL Day?

2010-02-02T23:23:52.000-5:00

Hello! Cassidy! Are you *still* in bed?! Did you sleep ALL day long? You know, you had something important to do this morning ...

Cripes! Who can stay mad at that cute little face?! I guess 'Hog Along Cassidy is a night owl just like me.

Well, now that you're up, Cassidy, wanna watch a movie?

Link Fest

2010-01-31T04:34:30.000-5:00

Check out these amazing crafters and makers!

Well, this one borders on self promotion ...

I won a naming contest on Carina's Craftblog for her latest embroidery pattern, Bramble Blooms. Yay me!

How cute is it, though? She has lots of beautiful embroidery patterns for sale.

The blog Sutton Grace just posted a wonderful ruffled collar t-shirt tutorial. She used two matching aqua t-shirts she bought for $2.48 each (score!), but I think it would also look cool using two different t-shirts. In fact, I have one of those tissue tees that is coming apart at the seams that would be a perfect, airy ruffle. Going to make a note right now ...

Peepshow

2010-01-30T08:15:58.000-5:00

Look what people made with my patterns ...

Samantha H. was inspired by Lenore and made 6 Octophrosts for her Christmas tree, which is still a HUGE accomplishment. 48 legs are *a lot* of legs. AND, is that metallic thread!? Yes it is! Oh, man, Samantha rocks!

Rachel O. has crocheted10 Starling Handbags since Thanksgiving! I bet all her friends are happy. :) Here are my two favorites. The blue one has two rows of sparkly blue beads inside the white stripe. The pink on has the cute, simple flower on the outside and the crazy-fun flower patterned lining. Great job, Rachel!

Flickr user Aestral posted this adorable Sigmund the Octopus mod (rounder head and different face).

Is that chef hat cuter-than-cute, or what?! Chef Julius is pretty amazing!

Get all my hand sewing and crochet patterns on the free downloads page.

If you'd like to be featured in a future Peepshow, email me your project photo!

'Hog Along Pieces-Parts

2010-01-29T08:01:52.000-5:00

I finished up all my 'hog parts last night for the Groundhog-along. I only have a couple more days to finish him up!

I'm having so much fun making this little 'hog. Just look at his little mop of red hair! I know he looks pissed (that's 'angry' for you brits, not 'drunk'), but he's just a little sleepy. We stayed up too late watching Groundhog Day (it's available for streaming on Netflix. rock!).

The fact that I''m supporting an independent designer just makes it even more awesome. The pattern is only $5 on Planet June, so if you want to join the crochet-along, it won't cost much. You probably already have everything you need to make one in your stash!

Anyone have any good suggestions for a punny name? June suggested 'Hog Along Cassidy, which is pretty awesome. Can you top that?! 'Cause, if you can't, I might need to make him a 10-gallon hat, too.

Adventures In Neckdom

2010-01-28T06:03:02.000-5:00

Perhaps I should have saved up a little bravado from my last post, because this neck-thing I'm about to show you is pretty wonderful, too!

I want to make this as seamless as possible, which I hope means *completely* seamless. I worked the left and right front pieces until I got to the row that will go under the arm hole and connect it to the back. Then I started the right and left back pieces starting at the shoulder seam (which is foundation single crochet, aka fsc). The green arrows show you the direction I'm crocheting out from the shoulder seam for the front and back.

The next step is creating the back edge of the neck hole.

There's more! Read the full post -->

Total Crochet Badassery

2010-01-26T08:13:42.000-5:00

Most of the time, I want to be a nurturing, encouraging craft blogger. I want to present things in a way that demystifies the process. I want you to think that you can do any of the things that I do here (and you can! really!). I hope this comes across here, on my blog. I hope you see I'm a person, just like you.

Except for the next few moments ...

... when I want you to think I am a total crochet badass.

Yes, you're seeing that right. I figured out how to beautifully increase and decrease the peacock pattern.

Ka-pow!

All right ... back to reality.

There's more! Read the full post -->

Link Fest

2010-01-24T18:09:21.000-5:00

Check out these amazing crafters and makers!

i Hanna, who is cooler than cool, is hosting a Handmade Postcard Swap. It's an easy way to dip your toes into swapping: make 10 postcards, and mail them directly to your swap partners. Then wait for the arty-crafty goodness to fill up your mail box.

The Sick Chick asks, "Give me a hand. " Literally. She is collecting decorated cut outs of hands to help her and others dealing with chronic illness through difficult times. What a wonderful way to share an approximation of touching with someone who needs it.

Pam of Gingerbread Snowflakes is the person that inspired my notebook purchase a couple weeks ago. She just revealed her year-in-advance post planning process. She claims "it isn't mysterious or terribly clever!" but it involves "capture" notebooks, several calendars, monthly lists, and weekly information transfers. Now that she's told us what she does, it may not be mysterious anymore, but it certainly *is* clever. :)

UPDATE ** Giveaway: Connect-The-Dots Stitch Sets

2010-01-24T16:25:50.000-5:00

I updated the cutoff time for the Connect-The-Dots Stitch Sets Giveaway. You can leave a comment until I turn comments off on Sunday, January 31st.

Giveaway: Connect-The-Dots Stitch Sets

2010-01-24T08:55:21.000-5:00

How brilliant are these connect-the-dot stitch kits from Leethal?! She's created four thematic kits (Woodland Creatures, Cryptozoology, Craft Tools, and Dinosaurs) and each comes with 5 designs. She only reveals one of the designs. The rest you have to discover on your own by actually stitching them up. Crafting and gaming ... two great tastes that taste great together!

When I stumbled across these and emailed Lee to ask for permission to use her images to post about them, she generously offered to send one of my readers a kit for free!

Leave a comment on this post telling me:

What other connect-the-dot stitch kits would be cool?

I will randomly pick one winner to receive a stitch kit of their choice after I turn off comments some time around midnight on Sunday, January 31st.

The winner is linda!

Peepshow

2010-01-23T20:40:55.000-5:00

Look what people made with my patterns ...

I found this adorable little Sigmund the Octopus on emilybean's Flickr.

Here's Seaschell's Starling Handbag. The variegated stripes are awesome.

Sara emailed these photos of her Starling Handbag to me. It's made from Red Heart's Eco Cotton which is 75% recycled (I haven't seen this yarn yet ... have you?!). Look at those *fancy* pockets!

Sisters Roberta and Giovanna from Italy emailed to show me this gorgeous Starling Handbag with loomed flowers. They have a flair for embellishment. All of the items in their Flickr account are beautiful!

Get all my hand sewing and crochet patterns on the free downloads page.

If you'd like to be featured in a future Peepshow, email me your project photo!

Me Elsewhere

2010-01-22T06:51:45.000-5:00

Sweet commenter tmbrunschen suggested that I give you a link when I write a post for another blog, which should have been a no-brainer. I'm not sure why I haven't ... maybe because it seems so self-focused and promotery. But, um (hello!) I write a blog, and you can't get more self-focused than that, can you? ;)

So, I thought I'd let you know that I wrote a post Tuesday for Make & Meaning, Choose Your Own Adventure, that discusses how we use the online tools at our disposal to participate (or not) in the crafty community.

And, while you're over there, weigh in on Sister Diane's post Process or Product: Which do you craft for? It's so interesting to see everyone's thoughts about which is more important to them.

And read about Craftivism's upcoming trip to Guatemala.

And help Kim tell creative companies to get creative with their marketing.

And let Dudecraft inspire you by watching this video he found.

And give your Granny a shout-out on Pip's awesome post Nan-Ironic?!

Well, you get the idea ... there's a lot of interesting stuff going on over there and we are only doing it because we want to hear what you have to say. For real.

And, next week, I'm going to knock your ****ing socks off with some crocheting wizardry, the likes of which this blog has not yet seen. So, be sure to wear socks you don't mind getting singed. Oh, yeah!

2010 - Let's See What Happens

2010-01-21T12:49:09.000-5:00

Random thoughts about how I want to spend my crafty time in 2010.

WRITING

Saturdays (peepshow) will be posts of projects you completed using my patterns. Sundays (link fest) will be posts highlighting indie crafters. The rest of the week, I want to fill with updates on my own projects. In addition to this craft blog, I'm slated to write an article on the First and Third Tuesday of every month over on Make & Meaning.

PROJECTS

- more tutorials
- more videos (and add videos to old tutorials)
- Starling Handbag crochet-along videos
- Starling Handbag crochet charts
- finish both the crochet sweater designs I started
- design crochet things with interesting stitches (not just single crochet)
- make some art
- secret things that I want to surprise you with and hopefully have the time to do
- more embroidery!
- make/mod some clothes

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Being a contributor to Make & Meaning is a part of this one. Getting together with my crafty friends IRL is another part. Also, the posts on Saturday and Sunday are a way to connect with the crafty community.

I always day dream about organizing a craft get-together in a big space where people can come an go as they please. I've been walking around San Francisco at night seeing all these HUGE offices and vacant stores thinking, "There could be a group of us crafting in there right now." For all I know, there is already a organized crafty night that I am just not aware of. I need to do some investigating. (oh! lookie here)

I'd also like to teach someone to crochet this year. How do I find that person?

GROW MY BLOG

I'd like to start down the path of generating some DIY income this year.

IN CONCLUSION

I don't really have a conclusion, but ever since I learned to write paragraphs in 4th grade, I've felt compelled to have an intro, a body, and a conclusion for everything I write. So ... here you go.

Challenge 2009 - Conclusions

2010-01-20T10:56:59.000-5:00

I kinda, sorta hoped to do this wrap up right at the end of 2009, but since I didn't even announce the challenge until January 15th of 2009, it seems fitting that my wrap up is mid-month, too.

Background

My Challenge 2009 was to only use what I had in my craft stash for a whole year. My goal was to spend zero dollars on craft supplies, but I did give myself a$2/month allowance ($24 for the year) just in case I needed something I just couldn't do without to finish a project.

I did this because I had a lot of really awesome supplies that I'd had for YEARS that I really wanted to use. On top of that, the economic downturn was starting to worry me and I didn't want to spend any time stressing over *how much* crafty spending was *too much*.

How It All Shook Out

I'll be honest, I thought this was going to be easy. And it kind of was. There were times when I was tempted to go *buy something* just to *buy something*, but I resisted. It helped that I had an amazing stash, that I got a couple gift-boxes of supplies from blog-friends, and that publishers sent me review copies of some very excellent books.

To say I had no idea what 2009 had in store for me is an Epic Understatement. Twelve months, 2,000 miles, and 3 apartments later, I'm actually proud that I only spent $5.66. If it weren't for all the moving, which meant being separated from most of my stash, I know I would have spent nothing.

Conclusions

Well, I am much less likely to buy things now. My first impulse when starting a project used to be to go shopping. Now my first impulse is to look in my stash. That's an awesome change. I actually had to remind myself the other day that it was OK to go get a skein of yarn to make my 'hog. I was trying to convince myself that using the blue yarn I already had would be fine. :)

An unexpected realization is eloquently put in Lauren's comment on this sweater post:

I think the restraint has really brought out your creativity-- I love seeing this sweater transform after each trial, and I really am loving this honeycomb effect. I think the sweater is turning out really cute, and you might never have gotten this far if you could have just bought a different yarn!

I had been so absorbed in the process, that I hadn't examined what was going on. After reading that comment, I went back and looked at the photos of the original sweater and the photos of the final sweater. The original sweater is OK, but the final sweater knocks my socks off.

How many crafty challenges had I solved by buying more supplies instead of actually confronting the challenge? Is the key to growing as a creator to make myself do hard things without taking the easy way out? What kind of things can I continue to do to keep myself on this path? I don't have the answers to these questions right now, but asking them is an important part of the process, too.

Looking Forward

I don't think I'll have formal Challenge 2010, but I *do* have some ideas about where my focus should be in the coming year. I've been letting ideas rattle around in my head the last month or so. I'll get all my thoughts together and post about them soon.

What do you think? Do you have any suggestions about what you'd like to see me doing on futuregirl? Are there any unfinished projects that you are hoping I'll finish sooner than later?

Charts and charts and charts

2010-01-19T12:22:12.000-5:00

I've been a good little worker bee during this project. I've charted every variation of the stitch as I need to use it. This is huge for me, because I usually just dive in and then try to reverse engineer what I did once I find something that works. This time I'm doing a little more pre-planning than I usually do and it's totally paying off.

The weird thing is, when I do anything other than crafts, I *always* pre-plan, strategize, and research everything. Maybe I don't with crafts to maintain the *fun* of creating. But, let me tell you, it's still fun to crochet this sweater with the charts pre-written. Doubleplusfun.

Lesson Learned: Measure in the Mirror

2010-01-18T22:48:49.000-5:00

The peacock sweater adventure continues ...

So, I measured myself while sitting on the couch and made a schematic of my sweater based on my gauge swatch. I looks pretty good, or so I thought. I took my yarn and the schematic to the cafe and stitched away. I didn't think to hold the piece up to my chest (thank goodness, because that would have looked weird), so I didn't notice ...

... how FREAKY HUGE the front left chest piece was. Whoa! I hadn't even gotten to the part where I charted the increase for the armhole. The t-shirt I'm comparing my swatch to has a pretty deep v-neck, as it is. The two pins mark where my bust and my waist are. As you can see, my v-neck is half-way to my belly button.

Realizing that something was very wrong, I measured myself again. This time, while I was looking in the mirror. What a difference looking at you're measuring makes!

There's more! Read the full post -->