futuregirl craft blog

Link Fest

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:42:33 GMT

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

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:10:51 GMT

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.

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:36:11 GMT

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?

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 06:23:52 GMT

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

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:34:30 GMT

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

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:15:58 GMT

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

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:01:52 GMT

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

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:03:02 GMT

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

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:13:42 GMT

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

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:09:21 GMT

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

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:25:50 GMT

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

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:55:21 GMT

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

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:40:55 GMT

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

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:51:45 GMT

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

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:49:09 GMT

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

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:56:59 GMT

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

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:22:12 GMT

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

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:48:49 GMT

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 -->

Link Fest

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:02:32 GMT

Check out these amazing crafters and makers!

eBook Sale At CraftyPod
Get $3.00 OFF all eBooks at CraftyPod

Diane's expert advice can help you:
· create a great blog
· attract a blog audience
· use social media to promote your crafty business

HINT: Those links don't go to her store, they go to the supplemental links she offers for each of those eBooks. And, if her supplemental links are *that* great, imagine how great her eBooks are!

Make & Meaning
Lots of great posts and comments over on Make & Meaning in the last couple of weeks. The thing I like about being a part of this site is that we're a pretty diverse group. It's interesting to get a different perspective on the crafty/making topics that I think about a lot already. I need to search out more of this kind of thing in other areas of my life and shake things up!

You Must See This
Unbelievably cool owls (trust me).

Peepshow

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:05:43 GMT

Look what people made with my patterns ...

Suma made this gorgeous Starling Handbag. She even added a zipper to the lining!

Look at the amazing color combination used for the Starling Handbag made by Stitchita (ravelry link). SWOON!

jackiw7 on Flickr added photos of this Starling to the Starling Handbag group. You must click through to see the amazing lining she sewed: pockets, more pockets, and a matching change purse.

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!

Open Source Embroidery

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 22:45:29 GMT

In San Francisco, you can get into a bunch of museums for free the first Tuesday of the month. I meant to go in December, but the first Tuesday was the 1st of December, and I didn't think to check until a couple days in. Oops.

So, I was not-so-patiently waiting for January 5th so I could go see Open Source Embroidery at The Museum of Craft and Folk Art. It was even cooler than I thought it'd be!

I hadn't read anything about it, so I didn't realize it ... well, the marketing text says it better than I could:

Open Source Embroidery includes workshops and exhibitions that investigate how the open source software development model has been incorporated into the language of cultural participation.

So ... techie and crafty, which was extra cool for me. My absolute favorite was a gigantic canvas panel with cryptic, tiny-line embroidery on it.

This was about 6 feet across. You could look at the back of the work, and all the threads started from the center of the panel and trailed out from there. The plaque said a GPS and a projector were used. My guess is that a bunch of people started off in the same spot, then left in all different directions and the maker (I didn't get the name!) projected the GPS map on the panel and then embroidered the paths. The results were beautiful.

Here's a close up of the center bit. Eye candy!

When we walked in, I saw two heavily embroidered chairs that were pretty cool. But when I saw someone embroidering on them *AND* saw the bowl of thread and pin cushion full of needles I got excited.

Here's the close up of my "DOOM" embroidery. The chair upholstery is woven, so I thought I'd do a cross stitch (see the D). But I gave up on that pretty quickly and switched to straight stitches because it's not easy embroidering on the chair you're sitting on. :)

And here's me sitting on the chair. The exhibit is only there until January 24th, so if you're in the area and want to see it, you've got less than two weeks.

Peacock Sweater - Planning The Pattern

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:19:47 GMT

I decided to use the 4.5mm hook for the peacock sweater. That's also the size I use to make my Starling Handbags. It seems I have a preference for the 4.5mm hook. Maybe it's my lucky hook?

I made a huge swatch of the peacock stitch pattern so I could get a gauge. I determined that the motif is 2 inches across and 2.75 inches tall. For half-a-second I considered doing swatches in *all* my hook sizes to see if one would come out in even inches tall/wide ... but that's just too ridiculous to do just to make the grid paper pattern easy.

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

Peacock Sweater

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 04:06:47 GMT

There are a million-and-one crafty things I want to be doing RIGHT THIS MINUTE, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about, planning, and starting another project: the Peacock Sweater.

Technically, I've been dreaming about making this sweater for a while. But, if you've been reading since then, you'll know I frogged those swatches and ended up using the yarn to make/frog the Icelandic Turtleneck.

This shiny Paton Grace yarn is so much better for a stitch pattern where you want the stitches to be well-defined and highlighted. For the turtleneck, it just looked chain-mail-y. But the shiny really makes the peacock pattern POP.

And, since I already have this yarn and I'm still trying to make a decision about the cardigan's yarn, well, I just couldn't resist the siren call of a new project.

I made these three swatches using (from top to bottom) a 3.75mm, 4.5mm, and 5.0mm hooks. Then I weighed them. I was seeing if the size of the hook helped maximize the amount of yarn you use.

OK, I thought the the bigger your hook, the more yarn you would use. Is that your guess, too?

Well, that's not what happened! I did 43 stitches across and 7 rows of the pattern in each of the hook sizes and the weights of each swatches were 11 oz., 11 oz., and 12 oz.

OK, so the last one was an ounce more, but the most dramatic size difference was between the 3.75mm and 4.5mm hooks and they weighted the same amount but are much different swatches. The larger hook produced a more loose, stretchy fabric, which is great for a sweater. That means using a larger hook will give me more coverage with the same amount of yarn. Yay!

Crafty Meetup

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 06:43:55 GMT

Last Thursday I met up with Sonya of Wax and Wool and Bethany of Bitter Betty. We hung out at Sonya's studio space, where she let me paw through her AMAZING stash of yarn (I even got some to take with me!). After eating a yummy lunch at the cafe downstairs, we headed over to SCRAP.

OK. I didn't even know this place existed. And, maybe that's a good thing. But now? Now the cat's out of the bag. I've always loved to hunt for treasure in thrift stores ... and this is basically a thrift store FULL of crafty/making supplies. Crazy, weird, strange, funky supplies. I collected a small handful of goodies as I methodically walked up and down each row (some twice!).

This 2 yards of pink loopy elastic, tiny embroidery frame, and EFFING AWESOME CIRCLEOMETER™ (that has a center pin built-in so it spins!!! close-ups on Flickr) cost me a cool $1. YES!

But, really, this entire post is just an excuse to show you this hilarious photo of us "high" kicking ...

... and this photo of World's Most Adorable Siamese Twins™ ...

Yay!

And, Korallin, we need to remember to take photos next time! I totally forgot when we got together in October. :)

Groundhog-along

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:33:12 GMT

You *know* you wanna join in the fun of 2010's Groundhog-along!

I just got the pattern, and I'm ready to crochet mine. You can get all the details over on PlanetJune!

And, if you've never seen Groundhog Day, rent it. Bill Murray is a comic genius!