too many crafts...

I didn't end up getting any craft books or kits for Christmas. It's probably just as well as I have so many projects at home to finish, not sure when I will get the time to do them!
I'm on my 8th hat now, still not bored by this type of knitting... Was thinking of maybe spicing some of the hats up with buttons on the brims.
I tried to make the loom scarf but something went wrong so I unraveled it and will have to try it again. Picking up how to knit the scarf is much harder than learning the hat pattern, which came to me without trouble.

fifth hat

I finished my fifth green hat (so relaxing) and started a multi-colored one. I want to give a green one to Beth for her birthday and the multi-colored one to Beth's daughter, Kelsey, whose birthday is about one week later. Here's a pic of me wearing one of the green ones at a bar in Stamford. The first photo is scenery from the bar, taken by Ash.

fourth hat

I'm on my fourth green hat, this one I'm making with a brim...This is so meditative and relaxing and addictive I have even been doing this at stop lights...It feels so good. Wonder if I could make a living doing this, selling these pretty things on http://www.etsy.com/index.php or something. I bought another ball of this green yarn because I want to knit some scarves, too, and perhaps a blanket. Also picked up today before work a multi-colored brighter skien, which will be fun, too.

more knitting

I am on my third loom knitting hat! So pretty, pretty pretty this green yarn I'm knitting with....Haven't worn it yet in public, but I will because it's so pretty, actually probably more pretty than warm! Hoping to finish the third hat today and then maybe will start on a scarf or try the purple yarn I had in my craft pile.

Borders

I was at Borders yesterday doing Christmas shopping and came across this huge craft kit for $20. It had rock painting, a sock puppet kit, friendship bracelets and clay art. I bought it and didn't tell Diane it was for myself, sometimes I'm so embarrassed at how much I love these kids' kits!

mandala

Was reading a description in Isabella's catalog - http://www.isabellacatalog.com/ - about mandalas and how healing they can be. I don't fully get why. But I do know that I love to color (yes, even as an adult)....I sort of doodle a lot and then shade in my doodles, which is often soothing. So I'm very tempted to buy a mandala coloring kit from Isabella...Instead, I decide to wait and ask for a gift card from them for Christmas....Meanwhile, I print out some mandala's online and bring them home and start coloring them in with colored pencils I have around the house. It's fun and soothing.
I also spend a lot of time this a.m. working on my second green loom hat....I'm going to make this one a little bigger than the first. I notice one mistake where I think I dropped a stitch or something. I hope I can figure out how to disguise this little mistake as I would love to give it to K for X-mas, that little stinker is starting to get hard to buy for! She cracks me up. She's 12 and all of a sudden says she doesn't want anything really for Christmas.

secret santa gifts

I submit my Christmas list to my Secret Santa group (my siblings, sister-in-law and family friends) and I do something different this time. I list a bunch of items like I usually do, like gift card to Whole Foods, Isabella, etc...but I also tell them I want craft books and kits and to surprise me with anything.

craft books

I submit my Christmas list to my Secret Santa group (my siblings, sister-in-law and family friends) and I do something different this time. I list a bunch of items like I usually do, like gift card to Whole Foods, Isabella, etc...but I also tell them I want craft books and kits and to surprise me with anything.

the real way to knit

My friend Linda shows me the real way to knit today....I show her my loom knit cap - she loves it, can't believe it came out so nice with the loom and she loves the yarn. But I'd like to be able to knit both ways. I want to finish two scarfs that I started the "real" way years ago...I take a quick break at work to move my car from the scary back lot to the area closer to the door and spend five minutes or so knitting before running back into the crazy newsroom So soothing. I eat at my desk everyday practically so I deserve a little break. In fact we are mandated to get breaks so I shouldn't feel guilty. On the way home, I buy another knitting loom, this one a long thin one which will allow me to make ponchos, blankets and scarfs. Also pick up a punch needle for a cat kit I bought a while back. What else? Hmmm, oh that's it for me. Bought a few gifts for the little ones in my life - Michaels has such great little kid gifts.

green knit cap

I finished loom knitting a very basic green cap...It came out very pretty, mainly because the yarn was a gorgeous cat's eye green with some soft yellow in it. It was a very simple cap but looks elegant.
Am starting to make another one, this one I will try to make a little bigger and will add a brim! Feel like I'm making progress, I have always wanted to knit and never got the hang of it. Even though this loom knitting isn't the real thing, at least it's a start. Eventually, maybe I will learn to knit beautiful kaffe fassett sweaters-http://www.kaffefassett.com/. I salivate over his stuff.

craft meet up

just signed up for a craft meet-up, meets in new haven, i think this will be a fun way to meet some nice friends and maybe even get more crafts done!

Wish I could craft all day!

Don't really want to go to work tomorrow. Would rather stay home and craft, craft, craft. Have so many projects, so little time.

I want to make everyone's Christmas present this year. It's a goal of mine everyear to at least make a few and it usually works out that way. This year, I'm not sure, though, as life is so hectic.

I did buy citric acid at the health food store, just happened to see it while I was shopping for lunch, and so I picked it up for the bath salts I wanted to make for someone on my X-mas list. (Can't say who just in case she's reading!)

challenging old beliefs

I used to think it was copying. Now I realize it's inspiration. We need inspiration from others, need outside ideas to be stimulated, to give us juice to create our own vision.
I was driving on Main Street today, looking at a flag I have seen many times before. I had been thinking all morning about my flower designs and when I saw the flag, it hit me, I could make a flag design using my flowers.
Some artists, like Monet and Manet, are inspired by beautiful outdoor scenes in France. I'm not that type of artist (I can't draw to save my life. This is one of the reasons I never thought I was creative. That's another belief of mine that I have challenged). But I get now that we need to be around beautiful things to create our own gorgeous things. I used to be so hard on myself, thinking it all had to come from the inside. When I created something based on something that had been done before, I thought it was unoriginal and not worthy.
Like the old me would have thought the flag/flower idea was stupid. You're copying the flag, how silly is that. But now I realize the many ways that's original, it's a twist on an old delicious symbol. I bet even Betsy Ross would think it was cool.
This is what I love about this blogging community! All the beautiful ideas and colors and pretty things to look at! It's like candy for my creative soul.
Now I just need a better camera, that cardboard one isn't going to cut it, I realize!