Small Stuff

Working on some small things lately. .. my credit/gift card holders.

embroidering spring

I'm still having a good time focusing on embroidery! I found this jute bag at my local Hobby Lobby and thought it would make the perfect canvas. I really like that the bag itself is lined, so I was able to hide ends between the jute outer layer and the lining without having to put a lining in the bag myself - eek!

I kept with mostly bright colors in hopes of helping to bring on spring here in the northeast. It seems to be working! Here are a few shots and close ups of the finished product.

winter works

The cold and snow has had me a bit down this winter ..... where is spring???? Anyway, an idea came into my head one day as I was looking for a new gig bag for my soprano ukulele. I noticed these hemp gig bags made by Eddy Finn and thought that it might be fun to spice one up with a bit of surface decoration. I have to admit it's been years since I've embroidered, so I thought of the project as a way of practicing some stitches I had long forgotten. As you can see from the pics I also added a bit of my tatting that I found kicking around and sewed on a few shiny things here and there.

And of course I can't finish there.... I ordered the concert size uke bag and I'm starting once again!

Here's the finished work!

More bags

Below is a pic of two bags I just finished up this weekend. These are also two of my favorite colors! The purple one is done with Lizbeth size 3, needle tatted and crocheted, lined with dark purple felt. The green one was made with Lizbeth size 10, shuttle tatted and crocheted, also lined with dark purple felt.

Hmm....yeah, I make lots of bags...freaky!

The Blue Bag Project

I like to make all kinds of small bags.... probably because I can usually get them done fairly quickly, not to mention that I'm a bag-o-holic, so it's just something I enjoy! Over the last few years I've been working on combining crochet and tatting in various ways and I really like the way it looks.... plus it's a great way to use tatted edgings since I love to tat, but I'm not exactly a lacy collar or cuff kinda woman.

crocheted bags with tatted embellishments

People often ask me about a pattern for these, but since I don't follow any and I'm just too lazy to write one up, I decided to do a photo essay (with a little video added in) on how I go about making these. Just click the link below to the Blue Bag Project. I hope someone finds it helpful!

The Blue Bag Project

The Blue Bag almost completed.

Open for 2013

We are open for the summer! Come visit next time you're in town! Mr. Snowman is ready for the season!

Big Clover

Just got back from a great time at the annual Fingerlakes Tatting Conference. It was great to see friends, meet new people and catch up on tatting geekery!

While there I picked up a set of the new larger size Clover shuttles .....and I love them! Much nicer feel and grip than any other of those larger sized shuttles I've tried, so if you're a Clover junkie, you'll love these shuttles.

Spring forward

I need some warm weather thoughts so I figured I'd start working on this baby afghan for a friend. I'm not much for those traditional baby pastel shades, so I picked a couple bright colors from my stash.  It's an April baby so I wanted a stitch pattern that was light and airy. I think this one works well!
On Google+ someone mentioned that the color combo reminded her of daffodils.... Love it...so here's the progress so far.

doing the craft fair thing

I hadn't done a craft fair in a while, so I decided to do a local one last weekend. Here are some pics I took of my table.

I've been into making a line of party bags lately... for proms, weddings, parties, etc!

Along with my standards little bags, I did a series of American Girl hats with matching backpacks.

A close up of a tatted bag, lined in felt.

A bunch o' little bags and crunchies!

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone has a great 4th! Crunchy Banana has been open for a few days now. Each year I reorganize and rearrange things, and this year is no different. Here are some shots of the shop:

The crunchies are here! They turn up all over the place. You can find out more about them by clicking the tab above on this blog

I got the best night time display in town (if I do say so myself)!

open!

I am open! Yay! More pics to come!

Opening June 30th

I'll be opening tomorrow for the summer! The spring has been hectic and it's been a rush to get things in place, but like always we've risen to the occasion and will open tomorrow. Pics to come!

freeform

A piece of freeform crochet I did almost ten years ago... yikes!

As I was attempting to tidy up my portable hard drive I came by this photo of a freeform crochet piece I did about ten years. It was done with various pearl cottons. I have absolutely no idea whatever became of it. I think I like it more now than I did when I made it.... and I do love working with pearl cottons. I haven't delved into any freeform for a while, but perhaps I should! If you've never tried it before, it can be quite a challenge and a good way to break out of old habits and think creatively.

If you'd like to give it a try and you're looking for more inspiration, two of my favorite freeform crocheters are Margaret Hubert and Prudence Mapstone.Check out their work and drool ... it's awesome!

my Christmas vacation

My woven potholder tote!
I used an old button and a looper for a closing.

During my brief break from my day job this holiday season, I actually did a bit of crafting and made this potholder tote bag! No, it's not a bag for toting around potholders, but a bag made up of squares that I created on a potholder loom using loopers.

I used a standard metal potholder loom (eighteen pegs) and 100% cotton loopers from Harrisville Designs. They're quite thick and sturdy and the color selection is great. the body is made up of eight squares (four on a side). The handle, sides and bottom are made of half squares. I made the half squares by just looping at half the number of loopers as usual (nine) and weaving through loopers in both directions. It creates one edge that's a bit different from the others... but that didn't bother me.

Instead of sewing them together with thread, I decided, because of the weight of the final piece, that I'd use loopers to sew them together. I cut the loopers, used a fairly big needle and joined the seams with using loopers... it just seemed sturdier that way.

one side sewn together

I went for a multicolor look for this project since those were the loopers I had on hand. What I like of the Harrisville loopers is that you can purchase bags of loopers of all one color, so if you prefer to work with a certain color combination you can do that.

Although I ddon't care much for sewing together pieces/motifs//squares etc ... in projects, this one was not too bad and I would probably do this one again.

close up of bag

low tech weaving - again

cup o' java on a mug rug

Seems like ages since I've posted, but such is life! I should have known better than to vow I was going to work straight through any pattern book of anything, but I get carried away ... it always seems like a fun idea, but then I get side-tracked and other things catch my attention and well ... I'm off on something else before I know what has hit me.

a mug rug still on the "loom"

In this case, it's been a new ukulele! But enough about that... I have had some time to do a bit of crafting and decided to go very low tech (again ... I discovered this a while back) and whip up a few mug rugs for the holiday season.

When I decide to do these I find a piece of cardboard, cut it to the dimensions I need, make a good number of slots in it and away I go!

Depending on the pattern (or lack thereof) these are really a pretty quick projects to whip up. Easy to do when you're watching a movie or tv show.

lots of mug rugs

I'm pretty new to weaving, but this past summer I bought a small hand loom and tried it out (you can see those results here) and I've been fascinated by what one can do with a potholder loom. Hmm... think I'll dig that out next and see what I come up with!

sixth day of december

The sixth day of December.

Here's another pretty one! This one was, in a word ..... futzy! Ok, so you might be wondering what the heck that means?!? Futzy, at least for me, means fussy, fastidious.... hmm... a bit annoying!! It is, however, a snowflake that keeps you on your toes. Since I do right side/wrong side tatting (ie. I tat my chains and rings off chains with the double stitch in reverse order) I did need to pay more attention than usual to which direction the chains were going in and there were a couple times I lost count so don't look toooooo closely!!

But, I was pretty pleased with the result and the overall look of this one. Day seven is ahead!

fifth day of december

Ok, here's a lesson on blocking... it's one I don't remember enough. Like I've said, I'm a pretty lazy blocker.¹ With that said .... here's the fifth day snowflake ..... before and after!

BEFORE: wow.... it's a mess!
Tell your friends you're experimenting
with "freeform" tatting!

If your tatting looks like this (see BEFORE pic) don't give up hope! It may not be you, it just may be that gremlin otherwise known as the twist of the thread. And, in all honestly, this is a pretty chainy motif and unless you tat extremely tight your chains might need to be straightened out a tad.

So have no fear... the power of water... it's like awesome! I wet it down and gently pulled and tugged things into position and voilà! It came out actually looking like something!

AFTER: it really IS a snowflake! the Fifth day of December

Onward to the sixth now! Woo woo!

¹[Note: Confidentially... I'm a somewhat lazy crafter in general. I mean, if I make a mistake (that happens only once or twice a year... oh yeah) I only untat, undo, rip out, etc if its presence will cause a major issue as I go forward with whatever project I'm doing .... yep, that's me. We all got bigger problems in life to fret over, so for me a missing picot or one or two more/less stitches isn't going to keep me up at night.]

fourth day of december

The fourth day snowflake is another one that I've made in the past and a fairly easy pattern to follow:

The Fourth Day of December snowflake, tatted with Olympus 40.

I decided to use two different variegated threads. What's nice about this one is that you can work the snowflake continuously because of how the second round starts with a chain coming up from the last chain of the first round... it's always good when you don't have to cut and hide threads!

Now to the fifth!

third day of december

Here's a fuzzy favorite of mine! As I mentioned before, I've made several of these in the past... it's a lovely pattern and the layers of picoted chain add a bit of three dimensional flair.

Third Day of December snowflake in turquoise.

Just in case you're not familiar with the book these patterns come from, here's the reference:

Bjørn, Lene. 24 Snowflakes in Tatting. Akacia, 2002.

You can probably find it on Amazon or wherever you find tatting supplies and books. It's my kind of book... small (abt. 8" x 5" - easy to throw in a purse) and to the point! It's not for beginners. There are minimal written instructions, but each snowflake is diagrammed and at the beginning there are succinct instructions on how to do a lock stitch, false picot, work with beads, do ring on ring, chain on chain and false chain. I just realized that there is no explanation of how to do a split ring, and that does come in handy in some of the patterns. Although I say it's not for beginners, you're certainly able to pick and choose which snowflakes you do, some are easier than others and they are all lovely!

I'm really surprised I've managed to finish one every day since I started.... I assure you that won't be the norm as time goes on, but for now ... on to the fourth day!

second day of december

I had more time that I thought I might yesterday, so without further ado .... here's the second of the 24 Snowflakes:

Second Day of December, using Olympus thread, size 40.

For this one I used a shade of purple for the chains and a variegated for the rings. It could have been done in one round if you used a split chain, but since I wasn't using the same thread on both shuttles, it's done in two rounds.

Now.... I really should have taken a pic of this one before I blocked it! It was one wavy crumply looking snowflake and I was a bit worried that my tension was just not right for this pattern (this can, of course happen... I've had things turn out where I really needed an extra segment - or one fewer - to make something work right) but when I would flatten it out it did seem better, so I'll say this: Blocking is really worth it!!

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I hate the feel of starched things, but blocking can be the bomb! I'm a pretty lazy blocker too .... I simply dampen the whole motif and lay it out a towel, gently pulling it into shape to dry. I don't pin it all down and poke at every picot like I've seen shown in some books. I mean, I'm doing this for fun, not for the some state fair competition, so I don't see the point of getting all anal about it!

On to number three! Gotta say.... the next one is one I've made several times before just I think it's just too cute. More to come...