Happy May Day!

Here is how I celebrated May Day.
I made lots and lots of flowers yesterday and today to celebrate May Day.

Let me back track to fill you in on how I got to making tiny flowers. It all started just before Easter when I wanted new socks to go with my girls' dresses. I was too cheep to run out and buy socks and all the socks my girls own with ruffles, ribbon, or bows all looked a bit old. I played around (just hooking into a sock with some crochet yarn) and crocheted a ruffle. You don't need a pattern to do this just stick your hook into a sock (near the top) and add a crochet stitch (1/2, single crochet, double crochet, triple or such) doesn't matter what stitch or how many rows. It is fun to play around with. I had 3 pairs done by Easter. Easter morning I looked at the socks and thought how they looked like doilies. My mom even mentioned that at Easter dinner. Later that night I made.....
I think they are cute. Before you judge please remember I am not a skilled crocheter. I can't read a pattern and I don't even know what stitch is what. I plan to use them to decorate some clothes for my girls when I get some free sewing time.


A few days later I made a couple dark pink ones,
I am not the doily type but I have to say crochet has a beauty to it you don't get from knit. Look at the twisted knotted stitches in my doilies above. I love the look of the stitches.

I have a bunch more floating around the house. I hope to have enough done for some fun sewing in the next couple days.


I also made many more fancy top socks. Demi cried for beads in the store a few weeks ago. I told her no that I wouldn't make her another necklace. I have made her several necklaces in the last few months but she always ends up breaking them. She then asked if she could have the pretty beads on her socks. I agreed to get her some new beads but ONLY for socks. We now have several pairs of bling bling socks. LOL!

If you are wondering how I did it all I did was string a bunch of beads on my yarn. I used crochet yarn and beads with holes large enough to string on the yarn. I crochet around and around then when I wanted a bead I slid it up the thread and hooked it into the sock. I bought one pack of beads and made 5 or so pairs of socks. One sock only needs about 6-8 beads. I did put the same amount of beads on each sock so the socks would match. I know we are all getting sick of looking at sock trim!



In the last couple weeks I quit taking pictures of crochet top socks because I have made so many they all look a lot alike. I change the color of thread, beads, sometimes add ribbons, and the length of ruffle changes but still they are all starting to look alike. They only take about 30 minutes to dress up a pair of boring socks so whenever I need a quick and easy craft for the day I grab a pair of socks.

I have had so much fun playing with my crochet hooks. I really want to learn how to follow patterns and crochet someday but for now I am having fun just playing around. As I was messing around with socks and doilies I started thinking about when I was little sitting on the floor in my mom's sun room with her crochet hooks and making little things for my Barbies. My mom showed me how to do several different stitches with the hook when I was young but she never taught me to use a pattern. I remember when I was a bit older (middle school age) our we had a class in sewing that covered a little crochet. We all made google eye curly Q snake thing. I think it was a bookmark. It might have been a bookworm now that I think about it. Thinking about this snake (or bookworm) that had a head that curled around and around and it made me think how that might make a flower shape. I knew if nothing else it would make a fun trim for something. I started playing around with a chain of 15 stitches and I put 3 or 4 stitches in each chain and curled it up (sewed it with the end strings) and got something that I think looks like a pretty flower (maybe a rose bud).

I think they are cute and I have made a rather large stash of them over the past 2 days. I plan to use them for decorations on my little girls' clothing, hair clips, shoes, and maybe some socks.

I made this one with a bit thicker yarn.


Playing around taking a doily type piece and hooking into it with a bit of the flower bud thing gave me this umm.... doily flower? I don't know what it is but I know it will make fun decoration for my sewing projects.

I also want to share a bit more crochet trim (I made it yesterday).
Quick, easy, simple, yet beautiful (at least I think so). It is just a long length of crochet. Last summer I made up Zee a few shorts and dress sets with crochet trim. I would like to do the same this year.


This week I spent a lot of time spinning yarn. I am spinning up some silk bells I have had for years now.

I noticed I only payed around $3=$4 a bell so it would make some cheap yet beautiful decorations for my girls' hair clips, shoes, and dresses. I am thinking I will try using some of it as embroidery thread and maybe some for crochet trim for dresses. I will share how it all turns out when I get that far.


If guess you noticed that I am obsessed with trims right now. The reason for that is last week I ran to Walmart (to pick up a $2 crochet hook) and ended up spending over $35. I looked over my bag and noticed that all the money was spent on embellishments! I had a few beads, buttons, ribbons, lace and such. I only get $20 a week allowance so spending $35 was a big wake up call! That got me thinking of how I need to get back to making more of my own trims to decorate my sewing projects. I guess some crafty girls spend money on paper, some on fabric, some choose yarn, and others choose patterns. I like all that stuff but never feel a need to spend a lot of money on any of that stuff. My money tends to go on doodads! Zippers, embroidery floss, ribbons, buttons, bows, trims, beads, paints, iron-ons, and other doodads that my girls think are cute. I want to get back to making things and using what I have (or make it myself). So I can have a bit of cash on hand for when I need it.

Well that covers what I did today, yesterday, and includes some of the older things I am trying to catch up on. I hope by the end of this month to be all caught up with posting my old projects from earlier this year.

BABE SPINNING WHEEL

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My WONDERFUL DH gave me a spinning wheel for Christmas!!!! I know it isn't Christmas yet but I couldn't leave it in the box! Anyone who knows me knows what a HUGE deal this is! I have been spinning for a year now on a drop spindle. I LOVE spinning! I have been dreaming of someday having a wheel but I didn't think that would happen for a few years yet. Money has been tight in our house. My DH had to do a lot of careful planning to swing a wheel for me.

I wanted the Babe wheel. WHY? Well 1st I am a thrifty person. I don't like to spend a lot of money on things unless I know it is what we need. I have been wondering what if I don't like spinning on a wheel? What if I can't learn to use a wheel? What if something breaks in our house (car, major appliance, or such) and the repairs cost a lot and because of a spinning wheel we can't afford to fix it. What if's like that kept me from wanting a nice wooden spinning wheel. I live WAY out in the country. I can't go to a shop and take spinning lessons. I knew that if I ever got a wheel it would have to be something I could learn on my own.

I LOVE this wheel!!!!! I am in heaven!!! I feel like a child who pictured something in her dreams and all the sudden it became REAL! First when I opened the box I was all excited!!! THEN came the instructions....... I must say that this is the DOWN side of getting a Babe wheel! The instructions I felt are POORLY written!!! The illustration is AWLFUL! GOOD side is that it is such a simple wheel that even for me (a person who has NEVER used a wheel) It could be put together. My WONDERFUL DH did help me put it together. It was quick (could have been quicker if we had better instructions and pictures.

This is something a spinner will find funny! I don't know how to knit yet. I have a sweater machine that knits for me. I can knit in minutes on this machine what takes my MIL days to do. I thought that going from my spindle to a wheel would be the same. BOY was I wrong! I can spin faster on the wheel but not at the speed I pictured! SO if someone is thinking about getting a wheel and you think you are going to spin up HUGE amounts of yarn in a few minutes time..... Ummmm... I don't think you will do that. If you use a dropspindle and you would like to save the time you spend winding on you will be able to do that once you get your wheel spinning.

This wheel is EASY to pick up and move! My 1 year old is in love with yarn. When I need to leave the room she will walk over to the wheel and start undoing my yarn. This Babe wheel is so small and light I can pick it up and put it in a place my DD can't get to. If I had a wooden wheel I know it wouldn't be that easy to do such a thing! I like that this wheel doesn't have a lot of parts and that I will be able to teach my children how to spin on it and not be afraid that they will do harm to it.

Looking back now I think if I had a chance to pick out a wheel again I "might" have went with the cheapest of the Babe wheels. I can treadle with one foot on my double treadle without a problem. I wouldn't have minded white PVC pipe. The Pinkie Wheel for $150 looks like the best bargin! I thought that Fiber Starter - Double Treadle looked a bit nicer and I thought that a double treadle might be easier to do. It cost
$226 so it was a lot higher in price. I didn't know that a single treadle could get going by giving the wheel a bit of a turn with your hand. I am VERY happy with the wheel I got. The black looks nicer in my opinion. The double treadle was easy to get going. I do feel that I "could" have been happy with the pinkie wheel and that would have cost less money.

If you want to look at the babe wheels you can find them at www.babesfibergarden.com



(above) This is my first yarn on my wheel. I have to say that I am VERY surprised that it looks like my first yarn on the spindle. I guess I thought that with my year of experience on the spindle that my first yarn on a wheel would look more even. LOL! I didn't ply it I am not sure what to do with it. LOL! (Below) is a picture of my 3 bobbins done after I made the yarn above. I didn't ply the stuff in the above picture.


This is my 2 spools of yarn I have finished 2 ply. I must admit that I LOVE the uneven look yet at the same time I want to spin more even yarn.


This is the single I have left over because my spools didn't have the same amout of yarn on them.



I will get online later to read email and post some more pictures of my wheel for anyone who is wondering what kind of things I was confused with. Right now my children are taking a nap and my new wheel is calling my name!