I am back.

Our computer was not working right over the last few months. We finally gave up on dialup for a DSL line and are now back online! I have been busy crafting. I did start taking pictures of my finished projects. I have over 50 projects finished. I didn't take pictures of many of my Jan and Feb projects but I did take pictures of most things I made in March and April.

I realized that I have a habit of forgetting what I make and how I made it. That becomes a big problem when a friend or family member asks me how I made something and my reply is "I don't know, I never made one." I then see an angry looking face on that friend or family member and they say "I know you made one because you gave me one!" I feel that they must either think I am very dumb (I never claimed to be smart) or they think I am keeping secrets and not want to tell them how I did it. The truth is I am always short on sleep (that shortens my already short memory) and I am a bit of a closet crafter. By closet crafter I mean a person addicted to crafting... sewing, embroidery, painting, felting, knitting, crocheting, spinning, beading, weaving, paper crafts, and many other crafts. I feel if I make something fast and give it away without my hubby and children noticing then it doesn't count as wasting my time crafting. When I do that I often forget what it was that I made even a few days after I make and send it off it quickly becomes out of sight out of my mind. When I do remember making things and if I don't take a minute to jot down a few notes I always forget how I made it (except for the few things I make in large amounts and can do in my sleep). Because of this I am going to spend a little time posting the things that I have made this year and I will share how I made them so I can remember months from now. I hope this takes care of the forgetful Amber the craft addict syndrome!



Above is pictures of some sock yarn I dyed. I LOVE how it turned out! It was super wash merino and I dyed it in huge loops around my house. I was all tied up in yarn several times but it was worth all the time spent on this project because it did turn out nice. It was a self striping yarn. I didn't jot down my dye mix so I can't ever duplicate it exactly again but that's OK. If dying was a bit less messy and a bit easier to do with little children around I would do a lot more of it. As my children get older I think it will become my favorite thing to do with my craft time. Dyes and teething babies have caused a few headaches in my home. I can't hold a fussy baby and work with dyes at the same time and whenever I start to work with dye my little one decides to cut her nap short that day. It was a time consuming but very fun project.





Here is a little bag I made for my daughter. It was a first run with a pattern (not my pattern one found online) I used fabric scraps just to test it out. My little girl loves this silly little bag. I knew it would be a flimsy bag I was just seeing if I was able to follow the pattern. I dind't think a little purse for a 3 year old to drag around for play needed to have any interfacing so it doesn't look nice at all. Demi loves it so in the end that is all that matters to me.

Here is the same pattern (free found here) made with some nice fabric my hubby gave me for Christmas. I think it looks much nicer when I used nice fabric.
I don't like following patterns but managed to follow along and in the end it did end up looking OK.