More filet crochet

Wow....so I'm now on my second row of actual filet using the pattern.

Let me tell you, going from staring at these little stitches to words on a computer is really giving me a bit of an headache!! I'm surprised how easily this is going!! Really, it takes a LOT of counting.


If I had any advice before starting a project like this, I'd advice counting, double counting and triple counting of your chains before starting!! Thankfully, I counted enough times to get it right so all the letters and spaces are in the right places!

It's starting to look like something!!! WOOT!

















(Here is a shot of the filet rows starting to form letters!!)

Learning Filet Crochet

Okay, so I promised barettes, but got obsessed with some new projects.

Initially, I was working on a cowl from my heroine, CreativeYarn. I am almost finished, but got completely sidetracked by Taryn McEowen Lopshire's filet crochet family name doilies.

I just HAVE to make one for my sister who will be getting married at the end of May.

I HOPE I can get done in time!!!

I worked up the name in filet patterns and started chaining.......













...and chaining and chaining....

Let's hope this turns out!!!

Spring is for flowers

...so I crocheted a bunch! They are mostly picot flowers from my previous necklace post.

I tried to make a version of a picot lotus (that blurry purple/pink thing on the bottom left) but I think it needs more work.

I started taking the flowers I made and started assembling them into barrettes last night, so I should be able to photograph them with a real camera and everything by tonight.

Happiness is a warm puppy

I promise I will have my new barrettes to post here soon, but until then...
sleepy puppy is sleepy.

Grown up joys

So occasionally, something will happen that I want to post about here that isn't craft related.

This is one of those days.

I won't go into egregious detail, but I wanted to celebrate the first sign that my finances are turning around. For the first time in my adult life, I received a bonus from work. I don't have to use it for debt, I didn't have to use it for emergency repairs.

What I did, was made the first major purchase of my life. I feel so silly getting excited about this, but here is what I purchased with my bonus.

Now we opted to not get the dark leather, due to the white puppy and his claws. So it will be in a kind of khaki color, but it was pretty rad, had all the features I wanted and it was almost half off at Front Room Furnishings due to their big sale.

So for the price of one piece, I got the couch and loveseat, with cash to spare.

It may seem silly, but I am totally jazzed.

I finally feel like things are getting on track.

Totally unfair...

That this is outside....
and I am stuck inside.

This window is like torture! At least I HAVE a window at this job!

A visit to my LYS: Knitters Mercantile

So I was recommended to my LYS (local yarn store), Knitters Mercantile by some of the folk on Ravelry.com. Not only is the place five minutes from our house, but comes with rave reviews.

Now I know, what you're thinking. "Magpie, you can't knit for squat?!" Well, you're right. I can make knit squares and rectangles, but a helpful sign outside the shop stated "Crochet Friendly Yarn Shop", so I was in!

I was greeted by a friendly lady who walked me over to the one item I actually needed, stitch markers. She didn't laugh when I stood, mouth agape, staring at the walls of amazing yarns.

And it really was a pretty vast variety of alpacas, wools, cottons, homespuns and novelty yarns. They had yarns from their $5.00 sale to the $43.00 silky handspun wools. I found that the average price was around $6 for the regular stuff and around $15 for the fancy handspun wools.

I have to say, there was quite a lot of gorgeous yarn there. And though it was primarily geared towards knitters, I felt pretty welcome.

The atmosphere was cozy and two separate women came in while I was shopping to show the shop owner their projects and she took each one and showed them how to fix their errors. She was patient and I heard her say "Well, I won't fix it for you, but I can show you how to fix it." It was clear to me she was not just there to make money, but to truly teach and share the love of the fiber arts.

That was like the clincher. I'm sold. And I recommend interested folk in the area to check it out too!

And for those of you into seeing my meager but exciting purchase:


GORGEOUSSSSSSSSSS!

Scarf from product review.

So I posted a review of the Thick n' Thin yarn last week.

Here is my finished product!

It is SUPER soft and really warm and LOOOOONG. My boy is 6'1" and it was pretty much as tall as he is!!!

I have to say, I love it!!

And another flower necklace!

This one flew by!!

Yay new necklace!!!

So I saw a cute blog today at CreativeYarn. I just adored her pattern here, but didn't have a great flower pattern handy, so I dug up this pattern from SkaMama's Bone Hook blog and came up with this!!!

It was SUPER easy and took about 30 minutes all told!!

I LOVE IT!

More watercolor practice...

So I was looking at clouds the other day and wanted to try my hand at watercolor again.

Here was the second try.



















I also sculpted some beads and made a god statue. Good evening all in all.

Free samples

Okay, so this isn't entirely crafty, but I love free samples. It's kind of a small joy of mine.

So I am going to list a couple of freebie/trial samples. These are usually temporary so I can't guarantee how long they will be valid. Some ask for your e-mail address, some don't, just know that sometime, they send e-mail offers.

U by Kotex - http://www.ubykotex.com/samples

Crest Whitestrips - http://instoresnow.walmart.com/enhancedrendercontent_ektid84184.aspx

Burt's Bees Tootphaste - http://www.burtsbees.com/m/root-burt-s-bees-natural-toothpaste-sample-request.html

Emergen-C - http://surveys.emergenc.com/index.php/samsclub-off

Benefiber Orange - http://www.startsampling.com/sm/walmart/captureAddress.iphtml?item=101016&source=&url=http://www.startsampling.com/wmbenefiber1109

True Lemon, Lime or Orange - http://www.truelemon.com/sample.cfm

Pure & Clear facewash - http://www.etelligent.co.uk/etelligent/mp-ViewWebPage.asp?CC=nelsons&FRM=1&page_ID=662

Avery Note Pads - http://averydennison.rsys3.net/servlet/formlink/f?HNLjPQWCB

Dry Erase Paint - Paint that turns any surface into a dry erase board!! http://www.ideapaint.com/home/shop/#sample

Purex 3-in-1 - http://www.trypurex.com/email


A couple of sites that you can sign up for are:
www.freeflys.com
www.mysavings.com


Hope you have fun and enjoy your samples.