I got it bad now.

Hoo boy, with the beautiful spring weather and an energizing morning at the gym (and inspiring visit to the remnant box at The Cotton Ball I've got a really bad case of projectitis today.
Here's the deal, the shop I work at part time requested of me that I create more cards! Also, they wondered if I could transfer my stamp images to things like shirts and aprons. Well, that got me on a roll with ideas, so I went to the Cotton Ball to look for embellishments and any fabrics that have an orchid motif on them (it's an orchid shop). That's when I got distracted by the remnant box and decided I didn't need orchid motifs, and I would make purses. I bought a lot of remnants. Let's just say, I bought more than enough, considering I already have several storage bins full of fabric. But I did get really inspired, and got some pretty amazing fabric pieces.
So what's the status of these projects? Well, I cut out one little wristlette (I bought this pattern YEARS ago, and finally am going to make the darn things) so that if I screw up, it won't be wasting tons of fabric. It's going to be a fuzzy animal print and black velvet combo. Very sexy. By the way, I just discovered the pattern can be purchased online from the artist's site: http://www.radbags.com/
I've bought several patterns from her, and the graphic designer in me wants her to stop hand-writing and illustrating the directions, there's another part of me that finds it absolutely charming. Also, every single thing I've seen from her is delightful, clever, charming ...pick an adjective, she's got all the good ones.

And for the cards I've drawn an orchid image onto the carving material. But this is the last of my carving material, so I'll need to buy more. I'm a bit trepidacious about carving this one, with all those fine lines. But I'll just have to TRY to be patient and slow.

Also, I need to buy additional materials for the "couture clutches" ... that's what I get for jumping into a project without thinking it through. I decided *not* to drive into town for the materials I need today. I already was in town earlier today, and will just have to wait until tomorrow to get little magnets and the extra-heavy stabilizer to make the little guys keep their shape.. Ooh! But I did already sew the lining together and made my very first boxed corner! I may sound totally lame right now but -- OH it's MAGIC!

boredom= not enough projects!

Did I mention the kitchen got painted? Mostly, anyway. All the walls are done, and now I just need to finish the trim, and the inside of the cupboards. I would have done that, too, if not for the fact that I couldn't find the can of paint. Oh, don't laugh, this is a common problem in a project over-full household. We have a shed, and it is over-full of the tools and detritus from too many projects. I know there is a can of green paint in there somewhere!
In other news, the funky hat was finished, and I must say it's darling if not a bit TOO SMALL. Darn it. I'm pretty sure it would have fit fine if not for the multitude of dropped stitches that occurred in the first row. It's something I wasn't *sure* of at the time, since the yarn is pretty hairy, but now that the hat is too small, I'm convinced that's what happened. I started another one, and it's 3/4 of the way done. Yeah, I rocked through those hats in no time. That's what happens when dance class is canceled and it's raining outside. There's NOTHING to do but knit and watch Oprah. Ugh.

project failure

Today I sort of got carried away with a project rather than get real work done. See, I went to Michael's to get something I needed, and ended up getting this really great idea for a Valentine's gift for my man. I bought this iron-on printer paper which turned out to really suck. Not sure if it's just me or what, but the ink bled *really bad* so that my really awesome art is pretty much unintelligible. I'm pretty disappointed, since I was so excited about this plan. The only thing I can think of to solve the problem would be maybe to not use such small art, but even then I think the quality would still be bad. I knew that stuff was too good to be true!
What I'd really been looking for was iron on letters (which they had) but I want *really small* iron on letters, like 12 pt. That was not to be found, and I'm sure they'd be a pain in the ass to work with even if they'd been available. This transfer paper seemed like the perfect solution. Oh well.

Oh, and speaking of Michael's: Talk about disappointing to see that they have a whole freaking wall of birdhouses, ready-made, just waiting to be embellished. I don't know why I bother with the *struggle* of putting together these silly things, when you can buy one for next to nothing.
And another Michael's-related rant: Am I the only person who has a love-hate relationship with scrapbooking materials? Like, I LOVE the beautiful patterns, and awesome little doo-dads that are all coordinated and so pretty without any effort, but I hate the fact that people buy this crap and think they're *creating* something when they use it. Sorry ladies, it seems to me the creativity part was done for you. But you are using your glue & scissors exceptionally well, so good on you! So yeah, I get all gooey, like I want all this fun, pretty stuff, but then I get angry at myself and think that really what I should be doing is applying for jobs at the scrapbooking factory. I want to make that stuff!

Playing Catchup

There have been a few finished projects that haven't been photographed, so I think I ought to catch up. Also, I am considering creating a sidebar of projects I *want* to do, but haven't had a chance to start. I'm hoping that maybe I can perhaps use that as a way to plan ahead, have a goal and follow through with it, rather than just starting projects willy-nilly without proper planning or allowing myself enough time to do the job correctly. Maybe it will help my crazy brain.

So let's list the completed projects:

1. Beledi dress: as you can see, a triangular section was added (to both sides) from the armpit to the hip to make this dress fit a normal-sized human being. It had previously belonged to a 5'2" size 0 sort of woman, and it was handed down to me, 5'9" ... you can see the problem. Fortunately for me, the arms were sewn together with French seams which allowed me to simply rip it out, and put it back together using a normal seam, giving me about 1/2" more diameter in the arm. Otherwise, I'd have had to do another pair of triangular inserts in each arm, too.

2. Love stamp: I mentioned it being completed previously, and you saw the original drawing, and the transfer to the stamp material. Here, you can see the carved stamp material along with the stamped result. Stamp carving is one of my favorite things to do, and thanks to a friend, I've learned to not rely on the imperfect carving tools available, but to really get more precision from an X-acto knife. It really helps when you're trying to get tight corners dug deep.

3. Sari silk purse: This was an imperfect result, probably because I'm an imperfect knitter and so one side looks really good (the side shown here) and the other side looks something like the loose skin on the stomach of a person who's lost 300 pounds. Ugh. That's disappointing... who wants that hanging on their arm? 

4. Silly hat: The silly hat is coming out really well. I love DPNs (double-pointed needles) because it just seems like magic the way it works. It's not magic, but my puny brain finds the whole process of knitting to be just miraculous. I can't believe someone invented this stuff. I'm about 1/3 done with it, and having some minor issues deciding how to incorporate the silliness, so I'm taking a little break to think it through. I don't want it to be just like the hat I already have, but I want it to be flattering in the same way, and silly in the same way: not *too* silly, but definitely not normal. On a related note, I really like this website for fun knitting patterns and information.

I finished something!

Yesterday I finished the sari silk purse. I will not post a photo. I'm really bummed by the result. I think because I used a new ball of yarn on the second half, and the second ball of yarn was *way* different from the first, the second half came out a bit larger than the first half, and so when I put the two halves together, one side is all puffy and saggy while the other side is a lovely pac-man shape. Um, never thought I'd say the words "Lovely Pac-Man Shape" but it was a nice shape for a purse, and it didn't come out that way. I think I'll still use it for transporting my stuff to and from dance class, but I don't think it will ever be my funky bohemian purse.

Finishing the purse did get my knitting needles moving, though, and so I've started a little hat. It's going to be similar to one I bought a while back, one I get tons of compliments on and everyone always asks "Did you make that?" and it's embarassing to say no, when I easily could have made it. So I'm making one. Maybe I'll make TONS of them and all my friends can have matching silly hats. That would be the best.