Great Mammories….

Knit-A-Tit rocked!

Saturday was perfect.  Not only a perfect, sunny day; but perfect friends, perfect fiber, perfect support.   I would knit tits every Saturday with this amazing group of knitters and supporters.  There were men, women, and children coming and going all day!  I want to say THANKS again to all the wonderful, generous, supportive yarn or fiber spinners, dyers,  purveyors, crafters of all things lovely who generously donated awesome yarn, fiber, door prizes, patterns, etc., all in the name of breast cancer.  Lisa Ellison, owner of One City Market and hostess of Knit-A-Tit, is an amazing person, and I implore you to visit her amazing shop in the Ozarks–you won’t be disappointed!  Just plan on spending several hours there. . . .   Please show these wonderful supporters (listed in no particular order) some love when you purchase fiber:

South West Trading Company
Westminster Fibers
Blue Moon Fiber Arts
Cotton Clouds, Inc.
Dream in Color Yarn, Inc.
Mountain Colors
Webs
Ozark Handspun
Crystal Palace Yarns
Namaste Farms Wool and Fiber
Handwerks Textiles
Berroco
KnitPicks
Vintage Knits Wool Shoppe
Knit One Crochet Too
Brown Sheep Company
Stephanie Land (StephL on Ravelry)
Imperial Stock-Ranch Yarn
Wild Wind Naturals
Leisure Arts
Lydia Gessele (DakotaRose on Ravelry)
Miss Babs
Fairy Yarnmother
Wellesse (Vit. D)

Thanks everyone for the Knit-A-Tit love!

CraftGossip and EK Success Brands Super Swag!

I know, SWAG craziness!

I ♥ CraftGossip.com.  Every day around 6:00 a.m. an email pops up filled to the brim with all things craftsy.   A few weeks ago I applied and received this invite:

Saturday morning found me taking that long drive to Little Rock to meet and craft with four amazing CraftGossip editors and 19 other sweet, crafty bloggers.   Honestly, I’ve never been one to buy craft kits except for maybe the kiddies, but EK Success Brands®, who sponsored the event (and provided the delish food, awesome crafts and yes, the SWAG, oh the SWAG!), makes craft kits that are downright amazing!  I had no idea kits like these existed.  Where have I been?

If you think you have never seen EK Success Brands® products, think again.  You know those nation-wide craft stores, that big box store?  That’s where you’ll find them.  Want to preserve your memories?  Visit the scrapbook section and you’ll spot K&Company.  Want to be the next Martha Stewart?  How about Martha Stewart Crafts?  If you have an earring (or jewelry) fetish like me, you’ll swoon over Laliberi.  I think you see my point; EK Success has products for scrapbooking, stamping and paper crafting to jewelry making, needlecrafts and kids’ crafts.  Their products will totally inspire you.

CraftGossip; what can I say?  I love you guys.  Your Arkansas editors are the most down-to-earth, sweet, inspiring ladies.  Thank you for allowing me an opportunity of a lifetime to spend an afternoon with them and EK Success Brands®.  I’m ready for the next fun event!

CraftGossip's rockin' Arkansas Editors!

Now, the SWAG. . . .   Can you believe the above items EK Success Brands gave us?  It came in two ginormous bags and honestly, we were shocked and in awe!  I would estimate the cost of each person’s SWAG to be around $350+.  I still have mine laid out in our family room because I can’t stop looking at it!  I’ve already created items and can’t wait to see the kiddies so I can create more!  Thank you, thank you!

Dream. Make. Celebrate.™

Knitting’s My Soul Saver

I think of nothing but the next stitch.

I’m not a great knitter; I’m not even very proficient, but I love it.  It soothes my soul, calms my mind, and makes my brain feel balanced.  I wish I had started knitting years ago, but alas, it’s really only been a few.  If you’ve been reading my blog you know this past year has been one of the worst of my life.  I never realized I could be betrayed by people I thought were friends, bosses I thought cared about me.   Money has a funny way of changing people, doesn’t it?   Yarn has yet to let me down, be it cheap or luxuriously expensive.  It’s smooth or bumpy, soft or scraggly, bright or subdued.  It only goes where I tell it to go.  It doesn’t take off on a tangent without my directions.  I like love that.

This is the year I swear I’m going to knit a sweater, but it’s already August, and I still don’t feel ready.  I want to do one in an incredibly soft alpaca, but jiminy crickets, the cost!  Better Half has been amazing watching baskets in our house fill up with yarn, but there’s got to be a limit!

Thank you fiber for being a good friend.  Thank you for introducing me to wonderful new fiber friends who make me laugh until I have to put my knitting down.  You’re pretty special to me, and I appreciate that you don’t get agitated at me during my insomnia; you always let me call you no matter the time.

Thank you for allowing me to escape to a place where people are kind and my mind is free of clutter.  You are a good friend, and I do believe I shall keep you for life.  Now, about that sweater. . . .

Krazy Knitters

A work in progress.

I stink at math, but I’m pretty creative.  One of my more recent loves is knitting.   I was always intrigued by knitting, so about seven years ago a co-worker taught me and R the very basics of knitting, and we each made a felted bag.  Then life (and cancer) took over and knitting was put on the back burner.  About two years ago I picked it back up and haven’t looked back!  I’m still a beginner teaching myself how to knit but am really enjoying the new challenges.  I knit downstairs.  I knit on the porch swing.  I knit in the car.  I knit at doctors’ offices.

Finally, I knitted something that slightly resembles an article of clothing (other than the scarves, socks, and shawls I’ve knitted).  I’m pretty proud of it, so I thought I would show it off.  I posted it on the fiber lovers’ website of choice, Ravelry.

The next best thing is that I met another friend (B) who loves to knit, and we started a knitting group!  We combined it with another new knitting group and are now holding two night sessions and one day session per month.  The women are crazy-fun.  Seriously, CRAZY fun.  I can’t get any knitting accomplished because I’m always laughing.  Make new friends, but keep the old.  One is silver and the other gold.  I’m really digging my new silver friends, the Ozarks Twisted Stitchers.  We have a couple of charities we are now knitting for, one being near and dear to my heart (and chest):  Knit-A-Tit (more on that later!).

I knit, therefore I am.

Sew Easy Denim Apron

(Sorry, for the super cheesy Sew Easy Denim Apron!)

Denim remnants from my denim rug project—what’s a girl to do?  I needed a cute little apron that could work double-duty:  1)  handle a hard day’s work in the garden (right!), and 2) pull off a lovely evening in the kitchen.  As you can tell from the above picture, this apron has yet to see the (natural) light of the outdoors.  It was super easy to design and fun to sew.  I apologize in advance if the directions seem “lacking,” but this was one of those situations where I just sat and looked at it until the right thing came to me.   Once you start, you’ll see.

I took a half yard of denim and since this was a light-colored denim, there was no distinguishing between the right and wrong sides–so I solved the tedious problem of a lining.

Double-folding one short edge, sewed a ¼″ seam, and then pulled that edge up about two-thirds of the way up the length of the fabric, on the opposite side, making one large pouch in anticipation of the pockets.  I secured the pouch in place with a straight stitch across both bottom (¼″) and top.  Once the large pouch was sewn, I then determined how many pockets— and their sizes—I wanted and sewed a straight stitch for each pocket.

Around the remaining three raw edges, I sewed a straight stitch ¼″ from each edge.  I then “picked” around the edge for a frayed look.

I folded over the top about 2″ and sewed a straight stitch (using fancy top stitching) and slipped in webbing for the tie.

That’s all, folks!