Love Gloves

http://www.etsy.com/listing/88109756/love-gloves

Oooh Valentines day vs Mardi Gras.  The two days are so close together this year - Valentines day is on the 14th of February as usual, and Mardi Gras (being the fat Tuesday before lent starts on Ash Wednesday) is falling on the 21st of February this year.  Decorating for Valentines day before February is really too early and most people do put up Mardi Gras decorations right after they start taking down Christmas stuff...

ANYWHOOOO, I guess we'll talk about decorations another day anyway when my love and interest for knitting and crocheting dimmers a little.

This time, I made GLOVES.  Love gloves!  Because its winter and we need warmth, because there is lots of love surrounding the holiday season even though it is currently in between Christmas/New Years and Valentines/Mardi Gras.  And because I really do love things that rhymes.

I know my last blog title was "Cheers to Knitting" (which I changed to "Cheers to Yarn" on Jan 4, 2012 because someone sent me a private message about how improper it was to include "knitting" in the name when the item really was crocheted...  my apologies if I offended anyone ) when I actually crocheted the slipper, now this project I actually DID knit!  I got the cool colors by knitting a string of red yarn and a string of grey/multicolored yarn at the same time!  And so the patches of colors is the natural pattern of when which color decided to be on the top side.

I didn't knit the fingers or thumbs because it is truly too warm in the South for that to seem like a practical thing for me to make... But I think that will be my next project - to figure out how to knit a glove with fingers and thumbs.  I like to figure out my own patterns, and when thinking about how to make gloves, it seems like I have to knit or crochet little finger-sized pockets and attach them to the top of the gloves... AKA a lot of work!  I am sure it will be fun though!  I wonder which movie I will be watching while knitting all those little digits!

Cheers to Yarn!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/89435235/toms-inspired-knitted-slippers

No I have not given up blogging or my hobbies surrounding HandMadeByEle.  I have been sick and living on the couch with regular visits to the bed, doctor, and pharmacy.  For that reason, I have not been feeling well enough to compose and stare in front of a computer screen (even though its really beautiful).

Now, still sick, but feeling relatively okay and very unproductive from 1.5 weeks of sitting on my butt I am going to write a short posting while holding down my sick feeling by sipping on homemade ginger ale sweetened with brown sugar and love (because the ginger ale was made by my lovely boyfriend).

So while waiting 15 minutes for my prescription to be filled at the pharmacy, I decided to do some therapeutic healing therapy: shopping around Walgreens.  Since I was anticipating needing some prolonged couch time, I decided to buy a cozy blanket, some knitting and crocheting needles, and 13 balls of different colored yarn - yes, I decided in those 15 minutes of waiting that I am going to start a new hobby and I am going to like it.

So I watched a video online and learned how to crochet.  I don't understand how you read the crocheting patterns and with my headaches I do not feel like reading about how to decipher how to read those patterns, so I picked up my Tom's shoes and decided to crochet in the shape of my shoe and adding and subtracting stitches where I see fit.  I think it turned out rather well.

For the sole, I sewed together 4 layers of pink cotton - so these are Tom-inspired slippers.  I wonder if there are places were I can buy a regular rubber sole to attach my own shoe onto?

Overall, I would say they are a success.  Only thing is, when they are knitted, they feel more loose than the Tom shoe fabric, so next time I will make my the shoe slightly smaller than what I usually wear.

Dear Pets

I had to go to work today (7am-7pm)...  The ability of cats to jump to high places and get into small places has allowed my kitty cat to get into my jewelry supplies box.  Of all the things in the box, the only thing he chose to do was to unravel and chew up two big spools of hemp.  I guess the cat-loving-yarn thing isn't just something the Garfield guy made up!

Note to self: Do not leave spools of anything lying around.