I've been crafting - really!

Yep, I really have been busy, just haven't blogged about it! Made one pair of socks for a dear teacher for the end of the year, and even hand dyed our own yarn with Koolaid. This was fun, and we are planning to order more yarn to make more colors. It's a hard decision, with the big stash I already have!

Diamante socks are finally finished!

Zigzag socks knit for a First Grade Teacher

Hand dyeing yarn with Koolaid

Sitting in the dye after heating in microwave

A few times in the microwave and the dye is completely soaked in to the socks.

Liked the green and orange, but it needed purple in the middle. I added that later.

The finished product! We decided to call the color "Mystery Machine."

May's PAWS sketch

Here's the sketch our PAWS group is doing this month. I know I got it on the internet somewhere, but am not coming up with which website right now...

Scrapaganza 2008

Yesterday was a great day. Our local scrapbook store, TMI holds a BIG scrapbooking event every year, held the first weekend in May. On Saturday there were 126 women that attended (no men this year). I went and met them on Friday evening to help set up, then arrived early Saturday to help get ready for everyone. It's days like these that I really miss working with these great women. At 10:00 am the scrapbooking began. I had so much fun! By the time the evening ended (1:00 am Sunday) it felt like our whole room had been friends forever. In the morning breakfast was served - muffins and fruit, lunch was brought in from Pinocchio's - lasagne and salad - and for dinner we were on our own, so we went over to a nearby bar and grill. Really, I have not laughed so hard and so much in a long time. Seeing a lot of people I hadn't seen in a long time was great fun, too. Getting together at times like this makes me realize that for me at least, scrapbooking is not just about creatively arranging my photos in a book; it's about friendship and the bonds we build with others who share this same passion for a craft we love. It's about creating memories to last us a lifetime. Each of us will take memories home with us that will last forever.
The perfect way to start the day - Alex O'Loughlin as Mick St. John in Moonlight

Look at all of our stuff!

Already I can't remember why I took this picture...anyone remember?

Twelve of us from our PAWS group attended Scrapaganza this year.

Yay, I'm a winner!! I won a big crop bag (I'm the one on the left).


This was taken around midnight.

It's been a busy month! Lots of things going on, mostly family stuff that you can read about here. I did get to attend an all day crop with friends. Finished 20 pages! Sometimes I wish for the "good ole' days" of cropping a picture, maybe matting it, and slapping it on white paper, journaling, and then you were done. Seems like I spend so much time on the planning of a page by the time I get to the journaling I am just so done with that layout and want to move on. So many of my pages need journaling. I've been talking about having a get-together for just journaling for years now; maybe now is the time to really do it.

I have found something new to knit! Adam's teacher let me borrow this pattern and the size 0000 needles to make the bag. Mine is the red one with gold beads, and hers is the cream and green one. I followed the directions exactly for this bag, as it was my first one. Next time I want to make a smaller version, like the cream/green one is, and put a flap on it. This was my first attempt at knitting with beads, and I really like it. Adam's teacher is just wonderful. I am going to be so sad when he goes up a grade this summer. I will miss our weekly visits in the classroom. I couldn't have asked for a better teacher for him.

The big crop is coming up this weekend! Treasured Memories puts on this event, and as usual, Saturday's crop is sold out. My friends and I are going to the Saturday crop. We look forward to it every year. Maybe, just maybe, I'll crank out some great layouts and be able to post them here. I usually pre-plan my layouts and have them all ready to put together at the crop, but this time I haven't even ordered my pictures yet! The crop is from 10:00am - 1:00 am. LOTS of hours!

Here it is, only two days into April, and I completed an April challenge from my yahoo group! The challenge was to handcut a title, and dangle something from the title. I used the Terminator Two font that came with my computer, changed it to outline, printed it and cut it out, then used a jump ring to connect the small trumpet charm that is on the last "S" in BRASS. The charm is pewter, so I spray painted it gold to match. Great band, great concert. Definitely worth scrapping a couple pages.

Whew! Finished a page for the PAWS March challenge. This was a photo challenge - take a picture using a reflection. This picture is a reflection of myself. It bugged me that the word Canon on my camera was backward, so I flipped it in Photoshop. I also used a filter to make it not quite so clear. As I've said earlier, I really don't like pictures of myself. This one makes me laugh, because it's really how a lot of people, including my family, see me much of the time. I always have the camera with me taking pictures.

Finished a pair of socks! Made these on a sz 2 circular. The pattern is Vog On, found on Ravelry, posted on Knitty. The yarn was a skein I bought at the Nestucca Bay Yarn in Lincoln City, Oregon. The colorway is Sunset. I really loved this yarn - no knots, nice and even. I love this pattern, too. Quick and fairly easy.

My daughter came home from school today and said she just found out that someone in her class has sheep. Sheep = wool = Mom, can you talk to his mom and see if we can get the wool from them so we can make our own yarn? Oh, I was dreading this moment. I saw it coming, and knew sooner or later we would want to try spinning our own wool. I just have no clue where to start. Maybe some of you can direct me. I just can't see spending the money to buy a spinning wheel (I'm thinking Sleeping Beauty here) much less where I'm going to put the thing. On the other hand, Syd will be moving out of the house in a year and a half.....

We're getting ready to start putting things up for sale on Etsy! I'll post the website when we have something up there. Took picture of my stitch markers this afternoon, along with those socks (foot model is mahvelous, don't you think? - it's my daughter. She obviously has small feet than me!).