One of the reasons for this is a new podcast I've been watching: The Yarn Hoarder. This gal is so busy, with so many different plates spinning at once, I don't know how she has time to do everything, and podcast, and keep up with her Ravelry group, and find new patterns and yarns to share. Her self-control issues alarmed me at first (they made me have issues too!), but once I got over wanting to have everything she talks about, I realized it is just inspirational to see so many new things I can do with yarn. She has inspired me to just try knitting socks and not be intimidated by them, to finish my sweaters, and her crochet blanket make-a-long inspired me to make (and finish!) my C2C blanket.
She has a wall of (what I consider to be very expensive) wool yarn behind her, plus thousands of dollars worth of needles, hooks, notions, and many other craft projects, which is what I think draws people to her, but she also runs many giveaways and shares ideas for patterns and yarns to try. She shared a felted slipper pattern before Christmas, and I have bought all the items needed to make a pair. I have never felted before, so I am excited and a little bit scared.
All of that to say, I have been branching out too. One thing I forgot to mention: she always talks about her "project bags." I didn't know this was a thing until she mentioned them. They are always cute fabric prints with lots of details, so she shows all the different things about them and where you can buy them. These ladies (and some men) on Etsy are charging outrageous amounts for a project bag, which is basically a cosmetics bag with a cute print and a couple of extra pockets. So I decided I could make that.
I'm not what I would consider a skilled sewer, but my mom did teach me when I was young to use a sewing machine. I have owned one for most of my life (either Mom's or hand-me-downs when I moved out), but for the most part, it sits in its lonely case in the closet. I am trying, though. I watched several YouTube videos (what would we do without it? Learn by apprenticeship?) and realized that the sewing machine is not as scary as I thought, it's not rocket science, and with a little practice, I can probably figure out how to make some of these bags myself.
My first project was not a bag, though. My little Blessing loves to chew on things, anything he can get his 2 little teeth on, especially tags, so I made him a little taggie blanket (we call them "Softs" in our house). I did my best, and pinned everything just so, and sewed it all together, did a top-stitch around the edge (I learned what top-stitching is from YouTube!), and I'm so proud of that little thing!
I have enough fabric leftover that I might just make another one, for when he throws up yellow all over it and it's in the wash. It took forever (I'm still new to this), but hopefully I'll be able to do the next one quicker.
I also bought a ton of fabric from my local Joann's to start making bags with. I've also found some tutorials on making rolled knitting needle cases and DPN cozies. Now I just need to find time to work on them...
After we finished the quiet books a few weeks ago, I told my awesome old-school Grandma that I wanted to learn to quilt like her the old-fashioned way: by hand. She churned out more than 16 twin-size quilts in one year for all the great-grandkids, and she did it all by hand. She's amazing! I didn't want to start something I couldn't finish, so I told her I'd like to make placemats. I'm making each one different, using a traditional quilting pattern. None of this silly machine quilting in a day for me: I'm taking a month to make a placemat! 😊 I've been looking up patterns, and consulting Grandma's advice, and I think we've found some winners.
The first one I'm making is one of my favorites: a tumbling block. It's just a bunch of diamonds, which if you arrange them differently, end up looking like a star. But if you put them in just the right configuration, it comes across looking like an endless stack of blocks. I've always loved this pattern and can't wait to get it finished. Here's the layout:
After hand-sewing all the blocks on the bottom two rows together, I realized it's going to be a bit short, so I still need to cut out pieces for an extra top and side row of blocks. I really like the fun prints and am excited to quilt this one. The plan is to use complementary colors/fabrics for all 8 placemats, so they coordinate, but don't match.
The last big thing I've done recently is purchase a Cricut. I still don't have all the ins and outs of using the software, but I think it'll be amazing for making gifts for friends and family, and using up all my extra felt (and all the felt I bought when it was on sale a few weeks ago...). I would like to make a felt board for the boys that uses some of the more complicated and involved quiet book pages I found, but didn't want to make 3 of. The Cricut will be a huge help in cutting those pieces out, if I can figure out how to get the template in the Design Space to cut them.
Here is a photo of my recently updated craft space:
I got a ton of Cricut supplies with my machine and they were having a pretty good sale on their website as well, so I stocked up on all the vinyl and other supplies I could think of. I also purchased some necessary knitting/crocheting supplies (we got a rather sizable tax return, so I got a little bit of extra spending money) including a digital scale, some foam blockers (so I can finally not use my children's toys to block!), sock blockers, and the most useful so far, a ball winder.
If I didn't already have enough going on with all my knitting and crochet projects, I definitely have enough to keep me busy now. I have so much fabric to start sewing, plus the Cricut to start labeling everything, and more felt than I can probably ever use in a lifetime.
