I’m Still Out Here….

… just feeling a bit frazzled.  As I’m sure is the case for many, we’ve been working hard to stay above water, so niceties like blogging got put aside for a while.  Still more or less in the same position (thanks, BP! -.-), but we’ll get there, and in the meantime, I’ve decided to come back to blogging and pursuing creative outlets in an effort to stay sane. o.O Anyway, so – to bring things back to all things creative and crafty – here’s a new (to me!) concept I’m looking at trying out – crocheting with poptabs from soda cans.  Check out these great links (links pulled from (and adapted from) a fab thread on Ravelry):

Pop Tab Wrap

• Tutorial for making a large crocheted pop tab purse.
• Here you can find has instructions for making pop tab flowers (which you can use as motifs for larger items).
• “This one is in Portugese, but the pictures are pretty self-explanitory and could be used as a guide for designing your own (she does rows instead of flowers).”
• “This ebook has patterns for making purses, baskets, vests, bracelets, skirts, and dresses. I don’t know if it uses crochet, though.”

I also found:

• http://poptabpurse.blogspot.com/
• Pull Tab Crochet / Crochet com Lacres – Flickr set from a lady who specializes in creating Pop Tab crochet pieces.  The photo in this blog entry is from this set.

The Quilted Librarian

If you’ve yet to visit there, Dana Warner Fisher’s blog, The Quilted Librarian, is amazing.  The quilts she creates are gobsmackingly cool – dense with color and concept.  And her writing is really great, too. ^_^  Please consider a visit!

Sneaky Crafting

I absolutely adore sneaky crafting.  If there is something that will soak up entirely too much of my time, it’s guerilla knitting, or something along the lines of The Toy Society.  Colorful social commentary and joy spreading – can’t beat it.  ^_^

Some great links to check out:

• International Fiber Collective
• Knitted Landscapes
• Yarn Bombing
• Masquerade.

Fruit from a New Obsession…

As I’m wont to do with a new/refreshed interest in something, I’m going hogwild with the internet research!  I thought I’d share some of the interesting links I’ve found, hopefully both for other’s interest, but also for future reference for me.  ^_^

Firstly I love the free patterns page over at BitterSweet, the blog of My Sweet Vegan author Hannah Kaminsky.  I totally gotta crochet a toast purse, just for fun, ya know.

On a more practical level I recently discovered these knitted fruit cozies in an old Vegan Lunch Box post.  Protecting fruit in a lunch box or briefcase is practical, but these are really cute and fruit-specific.  She’s included a link to the banana cozy design she came up with.

Along those lines, I’ve recently discovered Amigurumi.  How could I have missed that?  Seriously, ask my sister – I shouldn’t have missed that.

I can totally see creatures from the oddball to the kawaii manifesting themselves on the end of my crochet hook.  Hurrah!  New goal!

Oh, and speaking of kawaii, I’m really looking forward to making kitty beds.  We’ve got kitties, my sister has a kitty, my folks have kitties….And then there’s always my local kitty rescue groups.  Ah, but as that’s in the future – I mean I’m nowhere near ready to knit that sort of thing, I will have to settle for this awesome page full of happy cats experiencing knitted bliss.

Margaret's Kitty, from the Gallery. Click da kitty to go her blog....

Stitch ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook

Anybody familiar with this one?  I crocheted and knitted a tiny bit when I was a kid – I was thinking about picking it back up, but I’d need a good book/website as a place to start.  This seems like a good one, but I’d be thrilled to hear opinions.

I absolutely love the URL for the website book series:knithappens.com