Yarny Plannings and Other Plannings

I've been doing alot of crochet. I learned how to increase and decrease! I really wanted to make a faux-hawk hat for my little brother. I started crocheting with black acrylic yarn, but I either did something terribly wrong, or the pattern has something wrong with it. More likely it's just me :P It ended up eight-sided instead of six-sided, somehow. That made it parabolic-ish, and it was tres tres wonky. So I undid it all and went on the hunt around the interwebs. I found some hats with flappy bits like I wanted, but I didn't know how to double-crochet (still don't, really; only tried a swatch, and it was ok, but haven't actually made something with dc yet), and most of those patterns wanted dc, tbc, hdc and other wierd stitches. I finally found a simple beanie pattern in single crochet, though. I used the technique suggested by the first tute to make the earflaps.
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After that, I snagged a bunch of gray-blue, light gray and dark gray wool felting yarn from Todd's mum and started the LOOOOOONG process of cutting and weaving little strips into a mohawk. If I ever make this hat again, I'll hold it to 3 or 5 rows, but this one for Mikey has 7 rows. Then I decided I wanted it to felt PERFECTLY. So I picked apart each and every single piece of mohawk yarn. Then I combed every row. It's now a wonderfully fuzzy multicoloured mohawk. I just have to toss it in the wash in a pillow case and c'est fini!
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Project deux is a surprisingly large amigurumi teddy bear (now that I know how to increase and decrease!). A woman on Craftster wanted a few people to test her pattern and I decided to jump on the chance to try something new. I think I shoulda snagged a 3 mm or 3.5 mm from Todd's mum, because the 4 mm must be too big. The teddy is sposed to end up 14 cm tall, but if his head is this huge, he's gonne be ENORMOUS. I'm making him out of black felting yarn, though, so I think I'll just felt him :D Then he'll shrink, and if I comb him, he'll be slightly furry-ish.
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I'm also taking part in a swap! YAY! It's the Camper's Swap on Craftster. This is only my second swap. My first was the March Birthday Swap. Thankfully, I've been partnered wih a fellow Canadian, so no shipping internationally, YAY! It's only a 4 point swap, but it's gonna be pretty intensive anyway because we are making little travel cards featuring a camping location that we like (not telling what location I picked, in case a fellow swapper mosies on over here). I've already got the layout for mine on the computer, though I may change it up. Once I have the layout all decided, I'm printing out seven of them (cuz there's 8 in the swap including me), then papercrafting my little heart out :D I got supplies from the dollar store and some goodies from Canadian Tire to include.
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I also had an AHA moment while at Dollarama. I'm not gonna say what I'm making, but I'm hoping that my swap partner likes it! It's something I've never done before, and I'm pretty excited. I still need to MacGyver a couple things, cuz I'm not going to buy more supplies if I can help it. It's probably more art than craft, because it's something meant for display, rather than use, but it IS camping related.
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More SoapDeli Giveaways!

The fabulous Rebecca of SoapDeli is giving away MORE soap! She's sure working hard to draw customers! I'll reiterate that my faves are Lavender Pine and Buttercream Vanilla :D Mmmmm. I think the PL is something my Dad would really like, actually. He likes manly soap, like peach and vanilla :P Heeeey, his birthday is soon... Hmmm...

You can enter to win some NEW soaps from Rebecca: Star City Seduction, Mill Mountain, and Virginia Honeysuckle. All you have to do is go directly to her shopping blog, ShopByHand.

GIVEAWAY: July’s Five for Five - PURPLEPINKANDORANGE.COM

GIVEAWAY: July’s Five for Five - PURPLEPINKANDORANGE.COM

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This is a pretty cool giveaway! You have five chances to win something from one of five shops! Some really beautiful work by these craftstpeople, too! My fave pieces are the "Reflections" pendant from Madison Reece Designs, and it's a toss-up between “Butterfly Fused Glass Pendant” in vanilla, and “Fused Glass Pendant” in vanilla with black gingko leaf from PennyGlassGirl.

Handmade Soap Giveaway!

Apparently SoapDeli is really going all out with giveaways (at least I THINK it's the same seller as another giveaway awhile back), but regardless, all those soaps are making me swoon! My fave is Lavender Pine, but Vanilla Buttercream is a VERY close second!
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To participate in this giveaway, go to Etsy Treasure Chest, surveyor of handmade goods across the interweb!

Sharing Vintage Patterns

I did some research into US copyright law. I had to if I wanted to share this awesome knitting pattern:
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Once again, I will stress that this pattern has a teeny tiny slim chance of still being under copyright, and as unlikely as that is, I would encourage anyone who uses this pattern to ensure that you don't make money from that usage. If anyone associated with the Marriner estate comes across this and would like me to remove it, I'll do so immediately.
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If you'd like to download this FREE, NON-COMMERCIAL-USE knitted sweater pattern, go via this Craftster post, where you will also be directed to my research into US copyright law.
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Yarntastic! Finished Some WIPs :D

I'm sooooo bad for WIPs! I just put the finishing touches on THREE scarves. All consist of plain ol' single crochet. I'll present them in reverse order of start-date (you'll see why!).
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I started this one only about 5 weeks ago and finished it two days ago. It's made from leftover felting-wool yarn from my BF's mom (she makes mittens and slippers with this stuff). Out of 5 colours, I have three colours left, but they are TEENY TINY little balls that I'll probably make flowers out of.
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This scarflette was started in March and finished in May. All it needed was buttons, which were put on last night. It's made from black acrylic yarn carrying black and pink polester eyelash.
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This is the LOOOOOONGEST WIP I've EVER had! I started this scarf for my mother THREE YEARS AGO! I got sick of it because the tension has to be maintained PERFECTLY so that the nubbles are evenly spaced. I FINALLY finished it this evening. The yarn is even more gorgeous in person, made from a really soft and fluffy wool/mohair blend. It took 4 balls, 2 each from different lots, which is why each half of the scarf is slightly different. Finished length is about EIGHT FEET and Mumsie is shorter than I am.
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I almost want to make another nubbly one for me!
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$2 Blankie = Old-Man Dog Sweater

My boyfriend's family's dog, Jinx, is 13 or 14 and the old man is slowing down. He loves to go camping with us, though Last year, we spent 3 very cold and wet days trying to catch fish (we failed), and the poor dog did a lot of shivering and moaning, sitting on us in front of the fire and trying to climb into my sleeping bag (he had his OWN darn sleeping bag ). So, now that fishing season is upon us again, I knew the pup would need some sort of sweater in case of inclement weather (instead of wearing one of my shirts).
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Off to the dollar store I went, where I found a 46x36 inch fleece plaid blankie. I already knew which tute I would use :D It took a lot of math, because this is just a guideline, not a pattern, but I did it!
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The one thing I wish I'd done differently: cut the armholes SMALLER than what I thought they should be (for the top piece; I needed to cut MORE out of the chest piece). I had not originally intended to put sleeves on, but the armholes were HUUUUUGE!
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Here is Mr. Jinxy-Poo in his fabulous new camping sweater! In conclusion, I would recommend this tutorial if your math skills are decent and if you remember to cut the armholes a bit small to try out first.

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