Crochet bracelet pattern, and stuff....

Me and my friend Linda are all geared to set up our little craft market at our church in April, so I've been a busy bee making as much as I can. I decided I needed some affordable little crafty things to sell and I came up with this bracelet.
If you can crochet, I'll give you the basic instructions here:

1, Using a ball of twine and a length of embroidery cotton, leave a tail (for tieing) then chain a length a bit shorter than your wrist.

2. Pull through the last loop and knot it (as pictured), then single crochet all the way back down the chain, leaving another tail, so both tails are at the same end. 

3.   Using embroidery cotton single crochet down one side leaving a length at the end longer than the tail.

4/  Do the same on the other side.

5.  Then plait the tail and two embroidery cottons together. 

6. Do the same for the other tail. Knot the ends. Knot the two tails together if you wish.

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Also using this free pattern to make some little aliens/monsters. (Faces will come last :)

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And me and Catherine were at the Auckland Folk Festival a week or so again. I paid $15 to get another hair wrap, except this time I was sneaky and watched her do it. So I did one on Catherine and it turned out pretty cool. I wont show you how to do it though, coz that would be stink!

Thrift

How come when I decide to make bags, which should be fun enough, all of a sudden I can't wait to get into the garage and start making tatting shuttles??

Maybe I should just embrace it, instead of wondering whats wrong with me!

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No money for new slippers? No problem! Make some!!

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Now I have enough potatoes to last me 3 weeks.... last nights dinner was... Potato fritters!

Recipe:

4 potatoes mashed

2 pieces of bacon diced and fried

2  Tblsp of chopped tomatoes

herbs from garden

flour to bind

salt/pepper

mix and dip in bread crumbs

(which I made by toasting some bread and hitting in a plastic bag with a rolling pin)

Fry them!

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Too much time on Pinterest made me think I was impoverished because I needed a whole new set of PJs.... when all I really needed to do was mend the old ones! You can barely see the mend anyway!

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And Im back into gardening after the drought we had in New Zealand. It's time for cuttings so I've got rose cuttings, lavender, daisy,  and geranium cuttings. Also cabbage seedling which came up in only 3 days! I planted them in toilet rolls which go straight into the garden.

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As you can see I'm trying to make the most of my internet time too, because I basically can't afford internet either, but I'm on a contract so I'll get charged if I leave/change providers. Plus any minute now Ill change my mind and start to advertise hard out for signwriting work and Ill need my email. But at the moment I've discovered I can survive on very little and i'm lovin it!

Adjusted tshirt

Ok. I got the idea from here.

The sides aren't gathered. I tried something else... but now I've seen the how-to video I'll try that next. This was a 2nd hand $3 tee shirt from the Opportunity shop... I cut the neck, made the sleeves skinnier and gathered the front. And no, it doesn't make me look like I have a big tummy... I have one... and hopefully this disguises it a bit. I hope to make some more of these... I need some tops that don't make me look like I've been vacuum-packed.

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I also made this for my flat!

Cuppa tea anyone?

Finished... or not finished? I can't decide. I don't know weather it looks funky or like I'm trying to fit into one of Catherines cardis. Mum just said "You should have made it to cover your boobs". It is a bit of a boob-accentuator at the moment. The wool was only $2.99 a ball, so I could go grab another ball and add a few more rounds. hmmm.... what to do?

Makin stuff.

Catherines in an Easter production this Friday and Sunday. Shes a mouse, so I made her the outfit to go with the mask theyve given her. I think theyll make cool pygamas once the show is over.

And I crocheted myself a snood. Well that's what Mum calls it, but I only have her word to go by. I've seen alot of them on the net, and decided to make one for this winter coming up. Speaking of which, we seem to be having an early one, so glad I got the wood chopped up before the cold set in. (Not that I can use it for this winter, but at least I'm not out in the freezing cold trying to cut it).

Holidays are going well. Looking forward to going to the bach second week of the hols, and Catherines looking forward to the easter egg hunt.

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Barbie clothes

Well, can't remember if I mentioned it, but I bought myself a barbie. (Oh, yes, I remember now... I did). Well, Luarna made some clothes for it :) Here is her post asking me to see if the dress she made it fit.

Do they ever!!

WOW. She didn't even have a barbie infront of her when she made these... how'd you do that Luarna??

portrait

Here's a drawing I did for a friend at church. It's of her sister and baby. I always get a bit iffy doing portraits coz they never look just like the photo... but then again, I'm usually the one who offers to do them, so can't really complain. Good practice. I didn't quite get the absolutely INCREDULOUS look of the baby, but it's ok I guess.

Also, even though it's summer, my contribution to the rising baby population (or so it seems right now!!) is booties!! A pair for a girl at church, and a pair for Catherine's Aunty (who I never see, but Catherine announced one day "I'm going to have another cousin!!" - so I thought I would be "big" and make her some booties).

More clutches in my FELT shop

I have just added some more clutches in my Felt shop. These are priced at $40 each. I take these to the craft shows and get a bit of interest :) and it's about time I uploaded them online!

Well, I just got some stunning earrings in the post. They are hand made from an etsy seller Rama star. They are hippy as and I love them. It's a bit escapist I know, it's not the 70's anymore, but when I feel like I want to to tell the world to get lost I'm gonna put these earrings on.

Also, I 've made a doily. In our household we have intracately made crochet doilies and table cloths made by my grand and great grand parents, and I thought I wanted to add to the collection of heirlooms to pass down to Catherine and make something worth keeping. So I found some vintage patterns on the net and made this. The thing is it only took a week, so I might try and make something even finer. I have also ordered a tatting shuttle off the net and can't wait to start learning. My grandfather could tat and I've always wanted to learn.

And last but not least, here is my Datsun at the shop. Yup. I gave it over to the proffessionals. And lucky too. They took the side panels right off and found alot more rust than they realised. So I'm looking forward to getting it back. I've chosen the colour. It's a dark green. They are taking their time though! they told me it would take a week and it's taken four!! oh well. Patience is a virtue a suppose.

What else I've been up to

Hey, I have been being creative... just havn't been documenting it. Here's some stuff I found on my camera. This is all pretty recent.

1. Truck I did for my cousins business. I spent the day with them, and saw my Uncle and Aunty, and my two cousins, Dean and Ashley. I was pleased with the way it turned out, especially since I took the time to go around each rivet with a heat gun. (It took 5 hours)

2. That box is made by me! as a mock up of my work for a client to present to his "team". If they like it , it could be in the supermarkets!

3. A shop I've been working on for the last fortnight. The Flying Pizza in Maraetai. It's such a beautiful drive... I started to really like travelling there, the sun and countryside was wonderful. Makes you realise how some people live every day, outside of the city.

4. Some 'booties' I started testing for the next Craft Revolution. They ended up so big they fit Catherine! Oh well, shes pretty stoked to have a new pair of bed socks. :)

Crochet Clutches

Here is the link to the crocheted clutches I put up on the FELT website today. They are $20 - $25 each.

I will also be putting up soon pictures of some trousers I have made myself... there is a cool clearance outlet shop for fabric here in South Auckland, and I bought enough fabric for two pairs of pants for $12! I love that.....

Crochet jumper

I finished Catherines crochet jumper. It's a smaller version of the one I made myself. As you can see the arms are a bit long and wide, but I'm hoping it will last her a year or two and that she will grow into it.

200 POSTS

Thats all I wanted to say. I missed celebrating my first 100, so yay for 200 posts !

I've decided over the holidays not to use my blog to winge and complain. 2009 was a bit of a nonity for me... and I have big plans for 2010. (Don't we all...).

I've got a few plans in the making, especially for my Etsy shop, Janet's Gems. I've just decided to go for it, and not worry too much. I've ordered a custom stamp for my tags and packaging, and some little fabric tags to put in my bags. I have two shops, one for stickers, and one for sewing and crotchet. I'm not gonna give up on the stickers coz its my bread and butter, but I don't enjoy it that much but I could crotchet all day (and sometimes do, oops).And I've heard it said, if youre gonna choose a job, choose something you would do all day whether you got paid or not... so this is an experiment and I'm gonna put my all into it, without giving up this time!

(I obviously had more to say than I thought!)

Leprecauns!

I thought I'd share a picture of a couple of leprecauns I made for a couple of sister-friends of mine. The pattern comes from this etsy shop .

Her patterns are awesome!!

Boxing day 2

OOps. More to say. I finished my crocheted jumper lazing around on Christmas day. Yes. That's me in my garage trying to look arty in a New York alleyway turned high fashion kinda way. Yeah. I know.

And also, I made a really yummy hummus today. I thought I'd share the recipe.

Janet's mm-mm Hummus.

1 cup of chick peas soaked over night

1 tomatoe, cored

half an onion

dash of malt vinegar

2 sage leaves

2-3 teaspoons of sugar

salt and pepper.

dash of oil

Combine in a blender untill smooth. Yum!

Crochet slippers

Well,, I was trying to write down a pattern of these basic slippers, but I made them too small so I offered them to a close friend on our Friday fish n chip night. She just kinda went.. thanks.. but was not overjoyed or anything... so I thought I'd be really creative and ended up with these! I have dreams of being a crochet designer now... another phase I'm going through... I go through them regularly... automechanic... artist...organic gardner...car restorer.... web designer.... pattern drafter.... graphic designer... proffessional crafter... you name it...plus all my get-rich-quick schemes that last about a week then fizzle.

MORE MONKEYS

Hey! more monkeys waithing to go to a good home... although I'm thinking of keeping the one on the left.. he's cute.

And I'm adding to my "Deliriously happy on $5 a day list":

• - Read a book
• - Draw a picture
• - Record a DVD off tv
• - Weed. compost. sow seeds. rake leaves and mulch
• - Quiet time - read bible
• -Excercise

Green pleated crochet purse

Oh my gosh! I finished this today for my etsy shop. Considering it took me over 6 months (!!) to get around to lining it, I don't think I could "quit my day job" selling them. Could think about trying to sell the pattern though. I'm quite inspired by a kiwi seller who sells crochet patterns on etsy (Luarna, let me know if you buy one incase we make the same thing for something ! :)

Here's her link - http://hollanddesigns.blogspot.com

there are some adorable patterns for babies..

My little monkey.

I got this pattern from the Etsy website. Isn't he adorable. I've made it for a baby shower, but I may not be able to go now, due to unforseen circumstances... (I'm performing with my little band, New Zild at a camp in Ngarawahia, they changed our time).. anywho... so I'm posting it early. I think I'll be making more of these. They're so cute! I made the mistake of letting Catherine hold him, and she swung him by the tail and stretched it! Oh well.