Amy's Babies

BLOG MOVED!

2007-07-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all my loyal readers. I have grown tired of the struggle with blogger and I have moved my blog to wordpress. You can find it at

http://amysbabies.wordpress.com

Please remember to update your Bloglines, Google Readers, or your prefered method of blog reading because I hope you will follow me to the new site. All the same posts are there. All the comments that were lost in the Haloscan incident have been restored. Unfortunately this caused the loss of the comments from the past month. I have all the links to other blogs on my side bar and I will be slowly adding back all my badges and other frew fraw on my side bar as time permits.

Thank you for your understanding and loyal readership!

Tour Update

2007-07-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finished plying the Nightshade. It came out so fantastic! I adored working with this fiber. It was the first time I had used Coopworth and I think I wouldn't hesitate to use it again in the future. It came out to almost laceweight! I am getting closer to my goal every skein I make. I think this would make a fantastic shawl. The colors are so rich and I can't wait to see what they look like when they are all worked up.

As soon as I was done with that one, I started on my next set of fiber. This is Tulip from Spunky Eclectic. I think this one is going to be closer to a true laceweight. It is spinning up super fine and it is taking forever to fill a bobbin. I still keep having to remind myself to spin thinner, but I am getting better at it.

And because this is just a super cool photo, this little guy was found by Joe out by the laundry room. I have been living in the desert all my life and this is the first time I have ever seen a horned toad out in the wild! My husband shot this great photo of him just chillin' by the sidewalk.

I Live

2007-07-08T16:35:00.000-07:00

I am still alive and crafting! Things have been a little out of control for the past week or so. 90% of my craft supplies have been packed. I kept out some small projects and some fiber to keep me company.

I finished the kitchen rug

Here it is on the kitchen floor of the new house. It looks great in the kitchen and I can't wait to stand on it when I wash the dishes for the first time! (I don't think I have ever looked forward to washing dishes like this in my whole entire life) Here are the specs:

- It came out almost 3 feet across
- Crochet in a spiral increasing 9 stitches each round using a G hook
- Hand spun wool blend in a chunky weight
- Three colorways from Spunky Eclectic were used: Toronto and Nova Scotia were spun together to make the center and the border, Path Less Taken was used for the middle band.

I have joined the Ravelry community! I am amysbabies over there. I am loving all the features and the ability to keep track of all the things I want to knit! All the books I want to get, all the yarns I want to use, all the needle sizes I don't have yet. It is my new project enabler. I didn't realize I had such an enourmous list of projects I wanted to do in the future until I joined Ravelry. Thank you Ravelry!

The Tour de Fleece started this week! We have over 100 participants this year. You can see all the fantastic handspun over at our Flickr photo pool. I set the goal of spinning laceweight by the end of the tour. I am not sure my wheel spins fast enough for this goal, but I am sure going to give it my best. I started with this mystery fiber that I got in a swap last year.
You can see it is a great tweedy blend of a whole bunch of other things. It isn't the softest, but it is a fantastic Saphire blue! I could only get it down to sock weight. It was a lace weight single, but I wanted to get a two ply going for some strength in the finished yarn. I used my smallest whorl and treadled quickly, but it is like taking a small car on the freeway and pushing it to 85 mph. My poor little wheel shook so hard I thougt it was going to shake apart! I know there is a fast flyer kit for my wheel, but I don't think it has the weight to withstand a fast flyer. A bigger wheel like a Lendrum or a Louet might have a weight advantage. Plus what a great excuse to purchase a second wheel ;)

I have moved on to my second attempt at laceweight. I am using some fiber from the Spunky Club over at Spunky Eclectic. It is a Coopworth roving in the Nightshade colorway. Again I don't think I have anything lighter than Sock weight, but this fiber has been a dream to spin. It has been so smooth and it drafts like a dream! I finished spinning the 8 oz today and now I just need to ply it.

And a photo of what I have begun calling The Painted Lady!Her paint is FINALY done correctly (third time's the charm, tons of drama) and we are supposed to get the keys sometime between Friday and Wednesday. Kind of like waiting for the cable man when they tell you he will be there between 10am and June. The front door is the same color red as the trim.

Beginnings and Endings

2007-06-22T11:13:00.001-07:00

I started working on a Blankie made from singles scraps that I had been collecting on a center pull ball for the past few months. This square is my favorite so far. I got the inspiration from Shelly's blog. It will be big enough for a queen sized bed when it is done.

I also started on a kitchen rug for the new house. I spun up some yarn from a sock bundle from Spunky Eclectic a few months ago. It came out beautiful and reminded me of a persian rug. I was sure I had taken photos of it, labeled the photos and posted about it on my blog or a fiber friday or something. I only had a 4 oz skein and I knew I would need more, so I went searching for the fiber specs so I could order more. I couldn't find any photos, files or mention of this particular yarn ANYWHERE! This is jus so not like me.
So then began the search for the colorways. I knew that they were wool blend fiber, they had been a sock bundle and that they were two different colorways (burgundy/white/gold and Navy/white/gold) that I had spun together. So after exchanging some emails, offers to mail her the project and spur of the moment photos, Amy was able to pinpoint the colorways I needed! She rocks, go buy her fiber!! So now the fiber is winging its way to me along with my fiber of the month.

Speaking of the house, it is almost done!!!!!!!!!! We close on the 9th!!!!!!*passes out from excitement*

Here is what the house looked like last time I showed you guys a pictureAnd here is what it looked like as of this morning!!!

They aren't quite done painting the outside. Imagine it with a redish-brown trim and front door. They also need to install the carpet, plumbing fixtures and blinds and put in the landscaping. I am going to try to get some photos from the inside. Our project foreman is our backyard neighbor and he tries to leave the backdoor open for a bit so we can get a look inside, but our next door neighbor (bless his heart) keeps going over and locking the place up before we get there! So I haven't had very many chances to get interior photos since the doors went on.

Tour de Fleece

2007-06-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

I have been so scatter brained recently I haven't been able to stay focused on one project long enough to get anything done!

I have been trying to restrain myself from spinning at the moment. I am waiting for The Tour de Fleece to begin and I don't want to take the chance of running out of fiber mid-tour (yeah, like that could happen). I missed out on last year due to lack of spinning equipment, but I am all over it this year. If you would like to participate here are some details.

-Sign up at Craftster or at Star's blog

Guidelines (not rules)
1. Spin every day the Tour rides, if possible. Saturday July 7th through Sunday July 29th. Days of rest: Monday, July 16th, Tuesday July 24th. (Just like the actual tour)
2. Spin something challenging Wednesday July 25th. (The last hard climbing mountain stage in the Pyrenees - Col d’Aubisque)
3. Take a button if you want one. Then we can use the button on our blogs in show of solidarity. Take it from here or grab a clean one from the flickr pool.
4. Wear yellow on Sunday July 29th to announce victory. Why not wear yellow on any day you feel particularly successful? (Yellow is the color of the race leader in the Tour - but here we are all 'race leaders')
5. Other colors if desired: Green (sprinter - think FAST), Polka-dot (climber - as in uphill), and white (rookie)

I will be moving smack in the middle of the tour so I don't know how much I will get done on those days, but I will still spin for a few minutes those days.

Please come join us! This is going to be so much fun!

Also, this weekend there is a movie comming out that every spinner needs to see. A new horror movie from New Zealand. What happens when the sheep revolt?

Modular Miters

2007-06-06T11:50:00.000-07:00

Sara asked about the Mitered Squares that I am working with right now, so here is what is currently in my knitting bag. It is the Dogwood colorway from Spunky Eclectic spun in a sport weight single. Here are some of the websites I found with info on this pattern.

This is the pattern I decided to use, but I am doing it in Stockinette instead of Garter. It is very clearly explained and once you have the basics of the pattern memorized you can make the squares as big or small as you want them to be. These instructions are great too because they show you how to minimize having to weave in the ends!! Always a bonus.

Shelly Kang has a great scrap blanket going with this method. Scroll to the very bottom for her instructions. Last night I started a scrap afghan too, so I am going to join her KAL

Anonyknits has a great tutorial on how to turn the blocks in different directions without having to seam them together.

I hope these point you in the right direction!

On the house front ( yes we still have a house :P ) The driveway and sidewalks were poured yesterday, the painters are there today and the cabinets are being "dropped" tomorrow!! I will get some pictures uploaded in a day or so.

Back at the Keyboard

2007-06-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

Here I am, back at the keyboard after a nice vacation in the land of green. I had a fantastic time relaxing and hanging out with some of my favorite people in the whole world. I went to my brother's highschool graduation in Omaha, Nebraska and it was such a nice change from all the brown here in the SouthWest.

Deneen - I am finding that the email addreses aren't showing either. I will stick with it for now, I am hoping people are just forgetting to enter their email addresses.

Thanks Lasandri, I like the banner too. I got it from this realy great lady I happen to know ;D

Lora - So glad that I inspired you to pick the entrelac back up. I love playing with color and entrelac is such a great way to show off a great yarn

I finaly got photos of my Pacific Waves Shawl. It was more narrow than I like and it was SUPER long, but the moment my Mom saw it she fell in love! So instead of giving her my Clapotis, I gave her this shawl instead. She looks stunning in it, but that is my horribly biased oppinion

While I was in Omaha I taught my brother to spin. He did a great job spinning an ounce of Corriedale! It came out as a great Thick and Thin. When I get my wheel set up again I am going to finish spinning the other 3 ounces and make him a hat using his wool. I think he will have a great time this winter telling people that he spun part of that wool.

I also started on my next project, no photos yet. It is a mitered square shawl using the Dogwood colorway from Spunky. I love how it is looking so far and i will certainly use this pattern for at least 2, maybe 3 more shawls. It has the charm of entrelac, but I love the modular aspects of the squares. It really feeds into my love of color. I think it is my background in quilting that draws me to making shawls. I love laying them out and looking at how the colors play across the FO. I love looking at how they interact, how they touch each other and blend into each other. I love watching the colors move and dance, changing positions and partners. Sometimes blending with a complementing color, then flitting across the knit fabric to interact with a group of colors that are bright and contrasting. It is such a feast for the eyes.

Speaking of feast of colors for the eyes, while I was in Omaha I got to visit their annual quilt show. So very inspirational! I have set up a group of flickr photos of some of my favorite quilts.

And Lasandri tagged me for the 7 meme. I think I am the very last person on the whole internets to do this one, so if you are like me then consider yourself tagged!

1. I started out my college career majoring in Race Track Industries. I wanted to be a race horse trainer. It had been my dream career since I was about 9. I left the department for a super lame reason and there are some days I wish I had stuck with it. I decided to leave for the more lucrative career of Costume Designer. I tell my husband I got a degree to learn the proper way to iron a shirt!

2. I hate sunny days, which is why I live in a place that has 360 sunny days a year *eye roll*.

3. I wanted a moped or scooter when I was in college. A Vespa would have been the best! I could have zipped around campus, "Ciao"

4. As a child somebody made the mistake of giving me and my two cousins a tape of the Pirate's of Penzance soundtrack. We put on lip synched musicals just about every weekend, complete with costumes and props. The grownups decided to put an end to it when we took sticks of gum, drew faces on the inner wrapper, folded the outer wrappers down to make costumes and taped them to sticks for puppet show versions of our musical (hey, you use what you have)

5. I love horror movies!!!!eleventyone!! On my vacation my sister, upon coming home from seeing the newest Pirates movie, told my Grandmother that she wouldn't have liked it because it was too violent. I told her, "That's ok, she just stayed here and watched Silence of the Lambs with me instead." The look on my sister's face was priceless :D

6. I am a night owl, which really sucks having children who wake up with the first sliver of light that happens to creep through the window. I would be ecstatic to live on a Vampire's schedule. Up at dusk, bed by dawn.

7. I am terribly addicted to video games. Given an opportunity I would spend days in front of the TV, neglecting personal hygiene, sustinance and human interaction. It is a good thing I don't often get this opportunity.

Back to unpacking, getting my wheel set back up and getting caught up on almost 500 yahoo group emails and over 100 blog posts!

New Feature

2007-05-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys!

One of my least favorite things about my blog has been fixed! I have always hated not being able to respond directly to comments that were made on my blog. Today I installed Haloscan and now that problem has been taken care of, but it brought up a different problem. All of your past comments have been deleted!! I feel so terrible because there were some great comments there. Can't have the good without the bad I guess. I am off soon on my trip, I will have photos when I get back!

They grow up so fast!

2007-05-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

It seems like just last weekend He gave me this pot for Mother's day, and now he has his own moustache! Where did the days go??

He made the pot in his art class at school. It is perfect for my straight needles and my mascot and crafting companion Chicken Butt.

Fiber comming out my ears!!

2007-05-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

Not that I'm complaining in any way! First off, I bet you noticed the new layout (pointing out the new layout like a Price is Right model) I think it is easier to read, but that is just me.

I got several boxes in the mail this week that were overflowing with fiber, but this one caught the attention of somebody Teeny.

She is the local customs inspector and has to approve every package brought into the house.

She approves of this package! It is from Spunky Eclectic and that is only about half of the fiber that was in that box.

I finished the Pacific Waves shawl, but it isn't blocked so you can't see it (neener, neener) Since I finished it, I had some spinning time.

This is Signature in BFL. Bet you can't guess where the fiber came from! I spun it in a laceweight single that I then Navajo plied into a heavy sock weight. I love the colors and they spun up fantastic!

I am off with the kids and Aurora to Nebraska next week to see my family. My brother is graduating and it is going to be a great time! Any suggestions for great fiber places in or near Omaha?

WIP Wednesday

2007-05-09T11:55:00.000-07:00

I don't have any new fiber to share yet, but that doesn't mean I have been sitting around slacking! I have been super busy working on other projects and thinking about some projects that I should finaly get off my rear and finish.

I have been knitting on my Galveston Mystery Shawl, but it has progressed to the jellyfish stage and is not quite photogenic at the moment. I should have the whole thing finished and blocked in the next couple weeks. I wanted to give it to my Grandmother when I go to visit at the end of the month.

I have also been working on the Pacific Waves Shawl from Elann. I am using my Shade Garden self stripping that I spun a couple of months ago. I have so much of this yarn that I am hoping to have enough left over for another project.I cast on for this last Friday night, 541 stitches marked every 18th stitch O_O Right now it just looks like a big funky collar. I am about half way through. There are 41 rows in the instructions and I was so excited last night when I got to row 38. I thought I was almost finished, even if it did seem a little narower than it was supposed to be. I thought maybe the extra width would come with blocking. NOPE! Row 41 says to go back to row 5 and do it all again, groan!! It isn't a difficult pattern, just sort of mindless. The pattern is only worked every 4th row, so the other 3 rows are plain stockinette....for 541 stitches per row.

I have also pulled out a project that I started on last year. I ADORE Japanese art and when I found a Lonni Rossi panel titled Ginkgo Godesses in a quilt shop, I had to have it right then! There are three godesses per panel, so I decided to give each one the atributes of an element. I dug through my hand dyed fabric stash and gave them each a beautiful new kimono and a sparkly crown. I even fussy cut out some foliage for their Ginkgo accessories. There are bigger images over at my Flickr

Here is how they started out

And Here is how each of them looks now.

Earth
Wind

And Fire

I traced and cut all the pieces out, then appliqued them onto the original panel. On Wind I went over the seams with a black pen to hide the white spaces peeking out from between the pieces and to add back in the lines in the folds. I haven't done that yet on the other two. I am thinking of doing some hand embroidery to embelish them a bit more before they are done. They will eventualy have a narow red border and a wide black border added to the outside edges to frame them for becoming wall hangings. I am going to purchase another one of these panels, plus some Geisha panels that are being released this spring for some further experamentation ;D

Almost Solid Spectrum

2007-04-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

I spent this week spinning up an Almost Solid sampler pack from Spunky Eclectic in all Merino. I love how they look and I wish I had enough money to buy 4 oz of each of them! There are 20 one ounce skeins in the photo. Some of the colors have been picked out to be used in my Mrs Weasley sweater and the rest might be used for baby socks.

I know I said before that I wasn't interested in socks, but that hat from last week has got me tied in knots! I don't have any experience with socks, so I don't know if it was a mistake on my part or just an odd pattern, but it will bother me untill I conquer it. So I figured the easiest way was to make Teenie some socks out of some of these beautiful colors! Once I have an understanding of the Engineering of Socks then I might go back to the hats for another try.

Burried in Fiber, Send Hooks and Needles!!

2007-04-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

First off, I have made some additions to the sidebar! There is now a Patterns section for easy access to my patterns. I have also fixed the dead Spunky Eclectic image Now, on to the fiber!! I finished this blanket I had been making for my Teenie. It is in the Maid Marrion colorway. I spun the yarn into a sport/sock weight and knit squares 5 stitchtes across on US7's. She spent yesterday afternoon carrying it around the house and took it to bed with her last night.

I also spent time spinning a bunch of 4oz superwash rovings from that I have been hoarding.

Upside-Down Frown
Pie in the Sky
Boogie Days
Brain Freeze
Buggin'
Navajo Gems

I had planned to use these colorways to make Stocking Caps. I used the Navajo Gems to make the first one.I was a little disapointed in how it came out. The top isn't very sock like, it is more Snork like. I think I am going to add the other colors to my Mrs. Weasley sweater. I am doing an acrylic mockup right now to decide where I want to use acrylic and where I want to put handspun. I am also trying to decide if I want the sleeves to be completely acrylic or if I want some handspun in there too.

Moogle Pattern

2007-04-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

Moogle Doll Pattern
By Amy Shimel

Design Notes
Some of the parts of this doll are started using the magic ring technique. Here are directions if you are unfamiliar with this technique. The doll is worked in the round unless otherwise instructed. Mark the last stitch in each round to keep track of where you are supposed to stop each round. This is also done with a very tight tension. Tight tension will stop the stuffing from showing through the stitches and help the doll keep his shape.

DIFFICULTY
This is an Beginner pattern

ABBREVIATIONS
ch - chain
sl st - slip stitch
sc - single crochet US (same as double crochet UK)
hdc - half double crochet US (same as half treble UK)
dc - double crochet US (same as treble UK)
sc - 2tog decrease one stitch with single crochet
() - indicates section to be repeated

MATERIALS
Size E/4 ( 3.5 mm ) Crochet Hook
Tapestry Needle
Small Needle
Poly-beans and Poly-Fill for stuffing
White yarn for body
Red yarn for bauble and nose
Purple yarn for wings
Black yarn for eyes
6" long piece of small gage wire
Needle Nose Pliers for bending wire

GAGE
6 stitches and 6 rows per inch

HEAD
With White yarn , MAKE ONE
R1 - 6 sc in the ring and pull the ring tight. Mark the last stitch ( 6 sc )
R2 - 2 sc in each stitch around ( 12 sc )
R3 - ( 1 sc, 2 sc in next stitch ) 6 times ( 18 sc )
R4 - ( 2 sc, 2 sc in next stitch ) 6 times ( 24 sc )
R5 - ( 3 sc, 2 sc in next stitch ) 6 times ( 30 sc )
R6 - ( 4 sc, 2 sc in next stitch ) 6 times ( 36 sc )
R7-11 - sc in each stitch around ( 36 sc )
R12 - ( 4 sc, sc 2tog ) 6 times ( 30 sc )
R13 - ( 3 sc, sc 2tog ) 6 times ( 24 sc )
R14 - ( 2 sc, sc 2tog ) 6 times (18 sc )
Finish off and leave a tail long enough to use to sew the head onto the body. Set aside.

BODY
With White yarn, MAKE ONE
R1 - 6 sc in the ring and pull the ring tight. Mark the last stitch ( 6 sc )
R2 - 2 sc in each stitch around ( 12 sc )
R3 - ( 1 sc, 2 sc in next stitch ) 6 times ( 18 sc )
R4 - ( 2 sc, 2 sc in next stitch ) 6 times ( 24 sc )
R5 - ( 3 sc, 2 sc in next stitch ) 6 times ( 30 sc )
R6 - ( 4 sc, 2 sc in next stitch ) 6 times ( 36 sc )
R7-12 - sc in each stitch around ( 36 sc )
R13 - ( 4 sc, sc 2tog ) 6 times ( 30 sc )
R14 - ( 3 sc, sc 2tog ) 6 times ( 24 sc )
R15 - ( 2 sc, sc 2tog ) 6 times (18 sc )
Finish off and Set aside.

ARMS AND LEGS
With White yarn. MAKE FOUR
R1 - 6 sc in the ring and pull the ring tight. Mark the last stitch ( 6 sc )
R2 - 2 sc in each stitch around ( 12 sc )
R3 - ( 1 sc, 2 sc in next stitch ) 6 times ( 18 sc )
R4-5 - sc in each stitch around ( 18 sc )
R6 - ( 1 sc, 2tog ) 6 times ( 12 sc )
R7-12 - sc in each stitch around ( 12 sc )
Finish off and leave a tail long enough to use to sew the appendages onto the body. Set aside.

EARS
With White yarn, MAKE TWO
R1 - 4 sc in the ring and pull the ring tight. Mark the last stitch ( 4 sc )
R2 - ( 1 sc, 2 sc in next stitch ) 2 times ( 6 sc )
R3 - ( 2 sc, 2 sc in next stitch ) 2 times ( 8 sc )
R4 - ( 3 sc, 2 sc in next stitch ) 2 times ( 10 sc )
Finish off and leave a tail long enough to use to sew the Ears onto the Head. Set aside.

NOSE
With Red yarn, MAKE ONE
R1 - 6 sc in the ring and pull the ring tight. Mark the last stitch ( 6 sc )
R2 - 2 sc in each stitch around ( 12 sc )
R3 - ( 1 sc, 2 sc in next stitch ) 6 times ( 18 sc )
R4-5 - sc in each stitch around ( 18 sc )
R6 - ( 1 sc, 2tog ) 6 times ( 12 sc )
Finish off and leave a tail long enough to use to sew the Nose onto the Head. Set aside.

BAUBLE
With Red yarn, MAKE TWO
R1 - 6 sc in the ring and pull the ring tight. Mark the last stitch ( 6 sc )
R2 - 2 sc in each stitch around ( 12 sc )
R3 - ( 1 sc, 2 sc in next stitch ) 6 times ( 18 sc )
R4- sc in each stitch around ( 18 sc )
Finish off and leave a tail long enough to use to sew the Two halves together. Set aside.

WINGS
With Purple yarn, MAKE TWO
R1 - 4 sc in the ring and pull the ring tight. Mark the last stitch ( 4 sc )
R2 - ( 1 sc, 2 sc in next stitch ) 2 times ( 6 sc )
R3 - ( 2 sc, 2 sc in next stitch ) 2 times ( 8 sc )
R4 - ( 3 sc, 2 hdc in next stitch ) 2 times ( 10 stitches )
R5 - ( 4 sc, 2 hdc in next stitch ) 2 times ( 12 stitches )
R6 - ( 5 sc, 2 dc in next stitch ) 2 times ( 14 stitches )
Finish off and leave a tail. Set aside.

FINISHING

- Place small amounts of PolyFill into the very bottom half of the hands and feet, leaving the top half empty. Sew them to the body so The Moogle will be in a seated position.

- Flatten the wings and sew the open ends shut. Attach them onto the body as shown in this photo

- Fill the body with the PolyBeans and place a small amount of PolyFill at the top to keep the beans from spilling. Set aside.

- Fill the nose with PolyFill and sew it and the ears to the Head.

- Using the black yarn, sew the lines for the eyes. Set Head aside.

- Using the plyers, bend the top of the wire into a shape to hold it inside the Bauble. This could be a Y, T or spiral shape. Slide it through the center of one Bauble half. Sew the two halves together leaving a small hole to stuff the Bauble and then finish sewing it together.

- Slip the wire through the top of the head and out the bottom. Bend this end of the wire at the length you want the Bauble to be above the head and into another shape to hold it inside the head.

- Fill the head with PolyFill and sew it to the body.

- Sit back and enjoy your new friend!

lace, FO, what next?

2007-04-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

I have finished the second clue in the Galveston Mystery Shawl KAL. It is now in the slouchy hat/tea cozy stage, so I don't have a picture of the whole thing but I have some close ups. It is currently octagonal in shape. There was a square pannel where there were no increases. I love the rectangles in this section.And a triangular pannel where all the increases were placed. There is sort of a leafy pattern going on there.
I just can't wait to see what it looks like when it is done!!

I also finished the Clapotis I was working on last week! It is a very simple pattern once you get used to how the pattern is written. I was confused a bit when I started the second section, but once I worked it out it was a breeze to finish. I was using a larger set of needles and a heavier yarn than the pattern called for, so there was some frustration, frogging, further frustration and additional frogging involved with the finishing of this item.

I used worsted weight superwash that I spun from a combination of Dandy Lion and Macaw colorways from Spunky Eclectic. I had 12 oz that I spun into aprox 800 yards of 2 ply worsted and I used US 10.5 needles. The pattern calls for 12 repeats of the third section, on the larger needles that would have made this shawl ENORMOUS!! So I tried 10 repeats, and came up short in the yardage. I ripped it back to 9 repeats and tried again. STILL to short in yardage *groan*. Ripped it back to 8 repeats and I had enough yardage to finish with just a teeny bit left over. Even with only 8 repeats, it is still almost 7 feet long!

Now I need to figure out what I am going to do next. I might do some spinning for fiber friday tomorrow, I have tons of fiber to choose from. But I also have some other ideas for knitted things. I want to make a print 'o the waves shawl, now that I am all into lace, I also want to make some stocking caps for friends and family to wear to the Harry Potter parties this summer. I could spin some orphan rovings into yarn for caps. And at some point I have to start crocheting my Mrs Weasley sweater. I just don't know where to start!

I am such a lemming!

2007-04-06T10:04:00.000-07:00

I have gone and caught The Clap. This is yarn I spun from fiber I got from the Spunky Club this month. It is Superwash in two colorways, DandyLion and Maccaw! They are plied together in 800 yards of worsted weight. My hubby loved the way it looked, but I already had plans for it. I told him if I didn't hit my yardage then I would make him something out of it. I love unzipping the drop stitches.

I also joined in with the Galveston Mystery Shawl KAL. I purchased a complete set of KnitPicks Options as a birthday present to myself this year and a bunch of laceweight. I was planning to purchase copies of A Gathering of Lace and Heirloom Knitting, but it takes 3-5 weeks to get Heirloom Knitting and with the move I wasn't sure what address we would be at in 5 weeks. So I was pleased when I found the KAL that I wouldn't have to give up my ideas of lace knitting until after the move.

I finished the first clue last night! I worked it on one circular needle using the magic loop. After the confusion over the first couple rows of the pattern were worked out it was a very easy chart to follow! I love the pattern so far and I can't wait to see what happens on the next clue!

New House News

2007-03-26T11:26:00.000-07:00

I don't have any fiber-y news today, but I do have house news! They put the stucko on last week! It is getting so close to being done. I checked on it today and they are still working on the wall texture on the inside. Saw a guy on stilts working in the garage this morning. They told us that when the cabinets go in, we will have about 30 days to go! No cabinets yet, but I will let you guys know when they get here.
And Yes Deedo, there is a Craft Room :D Well, it is more like a Craft Walk-In Closet, but it is mostly mine. See that little square of metal on the ceiling? That is the HV/AC vent. The closet is hooked into the heating and cooling vents, so it won't get stuffy or too hot in there! I have all sorts of plans for shelves, baskets and cubbies in there. We have even talked about having the computer in there too. It is much bigger in person than it seems in that photo.

So much News!

2007-03-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

I have so much News to tell today! I will start with the house.

WE HAVE DRYWALL!!!

That is my Teeny there in the photo. After a 3 and a half week delay, we finaly have drywall! Now all we need is tape, texture, paint and flooring and we are ready to move in!!! I am beyond exstatic. We are hoping to be all moved in before Teeny's third birthday at the beginning of June.

This is a layer cake that Joe made out of drywall scraps. We also are situated so close to where the local airshow is that you can see the whole thing from our hosue. Here is a photo of the Blue Angels my Hubby took this weekend.

Now, on to the fiber. I finished knitting a new Lady Eleanor with the yarn I spun from the Forecast colorway from Spunky Eclectic.

It was made from about 1000 yards of yarn. On #10.5 needles with 10 stitch squares and is 7 squares across. It came out nice and lacy. You can see the Sunbonnet Sue peeking through the top there. It is warm enough to keep out the chill. The colorway was named Forecast because it is remenicent of snowy days with bright blue skies and bare earth where the snow has begun to melt. This shawl looks to me like you are seeing this day through a kaleidoscope or a frosted window.

And last, a tease for Liz. This is what I am making with the Maid Marrion yarn from Friday. It is on #9 needles, is 5 stitch squares and is 18 squares across. It will be a blanket for my Teeny

Fiber friday again!

2007-03-16T10:38:00.000-07:00

I spent hours this week spinning. It was a compulsion, I just could not stop! I spun 3 different colorways this week from Spunky Eclectic . 12 oz of each colorway adds up to 2.25 pounds of fiber!! And I found a most amazing new tool!

First, the fiber

Maid Marrion in Merino

Berry Pickin' in BFL

Dogwood in Corriedale

Now onto the realy exciting part of this post!! This is my new best friend

This is a bottle of conditioner that I purchased thinking it would enhance the gentle waves in my hair. It didn't, just made my hair feel flat and heavy. Turns out it enhances curls and waves by being an anti-frizz conditioner. I was disapointed but didn't want to toss out a whole bottle of conditioner, so I tucked it away.

When I began spinning up the BFL, it was very fuzzy. I am not a fuzzy kind of person so I was very worried that I wouldn't like how the fiber looked when I was done. I had heard of people using conditioner to soften scritchy or dry fiber, but hadn't heard of anybody using it to tame the fuzzies. I decided to give it a try.

I washed the wool in Synthropol like I usualy do, wrung it out and refilled the sink with clean hot water. I put about a teaspoon, maybe half teaspoon, of the conditioner in the sink and agitated the water to distribute it. Then I put the fiber back in the water to soak for 10-15 minutes. I came back, wrung out the fiber and refilled the sink again with hot clean water for a quick rinse.

The fiber came out smooth and soft and the smell is heavenly!! The scent of the conditioner blends beautifuly with the smell of wet wool. I have tried it now on BFL, Merino and Corriedale. All have been heavenly when dry.

She is done!

2007-03-09T10:12:00.000-07:00

I finaly finished the first Lady Eleanor! She ended up being 10 balls of Rowan Tapestry on #9 needles with eight 10 stitch blocks. I decided not to put the fringe on because I am not a very fringy kind of person. Here is a closeup.I blocked it on the carpet last night, and found my son curled up in the middle of it this morning. He had a nightmare and wandered around the house looking for someplace else to sleep. He said it was super comfortable, and he was right! I wore it around the house as I got people ready for school and it was like a second skin. I am completely in love!

I did just a little bit of spinning this week. I got some fiber from princesskaytm over at fiber freaks and she had hand dyed it! There was an ounce of BFL dyed in beautiful blues and purples. It was super fluffy and drafted like a dream. I named it Wild Blueberries

My Name is Amy

2007-03-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

And I am a Hobbit. I am geneticaly unable to wear socks and I have a physical aversion to shoes unless they are absolutely neccesary by law or hot pavement. This is terrible as it seems that all the other knitters out there are addicted to knitting socks. I look at the socks, I think they are very pretty. I have seen some elaborate socks that would be very impressive. I think to myself "that would be such a cool challenge!" But I know they would never get used. I have thought about making them for other people, but I don't know anybody that isn't super rough on socks. Yet, I am one of those ladies who could be under an afghan and asking for the Air to be turned off in the middle of summer! I have a sweatshirt on if it gets below 72 degrees.

This put me in a quandry. Living in the desert there is no need for hats, gloves, scarves or sweaters. Due to my Hobbitish tendencies, I don't need socks. I have gifted the people I know in cold climates with enough winter wear to outfit a small village. What do I do now? ENTRELAC!

My childhood training was in quilting and embroidery. I think this is what draws me to entrelac so much. The color shifts play across the squares in such interesting ways. And If I spin thin, then I can make entrelac wraps that are lightweight enough to wear any time of year. I have found my bliss. I have even been thinking of ways to jazz up the entrelac besides the colors, things like cables and such.

So begins my newest obsession in the crafting world! Here is what I started this week.

This is the fiber from this month's Spunky Fiber Club. It is called Forecast and has a wonderful blend of white, ice blue and tan. I spun it in a thin single in an attempt to get 1000 yards. I surpassed my estimation by 25 yards! I couldn't wait to get started using it, so I began immediately on my next wrap.

This is a very rough picture of the first 6 inches or so. The colors are playing across the squares beautifuly and I can't wait to finish it and show you guys a better picture.

Take a stitch

2007-02-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

Here is my sad little sampler for the Take a Stitch Challenge

I have been a very lazy embroiderer recently. I joined this challenge back in January, but I had never given myself the time to sit down and actually play with the stitches. I finaly decided today that I had to put everything else aside and catch up on this. I have a stash of even weave linnen tea towels that I decided to use. I got one out for me and one for my son. They were great for freehand work, but terrible for counted work. The weave wasn't even enough. I had just about decided to finish this week's stitch and then pick up next week on some adia that I had in my craft closet, when the fly stich caught my imagination.

I rushed to the closet and busted out with the adia and started experamenting. I came up with two different versions of a flower that I think are stunning.

I had been atempting to make a fractal snowflake pattern thinking it would be a great way to cover the fabric completely, but I came up with these instead. They work great all by themselves or as a border.

My son decided he didn't want to follow the stitches in the challenge, so he drew his own pattern and went to town embroidering it. He says he wants to make a pillow out of it when he is done.

Green Moss

2007-02-24T13:27:00.000-07:00

Here is my son's first attempt at spinning his own yarn! It is a green wool blend that he picked out of my collection himself. It is a collaborative work, sometimes I treadled while he drafted and sometimes he tried doing both himself. This fiber was a challenge to draft, I think we will try something a little more slippery next time. He was very patient with the whole process and I think he made great improvements as he went along. We are going to take on the Take a Stitch Tuesday Challenge next, because I have been terribly lax at keeping up on that.

Fiber Friday 2/23

2007-02-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

I have been super busy this week with fiber-y things. First, I finaly finished frogging and re-knitting my Lady Eleanor on the #9 needles. I am glad I did too. On the #7's, with 4 balls used, it was about 20 inches long if I stretched it. Now it is 36" long and has tons of extra drape!

I think I might be able to finish it in 7-8 balls instead of the 10 I had originaly estimated.

I also did some experamentation this week with spinning self striping singles. Ever since I started making the Lady E, I have been obsessed with self striping yarn.

Shag Carpet - just 1oz to practice spinning singles. I love the way it came out!

Plum - 4 oz of wool blend. The color changes are so beautiful and subtle on this one and its mate, Arakis

The last one I am working on is a combination of a bunch of different colors from SmokyMountainFibers . I also got Plum and Arakis from her shop. I cleaned out her shop earlier this fall and I have had all this wonderful fiber sitting around waiting for me to figure out what it wanted to be. The self striping experament seemed perfect for this fiber. I am calling it Shade Garden!

I have over 20 oz of different shades of green, blue and purple in random amounts. So I layed them out in order and I am spinning it all up into this yarn!

new hat

2007-02-16T10:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a hat that I made this week using the pattern from The Girl from Auntie and some yarn I spun back in October. I have been nervous about the cables for months but I decided that I needed to just sit down and do it! The yarn is actually a little greener than in the photo and was begging to be used. I still have quite a bit of it left over and I am trying to decide what else to make with it. On my short list right now are wrist warmers, socks, leg warmers or another variation of this hat. I just can't make up my mind.

I was also working on my Lady E this week. I had been using #7 needles and I was beginning to worry that I was not going to have enough yarn. I had seen other Lady E's made with the same yarn and less balls, but they were very long! I did some reading and found that one person had used #8's and the other had used #10's, so I decided to split the difference and use #9's. I am frogging what I had made already and the new Lady E is much bigger already! What I realy want to do is make one in every color of Rowan Tapestry ;)

Which Harry Potter person would you get along with best?

2007-02-14T07:48:00.000-07:00

Turns out, according to this quiz that I found over on Lucy's blog, that I would get along with Dumbledore the best!

You scored as Albus Dumbledore. You are very wise, observant, and analyctical. You have a very "well-organized" mind, which makes you function in a calm and fair manner. Though you get angered easily, its rare of you to ever act our of temper. You are constantly seeing the good in people and are naturally forgiving because of it. You're easy to please and a great person to learn from.

Albus Dumbledore

91%

Sirius Black

72%

Harry Potter

72%

Luna Lovegood

69%

Hermione Granger

63%

Oliver Wood

59%

Bellatrix Lestrange

59%

Neville Longbottom

56%

Remus Lupin

53%

Lord Voldemort

47%

Severus Snape

47%

Percy Weasley

41%

Ron Weasley

41%

Draco Malfoy

25%

Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test
created with QuizFarm.com

Fiber Friday

2007-02-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

Today is Fiber Friday!!!!! I love this day. I have been awful about updating my blog, but I am going to try much harder. I know, I know, I said that last time. But I have a realy great excuse! We are in the process of building this house and moving out of the apartment we have been in for 8 years! Lots of packing and organizing going on. Well, on to the fiber!!I spun this yarn this week. It is Vineyard from Spunky Eclectic in Merino. I have a pound of it and a little over half of it is spun up. It seems to be spinning in a self striping way, so I am trying to get enough yardage to make myself another Lady Eleanor shawl.

I splurged on some Rowan Tapestry in the Pot Pourri colorway and started on a Lady Eleanor. I am three balls into it so far and I am loving it!

I have a feeling that this pattern is going to become my favorite. Here in the desert it isn't often sweater season, but sometimes you just get a chill and need something around your shoulders. I imagine I will have stacks of these to choose from.

Well, back to spinning for me

Snow!

2007-01-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

We got snow last night!! Here is a photo of my son trying to catch a flake. It only lasted for a few minutes on our side of town and my husband was taking all sorts of photos. Here is the snowman he made this morning

I haven't been crafting very much recently. I am in the process of making a Lady Eleanor shawl, but that is about it. I have been very busy getting ready to move. We are building a house and it should be done in a couple months, so I have to start packing!!

And here is one of the photos that my husband took last night that is so beyond cool! I have spent some of the best video game hours of my life playing Silent Hill. It is inarguably the best horror video game series out there. When I saw this picture, I immediately said "look, He is in Silent Hill!"

Journey

2006-12-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

This little turtle is for a beautiful brand new baby named Journey. Her Aunt wanted something to give her that she could keep for ever and ever. This little turtle takes her Blankie and her Teddy Bear with her everywhere she goes.

See my yarn at The Yarn Museum!

2006-12-04T10:03:00.000-07:00

I wanted to tell everybody about the Yarn Museum! It is a website that has been set up to honor the artistry and beauty of handspun yarn. Photos can be submitted in several different galleries. It is free and open to all levels of spinners. There are several galleries that are currently open for viewing. I have been spending hours looking at all the AMAZING yarns hung in the galleries and peruzing the websites of the spinners. What a fantastic way to bring the spinning community together to celebrate their artistry!

You can see my yarn in the First Skein Gallery and the Inaugural Show: Anything Goes.

Sorry this was so long in comming

2006-12-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

As I was reminded recently ;) It has been a couple months since I updated my blog, so this will be a very LOOONG update. I have done so many things in that time! For a few weeks I was burried in custom orders and unable to spend time creating new babies. And it was about the time that I was getting out from under all that when SHE walked into my life.

Ok, it was more like She was lugged to my doorstep by a very understanding Mail Lady, and she hardly ever leaves my side now. She is a Majacraft Little Gem II named Aurora. I know, totaly cheesy name for a spinning wheel, but in my mind it was the perfect name for a wheel. I have her set up next to the computer so now it is like one of those L shaped desks you see in those big office stores, except instead of having drawers or a printer I have Aurora and a table for holding the wool bits I am working with.

She is my constant companion and my new obsession! I have now accumulated enough wool to fill two of those XXXL zip lock bags to the top ( I think they are about 3" tall ). I found such wonderful wool from online sellers, or dealers as I have affectionately named them. My husband is so understanding about the two complete sheep I have squirreled away in the closet. He has even started calling dibs on his favorite rovings when they come in the mail.

And after reading all of this, I am sure you want to see what I have been doing! Here are some of the yarns that I have spun up.

This one is an Orange/Pink/Red combination. It was from my favorite Dealer, Spunky Eclectic ! She has the best colorways for her rovings at the best prices! And she is evil too. She sends out emails to let you know when she has new things in her store. EVIL TEASE!! I love it : ) There was 3 oz of bulky weight wool blend in this skein. It was about 100 yards and has found a nice home

This one is Corriedale in differerent shades of Green. It is 3 oz of worsted weight yarn, about 114 yards. Also from Spunky. It still needs a home.

This is 3 oz of a Merino worsted weight spun yarn combining Blue, White and Purple. There is about 147 yards of this available in my shop currently.

This is 3 oz of a Purple/Pink BFL combo that found a home earlier this week. It was a worsted weight and there was about 100 yards. It was so soft!

Before this one was even off the wheel, my Son had called dibs on it. There was 3 oz, so I made him a hat.

This is a wool blend of three different rovings I had. They were all about the same value, so I combined them as I spun. They came out so wonderful together, and there is a TON of it. 774 yards of worsted weight available.

This one is for ME! I called it "Still Life With Yarn" because it reminded me of a bowl of fruit, apples, grapes, pears. I am spinning it in between other yarns. I am planning to use this and some deep burgundy that I have to spin still to make a shawl for me!

I had called this one "Atomic Cherry Cordial" because it was this nice chocolate brown color mixed with SHOCKING Pink. It looked irradiated! It has found a home too.

This is Freckled Lemonade. It looks like Lemonade with Strawberries in it! So fun and bright. There is 2 oz of worsted weight yarn, about 100 yards available currently in my shop

I have two different skeins of this color. I called it Cherry Limeade. One skein is 4 oz of a sport/DK weight, about 276 yards. The second is 4 oz of a worsted weight, about 200 yards. Both can be seen at my shop.

I didn't know what direction I wanted to go with the yarn in my shop. Then I decided that there are lots of small skeins of yarn available, but not many skeins with lots of yardage. I asked some people that I know what they would prefer and they agreed that larger yardages would be nice. I decided I would focus on spinning 4+ oz skeins from now on. I still need to purchase a jumbo flyer, but I have my second mega skein available!

So I present to you Swimming Lessons! It is my favorite colorway by far! It is Superwash Merino. There is 8 oz of it total, 424 yards. It is such a beautiful combination of blues and greens. So cool and SOFT like you would not believe!

So, if you actually read through all of that, that is what I have been up to the past few weeks. I have also made custom orders of my pre-existing designs, but mostly I have been focusing on the spinning.

Little Prince

2006-10-05T10:33:00.000-07:00

Prince, originally uploaded by Amy's Babies.

I am sorry it has been so long since I posted something new! This little guy has been requested over and over by people. I tried several months ago, but I could never get it exactly right. It is hard to figure out how to get the head on the body. I think I got it figured out this time.

He stands 6" tall and has metal bands across his hands so he can grab onto a Magnetic Katamari. Now there is a Prince to help you roll up the world!

All Dressed Up

2006-09-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

I found these little turtles going door to door in my neighborhood. Because they move so slowly, they had gotten an early start on Trick or Treating! They want to go home with you and see all the Trick or Treaters in your neighborhood!

This little witch has brought her best friend with her. She stands about 3" tall and her friend is 1.5" tall.

This little turtle has dressed up as a pumpkin. He has a stem and a little bit of vine on his head.

This is a turtle dressed as a Ladybug. He even has little antenna on his head.

This turtle dressed up as a Zombie! He is Trick or Treating for brains this year. AAHHHHGGG HE'S COMMING RIGHT FOR US!!!! . . . . very. . . . slowly

The Scream

2006-09-08T19:03:00.000-07:00

Why is he screaming. What terrible thing did he see or hear that causes that look of abject horror on his face. This icon of the expressionistic art movement evokes so much emotion in so many people. He is like a wreck on the freeway, you can't stop looking.

This amigurumi was inspired by the Edvard Munch painting by the same name. It is my favorite of the Expressionistic art. I have been around art history for my whole life. I was taught at an early age to enjoy it. I am glad I had the chance to bring one of my favorites to "life"

What you have all been waiting for!

2006-08-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

Ok Guys!

Mark September 12th on your calendar. That is the day that the pattern for my Pirate doll, now named Sam, will go on sale on the Interweave Crochet Magazine website!!! You can go there now to see what I wrote about the experience of creating the doll. Here is the link

http://www.interweavecrochet.com/projects/paid/pirate.asp
Get your yarn and hooks all ready!

Wonderful Author

2006-08-28T12:36:00.000-07:00

I wanted to tell you guys about a great friend of mine who is an author. Catherine Burkett has been a friend of mine for several years. She is an author as well as a wonderful wife and mother! She has published two books so far, but I am sure she has more books locked away in that mind of hers. Go give her site a look!

http://www.catherineburkett.com/

Moogle for you!

2006-08-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

This little guy has been on my list for a while! I adore the Final Fantasy games, so making a Moogle was a requirement : ) He stands about 3 1/2" tall from the top of his head and 6" from the top of his bauble. What a perfect companion for your work area!

This week I also got some beautiful yarn from Sock Diva! She makes the most colorful and beautiful yarn. She is my yarn hero ; ) She is the reason that I am scrimping and saving for a spinning wheel of my own. You're the best Sock!!

roving swap

2006-08-21T22:42:00.000-07:00

Hey all you spinners out there!! There is a very cool roving swap going on at http://spinningrovingswap.blogspot.com This is a swap for people of all spinning experience levels! This will be a very fun swap, but we need more people to sign up. Please take a look at this swap!

New Contest at Fearless Fibers!!

2006-08-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys!

There is a new contest going on over at Fearless Fibers!! Deb is giving away a kit for making a felted bag this time. Go check out her blog and enter to win a great prize!!!

http://fearlessfibers.blogspot.com

Buttons, Kitties and Turtles

2006-08-15T13:28:00.000-07:00

First, I have the buttons in stock! They are fantastic and come in 5 different images. THANK YOU KITTYCROSSBONES!! I will be listing them in my shop as a set and individual buttons too!

I have been working like a mad woman to get my store restocked! As I told you before, I have been working on a new type of item for my store. My Grandmother used to make quilted stuffed animals for craft fairs when I was younger. I remember spending weekends making these toys with her and going to the craft fairs with her to sell them. When we went to visit her in San Diego a few weeks ago, I asked if she still had these patterns. I wanted to use the patterns, but I didn't want it to be the same old stuffed toys. So I began to think about what else I could do with them. Aplique seems a natural fit for these animals! "Mommy Loves You" is the first of those new items. It was named that because it looks like the big cat is watching over the smaller one. It is a Pillow Cover with a set of quilted cats apliqued onto it. The Mommy cat is green and the Baby is pink. I think it came out fantastic! I have a bunch of other animals including sheep, pigs, ducks, elephants and many more!

I have also been busy making sesonal Turtles! I have two new Autumn Leaf turtles. One has leaves on his back because he was out playing in the piles of leaves. The other has leaves hanging from his head because he likes the feeling of them dangling around his face.

I have also had several custom orders for turtles. I have made a second winter turtle in pastel colors and a nurse turtle. I am working on another nurse and a doctor right now.

Vulture and Shadow Turtles

2006-08-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

This little guy was a dare from a great lady in one of the Yahoo Groups I frequent. She dared us to make an amigurumi Vulture. He is about as tall as a spool of thread and just big enough to perch on a computer mouse or a monitor, to glare at people who linger in your office.

I also captured these three Shadow Turtles.

You know that feeling, when you are home alone and you just KNOW there is something watching you from a dark corner, or waiting for you in a dark room. When you turn quickly to look for it, there is nothing there! Sometimes there are small flashes of light, with no cause. Like light reflecting off of small eyes.These are Shadow Turtles. They can be found in dark corners or forgoten cupboards. Their pearlecent eyes catch and reflect even the smallest amount of light. They are harmless, most of the time. But they enjoy watching. Always watching.These Amigurumi Shadow Turtles were captured lurking in my craft supplies. They are 3" tall.

This is Thamuz, Murmur and Hypnos. Their eyes are pearlescent buttons that grab and reflect even the smallest amount of light. I was sitting here working on the computer by monitor-light, and all I could see of them was three sets of glowing eyes watching me work. Gave me the Jibblies!

Masukami, Long Haired Maiden

2006-08-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

Masukami is my newest doll. She is based on the evil spirit imagery in several recent Japanese movies and video games. She has died too young by drowning. Wandering the river banks, she searches for her lost love. Is it you?

Not sure the photos captured the evil in her eyes accurately. There are swirls on the buttons and when they are turned just right, they look eeeevil. I have caught her glowering at me a couple times this morning.

She sits 6" tall with another 5" in legs that can either be folded underneath her in a kneeling position, or dangled over the edge of a shelf or computer monitor. She is number two in my horror rag doll series and would be a perfect companion to Romero, the Zombie rag doll.

The Naval officer turtles are currently available in my shop now too. Things will really start rolling in my shop in the next few days. Keep your eyes out for new updates daily

Button sets

2006-08-02T08:33:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

I have been very busy the past week and there is an end in sight finally. Another 2 weeks and I will finally be able to start making new dolls! YAY! Until that time I came up with this new item. I had AmyLynn from http://kittycrossbones.etsy.com make me some 2.25" buttons with some of my babies on them!

I will be using them for promotional items and they will be sold in sets and individually too! I got some ideas for at least 2 more sets to come in the future. They will be listed in my shop by the end of the week. Collect them all! Trade them with friends!

AmyLynn was a wonder to work with. She worked so fast! And I love the way the buttons look! I can't wait to get my hands on them! I also look forward to working with her again in the future! Nothing but a wonderful experience : ) Go visit her shop today!! She does more than the 2.25" buttons. She has buttons of all sizes, keychains, necklaces, bottle openers and mirrors too! She is a wonderful etsy seller!

I need another vacation!

2006-07-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

Hey guys

Just came back from my whirlwind tour of the west coast. What an adventure! I need another vacation just to recover from that vacation. We drove up from Tucson up to Newberg, Oregon for a wedding with a stop overnight in Stockton, California. We spent the weekend in Oregon at a wonderful wedding and visiting museums. Then it was back down to San Diego, with another stop to sleep in Stockton. We visited with family, went to the beach and visited more museums. Along the trip I sold almost all of my dolls! YAY, but now I need to restock.

As you know, I had intended to spend the 5 days we were driving making more dolls. Well you know the proverb about best intentions. We left Tucson at 3:30 am. Before we got to the freeway I remembered that I had left my box of dolls I was going to show off and some custom orders for family back at home. We turned around and ran back for them. So at 3:45 we were finally on the freeway and on our way!

I went to grab the yarn to start creating some new dolls. I reached behind me only to find that since my work yarn was the first thing loaded into the van so I wouldn't forget it, it was now buried under the luggage! Oh well, I could reach a bag of yarn I had been using to make a granny afghan. I could work on that until we stopped to get breakfast.

Well, things never work out the way you want them to. At 6:30 we stop on the far side of Phoenix for breakfast and I realize I have left my box of buttons, beads and other random small crafty things back at home!!!! Well crud! I figured I would continue to work on my afghan and when we got to San Diego I could spend a couple days making all the pieces of dolls to be assembled when we got home.

In Oregon I got to deliver these two super cute turtles I made custom for my Aunt. She is married to a Naval Officer so when she saw my Military turtle she wanted to know if I could make her a Naval Officer turtle too. She wanted one in Dress White and one in Dress Blue. She was very pleased with these little guys!

When we got to San Diego I sold half of my stock in one evening! I needed to make more dolls. I sat down with all the supplies I had with me and began to create. We weren't the only family members staying with her, so after a few minutes I had an audience of teenagers watching. They wanted to learn how to crochet too, so I passed out all my hooks and some balls of yarn I had been using for my afghan and spent the afternoon teaching them how to use them. I figured I would have the rest of the vacation time to work on the dolls.

In the evenings there was too little light to work with, and we were busy all the other days. So I ended up spending more time thinking of new ideas than working on the old ideas. I have come up with a new type of baby for my shop. It will be introduced as soon as I can recover and get my head on straight. It will be quilted instead of crochet. I am so excited about them, that it is hard to do my chores around the house! I want to sit down at my machine and start sewing right now!! I will have to restrain myself for now, but come back and see what I come up with!

Bust's Girl Wide Web

2006-07-17T19:28:00.000-07:00

My Blog has just been added to Bust's Girl Wide Web! Give the button a click and check them out! Very cool articles!

Vacation time

2006-07-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

Hey guys

I wanted to let you know what is coming up in the future here on my blog. I will be going on vacation July 12th and I won't be back until July 22nd. But in this time I will be creating like a mad woman! I have a notebooks that I keep with me at all times. One at my creation station (in front of the computer) and another in my purse (in case inspiration hits away from home). I have pages of notes, scribbles and sketches. My goal is to get as many done on my trip as possible.

On my list I have:
-Edward Scisorhands Doll
-A Geisha Doll
-Mrs Weasley, Hagrid and Snape
-Some Lord of the Rings dolls
-Willy Wonka Doll
-Barbosa Doll
-A Murloc
-A Cactaur and a Moogle
-Dr Who, K-9 and a Dalek
-Japanese Horror Long Haired Maiden
- A child from the Village of the Damned
-Zhan from Farscape
-Shadow Turtles
-Jade Turtle and Elephant
-more turtles to be determined later

Holy cow, that is a long list! I won't get to all of it before I get back, but I will be focusing on the full sized dolls first. I will be trying to make turtle versions of quite a few of the larger dolls too. We will be taking the laptop with us, so if something comes out particularly good, I will upload it and let you guys see!

Featured Item

2006-07-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody!

I wanted to share my excitement with you! I went to festivities over at my parents house yesterday, great bbq and the best fireworks show in years. When I came home, I found that Jack had been featured on the front page of http://craftster.org ! I was so excited I could hardly sleep last night. There he was with so many other super cool crafts. Check out the craft diagonal from Jack, it is a Van Gogh recreated in melted beads! And the one right under him is a super cool afghan with a wonderful tree pattern on it.

Well, I didn't think it could get any cooler than that! Until I woke up this morning. I started up al the various windows I have open durring the night and noticed I had 3 emails notifying me of conversations waiting for me on http://etsy.com , so I headed over there to see what was up. I just about fell out of my chair when I saw the front page! I had to call my husband right then and tell him to go to the front page himself! I think I will have to be scraped off the ceiling today! He is on the Top 100 Items list too!

Thanks Everybody!!!

P.S. He has found a home! He will be going to live in New York City

Captain Jack Amigurumi

2006-07-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

Captain Jack is off on another adventure! This 12" doll is ready to commandeer one of these ships, pick up a crew in Tortuga, raid, pillage, plunder and otherwise pilfer his weasely black guts out. So if you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death then you have just one question to ask yourself. Can you sail under the command of a pirate, or can you not?

This pattern has been renamed Pirate Sam and will be available September 12th at the Interweave Crochet Magazine website

http://www.interweavecrochet.com/projects/paid/pirate.asp

Contest over at Fearless Fibers

2006-06-30T12:52:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let you guys know about a contest over at http://fearlessfibers.blogspot.com

The prize is some of her beautiful hand-painted yarn! I love this yarn! There are so many great colorway options. Check out her blog and her etsy shop http://fearlessfibers.etsy.com

Custom order elephant

2006-06-27T14:08:00.000-07:00

This little elephant was requested last Friday by Sweets4ever over at the Craftster.org forum. She said she would really love to have an elephant and gave me this little graphic she created using some of my other items for texture and colors!

So, as you can see, He was made with That Grey, That red, has green eyes and is indeed 3" tall. I am currently waiting to hear from her what his name is.

Then I will be buckling down to create the ultimate swashbuckler! In honor of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie opening next week, I will be attempting to create an 11-12" Capitan Jack Sparrow doll! I have been running through the yarn physics in my head for about a week now? Which yarns will be the best colors and textures? Which ones will need to be split into 2 ply instead of the heavier 4 ply to get the right movement from the fabric? Where will I forego yarn and use thread for the lighter weight materials? Where am I going to get the right hair beads? Gathering pictures from different angles so that I can see everything I need to.

I think I have it all worked out and I will be putting him on the blog by July 6th, because he will need to be done by then if he is going with me to the midnight premiere ; )

Need a Tropical Vacation?

2006-06-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

Are you sitting at work right now? In a cube where the only light comes from the buzzing fluorescent lights above you and the computer monitor in front of you. Do you wish you could be on a white beach somewhere? Under an umbrella. Drinking a drink with an umbrella in it. Well, I can't help you with that, but I can give you a little piece of the tropics with this little turtle!

Margarita has a mottled green and yellow shell. Wearing a straw hat under her umbrella she will bring a little color of the tropics to your grey little life! She stands about 3" tall and is about 2.5" long. She will be sent with a brand new unopened parasol.

Baby Squidydiddy Octupus

2006-06-23T14:26:00.000-07:00

This cute little guy was a custom order in my Etsy shop. I was asked if I could make an octopus in the same style as my turtles, but with no costume. So he is all naked! His little legs are wired so he is poseable. Right now he is holding a parasol to keep off the sun. His new mommy says that he will have his own fish tank when he gets home!

Katamari As Seen on Kotaku and BoingBoing

2006-06-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

I just got a new shipment of magnets for my Custom Katamaris! If you have been wanting to get a Katamari, now is the time. These go fast! They are about the size of a softball and fit nicely in your hand. They have super strong magnets for hours of rolling fun! I have heard of them rolling things like scissors, paperclips, staples, pins, needles, batteries, even some silverwear! What kinds of things can you roll up? Try this and see.

Let me know what colors you want this wonderful ball to be, or type SURPRISE ME in the message to seller box and I will send you a beautiful Katamari surprise

New Blog Rings

2006-06-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys!

I have no new items to show you because I have been busy with brithdays! We have one birthday a week in the month of June (I will be happy to see July!) I have been crocheting a shawl for my mother. I will post pictures of her with it when it is done.

I have joined a BUNCH of new blog rings. They are not quite functional yet, but when they are they will be fun to look through!

The next doll will be a Captain Jack doll in honor of the opening of the new Pirates movie. Not sure yet if it will be a turtle or a full sized doll, that will be the surprise!

"Cry Baby" Walker Turtle Amigurumi

2006-06-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

By request of the ladys at Crafster I bring you the second Turtle in the Johnny Depp series, Wade 'Cry Baby' Walker. Good girls want him bad. Bad girls want him worse. He's the kind of guy that every girl wants but should't marry!! Too young to be square... Too tough to be shocked... Too late to be saved. He's a doll. He's a dreamboat. He's a delinquent.

Keep watching this space for more turtles!

Random Act of Art: Lobster Amigurumi

2006-06-08T17:13:00.000-07:00

I was a participant this week in a Random Act of Art! This little lobster amigurumi was commissioned for a lobster lover.

I was contacted a couple weeks ago by a customer who wanted a lobster, but it had to be kept secret. After several attempts to get the claws just right, I made this little cutie.

I set photos to the customer and waited in anticipation for the approval all artists seek from patrons of their art. She loved it and sent me the address of the recipient. I read the name and address and laughed out loud!! Turns out it was for one of my cousins! I called my husband over to see the address. I gleefully packed the little guy in his shipping container and sent him on his cross country journey. I heard today that he had been happily received!

So now that he has arrived in his new home, I can share him with all of you. He was a lot of fun to make and has been sent to a wonderful person.

Thank you for letting me be a part of this Random Act of Art!

Turtles of the Week: Sgt Peppers Turtles amigurumi

2006-06-05T16:18:00.000-07:00

The turtles of the week are: Sgt Pepper Turtles!

These Turtles are all dressed up for the Turtle Ball. They are ready to have a blast! What Beatles collection would be complete without these little guys entertaining the crowd. Get them for Fathers day or for the Beatles fan in your life. I spent the weekend with my husband and best friend creating these cute turtles. They are great for bouncing ideas off of and I always know they will give an honest opinion.

Introduction to My Amigurumi Dolls

2006-05-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody

This is my first post on my new blog. My name is Amy and I am a crochet doll maker. Romero here is one of my first dolls. He is the doll that started it all!

He is a Zombie Amigurumi and HE'S COMING RIGHT FOR YOU!!! I have made him and several other dolls and toys. I have them all for sale at http://amysbabies.etsy.com

I have a variety of dolls for sale now and several more in production. The toys I sell the most of are my Magnetic Amigurumi Katamari. I can hardly keep them in stock. I have one available in my shop right now if anybody wants one. These go fast!

They can be made in custom colors. They are about the size of a softball and fit nicely in your hand. They have super strong magnets for hours of rolling fun! What kinds of things can you roll up? Try this and see.

I have recently started a "Turtle of the Day" promo in my shop. I think it is going to be stretched out to the "Turtle of the Week".

I listed quite a few turtles last week. The first one was inspired by the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. There is a poem in the books about a Turtle who is a protector of the world. The poem starts "See the turtle of enormous girth. On his back he holds the earth". This poem has always been one of my favorites and I think I might embroider it one day to hang on my wall. But for now I have created this little turtle. I hope to send him to a good home some day.

I also have a Military Turtle, a Winter Turtle and a Zombie Turtle. They can all be seen at http://amysbabies.etsy.com .

But the turtle that I was most happy with was the Willy Wonka Turtle. He has actually inspired requests for a series of Johnny Depp turtles. Including a Cry Baby turtle, a Captain Jack Turtle and an Edward Scissorhands Turtle. Those turtles will be added in the next few weeks. And there is a possibility of them becoming full sized dolls too.

Well, That and more is all available in my shop right now. If there is something you don't see in my shop, but you absolutely HAVE to have there is a link in my shop to contact me. I am happy to do custom orders.

Watch this space for more updates on my experiments with yarn!