Friday, October 30, 2009

Insomniac creations attack

It is nearly 3 am Pacific Time, and I can not sleep. I had a spark of inspiration, and can not break it down. so, here I am, blogging the process as I develop it.

Planned project: Loom knitted angel with wire beaded halo, and ribbon wings.

My husband just pointed out that I kinda have to start the knitting part of it to finish the angel, blogging won't get her done. So, off to knit!

Materials:
KK Flower loom (with pegs firmly in place)
Knitting hook of your choice
Homespun in Waterfall (or color of your choice)
1/2 to 3/4 in false pearls
wire earring hoops
white or silver small gauge beads
silver, white, or light blue transparent wired ribbon
small amount of polyfil or other stuffing of choice
small amount of fishing line
small amount of contrasting ribbon or yarn to accent the angel
small amount of sewing thread or beading string and small needle
hot glue and glue gun
tapestry needle
scissors
a glass of wine (or preferred crafting drink)
Some music, or TV or company to keep your mind working.

Currently drinking I am drinking hot tea, listening to husband writing a book and rats try to become acrobats.

1. Using 2 strands as 1 throughout, e-wrap cast on all pegs.
2. E-wrap knit for 3 inches.
3. When you reach 3 inches, weave the small length of ribbon or yarn through her stitches (the rows of stitches, the vertical ones)weave around twice so that there is no row without ribbon on the outside. DO NOT tie this off yet, just leave it be.



4. E-wrap another 1.5 in. of knit
5. Bind of with the gather method. Pull yarn inside and weave in ends.



6. Turn up-side-down, and push a small amount of the filling into the top, cinch up the ribbon so that it is tight and tie a decorative bow, or leave hanging down the back.



7. Now, set your angel body aside. Grab up your earring hoops and white or silver beads. Put as many beads onto the hoop as you can while still being able to clamp them closed.
8. Grab up your wired ribbon. Cut about 12-15 in of ribbon (yes you will need this much).
9. Fold both ends into the center, running stitch this connection point to the center of the ribbon.



10. Cinch up the wings and sew them to the back of your angel.



Intermission, just making sure we are on the same page, if your angel has a hard time standing, pull at her skirt a bit to bell out the shape, it will begin to curl up naturally.

Are we good? Great…

11. Using your hot glue, glue a pearl onto the top of your angel body.
12. Glue on the halo behind the head and clean up your glue strings



If you choose to keep her as a table decoration, leave her as she is, if you want her as an ornament; tie a length of fishing line or beading string just above the wings. You could even glue her skirt to a small round mirror to give her a firmer base to stand on.


Hope you enjoy!

This is my own design and is not to be used for sale. You may use this pattern for your own use in teaching or decorating and for church events and charity.

Oh, and please leave comments, I'd love to hear what you think.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

WIP

Here are the projects I am working on...tonight at least...

A honeycomb scarflet for Missy's best friend, I told her mother that I would make her a Christmas gift in Missy's stead.



A tattoo design in Missy's memorial...



I will post updates as they come. Thanks for check out the blog.

Oh....and here is a hat I made a few weeks ago, now I gotta remember how i made it so I can post a pattern. Add that to the list.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

So Much to DO, So Little Time to Do It! (wow...that was cliched)

I have decided to participate in a local craft bazaar. There is only 1 problem, I only found out about it this week...so I haven't prepared anything. AHHHHHHH! There is only one me, and way too many things to do, along with keeping up in school. So, I will blog my way along here, and if anyone has any suggestions along the way, please let me know.

Chaos organized...kinda

I have started to teach my roommate to knit. Sounds great and all, right? No. No he is obsessed. Again, sounds great, right? No. My husband works nights at a local bar. Now when David is at work, Tom thinks that it is our time to "bond" he comes into my room and tried to get me to knit with him. Because I let him use my yarn stash, and my looms, and ask questions, he seems to think that gives him free reign of the whole house, my room included. So he is using my KK Pink long (not...so...long...long) loom. He made a scarf, it is double strand worsted weight in purple and black, he is making it for his mom. A loving thought, really... but now he is spending his money on yarn and chew instead of video games and chew...and I still haven't seen a penny in rent. For two months. Or gas for all the Taxi-ing I am doing. I think I'm done. I think I'm gonna have a talk with the hubby, away from the creepy roommate. And I think that the hubby is going to...kindly... put him in his place...not in my house.

In other news... I dreamed up a stuffed animal...then when I woke up, I knitted him. Well kinda. It is a jelly fish, but he only has 2 tentacles right now, I got board of knitting his little legs. He is blue and furry..kinda...ish. I'll post pics and a pattern when I finish him. Stay tuned.

As for now, I'm going to go watch Battlestar Galactica until I go pick up David.

Friday, October 23, 2009

In honor of Missy

I had started knitting to make Missy chemo caps to keep her head warm during treatment. She asked me to teach her to knit when she got better. When she knew she wasn't getting any better, she asked me to knit for her friends at the hospital and the homeless folks that didn't have caring families like hers. I never got the chance to teach her to knit, so I am donating my time and talents for her to our local VA. I have donated 3 hats so far (forgot to take pictures) and plan on taking another 6 or 7 on Monday. I told her while she was lying on her death bed (I do not know if she could hear me or not) that I would donate at least a dozen to the homeless every year in her name. She was such a loving young girl. Her heart went into everything.

Here are a few of the Hats I am donating next week.



I plan on making about 10 more, but will donate them closer to Christmas. It is time soon to start of family gifts. Also, I got my roommate, Tom, to start knitting. more on that soon. Love ya Missy, never forgotten.

I'll always love you Missy Marie


I know this is off topic, but it is important, and really the reason I started knitting in the first place. My little sister Missy was diagnosed with an inoperable cancerous brain tumor the fall of her 11th year. She was told she would not live to see her 12th birthday. In march she turned 14, in June she was a bridesmaid in my wedding, and this evening the cancer finally claimed her.

Missy, I will always love you, and no one will be angry for letting go. Rest now, be a normal child wherever it is you have gone. Be at peace. And guide us through this troubled time from your place of joy now. You have fought this for so long, you have shown everyone you are strong, and you proved us all wrong, but we are happy that you don't have to fight anymore. Just be happy and enjoy the bliss that comes from looking back on this life experience. It is just the start of another adventure.

The picture above is the most recent photo I have of my 'lil sis. She is the blond, second from the right. Left to right is Shelly, Shadow, me Missy and Jessika.

Gods Bless Missy Marie Sankey March 14, 1995- October 23, 2009 I love ya 'lil sis.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Blog Revived! and a little about me.


So this is my 3rd attempt at keeping an organized blog. Yes I still have Heartstringarts.webs.com, and I still have my myspace blog, but I was going all sorts of directions with those...! AHHH!

Chaos does not live long in my world...or so I'd like to think.

So here we have it, In-skein, for all things loomy...

That's right, in this blog, I am staying strictly to loom knitting, and this related to said loom knitting.

You may even find some free patterns, or at least guidance towards making some of the things I make. I rarely follow patterns, I like to design my own things, I just find inspiration from others.

So, a little about me...I am a 20 year old college student, wife, daughter, and sister. I have a love for family that is untouched by the stresses of life.

My husband is the most supportive of my crafts, because he gets warm blankets and hats for our other hobby airsoft.

We have 2 dogs, and a cat. We also have 1 roommate. His name is Tom. Our Dogs are Lola, a Cocker Spaniel/Jack Russel Terrier/Black Lab/ Border Collie mix, and Tank, a German Shepard/Chocolate Lab/ Sheltie/ Husky mix. Our cat, Myrra, is a Maine Coon, with an attitude problem. In her opinion, she is the queen, and nothing I say or do will change that. The dogs are NOT allowed in her section of the house, and she makes sure of that. Last night... we had to shave her back end due to matting. (Poor angry kitty had lots of milk after that ordeal).



My Mom runs a furniture business, and taught me everything I know about running a local business. It is because of her that I am in school for an Associate of Applied Science in Business Administration with a specialty in Accounting and Marketing.

My Dad works with my mom repairing furniture before she sells it. He also works fixing up cars, and re-selling them to people who have lost their own.

I have 4 sisters. 3 of them half sisters, and 1 by adoption. I love them all the same, with every ounce I can.

Missy, 14, and battling brain cancer. She was diagnosed when she was 11, was told she would not make it to her 12th birthday. She fought it into remission, but it came back a few weeks ago. I do not know how long we have with her, so I am making sure to do as much for her as I can. She asked a few years back, that I teach her to knit. I never had the time or she was always to tired after treatments, so I promised her that if I couldn't teach her, I'd make a ton of hats, and donate them in her name to the hospital that treated her. I am working on this project now.

Shadow, 18, is the proud mother of an adorable almost 2 year old little girl. This little one is one of the greatest inspirations for my knitting because when Shadow found out she was pregnant, she was 16, and didn't have a job, or much support from home. I knitting baby Brooklin's first blanket, bib, mittens, and shoes. I made diaper baskets, and a diaper bag, and even helped to get her baby shower set up. Even in the face of adversity, Shadow has shown herself to be a wonderful mom, she graduated when Brooklin was a few months old, and got a full time job (which is more than I can say for her Daddy). When Brooklin is old enough to go back to school, so will Shadow.

Jessika, 21, is a newlywed with 2 adorable little ones. Recently married, she inherited a step-son. Now her household is full, with her, her husband, Kaydence (almost 5) and Noah (age unknown, the wedding was the 1st time meeting Noah). I was not made aware that I had been adopted until I was 18, I didn't know I had another sister until my 18th birthday, this is when I found out about Jessika. I met her for the 1st time shortly before my 19th birthday.

Shelly, 37, is my sister by adoption. She has fought through 2 marriages, had 2 kids, inherited 3 more, lost them to divorce, and had to do all this while fighting chronic migraines and fibromialgia. Jaidon, 18 is her son, and Kristina, 14 is her daughter. Lately, Shelly and I have not been getting along very well, she is very infatuated with her boyfriend to care much about anyone else. She doesn't understand me, or my goals, thinking that by opening my own store, I want to be just like Mom. Struggling to make ends meet, and working my hands to the bone, but what she doesn't get is that I am looking at Mom's mistakes and using them as lessons, I am learning from her, and taking my own business in a different direction. Instead of a furniture and antique store, I am working on a craft shop and classroom. teaching others, and working with charity groups are important to me.

I also, have a 14 year old brother I have only met 1 time, that was at Jessika's wedding. his name is Austin, that is really all I know about him.

My husband's name is David, he is 22. He is a former Navy Sailor. He is a supportive and confused individual. His head is on right, and he has for himself goals. We are working towards our goals together. He is planning on becoming a Law Enforcement Officer with the Lincoln County Sheriffs Department in a couple of years. He is heading to school in January.

As for my craft, I have been loom knitting for about 4 years. I picked up a set of looms (Knifty Knitters) for a friends baby-shower, never got around to finishing the project, and lost them. Then, when Shadow got pregnant, I dug them up again, and started looming away. after 3 months of knitting for a while, and loosing them, and re-finding them and knitting some more, I finally managed to finish her blanket. I will post pictures of that first project as soon as I get them off the hubby's desktop. It was a 3 panel blanket double knit on the purple rectangle loom. Double strands of white RH Super Saver and purple/pink variegated RH Super Saver, and RH white and RH blue/green variegated yarns. It looked similar to a checker board pattern. 9 squares, switching from panel 1 in pink-green-pink, to panel 2 of green-pink-green to a last panel of pink-green-pink. it was embelished with daisies made on the salmon colored flower loom and ribbon edges. Since Brooklin's blanket, I have made several other blankets, scarves, coats, shawls, shrugs, hats, and purses. I am starting a teddy bear in a little while. as I complete projects from here on out, I will post them. With the projects I can, I will post patterns.

I hope you enjoy, and please leave feedback and ask questions. Communication is the only way I will know any of my readers.