Saturday, November 13, 2010

Still catching up

Okay, crochet projects ... I'd have to say that everything I've done in the past year has been for Crochet Uncut, even if the items were for someone, the patterns went into the e-zine. Crochet Uncut has been well received and I'm getting a lot of items sent to me for review. So far, I've been fortunate in what I've reviewed and they've all been a pleasure to work with or read. One of my favorites was the Denise Interchangeable Crochet Hooks, which I adore using. For some yarn, I've designed patterns to use with them but haven't been able to do that for all the yarn. Hopefully I'll be able to work my way through them and publish patterns that show off the best of each one.

For the Summer 2010 issue, I had two patterns that I designed for my cousin Marci for her wedding, a garter and a keepsake bag. I also designed a bridal wrap but my dog decided it would make a good snack and ate it along with part of the remaining $18/ball yarn. I'm currently making a version of the shawl for a co-worker then will go back to the white version and finish it.

Take a look at all the fabulous patterns in Crochet Uncut at Ravelry. Each project page links to the pattern page in the e-zine and you can see who designed each pattern, how many folks like them, and how many are making the item.

I'm continuing to take painting classes from Jon McNaughton although it is getting harder each month to come up with the class fee. It's one of the few luxuries I allow myself each month. I posted the paintings I'd done over the last few months in my last post and since then, I've completed several more paintings over the last few days. I don't have photos of them yet except for one that I painted on my own based on a photo taken by a friend's SO. Some of you may know her as Bubbo at Ravelry and know that she has two dogs, Chester and Maddie. A few months back, Bubbo posted a photo that David had taken of Chester and I knew right then that I had to paint it.

I had my painting class on Wednesday and Thursday evening and I finished my painting for class about 45 minutes early so I went ahead and drove home. It was still too early to head to bed so I decided to finish the Chester painting and here it is:

(click on image for larger version)

I also posted three photos of the work in progress which you can take a look at on my Flickr gallery (click on image above to go there).

I have one more painting to finish up, then I'll varnish them and take them to Office Depot to get scanned in and saved to a CD. Which reminds me, if you'd like prints of any of my paintings, you can get them at Zazzle.com for about $12 for an 11"x14" print. Links are below to the different Zazzle sites for the U.S., Canada, UK, and other countries. Clicking on the link for your country will provide an affiliate commission for me no matter what Zazzle user you purchase from.
Fignations of Imaginment:
Almost forgot, I've also been making reversible project bags, half aprons, and needle/hook rolls in addition to my stitch markers and row counter bracelets. Sales of these items are used to pay the hosting fees for Crochet Uncut, so if you're looking for a cool items for Christmas, please take a look at my Artfire shop. The reversible bags can be used for crochet and knitting projects, treasure bags for kids, purses, gift bags, and more. The RapidCart in the right side bar shows different items available, just refresh to see different items, or just visit my shop!
Well, I think I've rambled enough for now and it is after 1 am so I think I'll play a computer game for a bit then try to get some sleep.