Guest - Little Red Scrapbook

I had the honor of being the July guest design team member for Little Red Scrapbook Company's kit club. (thank you L for the referral... :) ) LRS has the cutest kits and every month I marvel at the gorgeous layouts L makes from them. This month, I had the honor of joining her (though her layouts are still more gorgeous, IMHO). The kit featured BoBunny's Calypso line. Here are my entries. You can see the entire month's gallery here. I was very hard core about staying within the kit's contents - only added buttons and stamps outside. (Stamps are PSX antique alpha, and Unity Stamp Company Time for Travel). TFL. Wendy

KI Memories

Using the new KI Memories lacecardstock, and items from the Party line.

z

with my scraps.... Stamp is from Amy's Art Stamps.

Necessary...

In normal times, scrapping/crafting is something I do every single day. I wake up early to claim some time for myself, to reset my brain for the day to come.

But in recent weeks, I've been "off" that track - stress about work, a big case and trial, and the general "blahs" would see me just pushing everything in my room aside so I could clear some space for the cases and the evidence binders I had to work my way through. In the rare moments I could just vege - i did exactly that - aimlessly roamed through message boards, pounced on etsy, read some blogs. But as to doing anything? Not really. If there was no design deadline, I wasn't doing it. As for my friends, I kind of dropped off the earth for a bit. It was all I could do to balance my family into work.

After two solid months of this - I was pretty stressed out and very much on edge. So when I filed the closing brief in my big case on Friday after a week of little sleep and an almost allnighter Thursday night, I decided I needed to reset. Badly. And that's even before the not so subtle hints coming my way from the guys I work with... "Decompress wendy..." and the regular calls from my husband "how're you doing?" all the time. Yep. We all needed it (And I suspect my opposing counsels did as well). A dear friend was holding a charity crop for Team in Training and the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. I had day plans with my kids (which I also needed desperately) and only had a few hours I could go - but I thought - NO MORE - I have to make the affirmative efforts to bring balance back into my life....

And so, at 5:30, I opened the door to the crop room and was immediately greeted with the familar site of large carts of supplies and the beautiful sound of women bonding and creating. Even before the chorus of "Hi Wendy" filled the room, it felt a little like coming home. And in the next 2 hours (cuz that's pretty much all I had), I did a page, muffed another, and listened and chatted with my friends, and realized to myself - this really is a necessary thing for my sanity... I need to really take the time to make the time to guard my head, and keep my life where it should be - balanced. Not that I will shirk these work duties to do it - that will not change - there is simply too much at stake for my clients. But on those days I come home and I'm "just too tired" - I'll remember yesterday, pick myself up and go for some soul nourishment. Today is a better day...

Here is one of my two - the other one needs some work. I'm a bit rusty. :)

This is the new Basic Grey June Bug in the LM Store, and the American Crafts Platform thickers. For some reason AC named these orange, but they're more of a goldenrod yellow?

TFL. wendy

July 9 Hip Hop

First! YIPPEE!! Good morning everyone!! Welcome to Hip Hop for July 9.

This week, I'm still playing with the fabulous July KOTM, a pocket full of..., since I love it so.

I felt like scrapping, and thought this fancy pants paper was perfect for the kit...

Sigh. my kids. make me so happy.





Thanks for stopping by. Your next stop is

Lisa

Enjoy the rest of your hop. Hip hop!

universal knit skull cap pattern

Having made a few of these caps at this point, I've realized that many of the patterns follow a similar basic form. Since I've been using different yarns from my stash (using only nonwools and very soft ones b/c these are chemo caps), I've adapted to the diff. gauges of the yarns, and thought I'd share.

Choose the recommended needle size for your yarn - you need a circular needle and a set of double pointed needles in the same size.

Cast on the circular needles enough stitches to fit the circumference of the head you are making the hat for (note there will be some give in your band and so, stretch your cast on line a little as you measure for the circumference (esp if you cast on like I do with very tight very close together stitches).

knit back and forth on your circular needle (unjoined) with a basic stitch for the brim. This can be a rib (K2P2) or a garter (just knit back and forth) or a moss stitch (K1P1) or anything you want. You have a long thin rectangle going at this point.

When your brim reaches approximately 2", join your knitting and continue knitting in the round until your knitted piece reaches 6" from your cast on row (or 7" or 8" if you're working with bigger heads). (NOTE: most patterns say put a sitch marker to mark the beginning of the row here, moving the marker up each time you start a new row. But I realized I always joined 2" above where I initially cast on - where there was always an unwoven in tail , I had a natural built in marker so I don't add another. But if it helps you, by all means, add the marker before you join). I normally use stockinette stitch here, but again, anything would work... Just keep it in a pattern that would stretch a bit. (a rib works well too). Since you're knitting in the round at this point, stockinette is just straight knit stitches and it is a very nice "I don't have to think too much about it" knitting.

Once you get to the 6" (or 7" or 8"...) transfer your project to double pointed needles, evenly distributed among the needles. Now you start to decrease (and form the top of the hat). Knitting in the round:

[K8, K2Tog]. repeat til end.
[K7, K2Tog] repeat til end
[K6, K2Tog] repeat til end
[K5, K2Tog] repeat til end
[K4, K2Tog] repeat til end
[K3, K2Tog] repeat til end
[K2, K2Tog] repeat til end
[K1, K2Tog] repeat til end
K2Tog, repeat til end

Now, cut the yarn from the skein, giving yourself about a 8" tail. Thread a needle through the end, and then run that needle through all the remaining stitches on your needles, pulling tight.

You're done. Join the loose ends of your brim, add a flower, a button, etc. Weave in all yarn tails.

Here are three more that I just finished for a very special little girl. That's five total, as a girl cannot have too many choices, eh? The pinks are cotton; the white is microspun with yellow crochet thread accent for a butter yellow hat. TFL. Wendy

Happy Fourth of July!!

Its Independence Day!!! What are your plans for today? I love traditions, and Fourth of July is one where we watch Will Smith's "Independence Day" (one of my favorite movies of all time!!), then head to my uncle's for a BBQ - from there - we go as an extended family for fireworks at the local high school. Its a lovely time, with a nice rock band, lots of yummy food, and such love for all fellow Americans as we gather to celebrate ourselves as a country. Its been a historic year - with the election (and changes that inevitably come when our country, as it always does, shift power base every few grouping of years), and the economy, and the war front. Everyday, I am so very grateful for my country and that I have the privilege of being an American. And today, I am very much looking forward to celebrating her and all my fellow countrymen. Happy birthday America!! Go USA!! :)

(stamps are Unity in America from Unity Stamp Co, an exclusive kit available only at memory making crafts)

Sketch LMCS36

LMSketch 35

Stampiecing Your Scraps

No time or patience for coloring? No problem!! With open imaged stamps, you can easily stamp on scraps and "stamp" piece (i.e.paperpiece) them.

Be sure to pick scraps with subtle prints so as not to lose your stamp lines.

From there, cut your images out and assemble your card just like always.

(I'm using stamps from the July 09 Kit of the Month from Unity Stamp Company - Pocket full of )

TFL! wendy