Why I may be in Trouble

I mentioned yesterday that I may be in trouble.

It's not a big thing, a big part of it is mainly that I've now got another crafting obsession, and I may not soon have room for all my crafting stuff. Not enough room... in a 1500 square foot house.

Granted I have a husband and two cats to share this space with, but still.

So what's going on that I have taken over the majority of the house? Well, let's take a run down of the hobbies I'm actively taking part in, and have supplies for in the house.

-Knitting
-Sewing (clothing, bags, corsets)
-Rug Hooking
-Model Figure Painting
-Art Journaling
-Regular Journaling
-Cross Stitch

It's safe to say that knitting is my main craft. I can take it anywhere, depending on the project, and if I mess something up I can just rip it out without a loss of any of the materials, and just start over. This is very good for a distracted girl like me. My yarn stash is not what it used to be. I used to be a hoarder. When we moved from the apartment to the house, my yarn stash took over a fair portion of the basement. Since then, I've decreased the stash. I went through the yarn and got rid of most of the acrylic (to a friend's Nana who makes the most amazing blankets). I also got rid of anything that I looked at and continually set aside. So now the majority of my stash can fit in one box/shelf in my crafting wardrobe without too much of a problem.

Sewing is a little more all over the place. I sew clothes, costumes, bags. I'm learning how to make boned corsets. I have tools ALL over. I have one area in the basement that is the fabric for one costume that I WILL finish one of these days. Most of the fabric is in a dresser in my closet in the craft room, but there are sections of fabric in other areas. That's probably the next of my stashes to get an overhaul. At least to know what I have, even if I don't get rid of anything.

Rug Hooking I haven't actually done for any length of time. It's something I'd like to get started into, my Grandma did it when she was alive. All the supplies that I have were free (thankfully) from the Nana I gave my acrylic to. This is just in 2 laundry baskets in my craft room, so it's not too big of a deal, but I'd like to actually pull one of the rugs out and do some work on it starting in the next year.

Model Painting is a fairly new thing for me. It's little figurines from a game we have called Super Dungeon Explore, and I've just been having fun being creative at the hobby store while my hubby plays Magic:The Gathering. I have my first big(ish) model that I'm trying to complete in time for a model show in October. This stuff is basically in a little case holding my paints and brushes, so it doesn't take up too much room.

Journaling is something that I'm off and on with. I write in my journal at least once a week, but I'm not so good with the art journaling. It was more of a neat thing when I heard about it, not necessarily something that I'm really going to get into. But we'll see.

AND CROSS STITCH!

I showed you guys some of my cross stitching earlier last week. I learned to cross stitch at school, and as far as I knew, it had to be done on Aida fabric, had to be stitched a certain way, had to be done with an embroidery hoop, and was almost always tacky little ornaments and stuff.

Earlier this year when I started making dice bags, I looked up some cross stitch patterns to see what was available to geek up my stuff. I also do some pole dancing for exercize and made up my own patterns for my lovely ladies. Those are becoming key chain dangles, or bag dangles or the like, and I was just kind of, shrugging my shoulders and figuring it wouldn't be much.

Then I started blogging again, and I bumped into an old friend around here on blogger, and I saw her cross stitch work. Madam Rahenna, I have you to blame for this!! Well not really, but at least for a little enabling.

I now have a folder full of free patterns and have discovered an Embroidery store in my town (which isn't very big so this is exciting), and a Crafting convention that's happening in Toronto in October called Creativ Festival.

I have also found out that I don't have to use just Aida fabric, nor do I have to stitch it as I was taught (there are many different stitches and things to learn), and it is not by any means just a bunch of tacky ornaments!

One of the first free patterns that caught my eye was this beautiful pattern based on John Anster Fitzgerald's Fairy Hourdes Attacking a Bat, however, this is the best picture of the pattern, not the artwork, that I can find. I'm a little worried that it's going to come out as a muddled mess. Then again, the muddled mess could be because of the stitcher rather than the pattern.

I'll have to think on it, but I really like this picture.

I also found a lovely set of 4 hearts based on the seasons that I'm going to be putting together on the same piece because they really do make a lovely group.

However, what with pretty fabrics, lots of floss, and the patterns, I think I might have to go through my sewing stash soon and make some room. Especially since I have a LNS and another friend who wants to learn cross stitching.

Like I said... I may be in trouble.

Multicraftual

Good Morning!

So, I could show you more pictures of my Fisherman's Rib Shawl, but it's really just a big rectangle that's getting slightly bigger. Therefore, I decided to talk about some other crafts that I enjoy doing when I have the time or inclination.

My husband refers to me as Craftually ADD, in that, I rarely stick to one craft very long, and will abandon projects at the drop of a hat if something shiny comes along.

Knitting and sewing are my main crafts. I learned to do both when I was four from my Grandma. I tend to knit more than I sew right now, because I can easily knit in front of the TV or computer depending on what I'm doing. Not so much with the sewing. I know how to do beginner crochet too, but I only learned about 8 years ago and I didn't really keep up with it. Making some tiny lace things is something I'd like to get into eventually, but my knitting usually calls me louder than crochet, mainly because crochet is still a struggle for me as I'm technically still learning.

What I'm going to show you pictures of though is my other favourite fibre craft. Cross stitch. I learned how to do this at school when I was 11, and it's the only embroidery I can do with any amount of decency. I've always wanted to figure out how to embroider and make things pretty, and I'm determined that before I die I'd like to make a sampler with different embroidery, just to say I did it. However, when I just want to play with some thread and needles, I reach for my geeky cross stitch patterns. Like this lovely Mario Mushroom.

The nice thing about cross stitch for me is that I can easily grab a photo of a silhouette and with a little figuring, make my own simple patterns. The next two designs were designed by me, and if you want to use them as inspiration go ahead. If you want me to chart out the patterns let me know and I'll stick them up here somewhere. They're a little racy, but I'm a pole dancer for fitness and confidence and absolutely love playing on the pole. So I made a couple designs to go on my bags. These guys are only about an inch and a half on their longest side, and are really quick to stitch up.

I have a number of other designs to work on for my pole ladies. They take a bit longer to do because I have to figure out the design myself.

So yes, I am multicraftual and you'll likely see a bunch of different things pop up here, if you have any good crochet or embroidery resources please let me know in the comments. I'll definitely check them out.

I'll leave you with proof that my kitties are weird, because what's a craft blog without some pet photos right?

Peari and her not very ladylike way of warming her belly by the fire, which, since fall is starting to cool us down, the fire will be coming back online soon. I love knitting by the fire!

This is Maow Maow's way of stealing water. If the water isn't in a bowl she won't drink it straight from its container. She uses her paw to scoop the water into her mouth, which is smarter than Peari, who just sticks her face in and inhales the water up her nose.

An introduction of sorts

Hello one and all, and welcome to my (new) blog.

My name is Jessie and as you can guess from my blog title, I knit and sew. Over the years I have created a number of different blogs in which to write about my craftyness, however over the majority of the time, these have lasted a month, maybe two, and then have gone off into nothingness.

I am nothing if not fickle, and will quite often leave my logs to languish and die. However, I am hoping that with this blog I will be able to get myself on a schedule. As it is September, the start of the school year where I live, and a time of new beginnings and steps forward, let us step forward into why I have decided, once again, to start a blog.

The steps to a new beginning

I know myself, and I know that I get distracted by pretty things and will drop something that is not pretty like a hot rock if and when I get bored with it. This has happened to more blogs than I can count, some of which I have deleted outright, and some of which I leave for posterity, as it was a time in my life and chronicles some things that I went through.

For the last, oh, four years, I have basically not blogged. I decided that it wasn't for me, I wasn't a writer, and no one wanted to read what I had to write anyway (oh the angst). Then this past weekend (the long, labour day weekend) I went camping. When going camping, a good crafter takes two things along:

1. a simple project
2. a good book

The simple project that I took was a Fisherman's Rib Scarf/Shawl that I'm making with Lamb's Pride Worsted in a lovely blue, with a few grey stripes on the ends.This yarn is the left over yarn that made the Husband's Sweater of Insanity that he will never wear, but won't let me reclaim because it's HIS sweater.

The book was Wendy Knits: My Never-Ending Adventures in Yarn, a book that I love and read at least once per year. This time I grabbed it because it happens to have a quick and easy description of how to do Fisherman's Rib (as I had never done it before), and I just happened to start reading it while I worked on my scarf.

Wendy discusses her joy of blogging, reaching out to the world and just putting what she's doing out there, not to mention sharing her kitties with the world. It got me thinking about how I don't really chat to anyone on the internet anymore, and how I missed that. Sure, I may not get a bunch of readers, but I can still have fun with the few that I meet. Not to mention that maybe my lack of talking to people was partially my fault for falling into the time sucks known as Tumblr and Youtube (not that there's anything wrong with that).

So I got to thinking, which is dangerous, did I want to go back and pick up my old blog. I thought about it, looked at it, and came to the conclusion that the girl who was represented on those years of stops and starts isn't the person I am today. She was a young woman, really struggling to figure out what this thing called life is, and really unsure of everything she did.

I then decided that if I was going to do this I needed a clean start. So, new blog it was. Secondly, did I have time to blog, well duh. I sit at a coffee shop every morning for about 2 hours because I drive in with my husband, then walk the rest of the way to work after the building opens (this is cheaper than public transit, and allows me some internet time in the morning before work) so yes, I have plenty of time to post blog entries.

So, what should I do with a new blog and time to post? Set a schedule, and who better to emulate than the lovely lady who got me back into blogging in the first place.

So, following Wendy's example, I am looking at posting a blog each weekday while I'm sitting at the coffee shop, with at least one picture (though it may end up being just a shot of the sunrise if I forget to take other pictures the night before). Luckily I have some pretty cute cats who can distract you from lack of knitting and sewing content.

I can't guarantee this will be a success, but I'm going to try.

And to finish this off I'll introduce you to my kitties who you will likely see a bunch of:

First up is Peariwynkle (Peari for short) who was adopted from our local Humane Society on Boxing Day 2007. She was 8.5-9 years old, is a cinnamon tabby, and is very loving... when she wants to be.

This blue-eyed beauty is Maow Maow (her real name being Misty), who we inherited from a roommate when he moved out. We are her fourth owners, and are giving her a last go at life. She's a very old cat, somewhere between 14 and 20, and has kidney problems. Maow is a chocolate point Siamese, and is such a cuddle bunny, once she gets used to you.

Hopefully I'll be able to get shots of them in better light for next time. Until then!