4. The Granny Stripes Blanket for Ben

I'm first and foremost a yarn whore.  Ha!  It's true. I love yarn.  I mean lurve it. Really I do. I'm a knitter, you see. I started knitting years ago when I wanted a new hobby that I was certain wouldn't give me lung cancer. It's super hard to light up a strand of Malabrigo and smoke it.  So I started knitting and quit smoking.  Yay me!

Fast forward a gazillion years (actually it's more like 10-ish, but I can't remember) and it's dawned on me that I've frogged elventy-billion more projects I've ever started knitting than I have finished.  If you scroll down, you'll see three of my ever finished knitting projects.  The problem I have with knitting is that I'm slow.  Like sloth slow.  Like oh-my-gawd-just-stop-already-and-go-buy-a-friggin'-hat-because-you'll-never-finish-whatever-crap-that-is-on-your-knitting-needles-before-global-warming-takes-over-and-we-all-die-of-heat-and-methane-exposure-anyway slow.

Enter crochet.  I first learned to crochet when I was a little girl, but it didn't last. In the last few months, I picked up the hook and a ball of yarn and gave it another go.  I was amazed at how fast I am with this hobby.  Like fat dog fast (mostly I lay around, napping, but if a squirrel were to cross my path, I'd make a go of chasing it. That kind of fast.) I decided that if I have wanted to have a shot of finishing an heirloom style project for one of my kids before I went senile, I needed to find a craft that was a whole lot faster (but not nearly as expensive as quilting. I'm also cheap, you know.)  I spoke with the lovely lady that runs my LYS (that's "local yarn store" for those of you who are obviously NOT on Ravelry) and asked for a project recommendation.  She pointed me to the easy-peasy, portable Granny Stripes blanket from Attic24.

I'm about 40% done with it.  I'm hoping that it will be completed by the time we move Ben to his Big Boy bed. I may or may not be delaying said move so I can finish this dang blanket.  Here is my big boy modeling it now. It's actually a good size for a tallis (that's a Jewish prayer shawl for those of you who are probably not Jewish) which he likes to wear it Russian bubbe style. 

3. Fruit & Veggies Knitted Hats

My first craft passion is knitting. I love to knit. I'm a super slow knitter.  Like "Oh my gawd! You are the slowest ever at knitting. I think the wool just grew legs and is starting to baa."  Yeah, that slow. 

Hats are a super easy skill to learn to knit. Because I'm a thrower, i.e. English style knitter (as opposed to a picker or Continental knitting), circular needles are pretty much all I use.  They make it so much easier to hold on to the dropped needle unlike straights where I usually end up dropping a ton of stitches and having to correct or frog my work.

Since hats go so fast, I knitted up a little batch for my son.  He loves hats. Love, love, loves them. Just about everything becomes a hat: a pot, a felt bucket, my undies (yep. I have see that child put my skivvies on his head.)

The pattern came from Ravelry (by the way, if you are a knitter or crocheter and don't know Ravelry, get thee to it now! It is hands down the best resource for these two crafts anywhere online.)

This pattern is called the Berry Baby Hat by Michele Sabatier.  If you're interested, the pumpkin hat (left) is made from 100% wool yarn (Cascade 220.)  The grape hat (middle) is made from 100% acrylic yarn (Vanna's Choice.)  The tomato hat (right) is also 100% wool yarn (Cascade 220.)

Pumpkin, grape, and tomato hats.

2. *THE* Pinafore

When I was about eight months pregnant with my daughter, I thought it would be fun to try my hand at sewing. I loved the look of a cute pinafore that I saw on a friend's website.

After a little bit of searching (and debating just how cheap I was going to be when it came to buying crap from Etsy), I found the pattern and bought all sizes available.

This pinafore is adorable! It's perfect for a little tiny thing over a onesie with a pair of ruffly undies.  I also think it will be fabulous with a long sleeved tee and a pair of jeans for the fall/winter.  I whipped out three before my daughter was born.

I've completed sizes 6M, 12M, and 18M, but I guess I only have the photos for the 6M pinafore (and my sweet kiddo modeling it with her ruffle undies!)

Size 6M. The Pinafore is reversible. I used 100% cotton prints:
daisies and green gingham check.

The back of the pinafore with the gingham showing.

Lil' Nugget showing off her pinafore.

The obligatory ruffly undy tushy!

1. The Glass Tile Pendant

My main crafts involve fibers. Yarn, thread, fabric, etc.  In the last several weeks, I visited the International Gem and Jewelry Show.  There were mostly beads, metals, lots of cheap crap, and the a handful of gem dealers.

What really caught my eye was a woman selling a product called Craft Fantastic.  She sells supplies to make tile pendants.  I stuck around for a demo of the product using small 7/8" square glass tiles.  They looked so simple to create that I bought her starter kit.  Each kit came with 20 glass square tiles, 20 silver plated bails, a glue-glaze, and a tiny tube of E6000. 

I created 10 tile pendants. I used some images that she had printed and were available for purchase and the other images where photos and drawings I cut from magazines.  The final result was quite fun. Kitschy, funky, kind of neat!

What's with the name of this blog?

It's kind of a funny story.  Over on my main blog, I sometimes showcase conversations I have with my three year old son.  I'm usually dragging him, along with his baby sister, to Hobby Lobby or Michael's or Jo-Ann Fabrics.  He's always asking:

"Mommy, where are we going?"

and of course I'll say:

"To the craft store."   Then the conversation goes something like this:

Him: "To the crap store?"
Me: "No, honey, the craFT store."
Him: "The crap store?"
Me: "No, baby. The crAFT store. Ffff. Ffff. CraFT store."
Him: "Ohhhh. The craP store."
Me: *sigh* "Well, if nothing else, your father will agree with you."

And lo, a blog was born. Welcome to "Crap I've Made!"

*I fear I will find all sorts of what-the-hell, fetisher wrong turns with a blog title like that.*