Showing posts with label crafting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crafting. Show all posts

Crochet case


Crochet case closed
Originally uploaded by Hayley a.k.a. Prism

A long time ago I made a knitting needle case (I'll post about that soon), and it didn't turn out exactly as I would like. The answer is - use a 2nd piece of fabric as a liner. All comes out quite well then. This one is for my crochet hooks and I googled around at different patterns before arriving at this one. It's a fat quarter and I left it whole because I like a longer flap on mine. I think it looks neater. Just some scrap ribbon I had lying around as well.

It holds all the hooks I have, which is an entire Boyle Crochet Master set (hey, I got it half off), which came in such an ugly red faux leather case I decided this was much better!

The pocket is short enough that I can get the tiny lace hooks in and out without stabbing myself (they are sharp as it turns out!), and the large pockets to the left are for other tools (if I ever put any in there), or I could sew extra hook pockets into it as needed. Right now there is no spare space but I can't see why I'd ever need more hooks than I've got!



Crochet case open
Originally uploaded by Hayley a.k.a. Prism

Tiny Fox Sculpture

If you haven't figured it out by now, the sudden flood of posts isn't that I did tons of crafting in October (okay, well maybe I did, but not THIS much), some of these projects have been done for a while (varying from a few weeks to slightly over a year), and I just now got around to photographing and dealing with them. Finding that Flickr will tie into Blogger has made this IMMENSELY easier as long as I chop it up into one project per post and edit in additional photos later (and go back and add tags, shame that Flickr doesn't support that). So hopefully I will catch up soonish!


That said, here is the fox sculpture I made inspired by things on Deviant Art and the octopus. He however, is of my own design and mine. I need to make more of these (I bounce between different crafts far too much) , this one I gave away to T.


Tiny fox - Front
Originally uploaded by Hayley a.k.a. Prism



Tiny Fox - Back
Originally uploaded by Hayley a.k.a. Prism

Altered Tins


Knitting Tins
Originally uploaded by Hayley a.k.a. Prism

So, in the quest for knitting stitch markers and such, which I will post about later, I had gotten relatively unhappy with the quick & dirty little pouch I had sewn to hold my knitting accessories (and getting the idea to craft for my knitting turned into many projects as it turns out).

I found some $1 tins at Micheal's for gift cards, but they were ugly (but flat as Altoid tins no longer are, and no mints to toss out wastefully!). So i picked up some scrapbooking paper and some mod podge and went to town, adding some finishing touches on one with my silver and gold paint pens.

Two seems to be enough for now, but more may ensue later (depending on how sane I feel like being).

Tiny Octopus Sculpture


Tiny Octopus Sculpture
Originally uploaded by Hayley a.k.a. Prism

A little octopus I made using a tutorial on deviant art, painted with acrylic and baked with a wire to be a charm! Innit cute? I gave him away to S.

Recipe box tabs


Recipe box tabs
Originally uploaded by Hayley a.k.a. Prism

So I had a recipe box that had a set of dividers that didn't exactly work right for me. They weren't high enough, and there weren't enough of them. Somewhere on a blog online I saw these cute things for modding notebooks as recipe books. Much fiddling with open office and my printer later, I made these!

Mom's Typewriter is the font if anyone wants to know.

My First Softie!


Corgi Softie - pattern and result
Originally uploaded by Hayley a.k.a. Prism

Because yes, I need another hobby.
I made this guy out of craft felt and thread (regular and embroidery). The quarter is included for scale. I was really happy with the drawing, disappointed with the result so I'll be giving that way and trying again some time.

I didn't account for what would happen when he was turned so next time I just may not turn, just have a small edge with outside stitching.

Catching up - again

It seems I constantly fall behind on this blog! This is the first of 2 catch up posts as this one has been sitting in draft a while. So first, two bentos that have been made. I had been out of town some lately and busy at work a lot so not much cooking going on but here we are.

Bento #10
For this one I made beef soboro, and I was getting really sick of sticky rice, so I made whole wheat couscous instead. Edamame completes the lunch. It's not super filling, so warning (inverse of bento #6 perhaps).


SparkleFox's Rating 4/5
Beef Soboro from Just Bento -4/5
Tips: I used beef that was too fatty for this, so I drained it. Unfortunately that means the whole thing wound up a little too dry once I mixed it with couscous (you'd have the same issue with rice). Next time I'm going to get a leaner bit of beef and not drain it. As a note, I left out all the "optional" parts of cooking the couscous, litterally just water and grain - no butter or salt as I figured the soboro would have plenty to make up (and if I'd done it right, it would have).
Couscous - 4/5

Overall - 4/5
Edamame does take up a lot of space for what it is, this bento is one that could safely use a snack for my workday and not be too much food like Bento #6.

Bento #11
Breakfast bento! It's not that interesting, except I got around to decorating it! I found some Fox Run alphabet cutters on clearance at an overstock store, as well as pancake molds (silicone ring type). And some nice sprinkles of the shaped kind that I'm sure will appear later.


SparkleFox's Rating 5/5

Apple Maple Chicken Sausage (Favorite, found in the nice meats section of your Harris Teeter if you are lucky).

Pancakes - use recipe on back of Bisquick Box.
American Cheese
Shirred Egg Muffins with Onion and Green Pepper. - 5/5

I've done a variation of egg "muffins" like these that didn't make it into a bento, they're incredibly simple and really wonderful. Basically stir up some eggs just like you would for scrambling them, add some salt and pepper, and then start throwing ingredients in. This has green bell pepper and onion, I have also done sausage, onion, and green chili pepper which was superb as well. Stir it up, throw it into a silicone muffin pan (or silicone muffin holders), and cook at 350 degrees F in the oven until cooked. When done they will be moist, and the top may be wet but they will be slightly browned on the edges and a little fork in them will let you know they're done.

Overall - 5/5
Tasty, and decorative, and filling. Probably not very healthy though. oh well.

Moving on on the craft front -
I finished A's Harry Potter Scarf. I gave it to him immediately after I finished it as I was doing it while playing D&D. I have started E's Potter Scarf in Air force colors, pictures of both below.


For my trip to dragon con a little crafting was in order for goth-dressing purposes.
I ordered a mold off ebay and made these. There are several photos as I try to close up.


I then made these using the same thing - a ribbon necklace and a necklace with a setting. I had to make another rose just for the setting and didn't notice the green on it till I was already wearing it. Oh well, goths dont have to match. They are all roses although the photos may be too dark to show. (I got the setting at Micheal's and it had another clay cameo in it, which J helpfully demolished for me). And then I got a set of beads that screamed "earrings" so I did the simple task of putting them on french hooks.


So other than that - The room is an atrocious mess. I did go to a store called Knitch in Atlanta courtesy of a friend (we'll call her MB). I got my first pair of addi turbos and I see why people like them, as well as some lace-weight wool and some fingering weight wool/nylon. The former for a shawl, and the latter for yoga socks. I did try to start the yoga socks and frogged them out after realizing quickly they were way too small. The pattern I was using had no exact guage listed - so went back to the drawing board there. Turns out adding 6 stitches gave me the right size and I've made some more progress.

I also have an account at Ravelry now for those who may be interested in patterns/weights/colors/brands etc etc of what I do. However all the "blogging" will go here. I'm mostly using it as an online notebook right now, and plan to continue that. My user name there is "Prism".