I'm a Happy Hooker

Before anyone freaks out and thinks I'm living some sort of scandalous double life, I don't mean THAT kind of hooker. I would be way expensive. No one would be able to afford me. No, I mean a crochet hooker. The last time I crocheted or knitted I was a pimpled early teen with no boobs. I have not managed to totally kick the acne, but at least I have acquired boobs since then.

After seeing all the adorable stuff my sister has knitted, I decided to pick it up again and see if it was my cup of tea after all these years. Not that I'm that old or anything. And then I remembered a booklet that my 7 year old daughter talked me into buying off of the booksale table at the library called "I Can Knit!" for pre-teen girls. I pulled it out. My husband enjoys mocking the title in a ridicules sounding voice. I let him. It is rather silly sounding for a 33 year old woman to be using, but I figured if it can teach a pre-teen girl, it can teach me. I made a headband from the book, and it came out ok, for my 'first' try. I do find knitting a little intimidating. Fixing mistakes it rather complicated. I'm going to push through and keep practicing though.

Then I pulled out a crochet hook I had floating around, why I had it, I have not a clue. I think I inherited it from an ancient sewing box that came into my possession years ago. So I tried it with my ball o' yarn and got "hooked". Haha! And the patterns I've found! So cute I could scream! And when I found a book called "Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker"? Well. Now I'm sold. The title vastly amuses me. So while I have a copy from the library, I headed over to ebay and got me my own Happy Hooker book, which is shipping to me as I type. Yippy! It appears that Knitting and crocheting are hip and cool again. How fortunate! In my experimenting, I found that I was able to crochet for long periods of time without my hand cramping up (as it did when I tried the knitting), and mistakes are very simple to fix, which I love, perfectionist that I am. So perhaps soon I will be posting pictures of some of my trial runs. First I need to learn to read the patterns. Good grief, I had no idea I would need to learn a second language. As they say, nothing worth while comes easy.

Oh fabulous, now I have a pattern to knit a vest for my stuffed bear.

My new "toy"

I love getting new patterns. So many possibilities, something new, oh the excitement!!!! I bought this pattern on Etsy, from the lovely Keyka Lou, and made it for the first time last night. Though before I made it, I once again forced my husband to take my pattern to work with him and make it bigger. *snicker* It was just too small as is. I asked him if he sneaked to copy it or if it was at all embarrassing, and he just looked at me blankly and said no. I told him he was killing my fantasy that amused me so. Oh well. I will be making many more of these and selling them on my Etsy!

The Buttercup Bag

I found this adorable (and free!!) Buttercup Bag pattern on line and I just had to try it. It only takes a couple of fat quarters (which are around a dollar a roll at my local fabric store) to make one. The original pattern is pretty small. Great for a little girl's purse, but I wanted to make one for my friend for her birthday, so I had my husband take it to work and enlarge it for me. He he!! Poor big manly husband! I am sure he loved making a copy of a purse pattern. I like to imagine he was sneaky about it so no one saw, but I don't know. I just thanked him sweetly and didn't ask if any of his manly co-workers saw.

Juice Pouches!!!

A couple of Easter themed bags I made up! They are for sale on my Etsy page.




My daughter's lunch bag has become a little bit frightening over the past 1 1/2 years of use, and not wanting to run out and buy a new one right now, I decided to try making one of these adorable lunch bags with juice pouches! I (and she, thankfully) think it came out pretty darn cute. It's sort of become my mission to see how many different things I can make with these juice pouches. I think I'm up to about 5 things right now.

The Flower Obsession continues

Ta-da! This is the fabric I really wanted to use to make this clutch. I tried a new flower today for it, and I think it's one of my most favorite yet!!


I made this today, thanks to another crafter's blog. I LOVE it. I'm going to get a pin back for it and wear it ASAP. If anyone wants the tutorial link, let me know.

FLOWERS!!!

My name is Roberta, and I'm a flower-aholic. I will not be seeking any help for my addiction. Instead, I will try to get others addicted too. Mwaa-haa-haa!! I was seeking new and fun ways to make fabric flowers today, and I came across this super fun one (the site I got it from: http://www.graceviolet.com/2009/04/embellishment-week-rosette-tank.html) and had to share. I like the shabby-chic look, and this flower fits the bill. My mind is already spinning with the possibilities for this flower.


Take a scrap of fabric,




Cut 4 rough circles. I think slightly random sizes look good. And make them a little rough around the edges.


Cut about half way through the circle.


Start overlapping! It seems to look and work best by always adding on top of the last one you added.


Scrunch and bunch them together so they ruffle up.


Sew together in a spiral pattern, from middle to about half way-ish out from the edges.




I wet them a little and threw them in the drier to ruffle them and fray the edges a little. Fun!!

The Sunday Earring Binge

I went on an earring binge yesterday. There is something about a Sunday afternoon that makes me itch to make jewelry. Perhaps it's because it relaxes me, and to me, Sunday afternoons are about relaxing. I made these 4 pairs -- probably going to list all of them for sale on Etsy. I already own a pair like 2 of them ... wait, no 3 of them. Jewelry making for selling can be dangerous -- I always seem to make one for me, one for Etsy. ;)