Turning a Leaf

So, I haven't been doing much crocheting lately partially because my crazy work schedule and sudden interest in knitting. Right now I'm working on my knit alpaca top and a cute idea for a knit green blanket.  since I'm not so keen on patterns i'm attempting these projects blind and with a trial by error process.  The ladies at SnB have been so wonderful with helping me when I'm in need of some desperate help from the yarn masters.

Pretty soon here I do have to make one hat for a friend at work she wants a baby pug hat.... i think it should turnout pretty cute .  I mean I already have a drawn up pattern from a previous pug project.  If I had a good working camera again I could take photos of it... but sadly my camera bit the dust and all my SD cards are full with hat photos lol.  But if i have to I'll take a bad photo of it with my phone it'll have to do until September when the new iPod touch comes out.... (it's going to have a camera ) I'm super excited!!

So back to hats.... i sadly won't be able to make any new hats for a little bit because i will hopefully be moving pretty soon..... like end of the summer soon.   I'm a little nervous about the bigness of the city but I think Philadelphia will be a nice place to live for a while.  lots of jobs, a art district, once a month people get together and have a giant street vending day, the people are friendlier, and there's lots of crap to do, and you don't need a car in the city... lots of public transportation.   i'm excited and nervous i guess.  I sadly haven't been able to find a job via email and phone yet but at the end of the summer we'll go down there and run around until we find a job  and stay with gorgeous' sister for a bit until we get on our feet and can get our own place.  then when that happens my best-est buddy Jess can come and stay with us  :o)

well that's my big update for now i might write again soon...

hum de dum....

So I'm sorry I haven't written in a while. I've been taking a break from making stuff obsessively over the past few weeks.  My hands and fingers ache, and they need a break for a bit. I think I may have over did the crocheting for too long. it's so funny that my hands feel like those of an eighty year old's.   I guess I deal with my stress by creating things and doing things. I watch it happen as if it were a movie playing in front of my eyes.  I start to fidget just bored jittery nervous feelings, mainly when I'm by myself. then I look for the nearest project. but right now my hands feel like tight rubber bands that don't want to stretch forward. Then I think to myself "well my hands hurt so i prolly shouldn't crochet today" so I continue to look around to find something to pour myself into for just a few undisturbed hours. (this rarely happens because someone calls or texts or comes over or wants to go do something because they themselves are bored.)  I recently bought some new pallet knives and some new paint brushes.  I've been thinking about painting again but it's only because my one unfinished piece hangs on the wall taunting me to fix it.  It would take a three day montage of painting and whatnot to fix the tree behind the hand then try to fix the hand and make it smooth.  Note: If you ever want to paint a 3D image 3D do it from an actual photo not a picture in your head.... sometimes you loose the picture and it takes a very very long time to get that picture back.... but it won't be the same as the first time you saw it. it will be changed, hopefully for the better.   I know I have a few hats that were requested of me to make, they are going to take a little longer then I had originally hope .... I don't want to over work my hands so much that I won't be able to use them anymore.   I know my mom has had to go through carpal tunnel syndrome I really would prefer not to get that until I am much older then 26.  I think I might take this time in between each hat to read up on how to write crochet patterns so that I can get my hats out to more people.   unfortunately I was not born with enough arms and hands.... Oh but I wish I was sometimes.... imagine all the things I could make...... *le sigh*   but anyways I'm going to read up on pattern creating, if anyone out there could help me out with this that would be so cool.   the only problem with making my hats into patterns is that they  are not only crochet, they are loom knit, and hand sewn together , piece by piece.   so they seem challenging but it's very simple.  loom knitting is the fastest way to knit a perfect fitting hat. Crocheting you can make simple shapes fast and easily.  then the hand sewing helps mold the shapes the way you want them to go. then after all that you poke a little poly-fil here and there and poof you got a hat that looks so crazy people just can't help but smile at it.  I really need time to finish everything I have so many projects that need to get started and completed or just thought through and drawn out someplace.  sometimes I hate my brain.  It's so hard to just shut it off, to relax and not stress out. I'm so glad that I have a job at least now to get me out of the house. It's not the best job believe me.... but at least it's something.  $2.65 and hour and lol.... This week they were oh so nice enough to give me 12.25 hours.... cause that will pay my bills. I'm looking for other jobs near me, there's nothing even remotely leaning toward what I would like to do for a living.  there's no galleries, no art stores, everything's basically corporately owned. ..... soulless!  And I don't even know enough people to hook up a good job that would have anything to do with that kind of stuff around here.  .... It make's me feel lonely and miss my little piece of upstate new york.  it was small and boring, but i knew everyone in that town.  and I never felt as lonely as I do in Massachusetts. The only time I don't feel lonely is when I'm with Gorgeous. He pretty much make's this place seem worth all the trouble. I'll wait as long as I have to but this place makes me feel colorless and alone.  which adds to the stress. which makes going to work and doing something outside of my brain a welcomed change even if it's a crappy horrible job.  I finally got some more hours at work (thank goodness)....  people are trying to bring me into dumb , really dumb drama at work and I'm being the good one and just shrugging it off walking away, being adult.  I'm there to work and make money , and distract my brain from realizing i'm still in this place..... that's pretty much it.   I've been biking and hiking a lot lately, well when it's not raining and miserable,  I've found two more plants to add to my collection of edible plant knowledge sheep sorrels and yellow goat's beard .  I planted my garden today too! I did it all by myself too tore up the ground, pulled apart an old pallet for the edges of the garden, found some trellis for my morning glory's and four O'clocks to climb up. planted my bee balm, butterfly weed, Chinese forget me not's, aster, spearmints, basil, evening primrose, lemon and strawberry sunflowers, catnip, lavender, chamomile, sage, dill, oregano, corn flowers, micro lettuce, Echinacea, when it all starts filling in, it should look lovely.  and the rabbits and other creatures that come into our yarn will like it and we get plenty of butterflies and maybe some humming birds.  that would be nice.  anything to make this place look livable. I'm tired of living with boys who don't take care of themselves, or their home. Gorgeous and I are trying to save up some money so we can get an apartment together I think if that happens maybe living here won't be so bad.  the problem is getting money saved up. I need a better job that way I could actually make some money to save.  And I didn't get to go to my weekly relaxing night of Stitch and Bitch.... in stead I had to work and i barely made any tips because no one came in .... it was super slow that night.

so yeah that's what's been going on in my little odd section of the world.

Crochet shape patterns

Everything in the world can be broken down into very basic and simple shapes. When you look at anything  in life you're probably seeing simple breakdowns of many sized circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles or pretty much any other shapes that are closely related to those ones.  With all these shapes you can build anything that you can imagine.   With combinations of different shapes you can create a whole new complete shape. We can do all this with a little yarn and a crochet hook. I will show you how to create all the wonderful basic shapes that you will need to make any project your imagination can come up with.

Abbreviation Key:

(if you have any troubles go to youtube, they have tons of awesome tutorials)
ch = Chain

sc = Single Crochet

st = Stitch

sl = slip

rep = repeat

Rnd =round that you are working in a circular fashion

Row= row you are working

* = denotes repeats

tog = together

dec = decrease by looping together next two single crochet    stitches

bp = Back Post

inc = Increase by adding another single crochet into the      same stitch also written as "2sc"

(First comes first, aways start with your basic chain stitch)

Basic Squares:

ROW 1: ch 10, turn

ROW 2-10: *1 sc, rep from *to end of row, turn

 After your Last stitch on row 10 Fasten with sl st.

Basic Circles:

RND 1: Beg. Ch 2

RND 2: 5 sc into Beg st

RND 3: *2 sc  rep from * to end of rnd

RND 4: *1 sc, 2 sc, rep from * to end of rnd

RND 5: *1 sc, 1 sc, 2 sc, rep from * to end of rnd

RND 6: *1 sc, 1 sc, 1 sc, 2 sc, rep from * to end of rnd

(to make even larger continue with the trend of the pattern increasing "1 sc" each rnd)

END RND: *1 sc, rep from * to end of rnd (if wavy around the edges add one more RND of  1 sc ), fasten with a sl st

Triangle (top to bottom {has a curve to it}):

ROW 1: ch 8, turn

ROW 2-5: *1sc rep from * to end of row, turn

ROW 6: sc dc, *1 sc, rep from *until you have 2 sts left, sc dc, turn

ROW 7-9: *1sc rep from * to end of row, turn

ROW 10: sc dc, *1 sc, rep from *until you have 2 sts left, sc dc, turn

ROW 11-12: *1sc rep from * to end of row, turn

ROW 13: *sc dc, rep from * to end of row, turn

ROW 14: *1sc rep from * to end of row, turn

ROW 15: sc dc, turn

ROW 16: sc, fasten to make sl st

Basic Tubes:

RND 1: ch 10 (or however many you need)

RND 2: *1 sc, rep from * to end of rnd

RND 3-15: *1 sc rep from * to end of rnd, fasten with sl st.

(To make larger add more ch sts to the Beg, to make longer just keep rep RND 3.)






So now that you know the basic shapes you can experiment with them to create your own awesome shapes that you can use for anything!!!!