I've been busy lately.

By which I mean I've been finishing a lot of half-done projects! Like these cute sea animals. I wanted to make more turtles so I'd have sets of animals that go together...

I'm debating about frogging the sock part of the baby booties in the last post. I'm just not satisfied with them...but of course I can't change the fact they seem to be made for a baby with two left feet. However, maybe if I just repositioned the buttons, you wouldn't notice unless you looked really hard. I'm going to have to be making lots more baby gifts soon - lots of people at work are having babies this year! Last year I made a panda bear (which turned out HUGE) and a turtle (another design - here), and before that a monkey and a bear. So I'd like to try something a bit different...I'll have to give it some thought.

I've also been doing a bit of sewing lately. I made this market bag from a tutorial here from some leftover bits of fabric scavenged (like most of my fabric, and my yarn for that matter) from my Grandmother's closet. She's a bit of a pack rat, and a lifelong crafter, so she lets me steal her leftovers. I think this fabric was probably used to make pajamas at some point. It's very soft. Why would someone want a market bag made of pastel flannels? That I don't know. I was thinking it might make a cute overnight bag for a kid's sleepover. Too bad I don't have kids. Like most of the things I make and can't use, it'll get donated to the annual fair at my church, and hopefully someone will find a use for it.

The church fair is also the destination for this next bit, a really cute little handbag made from a tutorial at MarthaStewart.com. Carole Ann gave one as a birthday gift to a friend earlier this year and I've wanted to try it ever since, so she pointed me in the direction of the pattern and I gave it a try. Again, note the interesting fabrics... I wanted to try a sample on some leftovers before I tried it on anything new (I'm fairly new to machine sewing and I often make mistakes...). It took me a few tries to get the last step done, but eventually I figured it out. It was actually a pretty quick project, so I made another one out of some cute green fabric I picked up earlier this week. That one I'm going to keep for myself :)

Rufio, apparently, liked the bunnies.

I've got a few more small projects in the works... (The fact that it's football season doesn't hurt because Keith is often gone or distracted for long stretches of time). Of course, I've also picked up some light reading: 汉语可以这样教。It's required reading for my courses next summer, and I'm thinking maybe if I get it done ahead of time...slowly...next summer won't seem so overwhelming.

And a sweater :)

And now, for something completely different: a child's sweater. I got the pattern here from The Complete Fabrication. I loved knitting this. It's seamless, so when you finish the actual knitting, you just have to fix on the cute little flowers and it's DONE. It knit up fast and looks ADORABLE. I liked it so much that I have almost finished another one (a habit of mine: I find a pattern I like, and knit it repeatedly).

Rufio wanted to get in on my blogging action too. Here he is, being all adorable:

Trying to figure out this blogging thing...

Ok, user error. Here are my whales and one lonely crab:

General Craftiness and the beginning of a blog

Following in the footsteps of a particularly crafty friend, I've decided to start a record of my own craftiness. (Her blog is here, check it out!) If nothing else, I'll have a record of all the (often silly) things I try to create and I can keep track of what works and what doesn't.

So here's what I've been up to lately. I just finished up a bunch of these (I am terrible at finishing things I start...) The pattern comes from AmyGaines at etsy.com (here) and I think they're just adorable. I made a set last winter as a baby gift, but I don't have any sea turtles at the moment - I'll have to make more because I'd like to have a full set to donate to the church fair in November. The octopus is the most fun to make, so I have lots of those - many still almost finished...

There's a white one...





And a red one...














And a blue one!

I think they're great. Silly and cute and fun to knit. Also they don't take too long so that's another plus in my short-attention-span book.
















There are also whales. Easier to put together because there are fewer pieces, but somehow less satisfying.