MORE Knitting!!

I don't really have that much today - only knitting for you guys. Tomorrow, I'm hoping to have some more paper crafts, including today's daily card. Today I finished school late, so I didn't really have that much time to craft. I've been doing a lot of knitting lately, as you've been seeing on here. :P So yeah. The little sample above is a little knitting made from the yarn I showed in the last post. You know, the one that was made up of lots of different colors and textures?

I know that I promised you guys a sample swatch, and that's what I've been doing all day. Knitting for you guys. But I don't mind. It's kind of cool knowing that somebody's actually gonna look at it. It makes me feel good. I don't know why. Don't try and ask me. Cause I really don't know. :)

Now here's the beginning of a new project. We'll see if it goes well enough. See, I started a sock. That's right. A sock. I know that most socks are knit on either double pointed needles or circular needles. But I decided to try and find a free pattern for some made on straight needles, mostly because I can't afford to buy any circular ones. Though I'd like to have some to make a sweater eventually. I just think it might be fun. I made the sock cuff above from a blue to white variegated, but I don't know it I'll be able to even finish ONE sock in this yarn. It's just a bit annoying. I'm going to try and maybe go onto ebay to find a similar yarn.

And my one last thing that I've been working on - Fair Isle Knitting. Using two different yarns at the same time. You can sort of see how there are alternating colored loops on the actual needle, and two colors of yarn on the back of the needle. Try searching on google, and I'm sure you'll come up with a bunch of results.

I'll probably be working on this a little bit more on this pretty often, so I'll probably be showing this to your pretty often. This is a technique that I've been working with a lot lately.

Knitting! (And Some Paper Crafts Too!)

Hey everyone! I'm back with you guys again with another post. Today's card was for an accordion fold challenge on 365 Cards. I decided to keep it simple in this one. As I was working on it, I had other things planned, but as I put the butterfly on, I realized it actually looked best this way. I really like it. It's not common for me to be this simple in my work, so when it does happen, it happens every now and again.

See, here's a slight example of this difference. You have the very simple example of the previous card, and then a page that I was working on today - it's very different. It's actually very dark compared to the card as well, as you can probably see. I used a bunch of different stuff on it, and it was pretty fun to make.

Here's a more close up of the title as well. I really like how the black letters are so different from the 'e'. I'm pretty sure that I just ran out of the black letters, but I think that it sort of makes sense with the whole theme of the page. You know; how my style is so unique. It's just like that.

Something else that I've been working on is how I could actually make my own type of yarn. I just mixed a bunch of colors, textures, and types of yarn. I like how it looks, and I know that it could be used in many different projects. I'm thinking of knitting and crochet first off. I like the knitting aspect of it. That however, is probably because I've been really been into knitting lately. I don't know why, but I just think that it's a bit more calming and relaxing than crochet. Many crochet patterns are a lot more complex than in knitting, and in crochet there are DOZENS of different stitches, while in knitting, there are only two different stitches; knit and purl.

What you do is mix the two stitches. There are about a million different ways to do that, and you can do lots of things; such as cables, squares, triangles, and other things. It's known as a magic ball.

Here's more of a close up of the different textures in the yarn. I'm considering selling this yarn; how much would you suggest putting in a single skein, and how much would you pay for something like this? I'm just wondering... maybe I'll work up a swatch in this so you could see sort of you it works up.

One more thing that I've been working with - knitting with fibers. You know, the fuzzy yarns and such. It's such a pleasure to work with, even though it does get difficult in some places, and slightly bulky in others. You can sort of see where I switched from the stockinette stitch to the garter stitch. I've just been messing around with it. *shrugs*. I dunno. I just think it's sort of fun. Experiment. And play. Try it.

Pictures!!

Hey all. It's me again. And guess what? I brought pictures!! Yep. You got it. I actually found my OLD camera and took some photos. Sorry about the crappy quality of this first cross stitch photo, but still, after a few years, it's hard for me to take good close up photos without a flash. Once I find the cord for my new camera, the pics will be better, I promise. It's a lot more user friendly than my other one. So anyways, back to this picture. I told you yesterday that I was working on the outline of a cross stitch project. That would be the brown. I'll get back to you with the number of the floss I'm using. This project is probably my second or third piece, with a level of expertise being 3 out of 5 stars. So probably an intermediate piece.

Personally, for only being my second or third cross stitch, I think it's pretty good. Of course, I'm biased, but whatever. I liked the pattern instantly when I saw it in a thrifted pattern magazine, and just had to make it. The problem still remains however. I'm going to go crazy looking for the two previous issues of this magazine (I might post a pic of it tomorrow), because this is the third and last of a set of flower patterns. This is the lily pattern, and the two others are made in the same color scheme, but they're roses and tulips. I really want to make them too, but in the magazine I have now, there are only two tiny pictures, so it's not even like I could develop my own pattern from it. Like I could do that. But you better believe that if I had a good enough picture, I'd try. :)


Next up on the list we have the gloves I'm working on. The fingerless ones with the cable knit pattern. I know that I've spoken about these on numerous occasions, and really, really, REALLY wanted to post yesterday with an in progress picture, but, obviously, my camera cord was missing. So this is what you're getting. :) This morning I finished the first glove, and it turned out pretty good. Sorry I couldn't get a close up of it, but the ones I did take were crap and you couldn't even see the cable. This was the best one I've got. So the needle on the left is the next glove being cast on. You cast on 40 stitches. That was just a random piece of pointless information that I just felt like sharing. So yeah. Here's the link to the pattern: Pattern. so yeah. It's a pretty easy pattern in general, and this is my first time knitting anything other than squares and rectangles, and my first time also working with cables.

So far I really like it. It's just fun for me to see patterns developing in the fabric right before my very eyes. And it's cool to be able to say: "Hey, I made that you know. I know it's awesome. I'm just cool like that." :P. Sorry, I just had to say that. But anyways, check out the pattern if you feel like looking up a cool knitted pattern that works up pretty quickly, and works even for a beginner. (Just so you know, I have absolutely no rights to this pattern. I didn't design it. I just stumbled across it while browsing the web. Like I normally do.)


Just a last picture before we go today. I just liked the way it turned out. The dots in the background are seemingly perfect, and the way that the needles are perfectly place, and the yarn just seems to flow out of it... in reality this pic wasn't posed at all. :) I just plopped the needles down on the background (my bedsheets) and snapped the pic. And it came out perfect. I just thought it was cool. So anyways. Until we meet again... peace.

The Destruction of a Project

Hey all. I've got some good news and I've got some bad news. The good news is that the bad news isn't reeeally bad. But the bad news is that I don't have any pictures for you guys AGAIN today. I know. I'm sorry. My bad. You see, I had actually taken all of these pictures, and even took special care to make them cool looking and professional. But then, I found out that my cord was missing. And I was so ready to share some pictures with you too. I'd use my old camera and retake them, but it's not where I left it, so that's pretty much M.I.A. But anyways, I guess that even though the picture thing is disappointing and really stinks, I can still share with you. At least my internet isn't down. So yeah. I had some pictures of a cross stitch project I was working on today, and also a few of my in progress fingerless gloves. I'll try and clean my room today or tomorrow in order to find the cord, but my day is pretty busy. I just got done with my schoolwork, and soon I'm hopefully going to the craft store. I've got some cool stuff in mind for some projects I've got planned, so we'll see if that works out. Plus I have a worship/prayer meeting at church later this evening.

But anyways, as a type of update, I think I'll first talk a little bit about my fingerless gloves. Are they working? Are you doing it right. The answers to these are I think so and I hope so. Like I've said before, they're black, so that's a bit of a challenge for me. I'm more attracted to bright colors like lime and turquoise. So yeah. But now that I'm thinking about it, I'm wearing a black Tae Kwon Do shirt right now, so apparently I'm not totally turned off to black. Actually, they sort of look nice so far. When I do an outfit, or put together something to wear, I'm more of a one or two simple accessories in neutrals type of person. Because they match the brights. So maybe it was a good idea to do them in black after all. But yeah. Even though I'm fourteen, I'm not really all that into fashion. Normally I only wear jeans and a tee shirt. Year round. In the winter. I don't know why, I just do. I guess I take after my dad. He always wears tee shirts. But my mom will always wear a sweater. I can deal with the short sleeved ones. I've actually been thinking about knitting one. But the long sleeved ones? You might as well forget about it. Too scratchy in my honest opinion.

Sorry about that totally non related rant there. I don't know what came over me. :P. Sometimes when I'm doing something, like typing, my mind just starts to wander, and I totally have to tell somebody about everything. (Actually, I think I have slight A.D.D. At least I do A.D.D. things.) So yeah. Sorry if that bothers you, but that's my personality and I'm sticking to it. Anyways, back to the topic at hand. Those fingerless gloves. So you see; I was actually working on them last night when all of a sudden, I counted my stitches and found that I had dropped a stitch somewhere along the line. I was struck dumb. But, like the easily annoyed person that I am, I simply increased a new stitch and continued on like nothing had happened. *blushes* Anyways, when I got to the end of the row, I found the stitch I had dropped. And I couldn't just leave it there. And I didn't feel like ripping out a whole row just to get back to where I had increased. So yeah. You guessed it. I picked up that one too, and continued on as normal. I did one more row and realized my mistake. I couldn't see the cable anymore... I had totally cut off the pattern when I picked up an extra stitch.

I was so annoyed with myself, and I was totally freaking out. So I put away the knitting for the night, and devoted the rest of it to searching craft blogs. Sad, I know. But I found some pretty good ones... Okay, enough with the excuses. It was a sad thing to have done and I'm sorry I did it. So the next morning (this morning) I decided what I had to do. I ripped out two rows. And I know it wasn't that much. I'm just a lazy crazy person when it comes to ripping stitches, especially when it comes to knitting. Because you have to get each and every single one of those loops BACK onto the needle without letting them pull themselves out. My back starts to hurt, and I can't see very well. (I know I'm only fourteen and my vision shouldn't be blurring, but I have contacts, and sometimes when I stare at something too long it does.) So yeah. Thus the title of this post. Don't be afraid to rip when it comes to fiber arts. I know that I should know that with my experience (a good 7 or 8 years), but sometimes I just get annoyed and mad at the piece and don't want to.

So please, please, PLEASE learn from my mistake. When you're making something DON'T be afraid to rip. Whether it's embroidery or cross stitch, sewing or quilting, knitting or crochet... make sure you rip if it's necessary. So now, speaking of cross stitch, that's another thing that I wanted to touch on briefly. I've mentioned before that I cross stitch. Even though that is very true, my cross stitch box has been stuffed in my closet for three or four months now, because I was getting frustrated with the project. I know, I know. I shouldn't be so easily annoyed. But that's my personality. I can't be any other way. So anyways, today I actually dug out that box to see what I had left. I was left with a rather pleasant surprise. It seems that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was; I think I was just tired of it. It was done. Well, practically. All that's left is some of the backstitch outlining and some french knotting. Things like that. When it's that close to being finished, who knows why I put it away. So I should be finishing that sometime soon. I'll definitely try and post here when it is.

So yeah. That's pretty much all I have for you today. Again, I apologize for not having any pictures yet, as that's something I'd really like to have on here. I'll try. I really will. Until next time, have fun creating!

A Plan to Create

There are a lot of people who will do crafts or art, and they will do it with absolutely no rhyme or reason to it. I know that sounds like a normal way to do it, but even though it's normal, doesn't mean it's the right way. I know, I know. There's no "right" way to create. Though that is true, having a plan for your crafting isn't exactly the art itself. It's just a way that you can get more time and enjoyment out of your craft. So here we go. I guess I'll show you guys a certain way to come up with a simple plan. Some people have their plan in their head. And then there are others (like me), who would rather write it all out. In my honest opinion, writing it out is a better way of doing it since then you can see the whole thing; all of your ideas and future plans for working. Especially if you want to start a business selling your crafts, crafting a plan is especially important to the success of your business.

So let's get started in crafting an arting plan. The most important parts of writing a crafting plan is the goals. I know that we briefly touched on the importance of goals in your crafting in the last post, but right now I'd like to just say that you need goals for your crafting plans. I'll give you a couple of examples of good goals in this post, just so you can have a sort of idea of some goals. Feel free to come up with your own, or use mine. The basic idea of goals is to have a bunch of different types of goals. Such as some easy, intermediate, and long term or hard goals. Let's start with goals for ATC making. An easy goal would be to try a new technique; such as working with distress inks, or setting eyelets. A more intermediate goal would be to create something like 30 or so cards within a time limit; say 30 days. Some harder goals would be something like create a card every day for a year, or, perhaps my personal favorite and currently one of my goals, trade 1,001 cards with other artists.

It is important to have more than one type of goal. It's sort of like when you're working with money, trying to save it. Especially as a kid. You have short term goals (like action figures) and at least one long term goal (like a new bike or a car.) It's the same way with crafting. If you have short term goals, you'll have the pleasure and enjoyment that comes with completing something, but the long term goal will give you something to work towards. Another part of your creative/artistic plan, is that you work towards those goals. And you use one spot to track your progress towards those goals. That's sort of what I'm doing with this blog. You however, can do it on a blog if you want, but, if you'd rather, you can do it through notebooks. This also works very well. In fact, before I started this blog, that's what I was doing. I also used a ton of other blogs. But I thought that it would be a better idea to just have one blog and post everything on here. It'll probably work a lot better for me.

So now that I've at least somewhat explained to you the importance of having a plan for your crafting and arting, now it's time to give a type of progress update/first post on my art. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures yet, but I'm hoping that soon, hopefully next time, I should have some. So today I was working on some ATC's for a technique swap I'm in. I think I did two or three. Also, I did a little bit of planning for a clothing line/collection that I'm working on. So far the colors are turquoise, lime green, chocolate brown, and an ivory color. The lime and turquiose are pretty much my favorite colors ever, so you can understand why I picked them, and I just think that chocolate brown goes so well with bright colors. Black is another that works really well in combination with blacks. Also, earlier this afternoon, I actually started a new project. It's a knitted project. Fingerless gloves.

You see, I've been wanting some fingerless gloves for a long time now, but it seems like I'm always broke, even though I don't really buy that much stuff. And these gloves are sometimes going for as much as twenty bucks, which I personally think is ridiculous. So anyways, long story short, I was searching through blogs (like I always do) and I came across somebody who was making these gloves. And I thought 'Hey, I've been wanting some of those! I bet I could do it too...' And then, one thing lead to another and next thing I knew, I had another started project. So these are going to be my first knitted "garment" if you could actually call it that. Also, they have a knitted cable running down the center of the top of the glove. And this is also my first time ever working with cables in general. So here's the dealio. Now you know how normally, when you're working with cables, you need to have an extra needle known as a "cable needle"? Well, I didn't have one. And I didn't have the money/I was too impatient; to go and buy one. So I searched for a tutorial for knitting cables without a cable needle. And it came up with a ton of results.

The first one I found worked like a charm. So that's another lesson. If at first you don't succeed, go do a search! It always works for me. As a side note, the part of the glove I've done so far is about 4" into it or so. And they're black. Yep. Black. I'm more of a bright color girl myself, but I thought I'd try something different for a change, and get away from blues and greens. Plus it was the only thing I had in my stash. Besides a soft baby pink, which is pretty much my least favorite color in the known universe. I don't know why I own it. But who cares. Some people like it, so I'll probably make something with it and sell it. Who knows.

An Introduction to Me - An Artist

Hello all. My name's Jordan, and I'm 14 years old. I have tried in the past to start blogs but I always suck at keeping them updated. It's really quite annoying. But those were all single topic blogs. This is for all of my crafts and art forms that I do. That means that pretty much any artist or crafter can find a good source of information here, since I do quite a few things. I've done so many things, it's verging on ridiculous, but I just can't help it. I love to work with my hands, and crafting and arting gives me that satisfaction that I need.

I do a lot of different things, such as scrapbooking, quilting, clothing, ATCs, inchies, twinchies, crochet, knitting, cross stitch, and probably a whole lot of other things that I can't think of right now. It's actually kind of sad. It's annoying. But I can't stand being without them. It keeps me from getting bored. And I can continuously change my mind about what I'd rather be doing. For example, if I'm sewing one day, the next day I may possibly get bored of sewing and put it away, getting out something else, maybe knitting or cross stitch. The next day may be ATCs. Then crochet. And then back to sewing. Maybe I'll change crafts several times in one day.

More lately than in the past, but there have been days when I've done four or five different crafts on the same day. Just the other day as a matter of fact, I was making ATCs in the morning, sewing in the afternoon, crocheted a little, also in the afternoon, and knitted in the evening. I know it's sort of weird and maybe a little annoying and unorganized to some people, but, there is a method to my madness. If I time everything just right, it all works out in then end, and I get a lot of joy and pleasure out of it. That's what matters to me. But anyways, I just wanted to post a sort of introduction to me and this blog. And the way I work.

And if you think about the way I work, then you won't be SO confused when I post about making inchies one day and the next I'm sewing clothes. That's what works for me. I live it. I breathe it. I love it.