Falling behind

One of my goals is to try and complete one thing a day that i have been falling behind on. Between the dentist yesterday and feeling not so great today, I have now fallen behind. So In order to keep up with my schedule, tomorrow I will working on a pair of pajama pants for DH. The PuuChuu toy and After my trip to the fabric store, the bathroom rug. Keep on me about this.

The list:

2 pairs of pajama pants for daughter
3 pairs of pajama pants for husband (1 completed)
quilt for fireplace
PuuChuu
Bathroom Rug
average of 1 batch of CP soap a week
Quilt for Queen-sized bed
Liz's quilt
Olive's quilt
H&I Quilt
Daughter's cosplay costumes
My Cosplay costume
Fleece pullover for daughter
Throw for daughter's bed
Stuffed animal hanger for daughter's room
Bathroom Curtain
Crocheted sweater for work
Crocheted tunics
soot sprite
boot slippers
crochet tabi (have to alter a pattern or convert a knit one to crochet)
sweater for self
sweater for daughter

And that is what I have started on or in the works. I need to clear some room in the stash areas, so keep on me people. Otherwise I will get lazy, again.

Stuff

Here is the Calicifer toy completed. The most difficult part was actually getting the eyes right. The second most difficult was finding the orange fun fur. I went out and bought the stuff for this because I wanted to make him, but I am finding that small stuffed toys are great for using up those little scraps of yarn from larger projects. So far the best sites I have found for patterns anad ideas are www.lionbrand.com www.ravelry.com and www,craftster.org.




The rug is almost completed, but what color to border it in? Seems like everyone is split evenly on this.. I think it may boil down to what do I have the most of in my stash?

Pajama pants are the big thing again this year, but why do they call them lazy or leisure pants now? It seems that flannel is not recommended for children's sleepwear because of a lack of fire retardation. BUT the fire retardant fabrics have been found to release a chemical that may kill children too. So LEGALLY it looks like we cannot put our children (Under age 12) in any clothing. Our government at work.

The price of Tea in your Community

Alright I agree. The economy is just plain bad. People are claiming if they do not spend money it will not get better. Well, spend it with me on my site, or any other small business. Why you ask? First off you are helping more than just me in this.

For example, if you were to buy a bar of soap :
Into that bar went,
Oils bought from local merchants
Fragrances bought from US companies
Herbs bought from US farmers.
Packaging bought from local merchants or
Soap bag made by myself. Yarn bought locally.

So in a nutshell, your 5.00 is being spread over 5 companies at least.
Ok so you don't HAVE to buy from me and honestly if you live in Canada, the UK or even Florida, I do not ask that you do. But I do suggest you look at local merchants first.

Granted sometimes they have to charge a bit more for an item or service, but usually you get much more than just the item. You get service and you are helping your local community.

4 years ago every strip mall in my area had a local computer repair and sales store in it. Now I know of 1 fairly far away to whom I would not take an abacus. What happened?

Best Buy, Circuit City and CDW happened. But I do not need a gaming machine, or a networked business computer or even a laptop. I just need something to keep my accounts on and write letters. Yet, none of these stores sell what I need. If my machine should break, these are the only places in the area that service machines. They would rather sell me a new one. To top it off, Circuit City is closing its store in my area. So now I have 2 choices. What happens if the other two follow suit? Ever try to buy a computer on the internet when you cannot access the internet?

The local shops closed because people went to the other places for computers. In many cases, the computers were more expensive than if they had talked to a local person. I never spent more than 900.00 for a desktop from the shop I used to use. And he always built it to my specifications. He never overcharged. He always gave me what I needed (with a little more room for expansion) and the owner knew me personally. As a result I sent business his way whenever I could.

But it was not enough. Too many businesses went to Best Buy. Now maybe they treat business accounts better than a single unit buyer. But last time I walked in telling them what I wanted, they tried to sell me what they wanted to. I do not like laptops (for many reasons) Yet that seemed to be their solution for everything. Granted the laptop was inexpensive, but the docking station, adaptors and other periphial necessities made it less cost effective than buying too much machine. But since they are one of 2 merchants in my area that sell anything remotely like what I need and they do not carry what I really want, they were confident that I would buy from them. I did not and I let their home office know why.

That is the OTHER advantage of supporting your local merchants. They will try to stock what you want or need. They will try to get things for you. Why? Because it will make you happy and keep you coming back. It may make you refer more business to them.

The chains want to homoginize things to make it more cost effective for them. They want you to buy Red Rose tea because they have a contract with Red Rose. Never mind if you do not care for it, or if you prefer a different brand or tea mixture. They want you to buy Red Rose. For now. If they get a better contract with Lipton they will want you to buy that and stop carrying the other. You can contact their corporate offices, but if they are the only place that you can get tea in your area, they will stock what they want to. If you want tea, you will buy what they want to sell you.

But if you buy tea from a local grocer or a specialty tea shop, now you can back up your complaint by withdrawing your money from the chain. Yes that will cut into their profits. But would you rather see your money go to a conglomerate based elsewhere or to go into your community?

So, when you can, buy locally, support local craft shows, farmer's markets, and businesses that are locally owned and run. You are putting money back into your community. You are perhaps adding jobs to your community if through your and others efforts the local businesses grow. Last but not least, you are building a relationship with a local person who will (or at least should) be grateful for your support.

The weather has turned chilly and it is time to break out the sewing machine, crochet hooks and all my other crafts that I tend to pursue in cooler weather. Let's face it sitting under a couple of pounds of yarn as you crochet a bedspread is no fun in 90 degree weather. Struggling with a quilt while sweat drips off your nose tends to make you hate quilting.

So my planned projects are:
Find a way to get the stupid guitar straps to not stretch when holding a 40 lb bass.
The crocheted Dalek
A quilt large enough to block the fireplace for February and one I will enjoy looking at when we are snowed in.
Soap (of course)
A quilt for ME
A crocheted bedspread for my bed for the summer.
Gi's
Cosplay costumes for Acen 2009

First Glove

Okay so I started the typing gloves based on a pattern I found on Ravelry by Nichole Verville. As I suspected my small hands are a pain. Hers crochet up to medium. So I am following her's atm with an eye to making it a small.

So far instead of Ch 18 13-14 looks like enough. And instead of 8 rows for the thumbhole it lookes lie 5 or 6 would do it. The pattern is so far fairly easy to follow But I am about to try making it for the OTHER hand now I will try with my changes. If it fits better them will make in some nice black wool blend or maybe even a thinner chenille.

New project

So I am looking around ravelry.com and I came across the perfect gift for many of my friends. A crochet Dalek. There is a knit one as well. The pattern is free (of course you can't sell it or BBC will get after you) There is only one small catch, the author asks for a donation for a family. No you don't have to, but if you don't you will probably feel guilty!

Here is the link. I'll post a picture when I get it done. Crochet Dalek

Yarn and Other Snobs

I teach and indulge in crochet. Lately, I joined a small group of like minded crocheters that are tired of yarn snobs and knitting snobs. These are the people who ask why you are not using the top of the line wools and are using that junk.

Here is my answer, I crochet because I enjoy it. I can create things that I like. I am allergic to most wools, so I use non wool yarns since it is difficult to crochet when you are crying. I work part-time at Jo-Ann Fabrics. They sell yarn. I get a discount and of course coupons. As a result I buy what I can afford. Yes, that is right not all people who crochet have tons of money to put into their hobby.

I have had some luck with wool-ease and cotton and wool blend yarns. But others still affect me. I do not crochet to impress people. The purpose of our group is camaraderie, sharing and a reason to get out of the house. One of the members started it because she tried to find a group in her area. Most were knitting groups and told her not to come if she did not knit. One said they would LET her come. Finally she found a group at a yarn shop who when she pulled out her WIP asked why she was using such a low grade yarn.

So for everyone who believes you MUST use a hand spun and dyed yarn, I suggest you move on. For anyone else who loves crochet and will put up with my woes when I try to knit (I am a rotten knitter). Welcome. This blog will include crochet, my soap making and other projects. Other members of Sunflower Unlimited who have items for sale or on display on the site are welcome to join the blog as well. Just ask Zeta to send you an invite.

Now without further ado, let me direct people to this site: www.ravelry.com It is a website devoted to knitting, crochet and who knows what else. Once you get there you have ask for an invitation. Mine took 5 days to come, but I have seen the list as short as 2 days. It has tons of projects. Lots of information and links to sales. It also has ways to keep track of your stash and projects. So for all of you knitters and crocheters looking for more projects or help with one it is worth it.