Crocheted Fuzzy Purses

Crocheted a couple of new purses with a strand each of long eyelash type yarn and regular worsted.  Just need to line them, sew them up and sew on embellishment.  Really like the zipper on they grey and the neat button on the pink.

Untangling Ear Bud Cords

When I saw various pictures on Pinterest showing cords of ear buds  crocheted, braided  and even knitted around claiming that this would keep them tangle free I thought (Yeah right).  Not every recipe, do it yourself project or craft featured on Pinterest or anywhere on the web always works when you try it.  But I did try it one day in spite of my misgivings, figured the most that could happen was I would waste some time and thread.  I crocheted around the cords with a heavier Crochet thread. You can use embroidery floss, would use all strands rather than splitting it..  It is the thickness once it is around the cords that apparently keeps it from tangling.  It is still flexible though it doesn't wind up quite as small as originally.  I am really happy with mine.  Try it and let me know what you think.

Knitting/Crocheting Tips

Since your tension is different on different days when you are making a garment and you get to the sleeves use 2 skeins of yarn and knit/crochet a row on one sleeve and then the other so you end up with sleeves that are the same length and tension.                                                                           When making a project with a large number of stitches place a marker every 20-25 stitches to make counting the # of stitches easier and if you aren't counting stitches each row you can easily tell if you have increased or decreased when you don't want to.                                                                                                       When finished with a project weave a length of yarn in so you will have it if you need to do repairs.  Not only will you have yarn of the same dye lot but as it will have been washed the same # of times as the project it will be of the same color/ texture.  Often it is years before a project needs to be repaired and finding a matching yarn can be a challenge.

Happy New Year

The new year is a time for reflection on the past year and time to plan the present year.  What went right, what didn't go as planned, what changes need to be made?  A new purse went over well, it is a small felted purse with a man's tie for the strap.  Will definitely be making more of these this year.  Didn't blog consistently this past year so that is something that didn't go as planned so it needs to go on my list of things to improve on.  To that end I went out today and bought a huge calendar to plan out some ideas for blog posts with specific dates they need to be posted.  No more procrastination.  Am putting monthly goals on a calendar and breaking those goals down into weekly goals so I am much more likely to get them done.  Sometimes a big goal just seems overwhelming but is much less daunting if broken down into smaller steps.  Figure as I am retiring this spring I need to be specific on what I want to accomplish each week or time will go by and I won't have gotten anything done for my fiber business.  Need to set goals for around the house too, flower beds are in desperate need of being tended, have a ton of photos to go thru, etc.  So what about you, what projects are on your list for this new year?