LOLA Complete!!!!!

<~~~~~LOLA WITHOUT STARS IN THE EYES!!!

HERE IS LOLA!!

After many issues with her eyes Lola can now see and she is COMPLETE!!! I couldn't figure out exactly how to do her eyes....should they be buttons? Sewed? Cross-stitched? Left without? So finally I decided to do buttons...which presented another problem! What kind? Do you know how many buttons there are in the world? I looked at round ones, square ones, animal shaped ones, and a million other kinds!! Finally, I went with Taylor to Michael's (ok really I took her to get her hair cut for her 16th birthday and we stopped at Michael's) and she helped me pick out Lola's eyes!! Pink stars!! At first I was worried about it...what would stars say about Lola? How would they change her being? Her personality? And then....then...I sewed one on! POW! As soon as it was attached: LOLA!!! The stars were her and they were her personality!!! I love them!! And now? Since it was a package of ten with different colors....I want a LOLA of every color!!

What else I am doing.....

I just finished my first knitted purse and other than the fact that it stretches when I put something heavy in it--I LOVE IT!!! I am also still working on the "kit" that I bought...I finished the sunglass case, and the wallet but when I when I went to finish the purse: the needles broke! I was using circular needles and where the cable goes into the needle, it snapped off! So I had to switch circular needles and I am not too sure about the size change (I think they are the same) but so far I am doing okay with it....

Still searching....

I am still searching for the perfect orange eyelash yarn to do Vickie Howell's DJ Rock Baby Hat from the craftrocklove.com website but so far nothing...I have to have it done by October so that Kenyon will have it for his first birthday....I am hoping that they will carry some in the stores as it gets closer to Halloween!!

Upcoming projects...

As usual I am still working on jewelry...I am hoping to make a fanpage still but not sure that I am consistent enough as a jewelry maker to really do this...I have a tendancy to start something and not see it through!! If I start a fanpage...will I have the follow thru to make it work??

My current crafty endeavors....

Right now I have multiple crafts going at one time...I have 2 purses on needles-one is a multi-brown tote bag in my own design. The other purse is from a kit I bought a while ago...it is a trio kit. A sunglass case, a wallet, and a purse...it is interesting because it involves color changes which I have never done really before. It involves carrying the color up the side and it is on circs which I have NEVER used (of course, it is not in the round but the cable helps A LOT). I am in the process of trying to teach myself how to use circular needles so I can try all the nice patterns that call for them...my problem: joining! I have watched endless YouTube videos and still can't quite grasp the concept of how to get the yarn to join together to form a ring....

The other crafts I am working with is jewelry. I am thinking about trying to sell jewelry online so I need to build up a pretty decent stock. AND I was invited to sell some jewelry at a craft fair next month in Waverly next month....not sure if I am going to do it or not but I am thinking seriously of doing it (actually I am hoping to get a niece to sell for me since I am not good at the public/crowd thing.)

Now another thing I am thinking of is knitting jewelry frames/displays...a pattern I found on Ravelry. Basically you knit a net-type square to fit into a frame so that you can display jewelry on the yarn. I like it better than the traditional displays that most people have at craft sales...right now my sister-in-law is working on a crochet version that I am excited about, too.

My niece is getting married in October and I am elected to come up with and make wedding favors....I have no clue but I need 100-150 favors and she wants them "cute and personalized"-those are her words....I wonder if her guests will like jewelry and knitting since those are my two favorite things (right now)....hmmmm....

Today....

Today is July 13th, 2010...my Moms' birthday...if she were alive today Mom would be turning 21-again! There are so many different things I miss about her...her laugh, her sense of humor, the way she always pushed her bangs up after she brushed her hair. I sometimes think to myself what would Mom think of everything her family is doing right now? Her family has changed so much in the 5 years she has been gone. We have grown in numbers (she has tons of great grandbabies with another one to be born soon) and we have changed locations (Chelsea was in CA and now she is proudly serving her country in Afghanistan). We have gotten married (or in the case of Krissy and Bubba-set a date to be married) and we have fought, made up, talked behind each others backs, talked in front of each others faces, hated each other and loved each other. Her family was brought together-tighter, if one could imagine-by her passing and we have remained that way.


Whenever we get together we always talk about her and the crazy things she had said and she had done but mostly we talk about how she made us the way we are. Her family loves each other. We need no one but each other and we are always there for one another. Her great grandbabies know her because we let them know her love by the way she taught us to love each other. Because of Mom we have learned to be strong, to work hard, to hold those we love closer and tighter, and to always be proud of being a part of her.


Mom, today is your 21st birthday and like all the days since you have been gone I find myself pausing to hear your laughter. I often find myself looking beside me to see you and I am always a little disappointed and sad that you are not there...but then I look closely and I find you...You are in Kaycee's smile (and the devilish look in her eyes), you are in Carmen's laughter (when she is helping her 'grandma' in the kitchen), in Max's sweetness, in Taylin's curiousity (and love of cars-I mean, you were a drag racer!) and you are in Kenyon's snuggles.

There is not a day that you are not talked about, missed, and loved. I would thank you for all the love and support and things taught to each of us but it would be pointless because you are not done teaching us, supporting us, and loving us. Happy 21st Birthday, Mom!

Lola the Pig

I know that I have not posted yet in July but please do not worry! I am hard at work on Lola the Pig! Right now she is almost complete! She has no eyes, no ears, no tail, and only 3 and a half feet BUT she is almost done! I did not think that I would be able to make something like a toy but it does seem to be a little easier than I expected...So here she is (in almost all of her glory! Oh and the pics are from my BB so they are not the greatest! Sorry!)

This first picture (on the left) is Lola on the needles. The second picture (on the right) is Lola after her body is complete...I am showing the increase section of her hind part because I am proud of the fact that in order to make Lola I learned 2 new stitches...M1 and SSK!!!

These are Lola's "profile" pictures! You can really tell she is turning into a pig!!! I love how the picture on the left shows her "waistline" and the one on the right shows her "ears" and the point of her nose!!

These are my final two pictures of Lola as she is right now. The one on the left is my favorite of all pictures (ummm...excuse her being propped up by the remote!) because to me she seems the most expressive in this picture. In the picture on the left is not a pair of pasties!!! They are Lola legs...well just two out of four...I am in the middle of making the fourth foot and finished the third one right after I snapped this picture!!

So....this is why I have not been blogging...I have been pig knitting!!!!

My next project will either be the DJ Lance Rock hat (by Vickie Howell @ http://www.craftrocklove.com/) for my great-nephew Kenyon's 1st birthday (in October) OR a monkey for Taylor...after the success of Lola, maybe more knitted toys are in order!!
(psssst....watch out family! I am addicted to something else you will be getting as gifts!!!)


**I will be posting finished Lola pictures along with a link to her pattern in my next post...it is such a great pattern I want to give oodles of credit to her designer!!!!**