Another fun request

I got another request to make a special hat for Christmas. One of my friends asked if I could make a Pikmin hat for her husband.

What I loved about this project was I got to try something new in regards to putting a character on a hat.  

The last time I did this for my Gomba Hat I used the fair isle technique to carry colors behind the project.  I wasn't able to do it exactly right for that project but I thought I could try it again.  Well it still didn't work because I ended up with a very small hat.  Gotta figure out the tension!

So I thought for a bit and decided I could just "embroider" or cross stitch the characters ontop of the already made hat! 

It worked out perfectly and the hat turned out great!

Headbands!

FINALLY I can share some of my Christmas presents I made for my family!!! 

I really do love getting to spend my time making lovely gifts for my loved ones!

Awhile back my aunt had this awesome knit headband with a giant crocheted flower on it that she wore at one of the football games.  I knew right away that I could make some for my sister-in-laws and it would be the perfect gift for them!

These were fast and easy to make. 

I finished them off with a fun button on the end so it will be easy to take them on and off. 

Hopefully I'll get a fun picture of my sister-in-laws wearing them to post later!

Merry Christmas!!

I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! 

 {weheartit}

My fun times with the family starts today!!!!  I love all the fun traditions we have and the new ones we are starting with my sister and her soon to be here baby!!!

I made a bunch of my gifts this year and I CAN NOT wait to give them!!!  I'll be posting some pictures soon!!!

Music Monday Christmas Style

I was inspired by my friend Marci to make this Music Monday Post.  Christmas is almost here!!!!!!  Nothing gets me more in the Christmas mood than to hear Christmas Music.  I thought I would share some of my favorite with you guys!

I hope you all enjoy!!

U2 - Christmas, Baby Please Come Home

Band Aid - Do They Know its Christmas Time?

Bruce Springsteen - Santa Clause is Coming to Town

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Barenaked Ladies

Little Drummer Boy - Jars of Clay

Another hat...

Along with those mohawk hats my friend asked me to make a special hat for her friend to help lift her spirits.  We came up this simple santa type hat with this fun yarn.

 It measured about 2 feet from end to end... like forever long!!!!

 I loved how bright and happy this yarn is! Self stripping yarn is so awesome!!!

This hat made me smile, so I hope it does the same for the friend!

For those about to rock...

My friend made a request for some special hats for Christmas.  This is my friend from high school whom I would make toothbrush bracelets with and we had paperclip necklaces. We were just a little different, but we were good together =) 

SO it made sense to me that she wanted mohawk hats for her kids - ages 6 and 1!! All kids need some extra rock'n in their hats!

I will say I had a LOT of fun making these hats and I plan to make some more. Yeah!!

And here are my kids being rock stars!!!!

A special request

My friend asked for a special present for her father for Christmas.  Since he is a Firefly fan, I thought this awesome mousepad would be perfect!!!

It's another hand embroidered Serenity with part of the theme song from the show.

I was so excited to get this finished. It took forever to find the right mouse pad to slide in the embroidery piece in, but I think came out perfect!!

And in case you aren't familiar with the theme song...

Ornament Swap - Part 2

My ornament for the  Stumpet's Christmas Ornament Swap is crocheted and mailed off to my swap partner Mandi!   I decided to make something without a pattern (scary!) and just see what happens!  I thought a snowman would be simple enough, so here he is!

He is right at home on a Christmas Tree!

I can't wait to get mine! It's coming all the way from Canada!!! How awesome!!!  I will post pictures when I get it!!!!!

And check out the flickr group to see the other creations in the swap!!!

Let the Wild Rumpus Start!

One of the requests I got from the Art City Display was for the Wild Thing Character "Carol."  At first I was overwhelmed with making such an iconic figure, but my friend Sarah had the perfect crochet pattern for him and I was able to get him finished in one weekend.

So here he is!

 

Carol was very interested in reading the book for himself

He was also impressed with his fierce looking claws

And now he is going to let the wild rumpus start in my backyard! I hope my trees survive!!!!!

World AIDS Day

The 1st December is World AIDS Day, an international day of reflection, when we remember those who have died and those living with HIV.

I lost my uncle Bruce 15 years ago to AIDS.  Today I remember him and I remember the things that were important to him.  I remember what his death spurred in me - the desire to not have another person lose a loved one to such a horrible disease.

Today I wanted to share a video I had made as part of a project I did for graduate school. 

AIDS and HIV are not going away and we can do something about it.

Find ways you can join in 

Lets shout into the darkness!

Shhhh ... it's a secret!!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  I was blessed to spend lots of time with my family and extended family.  I even got to teach one of my nieces how to crochet!

I have been making so many projects lately but most of them are presents for Christmas!! So obviously I can't post them yet because I don't want any of my friends or family to know what they are getting.  On another project I have been asked to not post pics yet because of the high secrecy of the project! I feel a little like a knitting spy!!!!

BUT I figured I can show a little sneaky pic of some of the projects and I just won't tell you what they are! You can wait in anticipation for Christmas!!

I'm also excited because I got another order for more hats!!! I'm very blessed to asked to make things for other people.

Shelf Preview

At my previous job we had a little part of the office that was dedicated to showing off the different artfullness of coworkers in an area called Art City.  My friend Sarah and I had volunteered to display some of our knitted/crocheted things for November.  I decided to still participate with Sarah even though I don't work there anymore.

I was a little sad that I wouldn't get to see the display.  I decided yesterday to make a little trip over to my old office to say hi to people and to see the display.  I was so excited to see how cool it looked!

All I had was my cell and it took very bad pictures.  This was the only one that came out good enough.  I'll post more after Sarah sends them to me.  There is another shelf and there are 2 scarves that Sarah made that are hanging up too.

It is also cool to see how excited other people were and how much everyone loved our work! Sarah has been getting lots of requests so we might have a lot of knitting and crocheting to do! We might have to plan a craft day together so we can see each other again!!!

I had to include my favorite picture of Sarah and I from the AIDS walk a few years ago.  Yes, we were Big Damn Heroes. =)

Ornament Swap!

I just signed up for Strumpet's Christmas Ornament Swap!! 

Anyone can join in! 

You just have to make an ornament and you get to send it to a new friend and then get a new one in return!! 

HOW FUN!  

Deadline to sing up is Nov 19th!!! 

HURRY HURRY!!! 

Join in on the fun!!!!

Let's Be Bad Guys!

I finally finished up my Jayne inspired coffee sleeve!

I'm so excited at how well it turned out! 

I've been finished with the embroidery for about a month and just needed to sew it all together to make the sleeve.  

It was just added it to my Etsy Shop, so feel free to snag it for yourself or another browncoat you love!

Wish List

My kids have already started on making their Christmas lists and I thought I could join in!

Thankfully Etsy makes it easy to make a wish list!

knotworkshop 

My love for coffee, dragons, crochet and embroidery all in one gift!!!

AJthepurple

This print is just so cute! I love fairies!!!

handknittedthings

These green cabled arm warmers are PERFECT!

sugarpoptreats

Could this necklace be any sweeter??

Maggie913

Keep me warm and show off my love UT! YES!

pillipillihandmade

I love everything pilli pilli makes and this clutch is just adorable!!

OK! So now you know what I want for Christmas, so get shopping! ;)

Friday I'm in Love - To Write Love on Her Arms

flickr

 According to Facebook, today is To Write Love on Her Arms day.  

It is a day to spread

we heart it

for those who are without any

For me, its a day to remember where I was 4 years ago.  

A day to remember how hopeless I was. A day to look and see how far I have come.  

we heart it

Love was the movement that brought me back.  

Love from my husband, family friends and most importantly, my Savior.

I hope that today you can remember that you are loved

You were created to be loved

You are worth fighting for

we heart it

Birthday Present

One of my nieces just turned 12 and I had to make her something cute for her Birthday.

I was inspired by this purse from Seni with love

I came up with this crocheted purse for her

 It was hard to get the picture to capture the blue just right, but its a dark turquoise blue.  I crocheted the brown and blue together to make the body of the bag and then used the blue alone for the flower and brown for the strap.

And added a cute button for the middle of the flower!!!

She loved it and I was super excited to give it to her!  

Making presents for my sweet family is the best!

Etsy is a GO!

Its official, I have opened up my Etsy shop, Geek Inspired!!!! 

YEAH!!  

It has taken a lot of time to set it up, but I think I've got it all together so far!

There are headbands of all sizes

Armwarmers and wristers

and all kinds of coffee cozys!

I've got plans to add more things as I get them together. 

If you have any feedback or words of wisdom to share with a new Etsy Gal, I'd love to get it!

A special thanks to my twitter friends who have already been giving me encouragement! You guys are the best!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Our pumpkins the kids designed

 We hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!!!

Time to VOTE!

I am SO excited! I made it into the OFFICIAL Best Pumpkin Photo Nomination for the Crochet-A-Long!!!

Anyone can vote and I would appreciate if you could support me and head over to Itsy Bitsy Spider and give my pumpkin photo a vote!  You have until Saturday November 6th to get the vote it.  Also there are 2 other categories with some awesome pumpkins that you can vote for too!!
I feel sooo honored to even make it into the top 3 out of all the other pumpkins that were entered in.