mommacrafter

so i recieved some socks yesterday and I’m out of the game. it was a fun game and I got to kill 2 people and my socks actually were knit by 3 different people… what a beautiful way to die! I had to sew in the ends for the socks which kinda was annoying but not a big deal by far. I enjoyed this sock war much better than the last but i’m unsure if i’ll be doing it next time. I may just stick with the death by socks group i’m a part of. we’ll see how i feel when the next war starts!
have a great weekend!

Life has been crazy around here. Sock wars started last friday and I sent my socks off for a kill. hopefully they’ll get there and I’ll get SIPs soon!  As you can see my Daughter drew a pix for me to send with the death socks. I am concerned as the pattern when it was uploaded at 12:30 or so, had an error it was posted with out a photo so no one knew what it was supposed to look like. Well I didn’t get online again till the next day even though I didn’t get much more time to knit on it after sit and knit Friday afternoon. On ravelry the corrections were made  and people were told if they weren’t that far by 2:51 they had to frog. Luckily I  was that far by that time so I left it. Though I  read a bunch of people who’d finished one sock and started another then went online Sunday or so and had to redo it b/c the original pattern had a mistake.  It stinks so bad. Other things that are different about this war is there were 3 patterns to choose from, not a problem b/c I like socks, but it kinda changes the whole game. Instead of everyone doing the same pattern people are able to choose what pattern to knit.  Just like last year’s changed with getting  sponsor. so those few things have left me a little unsure about SW… we’ll see how it goes, but i’m unsure if i’ll be participating in the game in the future. Only b/c it’s changing far from what it started out as.  I’d love to hear what you think.
I have found another sock “war” game.  Called Death by socks . it’s a yahoo group. I participated in it last year and had a really great experience I didn’t get to do it this time as it started the same time as SW4. But I hope to get in the next round!

Also about socks if you just like knitting them there’s another yahoo group called Six Socks Knitalong, and every other month you get a new pattern to knit. It’s a nice group! i’ve been a member of it for some time now. not always do i make the socks but some times i do.

anyways gotta jet.

I’ve been really crazy busy and I’ve been sewing some.  The first bag I decided to keep for myself. the handles I found on etsy. here’s the inside.  it’s really roomy and I can fit in all the yarn and  the sweater I’m knitting.  I love it. and it has just a fun interesting shape.

The second tote I made is for someone else It’s really neat. I love the fabric. the handles are from joann’s those are about the only ones I can find. The insides are similar as I love the stripey fabric.

i’m thinking of making more similar to these bags, and putting some in my etsy store and taking them to my LYS to see if anyone is interested in them. what do you think?

Sorry it’s taken so long for me to tell you who’s won. If you didn’t win but you’d still like a WIP bag check out my etsy store . If you see some fabric i’ve used before but I don’t have a bag in my store contact me and see if I have any fabric left to make you one. 

With any more delay our winners are…..

bag #1  the winner is  Sally aka Wicked Knitter

bag #2 the winner is Mara, aka Citizen Skein

Congrats!!! if you would please contact me with your mailing address I’ll send your weapon bag to you! 

For Easter I made some Easter eggs for my kids and my niece and nephew. Though I didn’t get a photo of the light blue one for him.

This brown two toned one was for the Bub, she wanted it in brown and picked out the colors from my yarnlets.

The purple one is two-toned b/c I simply ran out of yarn… it was for my niece. and the Green one was for the Bead as it’s her fave color.

As I was trying to take a photo my niece wouldn’t let go of them. it’s pretty funny and leaves a cute photo of hands grabbing the eggs.

The pattern I found on ravelry.   It turned out eggs bigger than I thought.  it’s a really cute and easy pattern.

They’re really interesting and the girls just love their eggs.

Ya knot what Else is  interesting? what you can find on Yahoo!  Just now I searched “sock wars” and this was the result , I can see more than 11 pages.

When I clicked on this site, I found it was closed down by lucas film .. interesting! Maybe that’s why they’re not promoting this Sock War 4 as much as Sock War 3. They’re still sponsoring it as I understand. (but they don’t have anything about SW4 on their website though) And the New Tofutsies power stripe is supposed to be the yarn for the war. But by looking at their website you wouldn’t know they were sponsoring the game.

More interesting, here’s some links I found about Sock Wars but not the knitting competition.  I guess it’s actually a war that kids play by throwing socks at each other like snow balls. HILARIOUS! There’s even movies on You Tube check them out:

http://community.livejournal.com/sockwar/profile
http://reslife.net/html/pwithp_1001b.html
http://www.themanicgardener.com/the_manic_gardener/dueling-bloggers-an-outli.html
http://ourfriendben.wordpress.com/2008/07/06/sock-it-to-me-uh-them/
http://www.tintisha.net/clients/sockwars
http://www.knittersreview.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=63618
http://www.monkeyspit.net/comics/sockwars/sockwars2.php
http://www.helium.com/items/1262292-games-for-snowy-dayshttp://www.thebigt.com/movies.htm (scrolldown)
http://www.kevinberryman.com/drakenstudios/

In a similar way to the SWTC site(but not by lucas film ), though it’s my understanding that  “sock wars”  isn’t copyrighted,   I’ve been asked to take down my contest for the Weapon Bags. which is sad b/c there’s nothing out there like them,  but good for those of you who entered. I’ll be pulling 2 names shortly and letting you know who’s won shortly (read tomorrow or the next day) If you didn’t win but you’d still like a bag check my Etsy store for those you like. If you remember one, I’ve made contact me, via etsy or my email,  and we can work something out!

I’m hosting a contest. Starting Today April 11th running through April 20th.

You can win yourself an unofficial (of course) sock wars weapon bag. I made a few of these last year for sock wars and this year I’d like to give away another one this year. here’s the description of the two

This bag is the perfect size for your smaller on-the-go WIP’s. It’s especially nice for knitting or crocheting socks, scarves or hats. Small enough to take anywhere and inside there are 2 pockets so you won’t loose the things you’ll need.(i.e. needles, hooks, scissors, even a pattern) It’s small enough to fit inside your bigger project bags to hold your yarn so it won’t roll around while you’re knitting it.

Bag #1

The outside  fabric is a brightly colored swirl pattern 100% cotton.
The inside fabric is 100% cotton a green bubble fabric

The pocket fabric is a blue ice crystal wave pattern 100% cotton
there is a metal eyelet opening with an intertwined pink nylon cord and plastic push button stopper to hold it closed.
10 inches high with a 3 ¾  inches squared bottom..

 Bag #2

The outside  fabric is a brightly colored striped pattern 100% cotton.
The inside fabric is 100% cotton blue flowered fabric.

The pocket fabric is a green bubble pattern 100% cotton
there is a metal eyelet opening with an intertwined pink nylon cord and plastic push button stopper to hold it closed.
8 inches high with a 3 ¾  inches by 4 inches bottom.
For both bags machine wash delicate cycle in cold water. lay flat to dry
There’s multiple ways to get yourself entered to win. each one gets one entry. 

1. Comment on this post with which bag you’d like to win. Make sure you leave your email address so I can get in contact with you.

2. Visit my etsy store and LMK what’s your fave, or if there’s something you’d like to see more of.

3. blog about this contest on your blog and leave me a link here in the comments (if you link to my etsy store i’ll give you double entries for this one)

4. Visit the Sock Wars website and sign up for the carnage! leave me a comment that you signed up with your warrior name.** ETA: if you’re already signed up just LMK your name and you get this one!

And that’s it so you can have your name entered 5 times in this drawing. on April 20th i’ll put everyone’s name in a bag and let one of my daughters pull out a name to see who’s won. 

So I found a quiz and it said i’m totally additcted to knitting! Go take it and tell me what it says about you! here’s what it said about me:

You scored 83%.  Yes. You are addicted; you are a compulsive over knitter.  Your stash and projects are the envy of many other knitters, but family members may be a bit tired of being asked their opinion about stitch patterns.

It’s so true isn’t it?

This past week we got a new table. Our old table was all wobbly and kinda scary to sit around. (though you did practice good table manners as you didn’t want to lean on the table for fear of it falling) The original table was given to us by my BIL and it came with 5 chairs. the cushions on the chairs were just awful. I found some heavy stripey fabric that I really liked a long time ago. But I didn’t want to reupholster them if we were going to be getting rid of the table.  So the fabric has been sitting in my fabric stash for a long time just waiting for me to use it! Since we got a new table but not new chairs this Friday after getting the table, I quickly grabbed the fabric, my handy heavy duty stapler and my drill. I took off the cushions cut the fabric and stapled them together. Then I re- attached the cushions to the chairs.  A much needed improvement.

I also took a photo of a chair and the end of the table together. They don’t match exactly but they look pretty close. (you can see some yummy chocolate on the table!)  I really love doing something as simple as stapling some fabric to change something so dramatically. I plan on painting the living-room/dining-room that red color but that’s a project for another day!

I’ve been blog hopping around blogs  this past week for the UBP’09 and I’ve found a ton of great blogs.

I want to share with you  a giveaway that you may be interested in.

Over at Good For The Kids they’re giving away a $50 gift certificate to their store.  How wonderful is that? They have all kinds of things. my fave’s are the play food . Just b/c i know the girls will love playing kitchen with the food! they also have some cool games and not just toys are available they have things for nurturing your baby/Child, potty training and so much more. Go check out the site !

anyways i just wanted to share with you a great new site i found and give you a chance to enter to win the gift certificate!

enjoy and PARTY ON!

Most people I run into think you can’t felt with a front loader. also many books or tutes you read tell you that you can not felt with a front loader. I have a front load washer. (Actually I’ve had it longer than I’ve known how to knit) I am here to say that is UNTRUE. Some of the things I do when felting (in no particular order) you may find it’s the same thing you do in your top loader.

1. My front loader has a hot/cold water setting. I normally use warm/warm to wash clothes but for felting I switch it to HOT. (don’t mind the dirty washing machine)

2. I use a whole load of jeans (jeans and only jeans no towels or anything that leaves fuzzies)  they create the agitation that I need for felting

3. I don’t use a zippered pillow case, i just throw in my bag (or whatever) into my washer. I think that’s partly b/c i’m lazy and I don’t have a zippered pillow case laying around to use.

4. I  put in regular laundry detg. (half a capful) and start the cycle.

5. I let it run through the WHOLE cycle at least one time.  but that’s mostly b/c I get distracted when felting and usually forget. If i’m doing a bag I do the cycle  a couple of times

 6. if I’m doing something that needs to fit (slippers, hats etc) i use the Prewash cycle that is shorter if it’s not getting the desired felting I run it through the regular cycle and push to stop it at different intervals to check the progress. it mostly depends on my mood. if i want to keep popping downstairs to check i do the regular cycle if not i use the prewash.

7. For faster drying I let the project go through the final spin to get the extra water OUT of the felted object. if you’re worried about creasing don’t worry you can always get it wet  again (in the sink) for spot blocking so to speak.  (i actually use the final spin when i’m blocking sweaters and such to get tat extra water out)

I think that’s about it.  LMK what you think!