Fingerless gloves and mittens

My first pair of fingerless gloves were when I worked for Kirkwood Mountain Ski Resort. My mother had given them to me and I wore them till they fell apart. Fingerless gloves were high on my list of things I want to make for myself.

It took me forever to to find the right pattern. I was attracted to the embroidery the designer put on her gloves.

 These are a slight variation of the ones if the above picture. I have some practice to do on them. I need to cast on the fingers a little looser and maybe use a smaller size needle on the cuff. But that is my own skill that I need to improve on. I started a favorite pattern link list in the side bar of messiness. 

 I also found that everyone likes the fingerless mittens too. Make it easy for me because they are so quick to stitch up. 

I used The hand painted roving I made earlier in the year to make a pair for my grandmother.

I made this pair for my daughter.

My sister requested a pair for a Christmas present. I hope I can get them done in time. The pattern I use I incorporated from a different pattern. But there isn't much left of the original pattern that I haven't changed. I am still reluctant to call the pattern my own because I started with an already published pattern. Might be worth doing a little research on.

I also splurged on myself and bought myself some new double pointed needles off EBay. I keep taking them out and looking at them then putting them all away again. 

It also had snowed about a week ago. Goggle had added in the snow affects. I am still trying to figure out Photoshop so this isn't my doing. I am still working on the free online class for Photoshop, but it's hard to find a good chunk of time every day to dedicate to an online class. I havnt given up on it, it's just taking longer than I want. So I went back to youtube and started looking for any beginner PS tutorials and found TutorialsForGraphics. If you are not use to the gentalman's accent, be patient, he gives a lot of very good information. I had my PS open so I could follow along. 

Well that is it for today! Thanks for stopping by and please follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and Pintrest

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Making Stitch Markers for Cross Stitchers

What you need:

Super glue

long sewing pins

beads that will fit the pins

seed beads

You have a couple of different ways you can place you beads. Just make sure you have enough of the needle shaft to make your place in your cloth and not fall out.

This is an example of the seed bead on top and bottom.

Place a very small drop of crazy glue to the bottom bead. Make sure the drop rolls toward the beads and not down the needle shaft. The glue seems resist being pulled out of the cloth even when dry. 

Then the only thing left to do is let the glue dry. 

I hope you you enjoyed my first tutorial!

If you would rather just buy a set, you can find them in my Etsy store

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Craftywitchcorner

Please leave me comments! You can also find me on Twitter, Pintrest, and Instagram

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Taking a Break!

I have decided to make some changes in the way I am blogging. Because I have a lot on my plate right now I am taking a break from it. But in the mean time I will be gathering material, pics, patterns, and recipes. I want to start doing contests too.

Please don't give up on me! I'll be back posting soon!

The First Day Back to School

 The first day back to school has come again. But because they have only had each other to play with these last few weeks, they were happy. Elizabeth started the 5th grade. She made a few friends the first day and has asked if she can learn how to play the flute in early morning band. 

Issac is my shy guy. He has played with a few of the other boys. He has always preferred to stay close to mom or play by himself. He hasn't made any close friends just yet, but I have confidence that it will get easier. Being new to a school is scary sometimes.


There is a doe and her twins that visit an apple tree twice a day. Drive Isis crazy, but the doe knows that she is safe with a fence between them. The babies a a bit more shy and run for cover when the dog starts barking. My sister says the same mother had another set of twins last year too.





On top of school starting, my daughter is turning 10 on Monday. It has been such a great joy raising her. Always quick to smile and eager to help when she sees it is needed. It can not be easy growing up with a bi-polar mother, but she is strong and has been able to hold up against my ups and downs.  

Finally finished the hat! I broke down and picked up some Peaches and Cream. I found the instructions for a simple daisy in the book The Harmony Guide to Crocheting . The same book that I am still borrowing from my mother when I taught myself how to crochet. The daisies are really easy, but good morals and copyright laws keep me from giving you the pattern I used from the book. But i think my take along projects for a while will be crocheting little hearts, clovers and flowers. Having small projects like that is healthy for the creative spirit. Here is a FREE DAISY PATTERN that is very close to the one I used. 

When I grow up I wanna be a fiber artist!

Well, I have a very good reason as to why I haven't been posting regularly. I have been spinning every day (nearly) sense I bought the thing. I love it my Ashford Traveler with the double drive. It's so easy to use. I am still learning about how to adjust tension and how much twist I should use. But with the wonders of youtube I'm figuring it out. 

I have also decided to become serious about fiber art. I know I have been playing around with many different fibers over the years, but I don't feel I am skilled enough to be able to call myself a fiber artist. So I decided to start at the beginning with all of my fiber crafts. Starting with knitting and spinning, I have modestly chosen a few scarf patterns (around 500) to choose from. I wanted a wide range of techniques to choose from. Then I'll allow myself to pan out from there. 









At the moment I am working on The Soda Fountain Scarf. I like the retro look it has in the picture. I decided to use some of the fiber i had already spun up. 100% merino wool. I had thought wool was very scratchy and had resigned myself to wonderfully warm but scratchy clothing. (Maybe I'll blog about different fiber at a later date.) Now The pattern said that you can use yarn you have with any needle size, preferably 1 size larger than the recommended label says. The red scarf to your left isn't mine...the green and pink is. Maybe it is too soon to start knit picking (har har) my work. 

Well, that's it for today! Thanks for reading. Please feel free to comment.

Catching up

Well, Happy New Year......I haven't started any official "resolutions" thus far, but I am sure it will contain the usual; Eat better, drink more water, spend less money and exercise. I also want to complete more projects, finish old projects, learn how to spin on a wheel, and start a container garden.

I have been knitting like a mad woman. I took my yarn off of etsy, I want to make a patchwork blanket out of all the colors I dye. I also started a pair of socks for the Sock it to me KAL. Each month we knit up another pair of socks. I wish I had used a different color...I have yet to fall in love with mine. or complete the second one for that matter.

My father came up from California late last summer for a visit and brought up a few bags and boxes I had left tucked away in a closet at my parents house. One of the bags held many strips of green and blue strips of cloth...the very first log cabin quilt had ever started. It was originally for my brother, but I think it is too girly for him....looking at it now i can see what he meant. Fresh out of the basic training and his sister is trying to make him a quilt with dragon flies and swirlies. But Issac likes it so I am making it for him. I am not a quilting genius or anything. I can honestly say I have a lot more started quilts than finished ones. I decided to give hand piecing a try while at work. Then yesterday i pulled out my sewing machine
and realized just how "first time" this quilt really is. my strips were not cut strait, math all wrong, and when i did get a block done there was no way it was going to be squared off properly. So I'm making do with the best of it and calling it rustic.








I also wanted to share with you the bulk section at Winco. I love the muffin mix. I have been making these blueberry muffins at night for my family to have for breakfasts on the days i work. muffin papers, a muffin tin, mix water and 15 min in the oven is all you really need. I make the small ones and let the kids have 2 in the morning.

Knitting patterns!

I have been wanting software that will help me design knitting patterns. But in this day and age with two kids, who can afford something extra like this? So I did a Google search for free knitting software and found Knit Pro for the perfect price...FREE!!! So many ideas ran thru my mind. Blankets, bags, pillows.... It also very easy to use, all you really need to do is know how to locate an image from your computer. It is limited to basic designs like the spirals above. But I have a few other knitted projects to complete.

I started Kyle's finger-less gloves I had been promising him. And then I have the socks my brother would like along with 3 beard-beanies. I love to knit and I am so glad people appreciate it. I just wish there were more than 24 hours in a day so I would have more time to knit :)!  

So I know I haven't blogged for a while, so I'm going to probably do a couple of entries over the next couple of days. So Halloween went really well for the kids. My My friend and neighbor Erika and I were the only two parents in the neighborhood that were not sick on Halloween. so she and I took everyone trick or treating down the street. For spending absolutely no money on costumes, they turned out really well. I had found about 4 yards of deep purple flannel in the shed that i had used to make Eli's dress and Issac's ninja costume. I used the yarn I had spun to make the hat, felted the ears, and embroidered the yellow strips. It turned out really well. You can tell my kids are the ones who have the same color costumes.

I finished the gloves for Kyle's mother. I think they ended up a little long. But in my defense I do not know her hand size. I also started my niece, Izzy's, Christmas stocking. We had a very unproductive work day this last week, and so I started it then. I am using a free pattern I found for this stocking. I used J.erin's knits free stocking pattern. Absolutely love it! I used the yarn that the pattern suggested, Hooks and Loops. 

And I still have a ton of the plum colored wool that I am slowly spinning for my possible esty store.

Well that's it for now. I'll try and blog more later this week.