Winter Princess Leg Warmers

I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted.  The hubby and I have been crazy busy with work, I've even had to miss some karate training.  Somehow, in the last week, I managed to pull off creating a pair of crocheted leg warmers for my daughter.  I was considering knitting them but then realized I didn't have the appropriate sized dpns (double pointed needles) to do it.  I thought, oh well, I can crochet quicker anyways so that is exactly what I did.  I'm very happy with the result.  I used Bernat's glow-in-the-dark yarn in blue and purple for it as well as Bernat's Bling Bling for the fur trim.  The kids and I love the glow-in-the-dark yarn.  We were very pleased with the way it turned out.  The glow-in-the-dark picture didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, but you get the idea.

New Knitting and Crocheting Instructor at Michaels

I am thrilled to announce that I am the new Knitting and Crocheting Instructor at Michaels starting October 1st.  I got a call from the Instructor Co-ordinator yesterday telling me that they were losing their Knitting and Crocheting Instructor at the end of this month and would I be interested in taking over.  I jumped at the opportunity!  This was what I had wanted all along.  I'm still their Jewelry Instructor, too.  It will be an interesting feat of co-ordination trying to teach it all while doing my job as an engineer, practicing karate, and allowing time for my family's various extra-curricular activities.  I know I'll love it!

Back to School and Work

I finally completed a necklace that I had started before my trunk show in July.  It took me this long to figure out how I was going to make a closure for it.  This was quite a departure from anything I had ever done before.  Here was my starting point, a ball and chain (sorry, couldn't resist saying that).

Utilizing the versatility of a crochet hook, I came up with this.

Close-up

And here is the closure I agonized over so long.  I decided to use a bead (recognize it from one of the previous necklaces I posted?) and crocheted loop type of closure.  I am very happy with the way it turned out.

Back from - was it a holiday?

Hard to believe.  We've been back almost 3 weeks and this is the first chance I've had to sit down and write.  We've been working like crazy; even through our vacation.  The trunk show in High River went very well and I'm very grateful to my in-laws for giving me that opportunity.  My children were great assistants in the show as well.

It also never fails that while we were away, the garden ran amok.  I had to cut the cucumber vine off the cable wire and garden hose wheel.

Needless to say, I haven't had time for knitting, jewelry making, or much of anything else.  I hope it won't be too long a hiatus before I post again.

Mitered Square Purse

During the past week and a half, I was inundated with engineering work, which was great! Unfortunately, my art had to fall to the sidelines and I didn't make anything new. I got back today to posting past knitting projects on Ravelry, some of which I will be taking to the trunk show next week.  I made this purse many years ago from my stash. Using the same yarns, I created a twisted cord to use as a drawstring for the purse and another one to be used as a shoulder strap.  One month, the knitting guild I was part of at the time had a night on beading embellishments for your knitting, so I added a beaded fringe to the purse that night.  I was very pleased with the results.

I will be posting more of these older projects in the near future.

This Week's Jewelry

Here are a few things I've been working on this past week for the trunk show in High River at Chinook Fabrics.

New Trunk Show Designs

Here are some pictures of my latest trunk show designs.  More coming in the near future.