Why it's a Christmas miracle...in September?!?

Thought that would get your attention. The only miracle happening here is the fact that I got on my blog and posted. That, my friend, is a small but triumphant feet! Now onto the happenings, I'm just about ready to open my etsy shop, Needle and String. At the moment I'm fiddling with a few things to list..mostly of the knitting genre but I'm also delving into hand embroidery..which I must say is pretty freakin' fun. For those of you that love fast projects (those projects that you can finish in a day or two) and enjoy art (drawing, painting etc) then I urge you to give this a shot. I've bought a few embroidery patterns. These Sellers are my favorite: BigBgsd, Polka and Bloom, Country Garden and finally, Sarah Jane Studios All of their embroidery patterns are amazing and if you feel like getting a little crafty you could always add them to your knitting. For example, I made Princess Crown and added some nifty embroidery.

One of my older projects for my niece was the One-Skein Hooded Sweater.

I love the detail aspect that embroidery can bring to a project. Its amazing how much a lazy daisy or even a french knot can add. Here are some links to some easy tutorials. Stitch School has a great tutorial. Pictures and step by step instructions. Also Holiday Crafts tutorial has an easy step by step tutorial. Lastly, if you're looking for a handful of different stitches then check out Sarah's Hand Embroidery Tutorials. She has many different types of stitches that anyone can use. I'd love to see what you come up with so please post your patterns so I can take a gander.

Patterns

I dream a lot. No not the lay down..go to sleep..and dream sorta dreams but the dreams you have about your life..visualizations of what you would like to accomplish..I have a simple ones..to raise my daughters to be productive members of society..to lose 20 err 30 lbs...but the one I would really like to accomplish is to simply design a pattern. I know, I know..sounds silly and simplistic but I fear that my creativity and knowledge isn't quuuuuuuuuite where it should be. I see all these clever designers, doing that thing they do, and think to myself "Self, there is no way in Haiti's that you could ever be that clever." Self doubt? Yep. Big time. I've bought all the books and even tried to sketch a few things..joined TKGA for the Master Knitting program..I don't even know where to start? Where does one start? I guess research is in order..After some careful consideration I came up with a quick outline of what one must do to create a successful pattern.

1. Visualize
2. Swatch
3. Calculate
4. Construct
5. Test

I think its accomplishing each one of those that's giving me such a hard time. How does one visualize something? And then..how does one pick the appropriate yarn? Calculating? I flunked math..then construct. Bah! I realize I'm being a negative Nancy here but I have no idea whatsoever how to get from point A to point B. There has got to be some sort of formula, right? I guess its for me to figure out..until next time.