simpletruths

Late night crafting

This is why I do most my knitting and crocheting late at night or during my commute. If I don't, something will end up on a toe or in a mouth...

The i-cord

Quite a while ago I posted a video tutorial on how to make a crochet i-cord, and recently someone asked me what I did with the icords I made.  Purse handles? pillow edging?  Nope.

love it.

Classic Granny Square How-to | The Back Loop

via www.thebackloop.com

Granny Square tutorial! yay.
So simple, you'll wonder why you haven't been making them all this time.

Crafting Hope

It's one thing to craft.  It's another to craft hope - out of yarn, out of fabric, hope.  it's great.

 

 

Craft Hope is one of my favorite organizations. Over the years I've been able to participate in many different projects - Craft Hope for Haiti, scarves for foster kids,  and bracelets that made their way to Russia.

 

It was great.  Now there's a new project  (project 16 to be specific).  Beanies and Bags!  

Can you knit, crochet, sew?  If so Craft Hope is spear heading the collection of beanies for children undergoing cancer treatment and pillowcase sized "overnight" bags for their trips to the hospital.

For more information (where to send everything, when to send it by) take a look at Craft Hope's Littlest Warrior post.

Ok.......GO!

 -- check out some of my past 'do good' posts here --

 

*Don't forget to visit me over at The BackLoop

A New Rug for You | The Back Loop

via www.thebackloop.com

What do you think? I'm planning on adding another 2 rounds.

4 feet across is my goal.

3 weeks in

Did you make any new years' resolutions? We're 3 weeks into 2012 - how's it going?

 

 

Light box | The Back Loop

via www.thebackloop.com

If you regularly take photos of anything smaller than a newborn baby you should check this out.

jungjung

via www.jungjung.jp

seriously? amazing.

Pride

When was the last time you were this proud of yourself?

 

Little Mr. just finished that dinosaur puzzle pretty much by himself.

Thumbs up indeed.

Crochet doily rug

 

yup...

 

I'm pretty proud.

 

OK - full disclosure.  I'm not actually FINISHED, finished. I only need about 3 more yards.

So if I want to make another rug like this I'll have to remember that I need 203 yards of cording - that's awkward.

I might be hooked on XL crochet for a while, but not exclusively. I mean I don't see this being a very viable commuting project. I've gotten pretty good and knitting and crocheting while standing on BART but I think a rug might be doing a little bit too much - even for me.

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The holidays are coming, the holidays are coming!!

    When you hand make many of your gifts that's about how it feels - a date that suddenly looms dangerously close.

But I have a plan this year - I'm starting with  the gifts that need to be sent the farthest - so to my NY folks be excited - be very excited ;)

Almost done!

I'm this close to finishing the first of my secret projects. Everything should be complete, and beautiful, and photographed (with my real camera - not just my phone) this week.

In the meantime...

Don't let the grandma-doilyness of the photo fool you. The cropped areas are hiding a big surprise.

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In other news, as the little Mr and Ms get older I'm being drawn more and more to the idea of house rules. Here are some of my favorites:

 

from: http://danielandbrittneydye.blogspot.com/2010/12/house-rules.html

 

from: Cool Wall Art

The final line in this one is "If it doesn't concern you, don't mess with it"

from: The Print Boutique

 

What do you think about house rule as a poster? Do you have written rules in your house?

Secret Projects

I'm working on three Top Secret projects right now.

 

Do you want a peek?

...

...

 

and....

 

 

and then there's this...

 

tee hee hee

 

Little Curly

via ellaparry.blogspot.com

How have I not posted about Little Curly on here before?!

These are my favorite, favorite illustrations right now.

I seriously want to plaster an entire wall with these adorable images.

You should take a look too - she just opened up her very own shop.

Stay-cation

If you've been following this blog for a while you know that, despite being a bit of a shutter bug, Mr. Man and I are rarely in front of the camera at the same time. It's entirely possible that the picture below is the first one we've taken with just the two of us since Valentines dinner - last year.  Before I was even pregnant with my now 9 month old.

We both took some time off of work, to recharge, do some things around the house, have a few meals, finish a few sentences.  We did it up, true stay-cation style.

yea - this guy is my favorite

 

 

 

Little Brown Bread | Cook Republic

via www.cookrepublic.com

This is, quite possibly, the most adorable store about baking bread - ever.

What's old is new again

First a question for anyone who's ever been a vendor anywhere - How do you feel about people taking pictures of your booth; of a specific item in our booth? There is a story behind this question but I'd love your input first.

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One of my favorite things to do/places to go is the Alameda Antiques Faire that happens the first sunday of each month - weather permitting.

I don't go every month, with a full time job, a family, a sizable yard, simpletruths of course, and a myriad of other things - you can imagine that weekends are quite precious.

I did manage to head out at the crack of crack the first sunday of Oct (no seriously, it was still dark).  I took some great pictures..

Seriously, these guys had this awesome M*A*S*H* era jeep for sale.

 

Should I be excited about clothes pins?

 

When my little ones are older, and we have a house with a room or even a corner just for reading, andI have time to read. One day I'm gonna buy myself an awesome chair

 

Anyone need a cutting board?

(ok -one more)

 

Buckets were everywhere.  Which is awesome for me because, as weird as it sounds, I love buckets. This wooden one was one of my favorites.

Well, hello there!

I've finally taken my head from out of hole I'd stuck it in.  Have you ever gotten so sucked in my social media, by the constant cataloging of your 'likes' and who you're 'following'....not to mention creating circles and pins...that you just need to step away from all of it? 

that's what I did. just for a little bit.  I checked out of the online world.

What was I doing over here in my other world? Sifting through sand, shoveling rocks, making funny faces, throwing sticks at the feral cats that poop by my front door, dreaming of getting a dog. All the normal stuff - but with less multi-tasking.

 

 

 

 

I also spent some time just thinking, writing, figuring and sketching. New designs, new ideas, streamlining, expanding, new names...so many ideas.

 

suffice it to say - I'm ready to rock and roll!

Sleeves for the whole family

Over the last few weeks I've been making more cup sleeves (always fun), and I realized that I actually always have 2 or 3 in constant rotation.

 

So in the shop I have a new listing for the Family Pack

 

One of the reasons I usually have at least 2 in my purse at all times is because they're actually really useful for my Little Mr. also. We like Jamba juice - especially now that they have those fruit and veggie smoothies. Inevitably the cup will be too cold for his hands.  I pop one of these puppies on his cup and I've instantly avoided several minutes of brain numbing whining about hands that may or may not be FREEZING, and a napkin that's "not working" or "keeps falling off."

 

It's the little things in life right?

 

So the new listing is for 3 coffee cup sleeves (although, clearly there's no need to relegate them solely to the coffee realm), and combinations of solid or multi-colored sleeves.

 

 

keeping it local

We've been busy bees around here hopping from one summer activity to the next. One of my favorites so far has been going out to a small local airport, seeing a few REAL Tuskegee Airmen and getting to see some awesome propeller planes up close and personal.

 

 

Little Mr's favorite part of the event was the bouncy house and running into his older cousin while we were there.

  (these two little guys are going to take over the world - as soon as they figure out which shoe goes on which foot.)

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Crafty News:

I'm still working on my next tutorial video 

And don't forget, craft night is this Thursday.  For those of you not in the Bay Area I'll be posting pictures of the craft night fun and a tutorial on the scalloped bracelets that we'll be working on.

Knitted Bean Bag

via zilalila.com

Yes please :)

One thing I want to have in my home one day is a reading corner, reading nook, even a reading window bench.

Much of this assumes that I will, at some point in my life, actually have time to read a book again. Until then I'm fine with reading Sing Along Song over, and over, and over (and OVER) again.

Also, I've ALWAYS wanted a bean bag chair. ALWAYS. It awakens some small part of me who is still 8 years old in my strawberry shortcake laden room (I'm talking sheets, blankets, pillow case, curtains, toy box, record player and PJs - complete with red bonnet - oh yea).

Anyhow - I still want a bean bag chair but I've long since gotten over the desire for the bright blue or green pleather-type balls of mush.

But this, this I could see in my house.

 

I might even let the kids sit on it too.

 

Anyhow, if anyone makes a trip out to The Neatherlands......