Elemental Stitches

Nature Fairies

Inspired by Elsa Mora's book Blossom Buddies we decided to make some Nature Fairies of our own. 

This is Esme.

Mimi

and Lela.

Then Brae made a bug

And a skirt and dress

We had a blast.  Make some fairies of your own before all the greenery is gone!

Harvest Inspiration

I found very few completed embroideries for Thanksgiving.  I am working on a pattern list of Thanksgiving embroidery patterns from around the net so look out for that in the next couple days.  Hopefully we will see some more turkeys in the days to come.

1. Autumn Wreath embroidery, 2. Tired Turkey Embroidery, 3. squirrels: the acorn fairy stitchette, 4. Hibernating Bear,

5. Brown Tumbling Leaf Embroidery, 6. hello, autumn, 7. acorn embroidery, 8. Bunny stitch along close up,

9. autumn bird, 10. hosten3, 11. The Guardian (Palomino), 12. AMBER WAVES OF GRAIN.....,

13. Wild Turkey Pillows Custom Embroidery, 14. Squirrel Friend, 15. Fall Embroidery, 16. Finished Turkey Towel

Dia de Los Muertos Sugar Skull Embroidery Complete

 

Got it finished!  I wish the pictures were a little better, but I didn't take them until this evening and the light was terrible.  I had to use a lamp to get enough light.  I love how his eyes turned out.

I figured out the teeth as soon as I finished the outline of the mouth.  It was an "duh, of course" moment.  Tom didnt like how I had the nose on the original pattern and I have to agree after stitching it.  I am making a couple of changes to the pattern.  It will be posted on flickr in the next day or so.  I chose the same bright colors that you would see on a real sugar skull.  I had the opportunity of decorating a great Day of the Dead altar last year with some friends so I had lots of inspiration. 

Isn't that the coolest bread!  Those are supposed to be bones crossed on the top.  Its a Mexican bread traditional on Dia de los Muertos.

The photo is me in 8th grade with my dad who passed away in 2005.

Hope you all have a happy and safe Halloween!

Fall, Mail, Yarn, Projects

There is a lot of crafting going on at Chez Melissa.  The leaves are falling, a chill is in the air and a severe weather alert is in the forecast.  70 mile per hour Northern winds are scheduled for Tuesday evening.  These seasonal changes have caused my insides to scream for cozy yarns.  I forecast lots of knitting in my blog's future.  Today I was thrilled when I received this.

My Christmas Knitpicks order.  I have a lot of knitting to do this Christmas season!  Here is my favorite.

This beautiful hand painted sock yarn will become a pair of socks for me.  I can't wait to get started on them, but I wont let myself begin until I finish the green pair of socks.   Speaking of unfinished projects, I have a pile of them I am trying to complete.  Today I worked on hemming pants, sewing potholders, and I finished a quilt top that I haven't worked on in years.

These are some Christmas gifts that are almost complete.  Below is another that I am really happy with so far.  It an owl cable hat.  I need another ball of yarn to finish it.  I thought I ordered another ball in this shipment from Knitpicks but it looks like I forgot to order it.  I guess I will have to make another Knitpicks order now.  Oh darn!

There was also a little crafty instruction going on.  She embroidered for a good half hour.

What did you do this weekend?

Free Dia De Los Muertos Sugar Skull Embroidery Pattern

I love Halloween!  I was looking for a good sugar skull embroidery pattern and I came across a couple good ones like

Urban Threads Skull Pattern

Jenny Harts Day of the Dead Pattern

Marygold Sugar Skull Pattern by Polka and Bloom

However in the end I decided to make one myself.  Tom and I stayed up until 2 am the other night working on it.  We had so much fun!  I haven't had time to embroider a sample, but I wanted to get it out early enough for others to try.  I am going to try it out this week and will post when its finished.  I am a little concerned with how the mouth is going to turn out.  My plan is to fill in all the black areas around the teeth and leave the teeth white.  I might even make one gold! 

I am still working on the owl embroidery.  I ran out of brown thread for the branches so its back to JoAnns.

New Wool to Play With

This weekend I had to catch 2 trains and a bus with a daughter and suitcase in tow to pick up Tom in Central CA.  I thought he wasnt going to need help but apparently I was wrong. 

Anyway, while I was there I convinced him to visit an adorable town called Solvang.  It is a little town that is themed like a danish village.  It is a great place to visit if you are ever in the Santa Barbara area.  Its a 40 minute drive North of Santa Barbara.  Plan to spend the day there. 

I have been to Solvang a few times but this trip had to be quick since we were supposed to be packing up.  The last time I went I tried to go to a cute boutique called Village Spinning and Weaving, but they were closed on Tuesdays and it was Tuesday.

This time I made sure we went on a Monday.  The store has beautiful yarns and lots of roving in many colors.  There are books and free patterns throughout the store.  If you are ever in Solvang be sure to stop by.  They are at 425 Alisal Rd.

You want to see the goods I bought, yes?

Scrumptiously beautiful wool; 4oz for $8.50.  Yes that is all I bought.  I am still on a tight budget here!  I was drooling over a beautiful hand dyed wool yarn but it was $14.  An ouch on my yarn budget.  Oh and the loom for $149.  The loom almost went home with me except that I need a new pair of running shoes and some clothes.  Not a loom.  There is always next time.

Brae's comment, "It feels like clouds, Mom!"

Owl Embroidery is in Progress

My big embroidery project right now is my owls.  I adapted this pattern from a coloring book page designed by sappymoosetree on flickr.  She has allowed people to use her design for derivative work so you can find this pattern here.  Its adorable! 

I am using little buttons for the eyes.  My button collection is still in boxes so I had to do with spare shirt buttons from my sewing drawer.  They worked out pretty well.

The craft fair this past weekend was a disappointment.  I knitted a bunch of hats for it so those are going to be listed in my shop in the next few weeks.  I just finished a cute cable hat and now I want to try this one.  I saw this adorable hat at Target today.  I took a picture so I can remember what it looks like.

Target also has some beautiful knitted scarves and hats with cables.  It looks like cables are "in" this year.  This morning it was 40 degrees F!  I had to grab a blanket when I got out of bed!  I am loving this Autumn weather, is it feeling like Fall where you live?

Fall Knitting

Happy Fall Equinox everyone!  I LOVE Autumn!  It doesn't look like Autumn here in the desert.  The leaves are still green and the desert floor is its normal parched self.  What has changed is the temperatures.  This morning I was woken up by the cold air blowing through my bedroom window.  It smelled faintly of clouds, sagebrush and creosote.  Did you ever notice that each season has a scent?  The scent of the air is the first change I notice.  I love it!

Anyway, these are the fingerless mitts that I was talking about. I think I am instinctively nesting for winter.  Normally at this time of year I am cleaning my house from top to bottom, getting the winter blankets out of storage, changing to fall/winter decor... but I have had to alter my routines this year due to our move.  I just cant wait until we find out where Tom's winter contract will be.  Then we can finally pick a house to live in.  I can feel it coming soon! 

I am doing a Celtic braid motif that I got from 1000 Great Knitting Motifs.  It is the most challenging knitting project I have taken on so far.  I am keeping these for me.

I finished some more baby and toddler hats.  What doesn't sell will be put in my Elemental Stitches Shop.

This last one still needs a tassel on the end of the "tail".

I think a cable hat is next for today.  Until Tomorrow!

Gratitude and Disappointments

I hate when things don't turn out the way they were planned.  We had to cancel our trip to the vineyard at the very last minute due to a stupid technicality.  We were so bummed.  We returned to my moms and spent the rest of the week there celebrating my brother's birthday, helping my sister move to her new Riverside apartment, and cleaning up my moms property.  The brighter side of this disappointment is that Tom is coming home a week early.  Brae and I will (hopefully!) be traveling up there next Sunday to bring him and 5 falcons home!

I was able to save the hat I was working on.  Thank you for your tips.  I wasn't able to pick up the stitches until I ripped back to a stockinette only row.  Then I was able to fix it.  Since I made so many changes to the original pattern I am going to post the new one.  I will have a pic of the new hat to go with it.  I should have that done by next week.

I am going to a local craft fair this weekend and sharing a booth with some friends of mine.  I took a break from my newest embroidery project and I have been knitting all weekend to prepare.  I decided to sell some photo prints and all the baby hats that I have been knitting.  Hopefully I will have some good sales!

I also started on a pair of fair isle fingerless mitts for myself.  The fair isle pattern I chose is a little challenging, but I am having fun with it.  Its not a project that I can knit mindlessly.  I have to pay attention or I am going to find myself frogging again.

I will have pics of everything I am working on in the next day or so. 

A Knitted Newborn Hat

I wish this little hat was on a live model.  It would look so cute on a newborn.  You would be able to see the pattern & the holes would be stretched out if it was on a little head.  Maybe I can borrow someones cute baby girl for a photo shoot.  This hat was originally meant for my mom, but after a gross miscalculation on gauge it wont even fit my daughter.  So its going to the gifting box.  Or maybe the Elemental Stitches Shop.  I haven't put much of anything in the new shop yet.  It was set up to sell the stuff that I made that I didn't want to keep, but nothing has made it in there yet. 

The original pattern is one of Soulemama's patterns, you can find the pattern here.  I ended up changing the original pattern.  The middle rows are supposed to be purled, but after the first pattern repeat I couldn't purl anymore.  Purling hurts my fingers and my knitting gets really tight when I purl.  I have tried to purl looser, but it doesn't usually work.  I have some injuries in my hands that purling aggravates as well.  So after the first repeat I switched to knit stitches instead of purling stitches.  Currently I am working on a larger version, for my mom, with all the purl stitches changed to knit stitches.  Its a fun hat to knit and very easy for a beginning knitter.  Give it a try!

I might be heading to the vineyard tomorrow to visit Tom.  If I am not around for a few days then that is where I am.