And more shoes! 

 

Well, I've been hard at work getting ready for the winter craft fairs, Hats and scarves and mitts - oh my.  More on those later.  

Here are the latest shoes:

Vampires and Bats

Wicked!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

All of my shoes are available in my Etsy Shop

Please follow me on Instagram

 So....Painted Shoes......

I've been working hard on a new enterprise. As usually happens, it started out as a simple thought.  My daughter and I both wanted Doctor Who shoes and the rest is history.  As soon as I started painting - the ideas just kept coming!  Here are a selection of what I've done so far.  They are all available through my Etsy shop and my Website

Most Children's styles will be done on a Lace Up Blank, Adult Sizes on a slip on (unless otherwise noted.

 

Here are some of the Sports Teams I've done so far.  I can do just about any team and any sport, High School, College or Professional.  As long as I have access to the team logo!

 I've done tons of characters from TV, Comic Books and Movies 

Mickey and Minnie Mouse

A few Movies

Star Wars

 

For the Kids - or Not

 

Doctor Who

 

Comic Heros

 Video Games

I've only done one Band so far:

The Grateful Dead on Tie Dye

 

And...finally - A few with original artwork!

 

 

Just a few more chainmaille pieces to share

Wanted to post these and let you know that they're currently on sale in my Mother's Day Sale album on Facebook until May 10th.

Viper Scale Bracelets - $24.00

 

 

 

 

 

Anodized Aluminum and Titanium

Rainbow Barrel Bracelet $18.00

Anodized Aluminum

Captured Ring Choker $45.00

Anodized Aluminum

Caged Black Pearls $15.00

Anodized Aluminum and Swarovski Pearls

Caged Black Pearls $15.00 

Anodized Aluminum and Swarovski Pearls

Helm and Byzantine Choker $50.00

Anodized Aluminum and Czech Glass Beads

So...I found this pattern ......

Well, it wasn't really a pattern, it was more like a picture with basic instructions - all in Spanish and I don't read or speak Spanish unfortunately.  I really should have paid more attention in school.  I didn't think I would ever need algebra either...ooops.  So, here I am with a seriously retro/Boho tank top that I want to make and only a picture to work from.  Here is what I did.  

Using a sport weight cotton and a G hook, I made 4 plain old granny squares.  They are 7 rounds each (8.5" wide - 10" on the diagonal.

When they were completed. I sewed them together corner to corner, creating a tube of sorts.

Added straps using SC (9.5" 41 rows of 8 stitches)  I attached the strap on the back side with slip stitches.

I continued a ripple stitched for _____ rows making it _____inches long.  (you can keep going and make a dress or swimsuit cover up if you want!)

Here it is after 4 rows:

 

After 14 rows:

and viola - a Retro/Boho tank top!

I did a round of Picot stitch around the bottom

A few new Chain Maille Pieces

I have a few new pieces up for sale - right now they are only available through my Facebook page, but I hope to have them in my Etsy Shop by the weekend.

Oriental 12 in 1Chain Maille Rainbow cuff bracelet

Caged Beads Chain Maille Bracelet

Caged Pearls Chain Maille Earrings

Helm and Byzantine weave Chain Maille Bracelet

Caged Beads Chain Maille Earrings - pick your color

Oriental 12 in 2 Chain Maille Necklace

Scale Maille Flower pendant on woven cord

Caged Pearls Chain Maille Necklace

Peter Pan Collar Chain Maille Necklace in Oriental 12 in 1

Linked Byzantine Wave Chain Maille Bracelet

Caged Beads Chain Maille Bracelet

Caged Beads Chain Maille Necklace

Caged Beads Chain Maille Bracelet

Elfin Style Caged Pearl Earrings

Sock Drama - continues!

So, it's official, I'm addicted to making socks.  I'm still working on getting a better toe, so here is the plan - I'm going to try working from the center out.  These socks are for a friend for Christmas - so you won't be seeing this until after she does...but you can follow along on the journey as it goes.

So, her foot is somewhere abound a size 10 - 11.  Since I can't very well ask her to measure her feet for me, I'm using the chart from My Jewel Thief Knitting Blog.  I'm going for a size 11.  The chart says the heel to toe measurement should be 8 3/4" and the toe should be 2". This will make the foot from toe to heel turn 10 3/4"  I make my medium socks 45 stitches around and decided that adding 5 stitches should do the job.  I chained 50 and carefully joined it, then I began doing rounds of 50 Extended single crochets.  Here it is after 10 rows.  The sock is worked inside out - so this is the wrong side.  When I get the right length, I'll take another pic of the right side.

 

I'm using a Susan Bates D hook with Deborah Norville Serenity Sock Weight yarn in Teal Tease. The Heel, Toe and ribbed top will be done in Deborah Norville Serenity Sock Weight yarn in sky blue. 

Here is the completed foot (the maroon thread running through is just a marker for the beginning of the rounds).  There are a total of 41 rounds including the chain and first round - moving on to the toe and heel now.  The toe will be a series of decreases and the heel will be done with the short row technique.  I'll try to remember to get pics of the process.  It's really quite simple once you get the hang of it.   I'll be starting with 27 stitches and each row, you leave the last stitch unworked.  When I get down to 16 stitches, I'll reverse the process and increase back up to the 27 original stitches while working down to the previous row to pick up the unworked stitch with a SC and a slip stitch for reinforcement.  

I've started the toe with 1 SC in each stitch.  I put a marker in at the 25th stitch and the 50th stitch.  Every other row I'm doing a decrease before and after the marker for a total of 4 decreases in every even row.

 

After the 11th row, I'll slip stitched the opening together, tie off and weave in the threads. 

 

Now, onto the heel.  I'll be doing the short row technique.  I'm going to start with 27 SC in this sock and continue working back and forth reducing each row by not working the last stitch in each row until I get down to 17 stitches.

First Few Rows

 

Decreases done (15 stitches left)

Starting increases and working in the unworked stitch from the row below

The heel will start to curl up

Halfway through the heel turn

Heel turn completed

From here, I do 1 row of HDC to rejoin the heel to the foot of the sock and close the gap by stitching 3 together in the gap and start the petite shell stitch.  (sc,ch3,sc into same stitch skip a stitch and repeat and join).  After the initial 'set up' round of petite shell, it's a sc, ch3, sc into each ch3.

after 1 round of HDC, Petite shell 'set up round and 1 round of petite shell

 

18 rounds of petite shell completed

After the 18th round of petite shell, I did 1 round of DC followed by 6 rounds of FP/BP ribbing

 Completed sock (though I might do 2 more rows of ribbing using the contrasting color to pull the whole thing together.

 Yeah - I decided to do the last 2 rows of ribbing and I'm glad I did!