Japanese Knitting/Crochet Books

I found another wonderful aquisition at my local Saver's store. A bunch of knitting and crochet books. The only problem is, some of them are Ondori books, which are printed in Japanese. I love some of the designs in these, but have absolute no idea how to translate them, or have them translated. I will be posting a pic of them later (my stupid camera battery died), but if anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please let me know. I'd really like to make some of these designs.

Quick Post about Spring

I know I've been slacking off on my blogging, and it's my own fault. I need to set aside some time for my blog. But lately, it's been very difficult to find time. Every time I sit down at my computer, a timer goes off, the dryer beeps, my son needs help, it starts raining, the phone rings. . . .it never ends.

Another thing that I have discovered about spring is that sales have stopped. Not dropped off, stopped. No one is buying anything. It does get quite depressing. Even with my new love for bead crochet, playing with those glass beads of liquid color, and seeing the beauty of the project emerge as I create it, nope, I still feel down.

I know it's just a phase, and it will pass, but I hope sooner than later.

Wow, does time fly!

I just looked and realized it's been almost 2 weeks since I've last posted! I never did get the rest of my stash treasure find I got at my local Saver's store. Well, here are more pics:

Some incredibly wonderful yarns. I might use some of them for hats, which I feel a design pull to start creating some. I love hats. I love to wear funky, sparkly hats. I have a favorite I was given as a gift, which I will post at a later time, but I'd love to create a similar one, maybe with more glitz and glam. Onto more yarn stash enhancements:

My Newest design up on Ravelry

This is my newest facecloth/washcloth design freshly put up on Ravelry. Thermal Washcloth is a quick and easy pattern that I enjoyed creating. I hope you like it!

Incredible stash find!

I went to my local Saver's store (similar to Salvation Army Store) and found a HUGE plethora of wonderful yarn at amazingly low prices! This post is full of pictures which do not show the beauty of these yarns. I don't even know what half of them are, there are no tags, but the ones with tags, I definitely recognized, like Koigu and Dreams in Color and J Knits, just to name a few. You never know when you are going to find a gem in these stores! Now, onto the pics!

Wow there's more pictures than I originally thought! I'll have to post the rest tomorrow! LOL

A few book reviews

OK, here they are as promised: The Beaded Edge by Midori Nishida and Crochet Jewelry by Sophie Britton.

This is a fantastic book about crocheted, beaded edging and trims. What great ideas in here. The instructions are well written and the pictures are beautiful. Definitely something to consider adding to my library of books. I can see adding beaded edgings to lots of my knitted items!

And Crochet Jewelry is a lovely book with great instructions on actually beading and crocheting jewelry (like the title didn't give it away, right?)

The necklaces and earrings depicted in this book are to die for. Great looks, and very direct instructions.

These books, plus a few others, have inspired me to pick up my crochet hooks again, as you could have told from my previous post with the orange bracelet. I do love both these books, but alas, I cannot have everything I want do to money contraints. I'm going to have to renew them again, I guess... hehehe.

Phew, it's amazing how time flies!

Well, I haven't posted here in a while. I can't believe its been over a week, though! Well, anyways, first things first. What I've been working on. I'm starting to dabble in a little bit of crochet jewelry. Here is my first test, in worsted weight yarn.

As you can see, it's very basic, but I do intend on embellishing it. With beads. I *love* beads! and it will have a button closure. My second project is for a baby's pacifier bag. I saw some at TJMaxx and thought they were the cutest things! Inspired me to see if I could knit some of those cuties! Here is a test sample, not sure how I like it though.

It's not doing what I want it to, so I'll probably rip it back and start it over. Well, that's all for now! I have to go vote! I'll be posting 2 book reviews tomorrow.