We are ALL mad here....

....mad about hats, that is:

Top: Michael's Monster Hat
Bottom: Hannah's Narwhal Hat

What fun hats to be commissioned to make! I was also commissioned to make a plushie, that I finished but cannot post because it is for a gift.

Feeling so festive.

Happy Monday!

Love,
Carolyn Michelle

Regarding Vintage Dresses...

Vintage dresses: they are wonderful, right? Who doesn't love the feeling of pawing carefully through a pile of historical garments only to find the most amazing, most lovely, most stunningly-awesome dress...

And have it fit you like a glove...

And find the perfect shoes...

And find a vintage slip to wear under it...

And have a cardigan and belt in your dorm room that will match it perfectly...

And then find out that not only is it a vintage dress, but also a vintage dress made of hand-crocheted lace...

And have a boyfriend who will be graduating from Navy Basic Training on Friday October 1st which presents you with the perfect opportunity to wear aforementioned dress, shoes, cardigan, belt, and slip...

Yeah. I love that feeling.

Dress, shoes, and slip from Moxie in DeKalb, IL

In other news: I got a DeviantArt account (the-carolyn-michelle) which means I have yet another place to list my creations (in addition to flickr and Ravelry and Facebook and here and Etsy...) Yay!

Also, in case you didn't get it, Caleb graduates on Friday!!! I leave with his mother and father on Thursday night to head out to the hotel and meet up with Josh (Caleb's brother) and his wife Linda. It's gonna be an awesome time!!!!!!

YAY!

That's all there is to say: yay!

All my love,
Carolyn Michelle

Photo: Carolyn Michelle's cell phone 25th September 2010

A New Disease: Scarf-Mania

It started simply: a pattern I found on Ravelry. It was a gorgeous scarf with double-crochet cluster mesh sections...I was smitten.

I rendered the beauty in a silky yet economical medium: Caron's Simply Soft in a shimmering grey/silver. Visions of myself wearing a darling Little Black Dress and this scarf to Caleb's graduation began to dance in my head...oh the romance! Oh the love! Oh the awesomeness of wearing a beautiful scarf and being the most beautiful princess at the ball!!!!!

Reality check: I am not a princess. Nor is there a ball in my future.

I awoke from my double-crochet mesh cluster (DCMC) stupor to discover the aftermath of my episode into Crochet-Lala-Land:

1. A semi-well made grey mini shawl. The reality of my ability to follow a pattern without changing it to my own mash-up.
2. The beginnings of a salmon-pink DCMC scarf made lengthwise. This was born with watching America's Got Talent last night. I suppose in my insanity I decided Prince Poppycock should have worn one while he sang Nessum Dorma (watch me swoon).
3. A green, teal, and blue DCMC scarf also worked long-ways...but with three skeins at once. I was drawing "perfect cubes" for my Drawing 100 class. What do you expect?

I do not think health services here at NIU will know how to treat my newly acquired disease: scarf-mania. Hopefully these scarves will sell well in the Propaganda Candy Booth at the Pec Thing. If only I had some Fiber Freaks here at The Ni-You to share my woes with.

We could make a support group!!!!!


All my love,
Carolyn Michelle

Where my stitches at?

Oh...

...here they are:

Photos: 1) Kristi's Slytherin Scarf WIP;
2) The Great Granny Bag WIP; 3&4)
Sammi's Amigurumi Mudkip Plushie.


I'm loving Ravelry.
Who says you don't have time for crocheting in college?!

Anybody else having a crafty Renaissance, or is it just me?

Love,
Carolyn Michelle

Another Sale and the Saga of a Hard Fail

Well. Isn't that spiffy, hmm? Miss Zombie Deer will be headed off to her new home on Tuesday.

I was quite fond of the Zombie deer couple, as were many of my friends. If I can get some felt here to the dorm room, perhaps I'll have to make a whole woodland zombie set!

What an idea. i just need to get all my gear together...

Side Note About my Gear: The other day, I was asked by a girl down the hall to d a favor. Well, I guess it wasn't really a favor favor since she offered to pay me in food. But, anyways, Julie handed me her new ballet slippers and asked if I could stitch the straps in place for her. Apparently when you buy new ballet slippers, the elastic cross-straps arrive unattached. Who knew? So I consented, thinking, "this will take two seconds on my awesome-tastic wonder machine!" Yeah. Well, it would take two seconds on my awesome-tastic wonder machine if I had the cords with which to plug it in!!

Fail. Hard fail.

So, there I sat, stitching thick elastic ballet slipper straps by hand. It took a little longer that two seconds, let me tell you, but by the power of my calloused thumbs I got it done. Hoorah! And subsequently got money for food in return! Double hoorah!

I just noticed that this post title rhymes.
Hehe.

In other news: The crocheting-teaching party went well. Very well. I successfully taught two people (one was a boy!) to crochet twith confidence. The others who joined us (there ended up being about five or six in total) did well, but still needed some assistance from time to time.

As it is getting colder here, I am feeling the push to make hats, scarves, and mittens. College kids need them!! I need food!!

On that note, I shall tell you the moral of this post: never blog when you are hungry.

Ta-ta!
Off to the dining hall for brunch.
Love,
Carolyn Michelle

Ps: I'm on Ravelry now!! CreativeCooby

The Truth About Hats

The Truth About Hats

or

Another Reason to Send Him With a Yarn Sample

The truth about hats is that they are an excellent way to use up the random-and-totally-unmatchable skein of yarn. Hats are infinitely variable in pattern, color, shape, and size. You can whip one up in your morning classes and be wearing it by homeroom at the end of the day. Hats are basically the most practical, instant-gratification project in the history of instant-gratification projects.

The truth about this hat is that it was made with yarn. And not just any yarn, mind you: it was made with yarn that Caleb willingly offered to go to the craft store and picked up for me.

Yes ladies. I am gloating. My man went to the craft store for me.

However, the yarn I sent him off to find was not intended to end up as a hat. I was in desperate need of more yarn for Emma's Backpack and thus attempted to leave home early for Bible Study on the 21st. Keyword, attempted. Since I was late and still in need of yarn from the craft store that would be closed by the time Bible Study was over, my darling Caleb offered to go get the yarn for me. I even brought a scrap of the stuff so that an exact match was possible.

Best laid plans of mice and men: I forgot to give him the piece of yarn.

After describing the brand and color of yarn to him via text message, I had little hope of him finding the right kind. It's a very obscure shade of orange Red Heart that I'm using.

When Caleb arrived to give me a ride home, he proudly presented me with the Michael's bag containing the yarn. I peered inside and was amazed at what I saw:

The exact shade of orange I needed...

...except it was Red Heart Soft, not Super Saver.

Snap.

I smiled and said, "I think this is right! Thank you so much!"

Life lesson applied here: Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. He went into No-Man's-Land for me and that's enough. Besides, this hat is pretty darn fly, right?

That's the truth about hats.

Can I Get a Rawr?

Now, that's what I'm talking about! (Fantastic picture, no?) It's time for some seriously stripey action around here: I'm in the tiger-making business. My friend Miss Emma the Animal Lover, has commissioned a particularly interesting creation: Emma wants a crocheted tiger backpack. You know, like the cute teddy bear backpacks little kids have? Yeah, Emma wants a tiger.

At first, I was a little wary of taking on this project when the third-quarter-mass-assignment-of-papers-and-essays is about to begin. But sweet Emma was so enthusiastic about it that there was no way I could refuse.



She even drew up various patterns and possible construction ideas for the thing. Quite helpful, if you ask me.

So, here I sit, crocheting a tiger's foot while the world outside is being coated in yet another quote-on-quote snowstorm of the century.

Yeah.

Tell me it's the snowstorm of the century when I wake up for school tomorrow.


In all honesty, school should have been canceled today. The school bus that runs our route got stuck in the ditch of one of our poorly-groomed country roads. But then again, who am I to speculate? I just drive to school everyday.

In other, more lighthearted news: there were adorable mini snowmen on the roofs of several cars in the parking lot after school today, mine included. Someone must have been feeling extra festive, or something. Regardless the motive, that gesture of frosty kindness was a nice reminder that my friends are awesome.

Hehe.

Try to survive this horrrid winter storm, will you?

Yours,
Carolyn Michelle

Christmas wonderment

Christmas was full of wonder this year. It was such a joy seeing new members of my family get to participate in the traditions I have grown up with. My favorite being the annual sharing of the cheesy tates. You really can't beat something like Grandma's cheesy tates. yumyumyum. I have some cheese tate leftovers in the fridge right now. I'm thinking lunch.

I really hate to go off and list what I got for Christmas (because that's really not interesting or even polite) but I would like to tell you about one key gift: a sewing machine.

I GOT A NEW SEWING MACHINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is the best gift ever ever ever on the face of the earth ever. EVER.

You get it.

It's a Brother brand machine, Project Runway Limited Edition spiff-tacular beast of computerized stitch selection glory. Yes, glory. It even automatically adjusts the stitch length, width, and tension for me when I change the stitch. Thank God above who created such clever sewing machine engineers! I am really really stoaked about this.

Thank you bubba, Tara, and Daddy...if you guys read this. <3>

In other news, we are one day away from one HUGE explosion of creativity in the Hedgehog household. Fiber Freaks!!! I can't believe it's already here...

In case, somehow, you missed the e-mail and previous posts and would still love to join us, here's the 411:

Where: My house (directions through e-mail)

When: 11am-10pm come as you please

What: FIBER FREAKS!!! Crocheting, knitting, and sewing like madwomen (and men)

Bring: fiber of any sort, an opened mind and FOOD!

See you there?

Hope you guys are feeling as blessed and fuffilled as I am. May God guide you throught this crazy weather safely!! Have a wonderful day, enjoy your gifts :D

All my love,

Carolyn Michelle

Thanksgiving Weekend in Pictures:

Hey guys.

I've been noting how short on pictures I am in this blog. This weekend I made a special point to take lots of pictures to documant the good times had by all. Here they are!! Nothing terribly craftey this time. Like I said, I'm WAYYYY behind on listing stuff and getting stuff done and man, I don't wanna stress right now. Without further ado, the first 'This Day In Pictures' post:


November 27: Thanksgiving
This year was my family's year to go to Cousin Mary's for Thanksgiving Dinner. We had a lovely time with Grandma Kay, Grandpa Tom, Mary, Aunt Carrie, Uncle Ed, Cousin Rachael, her husband Jaben and their kids Elianna and Dylan. The food was splendid and the crocheting after dinner was just as good. Especially thanks to Elianna's entertaining antics. She's such a drama queen! Wonder where she get's THAT from. hee hee...must run in the family. Left to right: Festive place settings, bubba crocheting a pillow, Eliana telling a story, Grandma Kay in the kitchen.

November 28: My 17th Birthday & Black Friday Shopping

Grandma Beth, Tara, Bubba, Aunt Michelle and her two boys, and I all braved the stores on Black Friday. Or as Bubba calls it, Black and Blue Friday. Kohl's wasn't so bad when we went at 10 am. Got some good deals and such. After shopping we stopped at Grandma's for Turkey Day leftovers and I made myself a little Birthday Treat...candle-lit mashed potatoes. Yummmmmyyy! Left to Right: The sales, my potatoes, and making a wish.

November 29: (Today) Babysitting & Minty Hippo

This morning I woke up bright and early to go with Tara and babysit for our cousins (Rachael's kids, Elianna and Dylan) in Rockford. It was quite a blessing to have some peace and quiet while the kids napped. Plus I was a super sneak and got this cute shot:

My friends and I like to do strange, surprising, wierd celebration-type things to each other on our birthdays. I thought I had escaped my 17th unscathed but...I was wrong. This evening, about an hour ago, I was 'Belated Birthday Kidnapped' by my friends Kera and Sammi. They showed up at my house (wearing masks) and forcably escorted me to a car. They then drove me down my road, turned around, and took me home for frozen strawberry pie. Yum. My parents were in on the whole thing, of course. Earlier today, it was dubbed: Opperation Minty Hippo. Left to Right: My pie, Kera cutting my pie, and Sammi decorating my kitchen after the kidnapping.

Whew! What a weekend! Hope you guys are less tired than I am!!!

All my love,
Carolyn Michelle.

[Edit-The pics are really poorly aligned because SOMETHING is messed up. I dunno what it is. Rawr, computers.]