The Story of the Crochet Dragon

by Kelly

Long ago, in a small white house by a sinister woodland, there was a little girl who was reading The Hobbit. She spent much time lost in this book, wandering through a world full of adventure and magic and dragons.

One day, the little girl's talented and crafty aunt, who lived not far away at all, came for a visit. When she heard what the little girl was reading (for they talked often, in that house, of the books they were reading) she offered to make the girl a dragon of her very own.

The girl was startled at first, for she hadn't imagined that such a thing was possible. Then she broke into a smile and, jumping up and down a little, said, "Yes, please!"

A few months later, after many misadventures at the dragon factory, the elegant, emerald creature was ready for delivery. And one day the little girl woke up to find a fine crochet dragon waiting for her on the coffee table in the living room of the small white house.

They have never been separated since.

The end.

Well, not quite.

Meet Smaug. I named him after the dragon in Tolkien, of course.

Although he has never laid waste to anything that I know of, and, sadly, has never acquired a golden hoard to sleep on, he does have an irrepressible, goofy quality that is very endearing.

Recently, my aunt asked if I could knit something for her. I haven't seen the pattern yet, and I have the impression that this is some kind of actual garment, which will probably prove to be beyond me, but I told her that I would be happy to try.

She offered to buy the yarn, and when I said that wouldn't be necessary, she offered to pay me. I told her no, again. When she protested, I said, "Do you remember the green dragon that you made for me when I was little?"

She had no idea what I was talking about. So I asked my husband to take a picture of me and Smaug, so that I could print up a copy to give my aunt.

He humored me, of course. Love is like that.

Oh, and by the way, the kid in the story above was reading an adapted version of The Hobbit, specially edited for children. In all honesty, the full version of any Tolkien book is a bit of a slog until you get the hang of his writing style. I just mention this so that you don't hand off a copy to your little angel and expect them to thank you for it, because then you'll both be disappointed. And sorry, no, I have no idea what version I read as a child. That was a long time ago, after all!

After the Rain in a Dry Garden

by Kelly

There are about eight billion songs titled 'After the Rain' on YouTube. Queue up your favorite and take a walk in the garden with me.

Chokecherry? Black Cherry?

Soloman's Seal

Chicory

After the rain, the birds came out of hiding. I hadn't realized that they weren't singing anymore until they started again.

Speaking of wildlife, we have some seriously strange squirrels around here. There are about six or seven of them that seem to run in a pack. This pack makes a regular morning trip, a few times a week, from one bank of trees to another, at about eight in the morning when I'm hanging laundry on the line. The weird part is, they run across the yard together to do this, looking a lot like a bunch of Meerkats. They could easily travel through the tree branches to get where they're going, but they don't. I have tried a few times to get a picture of this behavior, but they're way too fast and blend perfectly into the dry, brown grass.

Their destination is a line of trees that contains a few oaks and one huge, old walnut tree. Since there is already a squirrel's nest in that walnut tree, I can only imagine that these guys are poaching in someone else's territory. And that could be why they travel together, so they can get away with this. But why do they run across the lawn? That has to be dangerous for them. Then again, the previous owners of this house never, ever had pets, so generations of squirrels have grown up here without being chased by dogs.

Things might get interesting in the fall, when all those acorns and walnuts are finally ripe. I'm hoping for a massive squirrel battle that I can record and post on YouTube to earn my fifteen minutes of Internet fame.

Anyway, enough David Attenborough type stuff. Let's hope that this little bit of rain saved some of the plants. Especially the local farmer's corn and beans. The crops have failed in the rest of Illinois, but our county still has a chance.

Singing the Blues Flower Hexagon Afghan - Finished!

by Kelly

I made half-hexagons and finished off the latest afghan. It's now for sale in our shop here.

Quick tip for anyone else who might be working on a hexagon project - make sure all your ends are sewed in before you wash it. Trust me on this one.


 And a sneak peak of another project...

This is the one that needs the homemade decoupage glue.  I'm really happy with how this one turned out - even though I had to hunt down more embroidery floss in the store.

What are you working on?

DIY Crafty Glue

by Kelly

Sometimes I see a new crafty project and fall in love immediately, but then I get turned away because of the cost of materials. Also, what if I never get around to the project? I hate to have a bunch of stuff just lying around - that's why I always finish my projects quickly. It's not because I'm especially motivated, just that I like a lot of open floor space in my home, and boxes and bins of stuff (including WIPs) take up a lot of room.

One crafty project that wooed me immediately was decoupage.

via HGTV

But decoupage seemed to require ModPodge, which was $15 a bottle, and the bottle was huge. Why, oh why, didn't they sell small samples of this product, so I could give it a try and see if I really was in love, or if this was just a crush that would fade quickly once we were actually cohabiting?

Then I found this recipe for DIY decoupage glue on do it yourself divas:

Empty one container of Elmer's glue into a storage jar. Fill the Elmer's container with water and add to the glue. Shake.

How simple is that? And just imagine the possibilities. And speaking of possibilities, the Elmer's site  also offers other crafty uses for their glue. In fact, they have a whole forum set aside just for crafters, so check out that link if you need a little inspiration, or inspiration for little ones. Note: Elmer's suggests a 3:1 glue ratio instead of 1:1, so you might want to experiment a little to see which you like best.

via Apartment Therapy

Speaking of glue, there's a similar recipe on eHow for making your own fabric stiffener. The author uses it for a felt hat, but I imagine it could be used for any kind of fabric. And best of all, the only ingredients are corn starch and water.

I have a project in the works using Elmer's decoupage that I'll share when it's done. It's something I've been working on for a while, and I'm happy that I can finally add the finishing touch, without buying a whole tub of 'maybe I'll love it' glue.

A Tisket, A Tasket, Check Out the Crafty Basket

by Kelly

Yay, I sold some things at the flea market! Here's my display basket -

I sold two of three afghans and a couple of blue bears. Colorful bears seem to be more popular than brown. Duly noted. Surprisingly the heart ornaments didn't sell at all. I thought they would be snapped up, since they're what I think of as 'Midwest crafty'.

I wonder why red yarn always appears so searing in photographs? Maybe next time I'll try using the 'red eye' remover in a photo editor.

Mixed results have to be reported, though, because my husband's beautiful dream catchers didn't sell. He was disappointed, but I love them so much I don't mind keeping them all!

Someone should really start the dreamcatcher revival. If bell bottoms can come back, so can beautiful things like this. Maybe they need to be more cold and modern, made from steel wire and dangling bits of broken glass.
Sort of the antithesis of what a dream catcher is for, and meant to catch the broken dreams of a struggling city dweller.

Do you think that would be a good platform for a modern art show?

Show and Tell - Crochet Hexagons and Dreamcatchers

by Kelly

Crochet hexagon blanket finished!

At least, I think it is. It's standard afghan size, but it's got these bevelled side edges that I'm not sold on...

 

But for now, it's done. We're going to have a free stall at a local flea market, so this will be up for sale. If no one buys it, I'll bring it home and make sixteen half hexagons to clean up the edges. I should have just enough yarn left to do that. 

Meanwhile, my talented husband has also been crafting things to sell, with grapevine harvested from our now overgrown property.

Remember dreamcatchers?

My favorites, though, are the 'all natural' ones below. Ironically, if you click the one with the blue jay feather, you'll see a real spider web behind it.

The big stick was my idea. I wanted to show people that we aren't just reselling the dream catchers, but that my husband actually made them, so if someone wanted a custom order they would know to ask. I found that branch in the yard after the windstorm and dragged it up to the porch. My husband looked a little doubtful about the whole thing, probably because the stick is like six feet tall and HEAVY, but he humoured me and wound a web on it. And now he's in love with the idea, and decided to hang all the dreamcatchers on it, which is quite clever as it makes an awesome display and also solves the problem of how to hang them up. Let's hope it draws people in!

The acorns and oak leaves were my idea too. I guess I'm just a Druid at heart. And when we went to Stonehenge (of course we've been to Stonehenge, hasn't everyone??) I did feel this deep, spiritual connection kind of thing. But then we went to the giftshop (of course there was a giftshop, this is the modern day) and bought some worthless stuff that we no longer have, and the deep spiritual connection thing turned into sticker shock.

But even though we don't have the trinkets anymore, we still have our memories, and a picture, despite the prohibition against taking pictures without express written permission. As the locals say, "Poor Stonehenge."

Anyway, wish us luck at the market!

SInging the Blues Crochet Hexagon Blanket

by Kelly

Work continues on the hexagon flower blanket...

I really like how this one is turning out. And I've put it together in such a way that I can make it longer or wider easily, if I'm not happy with the end result.
All I have to do is add more rows of hexagons, and that also means that I can use this blanket as a stash buster - provided I can find a blue yarn to make a border on the new hexagons.