Here's a mosaic showing days 91-120 of my Crafting 365. It's actually gotten easier over time. And belonging to this group on Flickr has definitely contributed to how productive I have been these past 4 months.
This morning I shipped off my Bag Ladies Swap package along with my Claret Neck Warmer and the orange laptop case. I was a bit sad to see them go. At some point I need to make one of each for myself! 
I've been thinking about and working on this for some time and am thrilled with the final result. Hopefully, my customer will be also. I have only scraps of this fulled wool sweater left at this point, but created this bag as well as a couple of smaller items I blogged about earlier.
I had a great weekend. Last night my daughter and her boyfriend were here for my Chicken Lasagna (sorry I fogot to photograph it whie it was "pretty", now it's just leftovers). I got another custom order this weekend and sold four other items from my Etsy shop, including 3 copies of my Cabled Neck Warmer pattern. I'm looking into how to be able to sell it directly from Ravelry too. One of the purcahsers crochet18purple bought the pattern yesterday and already knitted her own neckwarmer and posted it on her blog along with a link to my Etsy store: http://aneedleinthehaystack-debbie.blogspot.com/
She recommended my pattern for knitters who are new to cables.
Here are a few more photos of the laptop cover. Unfortunately, I just can't get the orange color right on this, it is more of a deep brownish orange than the bright orange that shows in my photos. I did decide it was time to bring out my tripod to see if it will result in better photos. I also got some tips from a forum on Etsy on how to get a white background in Photoshop elements. So, I'll be trying that out later today.
This is a poor photo, but the color is more like the actual item:
Oh, I almost forgot. I figured out how to link to my Ravelry account to show progress bars for knitting projects I have posted there. You'll find this near the top of the blog on the right hand side. I had a progress bar before, but it was so much work trying to keep it updated, this one will automatically update when I change things on Ravelry. You'll see I only have one project, my Moderne Baby Blanket there now.
Don't you just love the colors in this gorgeous creature that was photographed by Stellaloella, one of my Flickr contacts? Sorry I skipped posting a photo of the week last week, but I think this one makes up for my omission. Seriously, I want to make a bag in these colors. Under one of her other wonderful butterly photos, Stellaloella explains, "The Butterfly House is part of the Missouri Botanical Gardens. It's an educational center with a greenhouse conservatory filled with plants and over 90 species of butterflies and moths from around the world. It's quite captivating." You should definitely check out this whole series of photos from the Butterfly House.
When you go to Stellaloella's blog at onmyseleeve.org you will find a list of places to find to find her (Etsy, flickr, etc) and this simple statement:
"i'mjusttoolazybusytoblogproperly."
I love the honesty and simplicity of that so much but I have to say that I was seriously challenged, trying to figure out how to put in that "strikeout mode" into this Blogpost.
If you go to her profile on Etsy, you'll find that she is an Etsy Admin and that she "used to have a successful pottery & handbound book shop here, prior to being hired for my dream job. Free time to make stuff is scarce these days, so the shop is closed for now."
I did check out her pottery here: and really hope she will get back into making it again.
One more thing, I didn't see any reference to the origin of her user name, Stellaloella, but the "Name Game" song from the 60's keeps running through my head when I think of that name (her real name is Lauren, by the way)....so I just have to say
Stella Stella bo bella
Banana fanna fo fella
Fe fi mo mella.... STELLA!
Now like me you won't be able to get that silly song out of your head.
Last night I worked on this. 
I was so proud of myself for figuring out a pattern for a coffee sleeve (since I didn't have one handy from Starbucks) that I totally blew it and put the embroidered design on upside down. I only realized this when I thought I had it finished and tried it on a cup. Duh! Since I haven't been able to figure how to make an upside down coffee cup look like something....I think I'd better just tear out my stitching and start again. By the way, this was one of the suggestions I got from a reader re: what to do with my scraps of orange felted sweater...I have a few other ideas too and some wool left.
Yesterday, I was featured in this lovely treasury on Etsy:
I got a call today from a freind of a friend who saw one of my sweater bags and is bringing me a wool vest she wants felted and made into a bag. It's great to have another custom order.
Finally, we've been watching Northern Exposure Season 1 on DVD this week. Last night's show was one where Joel (Dr. F) gets dumped by his girlfriend Elaine who is back in New York and Ed and Maggie try to give him "closure" by having Maggie dress up like Elaine which leads to this dialogue:
Joel: Sex should be wild. Unfettered and free. We're animals, aren't we? And, basically, we're all wolves in sheep's fur. I always wanted more. Not frequency, I am not talking about frequency; although that would have been great, too. I wanted more intensity. I wanted to be out there, outside myself, outside my skin. I wanted sex to be like robbing life out of the jaws of death!
Maggie: Wow...
Joel: Are you okay?
Maggie: Why?
Joel: Well, it's 20 below out, and you're breaking a sweat.
I didn't really watch the show much when it aired in 1991, so I can't wait to find out what happens next. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what may be developing between Joel and Elaine.
I like the idea of completely using things up...so after starting by making a Nano case and then a Moo card case and finally a laptop case out of a lovely orange felted sweater, I've been trying to decide what to do with the scraps. all I had left was a tiny bit from each arm and a piece from around the neck of the original sweater. Here's what I finished tonight, a little needle book or case. I'm still exercising my brain cells coming up with little projects for the rest of my scraps.
If you have ideas for me to use up my orange scraps, let me know.
I found myself fascinated by the challenge of creating a poem out of the 50 "knitting poetry" words provided by Knitting Daily. I actually made a much longer poem, but I can't reveal it to you since the contest rules state explicitly that poems must not be "published in any manner" prior to the completion of the contest. And I certainly wouldn't want to hurt my chances of winning. You can buy a set of magnetic poetry words for $5.95 and I may do that, but I had loads of fun just arranging my cut out paper words on my desk. And of course, I believe there were a few words they forgot to include that were needed for a really excellent poem.
Not a lot of craftiness today, it was a work day and I also played tennis this morning. However, I did manage a few rows on the MBB (Moderne Baby Blanket), starting on a Needle book, and completing one more small step on the laptop case. Slight progress on all fronts!
Noticed a couple of milestones on my Neocounter (right hand side of the blog). After many days (maybe weeks) stuck at 70 countries for visitors, I've moved up to 72. And exactly 3800 visitors as of tonight. Those stats were started at the end of November.
There's symmetry to that, Day 112 of Crafting and Day 12 of Designing. These are two of my Flickr groups and although I have kept up with crafting each day for 112 days, I can't say the same for designing. Perhaps if I could devote full time to my crafting endeavors, I would be able to design something new every day.
I made the "corn" bag in the same (larger) design as the brown bag I made earlier. I love the fabric, but my BF doesn't, so this one is going to my Etsy shop. I also finished this little card holder today:
It's a beautiful sunny, but cold day here...looks like this from my back porch:
This is what I have been working on for a few days. I made the new one (on the bottom) a couple of inches bigger and put a button closure on the top. Also, I messed around a bit with making labels from iron on transfers and ribbon today. I'm pleased with the results. These are already spoken for by folks in my office, but I will likely make more. 
Probably one of the most gratifying experiences I've had as an Etsy seller is having repeat customers. It hasn't happened that many times, but is wonderful when someone orders from me and returns based on their first experience.
That's what happened this week with Kniterella who not only revisted my shop and purchased again, but also made a custom order and called mine "one of my favorite shops". Thanks for making my day. I'm excited to start working on the laptop case she requested.
I've actually been reading the Kniterella blog for a while and enjoying the fibery goodness there.
Here are a couple of new items I made this week from the remnants I had left from making Christmas stockings. I love the design in this felted sweater, it reminds me a bit of the striped Candadian wool blankets we had as kids.
Moo Card Case
By the way, spell checker is still broken on Blogger, which brings to mind this little poem. Kindly forgive me any misspellings, I have become way too reliant on technology for checking for me:
The Spell-check Poem
I have a spelling checker;
It came with my PC.
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I can knot sea.
I've run this poem threw it;
I'm sore your please too no,
It's letter perfect in its weigh,
My checker tolled me sew.
(adapted from a poem quoted by Jack Smith in the L A Times in 1992 or 1993?)
I may have posted this photo some time back, but it seemed appropriate for today. Here's hoping you spend at least part of the day with loved ones and/or doing something you really want to do. I'm headed off to work before too long, but I''m thinking about what I might do after that.
Last night, I worked on a new idea that I don't want to reveal yet, it's a product I'm exctied about that I think has great potential. Yesterday we had a monster snow storm and today everything is covered a new coat of snow that fell late in the day or overnight. It's beautiful but I am definitely growing weary of winter.
I'll close by sharing a poem with you about love. This is a poem written by my late father and which I found published in one of his college yearbooks.
QUESTION AND ANSWER
Down by the grinding mill
With the noon whistles;
And deep beneath
The boot soles
Pounding,
Reverberating.
On a street corner,
Or in an alley,
Meeting,
"Have you met a love, lately?"
It's the only question
Worth answering,
Or asking.
"Have you met a love lately?"
On the boardwalk
Or pavement,
On the corner or the gutter,
Meeting, asking,
Demanding,
"Have you met a love lately?"
And life goes round,
The circle in the air.
All thought is fleeting,
And all consciousness.
Only the eternal asking,
Only the question.
Down by the grinding mill,
Down by the noon engines,
With the whistles
And shouting,
And the noon line,
Swarming away.
Always the question--
"Have you met a love, lately?"
-J.L.
I had so much fun making the little orange Nano case (that sold today by the way) that I had to make something else from that lovely orange wool. I sized it to fit Moo cards, but I also think it could work for lip balm. I attached a key ring, too.
Yesterday I made the second in my series of "not a plastic" bags. This one was made from a very large pair of jeans and some flannel fabric I had in my stash. It's nice and sturdy and, I think, good looking.
I'm happy to report that I've sold 8 copies of my Cabled Neck Warmer Pattern. It's now listed on Ravelry as well as Etsy. I'm known as "homemadeoriginal" on Ravelry since they would only accept 16 characters for my user name. If you are a knitter or crocheter and haven't checked out Ravelry, by all means do so. there may still be a waiting list, but it is worth the effort and wait.
Great title and colors in this Etsy Fast Treasury. Check out all the fibery goodness. My orange Nano case is getting lots of lookers, but it's still available.
Isn't this adorable...makes me wish I had one of the new Nano's because that is what it was made to fit. I had a creative urge last night after dinner and made this. It is lined with cotton knit and has a snap closure. This little case had a former life as an orange Old Navy wool sweater. I have lots of the sweater left so plan to make a few ohte items with it.
I spent most of the day today working on my Etsy shop bookkeeping. I've been putting this off for some time so I had a considerable amout of work to do...taking all my receipts and translating them onto my Etsy spreasheet. when I'm fiished, I'll have a better picture of how I did in the first year of my business. (6 months actually). I do know that I sold 63 items. I probably need one more day to get it all done before I figure my taxes for 2007. And in 2008, I've promised myself I'll keep up on this more regularly.
I almost forgot, I tested out the "not a plastic grocery bag" that I made yesterday at the store today. I thought it worked extremely well. I plan to make more but with a couple of adjustments. Keep posted and I'll elaborate as I work on version 2.
PS I hate not having spell check!
A friend sent this cute towel to me today...isn't it just darling. Seems too nice to wipe dishes with so I've just hung it on my stove handle where I can admire it.
Today, I was determined to make another cloth grocery bag, one that might be more acceptable to my BF (i.e. easy to pack). I found this great tutorial on Craftster which uses an actual plastic grocery bag as a pattern. I pretty much followed the instructions except I added buttonholes in hopes that the bag will go on the bag holder in the store. Tomorrow will be the test. There is a pocket on the front and you are supposed to be able to fold up the bag and put it in the pocket. Don't know if I made it too small or if my fabric is a bit too thick (it really wasn't heavy) but that part doesn't seem to work too well. I'm sure I can think of something to stash in the pocket (and hopefully not forget to take out when I get home).
I visited two thrift stores today. I bought about 5 or 6 wool sweaters for fulling (felting) but my all time best find, was this doll sized quilt, hand-stitched for 25 cents:
I thought about cutting it up and making it into a knitting needle roll or a bag, but I may just have to wait and see if I am getting a grandaughter this summer in which case I may keep it intact for her.
Isn't this photo from RaineydayKnitter perfect for Valentine's Day? I choose it at as my Flickr Photo of the Week. When I saw it I had a flash back to my youth. I remember being fascinated by a collection of colored pencils that were my father's. There were several hues of each color and they were in a large fold-over fabric covered box with a snap. I coveted those pencils. Eventually, they were mine and now I'm not sure what has become of them. My children used them for school projects and I fear they are no longer neatly arranged in the fancy box.
Check out Raineydayknitter's photos and blog, The Other Dolly Sister. I like this line from her blog: SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL SO MIGHT AS WELL ENJOY THE RIDE. But what is it, I wonder, about knitting bloggers and Johnny Depp?
My creative efforts the past few days have been focused on creating a couple of cases for my work colleague's Treo smartphone. Today, I came up with this one, made from a lovely soft lambswool sweater. The design is a new one for me, so it got added to my "Design a Day" collection on Flickr which now has eight photos.
Today was day 100 of my Crafting 365. I feel like I should have a party! When I was in Boise, a co-worker saw my smartphone case and asked it I would make her one in earth tones. Here is the result. the button is a special one, made from animal horn (elk?) my friend gave me. I made a cardboard "model" to the dimensions I thought her Treo was, but I need to verify it by trying it on someone's phone at work.
I also continuied knitting on my Moderne Baby Blanket. If it's sunny tomorrow, I'll try to get a progress photo to post. that will be a bit better than my airport photo yesterday.
I've sold 5 copies of my Cabled Neck Warmer pattern! I'm feeling really encouraged about that since I just listed it for the first time on February 2.
Spell check still isn't working for me on Blogger. I find myself really frustrated at having to check and recheck my posts just like we did when writing pre-spell checker. It's silly (and lazy) but it just seems to hard!
This photo by by Mine Full one of my Flickr contacts, wowed me. I was looking for a photo of something bright and cheery to chase away the winter blahs and this one did the trick. I found another I really like this week, so I'll save it for future blog post.
Mine Full has an Etsy Shop as well as a cute blog I just discovered, I encourage you to take a look.
I've had a great 24 hours. Yesterday, I finished my Cabled neck warmer pattern (version 2 with seed stitch) converted it into a two page pdf file with photos and easy to follow (I think) instructions. I had three people on Flickr inquire about the pattern before I even had it finished. This morning, I awoke to find that I'd sold my first pattern! I've relisted and will keep doing that as long as it keeps selling. Here's the "Claret" neckwarmer I finished yesterday when I was perfecting the pattern. I learned a lot too about pdf files, images, etc. in the process.
Also, this morning, I spent several hours writing my "monthly" newsletter which hasn't exactly turned out to be monthly. I wrote the first one in early November but got discouraged by the technical problems the Zookoda site was experiencing. In December, they shut down broadcasts completely in order to deal with spammers taking advantage of the site. I'm happy to report things are up and running and my February newsletter is scheduled to go in the mail (actually email) shortly.
In this edition of my newsletter I've written about new inspirations, new items in my shop, by blog, and family treasures including a family recipe for Ginger Nut Cookies. Type in your email address in the subscribe link on the right side of my blog if you'd like to receive future newsletters. This is where it says: Subscribe to my monthly email newsletter. If you missed this edition and would like it, let me know and I'll send you an individual copy. Here's a screen shot of the first section:
Last night, I got included in this treasury:
Finally, I noticed that spell check is still not working on Blogger, so please forgive me if you see any spelling errors. Have a wonderful day!
This is the start of my Moderne Baby Blanket. I had to undo the whole first seciton after I discovered some uneven spots I coudln't live with (I could hear my mother's voice reminding me that anything worth doing is worth doing well)...it was painful because it represented one whole evening of work, but this blanket will hopefully be around for a long time so want it be as perfect as I can make it. It's a gift for my first grandhild, expected in August.
I arrived home in between storms. This is the photo taken the day before I came home.
This morning we have another couple of inches of the white stuff. Picnic anyone?