Happy Holidays!

It doesn't feel like winter here today (our norm is 37 degrees F, today our high is 52 degrees), but I'm still getting in the holiday spirit. I still have shopping to do, eep!

As for crafting, there are a couple things I would like to get done for Christmas, but I'm not willing to craft myself to death to accomplish them, so we'll see what I can finish in a nice, leisurely way before then. :-)

Last month I made...

These cute crochet charm bracelets:

Some polymer clay buttons:

This cactus wall-hanging:

And some handmade soap and jewelry that I failed to capture in picture form. Foolish me! We'll see if I can snap a pic the next time I'm at Emma Rae's, the store where all of the jewelry is currently located, and the next time I'm home, where the soap is currently located.

I'm currently craft dabbling in the best way- I've got a cross-stitch WIP, a weaving WIP, and the yarn and needles for a pillow that are all being carried around in my craft bag. I hope to show you at least a couple of these by next month!

Stay warm, stay cozy, and stay happy! Happy crafting!

Tardy!

I am so sorry for my tardiness! The end of October was very busy, and then November didn't get off to any better of a start! I've been running ragged getting things done at my "real" job (darn real life getting in the way of my crafting time!) and the blog has just gone by the wayside. I'm here to remedy that!

In October I...

Finished knitting and assembling this cute flower pin:

Crocheted this dainty necklace for a beautiful fused-glass pendant:

Crocheted this tiny "horn" as a gag gift for a friend:

Spun up some recycled silk/wool blend yarn:

And continued working on the giant afghan I have currently on the hook. So much time on one item!!

I'm currently turning my attention towards Christmas presents, although I am going to make very few this year. My goal is to buy as many presents as possible on Etsy from other sellers. I need to support my fellow craftsperson!

What do you have on the needles or hook right now? Maybe you're weaving something amazing? Tell me about it! It's show and tell time! I want to hear about your crafty adventures.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I WILL be back here in no more than a couple weeks, I will!!

Happy crafting!

Leaves and pumpkins and ghosties, oh my!

Last weekend was the Pumpkin Festival, and it was a great experience! It was a little chilly and quite windy, which meant we couldn't display some things the way we really wanted to, but we were pleased with the turnout considering the conditions. We made money, and that's what counts, right?! :-)

On to the monthly wrap-up for September:

I made this colorful cotton dishcloth- $5 gets this beauty sent to you!

I made this neat wet-felted necklace for a class at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. So cool!

I knitted this hat from shiny red and black eyelash yarn to wear for the local school's football games. Go team!

I crocheted this reflective ear warmer- it can be yours for the low price of $15! Great for walking/jogging in the early morning or evenings.

I finger-knit this pretty braided scarf that can be sent your way ASAP for $15.

I finally finished knitting this cute monster for a friend. It's a bit tardy, I planned to give it to her in March, didn't start it until May, and didn't finish it until last week! Didn't it turn out cute?!

I started knitting a flower brooch, but I didn't finish by the end of the month. I got it done early this week, but you'll have to wait til November to see it's finished form! The petals were adorable and not nearly as much of a pain to sew together as I thought they would be. :-)

That's all for now. I made three contacts that I got excited about at the Pumpkin Festival, but I'll save that tale for another day.

Happy Crafting!

September Brings...Showers?

Most of September has been dry here, but it POURED last night and is supposed to tonight again. Sounds like some good weather to hunker down in your house and craft!

Lots of exciting things have happened in the last month! First of all, school started and life went back to being crazy-hectic. I love my job, but I am sure tired at the end of the day!

Then we went to the Midwest Old Thresher's Reunion the first weekend of September and spent our time looking at antiques, crafts, and horses. A few of those crafts may have made it back to my place at the end of the weekend.... :-)

Last weekend was the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival and I LOVED IT! Each year we spend the weekend learning new skills and catching up with friends that we really only see once a year, and it is always a blast. I got together with many of my Ravelry friends and I took two cool classes. On Saturday I learned how to spin using a Navajo spindle. I spun a bulky Navajo Churro singles that is 20 yards, and I started another bulky yarn. Hopefully you'll get to see the finished product in this month's wrap-up in a couple weeks! On Sunday I took a class on wet-felting necklaces. Using just roving, a bead, water, and soap, I made a beautiful necklace that I'm wearing right this second. Pictures will be in the monthly wrap-up soon.

Speaking of monthly wrap-ups...I never did August!! I didn't finish a single craft in August. I spent some time hand-quilting, knitting, and crocheting, but I just worked on WIPs and I didn't actually finish any of them. I'm such a bum. :-)

We have an event coming up in two weeks! On October 3rd my town is having a Pumpkin Festival complete with craft sale, and FuzzyDorff Creations will have a booth! If you find yourself in my neck of the woods, come on over and check us out! We will have many original crafts including crocheting, knitting, and quilting, plus we will have a selection of our antiques and auction finds. You're sure to find something great!

We hope to see you there!

Until then, happy crafting!

Back to School is Upon Us

Hello everyone! The end of the summer has been so busy for me. I've been working on getting my classroom set up for the school year, teaching summer lessons, updating the business Twitter account, and keeping our booth at Emma Rae's full of crafts and antiques. I've been suffering from a loss of crafting mojo- I just haven't felt like crafting anything lately. I'm sure that as the weather gets cooler I'll be more excited to climb under a pile of yarn.

I only crafted two things last month- I continued working on my crochet colorwork mittens and I made these cute mitts with my new peg loom:

I call them Mohawk arm warmers. I love how they turned out!

In blog news, I really want to get into putting craft tutorials up. I need ideas for some, though. What past projects have I made that you would enjoy seeing again in tutorial form? Please comment and I will deliver!

Happy crafting!

Happy July, with a sad twist.

It's July! Warmth, fruity drinks, relaxing by the pool, and spending time with friends. All wonderful things. Unfortunately, my parents' barn partially collapsed in a storm a couple weeks ago, so I spent a couple hours this past weekend helping to clean up some mess and sort through items before they have to tear the rest of it down. It was built over a century ago by an ancestor, so it's hard to see it go.

Goodbye, old friend. :-(

After helping out for a couple hours on Saturday and Sunday, we headed home only to find that one of our angora rabbits had died. She was six years old, which is getting up there for angora rabbits, but I was still surprised. Her appetite had decreased, but she was still eating pellets and hay, gobbling down treats whenever they were offered, and having regular "bathroom habits".

Bye sweetie. :-(

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Okay, on to happier things!

June was a slower craft month for me, but I got a couple things finished:

Two fabric flower pins, perfect for adorning bags and coats. The first is made using fabric that has sugar skulls on it, the second is some leftover floral fabric I had on hand.

I also finished a patriotic ruffle scarf:

I also made a nine woven squares that will become plaid people. You'll have to wait until they are finished to see the pictures!

Besides that, I spent the month working on some stranded colorwork mittens and running around like a chicken with my head cut off. How is it that my summer always ends up just as busy as my school year?

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @fuzzydorff and PLEASE like the new Facebook page titled "Fuzzy Dorff Creations".

Happy crafting!

Crafting for Charity

I have been making preemie baby hats for the last couple of months whenever the mood would strike me. Last week I mailed off five to The Preemie Project, based in Coralville, Iowa, and I received a lovely note back from them. Check it out on our Facebook page or Twitter. If you find yourself inspired to craft, but don't know what you would do with the finished product, please consider charity! There is a list of some charities here. Check them out!

Happy crafting!

It's Summer!

School is out for the summer, and I am throwing myself into the Fuzzy Dorff Creations business head first! I have been crafting, updating Etsy, starting a Twitter page and a Facebook page, checking in and restocking the booth at Emma Rae's, and planning lots of cool new crafts. It's like a full time job! Now if only I could make enough money to live off of.... :-)

I put up this sign at the booth yesterday when I went in to restock:

I need to make business cards to put in the booth. I'll have to put that in the plan for the next couple days. We got our first paycheck from Emma Rae's yesterday! It certainly wasn't a lot, but it was more than we paid for our first partial-month's rent, so we'll take it! Anything in the black is a win in our books.

It's about time for the May wrap-up!

I crocheted this reflective ear warmer (it's up on Etsy):

I finished weaving and sewing together this scarf I made on the Zoom Loom:

I weaved this scarf for a dear friend that is battling cancer:

And I started three projects-

This knitted toy monster:

These crocheted colorwork mittens:

And these knitted colorwork mitts:

I have a lot of crafting to get done this month! I've made a couple fabric flower pins already, plus I have more fabric cut out and several knitting/crochet projects I want to make for the shop.

Happy crafting!

We Have a "Store"!

We have opened a booth at Emma Rae's Antiques and Uniques in De Witt, Iowa! The booth was built by my amazingly handy father and stocked by myself and my crafty mother. Come visit it! We've got homemade crafts by myself and my mother as well as antique dishes, books, baskets, and more! There are 35 vendors at Emma Rae's, so there are lots of shopping opportunities!

We're on Twitter now!

Check us out on Twitter!

@fuzzydorff

I post what I'm up to craft-wise and I'll include updates on the business. See you there!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

April was very busy! I had very little time for crafting, so I'm afraid I only have one FO (finished object) to share:

This isn't even the real FO! I made this same hat with the same kind of yarn, but in yellow. One of my friends had a little girl in April and I whipped up a quick little yellow hat that looked exactly like this and mailed it off before I remembered I hadn't taken a picture! Bummer! I'm hoping for baby pictures with her wearing the hat in the near future. :-)


I also worked on a Zoom Loom scarf which will be finished up in the near future, I continued work on my long-time WIP shawl,

I continued work on my naalbinding rug,

and I started a pair of stranded colorwork crochet mittens.

So, crafting happened, but finishing was very rare last month.

Tune in later this month! I hope that I will have a very exciting announcement about FuzzyDorff Creations!

Happy crafting!

Intentions....

I intended to write a lovely post about origami during the last week of March. Whoops.

Real life has gotten really busy lately! I am busy prepping for a big event at work, but I've stolen a couple quick minutes to write this.

Quick, the March monthly wrap-up!

I made this slouchy crochet hat:

I loom-knit these pretty cabled socks (my dog approves of them):

And I finished this long-time WIP, a giant felted bag:

I was so busy that I really didn't do any more than that all month!

I have spent this month mostly planning, working on WIPs, and sketching up some ideas for original designs. I will definitely share them with you if I can figure out how to make them work and whip up a sample!

Alright, back to the real world. Keep crafting!

Craft Month Projects Post 2

So this is a bit of a "What Not To Do" post, by accident.

I wanted to select a project that would be quick and would celebrate spring. When looking through a craft store for inspiration I saw some decorative mesh and thought, "Why not a mesh wreath for Easter!"

You're about to find out "why not".

I wanted to make something that looked like this, but using a foam wreath base and floral (greenery) pins.

I picked up an instructional brochure at the craft store, some pretty colored mesh, and the pins.

Monday night I sat down to make this. It seemed so easy! Just gather the mesh every 8-10 inches, pin it down 2 inches from the last pin, continue until covered. It took about 20 minutes from start to finish. Sooo easy!

Right.

This is what I got:

It was really easy to make! Unfortunately, I just happen to hate it. I don't know if I picked a bad color of mesh or if I should have pinned it together closer (I followed the directions, honest!), but I hate how it turned out. I'm going to leave it together for a while because I hate doing the work for nothing, but I think after Easter I'll pull it apart and do something different with the materials.

So, here is my actual recommendation for what to do for craft week:

Make a mixed-media collage!

I haven't made mine yet, but what I plan to do is start with a chunk of cardboard and just start hot-glueing interesting objects to it, like pictures, drawings, bits of lace, an old key, some fabric, etc. Here is a Google image search of some neat collages from which you can take inspiration.

Share your projects with me in the comments! Maybe you decided to celebrate this week of craft month in a completely different way. That's great, please share your ideas! We all need a little inspiration! Plus I would love to share it on here and credit you (plus link your website/store/etc.) so I hope to hear from you!

Craft Month Projects Post 1

Okay, Craft Month Projects, here we go! This week my recommendations for two quick and fun craft projects are as follows:

Have a bit of fabric and a sewing machine? Make the Easiest Pillow Ever from howtosew.com

I made one of these on the first day of National Craft Month last year, and it took me about half an hour and just a 1/2 yard of fabric. You can make a whole set in one afternoon! Here is mine:

Have a bit of yarn laying around? Make a finger knit skinny scarf!

In one afternoon I made three 80" lengths of finger knitting and braided them together to make a braided skinny scarf. I used all one kind of yarn (and it was only about half a skein), but you could try using multiple colors for added colorful fun! Here is mine:

If you make one of these projects, please let me know! I'd love to see your projects. You can comment on this blog post or email me at fuzzydorffcreations@gmail.com

Tune in next Sunday for another couple of projects!

It's National Craft Month!

It's National Craft Month!

How are YOU going to celebrate? Here is an article I found that I thought offered some good ideas.

As for me, I'm going to try to offer some fun ideas on here each week. I'm off to brainstorm right now- check back later this week for some fun and easy ideas to celebrate crafting!

(Check out this Google image search for fun signs of celebration!)

Think Spring Wrap-Up

Oh please, please, please let spring arrive soon! I'm actually a big fan of snow, but at this point we are looking at another winter storm here in a couple of days, and all I can think about are warm, sunny afternoons out playing with the dog. I'm also ready for some warm weather crafts, like dyeing yarn (and hanging it outside to dry), repainting furniture (there's an old table on my front porch in need of some TLC), and lacy knitted and crocheted tops. I need to daydream about those crafts to come....

But now for some crafts past:

A knitted shawl from some handspun yarn that I started in January and finished up mid-February-

A woven heart (I used the Martha Stewart loom and this tutorial to weave this- 

A locker-hooked heart wall-hanging (using old fiber from my parents' sheep)- 

A knitted Statue of Liberty cat hat- 

A sewn patchwork owl from fabric scraps- 

A fuzzy art yarn- 

A curly, beaded art yarn- 

And finally, I finished the afghan I started last fall!!

You can see it's been a busy month! I also currently have a pair of socks and a felted bag in the works. 

I've been buying tons of craft magazines lately and just absorbing the beautiful pictures and inspiring ideas. Many different things are brewing in my head right now...I hope that at least half of them get to come to fruition! My day job is really getting in the way of my crafting time, you know? :-)

Happy crafting!