newest obsession

Are you on pinterest?

You must.

And follow me. I'll follow you.

I'm obsessed! pin pin pin pin.... everything organized into inspiration boards.

I LOVE it. It's taken the place of bookmarks, wishlists, "starred" posts in my reader... everything is now in one place. I can't tell you how happy my pinterest makes me!

Upcoming Classes

Each class I have at LA Harbor College gets better & better. I love all the ladies who've joined me and they always have great ideas for new classes. So I went ahead and submitted some class ideas to the coordinator and they were all approved!

Next semester I will be having all of the following classes:

Introductory Crochet (which I've been teaching already)
Absolutely basic class. You can come in with no knowledge of crochet at all & walk out able to make tons of basic projects!

Intermediate Crochet- Mastering the Granny Square

We'll demystify the math behind the traditional granny square and learn some variations. Then it's time to dive into many different projects and learn various ways to join & border your squares! You'll need to know how to chain, single crochet & double crochet.

Beginning Amigurumi

Your knowledge of just the single crochet will help you make lots of little friends! We'll learn shaping techniques, how to invisibly attach limbs and give them facial features full of expression and life!

Crochet Lab

By popular request, this is a class in the loosest sense of the term. Bring in a project you're working on or a pattern you'd like to tackle and I'll help you work out the kinks! I'll have some tools on hand for purchase that can make your crocheting easier, too.

If you've been in my class before and don't see your class idea above, let me know! I've decided to just dive into the whole teaching thing because I really love it.

If you teach and have any ideas you'd like to share, PLEASE do so in the comments! I've got several classes under my belt at this point, but I always want to improve my teaching techniques.

Magic Queue Ball

I happily participated in the Magic Yarn Ball Swap again on Ravelry. I was paired up with the coolest girl in school, who happens to live in New York.

Here's the ball all wrapped up:

And this is the lovely card that came with it:

(I love Dia de los Muertos!)

As I unwrapped it lots of amazing things came out... including milagros, which totally tickled me. These two little ornaments are already up with my mom's display of calaveras.

And everything all together (including some AMAZING Jade Sapphire Silk Cashmere yarn that I can't wait to use!)

If you're on Ravelry, I highly recommend this swap group. Everyone is great & so creative. I love getting to know all of them and always have a great time shopping for my partner.

Have you participated in any swaps? What are some of your favorite ones?

From A to Z

A few of my friends are bloggers and I happily follow their lives. I've yet to mention any of them because they are in no way related to crafting or anything I talk about here. A friend-of-a-friend, Angelina, recently started a blog with her boyfriend, Zach. This blog also has nothing to do with mine, but I wanted to mention it anyway because it was actually my best friend and I who came up with the idea!

I think Angelina did a really good job of summing up the reasons Hana & I thought they should share their journey with the world:

He’s White; I’m Black

He’s an Atheist; I’m a Christian

He’s a Democrat; I’m relatively moderate leaning toward conservative

He’s blond haired, blue eyed, and I’m dark haired dark eyed

He’s a pragmatist; I’m a romantic

OH.... and he's moving into her parents' house with her at the end of next month! It's like the makings of an off-beat sitcom. :)

I don't know Zach well but Angelina is an amazing person. She's strong, loving and very smart. I'm excited to see how she and Zach help each other grow over this change in their relationship.

So check out From A to Z if you wanted to join in on the journey!

Yarn Diet

So I had high hopes of reducing my stash in 2011. The plan was to craft only from my stash until it was at least 50% reduced, and then to only purchase yarn with a specific project in mind AND only when I was ready to start said project.

We're 3 weeks into the year and I've already failed miserably.

It started with Knit Picks. How could they release a beautiful long-repeat yarn in January? And one that had a true rainbow? I've been looking for a reasonably priced rainbow long-repeat yarn for over a year! So yes, I bought 2 skeins of KP Chroma in Prism. Oh fine, and 2 more in Lollipop. Ok fine fine... and I added 3 skeins of Andean Treasure in Heathered Fog because it's beautiful. It is now my favorite yarn ever, so that makes it worth it, right?

Then it was the swaps fault. I'm doing the Magic Yarn Ball Swap on Ravelry again. I had to purchase yarn for it so I went to Eat.Sleep.Knit. and maybe a skein of Misti Alpaca Pima Cotton & Silk jumped into the basket too.

Then... ok look. I've been lusting after Pierrot Yarns forever but shipping is too expensive. So when there's a "Lucky Bag" with an AMAZING deal on tons of their best selling yarns and it includes free shipping, how can I NOT buy it? So now I have a huge box (with 62 (!) skeins inside) coming soon.

But now... really really seriously for sure I have to stop buying yarn. Possibly for the rest of the year. I have beautiful yarns that deserve to be used! They will be used!!

Pray for me.

First Class of 2011

Check out my Classes & Events tab. I'll be teaching at LA Harbor College again this year.

For those who have taken Intro to Crochet... I am working on an intermediate & advanced course. I'm working out the details with LAHC and should have them available next semester!

Ugly Christmas Scarf

As promised, here's a picture of the Ugly Christmas Scarf. This baby got a lot of use in the two weeks leading up Christmas through New Year's Eve.

I'm wearing it here on Christmas Day, playing with the Bucky Balls I gave my cousin for Christmas. Well, I insisted I wasn't "playing" with them (because that would make me a nerd like her) but I was obsessed with getting them back into the cube shape they were packed in. It's really hard, but now that I figured it out I always have to "clean them up" if I see anyone put them down.