Shoulder updates

So a short update, I am on my 2nd round of shots.  This round did show a noticeable different but the pain is coming back.  I also just restarted Physical Therapy, and it HURTS but I am hoping it will help.  I will be going back to the Ortho at the end of this month, possibly for more shots.  After a long talk with the PT, I am looking at 1 to possibly 2 years worth of work before my shoulder will be back to its peak -- which might not be the shape it was in before it was hurt (which sucks).

Good news -- I have been given the go ahead for light to moderatly light crochet work, for short periods of time.  I was told not to push or stress my shoulder/arm so I am looking at only easy basic projects.

Now that that is all said, crochet news!  I am working on a new fingerless mitt pattern, the involves a faux knit ribbed cuffs, and square 'windows' for some breathablity.  I will be working up the testing mitt but it will take me a while as I am going slow which is so hard for me. 

Share photos of your favorit projects to help cheer me up!!!!

Testing

Fur-glue drying

 Ok so I am sitting here with my heating pad cranked up on my shoulder.

Why, well because I wanted to test out my plan's.  I though only crocheting 10 stitches by 3 rows wouldn't hurt to much.  But I was wrong I guess, I didn't take into account brushing out the yarn and flat ironing it might strain my shoulder as well.

I am happy I tested it out.  I need to get a new slicker brush what I have seems to eat up and snarl 1/2 the fiber. 

So on to what I did to test my ideas on how to attach brushed yarn fur to the main body of my crochet.  I got some fabric glue, that claimed to work on multipul fabric types, and stretch with the fabric when dry.  I started by measuring out a few loops of yarn, about 10, and tying them all together and snipping the bottom to make a sort of tassel.  Which I then brushed the heck out of, and took a low head flat iron for hair and ran the brushed yarn through.  I made sure to alternate between brushing and using the flat iron till I had the fur like consultancy I was happy with.

First I took my fur and snipped 1/3 of it from the bottom making sure to hold it firm just below cutting.  Then I used some painters tape to hold that raw edge just long enough that I could add the fabric glue along the top 1/8th inch raw edge that I just cut.  I used a scrap piece of paper to smooth the glue out, moving from just below the glue pushing to the raw edge.  I let that sit long enough to firm up enough to remove it from the tape then glued it to my small swatch, upside down so when the glue was almost dry but still tacky I flipped the hair over and patted it down hiding the glue seem.

Now at this point, I was kicking myself thinking this would be a ton of work especially if I have to wait for each small strip to dry up before I can work on adding more to a project.  Thats when I rembered I still have my felting needle, just took 20 minutes of digging to find it and I was good to test out my new idea.
I chopped off some more fur, and pinned it to the top of the swatch, and went stab happy (WARNING be very careful when using a felting needle the barbs on it will make a nasty gagged rip in your finger/hand) trying to felt the fur strands to the swatch.

Now that all being said, glue was a waste of time, after it was dry I went to run my fingers through the fur only to have the strip of fur detach from the swatch with almost no force or pulling.  I tried the same with the felted, and it held up mostly, only a few strands slipped out and I think that can be chalked up to my not spending enough time felting at it.  I only had a 1 needle stabber going over this so it was easy to miss, or 1/2 felt spots.  I think felting is the way I will go but I am going to see about getting a multi needle felter when I start the Falcor project.

Oh also I decided on trying to use some sequined edging for the strip of scales that goes down his backside, I will have to sew the strip by hand but its a little less work then trying to crochet with sequins and keep a clean straight line.

The more work, and testing I do the more I realize making a Falcor will be a very time consuming and difficult project.  I know the hair alone just brushing out enough of it will take days not to mention felting it into the body.   Then there is the hand stitching needed to attach the sequins, the wire armature so he is poseable, and lastly actually writing and crocheting (testing) a pattern. 

I am thinking no one will probably buy it for the price I will be asking, because I know I will be putting a butt ton of hours into it even being a fast crocheter I expect this to take me a month to 2 months start to finish once my shoulder is back in working order that is.

Updates and stuff...

So I have seen an orthopedic doctor about my shoulder finally (well a week or so ago).  He said the soft pad between my arm bone, and shoulder bone is the issue.  Its as hard as a rock, instead of being elastic like rubber bands.  I had myself a panic attack while he gave me some shots that are suppose to help, although he did say it could take some time (ie hours/days/weeks) to show improvement.  So far I do not see any difference in range of motion or pain.
I am going back to see him again in 3 weeks, and will most likely need to get more shots.  I have been told to go easy on my shoulder movement (that was after 3 weeks of physical therapy with no improvement) so I have been doing other things like drawing that dont require the use of my shoulder. 
I really miss doing crochet, so since I cant right now I am plotting out making something for when my shoulder is working again.
This is something I was requested through a friend, but every time I try to contact the requester I always get voice mail.  Despite that this is something I am really interested in making anyways.
Yes that is a badly drawn Falcor from Neverending Story drawn by me.  Its going to be my inspiration for making the crochet version.
They way I am thinking of doing this will be very different from anything else I have done.  Falcor has scales along the spine of his back, and long fur.  So I am thinking possibly sequins along the spine for scales, and brushing out some long strands of yarn to turn into 'fur' that I will have to find some way to attach, I was thinking making locks of the fur and using fabric glue to attach it to the main body.  Before even attempting it I need to do a glue swatching, gluing 'fur' to a small swatch of crochet fabric.  Then I will see what works, what doesn't work, and what looks good of what does work.   Before getting to far into the project and finding out my plan might not work well I want to make sure its feesable.   If any of you know of a good glue that works well on acrylic yarn that drys clear or semi clear and flexible please let me know.  The other idea, sequins, I am having a hard time finding ones that I think look right, they need to be iridescent and a pale pink/peach color.  I am also struggling with should I get sequins I have to sew on indevidualy, get edging strips (I have not seen any yet I think would work) of sequins, or get sequined fabric (which would leave me with extra fabric, and the price is insane). 
That being said I hope I can get back into crocheting soon.  I will be missing out on this years ResoBox Amigurumi Exhibit, and there will most likely be no crochet Christmas gifts either.

Request

You guys might have seen this pattern floating around on Facebook, I got a request to make one. 

It took me a while working off an on (due to pain) but he is finaly finished!!

Now this is not my octo pattern, I worked it up from a photo I was given but if you guys want to make your own there is a pattern for it, for sale, over on etsy.  LilCrochetLove is the orginal pattern designer, and she even sells kits with almost everything you would need to make your own.  Since the pattern is very basic (aka beginer lvl) it should be super easy for anyone to work up.

Hey...

So I have not posted alot since April/Feb, most of that is due to the fact I have not been able to crochet.  I have finaly gotten to deal with my shoulder/arm/back issues and am hoping with the help of my PT I will be back to hooking soon.

In the mean time, what I have managed to get done, some things I bought, and a 2 week struggle to make something that should have taken me a day at worst.

 Got a set of light up rechargeable hooks off Wish.com and I can not wait to use them for something.  They have a USB charging cable that came with them, and a nice fo-leather case.  If you can not tell, there are 2 brightness settings, and 9 interchangable hook heads.  I love that the handle is chunky like an ergo handle.

 In my last post you saw the single's I was spinning from this batt, well here is the 3ply I made from the single, still have a full 4 oz on a bobbin that needs plying, and 8 oz of batt that I just dont have enough bobbins to spin which is why I ply'd some up.  Its easier to use the EEW on my arm/shoulder then crochet but I still has some pain and had to take breaks.

 Modeling by Tracey, is a project that took me 2 weeks when it should have only taken a day or two at most.  I had one of those thin print summer scarfs with a batman motif that I love but I am not a summer scarf person.  So I wanted to come up with a way to still use it, and with a little googlefoo I found some photos of people turning scarfs like mine into a light summer vest/coverup, so I just copied the photo as best I could, it was simple being a pineapple motif in a racerback style that I thought was just too cute.

If you want to try making one, find a cute motif (it will help to chart it out) and take your scarf fold it in half and thats where the mid point of the motif should hit--I made the racerback as one piece before sewing it onto the scarf.  Once I got the back stitched on, I pinnned the straps to where I could easily get the vest on/off (ok I lie... I sewed them on eyeballing it messed up and had to pull my stitches out and properly line them up) before sewing them down (the second time).

EEW

 So I have been playing with my EEW mini.  I spun about 0.5oz on the bobbin.  I think my single is far more constant then when I use my Ladybug, or it could just be I have more skill from working with the wheel so adapting to the electric wheel was not as hard.  

My only complaints are the tension, it is not adjustable so I have to crank the speed up to get it to take up, and the power cable is super short had to order a extension cable so I dont have to sit on the floor next to an outlet to spin. 

This fiber had alot of small specs of other fiber randomly through out it that where felted creating some slubs that I think will even out if I ply this up.  I still have 1.5oz of this fiber left to spin.  I am spinning from batts which is also new for me.

I also show a photo of the single with a halls cough drop (normaly people use a small coin but I use whats handy) for size.

ITS HERE

So a while back, I backed a kickstarter for a Mini Electric spinning wheel.  I will admit I did not think it would succeed but I  am more then excited about getting one!!
This wheel is TINY, and so light weight when I picked up the package I thought it was empty.  Its about the size of 2 buisness cards next to each other and as wide as one.
I have not got it spinning up yet, but I plan on trying it out tomorrow while I baby sit.  Right now I am going to try and make up a pattern for a bag to hold/travel with it in.

Some creativity.....

 So at some point between  mid December and January my crochet hook case with all my hooks (except those stuck with projects) disappeared.  So I finaly broke down and got a new set, that came with a case.  I have nothing against bright pink, but I really wanted to dress up the case so I used the soot spirit vinyl I made a while back on it.  I think once I find the Totoro I cut at the same time I will add it to the other side.

I am liking this case, I was able to slide a stitch holder pin into the tag on the case, and slide my 2 stitch counters that came with the set on the pin.  I wont loose my counter, and it will be easier to keep track of where I left off in a project, or when I am making a new one how many rows I am in.

Out side of that I have been trying to crochet a new fingerless mitt design with some lace weight yarn, and have been struggling with it.  As in I have frogged and reworked it a dozen times.  I am currently working up a ribbed band hoping this time I will like it and it will turn out.

Outside of crochet, I have made a few shirts!
I am a huge Firefly fan, so this first one is inspired by a Wash quote "I am a leaf on the wind; watch how I soar".  Its the Serenity silhouette on a leaf (suppost to look like its drifting in the wind).  This is the first project I made with foil, I love the shiny'ness of it.

This second one is a gift for my niece, I let her pick out a dragon to go onto a shirt for her.  I kind of wish I had cut the dragon a bit bigger but when I was working the design in the cricut software I didnt have the shirt yet to size it and was guesstimating.  I liked how all the small details in it worked out, she wanted shiny so I used the same gold foil.

The last shirt I did, is an other Firefly inspired design.  This one comes from one of Kaylee's favorite works 'Shiny'.   To make it more then just a shirt with wording on it, I made the
tittle a tiny Serenity, and used a font as close to the font used in the show.  I also gave it a bit of a distressed look to help match the font.

Just a quicky....

 A small project, that I could knock out quick to make me feel like I accomplished something.

These where made from the same ball of yarn, Lion Brand Mandala in Gnome, the right was started from a center pull end and the left was from the outside end.  I did it that way so I could get both mitts started with the same color.

If there is an interest I will put out the pattern for these, at the moment its just a chart I scribbled and some short hand notes.  I have been seeing mitts like these show up all over in my social media threads and thought I would give making some a try, but didnt fancy any of the patterns available that I could find.

Long time...

So I know you have not seen much from me over these winter months and I am sorry about that.  Some time in November I developed pain in my middle, ring, and pinky fingers on my dominate hand from 'excess' use aka crocheting a butt load of ami's for the ResoBox event and Christmas gifts.

I have been trying not to do much crochet, and when I do pick up a hook I make sure there is at least a day's break between picking it up again.  Right now my hand no longer hurts, but those last three fingers do feel stiff and a little clumsy when holding a hook.

Now all the said, I have been working off and on, on two projects, and fiddling with an idea for a 3rd that I did wind up scrapping.  I will start off talking about the scrapped idea.  My mom is getting married (!!!!) and I wanted to do something to help with the wedding, I am only good at a few things and my first thought was to make her a beaded shawl, I had already started on it and was about 16 inches unblocked into it (if I blocked it it would open up alot its a Solomon Knot lace) when it was pointed out that the wedding will be in June during one of my states most famous heat waves item so I nixed the project and instead helped her design her wedding invitations because I am also good with photoshop/design.

I made myself a cardigan just free handing it, worked it all in one piece (so I did not have to sew any part of it!!!).  No pattern was used but if interest in it is show I can surly write up what I did as it was a simple shell stitch almost like the granny stitch worked into a ribbed band.  To avoid sewing I croched the seams of the shoulders shut in such a way that it lead right into working the sleeves.

Besides that I am also working on a 'lantern' or 'ornament' motif blanket.  I was inspired by the shawl pattern kit written by Janie Crow (Jane Crowfoot).  My version is not nearly as intricate, as I am not using one of her kits, I am only using 6 colors instead of the 13 color pallet used in her patterns.  With my color options I can fit 5 motifs in a row with out doubling up on the last round colors (unless I am  not paying attention) so I have a excell sheet all set up with my color combos so I can try and get every combo possible before I start getting repeats.  I work 5 motifs then do a join round so I wont have motifs stacked everywhere or getting lost.  I am a little dispointed by the purple I choose its not as vibrant as the other colors.

One thing I am really excited about is not crochet related but still crafty ~~ I got a Cricut for Christmas!!  I have already made up 3 tumblers (like the yeti cups) with vinyl images.  I cut 4 more vinyls for gifts for Christmas (yes I know I opened my gift early to use it).  I just got in some HTV (heat transfer vinyl) and have already started work on making a V-day gift shirt for my husband featuring Darkwing Duck, and a Fairy Tail shirt for me!!  I am so excited to make my own designs on shirts, being a plus size gal we don't get many options and this opens up a lot of ideas.  I made a special purchase from The Rhinestone World for their Magic Foil just because of a video showing how to make an EASY distressed look (at the 20 min mark) for a design that you can do with multiple colors if you so choose.

Here you can see the 4 designs I made for my sis and brother in law.  I started with a moogle, then a very simple mage, then a Jack Skellington (a bit of a pain to weed his mouth out), and lastly a more detailed black mage.

Below that are 2 pieces I made for myself.  I did a Fairy Tail emblem for my laptop, and I made a ball of yarn with crochet hooks for my phones Otter Bot case.