a place for learning…inspiration…originality!
I’m so sorry I haven’t been here for my customary early…or mid-week entry for that matter. I have been extremely busy, busy, busy with super scrumdidlyiscious tasey secrety surprise #2. It makes me so giddy, I feel lightheaded! 
More later…as I am not quite finished with my deadline…just wanted to pop in quick and say “Hi!”…so…”Hi!” 
Bethany~
Santa came early this year! I’ve been saving up my loomy $$ and finally have enough to get my perfect dream camera! Yippee!!!!! Now, all those close ups will actually look good. 
***Stay tuned for Tastey Secret Surprise #2…it’s a dooooooozy!!!!!!
Bethany~
These are the two jewelry projects for my classes in December…
G.o.r.g.e.o.u.s!!!
This is a fun project using a new product out there that has a wire already threaded onto ribbon for ease of beading.
Very snappy idea! 
This is a very elegant piece…one continuous strand of about a million tiny seed beads…ya, I do mean a million!!!
But, no worries!
This little number gets to make use of another wonderful product out there…
Spin N Bead Jr! This was my first time using this little gadget. The top wooden bowl spins on it’s base. You hold this hooked bead needle, threaded with your bead string, into the
bowl while you are spinning it and the beads thread themselves onto the needle! Pretty neat, huh?…Well, the concept is cool, it just wasn’t as easy as that to work…but definitely easier than threading all those tiny beads on by hand! My dequervain’s tendinitis emphatically thanks the Spin N Bead Jr!!
By the way…I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday, filled with lots of fun, family, and tastey goodness! Mine was splenderific…and I have 2 items of wonderful news discovered over the last 48 hrs that I will share with you as soon as I can! Secret surprises can can be super tastey too.
Bethany~
…for crafting cute little somethings! These little guys were created over the weekend, and I thought I’d share them with you… the pattern is located on the Freebies page. Hope you have as much fun creating these little characters as I did…maybe you’ll think up some of your own creation! If you do, please share them with me…I’d love to hear about it. :)
**Also… when you download the pattern, please leave a comment, so that I can contact you if there’s any updates on the pattern that need to be addressed…
Thanks a bunch!
Bethany~
Today, Tottie-Doll has come to visit her long time friend, Noreen-Doll, for a delicious cup of Twinnings Earl Grey tea and wonderful conversation. It has been a while since they have gotten to chat, because Tottie-Doll has just returned from an amazing journey, filled with wonders, and across many miles. She has interesting stories to share, as does Noreen-Doll. She loves to share her memories of a wonderful family she used to know, made of the elements of nature themselves. She is not sure whether these memories are real, or a curious dream of another life and land; but she cannot put them out of her mind, and so loves to share them with others.
While they enjoy each other’s company, their fingers fly as they each work on their own fibery projects: Tottie-Doll is working on an embroidered pillow to rest her travel weary head. Noreen-Doll is just casting onto her needles an idea that has been twirling around her creative little head…a special surprise for a friend. Noreen-Doll is forever thinking up fun and wondrous things, and creating them upon a whim. Most of her ideas come from the same place as those misty memories of the stories she loves to tell. Her friends are often amazingly blessed by her gifts of generosity!
Oh my!
Tottie-Doll & Noreen-Doll have talked the day away! It’s getting quite late! They bid their fond farewells, ’till next time when they can again enjoy each other’s company and sweet converstation.
PS: This is a little way of sending thanks to Noreen Crone-Findlay for her special gift, a memoir of another Tea on Sunday. My daughter Megan, helped me by sharing her sweet doll house and by helping with photography…Thanks to you too, Meggyloo!
This last Tuesday marked the 2nd day of my current college course on Loom Knitting for the Holidays. The particular project we were learning on Tuesday enabled me to teach everyone the “Garter Stitch Shortcut” tip discovered by Isela Phelps…I have realized lately that I use this shortcut ALL THE TIME! I don’t think there’s ever a time when I’m knitting a purl over a knit that I don’t employ this fantabulous tip!
If you haven’t seen Isela’s video on this subject…click here…it’s definitely worth your time to check it out, as it will save you tons of time in your knitting endeavors!
And to you, Isela…a giant THANK YOU…for all that you do to help us go one step farther in looming!
Bethany~
This is the loom knit bag I created at the Michaels Yarn Event yesterday…isn’t it pretty?! And it’s soooo easy! I have to admit, though, I didn’t follow the directions too closely because it called for the Knifty Knitter pink long loom, of which I have a project on right now, so improvises had to be made. These are the steps I used to create this fun, sporty bag…
I used the Knifty Knitter purple long loom usually sold individually, knitted 20 rows using the figure 8 style wrap with Lion Brand Woolease Thick & Quick in seagrass. I bound off by threading the working yarn onto a yarn needle and sewing through all the loops. Then I stitched the bottom and side together seamlessly using the mattress stitch. To give the top a finished look, I used a large crochet hook to single crocheted around the opening. A crocheted chain of 6 was also added to the middle back of the opening, then tacked back down to create a closure loop.
For the handle: I placed the 2 loops of the top of the bag where I wanted the handle to begin, up through the inside of the blue round loom, and onto two pegs. A 2 peg I-cord was then created to the length I liked for the finished purse. The finished end was tacked down to the other side of the opening.
I created a small tassle using 4 strands of the yarn. These were pulled through a loop on the front top of the bag, and another length of yarn was used to tie around the strands to form the tassle. The beads were a little tricky…I finally figured out that the yarn strands could be unraveled, and threaded inside a length of thin craft wire bent in half, then pulled (sometimes with the aid of pliers) through the hole of the beads. These were threaded randomly on the strands, and knots were tied to each strand end. Wah, La! So Cute!
*This little pic is a sneak peek of something NEW!!
I LOVE the colors…just like candy and chocolates! Yummy!
**Stay tuned for more info of these scrumptious somethings…
Bethany~
Just a little insider information…Zip on over to the Michaels near you for the Yarn Event tomorrow (Sunday) from 1-6pm.
Every yarn is on sale!! Those are magical words for us fiberaddicts! There will also be 5 different demos, give-aways every hour, and lots of project ideas to take home with you. For more info, click here.
Maybe I’ll see ya there!
I began my normal routine this Monday morning, when I went to one of my favorite sites and discovered that I had won a whimsical paper doll made by a Tomato!
Yes, you heard me right! Tottie the Tomato and her friends all had a virtual tea party yesterday and I was kindly invited. When I went, and posted who I’d like to invite, what I was thankful for, and what yarny thing I was working on, I was entered into a drawing to win the doll they had been creating during the tea…my name was drawn! I really can’t believe it…first I get chosen out of 95 entries to be a GAL tester…and now I win a precious, and precocious paper doll by Noreen Crone-Findlay…and on a Monday, too!
Maybe my luck is changing…that would be fantabulous!
Bethany~
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