New Crafts

Wow, over five months since I last posted. I haven't been idle either, let me tell you. Although I've been really busy, I have to admit I have not done much knitting. Right now I've really been enjoying making cards and getting into scrapbooking and rubberstamping. I love it so much, in fact, that I signed up to become a Stampin Up Demonstrator. If you are curious to see what it is that I am selling, you can just browse through my Stampin Up website at http://kayleenclements.stampinup.net

Oh, I also wanted to show an update of my two beautiful daughters. I'll bet you can't tell how proud of them I am. I am also pretty proud of me as I have lost 46 pounds and am still going.


Let me show you some of the cards I've been making. I'm very much a newbie at this, so I realize that I have a great deal to learn...but I'm having fun!!

This card was made for a secret pal that I am exchanging with through the summer.


Yep - another card going to my secret pal.


Okay, this one is definitely not my favorite, but I was playing around with some new techniques! It will probably go to my secret pal too.


A graduation card for my niece. Somebody gave me the idea of using her announcement as part of the card.


I totally took this idea from a book, can't remember which one. Don't know if you can tell, but there is vellum over the fish to look like a glass fish bowl. My calligraphy is pretty bad on this card -- but I'm working on it.


This card was made for my Mother-In-Law for Mother's Day. She loved it!


Here is another pop-up card that I made for a card swap. Can't remember which group.


Now this was a really fun card that I made for my secret pal. It closes into a little book that is tied with a ribbon.


Here is the front of the book/card.


Okay, this one is kind of silly -- but I had fun making it.


Yep, this is similar to the one above, but different. I made this for my dear friend's birthday.

Vanna's Legwarmers

I finished it! About time since the deadline for the Vanna White yarn project contest is February 1st. Luckily I was able to submit my legwarmer design by photo electronically. Technically, I have until February 1st, so I can work the other leg up to double-check my pattern. Once I know the pattern is without error, I'll post it here for anyone who would like to make it. My daughter has already claimed these so it definitely got the teenager approval.


Although I don't think you can see it clearly in the photo, what I really like about this legwarmer is that it flairs out at the foot with picot edging. I just think that's so pretty. I actually want to rework this design to move the large Fair Isle patternwork lower on the leg. Because the stitches tend to be tighter, I think having it placed right at the fullest part of the calve isn't such a great idea. If I lower it down the leg, then it won't pull so much at the buttons around the calve because the other patterns have so much more give to them.


Oh well, as a budding designer I realize that I still have oodles to learn, but I love to have something to inspire me (such as a contest) to get the creative juices flowing.

OTN: (1) The other legwarmer (of course), (2) 2nd sock, (3) short-sleeved sweater, (4) Ms. Beasley wristwarmers, (5) Beaded shawl..... and yes, I do want to start a new project!

Fetching fetching!

Well, I couldn't resist showing a pair of the fingerless gloves I made for another resident actor in my company. As you can tell, he was very excited to get them and told me he is already thinking about what to ask me to make next for him.

My leg warmer that I designed is still drying, darn it, so maybe tomorrow I can sew on the buttons and post a photo. We were told we don't have rehearsal tomorrow night (YAY), so I'll have an entire evening to knit!!!

Square Scarf

My daughter asked me to knit this particular scarf quite awhile ago. Although I finished knitting it on our way back from France this past summer, I only now sewed it together. Part of the reason is because our season at the theatre started up again and I don't have much free time. Another reason, and much bigger is that Hurricane Ike played havoc on my home and it was only until now that I was able to find it. I'm still unpacking from that mess.

It came out much longer than I thought, but she really likes it so that is all that matters. I've also finished two more pairs of Fetching fingerless gloves which I probably won't bother posting because practically everyone has seen those. The big news is that I have finally finished one of my leg warmers of my own design. I know, I'm a tease, but I can't show it yet because it is drying and blocking. I hope to be able to sew on the buttons tomorrow night and then post it. These are the leg warmers I am submitting to the Vanna White/Lion Brand yarn contest. This week will be our tech week so I may not be able to post anything until next weekend. I do have to get them photographed and e-mailed in before February 1st to be eligible for the contest though.

Another bit of news...I have begun the Methodist Hospital Liquid Meal program. I'm at the end of my second week and it is amazing how much better I feel already. I've lost (as of last Thursday -- my weigh in days) 11.6 pounds. Pretty darn good for 1-1/2 weeks. It is amazing how I am not at all hungry and I really have to watch to make sure to get in a meal about every 4 hours. I do begin to feel rather weak though if I go too long. I was really terrified of being hungry all the time but I really haven't felt much hunger at all. I'd love to hear from anyone else who is currently on, or has been on a liquid meal program.

Teaching knitting and UFOs

These past few weeks with our Australian daughter (exchange student), Katie, have been so much fun. She leaves in a little over a week and we are all dreading that fact. Apparently her sister, Gab, in Australia just learned to knit. Not to be outdone, we decided to teach Katie knitting here as well. It will be interesting to see how their techniques differ. My daughter (leaning on the left), Alex, had stopped knitting a long time ago. It was nice seeing her interested in picking up knitting again to knit along with her friend Katie.

We went to San Antonio for the weekend to visit family and also to show Katie the Riverwalk. It was beautiful, as you can see by the two beautiful girls in the photo.

Also, it felt good to pull out all my UFO's and actually finish one. I started this Harry Potter scarf a long time ago. So long in fact that I don't even remember who I started to make it for. Needless to say my husband swooped on it. I was very surprised because it just didn't seem like something he would wear, but he loves it. Now, as it doesn't get cold here very often, we will either have to wait for a cold day, or take it with us to New York the next time we go. It is knit in the round and then bound at the ends with tassels so it is double-thick and very, very warm.

This Harry Potter pattern (Griffindor) is a free pattern found at http://knit.atypically.net/scarves/hogwarts/pattern.shtml.

New Year's Socks!

I finished them! Yay! I actually meant to finish them yesterday as my last project for 2008. Obviously, I missed that deadline. But, not to be daunted, I finished them today. I have a friend that is having knee surgery so I think she might appreciate a pair of comfy homemade socks. Now, the next venture. My friend told me about the Vanna White contest that I think I'm going to enter. I purchased yarn today for it. Now, what to make? Here is the information on the contest... http://vannaschoice.com/.

I Love New York City!

I just love New York City. We took our Australian exchange student there to spend Christmas with us. For New York, the weather was pretty mild and very tolerable. Of course since there were four girls and one boy (my husband), we did a lot of shopping, a lot of theatre, and generally had a lot of fun. My husband did get to see one museum though so he was happy. From performing at TUTS here in Houston, I was lucky to meet some really great people who just happen to be performing on Broadway right now. We really enjoyed seeing Bobby Creighton play the Chef in LITTLE MERMAID. Kristyn Smith was gorgeous as the center Rockette! What a great show. And then we felt so lucky to be able to get in to see Jen Cody play a shoemaker's elf in the new musical, SHREK. Then when the girls went on their own to see WICKED, again, John and I went and saw IN THE HEIGHTS. I can clearly see why it won a Tony. It was original, fresh, awesome.

Okay, but this is a blog about knitting (or really whatever I guess I feel I want to share), so I was excited to actually get quite a bit of knitting done. I love to travel because there are airports to wait and knit in, planes to ride and knit in, cafes to sit and knit in...well, you get the picture. Of all the times I've been to New York, this is the first time I actually went to a yarn shop. Since I knew I had one day to myself, I look specifically for a yarn shop cafe and and found Knit Point Cafe in Greenwich Village. Its on Bedford Street for anyone interested and I do recommend you go and spend the day. The ladies there were very nice and inviting. You don't even have to knit to go there because it is also a cafe with some pretty tasty treats if I do say so myself. Although I had no intention of buying yarn, how could I resist when they hand dye the yarn there themselves. Beautiful yarn. So yes I brought home some delicious yarn to knit up. Once I finish them I will definitely post them. Oh, let me show you the project I finish while I was there. My leg warmers.




This legwarmer pattern is a pattern I've created myself, but I'm not totally happy with the way the pattern came out so I'm going to tweak it a bit more before I post a freebie pattern. I forgot that you have to adjust what you do when you are cabeling in the round. I created these legwarmers with my co-worker, Laura Gray, who is an incredible dancer in our company (not to mention a strong singer and lovely actress). Yeah, I hate her, she's a triple threat. No I love her to death and am designing these legwarmers with her in mind. I don't think she actually uses legwarmers when she dances, but she wears cute outfits during the day and loves to wear cowboy boots. I just think these will look really cute with the cowboy boots and so have dubbed them "La's Legwarmers". I know she'll love them even if they are not the final product.

I also knitted (and finished) one sock today (we also just flew back from NYC today). I'm really happy with the result and again, took a pattern and modified it more for my own taste. I'm getting to wear I really enjoy doing that. Anyway, I'm a nerd because I'm not going to post them until I finish the second sock. Hopefully in the next few days.