Dawg Hoodie Continuation, and a little Chainmaille

Sorry for the delay in posting. I haven't really felt like blogging lately because I haven't really done anything worth post about. No tatting. Still. I think I over did the tatting with the bookmarks. I'll get back to it eventually. A few weeks ago I ordered a few new tatting books from Bestitched that should hopefully arrive this week. Both books are full of bookmark patterns. I'm still crocheting my Dawg hoodie, which I will get to soon. I've also done a bit of chainmaille. A sale (finally!!) got me back in the mood recently. I have a bunch of stuff that needs to be listed, but I can't seem to get photos I deem decent enough to use. Maybe I'm being too picky, but metal is so hard to photograph. Anyway I'll show a photo of one maille project too.

I finished the front of the hoodie a few days after I last posted. Here it is:

I'm hoping it's the same size as the back. I checked several times while making it and when it was done, but I won't know for sure until I sew them together. I won't go into much detail. The yarn and pattern source are in the previous post. You can use the "yarn" and "crochet dude" tags to find the other post(s) and related ones. I started the first sleeve shortly after the front was done. It took me a good week to make it. Mainly because I spent hardly any time on it until yesterday. Coincidentally, I finished crocheting the sleeve yesterday as well.

Nothing real fancy here. I made the sleeve shorter than what the pattern says. I found the ones on my last Dawg hoodie much too long, and I don't like that. I started the second sleeve early this afternoon. I'm going to pop in a Blu-ray disc in the player soon and watch a movie, so I should be able to get a good chunk done tonight. I'll have to go to bed early tonight since I get to/have to work tomorrow. In case you're not aware tomorrow is a stat holiday. It goes by different names in many provinces, but here in Saskatchewan the holiday is referred to as Civic Holiday. So everyone who gets tomorrow off, enjoy! At least I get to spend most of the day with air conditioning.

Finally, I'll show you the chainmaille piece I was working on yesterday (I had a fairly productive day yesterday, it seems):

This came about from a suggestion I received some time ago. A triagular shaped Dragonscale pendant. It turned out to be narrower than I expected. It's about 2 3/4 inches long by about 1 1/4 inches wide. I might expand the pendant upwards by a few rows, though it'll look more like a upside down house rather than a triangle. What do you think? I used some yellow brass rings for the larger rings; these are a "special edition" ring, so to speak, that my supplier had leftovers of from a custom order. The lavender rings are kinda new. My main supplier is changing anodizing methods of their aluminum that results in shiny coloured rings. Beside the pendant, I also made several Bicubix Blocks earrings. While I have been offering customization of earrings and such, I have been wondering if I should make a bunch of earrings with different colours and offer them for sale too. I'll try it with a few pairs and see.

That's about it for now. I plan on getting the final sleeve done for my hoodie. Then I get to assemble it. I do want to get stuff listed on Etsy to this week. It can't sell if it's not listed. You never know, I might even get some tatting done. It could happen! Till next time.

It Started With a Pocket....

Sounds interesting, doesn't it? Anyway, I had hoped to post earlier this week, but with it being rather hot here, I turned the computer off late in the afternoon and kept it off until the next morning. Anyway, I haven't done much tatting, still. I got my Handy Hands order last Thursday; I'll share more on that later. Except for a little chainmaille, I have been spending most of my time on a crochet project. And that brings me to the pocket.

I mentioned a post or two ago that I had finally received some yarn that I ordered. Instead of putting it away like I should have, I left the yarn out after taking it out of its box. I could almost hear it calling me. I figured I could crochet just the pocket of The Crochet Dude's Dawg Hoodie, from his super awesome Designs for Guys book. That way I could see how the yarn crochets up.

There. I crocheted the pocket. I know how the yarn looks. I like it! In case you are wondering, the yarn I used is Bernat Denim Style, in the colour Jordache. The yarn is a 70% acrylic, 30% cotton blend. And it is soooo soft. And I think that is what started it. I started and finished crocheting the back of the hoodie:

I couldn't help myself. This isn't the worst of it. I, are you ready for this, started working on the front of the hoodie. I know, right?! I'm so bad. I'll be done crocheting the hoodie in no time. I finished shaping the shoulders on the front while waiting for supper to cook, so I could be close to finishing it within the next day or two. You can probably figure out what I will be working on for the next week or so.

That's about it for now. I do plan on working on some tatting soon. I bought Jon's new snowflake book (which contains some very pretty patterns), and hope to tat a few of them. Perhaps with some of the new Lizbeth thread I got from Handy Hands. Till next time.

And the Winners Are.....

Well, we'll get to that in a minute. Thanks everyone for entering. Everyone who commented was entered, 36 people in total. I placed every name (and bookmark preference) in a spread sheet to keep track. It made it easier since I couldn't figure out how to add numbers to comments. I used the Random Number generator at Random.org to select three winners.


And the winners are......




Tattips who will receive the B bookmark
Robert who will receive the C bookmark
Tattingchic who will receive the A bookmark

Congratulations all three of you! Please email me at:  jeffDOThamiltonATsasktelDOTnet  with your mailing addresses. Replace the DOTs and AT with the appropriate symbols.

And for everyone else, since this has been fun, I'm sure I'll have another giveaway again. Thanks for participating. And I think I'm going to bed. Goodnight everyone!

Quick Reminder

Not sure if this is necessary, but I thought I'd remind everyone that I have a giveaway in progress. Click here for the giveaway details, and to enter. I hope to do the drawing tomorrow around 9 pm CST. Hopefully I won't be too tired after work tomorrow-I have to go in much earlier than normal. It never occurred to me when I posted last Monday, but feel free to post about the giveaway on your blogs if you wish. The more people entering, the better.

I haven't done much else last week, so I probably won't do a full post later this week. I haven't touched my tatting. I did do a little chainmaille, and may do a little more this evening. I refrained from adding new items to my shop during the postal strike/lock out. I do hope to get the new items properly photographed and listed during my days off. Finally, the last of the packages I was waiting for (mailed before the lockout) have arrived. I am so relieved that my new Pop-a-Bobbin shuttle is safe. I also received some yarn (Bernat Denimstyle) to make another of The Crochet Dude's Dawg hoodie. This project will probably wait for a while, but I now have the yarn to do it.

That's it for now. I'll hopefully be back tomorrow to announce the winners. Don't forget, if you want to enter my giveaway, you have a little over a day to do so. Till next time.

Jeff's Super Awesome Bookmark Give Away Spectacular!!

It's here! I think I'm organized enough to have my giveaway. Not completely, but enough. As I mentioned on Friday, I had been thinking about a giveaway for awhile now. I had originally planned on one large giveaway, with some tatting, chainmaille, and perhaps some thread and beads. However, recently, I thought it might be more fun to have several smaller items to giveaway. Hence, the three bookmarks I've been showing off lately. Here they are to refresh your memory:

Now that you've seen the bookmarks again, we will get to the rules of the giveaway. Don't worry, there's not many. Simply leave a comment on this post. You don't have to be a follower, or even a tatter to enter. International entries welcome. If you have a preference of which bookmark you'd like, if you win, please mention it (and maybe a second choice), otherwise I'll choose. Please make sure you leave your name too. Don't worry about an email address yet; I'll provide mine for the winners to contact me when I announce the winners. I will draw three winners randomly on Monday, July 11, 2011, around 9 pm CST. Good luck.

Happy 4th of July to my American friends!

Quick Update

Howdy. I thought I'd stop by and give you all a quick update on my planned giveaway. Due to a scheduling SNAFU at my workplace today, I ended up working a much longer shift than expected. I'm not complaining however (Double time!!!!!) but I didn't get the bookmarks blocked as planned. I do hope to do that yet tonight. I will hopefully be ready for Monday, so watch this place then. I know I haven't mentioned it till recently, but I've been thinking about and kinda planning the giveaway for months. Yeah, months. Now, where's my blocking board??

Oh,  Happy Canada Day!!!!