St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The card stock in this card is from My Favorite Things.  The middle panel is Neenah Solar White 80 lb card stock.  I stamped the grass and clover on it (from Penny Black; called So Lucky) with a pigment ink in green - either Mama Elephant or Avery Elle.  I then embossed it with clear embossing powder (from Wow!). This protected the image as I colored in the sky with distress inks (Tumbled glass and Salty Ocean).

The sentiment is from a CAS-ual Friday stamp set called Lucky.  I really like the set because it has some great sentiments for the inside of the card, as well.  It's stamped on vellum with Versifine black ink and clear embossed.  The patterned paper on the card is from this set by Authentique (called Lucky).'s

Watercoloring

I've been spending some time working on watercolor as a medium for my card making.  To delve into this technique, I signed up for the Online Card Class called Watercoloring for Cardmakers.  I've enjoyed it so far (not finished yet).

I purchased a wonderful set of watercolor that I love - the Kuretake Gansai Tambi set.  By the way, I purchased it from Ellen Hutson (link above) and found their service and delivery speed to be fantastic.

The first few days in the class were mainly focused on backgrounds and watercolor stamping, so many of my cards are from playing with those techniques.  Rather than go through all the details and supplies, I'm going to post images of the cards with maybe a few notes.

This is an old stamp I found in my collection.  

The balloons are colored with copics, but the background is watercolored.  Love this die from Simon Says Stamp.

Hero Arts stamp.  Image is watercolored.

Sentiment is embossed with white power and background is watercolored.

Images and sentiment are white embossed and background is watercolored.

Background is watercolored and sentiment was stamped with black ink once the watercolor was dry.

Heart is made of watercolor paper that has been watercolored with Distress markers.  It was then die cut with the Danish Hearts Simon Says Stamp die.

Background is watercolored.  Sentiment is a rub on from SSS February kit.

Heart is watercolored.  I think I blocked the background with rubber cement, but I'm not sure.  Image is a rub on from the SSS February Card kit.

Tenth Blogiversary

Two days late, but I want to mark the ten year anniversary of this blog.  For most of its life, it has been a knitting blog - and it still is - but a month or two ago, I expanded it to include other creative pursuits, and renamed it Sandpiper Creates.

There have been large stretches of time when it has had no new posts, but I always seem to come back to it.  I enjoy it, and I expecially like the log of projects it provides.

If you are visiting, welcome!

Note:  I'm practicing watercolor right now, so the image was water colored with some old paint I had on hand.  The happy stamp is from a Lawn Fawn set (Winter Penguins).  I bought three new brushes this weekend, and am amazed at how much a difference a good brush makes.

Snowflakes with Inlaid Die Cutting

I created this card the other night, and I like how it turned out.

The colored card stock is from My Favorite Things:

I used these dies from WPlus9 to die cut the snowflakes and the word Joy from this set from Penny Black.  The technique is called inlaid die cutting.  First, I cut the snowflakes out of Neenah Solar White 80 pound card stock.  This I arranged them on the Nightshift blue card stock the way I wanted them to look.  I replaced the paper snowflakes with the dies, and cut them out of the blue card stock.  I used the negative space of the blue card stock for the card.

I ran adhesive all along a piece of thin copy paper cut slightly smaller than the blue card stock, and then adhered it to the back of the card stock.  This meant that the snowflake "holes" had adhesive behind them.  I placed the white snowflakes into their spots, like a puzzle.  Once that was done, I cut the word Joy out of both the aqua paper (either this one or this one, I can't remember) and the blue panel.  I used a second piece of copy paper, cut larger than the word joy, applied adhesive (using a tape runner) across it, and adhered it to the back of the blue panel.  I popped in the aqua joy, and that completed the panel.

To make sure everything was well "stuck," I burnished the card panel with my bone folder.  I then adhered the panel to an A2 Neenah solar white 110 pound card base.

The sentiment inside says "Thinking of You."

I like this card because I like blue ( a whole lot) and I love how it feels once its complete.  The technique yields a smooth card - just a little bit of texture where the inlaid die cuts meet the card.

Best Fishes Anniversary Card

I made this card as an anniversary card for two friends.  I'm not sure where the idea was born, but I like it.

The stamp and die set is from Simon Says Stamp:  Keep Swimming.  The water in the bowl is stenciled with the SSS Waves stencil.  I used several blueish distressed ink pads and mini inkers.  After I used one color, I would move the stencil and add the next color.  I colored the sand die cut with shades of light brown copic markers and the bowl with two shades of neutral gray.  The greenery in the bowl and the bowl itself are stamped with Memento dew drop colors. The white dots on the fish were hand drawn with a Uniball Signo white pen.

The greeting is stamped on vellum (I seem to like that design element lately) and then the ends were adhered to the back of the front panel.  The panel itself is from the January SSS card kit ( Bazzill Glitz bling heavy weight card stock).  The table under the bowl is My Favorite Things kraft card stock and the card base is The Card Shoppe (Bazzill) jelly bean.

The heart embellishment is from My Minds Eye.

Why do I like this card?  Because it's just cute.

Be Joyful Snowman

I'm not going to post every card I make - I seem to make at least 4 or 5 a week, and I could never keep up.  But, if I make one that I particularly like, I may post it here.

I found the inspiration for this card at this link through Pinterest.  Side note:  Pinterest has been great for sparking my creativity as I make cards.  Great resource. Thanks so all who pin!

The background is done with distress inks added with a mini blender tool to Neenah solar white 80 pound card stock.  Once I was done blending, I flicked water "enhanced" with perfect pearls on the cardstock.

The snowman stamp set and dies are from Simon Says Stamp.  The Be Joyful sentiment is from the Be Joyful stamp set that was included in the November card kit from Simon Says Stamp (love that sentiment).  It is stamped on vellum and the ends are adhered to the back of the snowman panel.  The colored inks are Memento dew drop ink pads and the black ink is Versafine Onyx Black.  The snowflakes are from Simon Says Stamp (also included in a monthly kit, but I loved them so much, I ordered more).  The panel is mounted on an A2 card made from Bazzill The Card Shoppe Blueberry Sour paper.

I love his smile, and that he looks so happy.  The particular card was made at the request of my 18 year old to give to a friend, but I also made several of them and stamped Happy New Year inside to send out at the beginning of the year.

I'm still working on setting up a photography area for the cards.  I still don't have the lighting quite right.

Cleaning my Copic Markers

My husband has a saying:  A clean car is a happy car and a happy car runs better.  Applying the same philosophy to copic makers, I spent part of the day today cleaning my markers. 

As you read this, please allow this disclaimer to sink into your mind.  I am not a copic marker expert.  I am a beginner.  My advice is not worth the paper towels I used to blot the rubbing alcohol I used when I cleaned the markers.  

I used two sources to design my procedure today.  The first was Sandy Alnock's session in the Copics for Card Makers class (onlineclasses.com).  The second was from a YouTube video on the Copic in the Classroom channel.  

Why clean them?  They were icky, that's why.  All the ink that gathers in the lid and around the nib can prevent the lids from sealing well.  And, well, they look so much prettier when they are clean.

How did I clean them?  Sandy recommended using colorless blender solution.  I don't have any of that, so I followed Colleen Shann's procedure pretty closely.  I soaked the lids in 91% rubbing alcohol for a few moments in a disposable Dixie cup while I cleaned the gray plastic area around the nib with an alcohol swab.  Once that area was clean, I dried it with a paper towel.  This is where my method differed from Colleen's. She recommended a cotton ball.  I used the swab, and was very careful to keep it away from the nib. My understanding is that you don't want rubbing alcohol or fibers to touch the nib.  I would be a Bad Thing.

Once the lid had soaked long enough, I used a Q-tip to clean it, and then the other end of the Q-tip to dry the inside of the lid.  I used a papertowel to dry the outside of the lid.  If there was any ink on the body of the marker, I wiped it away with the swab.  I made sure the cap was dry before I recapped the marker (important), and then it was finished.  

Clean markers are happy markers, and I hope happy markers color better.

Christmas Cards

I have done some knitting lately, but haven't posted about it.  I will, even though it will be late.  I like having all of the projects in one place.

In the meantime, I've been card making.  I decided that I wanted to see if I could make our Christmas cards this year.  I kept it fun by playing with supplies (it should be fun, shouldn't it!?), working on several different designs.  When the time came to replicate them, I just made 4-6 of each one. 

We needed about 60 cards, and I had great fun making them.  The designs are saved on Flickr.  For those who are interested, go take a look.  I apologize that they are scans, but I haven't brought my love of photography together yet with card making. 

Ten I Am Sentences

I enjoy the Carole Knits blog.  Each Tuesday she has a blog starter called 10 on Tuesday.  I rarely participate, but the one today caught my imagination, and since the knitting blog is back up and running, I thought I would give it a try.

Carole suggests that the blogger write 10 sentences that start with the words I am.

• I am ... knitting two scarves, a pair of socks, and a shawl that may never get done.
• I am ... tired.   It's after 10:00, and at that time of night, my eyes start to get heavy.
• I am ... anxiously awaiting the movie Monument Men.  It looks like it will be good.
• I am .. not ashamed to say that the movie Frozen is one of my favorites this season.  I just loved it, and I would love to see it again.
• I am ... reading a book about team building and then will have to move to one that I need to read for church.  I would rather be reading a Nora Roberts book.
• I am ... learning how to use Photoshop.  I just finished a book about Lightroom.  After I finish Photoshop, I'm moving on to Illustrator.  As you may be able to tell...
• I am ... a new subscriber to Adobe Creative Cloud.  So fun to have access to all of these programs.
• I am ... the owner of a new iPad Air, which I am loving.  I did own an iPad 2.
• I am ... hoping to buy a Kindle Kindle Paperwhite, but the 3G version is backordered.
• I am ... a tech geek, and I don't care who knows it.

Return to Blogging

It's January of 2014, and it has been 15 months since I posted last.  My poor knitting blog.  I really
like having it, and I enjoy looking back at it, but I don't seem to find the time to keep it updated.

So, we'll try again.  I have several projects to add and to update. I will probably backdate them, but don't be fooled; they were just added.

It's been cold here, although today is like a spring day.  It you don't like the weather, stick around a while.  It will change.  Today is in the 60s; we were at -3 earlier in the week.

So, on to knit blogging.

Jenny's Scarf

Earlier this year, in the summer, I knitted a scarf.  As I was planning Christmas gifts this month, I decided to give it to my sister-in-law, who is also a knitter.  I also gave her a couple of scarf knitting patterns, some Knitpicks needles and two skeins of yarn similar to what I knit the scarf with.  I also found a yarn bowl that I included in her gifts.

Jenny's scarf was knit as follows:

Yarn:  Cascade 220 Paints, in a blue / purple colorway (#9959) called Plumtastic.  I used two skeins. I purchased the yarn from WEBS - I'm not sure if it is available any longer or not.  Good color; I like it.

Needles:  US Size 7

Pattern:  I used the Yarn Harlot's one row scarf pattern that I like so well, 38 stitches across.

Polar Bears

How about a couple of polar bears?  I knit these just for the fun of it.

Yarn:  Merino Style DK bare from Knitpicks and Wool of the Andes in coal.  I think after knitting the two bears, I have enough yarn left to knit another cub.

Needles:  US 7 interchangeables and double pointed needles

Pattern:  Polly the Polar Bear and her cub by Nicole A Davis.  I bought it from Knitpicks.  I didn't make any changes to the pattern except to go down a needle size (I think).  The pattern is clear and easy to follow.

It is strange to knit all the pieces because apart from each other, they don't really look like a bear, but once you sew them together, it starts to look more like a bear.  It isn't necessary to do a great job wiht th esewing because the felting hides all.

Felting:  I felted the polar bears in the washing machine.  Before each one was completely felted, I pulled it out, stuffed it, added the eyes and the nose and sewed the back end shut.  I then finished felting them.  The pattern has clear instructions regarding assembly and felting.

I enjoyed this pattern.  I finished the cub in one evening - quick and easy to knit.

Benny's Blanket

A couple of years ago, I knitted the Pickets Baby Blanket, for the baby of a member of our church.  This year, the family was blessed with a new addition, a little boy named Benny.  I knit another baby blanket.  This time it was the Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting.

I chose this pattern because I liked the look of the blocks.  I picked the colors because I didn't want to knit the normal baby blue blanket, but wanted something with a stronger look.  Once I finished it, I decide it reminded me of the legos my kids used to play with.

Yarn:  Knitpicks Shine Worsted

• Serrano (red) - 4 skeins
• French Blue - 5 skeins
• Dandelion (yellow) - 3 skeins
• Macaw (green) - 3 skeins
• Black - 2 skeins

Keep in mind that I always over-order yarn.  The numbers above are the number of skeins I ordered - it was more than enough.

Needles

I used a US #4 interchangeable needle from Knitpicks.  This is smaller than what the pattern calls for, but I always go down a needle size.

Pattern

The pattern is Moderne Baby Blanket from the book Mason-Dixon Knitting. Since the yarn I used was not the one from the pattern, I had to alter the number of stitches and rows to adjust the size.  Once I established the first garter stitch count for the first block, I was able to just proportionally adjust the row count for all of the other blocks.  The proportion was 14/28/42.

I also added black rows between the blocks.  I was inspired by this blanket on Ravelry.  Instead of picking up stitches with the next color, I picked up stitches with the black.  I then knit a row side row with the black, and then I started with the next color.

This was only a problem on the portions of the blanket that are intarsia. The first time that happened, I added two black stitches between two colors.  It's between the large yellow and red blocks.  The stripe is too wide.  The next time I used 1 stitch of black, which worked better.  This was the first time I have done intarsia, and I have to say that I didn't really like it.  It worked OK, and I did the twisty thing (twist the two yarns together) which prevented holes, but it slowed my knitting down too much.
 
Knitting Time:
I started in the middle of August of 2013 and finished in the middle of November of the same year.

Thoughts
The pattern was fine, and I would recommend it.  The yarn choice was good, too. The blanket was very soft and drapey.

Georgetown Farrow Rib

Another finished object.  Yippee.  This is another scarf, knit in the movies.  In the summer, I have more opportunities to go to movies, and I love to take simple knitting with me.  Scarves fit the bill!

Yarn: I brought the yarn in Alexandria at Fibre Space.  It's from Neighborhood Fiber Co., and I love love love this yarn.  It is a superwash merino, worsted weight.  The colorway is Georgetown -- all of their hand-dyed yarns are named after neighborhoods in the D.C. area.  When we were in Fibre Space, I gravitated toward this yarn.  I didn't buy it at first, because it was ANOTHER blue yarn -- I buy so much blue yarn.  But the color called to me, and we went back to the store, and I bought it.  Very glad.  It has this great weight and drape.  Love it. 

Needles: Size US 7, Knitpicks aluminum interchangeable circular needles.

Pattern: This is a farrow rib scarf, based on the advice of Lara Schmidt. Click that link -- it's a simple three stitch repeat, the same on both rows. It makes the scarf easy to knit and reversible.

All the scarves I've made, and this is the first time I've added fringe. 

End of Chart 3

This is a terrible picture.  We're on vacation.  I wanted to catch the shawl between charts 3 and 4, so I took the picture late at night in the hotel room.  This is the only one that is not too blurry.

Moving on to Chart 4.

Ten Things Blue

One of the blogs I regularly read is Carole Knits.  She routinely does a Ten on Tuesday post.  This week's post intrigued me, probably because I had just taken this picture.  She posted Ten Things that are your Favorite Color:

My favorite color is blue, and here are ten blue things:

1. The ocean, at least last night.  A storm was coming in at twilight, and it turned everything a beautiful shade of blue.  I don't know the couple walking on the beach, but I thought it made for a romantic image.
2. Yarn.  As Carole says, yarn comes in all colors, but blue is my favorite, especially when mixed with purple and green.
3. My little iPod nano.  I love this little piece of technology when I'm at the beach -- listening to lots of podcasts and books.
4. The cover on my phone -- Yep, blue.
5. My current "movie" scarf project -- that's the project I take with me to movies, so that I can knit while I watch.  The current one is knit from a yarn by an independent yarn dyer in Maryland called Neighborhood Fiber Co.  The colors are named after Washington neighborhoods -- this one is Georgetown.  Great color; great yarn (top left in this picture)
6. Our minivan -- blue, yes.
7. Vacation sky -- it has been sunny and almost cloudless -- except for last night's storm.
8. A bathroom that doesn't yet exist -- We are in the middle of planning a bathroom remodel, and I'm hoping for blue walls.
9. Shawl -- I brought one with me to the beach to use in the room.  It's this one.
10. Our dishes -- the set of dishes we use everyday is Fiestaware in a dark blue -- a West Virginia Company.

End of Chart 2

Peacock Feathers Shawl at end of Chart 2. 
Yellow line is lifeline at the end of Chart 1A.

Thoughts about Peacock Feathers

I'm moving along with my Peacock Feathers shawl. It isn't fast knitting, but it is moving along. A few things I've noticed:

The yarn I'm using is stored on a cone. I like it! It's such tiny yarn (see the single strange coming off the cone?) that I'm sure it would be a horrible mess without the cone. It is disconcerting to knit with what feels like thread, though.

In a previous post, I mentioned that I had finished Chart 1, and that I was going to try to make myself put a lifeline in. I did install the lifeline -- after Chart 1, and then a second one after Chart 1A. I am so very grateful that I did! On the fifth row of Chart 2, I noticed that I had dropped a stitch and the drop had made a giant mistake. It's laceweight with lots of yarnovers. No way I could work my way back to fix it, so I just frogged back to the lifeline and reknit the rows. It was more than easier -- it made fixing the mistake possible. Otherwise, I probably would have had to restart from scratch. I'll keep using lifelines, at least between each chart, and maybe more often when the rows get longer. (See the yellow lifeline in the picture? End of Chart 1A -- that's the very lifeline that saved the shawl.)

I love to read charts. I much prefer charts to written out instructions, but I have never had to reverse direction of decreases while working the chart backwards. It's not too bad, really. I have gotten used to it. To keep myself straight, I printed out the charts (I bought the downloadable version of the pattern) and took them to my Office Supply store to have them laminated. I am using a piece of painter's tape to keep my place on the chart as I knit each row. I used a Sharpie to mark the direction of the symbol for the knit two together decrease -- on the right of the chart for the normal direction and on the left of the chart to remind me as I go backwards. That's saving me lots of grief.

It is also a cool aspect to this pattern -- so far -- that the row number equals the stitch count to the halfway point of the shawl. So row 61 has 61 stitches to the halfway point and then 61 more stitches for the rest of the row. I think of each row in two halves, so it makes counting my stitches for accuracy easy. And believe me, I count stitches at the end of each row -- also made simple by the use of stitch markers.

It's not an easy knit, but the designer has kept it from being frustrating by very excellent instructions and charts. It makes doing something difficult a fun challenge rather than an impossible task.

Peacock Feathers, Chart 1

Moving along on the Peacock Feathers Shawl -- Chart 1 is complete.  And, wonder of wonders, the stitch count is correct.

Now if I can just convince myself to add a lifeline.

Summer Knitting

On my other blog, I sometimes use a blog post starter from RevGalBlogPals called Friday Five.  Each Friday there is a set of five questions posted that readers can answer in their blogs.  This week's question:

Please tell us five things you are doing this Summer.  Bonus? One thing you're not doing, but WANT to be doing.

I answered that question on my other blog, but I thought I could come up with a knitting answer, too:

1. Finish the pair of Pomatomus socks.  I have one done, and half of the leg of the other one done
2. Knit the peacock feathers shawl.  I have it started -- about 20 rows, but it starts with 3 stitches, so 20 rows is nothing.  This monster takes concentration.
3. I'm sure I'll be knitting some scarves.  I hope to go to lots of summer movies, and I like to take movie knitting with me.
4. Clean up my stash and get it organized.
5. Read Principles of Knitting, which I just bought for Kindle.
6. Catch up on my Interweave Knits magazines (also on my iPad).  I'm still reading the spring one.
7. Knit a red scarf for the Red Scarf Project.  I'll combine that with #3.
8. Knit a pair of socks from Knit Sock Love (I think that's it's name).  It's a Cookie A book.
9. Visit at least a couple of Local Yarn Stores (which will have to be out of town -- we don't have any here).
10. Wash and block my son's Mitred Square blanket before he goes back to school.

So that's 10 - I knew I could do this for knitting!

One thing I won't be doing that I would like to be doing?  Knitting more!