My first yo-yo's

I wimped out and bought my yo-yo's pre-made from someone on Ebay. But for $15.00 I got 110 yo-yo's of all different colors and styles. They're awesome. I put them in a variety of different groupings based on colors and came up with this one as my first project.



The best part was my friends reaction. She LOVED it!!! She took off the necklace that she wore into the office today and replaced it with the new yo-yo necklace. Then she bounced off to show everyone her new necklace. Yeah....I guess it was a hit.

I can hardly wait to make more.

Chemo hats for a friend.

One of my best friends told me that her Mom has Stage 4 lung cancer. She's going in for her first chemo treatment today and with the cocktail they're going to give her, she'll probably lose all of her hair immedietly.

Well...I may not be a doctor and I can't be there to hold her hand, but I can do what I can do best. I can create something that might bring a smile to her face.

I researched chemo caps and what women have said works best. Hats with very soft yarn, no seams, and no wool. I actually went to a "real" yarn store and bought alpaca yarn. It's a beatiful shade of terra cotta and I paired it with a Silky yarn of pale yellow. Then I bought more of the silky yarn in a couple of other colors. All together I made 4 hats this weekend. I found a great pattern on Ravely.com and found it to be very easy and versitle.

My friend loved the hats and couldn't believe that I didn't sell them. Well...we'll see.

YoYo's - on the horizon

Here is the next project I'd like to take on. I think these are beautiful and I'd love to make them sometime soon. However, right now I'm in the middle of another crochet blanket. Maybe when I'm done with the blanket I'll move on to this.

Baby iris card

I made another iris folding card. This one is for a baby shower - she knows she's having a boy.

In preparing for the Grandma Shower for my friend I started to think that maybe I needed to make a baby blanket for her. But the shower was only two weeks away and the last blanket I made (see previous pic) took me almost 6 months. I knew I had to do a quick blanket so I started piling through the old pattern books. I found a blanket that was pretty and looked quick. It's made with a P sized hook and double yarn. I'm almost embarrased to say that the blanket only took about 3 days to make...but it's beautiful.

I was also wanted to frame the iris card folded invitation that I made for my friend. The invitations took a long time to make but they turned out adorable. I framed one for my friend to add to the the baby's room.

Breast Cancer awareness necklace

* originally posted 1/5/10 on another blog

Sometimes you just never know when you’re going to find something in common with a stranger.
I went to Costco to get a new pair of glasses and started chatting with the optician. Found out we have some cool things in common (friend, vacation spots, etc.) We also have a desire to find a cure for breast cancer.

I told her that Mark and I participate in the Breast Cancer 3-Day in San Diego and mentioned some of our fundraising efforts. One of those fundraising ideas, from a coule of years ago, are breast cancer awareness necklaces that I make. Each bead on the necklace represents the size lump that might be found if you are… or are not…doing monthly self exams and getting regular mammograms.




I’m proud to be a part of such an amazing event. If you’d like more information go to http://www.thebreastcancer3day.org/ Or, if anyone EVER happens to read this blog and you’d like a necklace, send me an email and I’l be mor than happy to send you one. I sell them for $5.00 (while supplies last). carrielaine@rocketmail.com

* orignially posted 1/5/10 on another blog

Another thing I started this year (2009) was doing some kitchen gifts. I got an amazing recipe for spaghetti sauce from a freind. After eating about half dozen of her jars of sauce I thought it best that I just ask for the recipe and attempt to make my own.
I planted tomatoes last summer and none of them ripened. Oh well, better luck next year. Since I didn’t have my own to work with I bought the 10 lbs of roma tomatoes and set out making the worlds best spaghetti sauce. YUM! it turned out amazing and I’ve been giving it as gifts this holiday season.

I also found a recipe for jalapeno jelly. I remember in high school my step Mom used to have this on hand and it was pretty darn good. I jumped into making this for gifts too and low and behold…it turned out great! I’ve now had to make two batches because it was so well received that I gave away my whole first batch.

The final holiday kitchen gift was something that I grew up calling “Smuckers Mustard”. Long story behind the name, but it’s homemade mustard from a woman who used to live in Hood River. My step-Mom had the recipe and sent it to me. It’s better than I remember and now Mark may never buy store bought mustard again.