Sweet Lolita and a Free Pattern

I am a closet admirer of Lolita fashions.  They aren't something I could ever get away with wearing, but I would love a world where you could see fabulous dresses like that as a matter of course.  Fortunately, my BJDs *can* get away with it, and I'm having fun making sweet little things for them.  I just put some new hair clips and a scarf in my shop.  Here's what the clips look like:

There are a few more shown in my shop, but you get the idea.


And here's the scarf: 

 

 I'd never tried the "cross stitch" before, but I adore how it looks, and I'm in love with this yarn, too.  Here's how you can make your own:

Needles: #2 (2.75mm)
Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby Little Bo Peep (or any #3 / DK yarn)

CO 7 stitches
Row 1: Slip the first stitch Kwise, *Knit into the BACK of the 2nd stitch on L needle.  Without dropping the stitch from the needle, Knit into the BACK of the 1st stitch on L needle and let both drop from L needle.*  Repeat steps between *s to end.
Row 2: Slip the 1st stitch Pwise.  *Wyif Purl into the 2nd stitch on L needle on the side NEAREST you.  Without transferring stitch, Purl into the 1st stitch on L needle on side NEAREST you, then let both drop from L needle.* Repeat steps between *s to end.

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until your scarf reaches the desired length.  Add fringe to both ends! :)

In case my description is tricky to understand, here's a good video.

Sweets for the Sweet

 

More decoden goodies are in my shop! :)

Random thoughts of the day:

~*~ Did I mention that I'm teaching Martial Arts again?  I missed teaching. :)  I've been doing it for about 2.5 years at the new place.  The 4 of us who do this style tested for blackbelt back in Feb, so now I have 2 different 1st degrees, LOL!  I'm loving this new style, as it's way better for the joints, but still has tons of power (actually, more!)  And I'm still playing soccer.  Hooray for exercise that's so fun it feels like play, not work!

~*~ I adore the Flavia DeLuce series by Alan Bradley.  Excellent stuff! 

Decoden Madness!

OK, so there's this Japanese craft/art called Decoden that I've totally fallen in love with.  Basically, you have all the fun of super-fancy cake decoration, but it LASTS FOREVER!!!! O_O

I've decorated my share of fancy cakes over the years, let me tell you, and it's always a bit disheartening that the things take way less time to eat than they do to create.  With Decoden, you get to do fancy piping (many creatrixes, including myself, use silicone caulk - yep you heard me right!) and then stud it with sweet little cabochons and fancy jewels, sprinkle on some glitter or glass microbeads, and voilà!  To make it even more fun, you can create your own cabochons out of polymer or air-dry clays.  (OMG, Delight paper clay is so aptly named!)  I make it sound easy, and once you get the hang of it, it's not hard, but it can be time-consuming.  Fortunately, it's also really fun!  Oh, and don't even get me started on the joys of "baking" the cookie pieces with chalk pastels.  It's really exciting to see them come to life! :)

Decoden is often used to decorate storage boxes or jars, pencil cases, and cell phone covers.  I've also used the techniques I've learned to make tiny cupcake and pie pendants and magnets.  Fun!

And maybe the best part of all is that Decoden treats are sugar- and calorie-free. ^_^

So here's a tiny sampling of some of the things I've made.  They're already in my shop, and I'll be adding more as soon as I can take pics! :)