2008's Tree Quilt

Every year I make a Tree quilt around the holidays. I thought I'd share the most recent one. Maybe someday I'll actually get pictures of all of them!
This is a small wallhanging that measures just about 22" square.

What a Year!!!!

It's been a year since I've written. I hope you don't feel neglected! I'm another year older and it's official... I am NOT going to have another birthday... EVER! That being said... time to catch up.

My high school is planning the 20 year reunion. I missed the last one(s) they had. I guess I got lost from their radar... all the moving I did after high school. It's going to be interesting to see what everyone is doing after all this time!


I'm still running the quilting sew-a-thons on the first Sunday of the month- for charity. Crystal Kini Designs has taken off. Check out my website with all the belly dancer goodies that I make and sell. I've missed a bunch of belly dancing classes recently so I'm vowing to get back into the swing of things. I quit smoking--- St. Patty's day will be 2 months since my last cigarette!

I'm sad to say that I haven't had much time to loom knit - which is why you haven't seen much of me. This blog became very much about my loom knitting!

So... I'm not making any promises... but maybe that will change a bit. In the meantime, check out some quilts! Some of them were made or designed by me for my charity quilt group -TheSew Fine Quilters or they may have been made by myself or the quilters of my quilt-making business -QuiltMasters. Enjoy!

First photo... I designed the Greek Key design of the quilt for the sew-a-thon... but BJ truly made it her own! She used the frogs from the fabric as an inspiration for the appliques!
QuiltMasters...
My daughter holds up the Quilt made of the baby clothes of our customers 7 children!




















Mom and I hold up a quilt we made for Andrea- she designed it for a class in her Master's Degree program! We heard her teachers liked it!



















QuiltMasters quilt - A kind hubby had this quilt made for his wife for the holidays last year... it included photos of the family as well as Pandas... her favorite animals. Sweet, huh?

Mama got a new sword!

My hubby was so sweet to get this beautiful sword for me. We went out to Fig Cafe for my birthday and that's when he gave it to me. Behind me you can see some of my friends who came to enjoy the evening too! Another friend was dancing there that night-and it was her birthday too!
I love the way this sword balances on my head! It's a Baledi sword. I have been practicing belly dancing with it... I think it's a great way to remember that you have to keep your head straight! If you don't, it falls! Even though it's not super sharp... it can definitely cut and stab!


The best part was when I put it on my head... there were a bunch of people sitting across from us... about 10 feet away. They casually looked my way when I opened it. Then went back to their conversations. When I put it on my head they all took a double take. You could see their mouths dropping. It was too funny!

I'm not one to be the center of attention... but it was interesting to see the reactions of others. In the pic of me with the sword on my head... you can see Des' arm... she was leaning pretty far away to stay clear!

Lacy Shrug!

My latest Design! The Lacy Shrug!
If you look back in a couple of posts, you'll see when I started this. I had to modify the pattern a bit and now, it's just perfect for Lisa! She looks happy, huh?

I made this on The Red KK loom with King Tut Egyptian Cotton Yarn with the mock crochet stitch. Around the edges, I crocheted it with a cute lacy (even ruffle-y) stitch for that feminine look!

I created a pattern for this and will be teaching it locally... probably in the Doylestown, PA area. If you are interested in taking the class, please feel free to let me know. The time and date of the class hasn't been finalized yet... but I'll put it here on my blog once it's all worked out!

The cool thing about this pattern is that it seems to fit lots of people... the stitch allows for a lot of give in the fabric and only slight modifications would be needed to make the sleeves longer or shorter. It doesn't actually go around the shoulder, but lies against the shoulder. Gives you coverage, but doesn't limit your movements... exactly why my belly dancer friends like it! But, I think it would be great on anyone!
Oh, and Lisa is wearing a Crystal Kini Designs Skirt too--- I made the pointed one she's wearing! :-)

Here's a picture of the back on Lisa.




Here we have the same shrug on Frankie--- the back of her top was a little higher, and I thought the stitches are a little easier to see!

**Remember, you can always click on the pictures to see them bigger!**

My stuff for Sale!

I've put some of my handmade items on Ebay for sale! Please check them out here!
Here's a quick preview!
To the left is a pointed skirt, also known as a handkerchief skirt. This is a great skirt to wear alone or over a skirt or harem pants for bellydancing. It's also great for wearing with a fairy costume or over another skirt at the Renn Faire!

Below is a celtic belt with the triquetra design and shiny
coins and bitty bells on the trim. It's also great for bellydancing or a Renn Faire... or just for a fun look over jeans!

Hair Sticks and Falls!

I came up with this cool idea... well, I think it's cool anyway! The concept goes like this... hair sticks that have dangles... but not only that (as if that's not cool enough!). The dangles from the hair sticks are interchangeable and stackable!
Well that's how Clippy Bits was born! They are jewelry for your hair! And, they are great for everyone!
Tribal-style bellydance is all about layers and Clippy Bits work great for dancers because they can be attached to different parts of the dancers costume, bras, belts, cholis and particularly hair sticks. You can have one or as many as 6 on some sticks stacked up for that really layered look. But, honestly - everyone likes them- and wears them- you don't have to be a dancer to love jewelry for your hair!
Here's a pic of two in my hair. I'm also making some hair sticks that are straight. I'll have to get more pictures of them soon. Every stick or set is different- since I love celestial stuff, that's the style I wore for the pic!

I've also been pretty busy working on hair falls. These are dangles that hang down from your hair. But, these too can be attached to other parts of a costume- especially belts.
Here's a couple of pictures of some hair falls I've made recently. These are selling as fast as I can make them!

Mock Crochet Shrug

I know it's been awhile... I even got e-mails from some of you asking me to post. It's just been crazy, but I've been busy, busy, busy! That's a good thing, right?

Well, I've got a few pictures of things I've been working on. And, I KNOW you come here for the pictures!

I'm making this meshy shrug for a fellow bellydance student.
I started it out on the blue round Knifty Knitter loom, and tonight we did our first fitting. Well, it's too small so it's frogging for me! The pics show the shrug on the blue KK loom. But, I will be upgrading to the green one. I really don't mind frogging it, I LOVE the mock crochet stitch. It's so fun to do and it goes pretty fast!

The shrug is being made with King Tut yarn in a light minty-sage green. Is that a color? Well... it's not too mint green, and not too sage- so I think it's minty sage! :-) King Tut yarn is an Egyptian cotton yarn, and it's got a nice sheen to it- it doesn't say that it's mercerized, but it looks like it. It has a nice feel - since it's cotton, it doesn't have a lot of stretch, which is ok with this stitch on the loom. There isn't a size on it, but I'd guess it's DK or baby weight.


Here you can see that I knit the first sleeve in the round, then stopped and split it into a flat panel, then, I started knitting it in the round again. It was actually further along, but I didn't get pictures before I started frogging it. I'll take more pics when it's been redone on the red loom.

I plan to also add a crochet border to the sleeves and around the opening. I saw a cute crochet border technique on Knitty Gritty today... I'm probably going to do that.



The border goes something like this for you crocheters out there...
row 1 - sc evenly around the pice
row 2 - ch 3, skip one stitch, sc in next stitch
row 3 - In each loop that was made from row 2, 1sc, 1hdc, 1sc.
I can't wait to see how this comes out! I'll keep you posted. I might even make up a pattern for this one! (I didn't find a lacy shrug pattern on the web when I searched) The closest I found was one that Isela made- it looks very warm- but my friend wanted lacy!) IF you plan to do one of these, the blue KK loom will accommodate someone with arms that are about 10" around the biggest part. For everyone else... Stay tuned, I'll let you know how the round green KK loom works out for her!

Dear Readers...

Dear Crystal's World Readers,

Thanks for checking out my blog. Please feel free to look around and see what you can see! There are lots of links within my blog entries... so don't forget to check them out. (Anything that is underlined is a link to another site- probably something related to the subject at hand). To all of you other bloggers and website hosts who link to me, please don't be offended that I haven't added you to my links. It's just a chore I haven't gotten to yet- and frankly, I just hate to play with html.

Just an FYI- My pictures are all clickable - you can really get a close up of some of the projects when you click it. Then, you can usually make it even bigger if you click it again! Please don't mind the threads and dust when you get really close up! ;-)

I want to let everyone know that I really like getting feedback about my blog and especially about my projects. Sometimes people e-mail me with questions about a project --- and it seems everyone wants to apologize - please don't! I'm always happy to answer questions... but I warn you I can be a bit long winded--- so you might get more info than you asked for! So, long story short, ask away! And, if you have suggestions, or just want to show me what you've done with my pattern, or idea, please share that too. I absolutely love to see the way that things evolve!

Thanks for checking things out here!
~Crystal
PS... Don't you just love the knitting smiley? :-)