I made this for superhooker in a recent swap and wanted to share the pattern here. The idea for the phrase isn't mine--it was on a different cross stitch on her wists and I have seen it on t-shirts and whatnot all around the intertubes.

I looked up actual "In Case of Emergency Brake Glass" signs and saw lots with those arrows pointing to a circle in the middle, where I guess you are supposed to aim your hammer. So... the idea for aiming at a boom box instead was born. 

I did the math to figure out how big I wanted the finished piece to be, then did the design in Photoshop really tiny, pixel by pixel, so I could upload it to knitPro to convert it to a chart.

Here is the original gif I uploaded to knitPro ...my source code, of sorts:



Feel free to do the same! Choose "big" for the grid size and 1:1 for the stitch size. I stitched it in white on red 14-count aida cloth, but you could just use whatever you've got on hand.

Please post a pic here if you decide to stitch the pattern!

Some old friends and I always exchange gifts at Christmas time. Because I have to fly to see my family for the holidays, I am usually pretty broke. This year was no exception, so I made these economical ugly sock dolls for everyone using 2 pairs of socks from the dollar store, some stuffing, and 2 packs of doll eyes I got at the craft store. 4 gifts for under $6



I gave them each names and my sisters helped me develop some little stories for them. They are, from L-R: Chris, Bruno, Zorboink the Terrible, and Francis.

I made this for a swap recently... I wasn't sure whether to post it in housewares or needlework, but I'm most excited about the embroidery I did for it, so I decided it should go here.

The pattern is from craftster user BadBird, who posted the pattern a while ago here: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=14062.msg2345939#msg2345939

I just modified the pattern a little by giving the little guy a beard and changing the height of some of the mushrooms. It's a combination of hand applique and a bunch of stitches... buttonhole, backstitch, threaded backstitch, whipped backstitch, and some jacobian fill-in method (the red mushroom) which I didn't do all that well on.

I asked my swap partner if she'd rather have a pillow or a wall-hanging, and she chose a pillow, so I quilted the outside with some vintage fabrics I had in my stash and put a really soft red fleece blend on the back. Here are some of the close-ups I took of the embroidery and the quilting.





You can see what I mean here about the mushroom. :-/

I just had an idea and I don't know if it's a good idea for a swap or not. The title pretty much says it all. You would spend a couple of weeks collecting odd things from around town (postcards, interesting gig posters, a third grader's homework you found at the busstop, bus or rail tickets, a one-armed happy meal toy, etc.) and then send your findings to your partner.

This could either be entirely cool or entirely lame. What do you think?

Let's see those fabulous 'dos!

Original Thread: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=142965

(Sent and received are on the first page of the original thread.)

[Details of swap:]

Swap name: Hairdo ATC Swap
Craftster member who is organizing this swap: millik
Sign-up date range: Jan. 2 - 10
Date to send item by: 19 January 2007

Limited to a certain number of people? (optional): 15 max

Restricted to people who all live in the same country? YES/NO
If so, which country? No

All ages allowed? Or 18+? All ages

Swap Organizer himself/herself meets these conditions:
- Has fully read the Swap Info Guide: YES
- Has successfully completed two swaps as a participant: YES
- Is not organizing more than three swaps right now: YES
- Will recruit a co-organizer or give all details to a Swap Moderator if this swap has more than 25 participants: YES

Swap Organizer will check each participant to make sure they meet these conditions:
- Has been a member for at least one month.
- Has posted at least 15 times.
- Has completed one swap successfully before signing up for multiple swaps at a time.
- Is not currently signed up for more than five swaps.
- Does not have any negative feedback.

Details of swap:

Hair is awesome! Any and all hairdos are welcome at the table for this swap. Bad hair, good hair, no hair, mullets, fullets, mohawks, faux hawks, buzzcuts, beehives, straightened, permed, dyed, dreadlocked, weaved, your hair, your mom's hair, your dog's hair... This is seriously a no-holds-barred, full-on, hair-o-matic ATC extravaganza!

Here's how it works:

1. You sign up for the swap and make 5 (five!) cards based on the hairdo or hairdos of your choice. They can all be about the same hair, about different hairdos, they can go together or not go together... just 5 cards about hair.

2. You will send one card each to 4 different people in your swap ring. That's 4 cards, 4 envelopes, 4 stamps (for those of you who are keeping track.)

3. You will receive 4 cards in the mail from different folks. Add those 4 to the one extra you made and kept for yourself and you will have a complete collection of 5 hairdo ATCs!

NOTE! If you join this swap, you agree to send 4 individual cards out to 4 separate craftster members by the swap deadline. You must also be willing to send outside of your country to join this swap.

To sign up, please fill out the following and PM to the organizer, me, millik. I will inspect everyone's profile, PM you back and then add your name to the list of participating folks.

QUESTIONNAIRE TO ANSWER:
Name of swap: Hairdo ATC Swap
Craftster username:
Email address:
Your real name:
Mailing address:
Are you willing and able to mail cards outside your own country?
Did you read the rules?
For serious?
Please list any other info you want the organizer to know here:


IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE, REMEMBER TO SEND YOUR INFO TO ORGANIZER VIA PRIVATE MESSAGE AND NOT TO REPLY WITH IT HERE.


Also remember to read the Swap Info Guide to find out how to ship your item and other details about participating in a swap.

AFTER PEOPLE HAVE SIGNED UP AND BEEN APPROVED, LIST THE PARTICIPANTS HERE AND WHO IS SENDING TO WHOM:

See the next post in this thread for the list.

Okay, so I really liked the "mullet" and "mustache" cards in the Alphabet ATC swap thread, and I thought maybe it would be a nice thing for the universe if an entire set of hairdo trading cards existed.

Who wants to do this thing?

I am just trying to decide if it would be a big swap where everyone just swaps one card with someone else and you would make one based on your partner's favorite hairdo... or if maybe each person would make an edition of 5-10 cards and get the same amount in return. And if that's the case... would we pick the hairdos ahead of time maybe? And then if it's successful, we could do a second edition with new and exciting hairdos?

Opinions, please!

PS - I started a list of hairdos and it got sort of out of control so I won't post it here. I think if we did editions we could get a lot of mileage out of it, as there seem to be no shortage to the amount of possible hair configurations. Heck, you could do 20 cards just of different kinds of mustaches!

I made Nibs, The Chocolate Fairy for gingerquilts in the One Tiny Thing swap. I had a couple of extra photos, so I thought I'd post 'em here. This fairy is about 4.5 inches tall (or 1/2 an iron, as you can see from the photos) and he/she brings good luck in truffles, among other things. The text is from a card that I sent with the package. It's completely hand-sewn (except for the apron) with button eyes and a beaded magic wand. You can't tell from the photos, but it's also got a little tail and a golden belly button.

After attending the pride parade this weekend and talking with a friend about the best way to fulfill my lifelong dream of actually being *in* the parade on my own float, I have decided to start a stitch-and-bitch group of sorts called Crafty Queer... we'll have regular (at least monthly) crafting sessions and we'll definitely have a float in next year's parade!

Here's the description from our yahoo group:

Crafty Queer is a group of queer, queer-minded and queer-friendly individuals in the Twin Cities metro area who enjoy knitting, sewing, crocheting, making zines, and embroidering naughty sayings in inappropriate spaces. We are united by queer culture, and an overwhelming desire to make Stuff.

If anyone is interested, discussions have just begun about when and where our first meeting will be. Any and all peoples at any all crafting levels are welcome!

You can sign up for the mailing list at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/craftyqueer/

Post pictures of your kitties enjoying their new goodies here!