A message to you

I decided I would dedicate the entire month of December to redesign this blog, only to realize I don't and can't have enough time to do it. I am working just way too much and I can't keep this blog updated as much as I want. In the other hand, my passion for crochet, knit and cross stitch keeps growing like a teenager, but I simply don't have the time to share it the blog way. I am a visual artist, a writer in the Spanish language and a musician - in her sabbatical year. I have many many projects to land in the coming months. I think some of those projects will involve yarn and thread - that's how badly in love I am with this crafting thing, and of course I will have to put all my energy into developing a brand for myself; that meaning a few hobbies will have to go back to the stash. My life is hectic - not complaining.

So my plan - sad, though, it's to keep the blog open with some patterns available only. I can't really compromise to post anything new but that doesn't mean I won't do it. So I will be remodeling the view of this portal in a way that everyone is still able to reach the important published work - patterns.

Not all is sad. I had this blog for little more than a year and I met really cool people through it. My work inspired friends and their friends, so there, I feel that I accomplished something very important to me. It took me a little while to realize that yes, I am going to miss coming here but no, I don't need this commitment right now - this was particularly hard since I'm a workaholic. 

Now that you've read this, I will let you go but never without thanking you for ever sharing my blog, commenting and simply just stopping by. I hope sometime in the future I can come back to this hobby.

Sincerely, 

Anhelo.

Kitty Earflaps

I'm lucky to have three nieces to keep entertained - or to keep me entertained, with funny photos and videos. I have made Kitty Ear flaps for all of them so this time I thought of making a classic shoot of myself to make fun of when I go 60. I am wearing the Kitty Ear flaps I made for my niece Nico, and since everytime that I hear the name Nico I think of the "banana record" - the Velvet Underground and Nico, I decided to make the banana a character in my pictures. I am not telling her about the flaps, it will be a nice surprise she will receive in the mail.

I made two earflaps almost a year ago for my two other nieces. I don't like posting pictures of children over here so this is all I will show: 

I made these out of this Kitty Ear Flap pattern I found at Raverly.

Make a difference in your living room

My cat has about 7 different beds around the house but this couch is the official one. Because this couch is somehow the main attraction of our living room - even to him, I decided to crochet this beautifully blue Doily Blanket and boost the colors of the room. If you are wondering, yes, this is the beautiful Willow Blanket that Lisa Gutierrez of GoodKnits recently wrote a pattern of. As soon as I saw the preview over her blog, I checked everyday at the CraftSanity website to see when the PDF version of the magazine would come out with the pattern. So it did and here is the result:

The pattern is very well written. The first blanket I made with it (I'm starting the 4th one now) gave me a little trouble but fortunately Lisa helped me, clearing a few questions I had, over her facebook page. Since it's a very repetitive pattern - especially on the long rows, it's easy to follow, BUT, some rows have variations and if you don't make notes of those, you could make mistakes. I did, several times. After the second blanket - and having written down reminders/notes, it was super easy to crochet. I am stoked about this blanket in my living room. We all love it.

Fan of The Experiments

Yes, this has a stained glass bulb!

I'm a fan of the experiments and I am also a fan of the red light. My house rarely gets white or natural light, unless I need to open blinds or curtains for a photo project that requires it, but I have to say, we love the red lights that make our rooms cozy and give the sensation of being in a cave. Our curtains are deep mustard so the light from outside filters creating a warm atmosphere. I have to blame the Husband for this, he gave me this obsession. When I met him, a few years ago, his apartment was carefully decorated with soft lights, white walls, brown furniture and red art everywhere.

These two lamps were accidents. The first one was given to us when the Husband's grandparents had a move out and couldn't take everything with them; the lamp looked like this. The second one was a thrift shop find, on sale, for $2. The lace work is purely experimental. Total improvisation. You can click on the photos to enlarge them.

Back to the future stitching

I recently finished a cross stitch project I began 3 years ago. What? Yes. One of those projects that I lose interest in (sometimes because it is not looking like I had planned), I put them off and wait for an inspiration stroke (that could take years). The inspiration came in doing modifications, adding colors and stitches. This was formerly a photo of me in 2006, I added the bangs to suit my current look. I am left with the impression of having visited myself in the past and talked about who I am today.