Narration and Music on Windows Music Maker

Lately I've been learning how to make better videos for Youtube and other hosting sites.  It's so exciting to be making progress.  I just learned how to add narration and copyright free music.  I've also found out my mike has a buzz that is not conducive to hypnosis videos.  I'll have to buy a better one I suppose. I also found out that the animations I made on Paint Shop Pro work with Windows Movie Maker so now I can put cool animations in my video. 
There are two things that stump me though.  How to get narration and music to play at the same time. And how to do a screen capture of things moving on my computer (like a Second Life animation) and actually get those into my video instead of trying to animate still videos.  So if you are a whiz at all things technical in the video field please give me a holler. Help! 

Increase on a purl row

Right now I'm designing a cable knit men's hat in Woolease. I'm going to have to do the increases in the purl section so I found this tutorial: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-increase-on-a-purl-row  I hope I get it done in time for the Chamberlain Ranch Shoot, but my hands get tired if I knit too much, so no more knitting tonight.

Sunny Day in Anaheim

My friend from Etsy who has a shop called NeverTooOld has a great blog over here. He sells vintage items but his blog has a lot of other things as well like featured artists.

I was just outside knitting a baby cocoon. I found a mistake and had to frog the whole thing.  I need to be careful with big needles because while transported, stitches fell off the end, and I didn't catch it until I knitted a bunch more rows. Ack! So I redesigned the pattern and started over.  But it was pleasant sitting outside on the patio knitting.  It got me to thinking about spring gardening and I started planning my garden which you can see here on my gardening blog. I think I will write the pattern down for the baby cocoon and sell it in my Etsy shop. Other sellers have done really well selling patterns. I'll also have the finished cocoons for sale eventually. But the first one is going to my daughter for her new photo studio in San Luis Obispo. You can see her blog here: Heather. She just has a baby and has her hands full. She's a professional photographer and has five weddings booked, and I wish her the best with that. I don't know how she works full time, has a newborn, and runs a gallery/photo studio but she does.

Productive Day

My health issues weren't bothering me so much today and I got a lot done. I found the beads in the manila envelope I've been looking for. They were actually in a small manila envelope inside the other manila envelope.

I found my good penknife and got to carve more on my block printed heart border. I also got to start another knitting tutorial on cable stitch. I knew the camera angle would be too tricky for me to do by myself, so I asked my boyfriend to help and it came out a lot better than me struggling alone.

I also got another article posted to Hubpages.  It's not craft related so I won't link it here. I hope to try out my woodblock printing tomorrow once the sun comes out again. I spent most of today thinking it was Friday. Yesterday was so stressful I thought it was two days and not one.  Ha. Ha. So now it's like I got a free day out of nowhere. I also managed to do some chatting on Etsy. Hardly anyone I knew in chat when I first joined Etsy comes there anymore so I'm constantly meeting new faces and getting them all muddled in my head.

Copycats

Two people in chat last night were arguing.  Evidently over a bracelet. The creator of the bracelet sold it to the other woman. The other woman used the bracelet as a tutorial to make a new bracelet, which she then listed for sale on Etsy. Since she'd said up front to the vendor that she was buying the bracelet in order to make one, she can't understand why the first artisan would be angry.  The chatroom jumped all over the new girl and she said she'd take the listing down. But then she was back today saying she didn't copy it all and was going to go full steam ahead and make more. I know that happens on Etsy all the time but most people aren't that blatant about it.

New Plans

I ran into a weaver I met years ago yesterday. Then today I ran into him again and this time he was with his wife.  She offered to teach me to spin. How can I resist? Their guild meets once a month to spin, weave, knit and so forth.
By the time I got home I was in a knitting mood, so I started a new cable knit scarf in a neutral tone. I don't normally work with neutrals so I hope I don't get bored.

I'm also thinking of volunteering at the Irish fair in Irvine in June.  By then maybe I'll be good enough at spinning to do a spinning demo. I know how to use a drop spindle but not a spinning wheel.

Beading in Sunshine

Since we still had sunny weather, I continued working on my spiral beading today. I'm finally working on the sides. I'm struggling to keep the line tight enough, but I had one strand break so I had to undo some beads, knot it, and start a new thread.

Tomorrow, health allowing, I'm going to an SCA friendship tourney. It's real close to my house so I don't have to leave at the crack of dawn. And if I don't feel well, I can drive home easily enough.

Beading Feathers

I plan to spend the day beading outside on the patio where it is nice and sunny and warm. If you want to see what I'm working on, my bead blog is here: Bead Chronicles If I can get in a few hours I'll be happy. So much to do, so little time!

Guy is getting ready for the Chamberlain Ranch Shoot, which means he's out on the patio too melting beeswax for archery. It keeps the bowstring supple and extends the life of it. He pours it into little containers and sells it in the archery booth. Of course it's also handy for coating thread for bead work to keep it from fraying and to make it slide easier.

Spiral Beading and Wire Looping

I couldn't put my beadwork off any longer. So yesterday I got out my bead bins and found two neglected projects. One was a spiral vessel in peyote stitch.  The other was some wire looping that I learned to add beads to through some trial and error. I worked outside until it got too dark to thread the needle. Then after dinner I had another stab at it and added a few more rows to the spiral. It is very tedious, but satisfying. I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

The looping is done around a container and then removed.

Wallop checks out the great outdoors.

Beaded Spiral Freeform Vessel

Wood Block Printing

I just remembered I need to make my younger daughter a birthday card.
I started a design for a woodblock print, and now I can't find my tools. I just used them a few days ago.  Now where did they get off to?
I just bought some basswood at the Tall Mouse sale and I'm using it to test out my wood block carving skills.  The assortment came with a lot of 1/2" square pieces about 7" long, so I'm going to do a heart border. It's just a practice piece. I don't really know what I'm doing yet. Nor do I know if I have the right inks/paint for this. So let the experimenting begin.

Belly Dance Steampunk Fusion Hipband Tutorial is Done

I got part two of the Steampunk Bellydancing Hipband posted to youtube yesterday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V88IQ8csrU4 Now I have at least one thing to wear if I ever make it to a Steampunk convention. Now I just have to make everything else.