Flower Pillow

I've been working on a new pillow for my couch. The pillow itself is just a simple crocheted square. The flowers come from various patterns that I've made here and there. I might add a few more small ones or some leaves, but I'm not sure. It's about 12" x 12" and it was a lot of fun to make!

Da Bun is Done

Ain't he cute?

A Little Bit Faster Now

It's easier for me to do Front Post than Back Post crochets, mostly because the BPs aren't facing me. So I decided to use some stitch markers where each group of BPTCs begin, and I found it made the row a lot faster. As in, I was taking about 18 minutes to do one of these rows and cut it back to about 11 minutes!

I think I have about 2 more rows out of this particular ball of yarn. I need to get to Michael's or Joanne's for my next color, since I only ordered 2 balls of this orange! It's a bad habit of mine, but a necessary one that I never buy or order all the yarn I need. I just couldn't afford it. For a project like this, where I'll be changing colors, dye lots don't really matter, anyway.

48 Hour Afghan Begins

I had bought a booklet called "48-Hour Afghans" a while back. I finally got around to picking up some 'bulky' yarn to start it. This will be in various shades of orange, red and yellow. I'm aiming for the fall. 48 hours doesn't mean I plan to work on it continuously. I bore too easily and have too many other things I want to work on. But I am keeping 'time' on this. I write down the times I start and stop. So far, it's taken me about an hour and a half to do 4 inches. A lot of that includes 'learning' time, but I've got the swing of it so I think it will speed up. I find the hardest part is the 'Back Post Triple Crochets,' because you have to sort of 'feel' behind the work to find the posts. Front Posts are much, much easier.

Sleepy Bunny Face

I embroidered the bunny's face today. As you can see, it is a very simple design!

Bunny to Be

Here are the components of a little amigurimi bunny I'm making. He will be laying down with a 'sleepy face' embroidered on him. I'll use a pompom for his cotton tail.

Ami is pretty easy, I think. You make a ball for a head and an egg for a body, then some simple tubes for legs. The ears I sort of fudged, but they do work. Little Bunbun will be finished by Easter time and will join all my other bunnies.
BTW, he's pretty small, maybe four or five inches from nose to tail.

Finally!

I finally finished the snowflake quilt! I feel as if I've been working on it for years, but I think it took me about a year of working on and off. It isn't exactly like the original (from an issue of Crochet Today magazine) but I like it. I already showed the almost-finished version to Katherine, who really liked it. Since she doesn't have a lot of room in her apartment, I'll probably store this until next winter. It does seem that spring is just around the corner.

Another Hook Holder

This one is knitted. I have to say that sewing on the felt piece was much harder, as the knit piece wanted to stretch in 80 different ways. So this is lopsided, but I don't care because it's only for me to not have to hunt through 10 hooks to find the one I want. I did find out I have 4 "K" hooks, though. Guess I don't have to buy any  more of those, LOL!

This is just a simple rectangle folded in half. The back half is all garter stitched. I did some fancier (but very easy) knitting on the front. It's in stockinette stitch, with some strands carried across the front here and there. Here's the inside:

I do have a "Q" hook that I bought from some mysterious reason which I will probably put in the back pocket.

56 today

Today is my birthday. I'm 56. I have done very, very little housework today (you really can't do NONE or the place would fall apart) and have mostly been enjoying my crafts and messing on the computer. Tonight, we're going to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. Mmmm.

I'm getting a repetitive motion pain in my pointer finger, which holds the crochet hook, so I'm trying to take longer breaks between rows or rounds. One thing I've been doing lately is choosing one project from each of the magazines I have and writing out the instructions in my own words. A little time-consuming, but it makes it so much easier than constantly looking back and forth between the small print on the magazine page (I don't wear reading glasses but it's still annoying). I can see what the 'repeat' of the pattern is and just write it like this: "Repeat is SC, Skip One, Ch 1."

I also 'translated' a cute pattern for a floppy bunny that is originally written in British English. What they call "Double Crochet" we call "Single Crochet." Confusing!

More stash busting

Yarn, this time. Here is a little holder I made for some of my crochet hooks. I'll make another for the larger hooks someday (and probably line up the felt pocket a little better!) I did not sew across the top of the inside felt piece. I think it would be a good place to store a small ruler. Buttons were an option, as well, but since I crochet a lot I figured I'd just do a fold-over. Really, this is no more than a long rectangle that was a great way to get rid of some of the dinky little hanks of yarn that aren't good for much else but scrap projects! (I also got the use the lettering feature on my sewing machine.)

A new sweater for Shadow

 

Shadow's new sweater is based on a pattern from the December issue of Crochet Today magazine. It is made up of little granny squares. I used a lot of 'leftover' yarn for it, which was a great way to get rid of those last little pieces. It is nice and 'cozy,' which is perfect for a small, short-haired dog who gets very, very cold!

Baby Blanket Gift

Dr. A loved the baby blanket I made for her granddaughter. I almost didn't give it. When I laid it out, it was a little crooked. I think I am my worst critic. I actually started a new baby blanket and brought it to Ohio to work on. Got 20 rows done there. But when I got home I realized, at the rate I work on things, it would be 2 weeks or more before I finished it. And I have Christmas things to work on.

So I looked at the original blanket again and decided that only a judge in a contest would find it's flaws.  Most people that I know personally wouldn't even know how to hold a crochet hook, let alone make a blanket. I have to stop being my own worst critic. This is why I haven't started an Etsy shop yet, despite joining. Nothing that I make, to me, is good enough to sell. 

But, like I said, the baby blanket was a hit. So now I have a half-finished one for a future baby, too! I put it away with notes about the hook, yarn and pattern. Something to work in next January!

Baby Blanket

I have finally (after about a year!) finished this baby blanket. Almost...I just have to weave in the ends. It is a gift for Dr. A's granddaughter. (BTW, I called her 'Riya" in a previous post, I think. Her name is actually "Diya.")  The repeat of the rows is like this: singles, singles, doubles, then a row of front post triple crochets. In the FPTC row, you do two stitches, then skip a stitch, do two more, and then you take the 6th stitch and pull it back to that skipped stitch. It makes a crossing pattern that is really pretty.
I noticed that on the back, the post rows made a kind of 'ridge.' So what I did with the next row (all singles) was to 'catch' half of each stitch before the FPTC row, pulling in the ridge. It flattens out the back, which I think will be more comfortable. I'm sure that doesn't make sense at all, since I don't have any idea how to write crochet instructions, but trust me, it works.
The border around the edge is very simple: in the first round, you just do all singles. Then you do a single, half and double in a stitch, skip two stitches and do another sc/hdc/dc all around. In the second round, you do a sc/hdc/dc in the 'spaces' between the stitches.
This would have been done for me to take to work today, but I got started on a HUGE organizing project. Our attic ladder/doorway is broken so you can't go up and down it too much. So I handed down about six boxes of Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving stuff to my husband, as well as a box of sweaters. (It's already feeling like fall here--yay!)
I wasn't planning on sorting through it all but once I got started I just went with it. Managed to reduce six boxes down to four. Once I start to decorate, I can sort even further and decide on more things to either go to charity or decorate the office with. It's a big task but at least it's 90% done!

Come to think of it, most of my tasks seem to always be "90%" done, LOL!

Diaper Cake Finished

 

The baby shower was supposed to be today. Dr. A had rented tents for the back yard, and I brought the 'cake' over last night. The only problem is...

Baby Riya decided to be born 3 weeks early! She came into the world yesterday morning weighing 4 pounds and change. She's totally healthy, Thank God. So she'll be using the diapers sooner than we expected. The booties (which I made myself since I refused to pay what they're asking for plain old ordinary ones) won't fit her for months, LOL! I didn't even ask if she has hair. In fact, I almost forgot to ask her name! I guess I'm as surprised as anyone. 

So her birthdate is 9-10-11. How's that for an easy date to remember?

Apron, continued

Cut another strip as wide as the apron and as deep as you want it. Sew it along the bottom edge of the top piece. I just sewed it right through the blue 'lining' apron.







Fold and press. Repeat this with as many strips as you want. Mine only has 3. I'll show you the rest next post, as well as the bias tape I made for it.


BTW, almost  finished one sock and 90% done with the other. They look sort of weird but they fit. I also have two rows stitched together for the snowflake blanket and five snowflakes ready for the next row. Picture soon, I promise! 

More on the Snowflake Afghan

As of today, this is where I stand on my daughter's snowflake afghan:

One finished corner 

Eight completed hexagons

Fifteen stars

For a total of 24 out of the 43 or so hexagons I'll need to complete the blanket. I might actually get it done this year!

Oh, and since it is a Christmas gift, my cat Melody graciously volunteered to stand in for the "Partridge in a Pear Tree."

(PS--pay no attention to the trash that fell on the chair. I didn't see it before I took the picture!)

Christmas in July

Fourth of July is Monday, so of course I'm thinking about Christmas. I have been working steadily on a snowflake blanket to give my daughter for Christmas. Today I counted that I have 9 snowflakes and 9 more snowflakes with borders. That makes 18 out of about 43 that I need. I hope to finish this by this Christmas, but it can always be a "First Christmas" gift after their wedding next year, too!

This is from the December 2009 issue of Crochet Today magazine. It is slightly different in that I did not do the picot edging. 

Crochet Vest

Here's a vest I've been working on for a while. It's on the cover of the March/April issue of Crochet Today magazine. The yarn is 'Beach Glass' which is a Bamboo Ewe yarn.

This was a good pattern to use because it is made in one piece (you sew it together at the shoulders) and because it is a vest there are no sleeves. I just finished the armholes and the next thing to do is the wide, ridged border. It closed with 3 buttons. It might get too warm to wear it soon, but it would be nice where there is air-conditioning. And I'll wear it in the fall even though "Beach Glass" is certainly a summer color!

Latest finish

Here is a quick project I finished recently. It is a baby sweater. It's supposed to be a size 12 months but I think it's more 9 or even 6 months. Whatever, it isn't for any particular baby. I just liked it. It is from an issue of "Crochet Today" magazine.

Using stitch markers made this go a lot faster. I don't know how I worked without them before. The repeat is 3 single crochet rows, plus two rows that make the 'eyelet.' I was having trouble remembering where I was until I got the markers. They come in 3 colors: blue, red and yellow. For me, since I learned the primary colors in this order, blue was row 1, red was 2 and yellow was 3. I just kept at it until I finished it. It also helped that I had the right yarn and hook right from the start. I have a few 'almost finished' projects for which I need to buy new yarn. My biggest one is a vest. I'm up the part where I have to make a border around it (with buttons) but there is enough finished to actually try it on, and I'm happy to say it fits.

Mother's Day was very nice and I wrote about mine in my "Family News" blog. Despite a toothache (I had a root canal done last week and am still hurting) I had a wonderful Mother's Day. I hope all my readers (few of you that there are) did, too!

Buggy Buddies

Here are two little bugs I crocheted for a friend's kids. You've already met the Bee, but now she has a friend. Miss Bee is pretty much an egg shape and Miss Ladybug is a squished ball. They are my own design, which means I pretty much fudged it until I got what I wanted. I think I posted before that Miss Bee's wings are actually a butterfly pattern. For Miss Ladybug's spots, I just used a small hook (G) and made two small circles, then sewed them on. I back-stitched down the middle of her back to delineate for her wings. Their faces are embroidered with floss.

My bugs are small enough for a child's hands and nice and squishy!

Today I'm linking to a new blog I found: "Sugar and Dots"! Isn't that a cute name?

http://www.sugaranddots.com/2011/05/what-i-whipped-up-wednesday-double.html