New purse made!

After my first failed attempted at a striped, felted purse I decided to go with a little different design. This is for a gift exchange at my office, our billing manager who happens to be a good friend will be receiving this as a gift. I'm very happy with the results, even more happy than with the failed one! ;-)

I am working on some towels for my DD's teachers at school. I also have beaded socks on the hook for all the girls in her dance class. Thankfully Granny is helping out with the socks so I'm 1/2 way there, only 6 more pairs to go.

I still want to try and make a few ornaments for the holidays and some cat toys...the question is will I have time?

My own creation

I created my own felted bag. I totally love how it turned out and want to make a variation of it for my step-daughter for Christmas. It is a messenger style bag that is 100% wool and it has been felted. I added felted leaves to accent it. I love fall colors, so the leaves are burnt orange. :)

The picture with the large and small leaf is the front, the picture with the two small leafs is the back. I still have to add some snaps to keep it closed. :)

Hat and scarf set

I completed one holiday gift. A soft hat and scarf set! It has a nice shell stitch in both (2dc ch1, 2dc)

Trying something new

I've finally decided to give Tunisian crochet a try. It's like a combination of crochet and knitting. So far it's going fairly well, but I have a long way to go. I just hope I can finish this project in time to mail it out for the holidays...and get my other stuff done!

Barbie outfit!

Well, I finally managed to make a full size dress for a Barbie doll. I got started on this Friday night and actually finished it up Saturday evening. It wasn't all the complicated, just lots of little stitches. I'm happy with the way it turned out, now I might move on to something a little more complex, like a full gown or furniture!

The dress was done in #10 crochet cotton, peach and I used a size 5 steel hook I believe. I'm still working on my tension since I did a test swatch and thought it measured ok but I still ended up being a little tight on my crochet so I had to add to the back to get it to close properly. Oh well, at least I didn't have to frog the entire thing!

Crochet purse

I finished a crochet purse. I really like how it turned out. I need to get something for the bottom to help support it so it doesn't sag too much when I put all my junk in it. :) I used 100% cotton, the stuff you use when you crochet dish cloths. The stitch in the front is called a ripple stitch. It is one sc and 2 dc in the same space. It works up quickly and is very pretty looking. I need some sort of button to finish it off. I'm going to look for a large wooden one or make one this weekend. :)

Maki wanted to be in the picture this morning. :) He's such a ham. I'm trying to figure out a way to crochet with him in my lap but it doesn't always work.

Some past projects

I was looking for pictures of a rug I made for my Mom and came across some others and thought I'd share them. :)

Here is the rug, it was made using 3 strands of colors, you would have to drop some and pick up others for the inner portion of the rug. I think I had 12 strings attached! It was hard on the hands but the final result was very nice.








This is the spider web doily I did in Maroon for my girlfriend in Canada












Finally this is the first doily I did, it was from an older magazine and was an interesting project. I was 1/2 way done the first time and found out I had a HUGE mistake and had to start all over. I was worried I'd never get it done but it made it home to MI for Christmas.

Baby bunting finished!

I started this just last weekend after talking to my girlfriend and finding out she was expecting a little boy. I had started a yellow bunting but felt that was still a little to "girlie" and had the blue and white yarn in my collection anyway. :) I'm so excited for her, she is due at the end of October and lives in MD, so this should come in handy as the weather turns cooler.

I have no idea what I should make next. I am working on twin size granny afghan for my DD with her Great Grandma. Each square is only 3 rounds and it's going to spell out DD's name and have flowers and hears on it. It's going to be a bugger to sew together, 600+ squares! Do you think I'll get it finished before Christmas? ;-) We shall see. I'll post my progress as it goes along. I need to work on a 2 color square, I've never done one before.

Happy crocheting all!

Texas flag

Whew it's done! I started this while I was home in MI back in July. That's actually record time for me to do an afghan, especially one that has such a close stitch. The pattern throughout is a single crochet, double crochet. The next row you do a double crochet on the single and a single on the double...got it? Lots of repetition and it gets old but it made for a beautiful afghan. I used Red Heart yarn and found out that when you wash it in cold, the colors can bleed! I ended up with a pink section for a while until I got it out using OxiClean. Ken almost got to keep this one but I did manage to get the pink out. :) This afghan will be going to our local Museum to use as a fund raiser.

Bears are DONE!

Yippee! I've finished the twin bear blankets for my cousin. I found out when I was home in April that she is having a boy and a girl, so these will be perfect (I hope!). Here are the pictures, I'm so happy to be finished with them, I couldn't move on to other projects until I knew they were completed!

The color of the blanket is a true red but it looks a little orange in the picture. The head, muzzle and paws are stuffed with stuffing, so there was a lot of sewing (more thank I like) involved in this project. I was really worried I'd run out of dark brown but I made it down to the last thread! I'm not sure if I'll do another one of these bears, maybe a bunny or a cat for somebody some day.

My next project to start on is a Texas flag for our museum to raffle off as a fund raiser. I hope to have enough things done to maybe put them on display for one of our first Friday art walks! That would be fun. :)

Whew, it's done!

Well, for the first time I've kind of created my own afghan. I used a picture off a Mary Maxim catalog. I didn't really write down my pattern since I know I won't be making another one. If I do, I'll just do it a little different. ;)

Anyway, I figure it took me over 100 hours to make this one. I just finished it up on Thursday 030906 and the baby shower is March 14th, so just in time!.

I hope and pray they don't change their minds about what the babies name is...and that it's really a girl. Otherwise this will be a "Boy named Elizabeth" with baby pink and green for his blanket. lol She's had at least 2 ultrasounds and they said girl every time so I went with it. :)

To create the cat I did it in 4 pieces and stitched it on the blanket. The ball of yarn is actually added in from when I was doing the pink section. I was thinking of doing the cat the same way but it was too complicated. I also created the name separate and stitched it on.

Well, I'm now working on yet another baby blanket. My cousin is due with twins so I'm going to make some bear buddy blankets for them. I'll post pictures of those when I'm done.

Spring break this week. Spring isn't even officially here and Paige is already in her swimming pool and the temperatures are close to 90! What kind of summer are we going to have? I think I'm going to head north for the summer. :)

My Olympic Knitting challenge.....

Over on my crochet and knitting board I hang out at we decided to challenge ourselves during the Winter Olympics. The idea was to pick a project that would be a challenge to you and start it the night of the opening ceremonies, then complete it on or before the closing ceremonies. Well, I'm much more of a crochet type girl than a knitter, so any knitting project is a challenge to me! ;)

I selected this pattern Booga Bag because I've had it for at least a year along with the yarn and felt it would be a challenge to me, and that it was. Sure, I only did one stitch, the simple knit stitch, but I had to learn how to knit in the round and pick up stitches!

I'm thankful my girlfriend had a "cool cord" maker and I didn't have to actually knit the I cord required for the handles. I think I'd still be knitting those if I did! lol

Now that I have that down I hope to make a larger purse for myself and give this one to Paige. As you can see by the picture, it's rather small. That's a normal size tissue box I stood on it's side to give you an idea about how small it turned out. It shrunk 1/2 it size in the felting process.

My new toy :)

Well, we decided to trade in our Lexus because the mileage was so high on it we were loosing money left and right. DH wanted to get another Lexus but we couldn't find one we liked, ok we only looked at the dealer down here and they couldn't find us a used one we wanted lol. Didn't go out of town for it where we could have found one.

So, I got the vehicle I've always wanted, a little Jeep Wrangler! Here is a picture of my little silver bullet:
DH has had the sports car bug since he sold his last one. We were going to get another TransAm but when he saw and drove a new Dodge Charger SRT8, well he was sold on that. Who would have thought my DH would buy a 4 door sports car but he did, and it's a fast one! ;)

Here are the pictures of his new toy:

Another baby blanket. :)

I finished up the latest baby blanket last night. It is made from lion brand jiffy yarn that is no longer sold in stores. I have had it for a few years, just never got around to using it until now. I'm trying to use up my large stash of yarn. I think I'll make some baby hats with the rest of it, it's very soft and will be great for little hats.

The stitch I used was called a tulip or a shell. It consisted of 2 double crochets, chain 1, 2 double crochet in the same spot, then repeat across. It worked up very fast and I got this done in about 4 evenings. I just did a half double crochet to finish the edging.



The next project is to use up my other single skeins of yarn. I'm going to be making a granny block afghan of different solid and variegated colors. I hope to get that one done just as quickly!

Paige's big girl bed

For Paige's 4th birthday she got a big girl bed from Grandma and Grandpa. She picked out the comforter and wanted a canopy but we decided on the netting instead. So far so good, she's sleeping well and not having any bad dreams. The tree in the background was painted by my husband. We have a Fairy theme room for her and the bed really adds to it.

Other baby gifts from 2005

I made this baby sac and hat for my cousin's new baby. It's been very handy up in Northern Michigan.

Another cousin received this bearghan and sweater:

Holiday 2005

Some pictures of holiday projects from 2005:

The doily for my Mom, I have no idea how long it took but it was fun to make. I think it took just as long to get it blocked as it did to make!

I made a bunch of crochet sweatshirt. You cut the sweatshirt up the middle and then crochet an edging on it. I didn't remember to take pictures of the ones I made for my Mom and Grandmothers, those I added pockets to them. They really like them and my Mom has been asked how I did it many times when she wears it to work. :)

This pink one was made for my DD Paige. :)

I made a full size afghan for my step daughter. She'll really liked the afghan, it's her favorite color. I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Something different

I've created so many baby blankets over the years I sometimes find it difficult to come up with new patterns to use. Ok, so I'm not one for creating my own patterns yet, my brain cannot focus that long. Anyway, I found this baby blanket pattern online Beth's Little Star Afghan and added to it so it would be larger since the pattern was for a preemie baby. I did 10 rows of red, 9 white and 8 blue. To finish it off I did a slip stitch around the entire thing. I'm very happy with how it turned out and feel the picture doesn't do it justice. It'll be for my cousin who is due in July. :)

I also created a bonnet for her. I used the first 3 rows of the afghan pattern for the star and then created my own pattern after that. I need to redo the ties since they are too short but otherwise I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Babies, babies, babies

It seems like so many of my family and friends are having babies! Baby blankets and bonnets are on the hook right now. So far I have completed 2 different blankets. The first is a beautiful off white or winter white with a simple shell stitch. I made it a little to small so I modified the pattern by doing a more solid border and putting a shell on the edge. I am really happy with the way it has turned out!

This picture is of the edge and more of the stitch pattern I used.