Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day everyone!

It's raining here today. It feels so nice. Looks so much better too getting all that yellow pollen off of everything. I vacuumed out the car and van yesterday. It was awful how bad they were from regular spring dirt and that yellow everywhere you touched. It didn't matter how careful you were either. Just to open a door it was all over the place. I was going to wash the outsides of them after but we decided to go out to eat for dinner. My stomach won.
I had run errands earlier in the day and felt awful how bad my pollen-mobile looked. The outside was quite a sight too! And here I was with no time to hit the hand car washes all over the place the kids were running as fundraisers. To think if I didn't need to get to the post office and bank before the 12:00 cut off I could have had a green van!
But I got the white box mailed off to my exchange partner in the EMS Secret Pal exchange. It's one of the best ones I think I have ever done too.I will post pics once she receives it.
Then after that I hit Goodwill to drop off lots of stuff. Then Border's -which the whole point was to use up a $5 gift certificate- then I ended up getting the book that I wanted and forgot to hand them the gift card! *headsmack*. Good news, "Teach Yourself Visually Crocheting", is finally in my permanent possession. I had borrowed and renewed it several times through my inter library loan program at the library. Which is how they can get a book for you to borrow, even if they don't have it in their library, by borrowing it from another library who does have it in stock. The book was from Fairfield this time. It was great to try it out and see what I thought before I bought it. And the "yarn" they use in the book is great since it's sort of a tshirt type material and you can really see what they are doing. There is no fluff from the yarn in the way. Trust me I need all the help I can get.
Then I did some serious damage at AC Moore. They are running a sale on DMC, four-for-a-dollar this week. The poor guy ringing me up recognizes me now I think.

The Humbugs

fabric: 18ct Victorian Red aida ( I think)

fabric: 18ct white aida

thread: DMC 310 thread, for design and hangers

design: my own

The Challenge at EMS was to create humbugs, two of them, one done on light fabric and the other on dark, but, using the same pattern and thread on both.




I sent out the package to bebeche, then it dawned on me- I should have written in both English and French. Not just in English as I had done. Stupid me. She received them, and I think she likes them. I sure hope so.

I was going for a modern sort of look, I guess you could say. I was very nervous about the finishing and thought that if I could make it simple (KISS) then it would allow me to focus a bit more on the assembly. This way it gave me a little wiggle room in case I messed it up ( it tore or something) and I had to restitch.

I made the italicized "b" on my PC Stitch. I wanted it to be lowercase as her username ( like mine) is all in lowercase. On the backstiched username side I sketched the "b" on paper and decided I liked it. The rest of the name I sort of "stitched along" going more by how it looked and not on how well it fit. (*chuckle) Not the best way to design something. On the other hand, it felt very creative to me... I was stitching in hand, doing one section on the red then on the white, and so on. Probably sounds rather weird, but, it was very nice, going as the needle took me.
I crocheted the loops using the smallest hook I had at the time using DMC 310. I rather like the effect. Simple. My hands trembled the whole time. Nerves. Pure nerves.

The pictures are very deceptive. The stitched borders/outlines are 4 inches by 2 inches. Then once they were stitched up and stuffed they were sooo tiny. If I hadn't seen for myself how it all started, I don't think I would have believed it.

LionBrand

I pop in to Lion Brand's free pattern section a lot. Poking around to dream about what I may someday do but I only noticed this today.
Lion Brand has a blog called the Lion Brand Notebook which has a very interesting article on how to make Recyclable Bags. By Recycled bags it means reusing plastic shopping bags and making them into a messenger bag, or a crocheted mini shoulder bag; or using the ribbon from VCR tapes and making a sling bag. (I'd call the last two purses, but that's my opinion).
It looks very interesting. Could especially be good for the bags that had ripped or slitted on the way home and can't be reused as is. Just so happens that's the case for us a lot.

amigurumi and an exchange

Angelsan crochets those cute little ,amigurumi characters which I find amazing anyone can do. I didn't realize how odd I am, until I mentioned how cute I think they are- especially the food ones. (Mmmmm, donuts......)
Oh my word. Come to think of it, a crayola crayon would be divine too! Or even a little box of them.
Here is an example of some of them. I love the ones of cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, and other sweets. I love them with and without the little happy faces.
I think it all ties in with how I like personification.
Now, whether I would try to learn how to make them? No clue. But they are fun to look at.

I participated in an exchange of humbugs. I sent mine out and remembered to take pictures this time. I can't wait until she gets them so I can post the pictures. They were fun to make, though I was nervous for most of the creating. I'd definitely do it again! Plus it could be a very nice style of finishing for ornaments and even little scissor fobs.
Did I mention these were my first finishes of the year????

flossbox findings

One word,wow.
Emily, of The Flossbox, (a site with tons of interesting info and wonderful free patterns) posted about a comparison she did of a few crafts such as cross stitch, knitting, crochet, scrapbooking and more to see what people are really doing for crafts.
The results are so interesting.

stitchie good times

I am struggling to make the bookmark. I am just not in the mood to cross stitch! I may have to do blackwork or something if I am to get the thing done in time.

On other stitchie things:
The black/charcoal grey mix Webkinz blanket is coming along. I stitched on it more last night. This pic is of the day before or so I think. I added some stripes to it, a thin one on the end, and a thicker one in the middle. I will add another on the other end. I am not counting or anything, just winging it. It's good mindless stitching.
Here's the test swatch for DH's navy blue afghan. It's the original yarn I picked up, with the same stitch and a (much)larger sized hook,a Q hook.I love how it looks! It feels like a dream too. I am not sure if I will stay with this size or not. And yes I know it's all bumpy, this is my second time "really" crocheting. Check out how much yarn I have used. With the smalled sized hook I had nearly finished the first skein and hadn't even gotten the second row done!

Soft Navy Yarn

Okay, here are a few possibilities with texture and color:

Red Heart® Soft Yarn™

Red Heart® Grande™

Lion Brand Jiffy®

Bernat® Softee® Chunky Yarn

* Has anyone used any of these? I don't what if these are at the craft store or not to get a look and feel.

Navy yarn

Would anyone happen to know about the yarn called Natura? What it is like?
I am trying to find more yarn in Navy that I can use for the afghan.

I started stitching the afghan - thank you B.!- in a double crochet. It is coming out great but will not stay that way. I have started row 2 and am nearing the end of the first skein. Um, not good. So I think I will restart with a larger hook. Plus I was wondering if I could throw in a another navy color to add weight and size but still have some of the same soft texture. The regular Simply Soft doesn't appear to be available in navy blue.

an afghan

DH asked me (which he never does!) to make him an afghan. He wanted it soft like DD's sweaters and navy blue. DD's sweaters are something chenille like. Erm, too expensive.
SO it began- the search for an easy pattern and the yarn to go with it.

The pattern was this and called for thick yarn. The thick yarn was Homespun which has a bumpy texture, and I have used before, but the color is not so uniformly navy blue. So I grabbed several skeins of it on sale this weekend at the Knitting Festival (aka a sale at AC Moore). Then while at Michaels I grabbed more of it (yeah coupons!) and some of the Caron Simply Soft Quick which is about $3.50 a skein, and is only a 3ouncer (50yd) but the perfect shade of navy blue! It is sooo soft!
DH after "inspecting" them decided on the SQ. So I returned the other yarn and picked up a few more of the SQ. It's going to be expensive.
So the other possible option is to use a different pattern, so loved the fast one, *sigh, and possibly use the regular Caron Simply Soft with the Quick as stripes or edges or something....... Could pose a challenge as they are different weights.

I am going to try and crochet this one- two the girls at Craft Night have done these and wow, they look great and seem to be faster than knitting. Never mind the fact that it's easier to rip out rows of mistakes in crochet than in knit for me I think.

the other updates:Started round three on the Bookmark for the exchange, and again, not liking it so I am going to change tactics completely and do something totally different. Let you know how that goes!


I have put aside the baby blanket. I got too frustrated. Other things to work on at the moment.

Harry Potter

How cool are these?

Harry Potter crocheted bookmark

Harry Potter crocheted Wizard Scarf

Wishlist

Updated April 15, 2008

L&L, Passione Ricamo, Mirabilia,etc:

~Romantic Stitcher by Passione Ricamo

~Earth Angel

~Snow Days

~Enchanted Alphabet

~Button Box Babies: Angel Girl



San Man Originals:

~A Little Lovin' in the Oven




Miscellaneous:

~Sit and Knit

~Be Silly, Etc.

~Nemo


Pattern books/booklets:

~Pamela Kellogg's:
"Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments" Volume 1

~Rudolph merry present to me!

~DMC Flower Fairies

~Purple Pansy Angel

~Birthstone Fairies

~Chinese Calligraphy




Valerie Pfeiffer Birds:

~Lady In Red

~Sitting Pretty

~The Blues

~Chorus Line


Birds:
~Haiku

~Chickadee Christmas

~Jingle Birds

~Feathered Friends

~One Bird Caroling

~Cardinals and Dogwoods

~Baby Birds

~A Vision in Red

~Nestling Sampler



Sweetheart Tree and Just Nan:

~Amethyst Snowflake

~Victorian Violets

~Pointsettia Gingham

~Lavender Luminescence

~Enchantment

~In the Land of the Free


Threads and other dodads:

~Glissen Gloss ESTAZ Thread

~Wisper thread

~Mill Hill Treasures and Beads
..especially crystal or glass! ;)

~DMC Rayons!

~Threads of any kind, I am not picky and love to try new things



Knitting and Crochet:
~Bamboo yarn