Goals for 2011

So looking the goals I set for 2011-here is where they stand
2 Yarn Bombs---One Completed Jan 5., second completed Feb 11.

Afghan--Still working on it-2/8/12 --So not quite a failure since I did not specify that it had to be completed in 2011 right?

 
 
 
 
 

Hooded Sweater for CAL on Revelry -Start in February 2011--So didn't happen!

I think I used the yarn for this project on the afghan.

A purse a month --Not quite. 

Here is what I did manage to get done in this category

Hairpin clutch.                                                                     Credit Card Case.

 

Made from Lion brand Amazing. 



Fat Bottom Bag-Made for swap                             





Doily baby blanket

A friend had made this blanket from a doily pattern and I just had to copy it.
The Pattern is the Exceptional Doily by Mary Werst.  The original pattern is meant to be a 13" doily. 
I used the entire skein of pound of love and had just enough to finish! I wish there had been enough left to do a fancy boarder. The finished size is around 40 inches. This blanket took about 7 hours start to finish. I love the way it worked up.  I am going to make one in blue, using a smaller hook size- Hopefully this will make the finished piece a bit smaller and leave enough yarn for nice edge.
I do believe that this will be my go-to baby blanket.  It was very well received at the baby shower (as told by my S.I.L.-I could not attend due to work).

I also made these hats.  They are the Baby Flapper Hat.

 

Crochet Candy Corn

Candy Corn Garland

I/9 Hook

Yarn Sugar n’ Cream

Yellow

Hot Orange

White

Brown

Using Yellow Chain 27

Row 1- hdc in 3rd chain from hook. 1 hdc in the next 25 sts.



Row 2-Ch 2, hdc in every st for a total of 25 sts. Ch 2, turn.



Rows 3-6-Skip the first hdc st, hdc in remaining sts, ch 2, turn.



Row 7-Skip the first hdc st, hdc in remaining sts. Join Orange color and ch 2, turn.



Rows 8-14- Skip the first hdc st, hdc in remaining sts, ch 2, turn.



Row 15- Skip the first hdc st, hdc in remaining sts. Join White color and ch 2, turn.

Rows 16-23- Skip the first hdc st, hdc in remaining sts. Finish off.

When you have made all your corn pieces, continue on to edging.

 

Edging

With Brown chain 10.

Row 1- Attach brown chain with sc to first stitch in first yellow row of candy corn. 2 sc in the side of each row.

When you reach the bottom chain 1 and sc across the bottom row,

chain 1, 2 sc in each row to the end. Chain 5. Repeat from * for each piece made.

Row 2- Chain 2. Hdc in each chain and across the top of each Candy corn to end.

Tea Time

I have come up with a tea cozy for my tea pot. 

The bottom is the African flower pattern.  I actually followed the directions and worked the correct number of stitches.  I did change the HDC to DC and the SC to HDC to make the flower larger.

The rest was word vertically with a seed stitch.

I added a button and a loop to keep it on the pot.

As usual I used Simply Soft Yarn.  This is a quick and easy project to work up, It only took a couple of hours.  I think I need to go buy more tea pots so I can make more cozies!  I love seeing all the cute tea cozy people have crocheted.  My favorites are the ones loaded with flowers and textures.

Crochet African Flower Soccer Ball

I found a tutorial for the African Flower Soccer Ball and wanted to make one for my dog. Unfortunately I can never seem to follow directions properly! I am convinced it is A.D.D. The instructions call for 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons, I however tend not to read the entire instructions, see the number 20 and somewhere the number 5 so I proceed to make 15 hexagons and 8 pentagons (how I came up with this number is beyond me at this point). By the time was finished crocheting my African flowers and am ready to assemble I was at work and did not have all my yarns with me (thinking I had made the correct amount of pieces why would I bring it all...right?), I begin assembling and am getting frustrated so I refer back to the diagram provided by Crochetbug. Wouldn't you know she had way to many hexagons on that picture. Some people should pay more attention to detail.......So I sat there with not enough of either shapes ready to quit. I decided to just start piecing them together and see what I come up with. Maybe I will come out of it with a placemat or something. As I was pinning them together I found that they still could form a ball. I ended up using 8 hexagons and 10 pentagons. It is not a perfectly round soccer ball that it should be, but a ball all the same. And since I was not planning on using it to try out for the world cup with it and it was going to be a ball for my dog it worked out just fine. In fact I had to wrestle it away from Juno to snap a picture of it.

Thank you Crochetbug for the tutorial and the inspiration!

 
 
 
 

 

Fingerless Gloves

These are my first creations using broomstick lace.  It is a simple technique that works up quickly.  This is a four strand loop.  The only draw back using it with fingerless gloves is that there is not alot of stretch to the stitch-or maybe it is the way I make it.  I will play with it some more and see what I come up with.

Yarn Bomb!

We did a large Yarn Bomb this weekend.  Here are some pics.  After all the time we put in making the pieces, I was surpised that it only took about an hour to put everything up.  We had a lot of fun and plan on doing more.  Can't Wait!!

My first shrug

This is a shrug that I crocheted. The stitch is a simple shell design, here is a rough diagram.

While I am not wild about the fit, it is not bad for my first time and without a pattern. 

 I used Red Heart Soft in Grape.  I really like the feel of the yarn, especially compared to the super saver, however, when you consider how much you get for the price I feel that either Caron Simply Soft or Lion Brand POL are the more economic way to go.

January Purse

I found this pic on a blog (can't remember which one).

I fell in love with this purse and had to make one.  There was not a pattern so I just kind of made it up as I went along.  I actually started to write out a pattern for it, but my ADD kicked in and that never got finished!

The purse itself only took a few days to work up.  The liner I had some challenges with.  I wanted to make sure it was real stiff since the purse was not.  I used 3 layers of fusible webbing on each side.  On the bottom I used fusible webbing on the lining and also added a piece of plastic cut into an oval to make the bottom very firm.

Here is what I came up with.



Ultimate Sweater Machine

When I am learning something new, be it for work or play,  for some reason I can not just be happy learning as it is taught, or mastering each step before moving on to the next part.  Noooo, I have to jump ahead, make a mess, cuss, get mad, ruin some yarn, cuss, eventually throw something, possible break something, cuss, walk away and come back in an hour or so, go back to the beginning and then follow the steps correctly.  I do this with almost everything I do.  Sometimes I am able to figure it out when I jump ahead, but this was not one of those times. 
Last November I purchased an Ultimate Sweater Machine.  I wanted this to mass produce pieces for yarn bombing and I have to tell you-it is great!  I am not a knitter. I can knit basic stitches, but I am definatly crochet dominate.  I highly recomend this machine!  It took some time to work out the kinks (I refer you back to the opening paragraph).  Once I got going I was able to bang out some knit in record time.  Most of the items from the Yarn Bomb post were done on this machine.  All in all it took about an hour or so to realy develope the correct tensinion and presure to get it flowing smothly.  I have done some intarsia and one beanie.  This is my first pass at making a cable stitch.  I made a small swatch and then used it as a cozy for my water bottle.

I have made a lot of pieces.  I will post pics of all of them just before the yarn bomb.