update::: starburst afghan

 

the last several day have been spent taking care of a sick little girlie.  lots of cuddles, ice cream, romen noodles, gilmore girls, and crocheting for me.

 

 

 

i'm not sure how many granny squares will be needed to make this afghan but i have to be close...

 

 

at least with the first round/row.  now to work on finishing a few more granny squares

 

giveaway::: ruffles, ruffles, and more ruffles

 

about this time last year i helped teach how to knit ruffle scarfs to our relief society sisters.  i went out and bought 2 skeins of ruffle yarn to make a scarf and told myself i'm not going to get any more of this yarn and will not be making a bunch of scarfs.  then i needed to go back to michael's and pick up a few skeins for others at the activity. 

 

 

well, they were on sale so i bought a few extra because i didn't want to frog the scarf i made to show how to make one and a few sisters said they wanted to make scarfs but wouldn't be able to make the activity.  so we made plans to get together later that month and i needed a couple skeins for that. now i had several skeins of ruffle yarn in my stash. 

 

then there was a really good sale where they were 80% off.  i couldn't resist, though i should have.  now i have more than i care to admit in my stash.

 

 

the other day i was helping a friend figure out how to crochet a ruffle scarf. when we were finished with her scarfs i pulled out my stash thinking i need to do something with my stash of ruffle yarn.  i put on season 1 of downton abbey, started knitting, and by the time i got to season 2 i had quite a few scarfs made.

 

 

giveaway:::  if would like a ruffle scarf leave a comment and i will randomly pick a winner early next week.  don't forget to let me know which one is your favorite. 

 

ohhhh and if you leave me a link to a cute project made with ruffle yarn i will put your name in 2x for the drawing.  there has to be something different to make with this yarn!

 

hello 2014

With all my Christmas projects finished I was able to think about my first project to do in 2014.  Well my second project but first fiber related one.  The first project was clearing the clutter out of my closet.  Not so fun though really necessary.  I justified not having to clean or put things away for a couple months because the clutter was helping to hide Christmas presents.  It worked till the day after Christmas.

 

Now onto things that are more fun.  I've been looking at crochet motifs and granny squares quite a bit lately and decided I want to make a afghan.  I like this bobble pattern but when I made it there was something about it I didn't quite like.

 

 

Maybe it needed a little more color....

 

I do like it better with more color but nope, it wasn't a color thing.  I realized that the bobbles are cute and I like the texture but my ocd side will have issues.  I see myself spending a lot of time trying to keep them all from going concave.  Not how I want to spend my time.

 

I decided to try a sunburst pattern and really like it.

 

I found lots of pretty colors to use with making sunburst granny squares that were already in my stash.  So the first craft project  of 2014 is a stash buster project, YAY!

 

I'm making good progress and trying not to think of how many granny squares I will need to make.  Just thinking of all the color combinations I can make with the pretty yarn.

 

 

Happy 2014!

layered ruffled 4th of july skirts

i didn't get all the sewing i was planning on done this weekend.  i did find my girlies new bathing suits, went to the pool a couple times, and made 4th of july skirts using a tutorial found here.  i'm going to share my adjustments to the pattern incase any of y'all want to make one with my girlies measurements and don't want to do the maths of it.

this one is a 24 inch waist and is 21 inches long. 

there are:

4 connectors (red and white polka dots) that are 5.5 inches by 40 inches. 

4 ruffles (blue with peace sign flags) that are 6.5 inches by 80 inches.

i had to sew 2 pieces together to get 80 inches. if any of y'all end up piecing 2 strips together like i did, remember to add 1 inch for the seam allowance. 81 inches between the two strips = 80 inches after sewn together.

this one is a 22 inch waist and is 19 inches long.

there are:

4 connectors (red with stars) that are 5 inches by 36 inches. 

4 ruffles (navy blue with stars) that are 6 inches by 72 inches.

again i had to sew 2 pieces together to get 72 inches so don't forget to add 1 inch for the seam allowance (73 inches between the 2 strips.)

i'll have one of everything bag

i know i've mentioned that i hoard collect yarn.  well, i also 'collect' fabric, craft books, and patterns.  there's a line of fabric i'm wanting but need to make some room for it.  it comes out in august so i've got to get going on stashbusting.  last night i was looking through my stash and came across these fat quarters.

and decided they needed to become this bag.

want a closer look?

it's in the book seams to me 24 new reasons to love sewing by anna maria horner.  i made a couple alterations like pockets on the outside and inside. also i didn't add the tasseles.

i gotta find my next project and make room in my stash for new fabric.  maybe another i'll have one of everything bag in next stop - london.

crocheting more ~ suncachers

i've really been enjoying making suncatchers; all the pretty colors and patterns.  i'm working out of my stash and have plenty of yarn to work with.  but i'll have to head out to shop soon and pick up some metal rings.  the suncatchers i've been working on were made with 5 inch rings and  no. 10 cotton thread.

i'm also having a little fun catching the sun or light in them.

yesterday my oldest caught a double rainbow. y'all have to look closely to see it though.  look above the noticeable rainbow and the tree on the far right and there it is.  both rainbows were brighter when we first saw them.  but they started to fade away quickly.

last night i emailed my hubby and asked what colors i should use for my next suncatcher and he replied rainbow.  i guess from the double rainbow my son caught and my hubby's response it is time to hook me a rainbow. 

i hope all y'all have a good day!

suncatchers

i've been playing around with crocheting suncatchers.  these were made with pattons grace: snow, aquifer, cardinal, blush, ginger, sky, and clay. the ring is  5 inches and  metal.   i haven't decided if i want to put an edging on them or leave them as they are.  the more i look at them in the picture; they need an edging.

i made this one using a 6 inch metal ring and no. 10 cotton crochet thread in lemon and gray.  i tied a evil eye bead from turkey onto the hanging chain.

hanging in the sun...

stash busting ~ a bit of this and that

This is what I've been working on this week.

I finished up some flannel wash cloths that have been half finished for over a month and crocheted an edge on the wash cloths from last week.

I found 6 skeins of Patons Be Mine in Fuzzy Yellow, 2 skeins of Red Heart Hunny in Sunny, and Bernat Softee Baby in White stashed away and decided it was going to be my next stash busting project.  Three skeins of Be Mine were from the same dye lot so I decided to make a simple knitted baby blanket.  I cast on 60 using 10mm needles and knit every row until it was 40inches long.  Then using a K hook, put a single crochet edge on it.  The blanket turned out so soft and fluffy.

I'm working on baby hats with the yarn that doesn't match up in dye lots. 

This was the favorite pattern of the week at my house and a request went out for one that would fit my girlie.  She also asked if I would make her a bumble beehive hat in black and yellow.  That's what she is calling it...the bumble beehive hat.

child size bumble beehive hat

Using 5 8mm dpn needles cast on 80; 20 stitches on 4 needles using Bernat Softee Baby White. Use a place marker to mark the beginning of the row. Pearl the first row, knit the next 4 rows.  Switching to Pattons Be Mine Fuzzy Yellow pearl the next 2 rows. Knit the next 5 rows with white, pearl the next 2 rows with yellow. Repeat the knit 5 rows, pearl 2 rows  pattern until it measures about 7 inches ending on the pearl 2 rows part of the pattern.

Decrease: Knit rows are with white, pearl rows are with yellow.  Knit 6, knit 2 together around. Knit the next 2 rows. Knit 5, knit 2 together around. Knit 1 row. Pearl 1 row. Pearl 4, pearl 2 together around.  Knit the next 2 rows. Knit 3, knit 2 together around. Knit 2 rows.  Pearl 2, pearl 2 together around. Pearl 1 row.  Knit 1, knit 2 together around..  Knit 2 together around.  Cut leaving a long tail. Using a tapestry needle sew through the loops and finish off.

I'm thinking of making some booties to match the little hats to keep up with the stash busting.

Ohhh, maybe little flowers to attach to the hats too?

stash busting ~ washcloths

Nothing cute about this project.  Though the yarn is amazingly soft.  It is wonderful for baby items and washcloths.  And baby items and washcloths are good stash busters.  Stash busting is good for making room for more great yarn finds.

I find great deals on yarn that I can't pass by.  I got this yarn about 8 years ago in the clearance bin for 50 cents a skein.  For that price it all came home with me; 20 skeins of various colors.   This is how my stash has been growing out of control.  Last year I put a hold on buying new yarn and I did better with it than I thought I would. Except for the great deal withdrawals.  There is something exciting and addicting about great deals!  I need to come up with a new plan soon because I saw a gorgeous bamboo silk blend the other day.  It was an amazing deal and now I'm kicking myself for passing it by.