Trying to Crochet :)

So, I decided I wanted to try to crochet again. I started last night. I found a pattern for an amigurumi chicken to make for my honey. Why would I make him a chicken you may ask? Well, he is an artist and he recently painted a picture of a chicken. Also, he recently found a package of small, fuzzy, easter chicks and placed them all around my craft room. So, I thought it would be funny if I made him a chicken :)

Anyway, I pulled out my Complete Guide to Needlework and opened to the crochet chapter. I picked up my yarn and my crochet hook and started following the diagrams. Unfortunately, every time I made more than one stitch, they all became just one big loop. I stared at those diagrams all night. Nothing worked.

Today, I decided to give it another shot. I pulled out the book, my yarn and my hook, and started over. This time, something clicked. OMG!! I was crocheting!! I didn't want to stop in case I would forget how to do it again. It all seemed so magical. This is a picture of how far I got. The body is complete. It took me about 2 hours. I still have to make wings, feet and beak, but my chicken is almost complete.If you look closely, you can see that my stitches start out very loose and get tighter as I continued :) That is, if you can focus clearly on my horrible photo ;P I will try to take a better pic tomorrow when it is brighter. I was just so excited that I crocheted something that I had to post immediately. I can't wait to finish all the details. Hopefully, it will look a little like a chicken :D

More about the purse

I realize that I may have told a story about why I made the purse for my sister, but I never wrote about the details of how the purse was made. I will reveal those details now. I used Sugar n Cream cotton yarn in white and size 6 needles. The purse is about 9 inches wide. I used three different stitches to create the texture: garter, simple seed, and a basic lace pattern that I then threaded the ribbon through. I experimented with pre-made handles, because I was running out of time (I stayed up til 1am the night before the wedding putting finishing touches on this creation). I always work best when I am racing against a deadline :D I had also considered wide ribbon handles and knitted i-cord handles. Anyway, I am proud of the purse. I did not use a pattern and I made it up as I went. It served its purpose well, too.

Bridal Emergency Kit

Well, I just got back from a little vacation. I drove from Oregon to Illinois for my sister's wedding. It was a busy vacation, and that is why I have not been posting recently. But now, I am back. My fiance and I were both in the wedding. I was the maid of honor, and he was an usher. Our cat traveled with us in the car. Here is a picture of her sitting under the car seat. Her head is sticking out. Isn't she cute?

She was a pretty good passenger, all things considered.

Anyway, my mom found this list of things to include in a bridal emergency kit online and suggested that I put one together for my sister. So I decided to go one step further and I knit a small purse for the kit. I chose white, since she was wearing white, and green, since that was the color of the bridesmaid dresses. I also made the bridesmaids' jewelry, which you can see in an earlier post (http://loca-for-crafts.blogspot.com/2008/07/beaded-flower.html). Here is the bridal emergency kit......

I attached the beaded flower that I had made earlier. Read about that here: http://loca-for-crafts.blogspot.com/2008/07/bridesmaid-jewelry.html
And here is a picture of all the goodies inside. Some of the items are harispray, tissues, hairpins, sewing kit, breathmints, hand wipes, chapstick, hand lotion........ It was pretty stuffed. If I had to do it again, I would make sure to include band-aids. The possibilities are endless.Anyway, the wedding was great. I am originally from Ireland, and a lot of family made the trip to Illinois from Ireland. It was fun to see them all, but I am glad to be home :)

Magazine Storage Boxes (and bookends) :)

I have been trying to organize my craft room all summer long. I found this great project on Craftster, and I used it as a guide. Here is the link: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=177297.0 Here is my version. The first two pictures are of the storage box for my knitting and crochet magazines. It is painted and has a decoupaged picture on each side; one for crochet and one for knitting. Here is the crochet side:
Here is the knit side:
I also made a storage box for my beading magazines. For this one, I tore out pages from my favorite bead catalog, Fire Mountain Gems, and decoupaged them on the box. Voila....
I really like how they turned out. My craft room should be organized by the end of summer :)

Beaded Flower

I made a beaded flower!! I tried to make one of these a long, long time ago and only managed to get halfway through one petal before completely giving up. Well, now, years later, I sat down with the intention of finishing a complete beaded flower.....and voila, here it is, beaded in my sister's wedding colors. The center of the flower has three of the yellow-green pearls used in the bridesmaid's jewelry and the silver seed beads are also from that jewelry.
Here is a side view with the wires ends still exposed. I will attach the flower to a pin back and use it as part of a final wedding day gift for my sister. I'll post pics as I progress with the flower and gift.
I am just so excited with how well it worked out. And you'll never believe it, but when I went to JoAnn's to buy some pin backs, all jewelry making supplies were 50% off. I was able to contain myself and only buy what I needed (the pin backs), although it was tempting.

I-Pod Sleeves

So, I was looking through some old photos on the computer, and I found these. Thought I would share them.

I knit these I-Pod covers around Christmas 2007. The pink one is a pig (believe it or not :) ). I knit it with pink acrylic yarn as part of my sister's Christmas gift. She collects pig-related things, and I love to find the strangest pig-related gifts I can. For her last birthday, I knit her a pig washcloth, and a few years ago I found a candy dish of a pig with wings. Anyway, the I-Pod cover I knit in the round and added the features later. It even has a little curly tail on the back. Too cute, I know :)

The orange I-Pod cover I knit just for fun from some leftover yarn. Its a thick and thin wool in orange and purple. I really like it. I also knit a felted purse with this yarn.....I'll post it sometime soon. The I-Pod cover was an experiment to see if I could create openings for the screen and the controls. It worked out pretty well. I do wish the openings were a little bigger, but the funny thing is.....my fiance started using it on his I-Pod, and he loves it. He loves how the wool is so thick it actually offers some protection if the I-Pod is dropped. Its like a padded case. It has not left his I-Pod since I knit it :)

Green Baby Blanket

So, I've been working on this baby blanket since the beginning of summer. I have two pregnant cousins and a pregnant co-worker, so I thought it was time to start knitting baby things.

I have to admit, I almost gave up on this blanket. Some of the stitch transitions are looking a little looser that I would like, but I had already gone so far that I did not want to give up.

Then I spent two nights watching horror movies. This is one of my favorite times to knit as it helps me to not pick at my nails and bite my nails during those tense moments in the movie, so I did a lot of knitting and made a lot of progress. Now, I am on my third ball of Bernat Cottontots yarn and I am happy with my blanket.

One of the movies I saw was "The Ruins." Whether or not you have seen this movie, I must recommend the book first. I read the book before seeing the movie, and it is so much better. In the movie, they switched all the characters around. I can't figure out why, unless the movie makers were sexist and prejudiced......it made me a little crazy. You should really read the book. Great book.

Anyway, this is a close-up of the blanket. I am using knit, purl and seed stitch. The blanket is reversible and is knit in Sweet Green. For some reason, it photographed as a different color in these two pics. The first is a more accurate representation of the color. Hope you like it :)