Updates TK (that's 'to come' in publishing speak)

I've done a crap-load of projects over the past couple of weeks. And why no pictures, you may ask? Because I've been too busy making stuff to post on Blogger. I know, I know. I suck. But...here's the good news:
* I've got pics of three scarves to post
* I hand made X-mas cards and send some out...and took cool pics of those
* I made stuffed kitties (as in stuffed animals, not really stuffed--that's just gross!)
So, I think I'll have time to post stuff tomorrow.

Craftacular!!!

Hubby and I went to the Bust Craftacular in Williamsburg this past Saturday--and holy mother! It was packed. I mean wall-to-wall people. It was amazing! It was just so damned cool to see that many crafty-minded people out there making all of these really cool things and actually making a go of their cottage businesses. It made me realize how possible it would be to get She's Krafty out there and turn it into so much more than a blog--at worst an e-store, at best an e-store + real-life store! Brad and I are totally committed to making sure we get a table at next year's Craftacular, because holy crap would that be awesome. Especially since I saw so many things there that I've actually made in the past--from yoga mat bags, to tote bags, purses, soap, scrubs, scarves, pins, hats--all kinds of stuff. I also came up with a really good line for a t-shirt (which I'm not posting until I get the mock-up done). I'm so glad we went. It was just incredible to feel all that creative energy in the room--it really inspired me.

My favorite finds at this year's Craftacular? Awesome buttons courtesy of My My . I bought a bunch of them--I'm sending a couple out to girlfriends in the X-mas cards--the ones I got for myself I'm turning into magnets for the fridge. I'm also seriously obsessed with these:


Brad got them for me from Girlie Pants--and how freaking awesome are they??

Baby Blanket Pics

I know, I know. I've been horribly lazy about posting lately. I could bore you all with my work craziness or the fact over the past two weeks, first I got the flu and then hubby did; or the Thanksgiving holiday. Suffice to say, stuff has been going on, but I haven't stopped making stuff. I'll have more pics to post soon. I just need to upload them already!!!

In any case, here is the infamous "final" baby blanket. I made this for my mom's boyfriend's niece (yeah, I know that sounds weird). And I am happy to report that she and her hubby loved it--though I think that the hubby is kind of funny because he thinks it's too nice to use!







Here's the skinny:
3 skeins of Bernat Cotton Tots in Little Boy Blue
3 skeins of Bernat Cotton Tots in Blue Berry
3 skeins of Bernat Cotton Tots in Sweet Cream

The pattern is really easy--just a huge granny square worked in 3 rows of each color 4 times. The final blanket was approximately 70 inches square. The trim is three rows of single crochet, one row in each color. I think it came out pretty snazzy. I love how perfect the huge granny square looks...though I don't recommend working on this blanket if you have to work it on the go. Transport gets cumbersome and unrulely after the first 18 rows...a regular granny square blanket will be easier...

Coming soon...pics of my first knitted scarf, a birthday present for my BFF, and the ugly swatch blanket I made with a bunch of my knitted and crochet swatches (and I'm not kidding--this thing is ugly, but warm and I guess that is all the kitties care about).

Back from Vacation...

I was on vacation for a week (to Jamaica) and since I've been back, I've been so damned busy at work I haven't had time to post a darn thing. I've got pictures to post, but haven't had time to upload them.

I've finished several knitted swatches and can now knit and purl. Before I left for vacation, my coworker, Chaitra and I sat in from of the Knittinghelp.com website and finally, finally figured out how to purl. It's not easy to do when you're just trying to figure it out from a book. I was on the verge of throwing my needles several times while trying to figure it out on my own. But Chaitra and I figured it out (and the marketing people standing behind her cubicle thought we were nuts when we got all excited the first time it clicked and we both got through a row) and it kept me busy on the plane to and from Jamaica (3 hours) and then the 2 hour bus to and from our resort. All that time and all I finished was a freaking 7 X 9 swatch. I was knitting with worsted weight yarn on no. 7 needles though, so I suppose that explains my slow progress. Not to mention that it was the first stockingette stitch thing I've ever made. I'm probably going to make the ugliest kitty blanket in the world by attaching all my various knitted swatches and crocheted granny squares together. The kitties won't care as long as it is cozy. I love knitting with big chunky yarn. Until I get really fast, it is the only way for me to decive myself that knitting doesn't take longer than crocheting (which isn't really true, at least for me right now).

I finished my last crocheted baby blanket (until I get pregnant myself) and already gave it to the new mommy-to-be. She was estatic with it and that made me really happy, though it hasn't changed my mind about the "no-more-baby-blanket" policy.

I'm currently in the midst of knitting a Fancy Fur scarf for my mother-in-law for Chanukah. I bought the yarn last year in a yarn-and-crochet-frenzy when I was bored with the so-called "normal" yarn. This was before I realized that because the eyelash yarn also has little knubbies on it, it doesn't make for easy crocheting. I tried everything--little hooks, big hooks, using yarn markers--nothing made working with this damned yarn easy. Until now. All this time I thought I was retarded because I kept crocheting knots, but now I've realized it's easier to knit with than crochet with. I don't know who is able to crochet with the damned Fancy Fur, but it sure as hell isn't me. In any case, I'm sort of on the fence with Fancy Fur. It looks cool and it's fun to knit with, but I keep asking myself if I actually like it. The yarn fancinates everyone where ever I go (crazy amounts of people have been mesmerized on the subway by my funky purple needles knitting this yarn), but I don't know if that means I like it. I guess it comes down to this--I like knitting with it, think it looks really cool, but I don't think I'd actually wear anything made with it myself.

Might as well face it, I'm addicted to yarn

Just got back from my lunch hour, and what did I do? After picking up a falafel sandwich, I walked over to Knitty City and picked up Stitch N' Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook, 2 skeins of absolutely beautiful red soy-silk yarn, a set of #7 needles, a knit counter, and those little rubber thingies that go on the ends of needles so you don't poke someone's eye out. It is sort of dangerous to have such a nice yarn shop so close to my office. The temptation is terrible. I can't go in there and not buy something.

While I was off on Columbus day, I sorted through a bunch of yarn, rolling a few long oblong skeins into balls, and making room for the yarn stash I bought last weekend. Now I just bought more. More yarn. With the amount of yarn I have right now, I could probably knit/crochet socks, sweaters, and blankets for my whole block. I'm already thinking of converting the bushel we got when we went apple picking two weekends ago into a new yarn storage container (surely it would be perfect--just line that bad boy with calico in a cute print a viola! Yarn storgage!), and god-forbid I should finish the container before buying yarn to store in it. Too much yarn. I have too much yarn. Then again, is there ever such thing as too much yarn?

Our Krafty-scary Halloween Wedding...

It's true. Hubby and I got married on Halloween, 2004. Some people thought we were crazy. Others thought that it was the coolest thing ever. I'm with the later of course (as though you could even question it!). Since it's a beautiful fall day in NYC, and the temperature is close to the 72 degrees we were blessed with on our wedding day, I've been thinking about it quite a bit today and thought that I'd post a couple of pictures of some of the krafty things we did to make our Halloween wedding so special.

Our bridesmaids all wore the same black corset dress, but I wanted them each to look slightly different since each girl had a blessing during the ceremony which represented and element/season. Purple was winter/air; Green was spring/earth; peach was summer/fire; and blue was autumn/water. I hand sewed all of the shawls and gave my father, the florist (believe it or not, I did floral design in high school), long pieces of the same fabric from the shawls to wrap around each floral bouquet. Hubby spent quite a bit of time making 20 little "poofs" of fabric for each bouquet to frame the flowers. I though the effect was really pretty and we got lots of compliments on how great everyone looked!



Our infamous Halloween wedding cake. You have no idea what a pain in the pa-tooty these cake toppers were to make. Each cake had a Styrofoam circle that I covered in saran wrap, glued faux grass to, mounted the moving and/or light up Halloween fixtures, completed decorating the Halloween scene, and wrapped the rim of each piece of Styrofoam in Halloween ribbon. I cannot even explain to you how many people took pictures of this cake--they had never seen anything like it!!!



There is more to come... I have to find a good picture of our table centerpieces that I also made, and the innumerable other things we did. It was a very unique wedding!

New Shadow Box...

I made a bridal shadow box for myself a while back, and ever since I did, my mom has been begging me to make one for her. The one I did for my hubby and I is very basic--a I dried the flowers from my bouquet and used some of those, some silk flowers (for the flowers that fell apart), fabric from my bridesmaid's shawls and bouquets (which I also made), and styrofoam, pretty paper, and our wedding invitation in the center, and viola! A pretty shadow box:



My mom wanted one that was similar, but one that also had her and her boyfriend's masks. For anyone who doesn't know, my hubby and I got married on Halloween, so we had a masquerade reception and asked people to dress up (elegantly of course). Everyone in our bridal party work fancy masks--us, the family, everyone. It looked awesome and was so much fun. We tried really hard to make sure that our Halloween-themed masqurade reception was fun, but not tacky and I think we suceeded. Anyway, I bought a ready-made shadow box for my mother, and glue gun in hand, went about inserting the things she wanted showcased. Her shadow box also has our wedding invitaion (with the fancy paper/styrofoam combo), but also has her masks, her corsage, and the place cards we made for the tables. Hubby and I loved the idea of having each table named for a particular horror movie, so instead of numbers, we had laminated mimi-movie posters and all the place cards had miniature movie picks to correspond to the table the guest was sitting at. My mom is terrified of The Exorcist, so of course we had to sit her at that table!




The interesting thing about the little castle place card holder in there...I actually had to chop the front and back of it off in order for it to fit. I like to think that you can't really tell that I sat the thing on my cutting board and hacked pieces of it off with a butcher knife and then sanded it down and painted it...but if you're really looking at it, I think you can tell. But honestly, who in their right mind is looking that closely at a place card holder???

To knit or not to knit...

Many die-hard happy hookers look distainfully on knitting. "It's only two stitches;" "It's harder to work in pieces when knitting;" "Two sticks + yarn = confusion. I only have two hands;" "It's cooler to say your a hooker than a knitter." I never had an opinion one way or the other to tell you the truth. It's all yarn. Can't we all just get along? I just didn't know how to knit. Then again, a little less than a year ago I didn't know how to crochet either. Go figure. Well I've decided that I absolutely must learn how to knit. Why you might ask? It's not like I don't have plenty of crochet projects I want to work on; I've got the huge yarn stash, the multitude of hooks, the patterns I gaze longingly at and think "Oh yes, it will be mine." It's simple really. I want to knit socks. Socks! Yes, I've heard of crocheting socks, but somehow, all the holes make me think that it is probably not such a good idea. None of the crochet patterns for socks that I've come across seem like they are better in theory than in practice. So yes, I'm going to attempt to teach myself how to knit. I found this really cute blog on the Bust website, called Knitting with Cat Hair...a woman after my own heart. She recommends checking out KnittingHelp.com...so that is what I shall do. (By the way--how cool is that blog title? And how much do I covet her logo??)I'll keep you posted!

Grrrr...What about me?

I'm in a fairly crabby mood today and I've come to the conclusion that it is because I rarely do/craft nice things for myself. There are other reasons beyond that, but that is the main reason at this very moment. My mood is probably caused (besides the PMS) by me going to Knitty City during lunch, and while browsing, all I could think about was what I needed to get for future projects for other people. Now mind you, I love making things for people I love. I really do. It makes me happy to make something for someone and give it to them and see how much they like it too (case in point--Viv's scarf which was fun to do [because I got to work with a new stitch] and since she's one of my dearest friends, truly a pleasure). It's one of my favorite things in the world. However, probably because I'm working on yet another baby blanket (this one isn't even one I'm going to be giving--it's one my mom is going to be giving to someone), I'm feeling grumpy and annoyed and generally bored out of my goddamned mind with blankets. I think I might be posting quite a lot of the "I hate making this blanket" type of blogs until I finish it.

Anyway, the point? I'm going to purchase new yarn this weekend and commence making a cute bolero sweater for myself before I finish working on the dreaded blanket because if I don't, I might tell my mom that she can stick the baby blanket where the sun doesn't shine. And that my dear readers, is just not an option.

Vivian's scarf

My friend Vivian's birthday was a couple of days ago and I was determined to make her an awesome, useable, very cool homemade present. Of course I was going to crochet her something--like I would do anything else!

Well, I found a very cute pattern in my tried and true Stich n' Bitch: Happy Hooker book, and I altered it slightly to make it more frilly. I also added my very favorite little crochet flowers (not fleurchons, PR fans) with a splash of glitzy sequins in the center.

Hubby and I went to Viv's house last night to give her her presents, and I'm so glad she liked it! I have to admit, I almost wanted to keep it for myself!

Here are the results!



My fabulous friend with her new scarf!

Another freaking blanket...

I finished (well, almost) the present for Vivian last night and had the Hubby start helping roll yarn balls for the next baby blanket. I'm going to pretty much make the same exact blanket I did for Olessia and Roman, but this time, I won't enjoy it half as much because it's not really a new project for me, and I'm quite sick of making blankets. I'm not doing the green, blue, and multi though--this time I'm using cream, light blue, and a slightly darker blue. Really pretty, but I think it will be a very long time before I willingly crochet anything else blue--especially not a blanket! After this one, no more blankets. I need at least six months before the concept of making a blanket becomes remotely enticing. It's fall! I've got scarves, sweaters, and hats to make!

The Latest Baby Blanket--New Pics!

I meant to post these earlier, but I just got around to uploading them yesterday.

This baby blanket is for my friends Olessia and Roman. Olessia is due in November, so it's done in plenty of time! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I used Bernat Cotton Tots yarn, and it worked up so soft and so quickly that I decided to use it again on my next baby blanket project! I cannot explain how much I love this yarn. I wish that it came in more colors because I would use it for other things besides baby blankets.

This is a basic granny-square pattern; the main square alternates three rows of each color, three times (multi, blue, green), and then the three squares at either side of the square. I crochet-joined everything together. The boarder is three rows of single crochet in the multi yarn.

I love, love, love the way this blanket turned out and cannot wait to give it to Olessia and Roman.

Now onto my next blanket--for a boy again. I really cannot wait for someone to have a girl so I can switch to pinks and purples for awhile. Though I love blue, green, and yellow, I have to admit, I'm getting sort of bored from working with those colors so much.

The good thing is that I usually take a break between blanket projects to work on other, smaller things. Right now I'm working on a birthday present for my friend Vivian. When it's finished (and after I give it to her), I'll post pictures of it. Then it'll be back to blue and cream yarn, and hopefully the last baby boy blanket for awhile.

Nah, nah, nah!

I finished the latest baby blanket. Finished it! A mere two weeks after I started the project mind you. How cool is that? I would be posting pictures right now, but because I was up late watching RS: Supernova (don't even get me started) and Project Runway (I am throughly addicted) I didn't have time to upload them last night before falling into a Benadryl coma. Tonight I'll post pics...and my original plan of the blanket. Hooray!

Next project!

Update on next baby blanket!

This weekend I bought the yarn to get started on Olessia's baby blanket--it's absolutely beautiful yarn--Bernat Cotton Tots:


I'm using Sweet Green, Little Boy Blue, and Wonder Dreams (a light blue, light green, pale yellow, and white blend). I love this yarn because it is 100% cotton and so soft. I think it will wear really well too.

Tuesday night, Brad and I started yarn ball rolling while watching TV. After I had a ball of each color, I looked through my hooks to find the one that the label recommended--4.5 mm/US 7. I didn't have it. I tried a 4.0 hook. Too tight. Then I tried a 5.0 hook. Too loose. Sigh. So began a quest for a 4.5 hook. I could special order it from Michael's or Susan Bates, but that could take a while. I wanted to get started right away! So I checke the yarn shop, The Yarn Company, right down the block from my office, but since it's a knitter-friendly shop, they don't really cater much to us happy hookers. I pressed on and walked down to this new place that my google search for yarn turned up: Knitty City. There, I met an awesome lady named Amanda who not only went out of her way to unearth the strange hook that noone else seemed to carry, but she was also told me that they do intermediate crochet classes! Score! I need to get another person to go with me, but they do have intermediate crochet classes. I am so excited! Now I'll be able to bring my dilemmas to Amanda whenever they come up, and hopefully I'll get to go to a class soon.

Happily, last night I not only started on Olessia's baby blanket, but I also mananged to figure out a motif called "Italian motif" which uses the dreaded puff stitch. I'm happy to say that I figured it out, but won't be making blankets with this motif any time soon. Way too intricate--at the most, I think it might make a nice shawl...hmmmm, now who can I make one of those for?

Polka Dot Bag!

Yet another finished project...and probably one of my favs. I am a tote bag fiend--I constantly drag lots of stuff with me back and forth to work--and on weekends (they're perfect for toting unfinished crochet projects around with you). So I got to thinking--though I love my Trader Joe's tote bag, it is sort of blah in the fashion department. So of course I started thinking about making my own. I found this black canvas tote bag (unadorned) in Michael's for around $7 and then I got to making rounds in lots of different colors using (mostly) different shades of Lion Microspun. And the finished product? Stylish and functional! Perfect!

Even More Crochet Flower Pins!

Here are a few more pictures of some of my very favorite crochet flower pins. I think that I will write out a pattern this weekend and post how-to instructions. That way lots of 'happy hookers' can get to crocheting these pretty and fun pins. The color combinations are endless!

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My first baby blanket!

No, I'm not pregnant. It's not for me. I cannot even explain to you how many people I know who are pregnant this year--and this blanket is for my friends James and Maria. Their baby boy is due in September. Now that I've finished this blanket, I need to get started on my next one...November and January due dates are fast approaching! :-)





I used four skeins of the Bernat yarn in blue (2) and yellow (2) and a 4.0 crochet hook (to get the stitches nice and compact). It's a basic granny square project so it pretty much speaks for itself--3 rows of each color alternating 4 times. I connected everything using crab stitching instead of a tapestry needle, which I think gives it a nice finished look.

This blanket didn't take me all that long, so I'm hoping that the next one won't be too bad either. Although for my next project, I would really like to do something besides the granny square thing because, to be honest, I'm sort of bored with it. It's hard figuring things out though--I think I might need to find myself a class because although Anna taught me the basic single crochet stitches, I figured out double and triple crochet on my own and also figured out how to do the granny squares through a lot of trial and error. We'll see what happens. I think I might make a mini-blanket for one of the cat beds in the cool zig-zag stitch I've been trying to figure out, just to see how it goes. Once I really get a feel for it, then I can attempt the next baby blanket. The one thing that worries me is how big the blankets tend to get--I do a lot of crocheting on the subway going back and forth to work (1 hour and ten minutes there, usually 50-55 minutes home--don't ask me why it's less; I have no idea) so that's my best crochet time. It's harder to crochet at home because the cats are into everything and I don't want to get the projects full of cat hair. We'll see what happens. I am just excited to try and learn more stitches and patterns!

By the way, if anyone knows of crochet classes/workshops that go on in NYC or Brooklyn, please let me know! I'm dying for some crochet camaraderie!

New necklace and bracelet for my mom-in-law...

It's my mother-in-law's birthday this coming Saturday, and I wanted to do something really nice for her. My husband and I bought her this really nice black embroidered skirt with a red blouse from her favorite store, Chico's. While we were having the present gift wrapped, I was looking around the store at the various jewelery they had on display, thinking that a necklace might make a nice "something extra" to go with her new outfit. Alas, they lacked any red and black jewelery, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. Brad and I headed over to Michael's not long after, where I picked out some awesome beads and got to work on making my mom-in-law a really pretty necklace...and this is what it looked like:





My favorite thing about the necklace is the large circle pendant in the center--it didn't actually come like that! I bought a large hematite circle and sterling silver wire and wrapped it around the bead, twisting in and bending it into the pattern you see there. The necklace was strung together with sterling silver pins, a needle-nose pliers, and of course, wire cutters. I am so pleased with how the set came out and I can't wait for my mom-in-law to open it on Saturday! Brad thinks we should let her open it without telling her that I made it to see what kind of a reaction she had--so I know if she really likes it or not. I don't want her to say she likes it just because I made it for her! But I love it and I really hope she does too!

Brad's Blanket is complete

A while back, I posted a blog about a blanket I was crocheting for my hubby Bradley. (Check out Brad's Blanket to see the original post.) Well I finished said blanket over two months ago, but haven't been able to take pictures of it until recently...so here it is in all its glory:




If you look at the original blog and the blanket design, you'll notice that I eliminated the rows at the top and bottom of the blanket--to be honest, after I attached the 9 big squares together, I didn't think that the blanket needed to be any longer and it worked quite well as a throw (which is what I made it for). If you wanted to use it on a bed, then it would probably be a good idea to add the extra rows at the top and bottom.

As for materials--I used Lion's Baby Soft yarn in Lavendar, Baby Green (like a sea foam), and Baby Print in Lavendar, Sea Foam, and White. I used a 5.0 crochet hook, but after working with this the yarn, I would suggest using a 4.5 to make the squares a little more compact.

I love the way this blanket turned out and so does Bradley! It is the perfect size for us to cuddle together on the couch...where it hangs out when not in cuddle-use!

The infamous yoga mat bag!

I finally took and uploaded pictures of the infamous yoga mat bag. Can I tell you how long the darn thing took me to make? Around a month! I've completed baby blankets in that amount of time. However, it's probably my own fault--I used a tiny crochet hook--only a 2.75 and Lion Microspun yarn in teal, lime green, purple, and lavender. I crocheted a large round (there are 8 rows in the base of the bag) and then made the body of the bag separately. Crochet a chain of 104, and then add on enough rows of double crochet to cover the body of the yoga mat, with some extra to spare (I like to have space so I can throw a hand towel and my yoga pants in the bag). I did 80 rows, and then an additional 4 for the top of the bag to fold over and make a closure (use a tapestry needle to sew the top closed). The strap also crocheted--I chained 160, and then made a row in each color used on the bag (4 rows total). There is also a pocket on the inside of the bag to keep hair clip, lip gloss, and other do-dads you might need after class. All & all, I am really happy with the way this project turned out and I've gotten lots of compliments on my bag!
More pics to come!
xoxo
the krafty gal

I'm back!

Yes, it has been forever since I posted, and I apologize. I'm still surprised how many hits this blog has gotten (even though no one comments but Eve and my hubby) in spite of me not posting anything new lately. I was really busy for a while in spring and hadn't had a chance to take pictures of the projects I was working on, and then BAM! Our digital camera broke and that sucked big time. How am I supposed to post things to my craft blog if I can't take pictures of the things that I'm making? Doesn't really work so well. (Do not ever by the Canon Doubleshot! TWO of them have broken on us and their LCD screen sucks!)

Anyway, the really good news is that Hubby and I picked up a new camera last week (the Olympus Stylus--so far, so good--and the LCD screen has a plastic cover on it, and to top that, you can buy a nifty little case for it and take it underwater! How nuts is that??), and I have tons of things to photograph and post on here. Over the past few months I've managed to finish Brad's blanket, I'm 95% finished with a baby blanket for my friend's baby (due in September--I need to get to work!), made a necklace and bracelet for my mom-in-law's birthday, and made too many crochet flower pins to think about. I can't wait until it gets a little cooler out so I can start sporting them on my jackets! There are some other projects too, I just can't remember them all right now.

So keep your pants on people--new pictures of projects coming this weekend!

xoxo
the krafty girl

The slacking crafter...

I know, I've been slacking. I've finished a few things lately and just haven't gotten around to posting them, so here is an update. I FINALLY finished my crocheted yoga mat bag. That shit took FOREVER and I don't think I'll be making another one any time soon. If I tried to sell them I'd have to charge $200 because though the supplies only cost me around $20, it took me over a month to make it. And I mean I crocheted that thing everywhere I went (subways, car rides, waiting for food in restaurants--everywhere). I made another tote bag, but not exactly like the flower one I already posted on this blog--I gave that one to my mom because she was really really obsessed with it and kept nagging me about when I was going to make her one. So I figured that since she loved it so much, I'd just give it to her, and make myself something else. The one I did for me (which isn't technically finished, but it's almost there) is a black rectangle canvas tote bag (around 18 inches wide by 12 inches high, with a depth of around 4 inches) with multicolor crochet circles all over one side. There is also a crochet pocket inside which I thought was a good idea so all my crap doesn't go sliding all over the bag and I can actually find stuff). I'm almost finished sewing all of the circles on, but I have a feeling that the first time I use it either my mom or mother-in-law or someone else I love is going to fall in love with it and then I'll just give it away and start from scratch. Which is probably not the worst thing in the world because I have too much stuff anyway, and it's better to just give it all away.

So the point was, I'm still making stuff, but I've been busy, so I haven't posted pictures lately, but I promise that I will and it will be this weekend.

Meow!

Crochet Flowers Pins part deux

So it took me longer to upload pictures of the crochet flower pins than I expected. Sue me. I've been busy. Sheesh.

Crochet Flower Pins...

Are my new obsession...



Super quick to make, and fun too! I've made about a dozen of them recently--and I'll post pictures of all of them tomorrow, as soon as I get my butt in gear and take 'em!

It's finished! Hooray!!!!

The freaking yoga mat bag is finished. It took me FOREVER, and I'm so happy with it. I must say, it looks awesome, but the sheer length of time it took for me to make this bag means I probably won't be making another one any time soon.

The Never Ending Yoga Mat Bag

I have been making this damned bag for almost a month now--I had half a blanket finished in the time it's taken me to get this far with this bag. You would think I was crocheting a sweater for a 300 lb. guy. Or making an afghan for said guy. It's because I'm making really small stitches (104 each row--I can't even tell you right now how many rows I've made). But seriously--this is the latest never-ending project. Oy.

I still have projects going on...

Though I haven't had a second to post anything about them. I'm currently working on Brad's blanket, my yoga mat bag, and a couple other things I can't really mention because they are presents for people. I'll post pictures after I send them off :-) Meow!

On a side note, I really have to get my ass in gear and make the other shadowbox for our wedding masks. I also promised to make one for my mom with her masks in them, so I'm going to be busy for the next couple of weeks with projects.

Crochet Flower Bag :-)

I finished my crochet flower bag last night and I couldn't be happier with how it looks! I posted the details of how the flowers came about in an earlier post, so I'll just explain how I attached them--I split some of the yarn threads and used two threads and an upholstrey needle to back stich the flowers onto the bag (the flowers were held in place with pins while I sewed them on). This is the finished product:













I am probably going to make bags like this one (this size) and also smaller tote bags. I have to find where I can get black canvas tote bags wholesale though--and not the tacky looking ones I saw in American Apparel. I'm so not into a black bag with ecru handles. Ewwww. Can you say tacky? I love the way this bag looks though--it came out perfect!

Brad's Blanket

As I was making the blanket for my brother, the request for other blankets started rolling in--first on the list were my husband and my mom. Since Brad was always with me at the craft store, it was much easier to pick out yarn and decide what sort of pattern I wanted to work with. I was still getting the hang of attaching squares, and after spending so much time attaching all of the little squares for G's blanket, I decided that I never wanted to work with granny squares with just 4 rows ever again if it was humanly possible. With that in mind, I thought that doing 6 row squares would be a little less cumbersome, and a lot easier to get through. I also planned on attaching sqares together as I went, as opposed to waiting to put the whole thing together at once which is what I did with G's blanket. If I was going to work with six round squares, I thought it would be best to work in three colors instead of two like my last project. I selected one large skein of the Pound of Love yarn in mint green, and 6 skeins each of the Baby Soft yarn--in lavander, and in a really nice lavander/white/mint green multi. This is the pattern I came up with:


I've gotten approximately a third of the way through the blanket so far--but I've come to the conclusion that I need to work on other projects when working on blankets, otherwise I get a little bored and actually resent working on it. Hence, my current other projects, the bags with the crochet flowers and yoga mat bag flowers. Here's what it looks like so far:

Crochet Flowers...

I'm working on a new crochet project that started sort of as an accident. I wanted to crochet myself a yoga mat bag, but didn't have a pattern, so I thought I could just figure it out as I went along. I started out trying to crochet in rounds--which was a lot more complicated than I thougt it would be! Instead of the circle coming out flat, I kept getting wrinkly circles! Then I noticed that the wrinkly circles were actually very pretty, and I got an idea...why not turn them into flowers and use them as embelishments for bags/purses/pins? Seemed like a good idea, so I got to work making flowers!

While creating the flowers, I thought it would be a good idea to make leaves and stems as well, but I had no idea how to make leaves--so I figured it out by trial and error--and came up with a good pattern to follow. I basically chain stiched 12 stitches, then did one slip stich, 2 sc, 2 hdc, 2 dc, 1 tc, 1 dc, 1 hdc, 2 sc into one sticth. I then repeated the pattern going in th opposite direction (2 sc into one stich, 1 hdc, 1 dc, 1 tc, 2 dc, 2 hdc, 2 sc, 1 ss). I then did the other side of the leaf, following the same pattern. After the leaf was complete, I slip stiched down the center of the leaf to make it look like the veins of the leaf. the stems are just slip stiched chains. This is what one of the flowers and leaves look like:



After I had three flowers made, I started thinking about what kind of bag to attach them to. At first I thought I wanted to crochet a bag and attach them, but since this was my first attempt, I thought it would be good to go with something already made. The flowers themselves were teal and lavander, with light green leaves and stems, so I thought that a black background would match the best, and also be the most practical...so Brad and I headed over to American Apparel to purchase a bag that would work.

I've attached the flowers I've already made with straight pins, but I still have some stems and leaves to finish making. This is what my project is looking like so far, but I am far from finished. As soon as the bag is complete, I'll post pictures of it: