Pet Sweater and Blanket

I found a new favorite site -- crochetkitten.com! It has many pet items but also other free patterns. As you can see by the picture, Baby was NOT the model for the sweater. I knew I would never get her in it and I didn't want to cover it in cat fur -- any more than it is just by my working on it!

I used Sensations Multi-Brite for the center of the sweater and blanket and trimmed it with Lion Brand Jiffy Wine.

I bought the Wine colored yarn to help fill out the second Linus project blanket I made. I bought a second skein of the Sensations yarn when I realized I did not have enough for the blanket and learned my lesson about buying enough at the same time because the dye lots were VERY different.

So, I tore out the additional rows. So then it was too small, so I edged

it with the Jiffy yarn. It was not very easy to find a color that went with the yarn, Jiffy was the best match.I double-crocheted onthe short ends and singled across the sides that were ok.

Towel and WashCloth Set

Well, I finally finished the towel and washcloth set. I found the pattern on the Coats & Clark site. I even bought the eco-cotton blend yarn. It feels so soft! However, I found a cotton yarn at A New Yarn that matched the Mary Kay containers I planned to combine with the towel and cloth for the Workplace Giving Auction.

The first time I made the towel. I did not make the 8 sqaures (4 for each end of the towel)

at the same time. So, when I went to make the 4 for the end of the towel, I grabbed the wrong hook -- the downside of the Clover Ergo hooks, they are all the same color -- they were too big. Which I did not notice at first. The second error I made was slip stitching the 4 squares to the center of the towel instead of sewing them. This made it real puffy which may have been why I didn't catch the size error.

I didn't see the error until I brought it to the Seattle Crochet Guild meeting! Fortunately, I only showed it to a few people before I realized the errors.

So, today, I finished the towel for the second time. It came out MUCH better. While I was at our meeting, I bought the last 2 skeins of the same cotton (we have our meetings at A New Yarn). This time I made all 8 squares at once and I even sewed the 2 groups of 4 together at the same time so I used the same process.

I had to take apart the old towel to used some of the yarn for the new towel. It took me a while to find the ends I had woven in -- that is a good thing! I always feel like my ends are so obvious.

Finger Puppets

I also made finger puppets for the auction along with their own little container. The directions were from Crazy Crochet. This book is geared toward children to the patterns are pretty general. Basically, make a rectangle as tall as your finger and wide enough to go around.

It said to then sew it together and THEN put the face on. It was much easier to put the face on before sewing it closed. It suggested hair for the girls and hats for the boys.

The next project was creating milk and cookies. So I used the pattern for the mike glass as the container for the puppets

Gecko Bookmark and snake

I created a Gecko bookmark and a bending Snake for the workplace giving auction at work. I have not made toys before. I was a little worried but I think they turned out okay.

Both sets of instruction were a little lacking but I was able to figure out most things. On the Gecko pattern, it did not tell you to slip stitch onto the leg after making the 3 toes. If you do not, they are more in a line instead of how they appeared in the pattern picture.

For the snake it said to put in craft wire. However, when I got to the store, there were SEVERAL different weights of the wire AND it was $5 for the smallest container. I only needed one foot but I would have to buy significantly more PLUS a set of wire cutters. So I used a cigar filter cleaner instead. It is not quite strong enough but it worked!

I have the googly eyes left over from making candy cane raindeers with my nieces back when they were young and wanted to that type of activity :)

Check Out Ravelry

Ravelry is a network of Crocheter, knitters and all "fiber" crafts. It takes a bit of time to get invited to set up an account. but once you do you have a wealth of information at your fingertips. As well as a ton of groups both local and international. I have already been able to find patterns for some projects!

I quickly found a pattern for a chemo cap using Baby Clouds yarn (one of my many stash!) for a friend is WAY too young to be battling cancer.

I am on a committee at work to work on our Workplace Giving auction (I have already submitted 2 afghans, hat/scarf set as well as a crochet Gecko bookmark/snake/crayon kids item. During our meeting this week, they were talking about creating items for pets so I quickly found some patterns for "cuddle mats" and of course toys!

Crochet and Knit Show in Portland

Last weekend I went to 1 and 1/2 days of the Knit and Crochet Show -- Should be named Crochet and Knit show, in my opinion. I attended one class. It was a great time. I bought too much yarn -- if that is possible.

I also took a knitting class -- a free drop in class sponsored by Coats and Clark. Knitting would be fine if there just were hooks at the end of those pesky needles!

Check out some of the photos I took while there.

Sharing Photos

This weekend I went on a photo shoot with the Shutter-up group from work. We went to Point Defiance Park and took pictures. The great thing about taking photos in the digital world is that it is FREE! Unless, you count our lunch or breakfast out!

We went through some of the gardens and then down to the beach. We were going to go through Fort Nisqually but it cost $4 and were tired by that time. We headed to Never Never Land but it was gone. :(

More fun for me was sharing pictures with my friend in North Carolina. I sent her a camera and she took some pictures on Saturday. On Sunday, I helped her set up a Picasa account and upload them into an album. Always the teacher, I had fun talking with her about pictures. It also gave us something to talk about that was more fun then the trials of our jobs and lives.

3rd Times a Charm!

Well, it took me 3 tries to make my first pillow. Last year when I made Kirsten's afghan, I thought I would make a pillow too. I bought a pillow form and figured I would just crochet a cover. I did, but getting the size right was a challenge (I wasn't following a pattern) and I didn't like how it looked. I figured if I did just single crochets on the back and shells on the front, that would work. NOT!

I then came across a free pattern for a button pillow with buttons on the side. I first thought I would make it with Seahawks buttons or football buttons (I have fabric of footballs!). However, when I was showing it to Margie (Kirsten's step-grandma) she scrunched up her nose at the thought! So, I decided that may not be the way to go.

My first plan with the buttons was to put them on both sides. White as the base and then dark blue button on top of the white button on the light blue stripe, light blue on the the dark stripe. Well, sewing on buttons proved to be about the hardest part of the whole project. Sewing through the yarn and 2 buttons was about all I could handle!

I mentioned this was my 3rd attempt. The first was the single crochet mess. The second was this pattern. I got within 2 rows of having it completed and ran out of dark blue yarn. I also had very little of the light blue. I could not find more of the light blue which I believe was Red Heart Country Blue, but believe it or not, I had NO covers left to tell me for sure. Again, I fell victim to the company not making a color that I did not have enough! (I feel better about buying 15 skeins of the teal for Carmen's afghan now!)

Back to the dark blue issue, I bought a new skein of the "no dye lot" midnight blue. However, it was significantly darker than the left over skein I had. So, I abandoned the project with 2 rows to go.

As I was trying to get items from Kirsten's birthday list, I was not able to purchase the items in the stores, I had to order them online so I was not going to having anything for her to open. Monday (we were celebrating on Wednesday! I decided to start over. This time using the new skein of dark blue. I had to tear out the first attempt to recover the light blue yarn. I also had to keep the number of rows for the light blue the same since I only had the yarn that was in the second attmept!

Believe it or not, I actually got it done -- even with going to the Mariners game on Tuesday night. Needless to say, I crocheted through the entire game! She seemed to like it when she opened it.

Smilebox Birthday Card

Here is a birthday card I created with the Hallmark Smilebox for a co-worker. It is quick and easy. If you don't mind ads on the side, there is no charge!

Make a Smilebox free ecard

Sensations Yarn Scarves and Hats

I bought one skein of the sensations yarn. Thinking I could get a couple scarves and hats. The skeins look as big as the Caron one pound skeins but they have significantly less yarn. So I bought a second skein! I made 2 hats and 3 scarves. I liked this color partly because it reminded me of carmel fudge swerl ice cream!

The pictures to the right are of the hats. My niece was kind enough to "model" one for me. I suspect it looks so good because of her!

2 of the scarves I made were made using the pattern for January 27 in my 365 day calendar. It is called Tiny Textures. Basically alternating front and back post double crochets. It is hard to see the texture in the varigated yarn. The blue is the same pattern but smaller yarn and hook.