Happy New Year

It’s that time of year to think back on everything I’ve tried to accomplish throughout the year. These are just some of the things that I’ve tried to accomplish:

1. Take some time out of my schedule to be with my family and friends.

2. Promote crochet.

3. And more crochet.

4. And even more crochet.

5. Teach as many people as I could to crochet and to inspire many more.
6. Write a book.
7. Do more for charity. (I need to work on this one.)
8. Help build a successful crochet guild.

Here are a few of the things that I would like to tackle next year:
1. Have fun with my family and friends.
2. Promote crochet, crochet, and crochet.
3. Inspire more people to crochet and help teach them.
4. Finish a few more WIPs.
5. Get my craft room organized.
6. Do more fun things with KS My Stitch crochet guild.
7. Write another book.
8. Take the time to make project sheets for every project I finish and put them in a notebook journal. (My friend Rosina suggested this, and I just love her suggestions!)
9. And finally sew that button on and take those pants up “one inch” for my husband. (Ha! Ha!)

Tell me about the things that you accomplished last year and what you want to do next year. Have a Happy New Year!

A Gift from My Friend Babs

Look what my friend Babs sent me the other day. These are pieces that were made from one of those looms that I still haven’t run across. I know that some of you have told me where to order them. But I’m still holding out for the one that I find on one of my many adventures to the second hand stores. I want to find a vintage one still in the old box with original instructions. Maybe I’m just dreaming too big, but I’m going to keep searching. I think I like them so much because the loops seem to create many flowers all hooked together. I love flowers. Anyway, thank you Babs for the coolest place mats and trivet. Maybe I can figure out how to crochet like this and not even wait for a loom? It’s just a thought.

Crochet Shrug Turned into Jacket

I made this jacket as a shrug for my sister to wear in her first International Quilt Market booth in 2005. A couple of years earlier, we had seen some manufactured crocheted jackets made in a foreign country at a local boutique. Jackie was going to buy one, but I said, “No, I’ll make you one that I design myself.” Then she said, “What about adding onto the shrug that you made me a couple of years ago?” And that’s how this jacket was created.

She gave me the shrug, and I took it home and started adding crocheted lace trims and edgings from some of my vintage crochet books inherited from my Grandma Vada. Then, I remembered that the shrug wouldn’t close in the front because of shrinkage, and so I added one of the edgings up the front. I also used several different weights of thread and yarn. Two of my favorite sizes and kinds; Aunt Lydias size 10 cotton thread in white and ecru, and DMC Senso size 3 in linen and cotton. (You can find all of these in the Crochet Soiree store.) My sister added the handmade and designed by her fabric flower for just that special touch to hold it all together. No, I didn’t write the pattern for this, and no, I don’t want to make another one, and no it’s not for sale. (But thanks for asking, ha! ha!)

I loved making this and seeing all the layers grow and become one piece, and adding the last row all the way around just to tie it all together was so much fun. Then, in 2008, I read about the CGOA Design Contest and decided to enter this design. I didn’t win anything, but the best part of it all was that my sister and I collaborated on it, and I made something for her to cherish forever.

My Crochet Bead Necklace

I am always complaining to my husband about his being so easily sidetracked. But sometimes I can get sidetracked, too, like this time. I think I have told everyone that my husband makes jewelry, and the day before Thanksgiving, he received a shipment of some beads. He wanted to show them to me, and sometimes I like them, and other times they just don’t interest me. My husband and I usually have totally opposite tastes in things. So when he showed me this tube of little ceramic beads, I was surprised that I liked them so much. I was so anxious to see what I could make with them that I had a hard time getting to my size 10 crochet hook quick enough so that I could see if it would fit in the hole of the bead.

Then, I sent my husband to the store for some last minute items for Thanksgiving dinner prep and set out to crochet these little beads together. I just loved how the little ceramic beads looked like little spools of thread. I crocheted every one of those 80 beads onto the necklace and then found some more little round beads to add, and I made them dangle. I wanted something in the middle to hang down, but didn’t know yet what that might be.

By the time that my husband came back from the store, I already had all the ceramic beads crocheted together and was adding the first dangles. I asked him to find me some odds and ends of things that might work in the middle, and he brought me some cool little things. I searched around in my things, too, and found a little charm that my friend Steph made me from one of my crochet edged button cards and decided to hang that in the middle along with the word Jesus in the shape of a fish.

I love how none of this was calculated or thought out. I just went with the moment and enjoyed every minute of my sidetracked project. Sometimes these projects don’t work out, and I have a whole bunch of those tucked away in a basket somewhere, but sometimes they turn out like this one.

Does anyone else get carried away in the moment like I do? I would love to hear your stories about your fun projects.

Free Pattern Friday: Cozy Winter Wrap

Hope you're having the merriest of Christmas days!!! Isn’t this a really cool looking afghan crochet pattern? It reminds me of some of my favorite stitches for afghans--the ripple stitch and zigzag. I love how the wedges come together and form the pattern.

I decided to change it up a little (surprise huh?). The fun thing about starting an afghan is that if you get so far, and you decide that you don’t want to finish the afghan, you can always make a scarf or, if you go a little farther, a shawl. Then you can do like me and have so much yarn left over that you make everything out of the colors that you chose for your afghan. Ha! Ha!

I chose to stop at a scarf, and I added some chain fringe to both ends. I hope you enjoy making this stitch as much as I did.

Christmas 1962

This is one of my favorite pictures of my childhood, and it just happens to be Christmas 1962. I had just turned 6 years old as a matter-of-fact. This photo was probably taken on my birthday since no one else has gifts unwrapped. My mom always let me open a Christmas gift early for my birthday. I’m not sure if it was an extra gift or just one of my Christmas presents. I really didn’t think about it back then. Did you notice I received my very first iron that actually worked? That must have been the beginning of my love/hate relationship with ironing. Ha! Ha! I love how the walls of the room were not finished and look at the size of that tree. I think my brothers must have climbed one of the cedar trees on our property, cut the top out, and brought it in for us to decorate it. We didn’t have much, but all I know is that I never felt like I didn’t have what I needed. I’m very grateful to my mom and daddy for all that they did for all of us and how they did the best that they could. You can see it in our faces how happy we all were.

Our Christmases now consist of spending time with our own large and small families. For the past couple of years, my daughter Jennifer and my granddaughter Megan have come over and spent Christmas Eve night with Gran Gran and Poppy, so they can be here for Christmas morning. I get up early so that I can get in a little crochet before everyone else wakes up, and I also stick something in the oven for lunch. After all the gifts are unwrapped, my mom and daddy join us for lunch. After lunch, I take my Daddy upstairs and put him down for a nap, and as I cover him up, I give him a kiss just like he did me all those many nights when I was a little girl.

Tell me about your Christmas memories.

Lunch and Crochet with a Friend

I never get to actually sit and work on my projects with anyone. I’m always working, crocheting for charity, having meetings for the KS My Stitch guild, or going on treasure hunts. I got to thinking last Saturday that I would just like to have lunch and sit and crochet with a friend. So I called Rosina and asked her if she would like to come over to my house. I offered fix lunch for us, and afterwards, we could just sit and crochet or work on whatever we might be working on. Since Rosina is such and good sport, she said, “Sure, it sounds like fun.”

I had lunch ready and after we ate and cleaned up the dishes, we sat down to work on our projects. Rosina was telling me what she brought to work on and said that she had found a couple of patterns on line that she thought would be fun to make and had brought a couple of skeins of yarn but forgot her hooks. She did have a scarf that she was knitting for her secret pal’s Christmas gift, so she set out to work on that. I was working on the free Friday pattern. She knitted on her scarf for awhile and decided that she wanted to try the crochet projects out that she had brought. She borrowed a hook from me and started out making a little Christmas tree. We talked about how hard it is for us to use large hooks as our hands are so short, and I told her about my new size M wooden hook.

I asked Rosina if she would like to try out my M hook to see how lightweight it is and if maybe it would work for her. I handed her the Kids Cover-Up Afghan and the wooden hook to experiment with, and she decided that maybe she could use a large hook after all. I thought…..hmmmmmm!! Maybe if I get each person that comes to my house to finish 16 rows on that afghan, maybe I could get it done, too. Ha! Ha! Anyway, we had a great time just visiting and crocheting and sometimes not saying anything at all, but just being together was a lot of fun.

Another Break from Crochet

Rosina and I decided to take another break from our crochet projects. We started out stopping at my favorite place--Value Center. I started out picking up a few things, and then I found this wonderful big bag…

…so I could continue shopping. I found a manufactured crochet bag to embellish, a poncho that will look cool with crochet edging, and…

…this hat with some really neat velvety leaves, squiggly things, and grapelike objects. Then I found the green metal box, and…

…a green infant sweater that’s screaming for some crochet embellishments and a mended ribbon. And can we talk about the spindley flowers? They are the coolest things. They’re made out of rolled fabric to make the cutest little flower buds, and they’re attached to spindley wires that have been wrapped with brown sticky paper stuff.

Rosina and I both kept mentioning that we really needed to be working on our crochet projects, but we couldn’t keep ourselves from stopping at another shop that’s run by one of the churches here in Wichita. This store is one where you sometimes have to dig for things and look under things. Which I think is lots of fun because you just never know when there will be a treasure under there.

Well, we were digging in bins when I ran across a wood spool, wooden bobbins, the cool greenish aqua colored plastic thing that I still don’t know what it’s for but I like the color (Susan Bates is written on it), and a Singer ruffler (and no I don’t own a Singer sewing machine, but I now have a Singer ruffler with instructions). I found the black and white pin with clip-on earrings set under the glass at the register, along with the green flower pin, and then I found a crochet tie-dyed jacket for my Megan in the front window.

I couldn’t believe when I found the wire clothespin basket that I was talking to you about in an earlier blog about clotheslines. I found my very own wire complete with the bag hanging on it and some more clothespins. I also bought a vintage tablecloth that has seen better days. I plan on using it to make a new bag for my clothespin bag. I’ll use the bag that was hanging on the wire as a pattern and cut around the holes that are in the tablecloth. I’ll be sure and post it when I get around to doing that project.

I think I remember seeing advertisement for this little gadget many years ago, but I always wondered why I would need this tool when I can sew on buttons. Well, now I have a Buttoneer that is the prettiest aqua, and maybe, I can get that button put back on my husband’s pants with just a click of this magic tool and a piece of plastic.

Rosina found a really pretty blue wool jacket and intends on felting it and making something really neat from it. She tried her hand at Tunisian crochet and made a really cute felted bag, and then she crocheted another one, and now she can’t seem to stop making really big wool things, only to wash them in hot water and shrink them down. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with after felting her wool jacket.

Tell me about what you like to do when you hang out with your friends.

Christmas Tree Challenge Continued

Well, I jumped right in and cleaned up that area. Now, I'm off to ask my husband to help me get the tree out.

First, I had to make sure his belly was full, so I made him some Pasole…

…and then asked him to help me get the tree out. (Key words were help me…)

Tree's up. I don’t know why I procrastinated so long; I even have a tree that just pops out of the box with the lights already on it.

How do you like my tree skirt? I like it a lot. See that wasn’t so hard. After all, what was I waiting for, Christmas?

Free Pattern Friday: Media Case Crochet Pattern

Last year, Shelly, my LYS owner, was involved in a yarn shop hop and asked me if I would like to write a crochet pattern for an iPod/cell phone case to give away during the days of the shop hop. I agreed right away. There was only one stipulation. I had to make it with only one skein of yarn that she chose.

I found out that I really enjoyed designing the little case and also making it out of all different kinds of yarns that I wouldn’t normally buy because of the cost. This little case only takes a skein of yarn and would be a cool way of crocheting with some of the more expensive yarns and trying them out. I thought it might make a fun and easy project for Christmas gifts.

I hope you enjoy this little pattern and happy media case making!!!! Merry Christmas from me!!!!

Christmas Tree Challenge

The older I get, the harder it is for me to get the tree out and trimmed. In the past, I've watched my mother go through this phase, and I wondered why she had such a hard time putting up a tree and decorating it. I would even go up after I was married and had my daughter to put her tree up for her and then help with wrapping all the gifts. Now, as the years go by, it's getting harder for me to get the Christmas tree out and decorate, too. I remember when my daughter was young; we would put the tree up on Thanksgiving night.

Does anyone else feel this way or is it just me? With my mother, it was because there weren’t any children living at home anymore. What’s my excuse?

It couldn’t be because I will have to put all of this stuff away, do you think? I have to leave you now and hopefully when I return I’ll have the tree up.

Crochet Circle Purse

When my sister and I traveled to Salt Lake City for the International Quilt Show in Spring 2007, we decided that we wanted to do a Take and Teach. We wanted to show the quilters how to incorporate crochet in their quilts. So we had to come up with something that would be easy for beginners to do, and we came up with some cute and fun projects for us to show. I crocheted a bunch of circles from DMC Senso size 3 thread, and I sewed some together to make a scarf. My sister sewed some on fabric and made a cute baby quilt. She also sewed them on another piece of fabric and made a pillow out of the circles.

Since I love to make purses I thought it would be neat if I sewed the circles together and made a rectangular purse out of them. I sewed the circles to the wrong side of a piece of fabric so that they would stand out. Then I lined the bag and placed some stiff interfacing in between the layers to make it stand up. I also made a drawstring insert at the top so things didn’t fly out when you have your purse next to you on your car seat. (Has this ever happened to you?) Ha! Ha! I topped it off with some wooden handles.

All the circle projects were a hit, and we had so much fun teaching the ladies to make them. Some of the ladies had not crocheted for many years and enjoyed just hanging out and commented that they really wanted to spend the rest of the day with us in such a relaxing atmosphere.

Crocheting is relaxing to me, and I know it relaxes a lot of you, too. Happy relaxing crochet to you this week.

Some Finished Crochet Projects

I’m so proud of myself for finishing a few of my projects. It seems like it has taken me forever, but I thought I would share them with all of you.

The first one is the Christmas Tree Skirt. Now, if I could just get into the spirit of putting up my Christmas tree, I could take a picture of it and the skirt. Oh, maybe tomorrow.

The second thing is the Cloud Soft Cover-Up afghan. I simply added one row of border and called it good. I just love this yarn and loved working with it. It’s called TLC Cotton Plus from Coats and Clark. There are some really pretty colors and Crochet Soiree carries it in the store. Thanks to all of you who convinced me not to frog it and just get-r-done.

Tell me about some of the things you have completed lately.

56 Granny Squares

Have you ever wondered what 56 granny squares look like all stacked up? Well, this is what they look like. I tried laying them flat, and it doesn’t look like very many, but when you stack them up, it looks like I really accomplished something. I am now done with all of the granny squares for the swap that I have been in since September. I had a lot of fun participating in the swap and seeing all the different granny squares that everyone made for me. It was a little challenge for me right at first because I had to think outside of my box of colors, and it was fun seeing all the colors forming the squares.

Here’s a picture of the ends of 56 granny squares. I love to look at yarn through glass and see all the layers of color.

Now it’s on to the other WIP projects. I think I’ll get back to my Christmas Tree skirt, or the baby afghan for grandson #3, or the Kids Cover-Up for grandson #2, or start a new project for the newest grandbaby born last week--grandson #4 who’s named after my husband.

Tell me about something you just finished or about what you’re working on.

Free Pattern Friday: Mary Engelbreit Teapot Pincushion Crochet Pattern

I think I have mentioned that I am a very big fan of Mary Engelbreit. I chose this crochet pattern today because I love all of Mary’s things and because I love pincushions and flowers. This cute teapot was very fun to make. Can you believe that I actually used the thread that the pattern called for? I just had to use my own colors, and I wanted to share a few tricks that I used to stuff my teapot with.

I used part of an old pink sweater sleeve and made a tube the same size as the body of the teapot. Then I stuffed the sweater piece with polyfill. I used the sleeve so the stuffing wouldn’t show through the crochet.

I used another piece of the old pink sweater and made a smaller tube and stuffed it into the spout along with some yarn ends that I had been saving for a special occasion. For the handle I just rolled up some of the old pink sweater and folded the handle over the top of it and sewed the handle together.

I like how my teapot turned out and couldn’t resist sticking my little flower pins in the top. I hope you have as much fun making this teapot as I did.

Mending

I think I have told you all before, but here I go again. I don’t like to mend or hem pants. One morning last week I found this...

...on top of my crochet granny square project. I do give him credit for pinning the button back on his pants with the cutest flower pin, and it was very tempting to pick them up and just sew it on. As I moved the pants away from my crocheting, I remembered I had to prioritize my projects and time and maybe I’ll still get around to sewing on his button, but only after I finish my granny squares.

Laundry

I think some of you know that my ritual in the morning is to get up at 3:30 am, put a pan of hot water on for hot tea, go to the laundry room, start a load of laundry, pick up my crochet hook, and work on whatever project that I might have ended with the day before.

I love to do laundry (I know some people think I’m crazy), but I love the way it smells, and I love the warmness of the fresh laundry when you take it out of the dryer. I love to smooth the wrinkles out with my hands and fold each item the same way every time. Until it comes to my king-size fitted sheets……

Ugh! I never can get things to lay flat, and it ends up all bumpy looking. I have even taken a lesson from Martha Stewart’s TV show and tried to do the same thing she does. But I swear it still doesn’t work for me. Maybe if I had a waist high table like she has and was a little taller, just maybe I could get it right.

What do you think? Does anyone else have a problem with fitted sheets? I was just wondering if there is anyone else out there that likes to do laundry like me.

Lessons Learned

This is a lesson I learned the hard way.

I made this scarf last Spring, and I made it out of some fuzzy cotton yarn. I love zigzag and ripple patterns and decided to change colors on every row and repeat it. I got a rhythm going and didn’t stop to weave in my ends. I decided when I had crocheted as long as I wanted that I would take a shortcut and not weave the ends in. Instead I would fold the scarf over. tucking the ends in and adding a row of single crochet all around through both thicknesses.

I wore my scarf for the first time this week and found that the fuzz was getting in my nose, so decided that I would launder it. I found that I had just a few other articles of clothing that I could throw in with it and kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. I was trying to take a shortcut again, and as you can see, all the ends that didn’t get woven in are now sticking out all over and all the fuzz that came off of the yarn is now on the few clothes that I threw in with the scarf.

Before I can put things away or iron my husband’s shirt, I will have to take a fuzzbuster to it and my socks and underwear, too! Ha! Ha! I just made more work for myself by taking these two shortcuts.

Lesson learned: don’t launder cotton crochet yarn pieces with any other clothing and always make sure to weave your ends in. Has anyone ever done something like this or am I the only one?

Teaching My Sister-in-Law Ricci to Crochet

Ricci and I have been friends for almost 20 years. As a matter-of-fact, she introduced me to her brother almost 20 years ago. Anyway, Ricci has always admired everything that I make. Every time she comes to our house, she has to look at everything I’ve been working on and always comments that she wants whatever I’ve made. I’ve made her a few things, and she loves them. She always says that she wishes that she could make things, but her grandmother tried to teach her and told her that she couldn’t sit still long enough to learn, and she just eventually gave up on her. I have heard this same thing from her for as long as I can remember.

So last Saturday Ricci came over and said the same thing again, but this time I decided that I was going to try and teach her to crochet. I went and got an extra hook and a skein of yarn from my stash and made a swatch of 20 single crochet and 10 rows long and handed her the hook and the fabric and said, "I’m going to show you how to crochet, and you’re going to sit still until you learn."

Before an hour and a half was up, she understood the concept of a single crochet and chain. She still wasn’t quite ready to go to another stitch or start from the beginning. But I did send her on her way with a hook and the yarn and told her to practice until she felt really comfortable with both of them. Hopefully she will bring it back, and we’ll start on a half double and then a double.

Shhh! Don’t tell her, but I think I’ll get her the I Can’t Believe I’m Crocheting dvd and book for Christmas. I can’t wait to see all the cool color combinations she’ll come up with. Tell me about someone you’ve taught to crochet.

Free Pattern Friday: Merry Door Mates Crochet Patterns

I’ve got two patterns for you this week, a rug and a doorhanger. Since it is December, I thought I’d better get into the Christmas spirit, so I decided to try my hand at this cute Santa crochet pattern. I know it says to use fabric strips for the whole thing, but you know me, I had to try something different. I chose to use some medium worsted weight yarn that was left over from my granny square swap for his face, hat, nose, and pompom. Then I decided to use different colors of strips of fabric for his beard instead of plain muslin. It reminds me of a scrappy quilt.

This was a fun and easy project especially if you ask your husband to help you cut the strips while you tie them on to Santa’s face. (Well he was watching me cut the strips and was not doing anything else, so I asked him if he wanted to help, and being the thoughtful, kind husband that he is, he agreed.) Ha! Ha!

I think Santa looks cute on my purple front door. What do you think?

Mess Up on Cloud-Soft Cover-Up

Ok. I’m to the end of my Cloud-Soft Cover-Up afghan from a past Free Pattern Friday. I plan on giving this our new grandson in Oklahoma. I really thought I had the pattern memorized, but apparently not. When I folded it in half look what happens……

I forgot to add the 1 chain between each of the puff stitches on about half of the afghan. UGH! Do I frog it or just continue on with the edging and get it done? Please tell me what you would do!

Thanksgiving 2009

This year, my mom decided to have Thanksgiving on Friday instead of Thursday. So I got to spend Thanksgiving Day alone at my house with my little family. We had a very non-traditional lunch with Chicken Tortilla soup and spaghetti and ate those leftovers for dinner also. My Megan got to come to my house, too, as Jennifer usually has to work and her dad takes her for the weekend.

Joshua decided to be a kind teenager and play a board game with Megan, and they had fun. It was great watching them play together as Megan is growing older.

Jennifer came over without anything to crochet, so I gave her the Kid’s Cover-up afghan that I’ve been working on to crochet on. She got 16 rows done for me. and it’s looking really good.

Since Megan was able to be with us for Thanksgiving this year, I decided it was about time to get the four generation picture that has never been taken. When my mom says that we’ll be eating around noon, you really need to be at her house by 11:00 because she may decide that she wants to eat anywhere between 11:00 and noon. This year was no exception; we started at 11:40. There were approximately 35 or 40 people there and food for 50.

I wish I would’ve taken a picture of the mashed potato pan. Oh my gosh, my mom makes the best mashed potatoes of anyone I know. Of course, I think all of her food is the best, and she just says that “it’s just because I didn’t have to make it myself” and maybe she’s right. She had a hard time this year with mashing the potatoes, for some reason her potato masher was not working, and my sister and brother were trying to help her and tried different things. She finally got the electric mixer out, but my brother didn’t like that method because he says that “if there aren’t chunks in the potatoes then they aren’t real mashed potatoes.” I have always thought the same thing as my mom never used an electric mixer to mash her potatoes. The potatoes were great by the way.

Everything turned out very well and my mom put my dad down for a nap before lunch, and she got to enjoy her food along with everyone else. She also mentioned that she had invited a friend of the family to join us but the friend had to turn her down as she wasn’t feeling well and besides that she was concerned about adding one more person to the lunch. My mom commented and said that she had told the friend, "What are you talking about? The more the merrier!” I laughed inside and thought about what I told you earlier about what she says about extra people coming to dinner.

This is Sarah, her sister-in-law Jessica, and baby William (one of my great nephews and one of their cousins). I asked Sarah if she continued with crocheting from last year, and she said she did right at first and had made a hat, but she ran out of yarn and hadn’t picked it up for a long time. She tried again sometime later and had forgotten, so I told her that there are lots of on-line videos that she could watch if she needed to until we could get together again, and I could go over it with her. I didn’t have a chance to ask my other niece Jessica if she continued.

I have to mention my nephew Keegan. He’s 6 months younger than Joshua, and it's always been a tradition on Thanksgiving for Keegan to stay all night with us, and this year was no exception. I couldn’t believe how tall he had gotten since the last time I saw him. He mentioned also that he can bench press 300 lbs. I bet he is a great asset to his football team, too. What do you think?

My daughter usually doesn’t go anywhere without her crochet, and she seems to be able to crochet anywhere, even when this much commotion going on. I took my crochet bag but didn’t ever take it out. I just enjoyed sitting and watching the babies and children for a while with nothing to do and, of course, I love watching Jennifer crochet.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I stayed to help Mom with the cleanup and NO, she doesn’t have a dishwasher, but all I left her with was the potato pan soaking. Ha! Ha!