Christmas Yarn

Yesterday was a treat for me. We went to Michael’s. It seems like ages since I have been there. With me working now, I find I shop way less – which is sad since I now have more money. My yarn stash is full – so I made a vow to clean it out before I buy any more.

I did buy two skeins yesterday. One was for an amigurumi for my daughter. I couldn’t believe I didn’t have the color I needed. The other skein was to make apples for teacher Christmas gifts. My daughter’s teacher loved The Carrot Famiy so I hope the she will like an amigurumi apple.

Usually if I am yarn browsing, I prefer Hobby Lobby. Those rows and rows of yarn just lift my spirits. Surprisingly our Michael’s was well stocked with yarn this visit. They had plent of new Christmas yarn – much of it from Martha Stewart. Some didn’t look very yarn-like. I’m sure she has a craft book full of ideas how to use this yarn that didn’t seem it would last a few rounds. There was some pom-pom yarn for Christmas that I would love to try but not so sure about using the Christmas colors. I have so much to do already that I would never finish a Christmas throw – although maybe I will work on it in 2012 for next Christmas.

Still it was fun to look at the new yarn. I may have to sneak in a trip this weekend and marvel at it one more time.

Yarn

The Carrot Family

This week the daughter is learning all about the letter V in school. For a family project, we could make a vegetable visitor that she can bring to class. Rae wanted a carrot – so I crocheted her one which she liked but though was lonely. I crocheted another one, and then the pair needed kids. So four crocheted carrots later, the carrot family was born. I gave one carrot sibling blue eyes since my brown eyed child is obsessed with blue eyes at the moment.

Each carrot I crocheted a little differently. You know how it is when you try to crochet something twice. No matter how hard you try, they never turn out just like each other. In this case, even though this was a simple project, I didn’t work from a pattern or write down what I did for the first carrot since I thought this would be a one time project. If I had known that I would make three more, then I would have at least jotted some notes down.

She really likes them. I had to do eyelashes for the two girls – my first ever attempt at those. They didn’t turn out half bad.

Whipping up these carrots makes me want to do more food crochet. I love starting and finishing a project the same day. It’s such a sense of accomplishment. Also to make someone who just absolutely loves it is so rewarding.

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Foodie

Cool Weather Crochet

I expect my time spent crocheting will increase as cooler weather has finally arrived. With the cool weather, I feel more like cooking and baking and crochet – not necessarily all at the same time. But sometimes I can’t decide what to do since I want to do it all now.

This week I want to start work on some Special Olympics scarves. It just seems like last week that the official colors were announced for the 2012 games. My 2011 is flying by. It is hard to believe it is so close to Christmas! Good thing I am getting in the mood to crochet. Although this year I plan to do as I did last year and crochet only a few items. My grandmother would crochet Christmas gifts all year long. I just cannot do that. It is so hard to me to repeat a pattern much less three or four times, and I get lost in the details when trying to decide what to crochet somebody. First I start off with a hat and then decide to add a scarf, mittens, etc. Then I get overwhelmed by it all and drop the project all together – hence why I’m keeping it simple. To make sure I keep it simple, I wait until mid-October to make gifts.

But now I’m ready to yarn shop and start a few cold weather projects. I’ve got to find my fingerless gloves to keep my fingers warm. This morning I was crocheting on the ride to work when my fingers got cold. There is a chance of frost tomorrow morning – so the cold weather is definitely here. Right now I welcome it but I’m sure that will change – probably after Christmas. It seem after the holidays there’s just no point for the cold weather. Crocheting for the holidays will be past, and it will be way too early to think about next Christmas.

I should just enjoy the cooler temps and the good crocheting time I will have over the next few months.

Accessories

I Love Yarn Day

Today is I Love Yarn Day. I do love yarn, so I have been waiting for this day. Well to me, every day is I Love Yarn Day but today I will make it a point to crochet something – maybe even buy some yarn.

I have slacked up on yarn buying in hopes that I will go through some of my stash. The problem is that I keep finding patterns of interest but I do not have sufficient yarn to do the project.

I do want to organize my yarn, so today would be a perfect day to do that. I want to display my yarn because a) it’s pretty and b) I will remember what I have. Right now I have some yarn in storage – so I completely forget about it. We have very limited space – so I keep wanting to use our walls to display and store yarn. This weekend I may work on starting that project by hanging a few shelves.

Also I Love Yarn Day will be a great day to really start planning those Christmas gifts. I am not going to do a lot of gifts this year but I do plan on making some hats, fingerless gloves, and a few amigurumi toys.

One project I want to make is a small ami wolf. I’m totally engaged in A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin and just started book three – A Storm of Swords. This has been one reason I haven’t been crocheting much lately. I can only do so many things at once. Of course I could get the audio books and listen to them while crocheting – although I’m not sure if I could listen and concentrate on crocheting at the same time – especially if it is a new pattern.

So today is a great day to love yarn. Well for us who love yarn, we would say that every day is a good day! It’s still nice to have a day devoted to yarn.

Yarn

Crocheting with Feathers

While browsing the craft section a few weeks ago, I picked up a pack of feathers thinking that I could certainly find a use for them. I had thought about the feathers in your hair popular trend but with a crochet twist. Maybe adding flowers to a crocheted barette or something along those lines.

Last night I was working on a chicken for my daughter when I decided to try crochet with feathers to make the wings. I laid the feather across the stitches and then stitched around them. So I was using yarn for the stitches. The idea was that the feathers would stay in place better if done while completing the stitch.

My first attempt did not come out as expected. I should have used feathers on just one round instead of trying it one two or three. Less feathers would definitely had been easier. Also feathers are pretty delicate and working with more than two is difficult. I think I broke all but one trying to get the others shaped on the crocheted piece.

So I’ve learned a few things that I will apply when I try to crochet with feathers again. Of course my daughter commented that yarn wings were fine, so I may not have much motivation.

Yarn

The Task Master

My child loves the amigurumi toys that I make. In fact, she gets pretty disappointed if I am making something that isn’t meant for her. This makes my hobby business model a little more challenging if I can never make anything to sell.

Right now I am working on a dragon that has been in my Ravelry queue for three years. I decided that I would do it as part of a challenge on one of the Ravelry boards. I’m about half-way done but the girl has decided that I need to make four dragon babies plus their beds and a few other accessories. The good news is that I was working on a back leg that she thinks is the perfect size for the babies, so hopefully they will work up really fast. She wanted me to finish last night but it’s just impossible for me to stay awake past 9pm these days. I will be so glad when we are in the school routine.

So hopefully by the end of the weekend I will have the dragon and four babies done along with beds. Whew! My hand is cramping just thinking about it.

toys

Mouse Toy

One of the items on my daughter’s Summer list of things to do was to buy a mouse toy for our cat. As we were looking at the mouse cat toys, I decided that I could crochet one just as cute as any of those and save $3-$4. My daughter liked the idea of us making it.

We found a feather in the yard that my daughter wanted to put on the crocheted mouse toy. I just made up a ‘pattern.’ I used cotton yarn and increased each round until I got to around 24 stitches. Then continued to work even rounds for 6 or 7 – then decreased. I added felt ears and embrodiery eyes. I added some small bells to the stuffing – so the mouse jingles. Voila! One cute little mouse.

If the cat doesn’t like it, at least my daughter does!

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toys

Biffer Shrug

While on Ravelry a few weeks ago, I found a pattern for called biffer shrug. It’s a crocheted pad for your Swiffer. It crochets up pretty fast. I finished mine in a couple of hours spread over two days.

Now I have no more excuses for not cleaning my floors. I can’t wait to try it out. It’s almost too cute to use.

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Too Many Projects

There are too many crochet and other projects I want to do. It is amazing that when I have something to do, I want to do it right now. It is hard for me to schedule time for crocheting or web work. I need to work on the skill of just doing it even when you don’t feel like it.

I made the girl a cute platypus with a pouch to carry her young – that I also made. I’m going to write up the pattern for both and take some better pictures. I took a couple of pics just in case they got lost in all of her toys = so the pics are a reminder of something else I want to do.

Hopefully I can get done half of what I hoped. If that happens – I will consider that a win.

Uncategorized

Crocheting for the Girl

Most of my crochet projects wind up in the possession of my five year old daughter. Every time I start a project, her first question is, “Who is that for?” So, usually my first attempt at a toy pattern goes to her. Then I work on the gift one.

I finished her a Hello Kitty complete with a dress. It was around 9pm when I finished the dress and placed it on the crocheted kitty. My daughter promptly took it off and said that Hello Kitty needed pajamas and didn’t wish to sleep in her dress. The next night I worked on some pajamas that look more like a swimsuit. Now her next request is high heels for Hello Kitty – so that will be tonight’s challenge.

It is nice to be in demand especially when I’m at a lull in crochet projects. I have plenty I want to do but no motivation to start any of them. At least crocheting for my daughter will give me something to do while my mind decides which crochet project to tackle next.

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