Today at church I was asked to help with a very special crochet project. The cousin of a friend of mine passed away last week. As they were cleaning her home, her mother found an almost complete crocheted blanket next to her bed. It's lacking two sides of the edging. My friend asked if I would be willing to finish it.
"Absolutely!"
I'm looking forward to this project!
It's a crocheted purse! I got the pattern at www.futuregirl.com (you can click on Free Downloads and it's the Starling Handbag). This is the small version. I thought that would be best to start out with. And as it was, I had to rip it out twice before I finally got it right. I have such a problem following crochet patterns sometimes. I think that's why I like blankets. Usually I choose a pretty simple pattern and it's just back and forth and if my stitch count is off somewhere, I don't have any problem just adding a stitch or decreasing a stitch somewhere. I don't think the gift receivers are going to look that closely! For things like this purse, there's going around and making sure you get the seam stitches lined up (and I did! Yea!) and making extra carefully sure that the stitch count is correct so the purse isn't lopsided! It's so cute that I think I really am going to line it. I'll have to go find some fabric. Alice at futuregirl has some great tutorials for the whole part of this bag and she has a really simple looking tutorial for making the lining. Just some measurements (which she walks through and includes a worksheet!) and straight-line sewing! And when I get the fabric for the lining, I think I'm going to look for some felt and make a few felt flowers for the front!
Oh, and this pattern has three different sizes, though I think that if you're proficient enough at crochet and reading a pattern, you could increase or decrease it however you wanted to change the size of the bag!
And not that I need another crochet project or anything, but I happened to fold this little purse up with the sides touching in the middle (so it folded in the middle of the handles) and it looked like a really cute child's tank top! And it wouldn't require any attaching of sleeves! I might have to see if I have some lightweight yarn and try it. Buttercup might be getting a cutesy new top!
So, I went to my crochet closet and pulled out the cupcake purse (want the pattern?) and just couldn't part with it yet. In the same space was a partial baby blanket that I had started for a friend, yet couldn't finish. The stitch was just too boring for me (I did make her a different blanket, though). And I couldn't bear to rip it out...I worked too hard on it! Anyway, I picked it up and it was much wider than it was tall. I turned it so that it was long and skinny and made a little flap over. If I could just add a gusset and a strap, I could probably salvage the work!
Here's what I ended up with...
(you can get a bigger picture if you click on it)
I am seriously proud of myself! The gusset was really easy to add and it was handy that I could start at the bottom and join the sides and then just keep going to make the strap and then back down again! Yahoo!
It was my mom's idea to run the raspberry ribbon through it. I was trying to figure out how to crochet a ruffle or something. The ribbon is perfect!
So, I'm going to use this little bag to package the book for the girl whose birthday party X-man is going to. And see that card? It took me two hours to make it! Crazy, but I had fun making it, so that's what matters. And don't remind me that it's for a 3 year old. She'll probably get distracted by something else shiny and never look at the birthday card again. Maybe her mom will keep it...
For my sock, that is!
This sock was a bear to make, but I was so determined to finish it that no amount of frogging (that's rip it, rip it, rip it out) would stop me. Several other ladies on a crochet board that I'm a part of have also been working on this sock and because of several problems we ran into with the pattern, the designer joined the forum and then posted to our sock thread with a slight error in the pattern. That fixed some of my initial problems with the sock. The rest is probably my very beginner status on crocheted wearables!
It's done now and I better get started on the mate to this one. I can't walk around with just one sock on!
I've finished up two crochet hats and I'm pretty proud of them. 
This blue one is for my sister. She got a job in Iowa and it's going to be cold there, so she'll need a hat to keep her pretty little head warm! The cuff on this hat can be rolled down or up. It's a Lion Brand pattern.
This hat is for me. I'm going to take it with me on the cruise. I don't think I'll ever get lost in the crowd with this thing on! TC says that it looks cute on me. I'm going to wear it and just pretend that hats look good on me. No one will ever know!
My mom will probably want me to make one for her, too, and I'm going to use the same pattern as I did for the one for my sister. When they come up this weekend we might get a chance to head to the craft store for yarn.
I've also started making a pair of socks. I'm about one third of the way done with the first sock. I'm pretty impressed!
I finally finished X-man's baby blanket...well, except for a few loose ends I need to weave back in. You can tell he's having a great time playing peek-a-boo with it. I think he likes that he can kinda see through it.
I used this pattern for the hexagons.
I've got two friends that are pregnant so I'm getting started on their blankets. And I just found out that crochet hooks are ok to take on a plane. So I'll have plenty to do when we take our flight to the cruise!
TC let me go get a haircut this evening. I could tell I needed it because X-man could grab onto the hair on my neck. After my haircut I headed over to Target because I decided today that X-man has outgrown the size 3 diapers. And we can't make it through the next snowstorm with the size 3s. And we were almost out of wipes...and formula.
It's supposed to snow 5-12 inches on Saturday. Which is a bummer because I worked Tuesday and Wednesday night to crochet a cute little poncho to wear to TC's boss' retirement party. I was so excited to actually finish a project! I'll have to post a picture after the weekend. They're not going to cancel the party but we already have a babysitter (our neighbor) and if the roads are too bad, we'll have her come over and babysit while we go to dinner at Chili's across the street.
I got this idea from Mama C-Ta and she tells where she got the idea.
Basically, instead of a What-Happpened-In-2006 post (which can get out of hand really fast!), this is the first sentence from the first post of the month. Very interesting if you ask me!
January - Um...is that an allusion to the Beastie Boys?
February - Yesterday on my way home from work, I stopped at the pharmacy to pick up a few things and decided that I'd get some more hard candies for my hospital bag since I raided the lemon drops.
March - Our internet connection comes and goes and that really frustrates me.
April - Well, I went a little crazy at SuperCuts yesterday.
May - Well, X-man is the epitome of efficiency.
June - No, that wasn't one of the words in last night's spelling bee, but it sure is fun to say, isn't it?
July - Hey girl! We need your girls for a baby-proofing session!
August - My sister and parents were here for the weekend.
September - I just had the most delicious chicken salad sandwich ever!
October - I was sitting in orchestra at church yesterday and as I was putting up, I heard someone call my name.
November - I met the Diva-Me last night.
December - Yahoo for my birthday and leftover cake!!
If you are so inclined, you can read the actual post by clicking on the month link. If you decide to do this, too, leave me a link in the comments!
Here's my latest finished baby blanket...
Yep, I think I've got Crocheter's A.D.D.
My crochet bag currently has 4 projects all in various stages of doneness...with none in the doneness stage!
I've got a gift for a friend working and I should have that finished very soon.
I've got a scarf I started for my sister last spring, but I've since frogged it and started over because I couldn't remember what I was doing since I wasn't using a pattern.
I've got a scarf I just started last week when I had a really cool pattern in my crochet-a-day calendar.
Then, I've got a scarf I started for me last spring with the one for my sis. I really need to get that finished, too.
And on top of all of that, I want to get started on really digiscrapping X-man's first 6 months!
Maybe that should be Crafters A.D.D!
I had someone request the patterns from this post so here it is.
The open flower is from Lion Brand Yarn. You can find the pattern here.
The two-colored flower pattern came from my Crochet Pattern-a-Day calendar. It's the Flower Coaster on August 31st. The lady that submitted the pattern runs her own pattern website: http://www.craftdesigns4you.com/. You can contact her down at the Contact Us section.
The blanket is one big granny rectangle and I found the pattern on this blog.
I have finished another baby blanket for a girlfriend of mine. She's set to be induced in three weeks! This will be her second little girl!
The pattern is a super easy granny rectangle. I think it turned out really pretty. And I love the little flowers I crocheted for the bag!
Um...is that an allusion to the Beastie Boys? TC would be so proud!
I was quite crafty this weekend. On Friday afternoon, I checked my email. I had a reminder from a friend that their baby was being baptized on Sunday, Jan. 1. I hadn't been to a shower for this baby and I hadn't made a baby blanket. So, at 5:00 on Friday evening, I decided that I had enough yarn left over from this project and I could use this pattern to whip up a pretty cute, quick blanket. I got started.
By Saturday evening (I'd say around 6:00), I was finished. And it only took a few hours!
Other craft projects included cleaning the office. I consider that crafty since the office is also my craft room. And I need the space in order to craft.
Then I got to work on a scrapbook for the baby. I had originally thought I'd start small with a 6in.x6in. book...not as intimidating as a 12x12! Well, my church friends are having a shower for me and the invitation won't fit in a 6x6. And I wanted to make a sign in page for the guests. I'm pretty impressed with what I've done so far considering I don't quite have all the supplies I'll need. But I'll order that soon enough. I've got two pages plus the sign in page, so that should be sufficient for the shower.
