Saturday 26 April 2014

The Macho Taco

I haven't gotten much further on the blanket I'm working on for the auction as I've been fighting off a nasty stomach bug the last couple of days.  But this morning I felt the need to be crafty.  I didn't want to follow a pattern for anything.  I just wanted to sit down with my stash and see what happened.  I felt like making something with no practical use, but was still fun and cute.  A green ball of yarn literally jumped out of my stash basket and became my first volunteer.  I poked through the rest of my basket and inspiration struck.  I'd like you to meet The Macho Taco!




 He was fun to make!  He wasn't quite as easy to photograph though.  So my darling husband helped me out a bit.

I have no idea what he's going to do in the long run.  For now he's just hanging out next to my monitor.  He's made being sick today feel a little better.  There's never a bad time for a taco!
 

Wednesday 23 April 2014

A Change of Mind

A friend of mine was looking for donations for a silent auction and I said I would crochet something for him.  Since I am trying to appeal to a broad range of potential bidders, I decided to not go with my usual quirky style, and decided on an afghan.  The original pattern called for a varigated yarn and three solids.  I picked three colors out of the varigated yarn and thought they looked nice together.  As I started working, I became more and more unsure of the color combination.

I didn't frog it, but I put it away for now.  If someone is going to pay good money for something and I am going to put my name on it, I want to be sure about it.  I might be feeling these colors more in the fall or something.  So I restarted in new colors. I also decided that instead of a varigated yarn to go with a heathered grey in effort to not make the colors not so distracting. This blanket is made with Red Heart Soft in  Heather Grey, Lilac, Berry, and Grape on a 5mm hook.  The original pattern can be found here.
So far it is coming along nicely, and I think these colors are a little easier on the eye (pardon the shadows my tree is casting in this picture).  I'm taking my time on this, and I'm enjoying the silky softness of the yarn.  I'm hoping to be done within the week, but we'll see.

Monday 21 April 2014

Adrift on a sea of WIPs

I swear I'm going to do better at updating my blog!  I'm still a little discouraged by a lack of finished things to display.  There are so many things on my hooks these days!  My ADD is in full swing, and not currently being treated, so I'm sure that's not helping.  There are a couple of projects that I do have to share.

The first being a purple hedgehog that my daughter wanted for her 7th birthday.  I had made another hedgehog for a family friend a couple of months ago, and she loved it so much that she wanted one of her own.


You will have to pardon the quailty of the pictures, as my phone needs an attitude adjustment (AKA trip to the Apple store).  She's very happy with the finished product, and has decided to name her Lilac.

Whatelse have I been up to?  Well, I keep seeing all these wonderful crochet hooks all over the internet dressed up in polymer clay.  What do I tell myself?  Hey, it's just clay, I could totally do that too!  The reality is, I am not an artist, and I am impatient.  I forget this from time to time, and usually remember somewhere around 40% completion of something I never should have started in the first place.  This project was no exception.  They didn't turn out BAD, but they didn't turn out exactly how I'd imagined them either.  For now, I'm going to let others work their magic making beautiful hooks, and I'll focus on hooking.




I also gave tapestry crochet a wingding.  I spent a lot of time drawing out my pattern and was quite pleased with it.  I was somewhat less pleased with the results.  I decided to put it away for now, and I'll try again some other time.

  I started making a dress for my new baby niece (which I haven't taken a photo of yet and is currently in the trunk of hubby's car), which was coming along quite nicely (but holy cow does it ever have a TON of triple crochets in it!)  I had 5 rows left to go when I came across a mistake that forced me to do a TON of frogging.  I got frustrated and put it away for a little bit.  I'm hoping to finish it this week.  Needing a break from all those triple crochets (which is not my favourite stitch), I decided to try something else that was new.  I've been seeing a lot of Corner to Corner (C2C) blankets come to life lately, and so I decided to give one a try.  I'm so happy that I did!  It's a rather fun stitch pattern that is just engaging enough to keep me from getting bored, but repetitive enough that my mind can wander a bit while I do it.  So instead of stopping with the swatch I'd planned on making, I kept going, and I now have a good portion of a new afghan for my daughter completed.

And all of that wasn't enough, so when a friend asked for donations for a silent auction, I said I would crochet something for him.  So I have started another afghan.  I'm kind of iffy on it and so asked ona facebook group for opinions, and most people said it looked good and to keep going.  Some people didn't care for the colors, and some people said they would change the layout some.  Everyone is always going to have their own opinion, bt sunce most people liked it, I'm going to keep going and see how it looks at the end of the week before I make any decisions on it.  What do YOU think? (the red isn't really as bright as it seems in the picture, just bad lighting)