Bountiful Butterflies

I had these Bountiful Butterflies on display in the shop window from May to July 2015. I made 2 mobiles. (Here is the first and here is the second). Two of myknittng buddies helped me string all the beads. The butterflies were a lot of fun to crochet. I used up all bits of leftoever worsted weight yarn that I had in my stash. I used a 5.5 and a 5 mm crochet hook for this project. If I had a daughter, this would have been a fun mobile to make to put in a nursery.  

I used an embroidery hoop as the ring that the butterflies hang off of. I wrapped it with a nice satin ribbon. The beads were a large assorted pony bead bag that I picked up at Walmart. This was a fun project!

A is for Alexander

This is the project I’ve been working on most of the summer. I started it on the 3rd of July and finished it on August 18th. It was a secret for most of the summer as it was for a gift for a fellow knitter/crocheter who follows me on Ravelry, Instagram, etc…. so I barely posted any pictures of it, and when I did, it was in black & white and you couldn’t tell what I was working on. The pattern is the ABC Bobble Blanket by Gwen Antesberger. You can see my project on Ravelry here. I used a 6mm crochet hook with the Berroco Vintage yarn as I felt the 5mm hook was making it too tight for the project. The project used a lot of yarn… 2,008 meters, 10.12 skeins! I finally gave the gift to Alexander, so I finally can show you the project! I loved it so much, I almost didn’t want to give it away.

Xmas Window 2014

A few weeks ago I got up the Xmas window display at work. The shop owners are having a contest (deadline to vote was yesterday, we’ll see who wins soon). From all the other windows in the mall, I honestly feel that our window is nice, but we’ll see what the other shop owners decide to vote for.

In my window I have some knit stockings by the fireplace. The pattern is free on the internet. I used Uptown Worsted held double to knit these adorable stockings on a 7mm needle. They’re knit flat and are super easy & super quick. Each sock weighs 51g. You can see the other 2 stockings here & here.

Also in the window are some crochet candy canes. The cane weighs 16g and I used leftover Uptown Worsted from the stockings with a 5mm crochet hook. The pattern is from here. This was a fast project as well. 

Yarn Bombing

For work, over the summer, I worked on a secret project with some of my knitting/crochet friends. I decided to yarn bomb a bicycle that had been sitting in my parents shed at their house for many years. I thought it would be a neat window display, and a fun way to attract people to the shop, and definitely make a conversation piece. Well, it’s certainly working. It was a fabulous idea. I started off with crocheting a bike seat cover in Berroco Vintage Colors.

Then I made streamers for the bike handle. Those were a lot of fun to make. I used leftover neon scraps for the handles and N.Y. Yarns Twinkle for the streamers. What a ton of fun!

Then I made a basket for the bike. I based my pattern loosely on the pattern I linked on Ravelry, however I didn’t buy her pattern, as I understand the basic design so I made up my own. And it came out very lovely. It was pretty simple to figure out how to make one. It was a lot of single crochet! The yarn was also leftovers from my stash.

Then I used swatches that I had made to cover a bike helmet. No real pattern for it. Instead of fighting with the shape of the helmet for seaming, I used my trusty hot glue gun to put the swatches on the helmet.

So this picture above is the finished window display. I love the way it came out. I want to thank all my knitting & crochet friends that made a piece or two (or a few) to cover the bike. I absolutely love it and it’s just very awesome. It was a fun project to work on. I am already dreaming up what we can yarn bomb next…

Come by Pointe-Claire Plaza to check it out! It’ll be on display for a little bit longer while we prepare the next window.

Diagonal Blanket

I started a beautiful blanket for a little girl (hubby’s co-workers baby) and thought I had enough yarn. I was weighing the yarn as I was going, as it started off in the corner and you work your way to the size you want, then you start decreasing once you have reached the half way point. Well… something didn’t calculate right, and I ended up running out of yarn with a 7 rows to finish. I was so upset! And of course, the yarn I was using was stash yarn (not from my yarn shop) that I picked up numerous years ago, at Walmart. It’s Red-Heart Eco-Ways, a recycled blend. It actually knits up nicely. Anyhow, I made a few calls, checked (just in case) at Walmart (and Fabricville) to see as they both carry Red-Heart, but neither of them had Eco-Ways. I called my supplier who carried Coast & Clark, the company who makes Red-Heart, and my contact said that the yarn has been discontinued for at least 2 years and that she even looked to see in their random bin at work, but they didn’t have any of that to send me. Hmmm… next step, was Ravelry. I sent a message to a handful of people who had the yarn in the same colorway in their stash. I heard back from several people and managed to get some extra yarn to finish off the blanket, and make another one.

The pattern was How To Do Corner Start Diagonal Crochet by Sandi Marshall and I used a 5.5 mm (I) crochet hook. The blanket with both colors is about 260g of yarn. I am pleased with the final results, and it would have been finished earlier had I not run out of yarn. The recipient loves the blanket as well.

Twilight Shells Throw

  

For the past month I’ve been working like mad on this Twilight Shells Throw. I used 12.5 skeins of yarn, in different shades of blue in Cascade 220. This was a wedding present that I made for my sister & her husband to keep them warm in winter. I absolutely love the shell pattern. I got a request (upon completing this one) to make one for our house. This one’s finished size is: 43” x 70” (unblocked). I used a 6.0 mm (J) crochet hook. I started the blanket on July 3rd, 2013 and finished it on August 9th, 2013, working on it obsessively. I was able to give the blanket in a cute basket (see the last picture in this post) to my sister the day before the wedding. I finished it just in the knick of time. It was a close call, but I got it done! After seeing how long it took me to make two rows, which was color set, (about an episode and a half of Criminal Minds – I watched it in marathon mode this summer), I think I had put about 65-70 hours into this blanket. Going back through all my projects on Ravelry, I think this is the largest project I’ve done so far, with the most amount of yarn. I know that crochet uses up more yarn to make a stitch than knitting does, but I think this takes the cake for the largest project/most amount of yarn.

I went with a grey single crochet border (2 rows of single crochet) around the blanket, so that it would show the blues in the blanket, rather than using a blue around and the border getting drowned out.

A special thanks to my knitting friend Eugenie who sat & helped me weave in all the ends in this blanket. There were a LOT of them!

I started a new project, come back tomorrow to see what I am working on now!

Ear Bud Cozy Proto Type 2

I made a 2nd ear bud cozy to test out the pattern I wrote out. I think it’s good to go now and I’ll be making a PDF to post on Ravelry very shortly. I’m aiming for it to be done the beginning of July.

This is a great little cozy to use up leftover worsted weight yarn and keep your ear buds for your MP3 player or iPod/iPhone safe in your purse/bag so that they don’t get tangled.

Is this something you think you’d make? I think they make cute little stocking stuffers… (Is it sad I’m already thinking about Xmas in June?)

Ear Bud Cozy

Last night while out with my stitch group (that I founded about 2 years ago), I came up with an earbud cozy. I wanted something to keep my iPhone ear buds together and not tangled in my purse. I saw something online but no pattern was available, so I got back started with crochet (it has been a while since I last crochet) and I whipped up this cute little cozy.

I wrote down exactly what I did, and I will type up the pattern later & post it on Ravelry as a PDF. It took a little bit of worsted leftover, and it was done in a flash. Makes a cute gift too!

Isn’t it cute?

2012 Projects

While I didn’t reach my 2012 Knitting & Crochet goal, I had plans to make so much more this year, I did spend a lot of my time chasing after my 3 kids, whom for the most part of the year were aged 5 and younger. Maybe now that Quentin’s 2, and getting to be more independent as the days fly by, I’ll have my hands free to knit, crochet & read more. (And bake more too?)

From top to bottom going left to right: 3 Scrubbies, Bella Ruffle Bag, Baby Shell, 18 More Scrubbies, Rapunzel Scarf, Placemat, Drop Stitch Scarf, Hitchhiker, Girl Cap, Chucko Hat, Another Girl Cap, Rawr Hat, Seaweed Cowl, Big Easy, and Scoodie. 8 knitted projects & 7 crochet. 15 projects total. (Mind you those scrubbies were as if I had made a ton of projects, if you ask me!) In 2010 I made 37 knit & crochet projects and in 2011, I made 21. It seems to be on the decline. I need to rectify that in 2013. New Years Resolution! Crochet & Knit more!

Bella Ruffle Bag

Two weeks ago, I started this little purse, a Bella Ruffle Bag. My step-mother-in-law had seen me “like” one on Facebook that my friend made. So, I decided to make one for her for Christmas/her birthday (which are 2 days apart) and give it to her with a few other things that I got for her.

It took me a day over 2 weeks to make it (December 13-December 28) because there was some issues in the pattern, and I had to ask for help from a friend in my weekly knitting/crochet group as she had made a bunch of these bags. I ended up “fudging” a bit of the pattern, but in the end, it came out cute, and I hope my step-mother-in-law likes it. (It’s the least I can do, my in-laws got me a Kitchen Aid Mixer for Christmas this year!)

I used .53 of a skein of Cascade 220 in a light blue and the ruffles on the bag were 1.76 skeins of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Sapphire Blue. I used an H hook (5.0mm) for most of the bag + ruffles a G hook (4.0mm) for the handle at the top.

The pattern is badly written. I got through it because of my friend in my knitting/crochet group had made a bunch and figured it out before me, so I was able to ask a lot of questions. Also, there’s a row in there that shouldn’t be. I don’t think I’ll make another one of these again, but if I should, I know what to do to make it better.

Spiral Scrubbies

  

This year, for teacher holiday gifts, I decided to make some spiral scrubbies. I had made some at the beginning of the year, and they were fun to make, so I figured I’d make a ton more. I borrowed the “lollypop” idea from my friend Rosa, and then decided that I would package them up in a vase with some dishwashing soap and package it all pretty.

Don’t these lollypops look cute? I made 2 of each colorway, and had 9 colorways that I used for these. They’re Bernat Cotton yarn. I picked up dowels at the dollar store in a pack of 30 and also got a package of 30 clear plastic bags that would fit perfectly over the scrubbies. I think they look absolutely adorable.

 

I used a 5.0mm (H) hook, and each scrubbie weighs approximately 16g. It took me about 2 weeks to make them all (once I finished the first one, it was a breeze to make them all after a while I didn’t even mark where I was in the pattern anymore, and now know the pattern off by heart. (Super easy!). I actually now have 8 more that are crochet, just need to be seamed together. I wanted to make a few for my own kitchen, in my fave colors of the cotton yarns.

I really hope that the teachers that received these gifts really liked them. I had 6 teacher gifts to make (1 Kindergarten teacher, 4 daycare teachers & 1 daycare coordinator gift). However, I realized that one of the teachers might still live at home at her parents house, and may not have a kitchen of her own, so I went with another gift idea for her. (Some handmade soap (not made by me unfortunately)).

I’m really happy with the way these all turned out. There is a fantastic youtube video on how to put them all together from beginning to end. If you’re interested in my making some of these, the video is worth a look.

Scoodie

  

Recently I made myself a Scoodie (Non Ravelry Link), which is a hat with a scarf attached, for the morning walks to the bus stop. The mornings are really cold and with the snow & winds, they can be brutal. I wanted something that was nice & chunky and that would keep me warm. So far, my new scoodie has been doing the trick. I started it on November 28th & finished it on December 6th. I used a 6.5 mm (K) hook with Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick yarn. I used 4 skeins.

I really like the way it turned out. I altered it a bit, by adding a crochet border on the hat part in the front. I liked the look and needed to extend the length a bit to cover more of my face for the brutal cold Montreal winter mornings. I also altered where the hood was made, instead of it being centered, I put it to one of the sides, for the way I like to wrap scarves around myself. This might sound weird to you, but this makes total sense to me.

 

I’m also debating adding on pockets to the end of the scarf, for my hands. The only thing I’m debating is which direction to put the pockets. Top loading or side loading… what do you think? I can add on pickets in either direction, so I just need to figure out what is most comfortable for me to place my hands.