Rippletastic purse

Ever since I made my mom her hexagon purse, I have been wanting to make one for myself!  I love the festive colors that the hexagon purse used but I wanted something a bit more grown up... more sophisticated... and I wanted to have a go at using thinner yarn too.  It was perfect that I ran into this free Vanna White Patten on one of those little cardstocks they put up all over the store with free patterns.  I was instantly in love and I knew I had the PERFECT yarn stashed away at home to make it too!

I rushed home and started putting colors together.  I had 4 different colors and I only needed 3, don't ask me why but it took me forever to decide.  FINALLY I figured it out and I went stitching away!  Many many nights later, I came up with this!

LOVE the colors!! I think I made the right choice with the color combos if I say so myself :-)  The yarn is sooo soft too!! It's made by Caron and called SPA and it's an acrylic/bamboo blend.  At least the light gray and pink are.  The dark gray is also Caron SPA but it's a acrylic with merino wool blend.  They're both amazing and so easy to work with.  The bamboo blend was a bit thicket than the merino wool blend so I just made sure that I made those rows a little tighter than the dark grey ones.

Because the yarns were a bit different in thickness, I made sure I blocked the poop out of it!  I put a damp towel over it and just put the iron on top with the steam coming out.  I didn't leave it on there, I just dabbed it on/off and on/off..... I did that until the towel on top was nearly dry and it worked like a charm.

  

    The pattern included a method to fill in the ripples so i filled away!  I was going to fill it in with stripes just like the rest of the bag but hey at this point, I was just kinda lazy for all that color work and I just wanted to be done!

I found this great grey fabric with little felt circles on it in the remnant section for half off at Joanns!!  Talk about luck!  I had to make sure it wasn't stretchy though so that it would take the stress of the contents in the bag instead of the crocheted fabric.

I stitched them together by hand really quick just to hold it in place so I could sew it up with the sewing machine.  I used the bright green thread jsut to make it easier to see what thread I would have to cut out later...

I pinned the sides together and started stitching them up using the light grey yarn...

I just love all that rippley goodness!!  All that's left to do now is put a strap on it and put together a matching outfit... so fun :-)  I'll post pics of the final product when I get around to deciding whether I'm going to buy a strap or make one... what do you think??

***~Thanks for stopping by!~*** 

Happy Crafting!

Happy New Year

I can't believe it's 2012!  Crazy how time flies by... I feel like it was yesterday that the world was freaking out over the computers crashing bc of Y2K.... well I'm glad it didn't otherwise you wouldn't be reading this :-)

Everyone always says Happy new Year and has great parties but every new year I never feel any different.... except this one!  It really is a happy new year for me!  I finally finished my electrical engineering degree at UCF and .....wait for it.... I got a job!  It's been a huge transition to make from student to "young professional" or at least that's what they call me but I wouldn't say i'm really that professional quite yet ;-)

For the first time in a VERY long time I could sit around and do NOTHING!  And let me tell you , it was fantabulous!Well I guess we didn't really do nothing since we did road trip to New Jersey, then stayed at my parents house in Daytona Beach and then went to South FL for New years... But it was nice bc while I was at all of those different places, I didn't have to worry about school and when the next assignment was due OR about work!  It was a very much needed vacation...  One thing I did do... a whole lot of was crochet of course!  I started a bit late on the xmas presents (and yes December 25th is only a bit late in my world) but the important part was that I got them done! ok ok I'm still working on ONE but I will get it done!!

This is one of the xmas presents i actually finished!  It was a gift for the bf's sister.  I've been wanting to make her something and just couldn't figure out what color to use... well she's getting married and this was the exact color on her "save the date" magnets she sent out!  Perfect, I saw the color and fell in love with it.  It's pretty awesome what 1 skein of yarn and 1 crochet hook can do!

It needed something else though, so I made this little butterfly to hold it nicely folded while it made its way back up to New Jersey

Then I whipped up a nice cozy 100% wool scarf for the bf's momma.  The yarn is stitch nation by Debbie Stoller and it's amaaaazing!  The color is to dye for (hehe) and it was super easy to work with.  I loved the end product too!  I used Debbie Stoller's pattern "One Skein Scarf".  It was pretty chilly up in Jersey and this scarf is going to be perfect for those windy winter nights.

 When giving a gift, I feel like presentation is key... You have to make it look nice otherwise it doesn't really have the same affect, ya know?  I found some lilac ribbon and made a little bow on it to hold the scarf nicely folded during transit.  Put them side by size and wrapped them up in tissue paper...

and off they went!

***~Thanks for stopping by!~*** 

Happy Crafting!

Yummy T-shirt yarn crochet rugs!

Didn't I say I was OBSESSed?  I L.O.V.E the simplicity, the reusability, the versatility of these rugs!  They brighten up a room like none other!  And like I said before, the doggies love this!

I call this one Sorbet :-)

This is the first one I ever made!!  As you can tell over on the right, this was BEFORE i figured out that to make crochet rugs, you should always keep crocheting in a spiral instead of joining and chaining for the next rows... live and learn!! This one's going in my office :-)

Here is the trio of my creations.  Now that's what I call a colorful eye orgasm :-)

The trio!!

Let's see how long I can last before starting another one!! AHA the count begins...


P.S.  Can you tell I bought a real camera and stopped using my phone?? :-D

Crochet Recycled T-shirt yarn Rug

Strip it up!

 I have had these great cotton t-shirts sitting around for the last 5 months!  I always said I was going to do something incredibly crafty with it but never really found any motivation... FOUND IT!!

Everytime I'm cooking or crafting or doing ANYTHING for that matter, my dogs always want to sit right at my feet.  It's cute yes but I always end up tripping over them and stubbing my toe or just completely falling on my face... not good!  I began to notice that they LOVE to sit on rugs though so I said I will make a rug for my craft room!!  That way I can put the rug on the other side of the room and they will lay there, only there and can no longer accidentally sit on my sewing pedal and scare the crap out of me (yes, it's happened)

I  made sure to keep track as I went just in case someone else wants to try this! I started by cutting the shirts in strips.  I used almost EVERYTHING even the neck part with the seams on it and stuff, it all gets put together and you can't even tell!  After you cut the strips, be sure to pull them so that they curl up!

The remnants of the 4 t-shirts

More strips all curled up!

Bottom seam of the shirt.  Cut in half and unfold the bottom (right in the pic) half.

I started crocheting like normal except I had a size Q hook (15.75 mm HUGE!!).  I used BACK LOOP SC the whole way around!  I love the way the ridge forms when sc goes in the back loop only!  I wanted to change colors for each round so I just went about my merry way.  To start, I ch 2 then sc in first ch (center of circle made).  Then I sc 8 into the center.  2nd round I did 2 sc  (inc) in each sc.  3rd round I did 2sc in every other sc (sc, inc).  4th round I did 2sc in every 2 sc (sc, sc, inc) and so on and so forth. 

Rounds 1-5

Round 1-8

Shelby loved it!

I will definitely be making more of these!! This is my new OBSESS!!

Queen Anne Lace Scarf

 

I don't really know who Queen Anne is but she must have been a really popular lady!!  This scarf is a super easy project and it stitches up beautifully!

I used Caron "Country" yarn (merino/acrylic blend) and it feels so nice and warm on my neck, I just love it!  I got lots of lovely compliments from buddies at work so that definitely made my day!! :-)

I got the super simple pattern from Ravelry... while you're there be sure to check out the hundreds of other Queen Anne scarves, they're simply wonderful!! SO many colors and the beauty of this scarf is that no matter what material yarn you use, it will still look stunning!!

I will be stitching up a few more of these for Xmas time... maybe some lucky work buddies will get one for their secret santa present :-)

I think I'm a bit obsessed with scarves right now especially being that winter's coming up and quick!! I feel like everyday I step outside, it gets just a little bit cooler... and I love it!!  It really just gives me an excuse to stitch up more gorgeous projects...

Right now, I'm finishing up a little something for a little baby in my life!  I'll post it when I'm done and after I model it on his little baby head

Hope you had a wonderful day!! Think warm thoughts!

Free Shipping at Joann Fabrics = New Crochet Book!

AWESOME! Joann has ONE DAY of free shipping on EVERYTHING!!  Only today Nov 17th though...

They have amazing books, yarn, crochet & knitting supplies but by far my favorite are the BOOKS!!  Michael's does NOT EVER discount books so whenever there's a coupon for Joann's I go straight there to get my crochet books!  Paying full price for those gets expensive quick as I'm sure many of you out there know...

AND Books are 30% off right now!! waaaahoooooooooooooo!!

Joann's has a HUGE variety of books MANY of which are ONLY available online so I went ahead and snagged this one for about $15 shipped :-)

My first purse ever!

When I first started crocheting, I made granny squares like a mad woman!!   I loved the ease and verstility (is that even a word?) of them.  AND the best part was that even if I had a terribly busy day, there was always time to crank out a granny!!

Eventually, my granny squares graduated into a different shape, granny HEXAGONS!!  Of course, my addiction was newly fueled and I just made as many cotton, colorful granny hexagons as I possibly could.... Within 10 days, I ended up with about 24 granny hexes!

After stalking reading a certain spectacular crochet blog: ( Futuregirl!!)  I ran into this BEAUTY of a bag!!  I was obsessed!  AND I was oh so excited that I already had the granny hexes to make it :-)  I quickly stitched them all together and....


TA DA!!

It was so beautiful, so majestic, and my first ever crochet project that I finished, needless to say I was super proud.  

Let's take another look at it, shall we?

And one more!!

With all of its loveliness, I couldn't think of anyone better than my mom to give it to :-)

Now I'm thinking I need to make more of these!!  I bought the cotton this week so it's coming!!  Next time though, I'm going to try to stick to a more defined color palette: some neutrals with a couple bright colors to POP....Maybe I'll start it next week, this week I'm working on a celtic knot hat for the boyfriend!  Let's see how that comes out first... stay tuned...

Anyone else make a sick nasty granny project?

Futurama Brain Slugs!!

Brain Slug Bros

My friend and her boyfriend dressed up as Leela and Fry from Futurama and of course, needed brain slugs to complete their costume.  We stitched these little guys up the night before we went downtown and they were perfect!!  We used white and black felt for the eyes.  The white was sewed on and the black dot was just glued on with good ol' tacky glue.  The pattern basically consists of a typical round crochet pattern, increasing as you go (~5 rounds) then just crocheting stitch for stitch no inc or dec (~2 rounds), decreasing to make his little "hourglass shape" (lol) and then finally increasing again towards the bottom to get that little flare.  The little "phalanges" are simply made by counting up: sc, hdc, dc, treble, dc, hdc, sc... EZPZ :-)

Mad props goes to Katy Ellen for coming up with such a great pattern AND making it FREE for anyone to enjoy!  Go check out her pattern on Ravelry and make some slugs for yourself :-)

Crochet Mario Blanket Part 2- Piranha Plant

FINALLY!! I finished the Piranha plant!!  Now all I have to do it tie off the ends on the messy back part.

Here's what the front looks like...

And the back...

I can post the stitch chart if anyone needs it, just let me know!

Next one is Yoshi!!

You can check out Part 1 HERE!

Edit:
Here is the stitch chart for this piranha plant.  Please post whatever you use it for, I would love to see! Enjoy! :-D

Piranha Stitch Chart:
Colors:
- red
- white (the x in the stitch chart represents white)
- light green
- dark green
- black
-background color (I used grey for mine)

I also scaled mine by making each square on the chart equal to 4 stitches (2 tall by 2 wide).  This way I could make it bigger but still keep the picture proportional.  Beware though because this is essentially making each "pixel" bigger and you risk it looking pixelated.  So try to clean it up a bit and "smooth out" any edges on your stitch chart before you begin!  I also put 2 versions.  If you want to make your plant taller just copy the leaves and stem portion over and over until it's tall enough, then add the tube part at the bottom.

Happy Stitching!

Crochet Mario Blanket Part 1- Mushrooms!

Ever since I was little, I would always play Mario Bros. with my cousins and brothers.  Needless to say, I got wicked good at that game.  As soon as the Wii version of the game came out, we immediately got it and beat it within a week lol... (Don't judge me! It was summer and I was bored)  anywho.... it gave me a great idea for a crochet project :-)

Here's what I have so far...

Crocheted Toad

I'm going to make a bunch of tiles as motifs, all with different mario "characters" or in the case of the picture above, items and then at the end, I will stitch them all together.  As you can see, the green mushroom is a bit smaller than the blue so I will just add more grey around the edges before I stitch them all together (i know it's the easy way out but there's NO way i'm ripping that one out!)

Shelby REFUSED to get out of the way :-)

I've already started on making one of the enemies, the piranha plant!  Here's what I have so far...

Crocheted Piranha Plant

I hope I can finish this weekend!  Who am i kidding... I hope I can finish this YEAR! It would be a pretty sweet xmas present for a very lucky person :-)

Edit:

Here's the stitch chart for the mushroom!  I used purple but you can choose any color you want.

Toad stitch chart

Colors:
- purple (or any color of your choice)
- black
- white (the x represents white in the chart)
- background color