Working, and craft fairs, and holidays, oh my!

Hi there everyone!  Sorry that I've been absent for so long!  I've been so busy with work, and being a mommy, and working on all my WIPs that I haven't had any time to write!  What's been on my hooks lately....  A blanket for my son, the Epic Granny Blanket, a couple pairs of socks, and a few scarf sets with fingerless gloves or a hat, and another shrug.  I think that's all I have going...  I finished both pairs of socks, and one scarf/glove set for a friend.  I just finished a scarf/hat set today, and am working on the other scarf set now.

So, I found this yarn, and totally fell in love with it.  The thing about me is, I can't wear wool.  I can work with it, but not for a really long stretch at a time.  I'm allergic to lanolin, which is the oil produced by sheep that makes wool be so awesome.  And I love roving yarns, but can't ever wear them because they're wool.  Except this one!  I finally found a roving yarn in 100% acrylic!  It's Red Heart Boutique "Unforgettable" and comes in several varigated colors.  The color I worked with was "Winery."  I really love how this set turned out!

I love how different the coloring is in this yarn.  I mean, just look at how different the two ends of the scarf turned out!

The colors are way more vibrant in real life than they are here, but I guess that's just the way it happens sometimes, huh?

Also, I have a craft fair I'm working on some things for.  Some loofahs for the shower, and probably some scarves similar to this one, and maybe some pairs of fingerless gloves or elbow length arm warmers.  I'm a busy girl!

What are you all working on for holiday gifts?  I think I'm going to be making a blanket for one person, and a few pairs of socks for sure, since they are such fast-finish projects that get a lot of use.

Well, check back soon for another post about the rest of my WIPs as they get finished.  Thanks for stopping by, and happy hooking!

Glittery Shrug CAL Finished!

So a while back, Lion Brand announced their seasonal crochet-along (CAL) and it was a cute little shrug.  Which was perfect, since I have 2 dresses I would love to wear to work but need something to cover up the skinny straps on the top.  I already had this yarn on hand, and thought it would be the perfect combination of fiber, color, and pattern!  I used the Joann's house brand "Sensations" in the "Caribbean" blend.  The colorway is Caribbean Met White (I have no clue who comes up with these names, but they're not very original!) and it's a blend of 56% cotton, 38% acrylic, and 6% polyester.  It's very soft, and machine washable!  It has just one little strand of iridescent sparkle in it, which adds just a touch of glamour.

Ok, so it's kinda a poor shot of the edging, which is alternating Post DCs.  But you get the idea!

Ah, the joys of being at home with nobody else around to take pics!  Please excuse my son's room, it has the best lighting and his whole closet is mirrored!

The shrug laid out on the table.

Close up of the different stitches.

Overall, I'm really happy with how it turned out.  It's supposed to have a button closure, but it's a little too short across my chest to make that happen.  If I make this again, which is a very good possibility, I'll make the middle longer, so it wraps around better.  I ended up with 101 rows of the DC mesh, and worked two rows of SC for each DC row.  So that would be even more next time, but the sleeves will stay the same.  I'm really happy that it fits!  See what happens with I actually take my time to do my gauge swatching?  Ha!

Oh, and my dear stepmother agreed that her hat needed something, so I did pick up a 3 pack of buttons to sew onto the side of the hat.  Once that gets done I'll throw another pic of it up here, as long as you all aren't sick of looking at it yet!  Thanks for stopping by, and keep on hooking!

~SB

Some WIPs and a Finished Hat

Hi there!  Sorry it's been so long since my last post.  I've had other things going on lately, like work, enjoying summer with my son, and (of course) crocheting new things to share!

In my last post, I mentioned a hat for my dear stepmother.  Well, said hat is finished, but I think it looks a little.....plain.  It's alternating rows of single crochet with double crochet, and I gave it a row of nice long triple crochets at the end.  I'm not used to working whole projects in a solid colored yarn, so I suppose that's why it looks so plain.  Maybe if I whipped up a quick little flower for one side of it?

 And, BTW, this is Elmer.  He is my very trusty hat model.  I'm not quite sure why I settled on Elmer, maybe because we had been watching Looney Tunes and his blank expression reminded me of Elmer Fudd.  Ha!

Also, I started work on what I'm calling the Epic Granny Blanket, or EGB for short.  I love it when my local Joann's gets the summer cottons in, and this year the colors were awesome!  I fell in love with this twisted one, and found matching solid purple, blue, and a varigated to go with it.  I'm making this blanket with 3 balls of the purple, 2 of the varigated, and one each of blue and twisted.  Now, when I say "ball," I mean huge working skeins that have 700 yards to the solids!  This EGB is going to be huge, and that's part of what will make it so epic.  I also love that I'm taking a very traditional technique and using such bright modern colors with it.

I love the way all 4 of them look together!  What do you think?  I've alread worked up all the squares for the twisted, and have been working on the varigated.

Well, I think that's all for now, so thanks for checking in, and I love hearing from you all!  Hope you're having an awesome summer, and keep on hooking!

Welcome!

Hi there!  This is my first blog I've ever written, but I suppose it's not much differen than writing a note on Facebook.  I'm just looking for a place to share my thoughts, my work, and my life in general.  So thanks for stopping by and having a look-see!

I tend to crochet all the time, when I'm not at work or chasing my 2 year old son around.  I work in a bookstore, just part time, but I really love it.  It's perfect for me because I know a little bit about a lot of things, and I get to learn new things every day.  Just today, I started and finished a hat for my dear stepmother.  She has been wanting a purple hat for a while now, and she just came for a visit and saw my yarn stash, which had a beautiful purple cotton in plain view.  So I made one for her today, and perhaps I'll make a little pair of fingerless gloves to match.  She has a Jack Russel Terrier that has to be walked daily, and she needed a hat long enough to cover her ears.

I've also been looking at all my crochet magazines, and think I should separate the different titles from each other, for quick reference and such.  But that would require me to move around my stash again, and I just organized like a month ago!  That's the problem with working at a bookstore, I get such a great discount that I've been adding magazines and pattern books to my library like crazy!  Hm, I'm sure I'll find a good solution soon!

Well, since this is my first blog post, I'm not going to add pictures just yet.  I think I'll try to finish a couple of projects first, then have a post showing all of them!  Thanks again for stopping by, and I'll see you all again soon.  Until then, happy hooking!