Projects Galore

I've been so busy working on projects!

I finally took the few minutes required and ran the ribbon though Sweet E's pink dress. I tacked it to the dress with hidden stitches, so the ribbon will stay in place. She wore her bloomers with it, but they were a little big, so I had to run a string through the waist and tie them. It worked out, and she was able to wear them, but I'd like to make her a smaller pair. I have a lot of projects now, so I'm not sure when/if the bloomers will be completed. Here's her finished dress.

I'm very happy with the dress, and love it on her. It fits very nicely.

I also took a few minutes and sewed the buttons on the white baby poncho, so now it is ready to wear.

I have also started working on Sweet E's 3-D Teddy Bear afghan again, and realizing how much work I have ahead of me, actually considered for a day or two just throwing away what I've done (or just making a tiny afghan of just the flower motifs) and being down with it all, so I can move on to projects that interest me more. However, I really want to finish this afghan, and hate to get rid of the work I've done thus far. I've pretty much decided to make it smaller than the pattern calls for, but that's still a lot of work.

I added several projects to my queue today - a knit dress for Sweet E, a crochet cardigan for me, and a baby afghan that has been commissioned. All of these on top of all the projects I'm making for Christmas. I'm to the point I'm so overwhelmed I don't know where to start, and I'm losing valuable time just thinking of all the work I have to do.

My First Granny

Caroline, over at labpugglechi, is working on her first granny squares afghan, and is brought back lots of memories...

Back when I first started to crochet, I got a granny squares pattern from a co-worker. I thought it looked 'fun.' Great! Another project! Woohoo! I promptly went yarn shopping, and came home with between 6 and 8 skeins of yarn. Do you realize that's over one and a half MILES of yarn? Yes, miles. Like the same distance the grocery store is from my house. I was in heaven in all that yarn.

In the meantime, I started a new job. I had to study for 1 month to get a securities license at this job, before I actually started working. In between practice tests, reading, etc, I would crochet granny squares. I crocheted, and crocheted and crocheted. I didn't think I'd ever get enough squares made. I needed something like 360. Keep in mind these are about 3 inches by 3 inches. Of course, I got tired of that afghan and stopped working on it. A couple years later, I resumed work, and realized I'd learned a lot about crochet while I was away. I realized every single square I'd completed to date was going to come unraveled because I hadn't tied them correctly. Eventually I got the squares made, and sewn together.

Into the washer the afghan went, and out of the dryer it came -with lots of holes. My squares had started to unravel , and my strips separated from one another. After numerous repairs, here we are today. I drug the afghan out of a box this week to display it with my others. Of course, I found 4 holes. I repaired them last night, and took a picture of it this morning, so I could show it to you, and lo and behold, while folding it to put on my quilt rack, I found another hole. So, as soon as I post this, another hole is getting repaired.

Whatever, at least it's done, and here it is!


Caroline has posted several of her squares, and I think her afghan will be very pretty!

Here is a peek of my Unfinished Object, the braided afghan:


I've been busy working on a baby gift, which is why there's been a lack of posting. I'm also working on the baby cocoon, and have had another request for an afghan. The gift afghan is a giant granny square, and just needs a border on two sides, which I hope to complete tomorrow. I'll post a picture when it's completed!

Scrub-a-dub-dub

Hi again!

I've returned from vacation, and didn't get nearly as much crocheting done as I planned. Oh well. The first half of the week, I read The Shack. It was really interesting, and I'll be reading it again, this time, with a highlighter and a pen. It had some great points and quotes in it!

While at our family reunion, one of my cousins brought my baby a gift (she's now 5 1/2 mths old). So, what do you do when someone brings you an unexpected gift, you're 30 minutes from the nearest store that sells any sort of baby gift, gas is $4/gal, and you have a bag full of yarn and a crochet hook? You make a gift! Here is what I came up with:

I made the two wash cloths with Bernat's Baby Coordinates, and my grandmother came up with the 'packaging' of them (inspired by napkins in a napkin ring). We happened to have a few basic stamp supplies with us, so I stamped the little tag which says 'A little something just for you.'

After completing the gift, I made this purple wash cloth. I completed the pink one this morning.

I still didn't work on my major UFO (unfinished object). I'm determined to work on it again, and I'll be posting pictures on the progress. Here's a hint: it's a braided afghan. It's a little bigger than I anticipated it would be, so it's quite intimidating.

I'm also determined to work on, and finish, my quilt. I'll be pressing the fabric (again) in the next few days. My cutter is at mom's house though, but I'll pick it up on Friday. After I cut the fabric and sew my backing, I'll take it all back over to mom's to baste it. I got this spray on basting stuff, and mom and dad have a big, open floor where I can lay everything out to spray and pin it. I'll then attempt to machine quilt it myself. We'll see how that goes!