I figured it was about time I updated my status on this blog, since I'm the one who started the dang thing...😏
Well, my life has been busy these past few years. While I manage to sneak in a little hobby stuff in between writing and spending time with family, I don't always have time to write about it. Catch-22 of the bloggers world I guess.
Hey do you recall the old farmhouse we bought back in 2011? This is what it looked like back then:
The buttons really make them pop, even with all the stuff in the background. That string they are on is a red imitation suede that is pretty sturdy and it's strung with alternating red and while pony beads for a candy cane look. I think it turned out pretty darn good!
Some closeups...
Yeah, I really should take those baskets and other stuff down and clean everything. Someday...
So then I went on to the gingerbread houses. I wanted them to look fancy too, but keep that gingerbread color. This is as close as I got to baking cookies last year. Hey they are high fiber, low carb, and have no sugar but a lot of love in the mix. 😏
First the blanks. I tried to make the roof icing all look different.
Then it was on to the embellishments, which adorn both sides. I used buttons, peppermint chenille sticks (we used to call them pipe cleaners), and crochet to make each house unique. This was a good project for my collection of fancy wooden holiday buttons. I found the peppermint candy pattern online and made them with both red and white, and green and white yarn. If I find the pattern site again (I printed it up) I will link it because they make great ornaments and garlands by themselves. You use the two separate colors of yarn working first one and the other as you go along.
So here's the end result:
And some closeups.
Please excuse the one with the wicked nasty cobwebs (they got cleaned right after I saw the picture, but it was too dark for another shot by then) and the fuzzy one that shows the other part of the room far clearer. I have a good camera but I don't pretend to be a photographer. I am also an indifferent housekeeper at best and this is an old house with its share of dirt and dust that is a never-ending battle. At 61, I'm just not embarrassed enough to delete those unfortunate pics. 😁
Same idea for stringing these, except that I used a green imitation suede strand with alternating green and white pony beads. I think those worked rather well!
So as I said, I decided to make some ornaments to go into gift boxes and baskets. I didn't make many, but they were a big hit. This is just a sample.
I was asked about the buttons, because as anyone who has shopped for them locally knows, they are costly! I often ask for Amazon gift certificates in lieu of gifts on holidays and birthdays, and that's when I do my craft supply shopping. I also hit the craft stores once in a while and pick up anything that looks interesting that I can get at a reduced or bulk price. Comes in handy when you have a project like this!
I don't recall where I got the snowman pattern, but the hats and scarves I just kind of cobbled together, and sewed them on. They are adorable!
Over the winter and into the spring and summer this year, I did quite a few crochet projects, many of which were functional as well as decorative in their own right. For instance, there were scarves for the small fry...
Nothing is more cheerful than a warm and bright scarf wrapped around your neck on a cold day. Thankfully I always have plenty of yarn on hand for these impromptu projects. These are long enough to allow some growing room. They went home with the grandkids.
Little grandson Zachary had informed me that he needed a 'rainbow' scarf. I figured his sister Terralyn (they are a year apart) might like one too, but I wanted them to be significantly different. So his is the dark colored one, and hers the pastel. This project made me smile because I remember making scarves for their daddy and uncle back in the day.
One does not disappoint one's grandchildren! 😎
Then it was on to afghans. I had wanted to try both a joined yo-yo and ripple pattern for quite a while, and so I decided to make one of each, and keep them the size that a little body could snuggle under and look at a book or watch a video on a tablet. Yes, they both have tablets, and those go everywhere with them, but both love books too, so Grandma keeps a small library of them here to browse through. Best of both worlds!
So here are the two afghans I made. No they were not blocked or washed at that point. They are medium throw size, really only lapghans, but they cover little bodies very well. They get used off and on while the kids are here.
They were fun to make and the yo-yo strips attach as you go along. Zack got the ripple, Terra has the yo-yos. I did ripple edging on Zack's on the short ends and just rows of stitches down the long side. For Terra's edging I got creative and came up with something that turned out to look like cat faces up close. That makes it a conversation piece.
The closeup is blurry, but I think you get the idea.
Terra needed a doll blanket for a wooden crib someone gave her. She has a big baby doll at home that sleeps in it. So I got some measurements and whipped together this, in her choice of colors.
We must always have some shade of pink in everything she gets. She loves purple too, and some shades of blue, and anything sparkly. She's also a tomboy who wants to learn how to fix cars and stuff. Which is fine I guess, as long as you wear plenty of lip gloss and nail polish. 😄
While we're on the subject of Terralyn and blankets, she has a cloth blankie that used to be her mommy's that she totes around everywhere. It's just a small, square thing, stuffed with batting and the remains of previous incarnations, and it's been washed a bazillion times, so it was getting thin and ratty. So mommy decided it was time to recover it, and Terra and mommy went out and bought new fabric.
Then I was asked if I could do the sewing... 😲
Oh boy, I really stink with a sewing machine! But I said yes, because this is my granddaughter, my daughter-in-law wanted to preserve the blankie her grandmother made her, and well I love them all. So I did it.
And to my great relief, it came out fine! I left one part open so we could tuck in the old blankie (it was clean) wrapped in batting, then hand sewed that shut. We did that part in front of Terra at her house so that she could see that the old blankie was still inside the new one, so that she wouldn't cry for it. I mean, she's only 3; I've cried for worse reasons. I made temporary hand stitches here and there to hold it together until they brought it back over to my house. Then I went around the edging to make sure nothing shifts later, and added bar tacks to hold everything in place. So glad I didn't screw up this very important project! This is not my area of expertise.
Terra initially fussed about it, but she eventually got used to the idea and now she loves her 'new' blankie'. She's also getting older, and it isn't as big a deal as it was even 6 months ago. They grow up so fast! I'm just glad that maybe someday she can hand this one down to one of her own little ones. The heart of it is still the original blankie made by her mommy's grandmother, and fixed by this grandmother. Helping to carry the tradition onward means a lot to me. 💖One last afghan I did was a project I had bought at a flea market some years ago. It's a simple giant granny round, and the center light blue square and part of the blue ombre border around it was done. The rest was just yarn in a bag with it. So when that got dug out of storage, I decided to work it up, and here's how it turned out:
Nothing fancy, but a quick and easy project that worked up fast and was kind of mindless. Just big enough for an adult to snuggle under on the couch. I call this Big Brother Ben's blankie, for my 6"1', 14 year old grandson who occasionally graces us with his presence. He's a busy guy, so we are always happy to see him. Ben is Zack and Terra's older brother, in case you were wondering, but that is Lee holding up the afghan in the picture.Now and then I come across patterns that nag me to try them. These little owls had been in my file for quite some time, so I made a bunch of them. The nest was in the pattern too, but I could not figure that part out, so I just kind of cobbled this one together by holding two colors of worsted yarn on a bigger hook, and it works.
This is sort of a decorative piece that can be played with, and the grandkids love to make up stories about the owls, and then put them back to bed before they leave. I love those little ear tufts. I have a thing for owls.Same thing with the butterfly pattern, I'd had it for a while but never made them. So I made a whole bunch of them.
I saw online somewhere (likely Pinterest) that someone took crocheted butterflies and made a mobile with them. They were hung from monofilament fishing line strung with translucent colored plastic beads at increasing lengths and attached to a ring covered in crochet with flowers around it, with a similar but smaller ring above. I thought that was a great idea! That's the plan, though other project distracted me and I haven't gotten any farther than the butterflies yet. Though I will!That's about it for this post, but I hope you enjoyed it. There's a great satisfaction for me in being creative, watching a project unfold from basic concept to finished item. I hope you'll take some time away from your busy life and just sit and do something that makes you feel good. There's no pill or drink that can give you that kind of satisfaction. In a world that is sometimes filled with awful news and ugly situations, we need to bring forth a little beauty and whimsy now and then. Just to tip the balance our way again, you know? 😉Craft on,
~Nancy
Well, my life has been busy these past few years. While I manage to sneak in a little hobby stuff in between writing and spending time with family, I don't always have time to write about it. Catch-22 of the bloggers world I guess.
Hey do you recall the old farmhouse we bought back in 2011? This is what it looked like back then:
Looks a whole lot better now!
Costly but necessary improvements have been made: outside, inside, and all across the property. While we are in a lull right now (read that as can't afford sh*t) there are plans to continue the renovations. We're not doing this on what I'm making from writing, I can assure you that. 😞 But yes, the writing goes on, which is why I don't get to update any of my blogs regularly.
This blog is primarily about hobbies and interests outside the usual vocations. If you want to know about what I write, why, and with whom, I have two sister blogs you can read: WRITING FROM HOME and COMPANION DRAGON TALES. But right now, I want to talk crocheting!
Well mostly... 😉
I crochet most evenings while watching TV, after my day's work is done. That work I refer to might be writing on some days, babysitting and caring for my mother on others, and now and then I actually get out and shop, run errands, and go to appointments. I even do some housework. 😝
Since I'm no longer getting around well due to a lot of arthritis pain and degenerative spine, I look forward to sitting in that easy chair and working on a project I can have in my lap or on a table before me. Since I have a ton of yarn and somewhere around 6-7 sets of crochet hooks, that's generally what I reach for.
Sadly all the thrift stores in my area have closed down, and I am just not up to wandering through flea markets or hitting yard sales. Maybe that's a good thing too, because this old house is not all that large and it has no closet space. The attic and cellar are both cold, damp, and unfinished. So the less clutter I bring home, the better.
I have done a heap of crochet projects over the last year or so. I only have pictures of a few right now, but there will be more forthcoming. Let's see what's sitting in the file...
It took me just over a month and a half to make the shield shaped backdrop and all the pieces I sewed onto it, but I made a Thanksgiving banner for my living room. Everything was done freeform, except the turkey, which came from a coaster pattern. Kind of primitive but I like it and the grandkids get a kick out of pointing out all the different things included. It was a challenge!
After that I started thinking about the Yule/Christmas season. I had made a bunch of crocheted ornaments for the tree the year before, but last year I wanted some banners for my kitchen. I've been on a roll lately with holiday banners and swags, so I started thinking about what would look good and be big enough to be seen. I settled on holiday trees and gingerbread cookie houses.
My tree blanks were first...
They are double thick, with each tree sewed together and the trunks added afterward. I looked at a couple patterns online, but made them in a way that looked best to me.
We had to have the pink and blue for the youngest grandkids.
Once I had enough for a swag, I decorated them with bargain buttons I got on Amazon. I sewed the buttons on both front and back, going through both thicknesses of the trees at the same time. That way they are easier to attach and hide the ugly part of the stitching, as well as faster and somewhat symmetrical. I made a couple more of these in the traditional green to give away as ornaments in gift baskets and boxes for friends.
Here they are strung:
Some closeups...
Yeah, I really should take those baskets and other stuff down and clean everything. Someday...
So then I went on to the gingerbread houses. I wanted them to look fancy too, but keep that gingerbread color. This is as close as I got to baking cookies last year. Hey they are high fiber, low carb, and have no sugar but a lot of love in the mix. 😏
First the blanks. I tried to make the roof icing all look different.
Then it was on to the embellishments, which adorn both sides. I used buttons, peppermint chenille sticks (we used to call them pipe cleaners), and crochet to make each house unique. This was a good project for my collection of fancy wooden holiday buttons. I found the peppermint candy pattern online and made them with both red and white, and green and white yarn. If I find the pattern site again (I printed it up) I will link it because they make great ornaments and garlands by themselves. You use the two separate colors of yarn working first one and the other as you go along.
So here's the end result:
And some closeups.
Please excuse the one with the wicked nasty cobwebs (they got cleaned right after I saw the picture, but it was too dark for another shot by then) and the fuzzy one that shows the other part of the room far clearer. I have a good camera but I don't pretend to be a photographer. I am also an indifferent housekeeper at best and this is an old house with its share of dirt and dust that is a never-ending battle. At 61, I'm just not embarrassed enough to delete those unfortunate pics. 😁
Same idea for stringing these, except that I used a green imitation suede strand with alternating green and white pony beads. I think those worked rather well!
So as I said, I decided to make some ornaments to go into gift boxes and baskets. I didn't make many, but they were a big hit. This is just a sample.
I was asked about the buttons, because as anyone who has shopped for them locally knows, they are costly! I often ask for Amazon gift certificates in lieu of gifts on holidays and birthdays, and that's when I do my craft supply shopping. I also hit the craft stores once in a while and pick up anything that looks interesting that I can get at a reduced or bulk price. Comes in handy when you have a project like this!
I don't recall where I got the snowman pattern, but the hats and scarves I just kind of cobbled together, and sewed them on. They are adorable!
Over the winter and into the spring and summer this year, I did quite a few crochet projects, many of which were functional as well as decorative in their own right. For instance, there were scarves for the small fry...
Nothing is more cheerful than a warm and bright scarf wrapped around your neck on a cold day. Thankfully I always have plenty of yarn on hand for these impromptu projects. These are long enough to allow some growing room. They went home with the grandkids.
Little grandson Zachary had informed me that he needed a 'rainbow' scarf. I figured his sister Terralyn (they are a year apart) might like one too, but I wanted them to be significantly different. So his is the dark colored one, and hers the pastel. This project made me smile because I remember making scarves for their daddy and uncle back in the day.
One does not disappoint one's grandchildren! 😎
Then it was on to afghans. I had wanted to try both a joined yo-yo and ripple pattern for quite a while, and so I decided to make one of each, and keep them the size that a little body could snuggle under and look at a book or watch a video on a tablet. Yes, they both have tablets, and those go everywhere with them, but both love books too, so Grandma keeps a small library of them here to browse through. Best of both worlds!
So here are the two afghans I made. No they were not blocked or washed at that point. They are medium throw size, really only lapghans, but they cover little bodies very well. They get used off and on while the kids are here.
They were fun to make and the yo-yo strips attach as you go along. Zack got the ripple, Terra has the yo-yos. I did ripple edging on Zack's on the short ends and just rows of stitches down the long side. For Terra's edging I got creative and came up with something that turned out to look like cat faces up close. That makes it a conversation piece.
The closeup is blurry, but I think you get the idea.
Terra needed a doll blanket for a wooden crib someone gave her. She has a big baby doll at home that sleeps in it. So I got some measurements and whipped together this, in her choice of colors.
We must always have some shade of pink in everything she gets. She loves purple too, and some shades of blue, and anything sparkly. She's also a tomboy who wants to learn how to fix cars and stuff. Which is fine I guess, as long as you wear plenty of lip gloss and nail polish. 😄
While we're on the subject of Terralyn and blankets, she has a cloth blankie that used to be her mommy's that she totes around everywhere. It's just a small, square thing, stuffed with batting and the remains of previous incarnations, and it's been washed a bazillion times, so it was getting thin and ratty. So mommy decided it was time to recover it, and Terra and mommy went out and bought new fabric.
Then I was asked if I could do the sewing... 😲
Oh boy, I really stink with a sewing machine! But I said yes, because this is my granddaughter, my daughter-in-law wanted to preserve the blankie her grandmother made her, and well I love them all. So I did it.
And to my great relief, it came out fine! I left one part open so we could tuck in the old blankie (it was clean) wrapped in batting, then hand sewed that shut. We did that part in front of Terra at her house so that she could see that the old blankie was still inside the new one, so that she wouldn't cry for it. I mean, she's only 3; I've cried for worse reasons. I made temporary hand stitches here and there to hold it together until they brought it back over to my house. Then I went around the edging to make sure nothing shifts later, and added bar tacks to hold everything in place. So glad I didn't screw up this very important project! This is not my area of expertise.
Terra initially fussed about it, but she eventually got used to the idea and now she loves her 'new' blankie'. She's also getting older, and it isn't as big a deal as it was even 6 months ago. They grow up so fast! I'm just glad that maybe someday she can hand this one down to one of her own little ones. The heart of it is still the original blankie made by her mommy's grandmother, and fixed by this grandmother. Helping to carry the tradition onward means a lot to me. 💖One last afghan I did was a project I had bought at a flea market some years ago. It's a simple giant granny round, and the center light blue square and part of the blue ombre border around it was done. The rest was just yarn in a bag with it. So when that got dug out of storage, I decided to work it up, and here's how it turned out:
Nothing fancy, but a quick and easy project that worked up fast and was kind of mindless. Just big enough for an adult to snuggle under on the couch. I call this Big Brother Ben's blankie, for my 6"1', 14 year old grandson who occasionally graces us with his presence. He's a busy guy, so we are always happy to see him. Ben is Zack and Terra's older brother, in case you were wondering, but that is Lee holding up the afghan in the picture.Now and then I come across patterns that nag me to try them. These little owls had been in my file for quite some time, so I made a bunch of them. The nest was in the pattern too, but I could not figure that part out, so I just kind of cobbled this one together by holding two colors of worsted yarn on a bigger hook, and it works.
This is sort of a decorative piece that can be played with, and the grandkids love to make up stories about the owls, and then put them back to bed before they leave. I love those little ear tufts. I have a thing for owls.Same thing with the butterfly pattern, I'd had it for a while but never made them. So I made a whole bunch of them.
I saw online somewhere (likely Pinterest) that someone took crocheted butterflies and made a mobile with them. They were hung from monofilament fishing line strung with translucent colored plastic beads at increasing lengths and attached to a ring covered in crochet with flowers around it, with a similar but smaller ring above. I thought that was a great idea! That's the plan, though other project distracted me and I haven't gotten any farther than the butterflies yet. Though I will!That's about it for this post, but I hope you enjoyed it. There's a great satisfaction for me in being creative, watching a project unfold from basic concept to finished item. I hope you'll take some time away from your busy life and just sit and do something that makes you feel good. There's no pill or drink that can give you that kind of satisfaction. In a world that is sometimes filled with awful news and ugly situations, we need to bring forth a little beauty and whimsy now and then. Just to tip the balance our way again, you know? 😉Craft on,
~Nancy
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