A Few Christmas Patterns I Love...

It's 38 degrees here this morning and now I am getting into the Christmas spirit and looking for fun and easy Christmas patterns. Below are a few I've found around the web...

First we have little Christmas stocking ornaments. I love these! How quick and easy and fun to embellish with your own ribbons, buttons, etc. The pattern is on Ravelry by Zoom Yummy

There are so many easy and cute patterns at Red Heart. This Christmas Tree is so pretty in the sparkle yarn. I think I'll make this one for the office...

These Peppermint Coasters are so festive. They will make great gifts for the girls at work...

Enjoy your weekend and...

Happy Crocheting!

Tunisian Crochet and a HUGE Tah Dah!!

I am so excited to let you all know what I've been up to lately...

It's been crazy busy with the holiday weekend and all but...I managed to squeeze in some time to try Tunisian Crochet and I have to say I absolutely LOVE it!!

It is so quick and easy and Kim Guzman's videos and her book, The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Tunisian Crochet is fantastic! I'm so confident now that I am going to make the Hoodie Sweater Vest that is on the cover right after I finish the scarf and hat shown below.

I am using Lion Brand's Wool-Ease white/multi color that has just enough sparkle to add a little pizzaz to my project. 

I am using just the Tunisian Knit Stitch, (TKS) that looks just like the Stockinette Knit Stitch. I cannot believe how easy this is! I haven't given up on learning to Knit just yet but for next few projects...it's gong to be Tunisian Crochet all the way!!



Now for the HUGE Tah Dah...

Most of you know my struggles with this ABC Baby Blanket but I managed to get it finished! I can't say its perfect but its done. I never want to see Navy Blue Yarn again! It was all worth it though when my daughter saw it and and laid Little Man down on it. It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling all over so I'm happy I did it because it made her so happy!

That's all for now...I hope you all have a great week and...

Happy Crocheting!!

Keeping Busy with My Latest Projects...

My ABC Baby Blanket and Bohemian Oasis Afghan are certainly keeping me busy lately. I am on the next to the last section of the baby blanket, (D,E,F,G) but it has been difficult to work on this past week because our air conditioner was not working. Of course in Kansas we have been having above normal high temperatures lately and the baby blanket is very dense, (single crochet) so it is hot on my lap and the yarn is sticking between my fingers so it has been doubly difficult to work on it.

I have persevered though because I am determined to finish it as soon as possible because I have so many other projects running around in my mind that I want to get started on. As I said, this blanket has been a challenge for me. I was almost finished with it and realized I had started out with a G hook and somewhere along the line I switched to an F hook. It's kind of funny now but it wasn't when I had to frog the whole thing. I had some minor mistakes on it at the start so I just ripped out the entire blanket.

Somewhere I read to use toilet paper rolls to wrap your yarn when you have to frog something so I tried it and it worked beautifully! I highly recommend this method. I still ended up with some tangles but managed to salvage most of the yarn. At one point I was going to throw all of it away and go buy new yarn because it was so frustrating but I muddled through and I'm glad I did. If my daughter didn't love it so much I would have said "forget it", but she won out and now it's almost done and I think I finally have the hang of it.

I'm looking forward to joining my beautiful squares together on the Oasis Afghan. I have the black Fabel yarn by Drops and I think it is going to be a really pretty afghan when I get it done. This one is just for me. It will be so lovely on my bed and the colors of all the squares made from the Drops Delight yarn are so yummy.

You may have noticed from my recent posts that I am anxious to try Tunisian Crochet. It looks like knitting and gives you a tighter fabric than crocheting does. Kim Guzman is the Queen of Tunisian Crochet, (see the new Spring Issue of Crochet Savvy magazine here. Kim is on the cover!) I have had my Denise hooks for a couple of years now and haven't made one thing with them. I also have Kim's book, Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Tunisian Crochet.



I can't wait to try some of the neat patterns she has in it. Kim has put up lots of videos on YouTube as well so I should, (hopefully) be able to learn how to do it! I'll keep you posted on how its going.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you all have a great week! Oh...by the way...the air conditioner got fixed yesterday so everything is "cool" now!! :)

Happy Crocheting!

Bohemian Oasis Afghan...A Crochet Treat

My latest project is the Bohemian Oasis Afghan with Drops Delight! Of course this is a free pattern from Garnstudio. I have had it in my queue on Ravelry forever. 

It is such beautiful yarn and I have made many more squares but haven't take a picture. This yarn is a dream to work with. The color changes are so beautiful and each square is fun to make just watching the colors coming to life on my hook.

The pattern is really easy and a no brainer while watching TV or March Madness. I can't seem to work on my ABC baby blanket while watching basketball. It takes too much concentration!

I hope you  all have a wonder week and  Happy Crochet Month!!

Romantic Ruffle Scarf Tah Duh!

This is what I've been working on...

This gorgeous and fun scarf was made with this pattern from Red Heart Boutique Sashay Yarn in the color "Waltz". I made this in about three evening. The yarn has just a touch of metallic around the edges. It was fun to work with and  I recommend watching this video before starting. 

I am working on another one for a friend at work in Pink. More on it later.

Happy Crocheting!

Overlay Crochet Mandala Tah Dah!

Here it is...

The big reveal...

I have finished this challenging Overlay Crochet Mandala No. 4 by CAROcreated design. So that also means I have finished this fun Crochet-a-long (CAL). 

The overlay is really much easier than I expected. I'm pleased with my colors but it desperately needs blocked.  I was going to wait for the big "Tah-Dah" until I blocked but that might be like NEVER, so just in case I took a crappy picture of it but you get the idea right? I was surprised how thick and heavy and durable it is.  It would make a great pillow, (I think that is what I will do, check out the great pillow Casey made her mandala into) or cushion on top of a chair or wooden bar stool. 

The stats are on my Ravelry project page and unfortunately it didn't do much for my cotton stash-busting. It looks like it would be a HUGE yarn eater, but it wasn't. But it did get me started using up some of that cotton.  I have some little projects I am doing with it and I'll show you those later so stay tuned...

I leave you now with some more crappy pictures of my Overlay Crochet Mandala...

 

Happy Crocheting!

Celebrating National Crochet Month!

Happy National Crochet Month!!

 Five ways I am celebrating my favorite month...

1. I am taking advantage of all yarn sales.
2. Stash-busting to make room for all the new yarn.
3. Following the Crochet country tour on Crochetville.com
4. Joined the Overlay Crochet Mandala CAL
5. Learning 3 new stitches.

How are you celebrating National Crochet Month?

Baby Cat Hat Crochet

Hi All. Another snow day here in Kansas. That's three in the last week! I am getting spoiled not going to work. 

 Below is a little Cat Hat that my daughter requested I make for her friend who is expecting a little baby girl in March. It looks blue but it is really purple and white. They are BIG K-State fans so it is a Wildcat. I took this picture before I added the braided ties. I used the basic Owl Hat pattern and customized it to be a cat instead.

Almost finished with the first of several baby hats I am making for some friends of my daughter. They are all having girls and so did my daughter back in August. Also, there is a girl at work that is having a girl too.

Happy Crocheting!

Stash Busting Update-Little Crochet Grannies with White

Stash Busting...or am I?

These little grannies are coming along. I used up all the stash I had left and put them together with white. I didn't have much of the white so of course I had to order some. So I went to the Deramore's online store where I purchased all these lovely colors in the first place and ordered the white. And since I was ordering I thought I better order more of the Lucy Pack because it is so darn reasonable, (priced cheaply) and the colors are gorgeous! So I have managed to totally defeat my purpose! Oh well, I would hate to run out of yarn. Now that would be scary.



I'm not sure that I am in love with the white although I love doing the join as you go. I am going to try to join them by adding another row on each so I can join as I go since...I ordered the Lucy Pack again! I know! It's a sickness. I just love these colors and I know I won't be happy with this cute little blanket until I get them joined the way I want to. No sense in spending all the time on the blanket it I'm not in love with it right??!!




By the way, they are calling for a huge snow storm in our neck of the woods starting with ice and rain tomorrow night, turning to snow and then accumulations of 6"-10". Now I know you east coast people just had a lot more than that and my heart goes out to all of you but...there might be up to 1/4" of ice on our power lines and tree limbs. It brings back nightmares from the ice storm we had back in 2002. I never want to go through that again. Anyway, if the weather guys are right, (sometimes when we have all these warnings and hype we don't get anything but...they got the east coast storm right) so watch out mid-westerners! So I have lots to work on and it would be so nice to just stay inside where its warm, (hopefully if the ice doesn't pull down all the power lines.) No...I am trying to stay positive here so...I will stay inside where it is warm and crochet the day away and not have to scrape the car or the sidewalk until Friday.
Getting back on track here, I am hoping that they will cancel everything on Thursday so I can stay home and crochet. I am also making the first of many Owl Hats for my daughter's friend. Her baby is due in March. 

Happy Crocheting everyone!

Stash Busting Already!

Luckily I started stash busting last year but didn't get very far so I have a little bit of a jump start. I started making these little granny squares with a "G" hook with the leftover yarn from my Rainbow Ripple.

So I was going to do the join-as-you-go method but I did it backwards, or so I was told, and I didn't like the way the join looked, (see here), because usually when I join granny squares they all have the same color in the last row. It just really bothered me to look at the one color overlapping the other color. 

So, I decided to just go ahead and make the squares between projects and use up the stash. So now I have all these lovely little squares and only a little bit of stash left. Now I have to decide how to join them together since I obviously can't do the as-you-go method. So now I will probably have to buy some yarn for the joining of the squares. This always happens to me when I am trying to use up some stash, I end up buying more yarn to finish something! Ugggh! Doesn't that defeat the purpose? Oh well, buying yarn is one of my favorite past times so not really a problem at all!

So I'm almost finished using up the stash of yarn but...I still have to finish the little granny square blanket or I just moved the yarn from stash to a UFO (unfinished object).  I have enough of those already. 

Any ideas on the color to use for joining them? I guess I could add one more round with a new color and join-as-you-go that way with all the same color. I'm thinking white or black.  What do you think?

Happy Crocheting!

Stash-buster Challenge 2013

I have joined the 

Stash-buster Challenge 2013 at Linda's Crafty Corner.

Below are the rules from Linda's blog...

Rules

       
  Leave a comment on here or on Ana’s blog if you want to join in. 
       

Copy the challenge photo to your side bar and link it back to this or Ana's post.
        

Show a picture of your stash or part of the stash you want to use up next.
  
Once it's all used up show us the stash busting project/projects you have managed to make with it,    (tell us about them and add a pattern link if you like)

Reveal the next bit of stash you want to use next and so on… see so easy.

I will write a summary at the end of each month to say how each of us has done and may show your pictures on here (please let me know if you would prefer me not to do this)

We can encourage each other and make suggestions along the way as to how we can use our stash and what to do with the things we make.

Remember this is just for fun and there is absolutely no pressure whatsoever, if however you want to do a bit of serious stash busting why not weigh your projects, I can keep a count of all totals and reveal just how many grams of yarn you have managed to use each month and you will have a grand total by the end of the year.

If you decide to join the challenge we will visit your blog, follow, and then add you to the side bar of our blog, we can then see what you have posted about the challenge.
By following our blog and adding us to your side bar you will be able to see all the latest posts about the challenge as they happen.

Visit back often to see what fellow stash-busters are up to.

 

 

So I better get busy stash-busting, I have quite a lot of stash to "Bust".

Have a great week and Happy Crocheting!

 

My Crochet Attic Blog is Two Years Old...

Wow! I can't believe I have been blogging here for two years! Where does the time go? So much has happened since I started my blog and I've made so many friends here in blog land along the way.  Another milestone, today I have reached 400 followers! Wow! This calls for a BIG celebration don't you think? I will have to come up with a giveaway. I'm not sure what it will be but I will make sure it is something special for YOU for your loyalty.

Also, I am excited to show you a "nearly" finished project.  I still have to work in the ends and put a border on it but I just love how it has turned out considering I had no plan when I started it way back when and it turned out so totally different from what I was originally thinking it would be. Are you curious yet?

Well, it is something that I have shown here on my blog many times either as a post or as a background image for another project.  Are you ready to see what I've secretly been working on? I've been keeping it a secret because I wasn't sure I like it!:) But now that it is nearly finished I have grown to love it as it has grown into a full size afghan.  This was one of those projects that just came on a whim from yarn in my stash.  I just wasn't sure about the colors...that is until I added the white.  Wow, what a difference a little white can do.  I'm in love with it now.  I can't wait to finish it, hopefully by Friday for a big Tah Dah!!

Okay, here are some sneak peaks...

Remember these? This is how it all started a year ago for the Granny a Day Cal in January 2012...I didn't use the squares that weren't regular grannies...but I liked the moss with it but wasn't sure how to use it with what I already had...

I wasn't sure about the colors but you all encouraged me to continue...

Personally I love the brick and mustard color together but it needed another color...

So I added the moss...and then the white just made it a beautiful color combination...

So I started putting it together and planning the arrangement...

The entire year I worked on it between projects.  It was always handy to work on when I wanted to work on a "no-brainer" project...

And here it is today...

Almost finished and oh so fun.  

The moral of the story... don't give up! You will be surprised when you end up with an original creation that was not planned...it just happened! So I have named it my "Accidental Granny Afghan"

Happy Crocheting

My First Cardigan: Tah Dah!!!

This is a big Tah Dah for me.  My first cardigan is finished! Yay! I actually like it.  Being able to make it “custom fit” is awesome.  I made mine long and with short sleeves.  I haven’t added the button yet because I’m not sure I want too. I wouldn’t wear it with the button closed anyway so why add it?  Also, I’m not sure where I want to put the button. At the top neckline or lower across my chest?  I think I will leave it off for now.

The trim is my own. I did a single crochet down the sides and around the neck.  Then I did a double crochet skipping one sc around the neck. Then two rows of sc to finish it off!

I’m very pleased with how it turned out. I like the color and yes “I love this yarn” yarn is very nice.  I can’t believe I made this sweater for $7.50. That’s amazing. Will I make it again? You betcha!

I have a feeling I will wear this to work a lot!

Finishing projects on Sundays is no fun. I have to wait until Friday for Finished Object Fridays! J
Someone needs a “Finished over the weekend” Link Party! Maybe I will do that…need a catchier name though…any ideas? Post your thoughts or ideas in the comments! Who knows? It could be a fun way to start the week…

Okay, now for the stats:

Yarn: 3 skeins of I Love This Yarn Super Soft Sport Weight

Color: Ivory

Hook:  “J”

Pattern: Chevron Lace Cardigan

-Linking with-

Tami's Amis FO Fridays | Fiber Arts Fridays at Wisdom Begins in Wonder | I ♥ Fridays at Petals to Picots

Cowl in Vino Tah Dah!

Here it is!

My Cowl in Vino! I loved this pattern and this yarn. It is a fingering weight and wow! You get to feel the silk the entire time you are crocheting!

Ok...here are the stats:

Pattern: Calm Cowl by Suzana Davidovic

Hook Size: 5.5 mm (I)

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Heritage Silk Paints
Fingering / 4 ply
85% Merino, 15% Silk
437 yards / 100 grams

Color: 9958--Vino

Started: Dec. 29, 2012

Finished: Jan. 13, 2012

If you are a member of Ravelry you can check out my project page here.

Happy Crocheting!

Linking with-
Tami's Amis FO Fridays | Fiber Arts Fridays at Wisdom Begins in Wonder | Natural Suburbia for Creative Fridays | I've Made Friday at SusanD1408 Crochet Addict | I ♥ Fridays at Petals to Picots