Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Changes

Notice anything different???


I bought safety eyes for the monkeys from this site. I feel much better that my silly nephews won't be able to eat these ones :) I also decided to try a different eye shape. Made a solid rectangleish shape and added the new eyes to that. Hubby even agrees, they look more like monkeys now!

Friday, January 25, 2008

Quick note!

Go visit my friend Oiyi and see her new, beautiful baby girl!

http://oiyi.blogspot.com/index.html

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Finished Gift!


I finished Granny's pillow and made a scarf to match.

As far as the pillow goes. I l.o.v.e. it!!! I think next time, it would be really pretty to find a florally fabric for the back of it instead of the crochet. We'll see!

The scarf pattern is called "One-Skein Scarf" and can be found here. It's pretty infamous in the crochet world. The thing worked up really quickly, but I find it a bit narrow, which is ok for my little granny, but if I make more i'm going to try to tweak them... Maybe, a bigger hook, and then if that's still too small, a bigger hook and 2 strands of yarn held together (or bulky yarn). I'll let you know the test results! Anyways, here's more pics!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Flower Pillow for Granny

Thank you all for your kind (and helpful, Carola!) comments about the boys blankets. After all that work, and a talk from hubby about not trying to do toooooo much, I've decided to put those blankets on the back burner. They just weren't special looking enough to me to give as a gift for their first birthday. They'll get the monkeys, tho!

A couple of you asked how I attached the fabric to the crochet part. All I did was lay the blanket on top of the fabric (which was on my floor, right-side down) and then tied it like a lap quilt, then I hemmed the edges with a sewing machine. It's really pretty simple if all your edges are straight. There are instructions (for quilts, but it's the same process), here.

Now... a new, quick project!

Can you tell what it's going to be????

How about now???

I am SOOOO IN LOVE with this pattern! It was written by Julie Armstrong Holetz at Crochet Me. You can get a free copy at their web-site, here. It's really supposed to be a purse, but I added a few rounds to both the flower part and the border, and I'm going to stuff it to make a pillow for my granny's birthday. Oh, and I didn't have any bulky yarn, so I just held 2 strands of worsted weight together. I have all kinds of ideas in my head! Can you imagine a whole blanket of all kinds of colors of these beautiful roses???

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Blanket H*LL

These big boy blankets are DRIVING ME CRAZY!!! I don't know why, but when I make these "big granny squares" the corners always end up being waaaayyyy longer than the middle of the sides of the blankets. So, I thought that when I tied the fabric onto the crocheted part, that I would stretch the crocheted part and everything would be hunky-dorey... Well, yeah, that didn't happen! It was all wavy and not laying flat at all, so I had to rip out the 2 hours worth of ties that I'd done and start over. Here's the progress...


I had to take desperate measures and I, gulp, ironed the acrylic yarn blanket. That's a big "no, no" supposedly, but I think it worked. I pinned it out into a rectangle and then placed a cloth over the thing and steamed the heck out of it with the weight of the iron touching the blanket. And now, the sides are alllllllll even. Yeah!

I've pinned the fabric to the edges now and just need to take it upstairs to hem them. Now that I know how much work this is, I'm not in the mood to do the other one! Which is not good, since I only have until Feb. 2 to get the second one done!

And, here are pics of the finished best friend blanket, since she has it now. I think she liked it ;) She said it kept her sooooooo warm, which is great, because she is ALWAYS cold!

I'm sooo in love with it. Now I wish I had time to make one for me!

And, one more thing. Here's what my brothers like to do with the boy's monkeys...

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

An Award and a Future UFO :)

I got another award! Yeah! Thanks so much Amy, it's great to feel appreciated :) I'm going to pass the award on to Oiyi! I'm constantly checking her blog to see all of her new crafty items and to see if her little one has arrived!

Now, for some future endeavors...


This will be an unconventional baby blanket. I have a recipient in mind, but first my friend and her hubby have to get pregnant (and have a girl). I don't even think they're trying yet, but I thought of her when I saw this fabric! It's so bright and cheery! I'm thinking some kind of granny square, but haven't made up my mind which one yet. We'll see what I decide later!

Monday, January 7, 2008

A Finally FO and UFO

For you non-crochet/knit people, A Finally Finished Object and an Unfinished Object :)

I finally got the best friend blanket tied and backed, but guess what I forgot??? She READS MY BLOG! Duh!!! So, you'll have to wait until after next weekend when she gets it to see pictures, or if you have ravelry, look me up cause I have the pics on there. Sorry Biff :)

Now, for some actual pics and not a teaser... I'm making the boys new blankets to match the monkeys. Their other ones are a little babyish, and they are turning 1, after all! Anyways, look...



I found the material at Wally World for $2 a yard... Isn't it cute??? I'm going to back the blankets with that and then appliqué the boys initials in bright yellow felt on top of that. I can't wait to see how they come out!!!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Twins!

I finished Mr. Monkey's twin!

I can't wait to give them to the boys! It's so funny how I used the same pattern for both, but they turned out slightly different. The green one is a little chubbier and his arms are beefier, too. Hubby told me that I'm not a machine, so there was no way they'd turn our exactly the same, and the fact that they're a little different makes them more likable, just like the real twins :)

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Mr. Monkey

I introduce to you, my new friend, Mr. Monkey!
Isn't he cute?

Specs:
Pattern - Cedrich from Roxy Craft
Yarn - Red Heart Super Saver in Royal and Bright Yellow
Hook - G

I messed with the pattern a little bit, made the eyes a little bigger, added a tail (how can you have a monkey without a tail???) and made the arms shorter. The blue is a little darker in person, but the yellow is that bright. Mr. Monkey will be for one of my nephews and there will be a lime green Mr. Monkey started tonight for the other nephew. Hope they like them!

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

MIA again :)

It's so hard for me to blog when hubby's on vacay, which is my excuse for not blogging as often as I usually do :) I hope you all had a wonderful new year and can't wait to see what you all show me in the next 12 months!

I just have this one WOP right now...

This will be a birthday present for one of my nephews... The pattern is from here. Very cute and pretty simple to make. There will be a green one for the other nephew. I think his ears are a little low, but maybe it gives him character??? Hehe :)