Post Finals Post

All righty then we ended up having to borrow my grandmother’s camera cord to download pictures to the computer for somehow we have misplaced our own, or I would have posted some of these pictures sooner. Here is the bottom landing of our stairs in the new wood flooring.

Here is a close up of the unusual corners on this landing; the pattern was the floorer’s idea, the floor turned out beautifully.

Cleaning out our upstairs and reorganizing some of the younger toys the boys still have in there room; we here have a collection of stuffed animals my grandmother made for us her grandchildren. The little girl in pink with an apron was made for me as a child as well as the white & pink bear that has roses on her. The rest were made for my other brothers.

Here is a bookmark I made during my spring session finals but lent to my grandmother as an example of the Undercover Bookmark before I got a good picture of it. It is a dark green that can’t be seen quite clearly in this picture.

In this picture you can see the color better; this is a close up of the top. This bookmark was designed by Kathryn White. I just love how elegant it looks.

Ok now you think with my love of books & bookmarks I would have taken a bookmark with me on my vacation to the beach but in the confusion leading up to the trip I took 3 books but no bookmarks! So I had to make myself a bookmark while I was there, both of these colors I picked up while in Florida because here in Arizona they do not stock these in the craft stores. I got the strawberry bookmark pattern here but it is the 3rd pattern down and there is no picture on the pattern website.

After I whipped up this bookmark my mom promptly started to nag me that she too needed a bookmark even though she had remembered to bring 2 of the bookmarks I made for her before the trip. She said that her third book didn’t have a proper bookmark. I caved in under the pressure and made a second strawberry bookmark but as usual I can’t leave well enough alone so I added this leave to the end where the tassel should be because I thought it would look better this way. This bookmark shows that I have this desire to make any bookmark that does not have a picture so I can have a picture for my bookmark files.

For the pattern of the leaf on the end of the strawberry:
Leaf End
1 sc in next 2 chs, 1hdc in next ch, 1dc in the next ch, 2tr in next 2chs, 1 tr in next ch, 1hdc in same ch, ch2 sl st in same ch, ch2, (now on opposite side of leaf) 1hdc in same ch, 1 tr in same ch, 2tr in next 2chs, 1dc in the next ch, 1hdc in next ch, 1 sc in next 2 chs.

This too I made while on vacation using 2 of the 3 new colors I bought on a pattern I picked up on Annie’s Attic Website. I was pleased with the resulting bookmark. The green color is called Frosty Green and is an Aunt Lydia’s brand as is the pink which is called Dusty Rose.

I love Kathryn White’s Undercover Bookmark so much I made it again while on vacation in my new turquoise blue which is officially: Aunt Lydia’s Parakeet color.

In the same color I made the other Butterfly Bookmark Pattern by Kathryn White. I figured that since I made the other 2 bookmarks by Kathryn White I should make this one as well.

Although I like the butterfly aspect of this bookmark I didn’t like the round circle portion at the end of the bookmark. Therefore I thought for a while about the perfect ending for this bookmark and settled on:
Triple Cluster Tassel End
sl st into the 5th chain from the end to form a loop.
In the loop created, *make 3 dc, holding back a lp on each dc, then on the last dc pull a loop through all 3, ch 3 sl st into the top of the 3dc cluster, ch 3*, repeat from * to * 3 times, then sl st into the ch 5 ring and finish off.

Since I live in Arizona the land of perpetual blinding sun I needed new sunglasses this year. And since I didn’t want the lenses to get scratched up this year I needed a sunglasses case so I looked for a stitch pattern that I thought was appealing and found the right pattern for my case.

I have yet to add a snap to this sunglasses case but I plan on doing so next. The nice thing about making this case was that it used up some extra yarn from the pink hats I made for my mom and me.

This bookmark I made at my brother’s request for a gift for his friend with the nickname daisy, it turned out nicely I think.

Ok yet again I have made another Friendship Rings Bookmark. I used Cannon SC039 which I got from Mimi; I love the effect this thread gives in this bookmark.

I have finally finished my 1st summer session and next Monday I get to start my new class this time I only have 1 class for the 2nd summer session I think I about died of stress having to rapid pace classes at once. I don’t recommend anyone follow my insanity.

Vacation & Hat

Ok for a quick recap I finished my spring semester finals and found I ended up with acceptable grades. I moved out of my room completely, as well as everyone upstairs. All my stuff was moved to my garage space, and I went to Florida for a 8 days. I stayed in this room of the condo.

I collected these:

& saw this in the evenings:

Fortunately I made this ahead of time, which was supposed to be my mother’s but she wanted alterations to the pattern made for her hat, & I refused to pull this hat out one more time so it became mine.

For my mother’s version I quadrupled the hook size, and double the length indicated by the red lines below Whereupon I finally finished it and made both mom and I happy (me to be done with the hat & her to receive it).

I relaxed read many books, knit, & crocheted and had fun.
When I got home I was in for the long hall with having my wood flooring uncompleted. There was also a decision along the way to tear out my wall and extend my room where a pot shelf was. Here is my handy dad working on my missing wall, you can see the incomplete flooring in the corner

This is the view from the hole in my wall; you can see how cozy it was with my brother’s beds lined up in the formal living room.

Here the dry wall is up, but floor is still unfinished.

I will leave you with a picture of a baby crab I happened upon while on the beach (I returned him to his watery home). In the corner you can see a blurry picture of my mom’s finished hat.

Oh my wall is not yet finished, but I am living in my room again and sleeping on my bed not the sofa. On a side note I am in the 1st summer session of school classes taking 2 classes, Intro Into Audiology & Intro into Phonetics (6 credit hours) and am about half way done.

Happy Mothers Day

I just need to say, YAY I am done with finals! And the grades are looking good so far. And Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there.

This baby is my early birthday present

I used to sit in this which was bad on my back, so I had been seriously considering investing in a quality chair. Just when I was going to buy the above chair my parents offered to get it for me as an early birthday present, for which I am thankful.
When it rains it pours well another lady I know was pregnant and she also had a baby girl, she decided not to find out ahead of time whether the baby was a boy or girl so I waited as well before making the baby gift. Well I did not think this idea through well enough for the baby arrived in the middle of my finals so I had to make a small present, a bonnet and bootie set. I got the pattern for these as well as a little coat, blanket and pillow (there are 2 versions of the booties one embellished & one not) I got all these for the low price of 99¢ the pattern is called Girl's Layette.

I had to stuff the booties with tissue paper to make them look right.

I originally planned to make these for myself but they ended up being a gift for a girlfriend’s birthday.

Back view of them, and no I have yet to receive a response to my request to post an English Version of the pattern yet.

Ok Another Big Showing

Ok this pattern is called Symphony Tablecloth and I believe it came from one of the Magic Crochet Magazines. Anyway I ordered the thread KAM08 to be specific from Mimi sometime in September, so very roughly it has taken me 7-8 months to get this puppy done. I did a little happy dance when I completed it, oh the purpose was for it to match the quilt I made.

I have to show a close up because the wide pic does not do it justice.

After a about a month from when I decided to make this Shrek Hat I finally finished it, because I was to busy with other things, though this was one of the few projects I took on my last vacation (Gollum Hat, Symphony Tablecloth, & Shrek Hat). So this completion makes me very happy.

Though the cap, which I adhered the ears to said it was adult size, it truly fits my youngest brother the best. My two sweet younger brothers both were excited to model it for me so I had to post both pics. As a side note I think I accidentally tossed the pattern for the ears, I’m put out with myself at this moment.

Initially when I saw this hat on Crochetville I was sad that I didn’t have a handy baby to make it for, though one of the ladies I know who was pregnant conviently had her baby before Easter so voila I bought a copy of the pattern from Heidilyn and whipped it up then I had to find a way to get the hat to the baby before Easter, which I was able to do with some help.

This delightful bookmark I first saw on Ccat’s website, and I drooled over it, I made an attempt to make one myself but it did not look right without the pattern. So I tore it out (the perfectionist that I am) and waited patently to see if Ccat would make me enormously happy and share her pattern. Which she did (thank you, thank you, thank you) and so you see the delight below.

This is another wonderful series from Crochetroo, Sea Creatures from the Australian Coast. I did have some frustration with this Humpback Whale’s tail to my chagrin so I did the only thing possible I put it aside till I had more patience. When I did, I of course was able to finish it smoothly. It only took me what 1 month to store up some patience. I was so excited though to make this little guy he is so cute, now I just have to find a person who loves Whales to give him to.

This is from the same batch of Sea Creatures from the Australian Coast, by Crochetroo. After finishing the Humpback Whale I was in the mood for another Sea Creature so I made the last one from the pack: Stingray and he was vary easy to make. Which promptly made me remember Steve Irwin and how he died from a stingray, even thought they are supposably gentle creatures. This led me to worry about my upcoming trip to the Florida Beach and how there are a lot of stingrays which finally led me to buy water shoes which probably won’t prevent me from being stung but at least they are rubber which does not conduct electricity. Sometimes too much information is not a good thing!!!!

Well I participated in another bookmark swap and I was sent this bookmark by my exchange partner Bonnie, who was so generous and sent not only the bookmark but…

This coaster as well as a recipe, two patterns, a postcard and a letter she was so sweet. And I love the thread these two gifts were made out of I do not think it is cotton but maybe an acrylic of some kind which gives it a sheen.

I have decided I am going to make more Friendship Bookmarks the pattern is so beautiful and make great gifts, this one in fact I gave to my Grandmother who taught me how to crochet, thank you Grandma and happy birthday.

This is another of my Anatomical Heart Bookmarks, having received the information that the pattern is not easy to follow I decided to follow it on my own and what do you know, that person was right. So I decided to revise the pattern now, because after I first made the pattern and bookmark I was mentally exhausted by the creation, I know it is so small but it exhausted me so. When I made this for a friend whose husband had a bad heart scare and thought he would have to undergo open heart surgery I finally got my but in gear and made it, about 1 month after the scare. I know I am so slow but after I revised the pattern for this bookmark below I whipped one up in under 24 hours veins and all. So my friend and her husband could both have one. Any way after that long explanation I am fixing the errors I found, adding more pics… so now if you try to make one again and still have problems let me know exactly where and have patience with me I will try to fix the pattern for you.

This pot holder I am naming Portuguese Pot Holder for I found this pot holder pattern after long searching for it on a Portuguese Website and not knowing a word of Portuguese had to work at translating it, when I have an opportunity I will see if I can post an English version of it on my site after get around to emailing the owner (Andrea Cris) of the pattern. Anyway I doubled up on the shell portion of the pattern for one layer was not thick enough in my opinion for holding hot objects, I’m a practical girl I make things for use even if my mom is going to put these on display.

Here’s the back view I was curious personally so I took a pic to show you incase you are too. I made two of them by the way because pot holders come in twos.

Ok here is what I’m calling my pouting contest pics. Actually my silly Dad is demonstrating how he thinks I look when I pout.

Then my brothers just had to join in.

So reasonably I then had to take their pictures, families got to love them.

Gollum Hat, & Bookmarks

I did it I make my own, my precious, Gollum Hat I didn’t think I would make it to the final product but I did. After going shopping way far away to get the right kind of yarn but incidentally not the kind used by Lady Linoleum for the store didn’t stock the yarn. The hat is made out of Cotton classic yarn made by Stacy Charles Inc. Sadly I still paid to much money for supplies but do I regret that no. After making the crown of the hat two previous times with a sizes C hook then a steel hook #1 it still was looking too big. So I did the smart thing and made a swatch with a #4 I found the right size hook. Note to self if I make another hat I will make the swatch like the directions indicate, which I normally ignore. I finally made all the parts while on spring break but needed to consult the Lady herself for more direct guiding about the placing of the ears. I do not know if I am perfectly happy with the position of the ears but I’ll live with them unless I see a more perfect orientation.

The inspiration for this bookmark came from Ccat she apparently fiddled around with her hook and came up with the pattern I love her picture of it so I attempted to recreate it from her picture. I think I was somewhat successful though I chose to make it in a red color.

When I showed this to my mom she made a playful attempt to acquire it without me seeing so I told her she could have it after I took a picture of it. I know I’ve had success when my mother wants the result.

This is another creation by Ccat but she sweetly placed a pattern on her site so I made one and decided to try it again in a solid color.

The result of the solid color pleased me but was extremely difficult to capture without it being at all fuzzy.

Here is the non fuzzy close up.

This bookmark I had seen a number of places on foreign websites and non foreign websites so took the time to work out the pattern from the pictures I found and voila I have my own fishy.

A better look

The following bookmarks come from Crochetroo’s Sea Creatures from the Australian Coast. As soon as I got these patterns I had to make the dolphin, but as you will notice in the close up there is no eye present for I didn’t have any beads with me when I left the house so …. a blind dolphin was the result.

I’m blind

Well next came Mr. Great White Shark who can see.

You have to get a close up on him

Last but not least is the Mile-A-Minute Heart Bookmark this pattern came
From Gram of Crochetville who so kindly let me see into her creative mind. The first I made was a sad creation so I will not show it here but happily I was able to learn from my mistakes and produce this one.