Friday, December 31, 2010

Baby Blanket

Hi everyone it's been a while since I posted. I have been crocheting but just haven't kept up with taking photos and blogging. Today I'm showing off a little blanket I've made. It's just a simple granny square with a scalloped edging. I've been making baby clothes for all my friends and family who have had babies now I finally get to make things for MY baby!!!!!!!!!! Yes I am 14 weeks pregnant and planing all sorts of craft projects. Unfortunately the nausea and exhaustion has taken much of my desire to crochet and craft away. I actually had another blanket in mind, a cute one with bunnies on it but my brain couldn't handle anything that required it to work so I started tying to get back to crocheting with the most simple thing I could think of hence the one BIG granny square which I can practically do in my sleep.

Here's a photo of the blanket. I made it using pure New Zealand wool. It is quite heavy and measures about 60x60 cm



And just because I can, here's a photo of our bub at 11 weeks scan...

Anyhow I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New years! We had a nice quiet one with family, just the way I like it. Keep up the posts, loving what is being posted here awesome stuff as always!

Meeting the Granny a Day Challenge!

My cookie jar of crochet squares
This is my first post!  And on the last day of the year too - very apt though as I've actually managed to crochet 365 squares - one for each day of 2010, though it did become more of a 'Granny every few days Challenge'!

These squares are small but perfectly formed and I'm going to carry on with them into 2011 to make a gorgeous big throw in a rainbow of colours.  I'm using 100% 8 ply wool from the Spotlight Basics range.

The simple granny square - an oldie but a goldie!
The Granny a Day Challenge was hosted by Meet Me at Mike's - I'm hoping there will be another challenge for 2011, but it's a great site to visit for inspiration.

Wishing everyone a fantasic 2011 and may there be many crochet adventures!  :)

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Shell Stitch Teapot Cozy

Hello Everyone! I'm glad Inger Carina posted. I forget to come here and show my crochet projects sometimes until I'm reminded when others post theirs.

Here is a teapot cozy I made last weekend. I posted a free pattern for the body of it on my blog with some links to free flower and leaf patterns.


Hope you all had a nice Christmas!

Crocheted Christmas decorations



Hello Crochet Lovers! , this is my first post on this blog. My name is Inger Carina and I'm an enthusiastic Crafter from Sweden...
I'm a frequent visitor to this blog and I love all your work, posts and links on this site! :)
My Christmas tree fell over last year so I had to crochet me some new decorations.



Happy Holidays
Kind regars
Inger Carina
www.hellocraftlovers.com

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Star Garland


Here's one of the garlands I recently made for my Etsy-shop. Just recently I found out how much fun it is to make them. I blogged about one of my garlands too. You can read the story about the I Love My House-Garland here.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Mice











Looking for a nice mouse to crochet? I made these for the birthday party of my 5-year-old niece, so she can hand them out to the little guests at the end of the party to thank them for coming. The pattern is on my blog.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

To all the Americans in the states as well as abroad, hope you get to spend time with your family and friends; eat, drink and be merry (and find time to hook a bit)!  We are blessed!
















Felted cornucopia is from cozycottagecreations on etsy.  I have no affiliation with them, I just liked it!
ENJOY!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

One Millionth Visitor Giveaway

It’s difficult to imagine what one million people look like or for that matter what one million pounds would look like.

A year ago I said that I would have one million visitors to my blog in this year and here I am at 996,909 visitors to date. I have no way of knowing who will be the 1,000,000 visitor but thought I should celebrate with a giveaway.

Next problem what to giveaway. . . . . Okay the winner will get a $50.00 gift voucher to spend in either my Etsy Store or my ravelry store. Everyone who enters will also be a winner as I will email everyone an exclusive crochet pattern PDF.

To win the bonus ‘mystery’ prize which will be a package of indulgent goodies you will need to leave an estimate of how many visitors will have been to my blog on Friday 26th November at 12.00 GMT.

So what do you need to do to be in to win.

1. Visit either of the above stores and have a browse and leave a comment here telling me which is your favourite pattern and why.

2. If you wish to be entered twice, if you link from you blog to this post, again leave a comment and I will enter you twice.

3. To allow me to send you the exclusive pattern please email me at thesunroomuk@googlemail.com in the title mark it as ‘one millionth giveaway’ and let me have your email address to send the pattern to.

Best of luck to everyone. I will let this giveaway run until Friday the 26th November, 2010 to allow as many as possible to participate.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

So Dotty Cushion Cover Crochet Pattern

208-0877_IMG

'So Dotty' cushion cover crochet pattern PDF. A new pattern based around my concept of the grandad square and closely related to the granny square. A richly textured and pretty cushion. The pattern is for a 16" cushion insert. Learn more on on my blog. To find out more about the grandad square click here.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

My Monet Lion Brand Pattern Half Moon Shawl

Hi there!
Hope everyone's having a lovely weekend and finding time to do some crocheting!  Here's my completed Half Moon Shawl.  It's a fairly easy pattern and the hard part for me was the lumpy bumpy yarn.  Lion Brand has several Half Moon patterns to accommodate different yarns.  

I'm really happy with it and I still need to choose a front closure for it but otherwise, it is ready to wear.  Only problem is, we've had 90 + degree weather here the past few days so I'll have to wait a bit longer.....

Here's my post about the shawl and it contains a link to the pattern.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

crochet tutorial :: bow headband

I have a new crochet tutorial for this cute bow headband on my blog! Find it here.


Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Let’s Make a Gift of a Healing Blanket – Ravelry Group

Hello everyone I thought I’d just let you all know about this wonderful ravelry group. Working together all members use crochet energy and skills to produce gorgeous healing comforting blankets for people in times of need. The group is moderated by a lovely lady named Channelle and her ravelry username is goodbody.

Members will be required to send in at least one 5” x 5” Granny or knitted square a month. You can send in more if you like. A healing blanket will be made from all of the squares that members send in and made with love. At least one blanket a month will be made and sent to a person who our group members feel needs it the most. Group members can nominate family members or friends who are ill or in need of healing. How special would it be to have a blanket made from all over the world…

To join the group click here.

If you’re not already a member of ravelry click here to join.

Jim's Blanket

Ronnie's Blanket

Thomas's Blanket

Carol’s Blanket

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!


One of my favorite holidays is Halloween.  I was recently involved in a Halloween swap on Ravelry and couldn't share this until after my swap partner received what I had made for her.  
I frequent the Lily Sugar'n Cream website for patterns, since I love to crochet quick and easy projects for swaps.  I found these awesome patterns on the website and made them for my swap partner...

Bat Dishcloth by Lily / Sugar'n Cream

Ghost Dishcloth by Lily / Sugar'n Cream

Skull Trick or Treat Bag by Lily / Sugar'n Cream
I filled the Skull Treat Bag full of goodies and sent it overseas to my swap partner in Somerset, England. 
I chose not to put eyes and mouth on the bat as indicated in the original pattern.  I just didn't care for them, and figured they'd be problematic if using the bat as a dishcloth anyways.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Bright Stripes Cowl

I crocheted this cowl using puff stitch, the thickness of the stitch gave the cowl a lot of body. The yarns are all cotton and really soft. If anyone has any favorite patterns that use puff stitch, I'd love to hear about them --- I'm totally addicted to it!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Remember this pic?

Hello to you all!

Do you remember this pic??
Well... now look closer...
It's the same sweet feet I show you months ago...
Now our baby boy is here and we and big sis are enjoying this new adventure...

We are a happy family...

Hugs and Kisses from Chile.

Pam

Saturday, October 23, 2010

My 1st Anniversary Give Away

Hi All,
I hope you don't mind me mentioning my 1st give away which is an e book PDF format  with instructions for Irish Crochet projects. I thought it would be appropriate to call by and mention it in on For the Love of Crochet Along.  Please follow the above link (Which I hope will work as I haven't done this before) Happy crocheting
Jayne

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Red & Mint

I was trying to come up with an idea for using red & mint colored yarns in a project and came up with these hot pads... the strawberry was a must!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

puff stitch

I've been totally obsessed with crocheting in puff stitch lately! I found this great tutorial for making little modular flowers with it!


They are perfect for coasters & trivets, but I think they'd work well for a variety of projects.


Thursday, October 14, 2010

BABY AFGHAN

My niece is having twins in December. So I have been making baby afghans. I got one done and am about half way through the second one. I found this fast and easy pattern over at about.com

Are we still on?

Just a quick note from a worried administrator... are we still visible? Have I turned something off, can people still post, send comments???? Just kind of weird for me not to get an email telling me if someones posted or left a comment after 2 weeks. Maybe I have offended????

is there anyone out there????????????

Sunday, October 3, 2010

An Oldie!



I was looking through some old photos and came across some photos of a neck warmer I made a few years ago. I must of been planing to blog about it but never did. I can't remember where I got the pattern for it but it is so nice at toasty warm. I made it in Berlin to help with the freezing winter. I found I could never quite warm my chest area even when wearing coats, this helped! It has this ribbed look by crocheting a row of sc and then dc and tr in the back loops. People at work thought it was knitted!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Hearts!














Do you love hearts? Well, I do and I've made a lot of them recently. The pattern of these hearts can be found on my blog.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

TROUBLE TROUBLE TROUBLE!

Hi everyone I know it's been a while since I've last posted anywhere but I am having trouble with doing so. I can't seem to load pictures up. I hate the new system for loading pics it just wont work for photos I want to download from my computer. Is anyone else having the same problem? I already made the files nice and small so I don't know what the problem is.
Will be very greatful to get any help with this!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

movie & popcorn blanket

the perfect size for curling up on the couch...

Sunday, September 12, 2010

International Crochet Day 2010 – Scarf, Shawl, Kerchief Pattern.

204-0479_IMG

204-0477_IMG

Happy International Crochet Day, 2010. To celebrate I thought I’d create a pattern for crocheter’s around the world. This is a quick and easy project which you can scale up for a big shawl or scale down for a head scarf. Wear it any which way you like, enjoy :-)

Free Pattern.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

My first Granny Stripe Blanket

I have not posted for a while a I have been making my first Granny Stripe Blanket from the tutorial over at Attic24.


What started off as just a little sample grew into a blanket that will nearly cover a double bed and will do once I have added to it. I did cast off and called it done but after thinking about it for a week I decided to add more rows so that it would fit our bed for the winter.
I have more pictures here
www,indigo-blue-designs.blogspot.com
Pop over and take a look.
xx

Thursday, September 9, 2010

International Crochet Day – September 12th, 2010

As many of you will be aware it’s International Crochet Day on Sunday, so I was wondering what everyone was doing to celebrate or promote crochet.

I will no doubt be eating, sleeping and breathing crochet. I will be blogging, pattern writing, and even crocheting. Why not pop along to the International Freeform Crochet group and have a look at this years exhibition.

SIMW-LOGOClick here to view the online exhibition.  

I will probably be making and hanging more ribbons on The Crochet Clootie Tree.

204-0442_IMGTo learn more about this project click here. 

Anyway I would love to know what you all are doing are you busy crafting for Christmas yet? Leave a comment and let us know what your working on. If you are a fellow blogger then please do blog about International Crochet Day 2010 and spread the word.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Upcycled granny square coasters

These little granny square coasters are part of an attempt to try and make use of old unwanted items like some old duvet covers that I have gathering dust at the back of one of my cupboards.

Originally I had wanted to turn this blue and white striped double duvet cover into a lovely crocheted rag rug for which I've seen a few lovely project photos of in some of my craft books. This project seemed to be doomed to failure though as my original hope to make a circular mat wouldn't stay flat and then when I realised just how long it would take to cut up a whole double duvet cover and then try to crochet it was just too big a time commitment.


So while looking at the bag containing the failed rag rug I came up with the bright idea to try and make coasters instead. Crocheting with fabric gives you a lovely thick material which seems well suited to making hard wearing rugs and so I thought it would also make good chunky coasters. These are just very simple granny squares which after only the first two rows were finished. The downsides to working with fabric scraps though is that it is very hard on your hands as well as being very slow to crochet up, each of these coasters took me about an hour to complete!

To the right you can see the original attempt at a rag rug being used by my little boy... seeing as I had wanted to make it square and it was about a metre long I would have still been doing it this time next year if I had continued with it. Maybe next time I want to try and make a rag rug I'll have a go with the plaited method instead.

Pretty Magenta Kerchief Crochet Pattern

204-0446_IMG

More details here.

204-0444_IMG

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

dreaming of Babette




Almost exactly a year ago I discovered the Babette Blanket. Well known for all of you I am afraid, but Babette was new to me. And wow, did I like her !!!

I started dreaming. But kept postponing starting with her. I just started crocheting again and was a bit overwhelmed by the size of the project. And I was collecting dreams, so many creations I actually liked to create someday.

But, end of January, I started. But also worked on other creations (like finishing blankets for my girls, poncho's for the girls, a babyblanket for my friend and, hey why not, lots of flowery hexagons for a bag for myself.

And I was surprised by Crochet Inside. The magazine published a picture of my Babette-squares in the last issue (only too bad they didn't mention my name, but I know that those really are my squares!). It was so much fun to actually see my picture in the magazine!!!


I have been making progress and right now all squares are finished: 125 squares, small and big ones. All different. In 17 different colours.

Next is joining all 125 squares. But not before the puzzle of where every square belongs is done. That took quite some time.
So, these days, in my spare free hours, I am joining squares (and weaving in loose ends, for I do not like to finish al those hundreds of ends when Babette is almost ready!).

I hope to show the result soon!!




Last but not least a short introduction of myself: my name is Isolde, 38 years young, married with 2 girls (4&8), living in Holland. May be you like to stop by sometime at my blog (www.everydaylife-isolde.blogspot.com)!

Blithedale Scarf

I just finished this scarf yesterday... I'm obsessed with this color combination! Charcoal, light gray, aqua, & turquoise.