Chain8Designs

In my last post I discussed my attempt at trying to be more organized with my blog posts by coming up with categories. When I can, I'd like to showcase a designer that I found while perusing the internet that I think is really good and that you will enjoy, if you aren't aware of her/him already. Today I would like to introduce you to Jennifer at Chain8Designs.


I belong to an email group called Bloglovin', where you can sign up to receive posts from blogs you wish to follow - and they usually throw in a few more they think you might like. This Magical Unicorn headband design showed up in my feed, so of course I had to find out about the designer.

She doesn't have a large assortment of designs (but then, neither do I!), but what she does have is wonderful. Jennifer also has Holiday Mouse and Festive Reindeer headbands, plus a fantastic Twitterpated Heart Beanie just in time for Valentines Day! And best of all - her patterns are free! So hurry and get over to see her work right now. You can also follow her on Instagram, facebook, and Pinterest. BTW, Jennifer's pinterest boards are terrific, so make sure to check those out too.

I hope you enjoy Jennifer's work as much as I do, and, as always - Happy Crocheting!

Happy New Year!

Yes, I know the title isn't exactly that original, but I do want to wish all of you a wondrous new year full of all good things - health, fortune, beautiful yarn, and of course crochet! Arthur wishes you a happy new year also, but he enjoyed much merriment and is now in the process of sleeping it off - as I'm sure a certain portion of America is doing, too!

Since my mom reads my blog - Hi Mom! - I couldn't post her Christmas present till now. When visiting last fall, I noticed that her lapghan had really seen better days and needed replacing. My mom has a TV room with olive-colored recliners and a neutral beige/brown couch, and since this room is where she usually uses the lapghan, I wanted to get colors that would coordinate. After returning, I found myself wandering in the yarn section of Walmart and I discovered Lion Brand's Mandala there, and at a great price too! I chose "Chimera", which is a beautiful blend of brown, teal, olive, yellow-olive, gold, orange, and fuschia. I used two skeins and mirror-imaged them. What I love the most about Mandala is that the colors are nicely hued - there, but not too bright - and it's a DK weight, which is fast becoming my favorite. I do wish that it was a little softer, but I guess we can't have everything. I wanted to make her lapghan out of a no-pill acrylic, but fell in love with the Mandala chimera colors - what can I say?

People have asked me about this stitch and I will be making a video to post to YouTube on how to do this. I need to come up with a name (the ones I thought of had been taken) - I think I'll call it the Diamond X Stitch. It's reversible, a little stretchy, and a little squishy.  Oh, yes - Mom loved the lapghan and she especially liked that it was light-weight - go DK yarn!

Wedding Afghan 2.0

I know I didn't post anything last month, but believe it or not, I have been busy! I spent 2 weeks visiting with my Mom at the end of September/beginning October,  as well as going to my nephew's wedding on 9/30. What a beautiful wedding! The reception was held at a gorgeous country club and the food was fantastic. And the bride was stunning - they make such a good-looking couple. It was truly a lovely day, and I was so happy I could share it with them.

As I hoped in a previous post (And Another One Bites the Dust), the 2.0 version of the wedding afghan was definitely an improvement over the first one I made here (sorry Nate and Chelsea, but it's true). I modified the "brick" sections slightly and I added the cable "ropes". I did stay with neutral colors, but anyone could certainly choose whatever colors they would want, maybe perfecting the ombre look I was going for. I used Michael's Colorwheel no-pill acrylic yarn and it was wonderful! I don't know their reasoning, but Michael's is discontinuing it - it's currently on clearance for 99 cents a skein. How sad.

Close up of a diamond panel with cable

I used a crab stitch (reverse single crochet) for the edge

Ta Da!!

 As I was doing the diamond panels I fell in love with the diamond lattice stitch, so I decided to try it out on another project (more on that later). It is so lovely and reversible! I found this stitch online from a video made by a very nice Russian woman; of course I can't find it now. The stitch isn't super complicated, just a little tricky to describe in words. Perhaps I should make a video? Anyway, the pattern is currently available in my Bonanza store, which you can find here. Check it out!