Showing posts with label wedding present. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wedding present. Show all posts

Monday, January 14, 2019

A Bad Case of the Doldrums

For whatever reason, I've been dealing with a rather long period of the "blahs". It's not often I get this way and usually after a couple weeks I snap out of it, but this time it's lingering. This is how I felt by Christmas, and I ended up spending most of that day in and out of sleep on the couch. 



Perhaps part of it is because SoCal has been getting a lot of rain lately (our winter), and rain always makes me want to curl up under some blankets and just watch tv or read a good book.

Anyway, I have been making a valiant effort. Since my YS took his paper Christmas tree present with him when he moved out, I began a crochet tree to replace it. I've written down the pattern for future reference, I'm almost done with the crocheting part, I have a pretty filigree star to go on the top, and I bought lovely gold pearls to decorate the tree with - and then I ran out of steam. So it is currently sitting on top of my entertainment unit, mocking me every chance it gets. Plus I'm still working on my Nest Stitch Shawl.

Then I decided that I should make something out of the two skeins of Mandala Sparkle that I couldn't resist picking up. I can't tell you any more at this point, because I'm hoping this will be a present - sorry, you'll have to wait. But now I've gotten bored with this one too.

I've been told that two more women of the family are pregnant and due in June and July. I bought a wonderful pattern from Kate Wagstaff called the Queen of Hearts Afghan (paid pattern here), which I think would make a great wedding/baby shower present. I plan on using Caron Simply Soft in white for the base, and blue mint, blackberry (a pink), limelight (a green), and persimmon (an orange) for alternating heart colors to give to the 1st-timer due in June. The woman who's due in July already has two girls, so I'm not sure if we'll be having a shower for her yet, but I'll make something for her anyway.

Queen of Hearts Afghan By Kate Wagstaff

I know this is rather late, but I hope that all of you had a wonderful New Year's. I won't be doing a "resolutions" post this year. The fact is that my resolutions are still the same - keep using my yarn stash (ok, I'm trying!), post three times a month, make my quilt afghan, and create my butterfly box. I did use some of my stash last year, but I was very bad and bought more yarn. I did finish the Martha Stewart fabric balls craft AND I finally finished organizing my bedroom/craft room - Yeah, two off the list! And of course there's always the loose 10+ pounds, eat right, exercise more, and establish world peace. Maybe I'm just dragging my heels because if I actually finish the resolutions I'd have to come up with more (although the last one might take a while...).

Till next time, happy crocheting!





Wednesday, November 1, 2017

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!