Little Bag

Monday I was given a gift of a day off of work.  I was so excited.  I had already done a ton of housework so I decided to have some fun.  Sara at Tangled Happy had recently posted her directions for this very cute, little crochet bag.  She made some for her daughters, with the most amazing flowers on them.  If I was a little girl, and Sara was my Mother, I would be thrilled to get one of these!  As it is I am a big girl and I still love them.  This was a very quick project and I just had so much fun making it in one day.  I used some yarn left over from the crochet baby blankets I made earlier this year.  This is my 20th completed project of 2011.  I think I needed a break from the long winded, crochet sweater, and knitted dress I am making.  A fun, quick, project was just what the doctor ordered.  Please check out Sara's blog, she finds the most amazing projects with a link and the directions.  Tangled Happy is one of my favorite blogs, so go and give Sara a visit.  And make one of these cute bags, for a little girl, or yourself.  You won't be sorry.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.  Hope the sun is shinning, and Spring is well on the way to your home.

Happy Easter

From my blog to yours, wishing all my friends a Happy Easter.  And if you do not celebrate Easter I wish you a very Happy Sunday. 

Crochet Sweater

 I want to introduce you to one of my new books. Blueprint Crochet modern Designs for the Visual Crocheter, by Robyn Chachula.  Believe me it is a beautiful book, which is not indicated by my very grainy picture above.  This book was purchase at my local Barnes and Noble, and is published by Interweave Press.  Robyn Chachula is a genius.  In many of her projects she has a motif that she recreates and connects to make a beautiful sweater, or belt, or scarf.  As you know I am not as comfortable with crochet as I am with knitting.  But this book has very clear cut instructions, and beautiful patterns using symbols which are very easy to understand.  Believe me if I can understand it so can you.

 This lovely sweater above is my first project from this book.  I am hoping my crochet skills will do this sweater justice, and I hope I look like the beautiful model when I am done with my sweater.  I could use some beautiful dark, long hair and a chest, both of which I do not have.

 The photo above is how this sweater is put together,  So simple, yet so beautiful.  I have made a  little adaptation, as I am long waisted I am making it a full square longer, so easy to adjust the pattern.  It would be easy to make it 3/4 sleeve length, or even no sleeves at all.  I love how simply the instructions are laid out, and the graphs of the motifs are very, very, easy to understand.  I know I keep repeating myself but I am so excited that I am actually making a crochet sweater, and that it is so easy to do.

 This is where I am currently at with the pattern.  I am using Aslan Trends Royal Alpaca in color ROY 6472, purchased at my local yarn store, Uncommon Threads in Palm Harbor, Fl.

 This yarn is so beautiful to work with, so soft, and lovely.  My wrists are only permitting me to do about two motifs a night, which is seriously hindering my progress.  I hope you check out this book, I don't think you will be disappointed.   And remember I am not blog savvy enough to be reviewing this book for any other reason then, I just love it.

And to end my post, beautiful gardenias from my garden.  I wish you could smell them, they are glorious.  I think Heaven is made up of beautiful lilacs and gardenias, with all the yarn you could ever want. Oh, and wrists that cooperate all the time, and never give you trouble.

 By the way Barb over at Sheep Gal is having a give away of 4 skeins of her beautiful Cormo Silk Alpaca in the colorway of Bluebird.  Please click on the link and go and give her a visit.  She has the most amazing blog , you will love her farm, sheep, and her amazing yarn. 

Have a wonderful day.

This and That

 Happy Saturday everyone!  I wanted to show you a picture of my early Mother's Day and Birthday present.  A new bike.  I just love it.  It is a big, heavy, three speed. 

 It has this very fun basket I can carry all my knitting and crocheting in.  I filled it with knitting magazines and delivered them to my friend Cathy's house on my first ride.

 And look at this, it has a bell!!!!  My oldest son thinks I look a, "bit like a loser" on it, but I just think he is jealous.  Because it is purple, cute and it moves slowly.  When I ride it time slows down, and that is something I love.  I had forgotten how much you notice when you are on a bike just riding for the fun of riding, not racing or exercising, just riding.  Yesterday, I saw a blue heron catch a fish, a hawk on a lamp post, and an older man pull his car over to rescue a turtle.  I saw the beautiful green leaves against a brilliant blue sky, and two squirrels running around playing with each other.  I plan to get in some nice  rides before it gets way too hot and humid here.

I just finished the most wonderful book and I would like to recommend it to all of you.  It is called A Gift of an Ordinary Day, by Katrina Kenison.  It is available through Amazon.  This is a true story of a wonderful woman with two teenage boys, (this I can relate to), transitioning into her midlife.  Watching these boys getting ready to leave her, and questioning who she is now that they are growing up.  This isn't a book for  mothers only, we all are transitioning through the stages of our lives.  Change is happening all the time, and I think that Katrina Kenison helps to find the beauty, peace and gratitude in the every day aspects of our lives.  For some reason this book is staying with me even after I have finished it several days ago.  That tells me that it really hits home, so read it if you can, you won't be disappointed.  See what not knitting or crocheting is doing to me, it is making me read and now write up a little book recommendation.

Thanks for all your kind thoughts on my oldest son, and on my wrists.   He has decided to join the swim team where his high school coach is.  She is a wonderful woman and frankly kicked his butt in practice last week.  He is sore, tired, and happy that the decision has been made.  He seems lighter, if that is possible for a brooding 17 year old.  We won't be spending 3 hours in the car a day to get to Sarasota, so that is a huge relief to me.  I know this sounds bad and I don't mean it to, but I think a woman will help to heal him.  Men, bless them, just don't get it most of the time.  A woman does, and she will try to help heal him on every level, then he can move on, and believe in himself again.  As for my wrists we are making progress.  No tingling today, but also no knitting or crochet.  I am giving it a few more days before I start back slowly.  Surgery is not an option yet.  I need my hands to work with the babies I have, they need help more than I do.

My oldest also let me pick up his very lovely girlfriend and bring her to a swim meet this morning.  This must be serious as I had to be in the car with her for 45 minutes, alone.  She is adorable, and they are just so sweet looking at each other, chatting, and laughing.  He is in Heaven, and it appears she might be, too.

And look what I found today in my garden.  The first gardenia of the year.  I promise I won't go all gardenia crazy on you this year.  But remember they are my favorite flower, and I have 6 bushes of them, and I look forward to this time of year when they bloom, and my house is filled with their beautiful scent.  So I might go a little crazy.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Problem

 First, let me thank all for all of your very lovely comments about my grey alpaca flower shawl.  I am always so thankful for all the wonderful people who take the time to comment on my blog.  I feel blessed to have each and everyone of you in my blog life, and I want you to know that you are appreciated.

Now for my problem.  My hand and wrists are not cooperating.  I have recently been feeling tingling in my fingers, and I absolutely know why.  I have been giving myself carpal tunnel syndrome from too much time with a crochet hook or knitting needles. 

Maybe I should have said that I am reactivating the carpal tunnel syndrome I have had on and off for years.  I am pretty ticked off because this is getting in the way of some serious yarn time.  About 13 years ago my Mother had a breast cancer scare.  I flew up to be with my parents as my Mom underwent a mastectomy.  She was cancer free after this and remains so to this day.  But I was a wreck at the time, first I was worried about my parents.  And it was the first time I was away from my kids, who were pretty little at the time.  So what did I do?  I knit like a crazy woman.  I knit on the plane trips and layovers.  I knit on the 1 1/2 hour ride to the hospital and home, everyday.  I knit while waiting at the hospital, and when I got home.  And I gave myself some serious wrist and hand pain.  When I got home I couldn't even pick up my youngest who was 2 1/2 at the time.  Now being an Occupational Therapist I should have known better, but it was a stress reliever and I just couldn't stop.

On and off since that time I have felt a tingle here and there until about 3 years ago.  I was finishing a whole bunch of knitted shawls for Christmas presents.  I loved the simple drop stitch pattern, and of course with my obsessive personality, had to make a million of them.  I had time constraints to get things wrapped and shipped on time, so you guessed it, I did it to myself again.  This time along with numbness, I had sharp pains  into my thumbs on both hands.  I couldn't even touch my thumb to my fingers without wanting to scream.  

So I find myself again seeing the all too familiar signs heading my way.  I am not happy.  Knitting and crocheting are such a big part of my life that I am not quite sure what to do with myself when I can't do them.  I am trying to be a big girl and rest my hands and wrists, but it is so hard.  I can't watch TV without a project in my hands.  It is baseball season and the Rays aren't doing so hot, so at least I don't feel like I am waisting  my time watching them if I am doing something constructive at the same time.  I tried playing with my ipad, and I have been reading a bit more, but I have to tell you I am not a happy camper.

 My wrists and fingers are getting in the way of me trying to figure out how to make my first crochet sweater.  It is a wrap sweater that I had the gauge with initially, but seem to be stitching a lot tighter now.  I will have to work that out.

My wrists and fingers are getting in the way of me working on the knitted dress.  It is my car project and even though the work has been slow, I still can't do anything on it for the time being. 

Obviously I know with all the issues in the world, my wrists and hands are not all that important.  But working with yarn makes me who I am.  And right now I feel a little off kilter.  What do you do when you can't work with yarn, or scrapbook, sew, etc.? 

Flower Shawl Number 2

 Well what do you think?  My second flower shawl is complete.  I made the centers from solid baby alpaca and the petals from Casscade Echo Duo.  Evey flower was made exactly the same, but because the Casscade yarn has some variegation, it changes the color of the petals.  I think this adds some depth to the flowers.

This shawl was a  much faster project to make then the cotton flower shawl.  First I used a  J hook instead of an H.  I doubled up the yarn for the first three rounds, and added an extra round to the flower.  All of this made for bigger flowers which means only 42 flowers had to be made instead of 50.

I am in love with the feel of this shawl, and I just want to wrap myself in it even though I am in shorts and it is almost 85 degrees outside today.

I am still trudging away on my knitted dress and yes, you guessed it I have started a  new crochet project.  You can hear all about that later.

Before I go I just want to say a special, "Hi" to my wonderful sisters-in-law, Barb, Dee and Nancy who are visiting my blog.  I love you all and am very lucky to have you in my life.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and find some time to do the things you love.

My First Blanket

 When I was 8 years old my Grandmother taught me how to crochet.  My Grandfather had recently passed away so my sister and I were staying with my Grandmother to help her with the transition.  I'm not sure two little girls were a big help, but at least we were a distraction.  My Grandmother was always crocheting and quilting.  By the time I came around crochet was her favorite hobby.   

 So I learned how to crochet by making my beloved rabbit Peter, a blanket.  I loved Peter so much growing up.  You can see that I loved the fur, and ears right off of him.  No one deserved a blanket more than Peter.

 I remember how patient my Grandmother was with me.  We looked through her scrap yarn and found all these wonderful acrylic yarns, (just joking here).  I think that acrylic from the local variety store, is all they really had in those days.  My color combining skills may have not quite emerged yet.  My Grandmother made all of us blankets.  I had a orange, avocado and cream colored blanket for my bed.  She made me a brown and cream colored blanket for when I got older, I still have that blanket in a closet.

 I didn't crochet again after I made this blanket for Peter, until I was an adult with my own kids.  My sister Claudia taught me, well she actually taught me twice because I couldn't remember after the first time.  I turned to knitting in early adulthood, and really never even thought about crochet until just a couple of years ago.  I wish my Grandmother could see me now.  I never understood her love of creating something with her own hands, and surrounding herself with yarn.  I wish she could see all the wonderful creative yarns available now, and all the amazing things that people create with a hook, or  two needles and some yarn.  I have taught many, many people to knit, and even a few to crochet.  I am so blessed that someone took the time to teach me, what would eventually be a life long love and passion.

Flower How-To Number 2, Part 2

 What could I possibly have left to say about flowers you ask?  A ton.  This is where we left off in my last post.  Did you make a flower?  If so I would love to see it.

 With a few small adjustments you can change a flower very easily.  Lets talk about the flower above.  You already know how to make the first flower, I Promise I won't go into as much detail about this one.

This flower started off with the exact same 12 dc separated by one chain stitch center.  The second round was the same as the first, but I separated the dc's with a chain of 2, to create a little more space.

If you look closely on round 3 (the light blue yarn), I made a series of 3 stitch bobbles.  They are easy to make, just follow the same directions, but add another stitch before you pull through all the remaining loops.  You will have more loops as you have more stitches. 

The dark blue round is exactly the same as the first flower but I made a chain 7, instead of a chain 5.  I changed the petal colors so you can see the difference.  I like it both ways, but this is a  personal choice.

In the final round I had a bit of fun.  I started out in the V area with a chain 1, remember where that is?  Then I made 1 sc, 1 half double crochet (hdc), 3 dc's, a chain 1 , and 3 dc's, a hdc, and sc.  All of these are in the chain 7 area.  What I was attempting to do was change the shape of the petal a little bit.

These are the two versions side by side.  Obviously the one on the right is going to be bigger as I had an extra round and longer petals.  

You can easily make an 8, 9, of 10 petal flower,  whatever you want.  To change the number of petals just start out with fewer dc's in your very first round.  If you are making a scarf you can make different size flowers, with different amounts of petals.  If you want a smaller flower, use thinner yarn with a smaller crochet hook.  Bigger, add more rounds, thicker yarn and use a larger hook.

The color combinations and variations are really endless.

Thanks for sharing all this flower fun with me.  I promise I won't keep going on, and  on, and on about flowers.  Have a wonderful flower filled day.



Flower How To Number 2

 This was the view out my garage yesterday at 11:00 in the morning.  It looked like this all day.  We had almost 4 inches of rain in one day.  So did I write up the eval I needed to?  Clean?  No way, I thought it was a great day for a tutorial.  So excuse the photos as they were taken at my kitchen table.  The lighting wasn't the best because of the doom and gloom outside.  Between huge cracks of thunder,  and winds that were crazy, I managed to crochet and take these pictures.  Before I go on, I just want to say this is my new interpretation of the flower that is out there everywhere in blog land.  My last How-To was referenced on a french blog and because I had no idea what they were saying about it, I felt a bit strange and removed it from my blog. I am sure someone out there in crochet land has come up with this exact same interpretation, if so I am sorry, I am not trying to steal your idea. This new How-To is a bit different, but looks like the original.  Hope I make sense and you enjoy it.

dc = double crochet, sc = single crochet

 Chain 6 and connect so you have a lovely little circle.  Now chain 4, the first 3 of these are going to count as your first dc, plus a chain one.  Now dc into this circle and chain one all the way around until you have 12 dc's separated by a chain 1, (remember the first chain 3 counts as a dc). Slip stitch into the first dc (chain 3).

 Does yours look like this?  This little pinwheel is the basis for lots and lots of patterns.  I give my original tail a little tug before I clip it.  It makes your circle a bit more snug. 

 Now chain 3 starting in the space that the chain one made in the previous round, this counts as your first dc.  dc into this same space and chain 2.  Now we are going to do a bit of a different stitch combination the rest of the way around your circle. 

 We are going to make a 2 stitch bobble.  Or bobble according to Meredith.  Hang with me, okay?  Yarn over and in the next space, put your hook in, yarn over and pull through.  You have 3 loops on your hook, yarn over and pull through 2.  You have 2 loops on your hook.

 Essentially you have done a partial dc.  Yarn over and put your hook through that exact same spot, yarn over and pull through, you should have 4 loops on your hook.

 Yarn over and pull through 2, then yarn over and pull through the 3 remaining loops.

 Does yours look like this?  Do you see how the stitches on the left have a bit of a slant to them?  You can actually see the three loops at the base of the hook.  Chain 2, and repeat this two stitch bobble all the way around the circle. Join with a slip stitch to your first cluster.

 Now for the next round.  In the space created by the chain 2 in the previous round, chain 3.  Make a dc into this same space.  Now chain 5, and make your 2 stitch bobble in this same space.  If you want to have a longer petal then you can chain 7.  I will show you a version of that tomorrow.

 Did you do okay?

 Immediately make another 2 stitch bobble, a chain 5, and 2 stitch bobble in the next chain 2 space.  There are no chains connecting you to the next space, which is very common in crochet.  Do you see the little needle pointing to the space between the clusters?  This is an inverted V shape area and is important because this is where you are going to start your next round.

 Complete the 2 stitch bobble, chain 5 and 2 stitch bobble in the same space all the way around your circle. Slip stitch into the first cluster. This is the round that sets up your petals.  You can make this  next round a different color for the tips of your petals, or make them the same depending on your preference.

 Make a chain one in the upside down V space.  This is where you will be making a sc to connect the petals when working around your circle.

 Make 4 dc's in the chain 5 space of the previous round, chain 2, and make 4 more dc's in this same space.  The chain 2 in the middle helps create a point  on the petal.  If you want a rounded petal chain 1, or don't make a chain at all.  When you are done with this petal, make a sc in the V area and then repeat the 4 dc's , chain 2, 4 dc's in the next chain 5 space, until you have crocheted all the way around your flower.  Slip stitch into the first V, where you started with a chain 1, and you are done!!!!!

How does yours look?  I would love to see your version.  In case the 2 stitch bobble is too confusing you can always just make 2 dc's.  I like the slant of the bobble and I think that it was more interesting for me to work with.  I think dc can be kind of boring after a while. More tomorrow.  Good luck!