Crochet Projects Produced in 2011

2011

The blizzard in February had me stymied. As you can see from the pics, to uncover my car would take herculean strength and effort. Both of which I am amiss. Thank God an angel of mercy was provided in the nature of my upstairs neighbor, Tony. With a smile on his face and snowbrush and shovel in hand, my car was cleared. To show my appreciation, I crocheted this scarf. A million thanks Tony!

Various Items of Clothing

A bathrobe made for my great-nephew. I'd made robes for all of the grandnieces so naturally I couldn't ignore my precious wee boy. Given with much love sweetheart.

This my first attempt at designing and creating a sweater jacket for myself. It has a one-button closure at the top.

I was dying to find a project for my hot pink and sexy yarn. I found this pattern for a v-neck tank top for me. Fitting the skirt to the bodice was a challenge. Consequently, the pattern was altered slightly. I am extremely happy with the comfort of wear.

A skirt made for my nephew's love. Her daughters were made skirts last year. This was mom's turn this year. I hope she enjoys the wear.

I was really happy with the out turn of this vest made for my eldest grandniece. I had to improvise the closure for the pattern was not clear at the end. I think I will try to adjust the pattern to fit plus sizes so that I can have one too.



Babies, Babies, Babies!!!!

Did it seem like their was an explosion of births last year? My family, friends and neighbors were blessed with the sweet additions to their families. This gave me the opportunity to practice making baby items. Below you see the results of my effortsl I really enjoyed the tiny footwear. Aren't the little sandals adorable?

For the bedroom

The majority of this year was the design and creation of this king-sized blanket for a relative. It was a real challenge for I was totally unfamiliar with crocheting letters. Finding the right letters template and calculating the size, spacing, etc. was a fun experience. I was quite satisfied with the end result. Now, if only I'd learn to take better pictures, lol. Though not clearly evident, the entire project is bordered in white.

Happy New Year!

2011 was quite an interesting year. I read about 300 books! I had a wonderful time reliving some books previously read via audiobooks. Some narrators truly enhanced the experience. I've been enjoying J.D. Robb's "in Death" series as well as the the "Merry Gentry" & "Anita Blake" series written by Laurell K. Hamilton. There were new paranormal experiences via the following authors: Lara Adrian, Ellen Schreiber, Ilona Andrews, Katie MacAlister and others. In the romance genre Debbie Macomber, Lynsay Sands, Nora Roberts and Susan Mallery to name a few kept me quite entertained. As for authors that made me laugh aloud a few times, I can recommend the following: Jeff Lindsay's Dexter series; Victoria Dahl's Tumble Creek series; the Accidental series by Dakota Cassidy and a few books written by Carl Hiassen, particularly, "Double Whammy." Though I enjoyed meeting via their works, many new authors in 2011, my top three were: Stieg Larrson, George Pelecanos and Victoria Dahl. If you love to read, I hope you'll give some of these author's a whirl. In this new year, I will make a better effort to keep you apprised of my reading enjoyments and/or discoveries monthly. Until next month...happy reading!

My first male sweater!

As many of you may know, I've been learning to crochet. I've been at it for almost 5 years now. I've been working on tops over the past year. I was determined to make my brother a sweater for Christmas. Though I had to "frog" the project several times, I finally finished it in time for the holidays. It is my first attempt at a cable sweater. I hope the details show up. It really is a pretty sweater.

Books read and enjoyed in January

This was a very productive month for me. I read and enjoyed several books this month. I finally started the Night House series written by Kristin & P.C. Cast. This mother daughter team has a new fan in me. I would place the books in the Young Adult genre. I can foresee many teens enjoying this series. I highly recommend it. The books I've read in the series so far are: Marked, Betrayed and Chosen. These are the first three books in the series.

There were some novels I read this month that truly had me chuckling. They were written by Molly Harper, who is a new author for me. Her books read this month were: Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men and Nice Girls Don't Live Longer. The genre would be paranormal. It had humor and romance. I would recommend this series for delightful, entertaining, light reading.

Sherrilyn Kenyon is an old friend of mine. She started an off-shoot series from her Dark Hunter series with: Infinity: The Chronicles of Nick. I love all of the men of the Dark Hunter series. If you haven't read her books yet, get started. You won't be disappointed. Go to her website to get the correct reading order. I can't wait until the next in the series is published.

Someone in one of my book groups recommended Carl Hiaasen. The first book I read was Double Whammy. At first I didn't think I was going to finish this novel for I have absolutely no interest in fishing. However, the author's witty style soon captured my interest with the weaving of a humorous tale, eccentric characters and societal issues. The other book of his I had to read, Stormy Weather, made me realize this may be a series for I was reacquainted with an eccentric character, Skink, from the previously read novel. The genre would be contemporary fiction.

Some others read this month were: Mary Janice Davidson's Undead and... series; Rachel Vincent's My Soul to Take (This was an advent venture for me into the world of banshees.); Jeff Lindsay's Dearly Devoted Dexter which is a series based on a sociopathic serial killer. It really is quite an amusing series.; Jeffery Deaver's, The Vanished Man; Nancy Martin's, Whirlwind; Kathy Reichs', Spider Bones; Lee Child's, The Persuader; and an old reliable author, Nora Robert's, First Impressions.

In all 27 books were read and enjoyed thanks to my introduction to audio books, lol. Hope you try some of these. Let me know how you enjoyed them. Until next month...

2010 Projects

Though I've been remiss in updating this site, I have been having fun learning new things. Thanks to patterns provided in Suzetta's and Bella's Babies blogs, I was learning to crochet baby items. Suzetta had the cutest Jonquil Baby Vest, http://suzies-yarnie-stuff.blogspot.com/2010/04/jonquil-baby-vest.html I made mine in baby blue. The onesie was taken from Bella's Babies, http://bellabambinaknits.blogspot.com/2007/04/onsie-for-babies.html This was such a fun and easy pattern. I think I'll pair it with the vest for a baby gift. The white bib was made from 100% cotton yarn. The pattern used was from http://www.ramblinlady.com/babybib.htm

This year I also experimented in making tops. I used my sister and one of my grandnieces as the guinea pigs. The halter top in blue/white is from a lion brand pattern, "Light 'n' Lively Tank. I haven't seen her in it yet but it sure looked pretty on the hanger, lol. (My photo doesn't give it its proper due so check the website for a better image.) My sister's shell also came from the lion brand website, "Airy Lacy Shell." I made it using a cream colored cotton yarn.

Using the curly-sue skirt pattern as my guide, I crocheted 3 versions of the pattern for my youngest grandnieces. I modified the top/band because I had no elastic. So on one skirt, belt loops were attached on the others I created gaps in order to weave a belt through to use as a drawstring for size adjustment. I really had fun with this pattern and my girls loved the ruffles on the tail of the skirt. Here's her link: http://www.christinascrochethaven.me/girl_clothing/curly_sue_skirt.htm I made these skirts with navy, 100% acrylic yarn.

Fall Report

Fall was an extremely busy season for me. I've had fun trying new patterns and creating a few myself. If you see a hat or something you like, I get a lot of my patterns from: lionbrand.com, suzies-yarnie-stuff.blogspot.com, AnniesAttic, etc. There are also some newsletters that I read that offer wonderful free patterns. Check the sites out.

I had my first crochet show. It was truly a blast. Friends and family attended and we had a ball modeling the fashions for each other. It's always nice to have your work appreciated. Their enthusiasm and support motivates my creativity. I didn't remember to take pictures of my guests, but here are pics of some of the displays. I'll add my new creations in my next post. I plan to update on a regular basis. Don't forget to leave comments, suggestions or questions.

More of My Projects!