One For The Boy

When he saw the crocheted Christmas blanket I made for my two sweet girls (who share digs far away in the big city), The Boy asked for a similar one of his very own. Since then, I've been slowly obliging him. The work is keeping me busy - and warm - during these long, cold winter evenings.

♥M

A Christmas Crochet Just-In-Time Finish

It's okay if I post it. The sweet recipients don't read this blog. They have no idea I'm talking about them in public behind their backs. They're clueless. And well they should be.

I made this movie-watching-cuddling-up-with-a-good-book-double-crochet-stripey couch-blanket for them. My hope was to make use of yarns I already had in the substantial yarn collection I inherited a few years ago. No purchases allowed. AT ALL.

Happily, I succeeded in my mission. But for that reason, the colour play is a little unconventional. And despite the pre-planning, I also had some serious doubt about whether or not the blanket would come together. At one point, I had to do some major restructuring which involved cutting out, with scissors yes, a series of heinous stripes from the middle. Thankfully, the blanket survived. And so did I.

But I'll explain the surgery in detail a little later. I'm still traumatized by it, I think.

The good news is, it's in one piece. And it is complete. Now I have a handmade gift for my loved ones. I'm happy about that. I hope they will be too.

♥M

P.S. Here's our family's absolute favourite couch-blanket (also crochet) which I made a while back.

Getting 'Er Done

Corking or spool knitting. Part of a proj I started... oh... probably 8 months ago now. The goal is to finish it, get some closure, tie up loose ends, follow through, see its backside. Know what I mean? Wouldn't that be gRRReat?... Oh yeah.

Okay. I'm doin' it.

♥M

2012: Year of the Epiphany

Hey there!

Hello stranger!

Happy New Year 2012 and a giant polar bear hug to you!

Do you know that I've just enjoyed the longest break in the history of this blog? Eleven days of silence.  Wow. Seems impossible doesn't it? But no, it's true. I've had a really lovely holiday. It's not quite over yet either. The boys don't go back to school/work until the 9th. But I wanted to check in here. To let you know that I'm still very much alive and alove. And to verify that the interwebs hadn't crumbled to smithereens during my absence.

Yep, nope. They're still here. Still going strong, just as I suspected.



So um... I had a small epiphany during my break don't you know.

Minor Epiphany: I CAN CROCHET. 

I don't know what it is, but sometimes I really lack confidence. Take crocheting for instance. I learned how to crochet sometime in the summer of 2010 just after starting this blog. Since then, I have made this, this, and these, among other things. Yet, for some reason I basically think I blow at it, which I've realized over the last few weeks is a bunch of hooey. I've had it up to here with that kind of negative attitude. Henceforth, I will be working on turning my crochet frown upside down. I CAN CROCHET! And BY GUM you will be seeing more crochet-type projects from me in the coming year!

That said, I'm declaring 2012 my year of the epiphany. I will be keeping my eyes peeled for moments of clarity and ideas that should probably be obvious to me but for some reason haven't managed to penetrate my tiny brain. And then I'll write about them here amongst the many and varied crafts.

Okay then...Well, you have a great evening now. I'll be back soon!

♥M

Note: The above photos are some of the crochet projects I've been playing with over the holidays using some of my yarn scraps. First, I made the lacy square. Secondly, I made some curtains to which I attached a pretty crocheted border, the first attempt of which I rejected. It was a bit much, I felt. The second iteration was just simpler. I like that.

Tutorial: A Yarn Painted Greeting Card

As you will soon discover (if you haven't already), I love making things using stuff I find around the house and in the recycling bin, one of my favourite places (especially since I cleaned it, yesterday). This project is no exception! A yarn painted card!

Let's get down to business. Here's what you'll need:

Take your sheet of card stock. Make it the size you want and then fold it down the middle. My card, when folded, measures 4"x 5". Small.

Take your mesh bag and cut a piece of mesh that is a bit larger than your card: about 1 inch wider in both length and width.

Now you can, on a separate sheet of paper, draw out a design, but I just jumped in and improvised to my heart's delight! Do whatever works for you.

I took my yarn needle and threaded in some yarn. And then I began weaving the yarn into the mesh.

I wove in a little yellow circle going in and out of the mesh in a spiral. Note that I don't worry about the ends. They just hang around in back and the mesh holds it all in place.

Um, time for another colour!

Oh. It's growing! I'm just filling up the mesh with colourful yarn.

And now I've filled the whole thing. Now, I have to admit that this is a time-consuming little project. Make sure you REALLY like the person your giving this card to. It took me about 2 hours to fill in this 4"x 5" space, so they should be WORTHY!

So now, I machine-sew the mesh to the card, roughly a 1/4" from the edge of the card and all the way around.

This is what it looks like from the front so far.

See the white machine stitching there...

Now trim the edges of the yarn-painted mesh just past the edge of the card.

So it looks like this. Now you'll notice that the yarn at the top and bottom of the card is just sort of hanging there. What I do to rectify this situation is to run a thick bead of craft glue at both the top and bottom of the painting...

...Like so...And that holds everything in place quite nicely.

Let the card dry on a plate.

And voilà! A yarn-painted card for someone you LOVE!

Today I'm linking here: Favorite Things Friday at A Few of my Favorite Things, Look at Me I'm so Crafty at Fun to Craft and Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous.