The Easter Project

If you read my previous post you already know that my Easter project for Joshua was not going well. However, thanks to some creative thinking and ambitious inklings the project was saved! I really loved the yarn I had bought because it was super soft, and I knew Joshua would want to cuddle with it. When we are at the store shopping for yarn he is always pulling it off the shelves or out of the cart to cuddle with it lol. Because the yarn was so thick and fluffy I was unable to continue with my original plan to make this bunny on the right...

However, I was able to come up with my own design. Yup! I created my very own piece with no pattern to guide me. I decided to make a bunny pillow with the yarn I bought, and it turned out great. Joshua was already cuddling with it today when I gave it to him. I finished it yesterday so it was just in time to give it to him for Easter. The only part that is not complete is I need to find a pillow to go inside, or cut some type of foam to fit inside. My original plan was to fill it with regular stuffing, but because I used double crochet stitches the stuffing could come out. That would not be good, so I will be doing some shopping to find something to finish it completely.

Here are some shots of the finished product. :)

 When I started I was writing down the pattern, but I soon grew tired of that and just kept stitching haha. If anyone would like to know the pattern I can probably give you a rough idea. :)

Change of Plans

The Easter project I chose for Joshua did not work out. The yarn I chose is really hard to see your stitches, and the instructions were very confusing. I didn't want to get rid of the yarn because it is so soft. I knew I could find something to use it for, but I really wanted to make Joshua an Easter gift. I finally thought of something and I am hoping it works out. So far it is going a lot better than the bunny did. Yay! I will give more info later, it is still a work in progress. :)

It is Finished!!!

Yay! I finally finished Nikki's shawl that I have been working on for a few weeks now. The shawl is called "Full Circle" and I got the pattern from my prayer shawl book that I posted about previously. The pictures of this shawl that are shown in the book really do not do it justice. Even the pictures I have taken do not show how pretty it is. Here are the book pictures to the right and below. They used a multi colored yarn which I could not find, so instead I used a dark green solid color yarn. What I did not know from looking at the picture was that the shawl is actually folded in half. That really confused me at the beginning because the instructions said you worked in a complete circle the entire time. However, I could not figure out how you would wear a circle as a shawl. DUH! Fold it in half and vuala you have a shawl lol.


I was really scared to make this shawl at first. It was 37 or so rows long and each row was different. The instructions stretched across 6 or so pages, and each row had about of paragraph of information. I told Nikki that I may or may not finish her shawl, but I would try. :)

Once I got started on the shawl I realized it may not be so bad. The rows were each different from the other, but it was usually only small changes made. Overall, the pattern was easy to follow, and I was able to watch my TV shows without messing up.

I did make one mistake that I had to rip out, and a few other small mistakes that no one will ever know but me MWAHAHAHAH!

The last 6 rows, especially the last 3 rows felt like they would never end. By then the rows were really long, and I was really ready to finish the shawl and give it to Nikki. Confession, part of me didn't want to give it away because it was so cool looking lol. I'll have to make one for myself one day.

Below are some pictures of the shawl. I wanted to get some shots of Nikki modeling it, but I forgot.  This mainly shows you the design, and detail. Enjoy!

 

These last two shots are the same, but with the flash on so you are able to see more of the detail in the shawl.

I would have posted all of this sooner, but blogger is really irritating when it comes to adding pictures to your post. I am thinking about looking at some other blog sites because this one is driving me a tad crazy. Any suggestions? As you can see the last two pictures show up on the left even though I have tried to center them. If I try to move them to the right they jump to the top of my post. It is very odd, and very frustrating.

About the Easter Project...

Well,

I bought a different kind of yarn than the one the instructions said to buy. I bought a bulky 5 soft baby yarn. I thought it would be perfect for a stuffed animal, and it will be. However, I can not see my stitches what so ever with this yarn lol. It's fury yarn, so the stitches just blend together.

I think I can still get it done, but I have to feel for the stitches, and it makes it a lot more difficult. :) Hopefully I can still finish in time for Easter lol

Found My Easter Project!

Cute Easter Bunny!

 I looked up free crochet patterns and found a nice site full of them! It is AllFreeCrochet.com so check it out if you are interested. I thought a cute Easter bunny would be doable by the 31st, and would be a good gift. I found this one at AllFreeCrochet.com and it was exactly what I was looking for. Once I finish the shawl for my future sister in law I will start this bunny. It is nice that there are so many places to get free patterns.

If you want the pattern you can find it here: Blue Bunny Pattern

I only have 5 more rows to complete on the shawl, so it is just a matter of finding the time to sit and get it done. I was able to work on it yesterday, but today has been quite busy.

Little Progress

I am slowly cracking away at my future sister in laws shawl. I have 5 more rows to complete and then I'm done Yay! I had made a mistake two rows back that needed to be corrected, so that put a hitch on my progress. I had to rip out the two rows and re-do them bleh. I hate doing that. I only do it if the mistake is noticeable, or if I catch it quick. This one resulted in a big hole in the shawl, so it was definitely noticeable haha. I got it fixed and then finished another two rows. I am excited to start an Easter project, but I am still looking for a good pattern. I think a stuffed bunny could be cute.

:)

Easter is coming, and current project.

I have been pretty busy with school the past few days. I have an economics exam this Friday, and an Accounting exam next Friday. I was able to find some time to crochet last night and am almost done making my (hopefully) future sister in law's shawl. I will be posting some pictures of her shawl later, but it's coming together a lot better than I expected. The pictures of this shawl really don't do it justice. In the book it looked nice, but I have had so much fun making it because it is just beautiful! The pattern really stands out from others.

On another note, EASTER IS COMING! I just realized that today haha. I want to try to make some fun Easter decorations, and projects for fun. I would love to make some kind of bunny hat or Eastery outfit for my son. I found some really cute bunny ears that someone sells on Etsy.com. Here is the link http://www.etsy.com/listing/97941468/6-to-12m-blue-baby-hat-crochet-bunny . I may try to make some of my own hehe. 

I was also looking into information about how to make money with crochet. I know I just started and still have a long way to go, but I know I love doing this. I really want to learn the process of making your own patterns, and market your ideas. The best way to be successful is to do what you love right?

I should be posting some more tonight, but may not depending on how long our movie is tonight. Brad and I are having a date night and seeing Jake the Giant Slayer. Hope its good!

Jen

Project #3

My third project was a shawl for my mom. We looked through my book and although she liked many of the shawls she decided to start with a simpler one (to my benefit) called "Feel Better". My plan is to make many more for her until she is sick of them. ;)

Here are the pictures of the shawl from the book. Now that I see the picture again I think I may have made my moms longer than it was supposed to be. 

Anyways, this shawl was really fun, and really easy to make. It was not easy at first though. I was determined to get this shawl right, and not have to improvise the way I did on my previous shawl. However, I had a lot of trouble with the first row. I would follow the directions and finish the row, but my stitch count was not what the book said it would be. I knew I was doing something wrong, but I could not figure out what it was. I was getting really frustrated after trying to figure it out for 1-2 hours. I called it quits, and decided to wait and figure it out the next day.

Well, the next day I was washing dishes and started thinking about what I could be doing wrong. I lie to you not, I asked God to help me figure it out and within a few minutes I realized that I was misinterpreting a certain part of the pattern description. I corrected that and what do you know I finally had the right stitch count! Finally! I was able to get going with the shawl. You may think God doesn't care about small projects like these, but you would be surprised. I know he helped my figure this one out.

I can't remember the exact amount of time I worked on this shawl. I think it was 1-2 weeks, but I know I did not get to work on it every night due to school and life... You know how that goes. I like to watch old English romances on Netflix while I crochet, so I probably went through about 5-6 episodes working on this shawl. That comes to 5-6 total hours. Either way, my point is that it really didn't take that long at all. I was surprised by how quickly it was finished, and how fun it was to make. I love the design, and my mom has really enjoyed wearing it.

Here are some shots of the final product!

Project #2

After I finally finished the afghan for my husband, I could not wait to get started on my next project. I had purchased a book called "Crochet Prayer Shawls". I was really excited about this book. It was slightly intimidating, but the patterns claimed to be easy so I gave it a shot.

My first shawl attempt was "The Wisdom of Prayer" shown of the right. I was hoping to get it done in time for my Brother's wedding on March 1st. 

I started on February 16th and finished the same week. It took me awhile to get started. I had to learn the double knot stitch, but thankfully the pattern tells you how it is done. It took a little trial and error before my stitch was right, and once I got it I was good to go until I got to the end. When I got to the end of the pattern I was a little disappointed. The instructions for the edging were extremely confusing. I tried and tried to figure out what I was supposed to do. Everything I did looked awful, and nothing like the picture in the book. Unfortunately, there is not a very good picture provided of the edging, so that made it more difficult. I always need pictures. The more pictures I have the happier I am. :) Finally, I got tired of ripping out stitched so I decided to create my own edging ha ha. I did a simple edging where I chained 5-6 and then joined the chain to the edge of the shawl with a single crochet stitch. It was not as pretty as the picture looks, but it's something only I can tell and I am happy with how it came out.

One day I plan to make this again and really take the time to figure out what I was doing wrong with the edging. Here are some pictures of the final product!

In this picture below you can see the edging I did. It's really simple, and helps give the shawl it's shape. When it's handing free it ruffles a little which is what I was going for.

 

At the wedding I got a lot of complements. One of the servers could not stop saying how much she liked it. She asked at first if my grandmother had made it for me, but when I told her no I made it myself she was pretty surprised. It seems like people tend to think crochet is something only elderly ladies do. If that's so I guess I am one of them cause I love it!

In The Beginning...

Throughout my life I have always enjoyed arts and crafts. Growing up I did a lot of drawing, painting and coloring. As I got into my teens I attempted crochet, but the book I had bought was not at all helpful and I quit promptly. I remember failing horribly at crocheting a simple chain stitch. In my early twenties I started learning to sew using a sewing machine. My best friend's mom Pat helped teach me and I really enjoyed that. I plan to continue it some more once I get my sewing machine fixed, and have a good place to sew again. I also picked up knitting a bit at the beginning of last year. I like knitting, but when I picked up crochet in December of last year I really found my nitch.

I had decided in December of 2012 that I wanted to try my hand at crochet again. I knew my previous encounter as a teen was disastrous, but I thought that maybe I would get the hang of it this time. I asked for Joanne Fabrics gift cards for Christmas so that I could begin my crochet journey. I was so excited to get started, and I wanted to make sure I did it right this time.

When I went to Joanne with my Christmas money I first looked at the books and DVDs that taught crochet. There are a lot... I flipped through the books to make check if they had step by step pictures, and one that told you want you needed in order to start. I was surprised to find that many did not tell you what to purchase in order to start learning. The book I decided on was "Learn to Crochet the Easy Way" by Jean Leinhauser. It looked a little out dated, but it was a good price, it contained the information I thought I needed, and it had some patterns to start off with. I purchased what it required, and the items I needed for my first project.

When I got home I could not wait to get started. The book recommended waiting for a 2 hour uninterrupted time slot to begin the lessons, so I waited until I got my son to bed. This time, I was able to get my chain going with much more ease than my first attempt. I learned the single crochet stitch, the double, half double, triple, and slip stitch. I also learned how to read patterns, and how to do some edging stitches. It only took me about two-three days to get through all of the lessons. Although, after I finished the lessons I found it hard to believe that this was enough information to get started. I knew there were many more crochet stitches, and I was afraid that I would not be able to complete a pattern. However I continued on to start my first project.


My first real project was a Granny Ripple Afghan. I do not recommend starting off with such a large project ha ha. I started in December and did not finish until the end of January. It is a great little afghan, but I took quite a while to finish it because I was getting bored. It was the same stitch over and over again, and I felt like it was going to take forever. I was making the afghan for my husband Brad and he kept insisting I needed to make it bigger. He wanted it to cover him completely. Mind you, my husband is 6' 4" 180lbs. He wanted to be able to stretch his arms and legs out and still be completely covered. I laughed at him and told him I would go insane if I tried to make it that large. I promised that I would try to add on to it in the future though. Thankfully, it did not take forever and I was able to move on to other projects in February.

p.s. The picture of the entire afghan on the right looks a lot smaller than it is in person.




Well, that is the how my journey began. I will post again later to show my 2nd and 3rd projects which were both prayer shawls. They were a lot more fun to make, and turned out beautifully.

Thanks for reading!

Jen