This week, I have been experimenting with crochet washcloths to see which ones I like best (making and using). The winner(s) will end up in my Etsy store, which is a major work in progress, just to warn you.
Here is what I have so far.
The back left is a simple double crochet with a single crochet border. The back right is a simple single crochet with a single crochet border. The blue and white one is, obviously, a granny square. And the one in front is a face washing pad, made with single crochet in a round.
I wanted to make gift boxes with soap and a crocheted wash cloth to sell for Mother’s Day, but I am not sure if I will get my act together in time.
In other news, I found this neat idea on Family Fun today: Chore Dice.
I am not sure I would ever use anything like that - the kids have set chores - but it looks like a fun idea, so I thought I would share it.
The die template could be used for a whole host of other things, too.
This was my first attempt at amigurumi. I made this bunny for Little E for Easter.
I found the small stitches to be kind of tough on my hands. My fingers ached when I was finished. Next time, I will have to take more breaks.
Little E loves it though!
We went to visit my parents-in-law for the weekend. I meant to post before I left, but things were pretty hectic.
Bob took Friday off, so we could have a long weekend.
It was great.
My father-in-law brought me to a local apiary to get some raw honey. The place is called Warm Colors Apiary.
I already have a jar of their Deerfield Wildflower honey, which I got for Christmas. This time, I got some of their Raspberry Blossom honey. It is so good!
I also bought a 1 oz. brick of beeswax to make my own lip balm.
I found many recipes for beeswax lip balm on the internet, but I wanted to use things I had on hand. And I wanted one that contained honey.
I ended up using a variation of this lip balm recipe from Martha Stewart.
I used equal parts olive oil and bees wax, not the ratio in the recipe. Also, I omitted the essential oil because I liked the delicious honey flavor!
I did add a few drops of orange oil before pouring the final container of balm. That was yummy, too!
I had these empty lip balm containers from some Strawberry Shortcake lip gloss that my mom gave me at Christmas. I didn’t like it because it was too chemically, so I washed the gloss out and used the containers for my own lip balm.
I made this one for my sister, who visited us yesterday.
I had an old skein of white Caron Simply Soft yarn in my yarn box and I couldn’t remember what I bought it for. So, I decided to make a hat.
I used this pattern from the Caron website. (I think you need to register to see it.)
The pattern uses a yarn that is discontinued. I substituted the yarn I had, using the hook size in the pattern. Since it is a more delicate yarn, it is more open than the picture in the pattern, but I like it.
It did come out a little short, so I had to repeat the last two rows twice each (rnd 10, rnd 9, rnd 10, rnd 9 - the pattern ends with repeating rnd 9.)
Here is out it turned out.
A while back, a favorite wool sweater of mine was accidentally put in the dryer.
For some reason, I kept it. Probably because it was so pretty and purple. And I guess I thought I might be an 8-year-old again.
Well, I am glad I did. I found this craft on Martha Stewart that shows you how to make mittens from a felted wool sweater.
After I washed the sweater in hot water and ran it through the dryer again, I had a nice piece of felted wool to use for mittens or whatever else I wanted.
Now, I have the warmest pair of purple mittens!
Someone in the comments of that project said the sweater needs to be 100% wool. Not true! Mine was 10% something else. I cannot remember what, though.
I will post a picture later tonight. Right now, I have pancakes on the stove!
I recently started crocheting again.
I used to crochet, but the projects just took too long. I didn’t have the patience, I guess.
Then I decided to try crocheting with bigger hooks and/or open patterns, which cuts down on time.
I am addicted.
I will post some projects soon, and a couple of crochet book reviews.
Speaking of which, I also have another book review to post of a youth non-fiction book that I was sent eons ago.
In the meantime, I have a blanket to finish before a baby is born.
I saw a lovely piece of crochet lace and decided to look into how it was made. I discovered that particular style is called “filet crochet.”
It turns out that it is rather simple to do and, best of all, inexpensive.
I had $6 left on the Michael’s gift card that my parents-in-law gave me for Christmas, and I was able to buy every thing I needed to get started with that.
The Beginner’s Guide to Filet Crochet was $3.50, but I used a 40%-off coupon, so it was only $2.10. The string was only $1.99, as was the steel hook. Total cost: $6.08 + tax. (Okay, so I had to chip in a bit.)
There is enough string there to make a few practice pieces and a complete project.
And the only expense for future projects will be the string.
Not bad!
Here is my first practice piece. It is not crooked, that is the angle of the couch cushion that it is on. It actually came out pretty well for my first try.
I have had that song in my head all day, since we made our little Love Shacks.
We used graham crackers, royal icing, and lots of candies.
(To make royal icing without the hassle of raw eggs, try meringue powder. I used Wilton, which I bought at Michael’s craft store in the cake decorating aisle.)
You can cut triangles to close the front and back of the roofs, but I was not feeling well, so I took the shortcut way. No one seemed to mind that our roofs were open.
With out further fanfare, here are our houses.
That is Big E’s in the front. He is the artist in that family. That roof is just beautiful. He did that with no help at all.
Here is The D’s. It is hard to believe that just a couple of years ago, this boy had no interest in anything creative.
That’s mine on the left and Little E’s on the right. I did the front for him. He got tired and wanted to go watch Cyber Chase on PBS. (Yes, he’s only 4. He is our budding math genius.)
A few pointers to share… make the icing about toothpaste consistency and they should set up pretty quickly. Little kids do not have much patience when it comes to waiting to decorate candy houses. Fortunately for me, mine did not have to wait.
If you want to make white, pink, and red (or dark pink), make one big batch of white icing. Take 1/3 out and put it in your icing bag. Add a small amount of red coloring to make pink. Take out 1/2 of that and put it in another icing bag. Finally, add more red to achieve desired shade and put the remaining icing in a third bag.
Last year, I was really into Knifty Knitter. Really into it. I made hats, purses, neck rolls, scarves, booties. You name it, I Knifty Knitted it.
But for some reason this year, I am not that into it.
Maybe it was the lack of challenge. Once I learned to make all those things, it got kind of boring.
Or maybe it was the repetitiveness.
Whatever it was, this year I decided that I didn’t like the hat I made myself last year at the end of winter, before I had a chance to wear it.
My hat modeled by Little E
Since the yarn was new and I didn’t want to waste it, I decided to rip it out and crochet a new hat with the same yarn.
Here is my new hat, modeled by Big E, who was gracious enough to model, but not happy enough about it to actually smile. That, and he had a mouth full of Life cereal.
I made it from this Crochet Hat pattern from the Lion Brand Yarn website. (Free registration required to view pattern.) I omitted the pompom, though.
The hat uses Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick and a size P-15 hook.
Back in October, I mentioned that I was learning embroidery, so I could make something for my parents-in-law for Christmas.
Well, even though it took me until February to post the picture I took, I did embroider a towel for them.
Here it is.
