the blanket made by Lori

the Blanket made by Lori

Decorative Pillow Cover

A Break time!

Hi~ I'd like to show you my second project for a background screen.

This is my favorite break time with iced coffee!! so happy~

During the making of the background screen, I drank all of the coffee! 

This is a sample shot on my computer.

You can download this for your computer background for FREE. :) size is 1920*1200 pixels

*Please, Don't use it for commercial purposes.

We're Lovin' Fabric

Here's the happy pictures~!!

We went Jo-Ann that is a fabric store. They have 25~40% off Sale and we had 40% off coupons into the bargain. I got some fabric for making curtain in my room. IT was so hard to decide Only one fabric among the many kinds of wonderful fabric. Anyway after careful consideration, Lori and I got nice fabric.  

Wall paper_for September

Today I made a wall paper calendar for September. 

This is a sample shot on my computer.

Anyone can download for FREE. :) size is 1920*1200 pixels

*Please, Don't use it as commercial purposes.

Pillow Cover

 This is my second product by a sewing machine. 

I wanted to make recycled products with castoff clothes.

Table mat_hand made

This is my first sewing product. Yay~! Lori introduced me to a new intriguing hobby~ 

She has a lot of nice hobbies, (that's why I call Lori, 'Hobby Lori'). 

Gradually I'm being influenced by Lori and learning new hobby one by one. :)

All done, Thanks to Sarah (Lori's daughter) for her help. 
She taught me how to make the table mat.

So Many Crochet Projects . . .

. . . but so little time. Well, I guess it's not time I'm lacking--more like an extra set of hands so I can do a couple projects at once! Maybe I should learn to crochet with my feet, but I make enough mistakes with my hands that I think I'll just stick with those for now.  :)

I recently got a shipment from KnitPicks--these are just a few of the beautiful yarns I received (thanks to my dear hubby's generous gift certificate!):

 

 Aren't they pretty?!? I'm actually building up a stash of these yarns, mostly Shine and Comfy. The ones pictured above are all sport weights, but I've also been buying fingering weight and DK weight. I have great plans for some really amazing grannies, ranging from itty bitty to pretty darn big. I love, love the feel of these cotton-blend yarns, and they're very affordable (especially compared to similar yarns I've found locally), and the colors make me incredibly happy!

 

 

Until yesterday, this was the project I was working on (this is NOT made with the yarn pictured above--this is Vanna and Simply Soft). Yet another ripple blanket. Yes, I get stuck in crochet ruts. (I just realized how wrinkly and wonky the blanket looks in the picture--in real life, it lays very nice.) Anyway, I wanted to mix lots of colors in with gray, and I loved the way it looked in my mind. The reality of it, however, is a little disappointing--I'm not sure I'm fond of my color choices. It's about half done, so I've decided to put it aside for a while and see what I think of it in a few weeks.

 

This is my newest project--woo hoo!! While I wanted to break away from ripples temporarily, I still wanted something easy--I use crochet for relaxation, and don't want to be concentrating too much. I found a video for a larksfoot stitch blanket here, and I started playing with it yesterday--already it's addicting! I'm planning on sticking with the colors pictured by in a random order (the colors are actually brighter than they appear here--I really need to learn to use my camera!) 

But for the next few days, there will be a break in my crocheting as I get ready for my daughter's WEDDING (!!!) on Saturday! I can't wait to share pretty pictures from the event!

Monkeying around (Lori)

I admit it--I love crocheting monkeys! Maybe it goes back to my childhood dream of having my own real monkey (my hubby vetoed this idea), but I think when I'm happy with a finished project, I want to try it again with different yarns and colors. 
These two friends were made with the same pattern (available free from here)--the only difference is the yarn and hook size. Big Monkey was made with Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice worsted-weight yarns and an F hook. He's about 8" tall sitting.

Little Monkey, on the other hand, was made with Comfy Fingering yarn from Knit Picks (you can drool over their wonderful yarns here.) I'm new to lighter-weight yarns; these are the first I've tried and I LOVED them! I think it's the mix of pima cotton in the yarn--my fingers were so happy as I was crocheting! (I used a C hook, and I liked the finished size of my monkey friend--about 5" sitting.)

I wired both the monkeys so that I can pose them--I used a craft wire on the big monkey, but found it was easier on the little one to use pipe cleaners. 

I'm considering adding a teeny tiny monkey made with crochet thread to my To-Do list!

Random Ripple (Lori)

This is the first ripple blanket I made using the Neat Ripple pattern from Attic24 (find the pattern here). I LOVE this pattern! After you get past the first row, it's fairly mindless to work on, but with enough color changes so that it doesn't get boring.Admittedly, it's a little dizzying to see this all laid out, but it looks great all crumpled up around my legs as I'm reading! I like the "drape-iness" of this pattern.

 

I used yarn from Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice collection, and from Caron's Simply Soft collection. They're both worsted weight yarns, but the Simply Soft is a little finer and I was concerned how they would mix--no worries!

 

This is how it looks all crumpled--pretty, huh?

Kudos to Hanna for these photos! She even captured all the cat hair on the blanket!