Grama's Christmas Present

I've been having a crafty winter so far. Between shows and commissions and holiday presents, I've had a lot to do. I am almost done with a gorgeous piece that I can't wait to share -- only I have to, since it's a gift. I'll show it off soon, though.

In the meantime, I completed a hat and scarf set for my grandmother's Christmas gift. I feel safe putting them up here since they're for my grandmother who doesn't even touch a computer. I based them on a pair of patterns from Crochet Today's holiday edition but modified them for my preferences. Here's the scarf (photo taken a couple of weeks ago):

As you can see, I added a slot to pull one end of the scarf through. I thought it would be practical for my gardening grandmother. Check out the hat:

And here they both are together:

I am madly in love with this yarn from Loops! It's Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton yarn (all organic) in Caribbean and Lemonade. I may have to make myself a scarf from it next.

I need to assemble a few final things tonight for Deluxe tomorrow. If you're in the OKC area, don't forget to come shop!

Hold that pot!

Great news, guys and gals: I just listed my first crocheted item! You can check out (and possibly purchase) the Green and Teal Potholder right here. Look at all those great colors:

Ooooooooo!

Ahhhhh! It folds in half so easily. :)

I plan to list more crocheted items soon, so keep your eyes open.

Baby Shower Bonanza!

The baby shower was a big success! We ate, played games, decorated onesies, and gossiped for several hours. That's the way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I'll have to post pictures of the onesies another time since my friend hasn't shared them yet, but check out these other goodies.

First is the delicious cake I made. I used icing dye to color some of the frosting darker brown.

Mmm . . . delicious cake innards. The top layer is basic white cake (Blitzkuchen) and the bottom layer is the same but with cocoa powder subbed in for some of the flower. The whole thing iced with peanut butter frosting.

Here's momma-to-be delighting in the ridiculousness of my beastly set.

I woke up early yesterday morning, so I decided to whip out another pair of booties to give to the impending arrival. Here they are:
Little crocheted Mary Janes! They make me smile.

I hope everyone else had a fabulous weekend!

Beastly booties!

It's not what you think! I just wanted to report I finished a set of booties to go with the beast hat I made. I chose a pattern that ended up looking very much like tiny Christmas stockings by the time I was done. Here's the end result:

And here's the completed beastly set:

I hope soon-to-be mommy and daddy like their little homemade gift! The shower is tomorrow afternoon. I'm in charge of the onesies-decorating activity. Since this group of friends isn't particularly crafty, I bought iron-on letters and fabric markers to do our thing. I hope to have pictures of the end results up early next week.

Enjoy the weekend, lords and ladies!

Crochet crazy!

I'm back to crocheting up a storm lately. It's fun! It's relaxing! It makes me feel like less of a toad when I sit around and watch TV all night!

At the end of the month, one of my dearest friends will likely give birth to her first child, a little girl named Rylyn Diana. We're throwing her a baby shower this weekend, for which I am in charge of making the cake. I think I'm going to do a yellow cake with peanut butter frosting. Sounds tasty! Grey, my mom, and I went in together on this adorable high chair, which was on her registry. I also made her this precious hat, featuring a beast!









Tonight, I plan to work on matching booties, though they will sadly be beastless. I will likely also do a second hat in the same colors but with a different decorative element. The pattern I used was supposed to create a sock monkey face, but I liked mine a big more monstrous. I hope the parents-to-be appreciate him, too.

Next up are a bunch of washcloths. You knew I couldn't resist!










The one on the left is very scrubby and has a fun edge. The stack on the right are some custom ones for my awesome friend Holly of Hollyrocks!











Both of these are pretty standard washcloths in neat color schemes.











On the left here is a more gentle one, best for sensitive skin or even babies. The one on the right has a really good surface for scrubbing counters and such.

Both of these have a nice exfoliating surface. They were actually made from the same yarn, too. I love the variety created by the variegated stuff.

I hope you enjoyed!

Iced in

(Icecicles hanging from the covered parking in my apartment complex. I really wish I had paid for a spot!)

Or maybe I was actually stalled out? Anyway, I got ready for work yesterday -- ate breakfast, showered, got dressed -- despite a headache and upset stomach. I declared it a no-make-up day, though, because of the aforementioned ailments. Though I felt slightly better than crap, I wasn't in the mood to make the treachurous drive in. Lo! and behold: my car wouldn't start. Apparently, Esmee is sensitive to the cold. Yeah, well, her and me both. I called my boss to let him know what was up, so he emailed me the project I needed to finish, and I did my best to work from home. I put in about two hours of production time and spent the rest of the day on the couch crocheting, eating, and watching season 1 of Gilmore Girls. The result:

Yep, this is a potholder -- one very much in need of blocking. Anyway, see the cute little loop? I like to hang mine from a hook. Well, I did until we moved and are now hookless. Tragic. I love the fun pattern on it!










This could also be a potholder, but I made it to be a scrubbie. It also has a fancy-schmancy loop to hang from a hook in your kitchen or bathroom. I used a super-magical-secret pattern to make the surface scrubbier than a standar single or double crochet. I totally love the marriage of the green and the white. It's so crisp.











I like the fun yellow of this washcloth. It's like sunshine in your shower! I used a V stitch here.










And last but not least, another washcloth. I just went for a random pattern using three colors. I think it's fun and festive.


That's all of those I'll inflict on ya for a while. I'm back in the office today, though my car didn't start once again. My love brought me to work, thankfully. This means I'll be stuck here until 6:00, when he leaves, but at least I didn't have to use an annual leave day.

Experiments

I crocheted three more washcloth prototypes during a Gilmore Girls season 1 marathon yesterday. (I am one wild and crazy girl!) Here are the results:

This is a shell pattern using a lovely, Valentine-colored yarn. I like the results but don't love them. I need to work on consistency with my stitches. Obviously, the edging didn't come out so clean on this one, so I think I'll keep it to try out. I'm curious to discover how the different stitches feel on the skin.

Here is another experiment, crocheted mostly in the round with the exception of the green patch in the middle. I like that it's small and looks a bit like a Barbie rug. Anyway, I'm really digging the lemon-lime combination. Plus, this is just palm-sized, so it would be easy to use in applying a body scrub. Hmm . . .


Yep, more yellow-and-greeny goodness. The colors make me think of spring, thereby distracting me from the hideous iciness awaiting me outside. Anyway, this was a definite experiment, but I love the way it turned out. I crocheted with two pieces of yarn at a time, which makes the whole thing feel thicker and softer. I will definitely make more of these since I'm not sure this one can be pried from my cold, dead hands!

Silly me forgot to take pictures of the other washcloths I made for Jessie's baby shower, but the dear lass did include them in this blog post. (The gal in the fuchsia sweater is me, too, and I'm responsible for bubblegum baby blob #18.) I'm glad you like them, ma'am! The green is my favorite, too. If it weren't a copyrighted pattern, I'd try selling them.

It's now time for me to ignore how completely horrifying the drive home will be tonight. The temperature hasn't passed 27 degrees today, and it's been drizzling since 11:00 this morning. We're not expected to see temperatures above freezing until Wednesday, if we're lucky. Yikes! I'm glad I have cookie bars (recipe coming soon) and crochet projects to keep me busy tonight!