Jul 13, 2006

Still working on it.

Boy, have I been busy lately. My computer died on me Tuesday and I spent the last two days fixing it.

My hard drive went out so I went to Wal-mart, bought another one and replaced it myself. That was the first time I had ever attempted to do anything like that. After I plugged everything back in and booted up my pc....I was smiling from ear to ear to see that my first attempt was a success.Well, it is nice to report that it is back up and running.

Now that I have my pc working again, I can get back to my afghan. The next time I post will be the completed afghan. Until then, have a safe and blessed day !

Jul 3, 2006

W.I.P - Dora afghan


W.I.P stands for Work In progress.
   I am currently knitting a Dora the Explorer afghan for my youngest daughter.The graph can be found here. This is a first attempt on making something like this with so many colors.I wanted to learn a new stitch so I ventured out to learn the Intarsia method. If you scroll down the page some,on the link, you will see it right under How to knit with two colors.
   Well, up until recently, I found out I was doing this method completely wrong. So instead of the intarsia method I am doing regular knitting with a basketweave edge. This is what I have completed as of today.
          Well, I think I have made up for lost time.Everything I have made, thus far, that I took pictures of are now posted.If I should run across anymore, I will post them here.Until next time..thanks for viewing my blog.

Knitted Garter Stitch Cardigan


This cardigan was made back in 2005. The pattern itself, Gorgeous Garer Stitch Set ,can be found in the Creative Knitting Magazine . It is in the March 2005 edition,pages 34 and 97. After I made it by the pattern , I discovered it was too short so I made it a bit longer. Gorgeous Garer Stitch Set includes instructions for a garter stitch shell top and the matching cardigian.

Full size huggy bears


These bears were made with the same huggy bear pattern that is posted in my last post. It may look different because I had trouble doing the snout and I followed the pattern this time.
         Please note: the snout problem is not due to the pattern ! On all the bears I used Red Heart worsted weight yarn, and I think, I used a H crochet hook.

Huggable Huggy bears


This huggy bear pattern is very cute and fun to make.I used that pattern as a guide to make this smaller version.
I ran across it sometime ago but held onto it for about a year before I finally made one.I posted a picture of a pink bear I had made for a friend that was in the hospital in this crochet forum over at about.com. Needless to say, I recieved niced compliments.When you click the link, it will take you to the site where I got the pattern from.You will have to register for free in order to get this pattern and many more.Once you get to the site, on the far right hand side of your screen, if you scroll down some, you will see the free patterns box. Enjoy !

Jul 2, 2006

My first Tunisian crochet project




    I love to venture out and try new things. So I had this brilliant ideal to teach myself how to use this weird,long , green ,double hooked needle I had buried under my yarn stash. Well , after searching the net I found out it was exactly what it looked like..a double hooked crochet needle. So then my second question was..what in the world do you make with this long thing ? Well see now , this is where it gets interesting, I had a brilliant idea.





    It is about 1 week before school lets out for Christmas break in 2005 .I decided to make scarfs with the first initial on both sides for the ladies at work as Christmas gifts. Without a pattern for a scarf , I sat down with my alphabet charts, my needle, yarn and my cup of coffee and got to work.





   After staying up late night after night, I had yet completed another project. When we returned to work from Christmas break, Jan. 2006 , I had the pleasure of sitting down at lunch and hearing all the great stories of what their friends and family said about their scarfs. The story that topped them all was this one.. one of the ladies husbands asked her where she bought that scarf at with her initial on it and she replied' " I didn't. Melinda made it for me for Christmas."





    If I wouldn't have gotten anything else for Christmas that year, those stories would have been enough for me ! It wasn't until later I learned that the double hooked needles are used to make double faced fabric such as blankets with a different color on each side.
   




So, the next time someone gives you an item knitted, crocheted or anything handmade, know that it took alot of time, love, patience, and sometimes money to create such a masterpiece regardless of the size of it.

Adorable Care Bear


This was made sometime ago. It was made from a book I bought from Herrschners online which is now sold in most craft store. The book is called Care Bear Crochet Characters by Leisure Arts book # 3690. I tried to make it and had so much fun , I made both of my daughters their very own Care Bear. Besides, I had to , they were always admiring mine.

Christmas gift ...no pattern.


Talk about going on a whime ! This afghan was made for a co- worker to give to a friend for Christmas. I know very little about sports so when asked to make it I was a little on the stumped side. I used the brick stitch so this was very tricky for me but I did it !



Now... I don't know the exact days that I made these baby blankets but I am going to post them anyway. These blankets were made for some co-workers at work first two were made for a baby boy and the last one was made for a baby girl of these blankets we made out of my head with no pattern at all. Everyone was more than pleased when they laid eyes on the final product !

Afghan complete !


I know it has been awhile but I finally finished the afghan I was making. I am glad to report that my daughter loves it !I used approx. 10 skiens of Red Heart yarn and used the brick stitch a.k.a. crazy stitch , crocheting diagonally. I must say this was done with no pattern at all.