WIP Wednesday

I am feeling a little better this week as I have managed to finish up some of my projects.

Finished up the crochet ornaments and got them hung.

Finished up the dress I was working on for Little Companion.

See the little bow in the front? There is a matching bow to go in her hair too.

Hopefully we will have some time to get a picture soon. She is very busy with school, Brownies, and all the holiday happenings!

Finished up the lap blanket.

Almost finished my hot cocoa gifts, just need to put some stickers on the jars. 

The first recipe I used tasted like it was just missing something so I started over. I found a recipe that used pudding as an ingredient and it was wonderful! 

I think if I do these again I will use smaller jars. This amount may last some folks years!

I also made this hat this week. 

Little Companion asked if it was for her and I told her no. 

She asked if she could try it on and I said yes. 

She said, oh, it keeps my ears nice and warm. 

Ya ... she walked away with it after all!

This doily I finished last month but wanted to wait to share it until after Thanksgiving.

Helps to add to the holiday spirit!

Happy WIP Wednesday!

I am joining Marie Anne for Work in Progress Wednesday.

 

Please go over and visit her at http://macrochet.blogspot.com/ and see what everyone else has been up to.

 

Doily daze...

I bet you thought my doily days were done, didn't you!

Well, think again...

I just haven't posted any the past couple of weeks.

Ready,

Set,

Doily!!

This is my first attempt at filet crochet. I enjoyed the outcome but found the process a little tedious. If I had been able to enlarge the pattern a bit and use a highlighter to mark out finished rows I probably would have found it a little more enjoyable. The mint green is a fun spring color.

This is Arabella. I had a lot of fun with this pattern and enjoy the process as well as the end product immensely. I used DMC Cebelia crochet cotton for this and just love everything about it from the color to the feel. I enjoyed it so much that...

I had to make some coasters to go with it.

I have hand washed every one of the doilies and coasters now and they will be ready to travel clean and fresh. After hand washing and blocking I also understand now why you should do this instead of ironing them. They turn out fluffier, the parts that need to be turned get turned, and it just has a nicer overall effect. I would highly recommend this method versus the washing and ironing route.

 

I will enjoy being able to use these when I catch up with my dishes in a couple of weeks.  

We are off to Valdez tomorrow on a quest to peruse a glacier up close and personal.

Have a safe weekend!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day is a wonderful day to celebrate!

Look what I received from the Big Kahuna himself.

Isn't that sweet!

Let's look inside.

Just look at all the tea goodies, how fun!  It smells very good.

Let's put a doily under it all. 

This pattern is called Anastasia and is worked with Aunt Lydia's Bamboo Crochet Thread in Zen Green with a #7 hook.

My thanks go out to you big Kahuna for thinking of me this mother's day. See ya soon!

White Doily

It's Thursday and that means it is DOILY DAY!

This week's pattern is called Peacock Pride and came from the book Absolutely Gorgeous Doilies by Leisure Arts.

Here it is on top of last week's doily.

I worked this in white with a #7 crochet hook.

I'm thinking by the time we leave Alaska I should have enough doilies to cover any potential doily need!

Happy Thursday!

Doily Day...

My doily pattern today comes from The Complete Guide to Thread Crochet
by Leisure Arts.

The pattern name is Round Doily.
I worked this with Aunt Lydia's Bamboo Crochet Thread size 10 and used a #7 crochet hook.

The color is Still Pool.

The bamboo thread gives it a very soft feel, drapes well.

Will enjoy being able to use these with my tea things when we get back to "the lower 48."

Happy Thursday!

Green thread crochet doily

The pattern for this doily is Harmony and comes from the book Absolutely Gorgeous Doilies by Leisure Arts. I worked this with Royale Classic Crochet Thread size 10, in green, and a size 7 crochet hook.

It was supposed to end up 16 inches in diameter and is about 15-1/2 inches. I find it is easier to get more tension with the Royale thread although I really like the feel of the bamboo in the Aunt Lydia.

I am enjoying this thread crochet a lot!

Pink doily

Okay so here's my finished doily to go with the coasters I made a couple of weeks ago.

This pattern is from the Absolutely Gorgeous Doilies book by Leisure Arts and the pattern is Penny Lane. I used Aunt Lydia's Bamboo Crochet Thread and a #5 metal hook although the pattern did suggest a #7.

I am very pleased with the way it turned out.

(I have positioned it on a chair here to be able to see the detail.)

Here it is included in my fancy-smansy Easter centerpiece. The little chicks are from Jo-Ann's. (They do have a Jo-Ann's and a Michaels here in Fairbanks.) The basket Little Companion made at school. Beautiful and functional!

And here is Little Companion enjoying a nutritional after-school snack of Zingers, Goldfish, and milk.

That's nutrition according to grandma!

Thread crochet

Since we will have limited space on our return trip to the "lower 48," I figured I should scale down my projects a bit and try some thread crochet. Now I have never done thread crochet before, and was not really sure I had the patience for this sort of thing, but turns out I am really enjoying it.

This was my first piece and is a start although definitely not perfect.

Second one just for fun, no pattern. Sits by my bed and holds my water glass.

Is the glass half full or half empty?

Okay, now we're cooking with butter. I was very pleased with this coaster, this one is correct. I was so pleased in fact that I ...

made three more and now have a set of four. These have not been starched and blocked but then I'm not sure I'm a starching and blocking sort of gal. I like the extremely soft feel of the thread crochet.

I am in the process of making a pink doily and am pleased with the progress so far. I hope to have it done prior to Easter.

I also went to the doctor yesterday to get my thyroid level checked and hopefully we'll get a blood level soon on that so we can tweak the medication some. Still feeling pretty fatigued but no longer having to nap for hours everyday! Very pleased with the doctor, if you need a doctor in Fairbanks, Alaska let me know and I'll give you his name.

Happy Thursday!

1, 2, 3, go...finished

Felt the urge to crochet.

In Alaska... it's cold... it's time to crochet!

So, Sunday after church we went to Wal-Mart and I picked up some hooks, yarn, needles, and the little pattern book. I had decided to try to crochet a hat as I had never attempted this before.

With this pattern you end up making a tube, basically gathering the top, and then sewing it (which I did with yarn by hand as I did not happen to bring my sewing machine with me to Alaska).

Ta da, finished hat.

Had some yarn left so completed the look with this scarf.

Doesn't Little Companion look like she belongs in a crochet book! She's very happy with her new hat and scarf.

Second tea cozy

I really like the colors on this cozy. I had to look up cozy to see the spelling. Webster says cozy is, "a padded covering especially for a teapot to keep the contents hot," so I'll go with that. Really want to spell it cozie for some odd reason. So, it is all one piece, slips over the top, over the handle, over the spout.

I am having fun journaling my tea experience. I am trying my new teas and then journaling my experience with it, what it smells like, the color, taste with and without sugar, etc. I tend to be forgetful about the details sometimes and think this should help. Doesn't take very long and ... it's all mine. My experience, my journal, my reference, my thoughts.

So, someday if we ever meet and you say, for instance, "so, what is your impression of Taylors of Harrogate Spiced Christmas Tea," I can reply, "well, I think it smells soothing, homey, wonderful. Has a rich, dark color. Good plain without sugar, great with sugar, would like to try this as an iced tea. What is your impression?" Ha, and go from there!

First Tea Cozie

I learned how to make a granny square from a friend in high school and after that I made various little afgans. Everytime I would present my treasure to my mom and she would say, oh that's nice, you should take lessons. Then she would launch into about how wonderful my great-aunt Helen did and won blue ribbons at the fair. In all fairness there would always be some fairly shining error in my work. I like to work fast and wasn't into following the instructions too carefully. Well, I heard that statement one too many times, so I buckled down and set out to show I could do it. I have to say I will never crochet as well as my great-aunt Helen, I don't want to spend the time and effort, but I did win my first county blue ribbon in 1995 and a Virginia State Fair blue ribbon in 1996. Then we moved to Texas and on to other things. I decided yesterday to attempt a tea cozie, a nice quick project, and useful. So that's my story and here are some pictures.

Two fisherman afgans and the shawl in the middle.