Happy Sunday and Happy Father’s Day!
It’s been a productive week for me. Well, two weeks really, since my last “weekly” update. I’ve managed to get a fair bit of crocheting in, as well as tying in some loose ends and some spring cleaning (had to get something done before Summer officially gets here!). I needed to clear out the old energy, and make room for new, better energy!
I wrote up a “to do” list about two weeks ago, and for a change I didn’t forget about it. A number of things were scratched off the list.
I frogged, finally, my knit sweater (which I wrote about and shared a photo of HERE). I’ve been considering, talking about, and planning to frog it for a long time now. I began working on it back in the fall. I hadn’t touched it in quite a long time, and to be honest, I got bored with it and tired of it. So I took it apart and am currently figuring out what I’m going to make in place of it. I have 7 skeins of Caron Simply Soft (color Autumn Red). I’m thinking a poncho (crocheted). I did sit down on a few occasions since I frogged the sweater and played around with stitch patterns and gauge swatches to see what I could come up with. I’ve got a few great ideas brewing 🙂
That Ripple Blanket which I “finished” back in March, is really truly done now. I sat down a few nights ago and painstakingly tied in all of the yarn tails. As I was working on that, I turned to my husband and told him to never let me make another one again, lol. There were 22 colors, the color pattern repeated three times…too many tails! So now that it’s almost 100° F out there, the blanket is folded up, waiting for the cold weather to come back, in a large trash bag!
I published a couple of new patterns since my last update, and I’m happy that they’ve both been received well by readers. If you missed them, you can see them by clicking here: Bath Pouf- Free Pattern (With Photo Tutorial) and The Orange Cat- Free Pattern. I also re-blogged a couple of my older patterns, which you can check out here: Neck Pillow- Free Pattern and Best Friends Amigurumi- Free Pattern.
Chances are that if you’re reading/following this blog, you already know how to crochet. But if you don’t crochet, or you know of someone who wants to learn, I have begun a new series on learning! This is in response to the poll I recently held on the COTB Facebook fan page. The majority of voters chose that I publish How To’s/Tutorials for additional content on the blog. So, last week I published the introductory lesson, a post called Learn to Crochet- How To Make A Foundation Chain (FC)- Photo Tutorial. I plan to make regular posts on learning to crochet; the next one will be How To Single Crochet, which will also include a photo tutorial and probably a free pattern along with it. I will be doing tutorials for all of the basic stitches, and then I will move on to stitch patterns. I would love to do a video tutorial, but it’s not an option for me right now. We still live in a hotel, so we are all crammed into one room, and it’s never quiet. Well, the only time it’s quiet is when Olivia’s sleeping, but then Mommy and Daddy have to be quiet (relatively, lol). The TV is almost always on, even just as background noise. Anyway…point being…I have to stick with just photo tutorials for now. And do you know just how difficult it can be to make a photo tutorial? I only have two hands, and we only have one window for natural lighting, and Olivia loves to “help”. A simple photo session can take me hours, just trying to get the best possible picture! Having said that, I do hope that I’m able to help people learn, and that the photo’s I provide are useful and beneficial.
One of my newest WIP’s- Crossbody/Sling Purse– is just about complete. I’ve cut and sewn the lining for the bag, and it’s now pinned into the bag waiting to be sewn in. I just need about an hour of uninterupted time to do that, since all of my sewing is done by hand. Then it will be done. I even made a child sized version of it for Olivia, hers being in a bright yellow and purple striped pattern (her choice…she loves bright colors!). It won’t be lined though, at least not for a while, as the owl print fabric that I bought for my purse doesn’t coordinate well with the color scheme of hers. On my next supply shopping trip I’ll pick up a fabric that will work well with hers. Once my purse is completed, I will publish the pattern here on the blog. I have to admit that I was surprised at how many views my post about this WIP received. I think that maybe readers were hoping for a pattern to go along with it? Well, if that’s the case, readers won’t have to wait much longer for the pattern 🙂
I have also been working on revising Olivia’s Chocolate Milk Hoodigan , using Red Heart Super Saver (acrylic) instead of cotton, since the acrylic is cheaper and I have plenty of it! It’ll be a long while before it’s done though. I am hoping to have it done by the fall, but we’ll see. I’ve gotten a lot of my other “stuff” taken care of this week, and like I said at the beginning of this post, there is now room for new, better energy (to work on other things!). It does get to me to have so much unfinished business hanging around, cluttering up my space.
As for the Grenadine Doll, which I gave to Olivia, I’m not sure yet if I’ll be recreating it. I know in the beginning I thought I would be making a few of them, in different clothing and colors, as well as making a boy version. Maybe once I’m done with everything else that I’m doing, I’ll consider it again.
Yesterday was rainy and cool, a nice day to stay indoors and do a quickie project. So I created a new pattern, which should be published tomorrow sometime.
And I think that pretty much sums up this Weekly Update.
Until next post…
~Amanda~
