Purple Crochet M&M Minis Cozy

I have been crocheting this cozy for a few weeks.  I finally finished it today.  It took a long time because I used thin crochet thread and a 1.90 mm crochet hook (size 5).  I used a modified spiral pattern to create the stripes, that way the stripes are seamless.  I slipped stitched the last round, which makes it stay on easier.  This cozy and empty container is for my swap partner who likes purple.  She can put small craft supplies in it, like sewing needles, buttons, stitch markers, etc.

The cozy was a little to plain, so I added a flower made on the peg loom to it.  I used the same 2 colors of purple, and wrapped them around the loom 3 times (thus getting a 6 layered flower).  Then I used 2 strands of the lighter colored purple thread for the center.  Next I added a dot of black glitter glue to the center of it.  My partner likes the color black as well.  

Here name starts with the letter B, so I turned the M on top of the M&M minis container into a B with some black glitter glue.  Why did I choose the lime green container?  I asked her grandmother (who I am friends with) which color she would prefer: red, light blue, green, or orange.  Those are the colors that I have been able to get a hold of with the M&M minis.  I hope that she likes it.  I really like it, and now I want to make one for myself.

Halloween Hot Pads: Orange

I'm continuing to make Halloween colored hot pads this week.

Right now I'm working on the orange ones.  Each one will have a different colored border.  I am mainly using orange, yellow, and white cotton.  However yesterday I bought some black and violet cotton, and I might add some green as well.

Fall Colors

I got an itch recently to make this hot pad in candy corn colors for Halloween.  I love the way it turned out.

I also made another chrysanthemum hot pad using the more neon yellow from the candy corn colors with the white cotton.  I'm thinking of making a Halloween set, much like the patriotic set that I made earlier this year.

We were at the park yesterday when I saw this tree in all of it's Autumn glory.

And I couldn't resist taking a picture of these rings on the playground.

Floral Hot Pad Set

I finished the hot pad set for my grandma's sister-in-law.  I sent my mom the above picture, and she said that she will love them.  My mom will pick them up later this month and mail them to her.

This is one of my favorite patterns to crochet.

I used Bernat's cotton yarn for all of these hot pads.

Here is the pattern for this wonderful hot pad.

ATCs

The other day I was inspired to draw some more ATCs (artist trading cards).

This one is called "The Last Burst of Light."

Watercolor paint & black ink.

This one is not my usual style, but it needed to be drawn.

It is called "Clinging Chameleon."

Watercolor paint & black ink.

I recently did an ATC trade with knityoga (ravelry name) who lives in England.  This is the ATC that I received from her.  Isn't is cool?  I love that she did embroidery / string art on an ATC.

She also sent me 2 fabric postcard that she had made.  I sent her 3 ATC's, 2 originals and 1 photo copy of one.  Some of mine are hard to give up/trade, so I made copies of them on card stock.

Wordless Wednesday

Crochet Group Today

Someone that I know asked me 2 weeks ago if I could help her make a crochet scarf.  The pattern was in chart form, which I had never done before.  So I needed to learn how to read a chart.  Also she wanted to invite a few friends with various crochet skills to the get together.  The scarf pattern is made up of several floral motifs in fingering yarn with a small crochet hook.  Since the pattern was for a single floral motif, I thought that it would be easier to make coasters using worsted weight yarn and a larger hook.  After they get the hang of it, then they could move on to the smaller hook and yarn.  The above picture was taken before we got started.  I was working on a scrubby while I waited.  There were 3 ladies, one who did not know how to crochet, one who was rusty and wanted to make a granny square blanket, and the one who organized the get together.  I showed the one lady who was new to crochet how to chain and single crochet, and she practiced doing that.  It was a nice morning crocheting with these ladies.

I had made two cotton versions of the motif before the get together today.

Here is the pattern.

I'm working on a different version of the red scrubby that I made the other day, but this time with the white Christmas cotton yarn.  There is a sparkly silver thread that is in it.  

Pattern:

Chain 2

Single crochet (sc) in the center / first chain 8 times

Double crochet (dc) in each stitch two times for two rounds

Sc in every stitch 2 times for one round

Sc in every stitch 3 times for the remaining rounds.

Here is where I am at with my son's granny square blanket.  I don't know how big it is, but its not that big at the moment.

Flower Pincushion - Pincushion Swap

Two weeks ago I mailed off my pincushion swap to my partner in England.  She got it yesterday.  Here is what I made for her.  It is a flower pincushion that uses a jar lid as its base, and I also used eco-fi felt for it.  Eco-fi felt is made from recycled plastic bottles.  I used 3 different shades of blue felt for the petals, and then I painted lines on them with puffy paint.  The petals are good for storing sewing needles.

On the top are some green sequence with yellow paint dots in the center.  Then I lined the base of the yellow center with blue shiny trim.  My partner likes shiny stuff.

I also added some sequence to the base as well.

Here is what I received from my partner: two pincushions, the small one is a bottle cap ring pincushion.  The large one uses a sock around the outside of it.  Here is what my partner said about them: "Hi Hun I am so glad that you liked them. You are right about the sock. The strawberry fabric was left over my friends little girls dress. The black part on the side of the bottle top pincushion was the strap off my old velvet top and both of them are stuffed with wool from my friend’s pet sheep Bertie."


It was fun making the pincushion and getting some in trade.  I want to make another flower one for myself so that I have a good place to store all of my sewing needles as well as my pins.

Set of 9 Patriotic Chrysanthemum Hot Pads

Between yesterday and today I have finished my Patriotic set of 9 Chrysanthemum hot pads.  It was fun seeing how the 4 different balls of yarn looked when combined with one another.  I've been getting a lot of compliments from different family members over the set that I made for my grandma in May.  I see myself making more of these in the future for gifts.  After making so many of them in a row, I now have the pattern memorized.

Patriotic Chrysanthemum Hot Pads

Between yesterday and today I have finished crocheting 4 more Chrysanthemum hot pads and am 2 rows away from finishing 2 more.  I have 6 of the 9 that I am making as part of my Patriotic set finished. 

I have 2 of these blue ones finished, which is the center of the flower.  The last two rows are in another color.  I wanted to show how pretty it is even before it is turned into a flower, and how it is a circle as well.  The last row of the pattern has you crocheting down 4 rows and back up again.

Floral Gifts

Here are the two teacher gifts that I have made so far.  School ends next week and I wanted to make something for my kids' teachers.  I need to make 3 gifts, but the 3rd gift will be an amigurumi bunny (that teacher's wife is pregnant).  These two potted gifts each contain 6 flower pens with 4 lollipop tulips.  They are perfect for a teacher's desk.  These also make good Mother's Day gifts.

The lollipop tulips are made out of egg cartons.  You cut out each individual egg holder in a carton, and then you cut it to look like a tulip.  I used tempera paint with glitter to paint these tulips.  Then I used a small screw driver to make a hole in the center for the lollipop.

For the pens, I cut some fake flowers and used floral tape to connect them to the pens.

This is just a picture that I took while at the park this week.

Birthday Crafting

Thank you for coming.

I made this artist trading card last night.  I'll make copies of it and put them in my son's birthday goodie bags.  That way I won't forget to say thank you to all of his birthday guests for coming.  

Last night I finished making the body of the sackboy / sackbot, and now I'm working on the head.  I finally figured out how to read the pattern.  I know that sounds weird especially since I've made about 7 of them already.  Its a British pattern, and where it says "inc" what it really means is "k & inc1."

I just thought that I would share 2 things that I saw in my yard today.

Watch out, he's a jumper!

ATCs - 3rd set

Bzzz

I decided to have some fun experimenting with different animal themes on some artist trading cards (ATCs).  The background was one of the pre-cut ATC papers that a friend had sent me.  The flowers seemed to say "bee" to me.  But I couldn't just make a regular bee, it had to have some of my abstract design in it.  I wasn't sure about it, but my husband liked it.

Hide & Seek

Continuing with the animal theme, I made this giraffe.  There was someone who last year was trying to collect at least 1000 new giraffe pieces of art (via images sent to her by other people).  I had sent two basic drawings to her.   I thought about that challenge when making this card.  The card seems very child like to me.  Its not one of my favorites, but it is fun.

Fetal Elephant

After working on this for a little while, I started to see an elephant in it.  So I added to the elephant where I thought that it needed more detail.  My husband saw a seahorse instead.  Because its abstract, each person will see something different and that it how its suppose to be.

Tigress

For this card I wanted to try to make a different kind of floral pattern but I wanted to use some of the basic design elements that I had used before.


P.S.  These cards have sent me over my goal of making 365 items this year!