Penelope Shawl

It took me most of September to make it, but here is my first triangle shaped shawl.  Since I have failed my numerous knitted attempts, I decided to crochet one.  That was the key.  It is a simple 3 row repeat with a special 3 row border.  You start at the top middle and work your way out and down.  It was so easy to make that I began to get bored somewhere in the middle of it.  I used up all 1000 yards of the James C. Brett Moonlight Sonta yarn that I had (2 skeins) and needed to beg for an extra 30 yards to finish it.  Thankfully my boss knew just who to ask.  After receiving a 30 yard donation, I was able to finish my shawl.  Here is the free ravelry downloadable pattern for it.

Crocodile Stitch Christmas Tree

I dove into my stash the other day and found a skein of green Encore yarn (from Plymouth Yarns), and I set out to make a crocodile stitch Christmas tree with it.  I used up every last bit of the 200 yard skein.  It is a very easy pattern, but it is a yarn eater.  

When I finished it, I glued red sequins on each leaf with some tacky glue. 

There are a lot of star patterns out there, but this one seemed to be the right size and look that I wanted.  It really was the perfect star to top this tree.  Here is the free pattern for it.

A few people in my crochet classes are making this tree, and I am going to be teaching a 2 part class on how to make it in November... Just in time for Christmas.

Striped Ball Bobble Square

The mini challenge in the Disney Adventures ravelry group this month is the Pixar short Jack Jack Attack.  While re-watching this fun companion to the movie The Incredibles, I noticed a hidden Mickey in it.  Among the toys that Jack Jack has to play with is the Pixar ball (a yellow ball with a blue stripe and a red star).  I used this baseball bobble chart and tweaked it a bit so that the bobbles formed a stripe down the center of it, just like the Pixar ball.  Now I have 4 bobble squares for the afghan, and I still have plenty of yarn left over to make 1 or 2 more squares out of each color (green and blue).  

Apple and Car Bobble Squares

Here are 2 more crochet bobble squares for the afghan that I am making for my son.  

Apple bobble chart

Cat bobble chart

Both squares use a size H hook and Plymouth Encore yarn.

Crochet Bobble Apple Afghan Square

This week I decided that I wanted to make an afghan out of the different crochet bobble patterns that I have instead of dishcloths.  I've made a bunch of cotton dishcloth ones already this year.  Because they are so quick and easy to make, I should be able to make a nice size afghan rather quickly (within a year's time).  The type of images that I want to make kind of scream out kid's blanket, so I will be making it for my youngest son.  Shhh, don't tell him.  So I picked out 2 colors of Plymouth Encore yarn to start off with.  First I picked a nice rich blue color, because he love the darker blues.  However a few of the patterns that I want to make will look better in green, so I also got some green. I figure that as I make more than I can add in other shades of blue and green as well as some purples.  I'll just add as needed.  Because of this loose plan I will wait to sew the squares together when I have enough to make the afghan, that way I can arrange all the different colored squares in a visually pleasing way.

One of the Disney Adventures challenges (ravelry) this month is for Disney Legend Steve Jobs.  He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc., so I want to make an apple bobble square for this challenge.  This pattern can be made in less than an hour.  I also started the other bobble apple from the pattern charts as well.

Sock Afghan, White Chevron Afghan, and Crochet Shawl

I've been making some good progress on my garter stitched sock yarn afghan (free pattern).  It seems like I get at least 2 stripes made a day.  That's because I work on it while waiting for my kids to get out of school (sitting in the school's parking lot).

I finished crocheting the white chevron baby afghan that I was hired to finish.  Do you see where my finger is in the photo?  From that point and above is what I worked on.  There was little over a skein that I needed to use up before it would be finished.  The lady who hired me picked up the 2 finished afghans last Tuesday.   I'm happy that I could finish her mother's work for her so that she would have some treasured keepsakes.

Now that I am no longer working on those 2 afghans I can concentrate on things that I want to make.  One of those things is a crochet shawl.  This photo was taken a week ago on my first day of crocheting it, it is much bigger now.  I just started using the 2nd skein of the James C. Brett Moonlight Sonta yarn (500 yards per skein).  I did not use all of the 500 yards of the first skien, because when I was very close to using it up, there was a break in the yarn that the manufacturer had tied in a knot.  Not only was there a knot, but the two tied parts didn't match in color.  Thankfully one of the ends of the 2nd skein matched the yarn break that was connected to the shawl.  Problem solved, and you can't really tell where I joined the 2nd skein at.  My goal is to finish this shawl this month, using at least 800 yards of yarn.

Dolores Umbridge's Fat Bottom Bag - Finished

I finished my Dolores Umbridge inspired fat bottom bag today!  Woohoo!!!!!  I used 2 shades of pink Caron Simply Soft yarn (295 yards in total), a size H crochet hook, pink faux velvet fabric for the lining, and red sewing thread.  Here is the free pattern.  I made up the bow pattern (just 2 separate loops of crochet that were put together).