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2016 Crocheting Goals

I’m going to take a slightly different approach this year.  Last year was the first year that I created crocheting goals for myself. And although there was a lot that I did not complete, I think in the first half of the year I got a lot more done than I may have in previous years.

Instead of going quite as structured as I did last year with laying down what projects I was going to do in which month, I’m just going to make myself a project list of things I want to get done.  I will start this list out with some semblance of the order I want to complete these project in, however, I expect it to be more of a living, ongoing, occasionally changing list – especially with regards to when I get custom orders from my Etsy store. So here is the first draft of the…

Stitched In Love Crocheting 2016 Project List:

  1. DONE – Sweet 16 Afghan – This is started and needs to be done soon because it will need to be mailed out as soon as I can.  It’s already going to be late for her birthday.  There’s just so much going on right now!
  2. Buddy’s Afghan – I have designed an afghan pattern in honor of each one of my new babies.  As soon as the Sweet 16 Afghan is done, I need to get working on Baby #3’s.  I’ve already done quite a bit of R&D (i.e. Pinterest pinning) and I’m pretty sure I know what I want to do.  I even have the yarn. Now I just need to sit down and start work/writing the pattern.
  3. Christmas Stockings for Family – I think I’m just going to continue working on the Christmas items after the immediate projects are wrapped up so that they don’t just get put off until the end of the year and not get done again. I need to finish the stockings for the new baby and myself. Then I would like to do some embellishments on everyone’s stockings, including names and maybe some holly berries and leaves.
  4. Christmas Tree Skirt – I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to this one and have not yet decided what I want to do for this exactly. However, I might see if I can get a plain, solid tree skirt on sale after the holidays this year to use as a backing for mine to lend more durability to it and potentially act as a background depending on what design I settle on.
  5. Afghan Christmas Present #1 – I have three different afghans that I want to make family members for Christmas gifts.  Hopefully I can get them done in the first part of this year and then just block them and package them come Christmas next year.  These projects are going to be difficult to post about while maintaining the Christmas surprise. I might have to  come up with some creative pictures of extreme close ups and do some fun editing to disguise the true results.
  6. Afghan Christmas Present #2
  7. Afghan Christmas Present #3
  8. Curtains – We have  a great big bay window in the new house and instead of putting up some boring curtains or sheers, I really want to crochet some pretty lace-like curtains that I can just slip onto some tension rods for a sort of 3/4 cover.
  9. Rugs – We also have all hardwood floors in the new house which we have refinished with a beautiful dark stain. But we need several rugs in multiple areas of the house. I also want to do a “street and lawn” rug for the kids’ room
  10. Happypotamusses for kids – I thought about doing these for their birthdays or for another holiday through the year, but I think I’ll stick with making these and saving them for Christmas next year.  The designer of this very cute stuffed animal has actually designed quite a few others, so I’m actually thinking about making the Hippo for Bubba, an Elephant for Sephy because she loves them, and something else fun for Buddy instead of just doing 3 hippos in different colors.
  11. Mitten Ornaments – Another small gift for the family members to make and save for next year.
  12. Top for myself – Finally on to non-Christmas items! Hopefully by this time I will have been able to loose some baby weight and can make myself something pretty.
  13. Dress for Sephy – I’d like to try again in making a dress for Sephy, this time in a very light weight yarn, or even thread.
  14. Parasol – I would still like to try and get this thing made. I have two different umbrella frames ready to use for it.
  15. Masquerade Masques – My sister is having a Masquerade Ball for her Halloween party next year and I want to make the masks that my Husband and I wear. I also have a whole Pinterest board for this one!

It will be interesting to see how much of this I will actually be able to get done this year. Fifteen doesn’t sound like a lot on this list, but with 3 afghans plus a tree skirt that is basically a whole afghan itself, it is definitely going to be a challenge.

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2015 – A Dud for Crocheting

I got nowhere near to what I wanted to accomplish this year with my crocheting.  My work came to an abrupt halt in June when I got sick because I became pregnant with our third child. Three months later I was finally feeling a little better, but by then we were really trying to get our new house renovated and moved in.  We are moved in now, though not even close to being unpacked and settled. And of course, now we are preparing for the holidays and the arrival of little #3.

Obviously with a third on the way, living in a house that still needs a lot of work, and trying to get our old house ready to rent out, there is probably not going to be a lot of time to crochet in 2016 either.  BUT I will be pumping 2-3 times a day again after returning to work, which is when I was able to get a lot of of crocheting done last year and early this year. So I do still have some things planned.

Here is a rundown of things I am working on immediately, and where I ended up with the goals I had for 2015.  I’ll post again later with what I want to accomplish for 2016.  I did get a few custom orders completed through my Etsy shop along the way but not a whole lot else.

Current/Immediate Projects

  1. Christmas Stockings – Two done for the kids, working on Husband’s now.  Baby #3 and I may have to wait until next year.
  2. Christmas Gifts – Working on a few small/quick gifts for family.  Will post on this after all the family get-togethers are done for the holidays.
  3. Sweet 16 Afghan – This needs to be started as soon as the stocking and Christmas gifts are done because it will need to be mailed out very soon after the first of the year.
  4. Buddy’s Afghan – I have designed an afghan pattern in honor of each one of my new babies.  As soon as the Sweet 16 Afghan is done, I need to get working on Baby #3’s.  I’ve already done quite a bit of R&D (i.e. Pinteresting) and I’m pretty sure I know what I want to do.  I even have the yarn. Now I just need to sit down and start work/writing the pattern.

2015 Run-Down

  1. ADDED (Custom Order) – Baby Afghan Success! See June 6th 30 Days of Blog Post for this one.
  2. ADDED (Custom Order) – Second Baby Afghan Success! I’m sad about this one because I do not think that I took a picture before I delivered it.
  3. ADDED: Baby Gift #1 – This was the Strawberry Cocoon and Beanie Success!
  4. ADDED (Custom Order) – Baby Gift.  Surprise gift to be posted at a later time. Success! I’m sad about this one because I do not think that I took a picture before I delivered it.
  5. ADDED: Baby Gift #2 – Was in progress in May, but I don’t even remember what this was right now!
  6. Finish writing Cuffs and Monkey Patterns –  Cuffs done. Monkey on hold till Fall. I never did get back to the Monkey pattern.  But the boot Cuffs pattern did get finished and posted in my Ravelry store.  I even had a lady contact me about it because she is doing a class on cable stitches at a retreat and wanted to use my pattern for it.  So I have seen multiple pattern sales as a result of that.
  7. Christmas Stockings for Family (4) – On the immediate list.
  8. Baby Gift #2 – I’ve had this done for awhile and I’m sad to say I keep forgetting to mail the darn thing!
  9. Baby Gift #3 – This one has also been done, but never got delivered. (Facepalm.)
  10. Top for myself – (Laughing.) Not a chance. It wouldn’t fit me right now anyway.  Maybe this Spring or Summer.
  11. Christmas Tree Skirt – Sadly this one did not get done yet either.
  12. Afghan Christmas Present #1 – Nope.
  13. Afghan Christmas Present #2 – Nope.
  14. Afghan Christmas Present #3 – Nope. (Sorry family. Maybe next year.)
  15. Happypotamusses for Sephy and Greyson – This is another one I’m really sad about.  I really wanted to get these done for them.  Maybe I’ll make it a trilogy and give one to each of the three kids for Christmas next year.
  16. Sweet 16 Afghan – On the immediate list.
  17. Mitten Ornaments – Replaced with another quick project for Christmas gifts on the Immediate list.  I would still like to do these for next year.

So there we are. Here’s hoping that 2016 will leave me feeling more accomplished with the projects I want to do!

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Lace Comb

captured_by_snapseed_13_1This is the finished piece I posted about in progress awhile back in Pretty Lace.  It’s a very simple lace motif, added to a hair comb with some Swarovski Elements for embellishment.  I wore this for the Bridal Show that my Sister over at Vintage Wedding Gems did recently.

There are so many things that can be done to customize this.  I can use reclaimed, vintage thread from old doilies, bedspreads or table cloths.  I can also make it in new thread in dozens of different colors. It can be added to a clip or button loops instead of a comb. And embellishments are only limited by your imagination!

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Inspiration

After yesterday’s post, Intimidated I was going through my yarn to find colors for the June and July squares I have planned for the Granny Square Project.  I really have got to get caught up on that. (Now that it’s almost August.)

As I was searching through skeins I found one of many unfinished projects in my stash.  This Ripple Baby Afghan was one of my early favorites when I first started crocheting as I have mentioned in a previous post; and it gave me a great idea.  I can use this pattern for my first parasol! (With thread instead of yarn of course.)

parasolThis is an eight-pointed ripple afghan and I think would be perfect  to use as a very simple first attempt.  I can add a slight modification with rows of open stitches (dc, chain 2, skip 2 sts, dc)  in place of the white rows shown here to open the pattern up and highlight the ripple effect.

Once I get this one done, I think I’ll have more confidence to try something like this beauty.

But first I have got to get caught up on The Granny Square Project!  Once I finish the total of 4 squares for June and July I will start right up on this lovely.  I really hope it works as I’m expecting it to.  Very excited!

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Intimidated

parasol

There aren’t very many things that intimidate me in crochet, but two of them seem to go together.

I want to crochet a lace parasol.  That in and of itself doesn’t intimidate me.  I think what makes me shy away is the time.  You see, what does intimidate me is crochet instructions that come in the form of a diagram rather than written instructions.  diagram

I have never attempted to make anything from a diagram before.  I know a lot of people can only crochet from a diagram, and not from written instructions.  I am not one of them.  This just looks very scary to me.  I feel like I would get lost so quickly here.

And for some reason most of the patterns I’ve been able to find for crocheted parasols come in the form of diagrams.  Of course.  As I understand it, a written pattern for an eight sided doily can be used for a parasol, but there is also some modification that will likely have to be done, including continuing after the doily pattern has finished to fill the whole umbrella frame.  This leaves some designing work to be done.  And I’m not really afraid of that so much as I previously mentioned, as the time.  I’m concerned that I’ll have a hard time making sure I have enough (or not too many) stitches so that they parasol will open and be sufficiently stretched out to be flat but not too loose or too tight because you have to increase with each round as the diameter gets bigger.  This could require a lot of frogging and reworking, taking up precious time.

I’ll figure something out and get one made eventually.

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Pretty Lace

Lace

Just a quick post here.  Here is the latest piece I’m working on.  It’s a bit of pretty lace.  I didn’t design this one, just using the pattern.  It’s not washed or blocked yet, let alone even finished but it should come out very pretty.

I’m also working on a modification to the crocheted tape I posted.  It’s soaking in starch right now, so hopefully in a day or two I should have a neat surprise.

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Christmas Presents 2013 – One More!

Gift Card Holder

I almost forgot! For the nieces and nephews this year we were lazy and gave them gift cards.  But I dressed them up a little bit and crocheted gift card holders.

I made these holding two strands of size 10 thread and added a sparkly red button.

They turned out even cuter than I expected and I thought about making these to sell on Etsy.  What do you think? Would you pay $5 for one of these?

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Christmas Presents 2013

SnowflakesFinally, here are the Christmas presents that I made for the family this past year.  I’ve been wanting to make these as Christmas gifts for several years now.

I made a set of 5 starched snowflake ornaments for each of my and my Husband’s Parents and each of our siblings’ families.  I made the same snowflake for everyone rather than using a different pattern for each set.  I had it memorized very shortly and was turning them out in 30 minutes each by the time I got them all done.

I used different thread from size 5 to 20, including one set of gold thread and two different sets of red thread – all of which I already had on hand.  I did have to buy some ribbon for the hangers and I also sprayed each set with glitter spray once they were starched to add a little sparkle.  (That was a lot of fun in the freezing cold temperatures we had this December.)

I picked up old Christmas tins at the thrift store to put these in instead of boxing and wrapping.  I lined the tins with tissue paper to which I added a few drops of scented oil so that you got a nice whiff of Christmas when you opened the them.  In the end it took me a lot of time to make, starch and finish these, but everyone seemed to enjoy them.

Starching and pinning to shape.

Starching and pinning to shape.

This is scented oil from Bath and Bodyworks. I added just a few drops to the tissue paper before putting the ornaments in their tins.

One of the tins I picked up at the thrift store.

One of the tins I picked up at the thrift store.

This is the gold snowflake which I gave to my Mom.

This is the gold snowflake which I gave to my Mom.

This is my favorite.  I love how delicate it came out using the smaller thread.  My Mother-in-law got this one.

This is my favorite. I love how delicate it came out using the smaller thread. My Mother-in-law got this one.

I plan to make a bunch of snowflakes for myself to put on a second tree in our home eventually.  I’m talking about making a few dozen different snowflakes.  That sure will be a project!

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Filed under Doilies, Gifts

Copy-Cat Angel

Remember the Copy-Cat Pansy doily that I made while at my In-laws place for a visit?  Well during our visit with them again earlier this month I saw a crocheted angel that my Mother-in-Law had and decided to copy that too.  I’ve been wanting to make an angel for the top of the tree and this one was just perfect for it.  The left is what I came up with, and the right is the original piece.  

The angel was finished by soaking it in fabric stiffener and then pinning it to a styrofoam cone for shaping and then using hot glue to attach the halo and wings.

I didn’t get the shaping of the wings quite right.  I wasn’t able to finish the wings while I was there and had to work from pictures.  It was hard to see exactly what needed to be done for the wings from those pictures.  But it generally came out pretty good.

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Christening Gown

I got the pattern for this Christening Gown  designed by Kathleen Harell from my Mary Maxim catalogue.  Persephone wore this for her Baby Blessing, which we had given during the Christmas Eve Service this year. 

I really loved this pattern.  Clothing is generally not my favorite to crochet, however this pattern was very easy to work up, very well written and easy to read.  The bodice, which you can see better in the stock photo here, works up in one piece, from one side to the back to other side.    This is done with increases for shaping at each shoulder.  The sleeves and the skirt are both just worked onto the foundation of the bodice.  Click on the stock photo to go to this pattern for sale on the Mary Maxim website.

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