Art, Craft and Needlework, February 2015

[Nancy]

Ff that is SO awesome that your friend's daughter got a big floor loom! Mine is med. Size one that is the right size for me for the kind of weaving I like to do.

[FelineFriend]

Nancy , That's great that you have the size of loom that you want projects that size, woven from. Smart, too.

I went to:

http://www.ravelry.com

to search for crocheted baskets again. They were square baskets baskets in 3 different sizes. One size is small: Approx 3.5" square x 4" tall, the 2nd one is medium and approx 5" square x 4" tall, and the last one's large and approx 6" square x 4" tall. Decided to try to fit these things into the 3 baskets for BFF:
1- 1 blooming potted plant, since her birthday's May 6th,
2- 1 meditation book.
3- possible Word Search puzzles with pencil pen barrel with eraser? Or a candle? Or soaps or small lotion? Dunno yet.

The books are: "THE PROMISE OF A NEW DAY , which is a Hazelden Meditation Series, were way too expensive for my friend. I'll get a smaller cheaper meditation book at B 'n' N store, when we run into there, this next week.

Also, I feel, since BFF uses a lot of white in her house, with pastel grey, I have 1 Lbs. cone of white here and 1 Lbs. of grey-black-white variegated, for the basket's 2 strands.

I'm putting the finishing touches on DGD-2's dress and it's beautiful!

[FelineFriend]

DGD-2's crocheted dresses sure were a bit hit among DGD, her Dfriends, Dmommy, and Dmommy's friends! They fit or WILL fit this summer or fall. It's good, too, because this means I won't "need" to make her anything, until late summer for Autumn/Winter. I think I'll make her a poncho, a cute hat, and dress or vest. I'll see what patterns I find or run across, too. It's fun to crochet for her.

I found a cute caterpillar toy in "Crochet World," for DGS-turning-4-in-April. I need to crochet him another toy, I might do a snake for him, like I did for DGS-6.

I looked over my spa basket patterns. One's a small basket; one is large, which is 10" long. I've decided to put these items in:
1- Small basket will get a beautiful medium to small plant in full bloom,
2- Larger basket will get a yellow candle with pressed flowers on it, 1 small meditation book, 2 Word Search puzzles, 1 mechanical pen, and after that, I'm leaning towards a sachet or perfumed soaps, which are decorative.
I'll put the baskets, with the gifts in them, in a dragonflies pretty colors tote bag from Joann's and they only cost $1.99 at the check-out stand, where you wait in a long line. I have about 5 of them, gave 1 away to Ddil, with a gift once, and I'll give my BFF one, too. When I go again, I'll pick up 1 - 2 more. They make excellent gift bags, because they're reusable for the recipient.

I lost an earring today, which was given to me, by my Dsis, from Utah, and it was Native American. It had beautiful colors on it, with copper. I took the one earring I had, went to my fishing tackle box, where I keep jewelry-making tools, beads, etc... I took off the earring wire, put on an "O" ring and made a wonderful pendant! DH agrees with me, how this pendant looks outstanding, when you compared it with the 2 earrings! NOW I want to go through my jewelry, to make pendants!

[FelineFriend]

In the current issue of "Crochet World" magazine, there is an alligator scarf for a child. It has eyes, teeth, and a smile. The nose fits through his smile, to secure the scarf. I want to write it down in my projects journal, how I want to make one for each of my 3 youngest grandchildren, for Christmas. DGD = pink, DGS-4 = blue, DGS-6 = red. Also, I have some pullover sweaters patterns here, for girls and boys. I'd sure love to make them each a cute sweater for Christmas with a matching hat, too.

I still plan on making the 2-layer fleece throws, which are tied together, by their fringes, for Christmas, too, for the oldsters and adult kids and DH.

[Nancy]

I made up a pr. Of rainbow colored mittens my success at knitting thumbs has me excited! These were for my granddaughter to go with a hat and scarf in the same yarn that she picked out! Now I am thinking that if I start now I can get some mittens done ahead for the holidays in the fall! A great use for odds and ends of yarn and stash buster. They do not take long to knit up!

[FelineFriend]

Nancy , Are you using the rainbow yarn, from Red Heart Super Saver? I have a yarn, with those colors in it, OR primary crayon colors.

Your idea of knitting mittens reminds me how good it'd be if I crocheted my younger 3 grandchildren mittens for the holidays and Christmas, too. The little alligator scarves, to match, would be cute with some fun hats, in an animal style, too. I made them owl hats and red angry birds hats already though. I'm uncertain which creature I'd make them, for December. There are some pretty cute little bear hats and bunny hats. Those stocking caps, with stripes, that are like a long Santa cap, would be festive, fun and cute, too. That's a good way to use up scraps, too.

I have a pen pal, who is tired of crocheting the same baby afghans and also knitting the same baby afghans over and over again. I remembered a "brain-dead" afghan, to do, which means it's a no-brainer to memorize and it goes super fast, from beginning to end! It's called, "Box Stitch Carriage Robe," and it is at the Project Linus website. It's a pattern, which I've read about, several years ago, at another crochet website. It was made up in England and went to Germany. Later, it was brought to America, before we became America. The settlers and pioneers crocheted it, too. So the history of this afghan is awesome, to me. It measures 36" x 45" and when I held the tape measure up to me, it covers over both of my legs, on the outside of my hips. If you make this, adding a border, making it longer, it'd be a good size for a toddler's twin bed or for an adult, as a lap robe. It takes 20-ozs. to make it for a baby, but since you chain 100, for the baby sizes, you CAN chain 150 or more, to make it a larger afghan. I've made it in off-white before and also in light blue. I think it'd also be pretty in stripes, every 2 rows, too. It's very thick, warm, and cushioned, too, which makes it comfortable and more rugged. I'm glad I've printed it up for 2 pen pals, because I'm sure they'll enjoy it, too. It sure would be a pretty afghan for my DG-children, too.

[Nancy]

Yes the yarn was a red heart ombre with neon colors in It maybe called fiesta. I got the crochet chain done of the same yarn and hooked the mittens at each end of it with the chain across her shoulder and I showed her how to leave em in the coat so she would not loose them.

Learned a new cast on yesterday via u-tube the leader of the group could not get ot to go right at class.

I found most of the colors I wanted for the weaving warp the it is crochet thread! I got an orange yellow still looking for hot pink and teal or touq.!

More mittens to cast on some to frog! The learning curve has begun.

[FelineFriend]

Nancy , I've always thought the mittens, chained to put across the shoulders of the child and down into their coat's armholes, was a super idea, too. It prevents lost mittens and orphans, too! WTG!

I need to find my mittens pattern, someplace in my files, but right now I'm working on a box stitch carriage afghan for DGD-2. It's for the holidays in December. I've chained 19 more chains, than the pattern called for, to make it wider. I'm using medium-shade lavender for 3 rows, then I do 3 rows of pastel yellow, followed by 3 rows of a pastel lavender. This afghan takes 20 oz. and I have a lot of lavender and yellow. It'll be so fun to edge it in the different colors, around it to tie it all in together. I don't know "why" I started it last night. I just felt like doing a quick afghan, to focus on for a week or two.

I wrote some ideas, in my "Projects Journal," last night, too. DH told me he saw some fleece throws at Costco. We'll see if they're warm, a good price or not. If they're too expensive and are not warm enough, I'll get fleece on sale at Joann's, to make the 2-layer fringe-tied fleece throws. DH didn't want me to be making 5 - 7 of them, because he felt I'd wear myself out, when we might be able to buy warm ones, economically, at Costco. IF I do make them myself, I can always do one at a time, spaced out over the summer and fall months.

[Elizabeth]

Here is DD's Halloween costume, the ballgown that Anna wore in Frozen:

skirt.jpg

skirt detail.jpg

Each of those 10 panels had to be painted. I used a stencil.
To be continued.

[Elizabeth]

And here is the bodice front, back, and sleeves:

bodice front.jpg

bodice back.jpg

sleeve.jpg