more turtles

One night, a few months ago I was tucking my little girl into bed, and she asked me why I'm always crocheting presents for other people, but never crocheting anything for her. (Now, keep in mind, at the time this girl had in her possession two blankets, three crochet pinafore-style dresses, a pair of slippers, two winter hats, and a few little clothing articles for her stuffed animals all courtesy of the flying fingers of yours truly. However, we can also keep in mind that she is only six, and when you are six, it can be hard to remember things that aren't right in front of you. And, to be fair, it had been a few months since she'd received anything crocheted from me.)

I pointed out that I had actually made her a few items, and asked her why she was so concerned abut it, to which she replied that the things I made for other people were really cool--like that turtle blanket--and the things that I made for her were more normal and not as special.

Since my crocheting is something I do just for fun, and since I waited for a loooooonnnnngggg time to even have a little girl that I could crochet for, we decided that she would design her own blanket, and then I would crochet it up for her.

She got her handy dandy sketch pad out and immediately went to work:



And then, I went to work as well.



She was pretty pleased, and so was I.

Crochet Pants--an adventure in quirky

So, basically since I married him, my husband has been asking me to make him a pair of crochet pants--because he's an eccentric kind of guy who thinks that crochet pants would be randomly, retro-ly, and in every other way, awesome. I've blown him off the whole time, but this year, I totally surprised him with his heart's desire. 

It was hands-down, the best moment of Christmas! 












SO, you wanna know how I made these fine specimens of trousers? Well, okay then!

Here's my rough and tumble pattern:

Use Crochet Hook Size G

Make 64 Granny Squares consisting of five rounds

(The granny squares are made using groups of three dc)

Rnd 1&2, same color
Rnd 3: different color
Rnd 4: different color
Rnd 5: Black (or other constant color if chosen)--leave a tail for later whipstitching.

When time to assemble, make three rows of three squares for calf area, then two rows of four squares for thigh area. Do this twice, once for each leg.

Whipstitch together seven squares in a circle (do this twice). Whipstitch one of these 7-square circles around top of two legs, whipstitching the leg holes to eachother where indicated.

Whipstitch the other 7-square circles to the top of the first 7-square circle.

For Casing and Drawstring:  Make a row of triple crochets around top of last 7-square circle. When complete, fold over and stitch to bottom of round 5s on each square (casing made).

Make a drawstring by chaining the appropriate amount (175 chains works well) and then slip stitching into each chain. thread drawstring through casing.

Blazing Needles Indeed

So, awhile back, my mom was hanging around Salt Lake City, and she decided to go check out one of the places she and my dad lived when they were poor students at the University of Utah.

As she roamed around 1100 East and Harrison Ave, what should she spy but an exemplary specimen of Yarn Bombing!

Knowing that I'd be tickled pink, and being an awesome mom, she shot some pictures for my (and now your) enjoyment. What a treat!

Thank you, Blazing Needles, for adding a little bit of quirky to my day!

Nook and ChromeBook Covers

So, for Christmas, my husband received a NOOK tablet.  He loves it. I love it too, partially because it means we don't "fight" over the iPad anymore.

The Nook didn't come with a cover of course, so he asked if I would make him one, which I did.










My brother-in-law, seeing how handy my iPad case was, also requested a case--this one for his Chromebook.




I was happy to comply.

What have I been working on lately?

Why, I'm so glad you asked!




The Deets
Yarn used:  Peaches and Creme by Pisgah, and Sugar & Creme by Lily
Patterns used:  Various.  Generally found on the back of the yarn label, but some found through various e-mails, etc.
Television programs watched while completing these once my little girl is safely in bed and my husband is wrapped up in a project on the computer:  Murder She Wrote, Quantum Leap, White Collar, Master Chef, and In Plain Sight.

Next up, it's all slippers all the time.  Wa-hoo!