Tank Top

I made this top from the “Glittering Gold” pattern in 24-Hour Crochet Projects, pattern written by Sandy Scoville.

I was kind of excited about this because, besides hats which don’t really count, it was my first real “wearable.” I’m *pretty* sure I made the small size, but this was completed awhile ago so I don’t quite remember. Still, its too large for me. The top came out well, but it’s just too wide to fit me at all. I think if I made this again, I would work fewer stitches per row and measure it against myself as I went to make sure it’s the right fit. Also, this top is short – it has to be paired with something high waisted (unless you like that really cropped, 90’s baby doll look.) If I made it again, I would also add more rows so that it would come down longer.

Ugh, I know - not the best picture, but it's the best I could get today.

Cows!

So I talk a lot about my family’s farm to my friends, but I don’t think I’ve ever shown any real pictures of it. Here are a couple of our cows. These aren’t all of them – my step-father had just called them and some were still making their lazy way over to our end of the field. They moo a lot while they do that – it’s like they’re yelling at everyone. It’s funny.

Charcoal, my favorite cow, is in the front.

My family keeps hereford cows. We have around 18 right now including cows, calves, bulls, and steers. They have a lot of room for running around (more like wandering around slowly) and generally seem to be pretty happy.  Charcoal, the black cow, is crossed with another breed, which is why she looks different. She’s one of our oldest cows and is my favorite. She’s totally in charge of the others and is always shoving them out of her way. Also, she loves to eat and thinks everyone coming near the fence is probably doing so because they have food. (Sounds like a certain dog I know.)  Because of this, she lets people pet her. Sometimes, she’ll even drool on you.

Here’s another picture. I don’t come home much, so most of our younger cows are pretty suspicious of me.

And here are some of our calves, hiding in some bushes. They were so cute. It reminds me of Bambi where Bambi’s mom tells him to hide in a thicket.

So there you go. I don’t just make up the cow stories to sound cool. Maybe next time, I’ll get some decent pictures of our pig.

Snood

My sister really likes to go to the Rennaisance Festival. This year, she’s planning on dressing up and needed something to do with her hair. She wanted a knitted snood originally, since she knits. The pattern she loved on ravelry was crocheted, though, so she asked me to make it.

The pattern uses yarn and thread held together. This one was made with black yarn held together with some shiny black and gold thread. Overall, I thought this pattern was easy to understand and fairly accurate. I suggest that anyone making this snood NOT follow the length listed in the pattern. Instead, you should hold the snood up to your own head occasionally to sort of try it on and see if it’ll fit. The pattern length headband was incredibly long and I don’t know anyone with a head big enough for a snood that size to fit. I had to frog some and redo it so that it would work out. Also, the little bun holding portion could be made smaller if you have less hair – just do the increases up to 7 or 8 instead of to 9 and decrease as the pattern says.

These pictures are of me wearing the snood. I look kind of weird in them, but the snood looks pretty good. It’s REALLY cute in person!

This is the front/top of the snood. I almost left off the scallops, but that made it look more 1987 than Renfest.

A sort of 3/4 view of the back. You can see the little rings. The pattern calls for a rose to be crocheted and attached there, but my sister wanted that left off.

The back of the snood, straight on.

The pattern can be found here.

Bad Dog

Buddy looking evil.

Baby Hats

Here are a couple of baby hats I’ve made for my niece. I love making baby hats because they’re so small that they work up quickly. They’re also usually really cute!

The first hat is a little one with bear ears. I think this turned out wonderfully! It’s much too big for a newborn, but will fit her in a couple of months, I think. I made this from a pattern called the Beary Cute Hat. I actually finished the hat months ago and just needed to put on the ears. If you look at the pattern, the ears on that hat are quite large and teddy bear-ish. I didn’t like those very much, especially not in this color, so I free handed the ears. I really like the way they turned out – especially since I was in a dark movie theater while I crocheted them.

The next hat I made is called the Stocking Hat for Babies. I changed this one a little bit, too. Mine is made in a blue variegated yarn, so I didn’t bother with striping. I didn’t bother with a tassle either and made a pom pom instead. Basically, this is because I’m lazy and already know how to make pom poms. Also, they’re really fun to make.

Dog Walk

Buddy and I had a really great weekend. We joined a local meetup group for dog walkers. On Sunday, Buddy, about nine or ten other dogs/owners, and I walked along a local trail. The walk was really nice – about 1.8 miles both paved and unpaved. Buddy’s about 9 years old now and tires out a little more quickly than he used to, so this was the ideal walk for him. Long enough to be fun and a little tiring, but not so long that it was exhausting.

Since this was our first meetup, I was a little worried about how he’d act. He’s normally alright around other dogs, except that when he goes up for the initial sniff, he can be a little exuberant. He sniffs a little too long and leans in a little too close for some dogs. Most of the dogs were fine with him, but he did get warning barks twice and got a couple of warning growls/air snaps from a little dog. The poor guy was probably about 1/8 Buddy’s size, so I can see where having a giant dog looming over him was scary. Buddy backed off pretty quickly every time. He even made friends with one of the barkers before the walk was over. He got along well with everyone else.

After a little walking, we all went to rest in a gazebo in the park. It was nice to get some shade and have a little relaxing playtime with all the dogs. Buddy wasn’t too interested in playing with them, actually, but a lot of the owners had cookies, so he got all excited. Mostly, he just hung out next to me. One of the other owners remarked about how attuned he was to me and how he was a “great dog.” I really wish I could take credit for how well behaved he is, but I honestly think he’d be this way for anyone. He’s just a good boy.

Anyways, here are some pictures:

This was right before everyone else got there and the walk started. I got a lot of questions about the box around his neck. It’s a Pup Light. I got it as a christmas present and use it all the time. My neighborhood is really dark at night and this not only helps us see, it makes us more visible to cars. He’s also wearing his fancy padded car harness. His last one doesn’t fit anymore, probably because he’s no longer hugely overweight like he was when I got him. One dog owner said he was “all tricked out.”

Here’s another one of him sitting. His ears look so cute here! I got lots of comments about those. People seem to love the airplane ears. I did take pictures of Buddy doing other things, but those all have other people/other people’s dogs in them, so I’m not posting them here.

This one is just kind of funny.

For all of my shameless dog bragging earlier in the post, there is one thing Buddy is really bad about. Food. He will wait for you to drop your guard, then come soaring out of nowhere and steal your food from you as it’s halfway to your mouth. It’s a talent. I’ve been working with him on sitting quietly in his bed or kennel while I’m eating, and especially while guests are eating because he always thinks he can get away with more from other people. We’re also working on the “Wait” trick so he doesn’t knock his food bowl out of my hand while I’m lowering it to the floor. This is him doing that trick. He’s gotten pretty good, though he’s not perfect and it takes a lot of work for him to do this. You can tell he really, really wants me to say “OK!” and let him eat the kibble.

Picture Update

I realized that the picture of the baby jacket from my last post is a little difficult to see. I’m not the best photographer, but I’ve taken a few more pictures and gotten a pretty good one. It’s clearer, a little larger, and it isn’t coming at the jecket from a strange angle. This lets you see the shape of the garment a little better as well as the stitch pattern, the ribbons, and the colors. I just love this project!

Ribbon Trimmed Matinee Jacket

Baby Crafts

So a friend of mine was having a baby awhile ago and I made all these things to send to her. Then I never sent them and now the baby is much too big. A family member of mine is about to have a little girl, but I don’t think these are her style. I’ll have to hold onto them until I find someone who’d like them, I guess.

I’m most proud of the crocheted jacket because it took the longest. Also, I have a really bad habit of starting patterns enthusiastically, then putting them away and never picking them back up again. Ever. So the fact that I finished something and it turned out right is awesome (unlike the last tank top I tried which turned out really wide and short, despite my perfect gauge swatch.)

The chicken I just made for fun. He’s kinda cute, but I make lots of random stuffed animals, so he didn’t take too long. And the onesies were all super quick crafts, which is probably the only reason I got three of them done. Basically, two of them involved sticking pre-cut foam stencils into fabric paint, then touching up lightly. The fox was a little more complicated in that I had to draw a stencil. As you can probably tell, I have NO drawing skills. The picture I based the fox off of is here.

From “The Family Crochet Book”, Australia, 1971

Lazy Dog

Buddy lounging in a sunny spot.

Crochet Hook Case

This is my first post on my new blog! I intend to post pictures of my crafts here, as well as occasional links and pictures of my pets. Mostly, I crochet, but I also do a few other things, as you’ll see on the blog.

To get things started, here is something I made yesterday. It is a crochet hook case made out of an issue of “Marvel Romance Redux” and packaging tape. I was almost sad to cut up the comic – it’s pretty funny. This is made out of a story called “Too Smart to Date!”

I’ve been looking for a crochet hook case that is both non-ugly and affordable for awhile now, and I’ve been unable to find one. I actually finished most of this Sunday night, but ran out of packaging tape. I bought some more tape and finished it yesterday. In total, it probably took me an hour and a half or so to complete, but only because I was also watching TV and was being kind of slow.

Case- front

Hook case – back

Hook case – opened

Close up of hooks

It’s a little bit larger than a CD case when it’s folded up. It folds into thirds and there’s a flap over the hooks to keep them from falling out of the folded case. All of my hooks fit into the little slots so far, except for my Brittany hook. The fancy handle makes it too long for the pockets I made.  There is a large pocket to the left of the hooks to hold notions like scissors, tapestry needles, and a tape measure. The pocket extends to the area behind the hooks and makes a great spot for holding folded up patterns. Basically, I’m really happy with this little hook case.

I made it by covering the comic book pages in packaging tape, then arranging and attaching them together with more packaging tape to form pockets for hooks and the larger pocket. It doesn’t sound very durable, but I’ve been making wallets this way for years. I haven’t had one break yet and small rips can be easily repaired with more packaging tape. I figure my hooks are just as safe in here as they would be in a cloth case.