Unfinished Business

Quite some time ago, longer than I care to admit, my husband's Auntie L asked for my advice.  She plopped an old bag down in front of me with granny squares of every color made in the mid-1970s!  These belonged to her mother, the only crocheter in the family I believe.  Could I help her find the pattern?  What could she do with them?  Could I complete whatever it was?

Promising very little, I took the squares home.  In the bag was the second page of a pattern that was clearly NOT where the granny squares came from.  They had the smell of forgotten closet storage, they made me sad.  I put her bag in my craft room and it sat.  And sat.  Many months later, Auntie L gently asked me about the squares and I took them out to think.  I moved them around on my floor, wondering what I could do.  Then I stopped wondering about my dilemma and wondered about the woman who originally made them.  This woman was my husband's grandma and the only one I had never met in a vast family of loving and interesting people.

I wondered what type of projects these scraps of yarn came from-- baby blanket and afghan remnants perhaps?  Where were her hooks?  What did she think?  My mind wandered back to my own grandmother, my crochet teacher, and it made me think about her works in progress.  What happened to them when she passed?  I have blankets that she made, but nothing that was unfinished.  How wonderful it would have been for me to finished something of hers!

Since, I do not have unfinished projects from my own family, I looked on this project for my husband's Auntie with renewed energy.  I washed the granny squares and plotted an accent color to tie them all together.  For the next several months, everywhere I went, the grannies went.  I decided to stay true to her pattern, only adding another round to make them large enough for a lapghan.  Though I never met the grandma who made these grannies, I feel close to her-- touching her perfect rows of double crochet.

Around and around I crochet, weaving in her ends and adding my own to be weaved in.  The yellow granny you see in the photo is the last of the twenty eight 4" squares.  I will re-block them next, seam them together and do a few finishing rounds before handing them back to Auntie L as a memento of her mother.  Thinking about that day, makes me smile.  It's coming soon.

An inch at a time

My summer days are often spent in a whirlwind of kid things.  Prepping meals for bottomless stomach boys, board games, reading in the tree house, field trips to museums and parks, crafting and cleaning up from crafting, photo-taking amidst giggly silly faces, more food prep and a load of laundry here and there.

My summer nights are much the same.  Bike riding and walks in the cool evening, ice cream drips and impromptu obstacle course making... more photos, more giggly silly faces, more of life.  So, with that in mind, my mind cannot keep complex crochet patterns memorized.  Enter the granny stripe project!

I found this pattern from Lucy of Attic24 last year and thought "one day I'll have patience for that".  It's not hard, just time consuming and sometimes boring if you sit and sit and sit at it.  My lack of time makes it perfect!  It is easy to set up and easy to pick up/put down whenever I want to.  I took every color of Cotton-Ease in my stash and made a pattern of not having a pattern and off my hook went.  I'm trying to do one stripe a day-- two rows at about an inch or so.  By the time school starts, I should be mostly done with it.

Inch by inch it keeps me crafting during hectic days and nights with Em and Ro and Rob.  It's what I have time for right now and that's enough for me.

My berry cup runneth over with tomatoes

Another weekend spent in the garden, bent over tomato plant after tomato plant trying to get to all the ripe tomatoes... we've had an abundance of grape and cherry tomatoes this season. I had to cut back one of the plants as it was invading my raspberry climbing wires! As I wrote earlier today on the CelticMommy Facebook page (have you been there to "like" it yet?), I love being out in garden each morning, barefooted and bumbling about. Sadly this morning, a large cherry tomato was in my path and got squished! Is tomato juice a good foot exfoliant?

Anyway, after distributing about 250 of these beauties to surrounding neighbors and relatives, I wanted to get a quick pic of some of the rest of them in my beautiful new berry bowl made by Melissa of the Bridgman Pottery blog and Etsy.  I love that this bowl was made for me by Melissa and that the bowl has its' own uniqueness that typifies her wabi sabi creative spark!  Like Melissa, I too believe that the beautiful things we collect should be used and not sitting and collecting dust.

To add to that sentiment, I will soon be working on a new crochet project with some beautiful yarn that has been sitting in my stash.  Catrina of Because Mommy Said So created this sweet hat (Ravelry Link) that looks both warm and stylish!  As soon as I am done with my current seekrit project, my own pattern to be coming soon, I'll be crocheting the Nottinghamshire hat for my noggin.

I hope your cup runneth over today with all good things!

Have yarn-- Will crochet

He holds the skeins of yarn in his hands gently... looking at the beautiful blues with a little grin on his face.  He knows these skeins are earmarked for him and this fact excites him... he keeps jumping up and down with them as if they were a new set of Hot Wheels cars.

I plug in my yarn parameters and project preferences on Ravelry and let him sit down at the desk to begin the selection process.  This wee one who rarely uses a computer happily looks through several patterns ... he goes back and forth with little comments about buttons and zippers and pockets and hoods.  Many minutes go by.  Many questions are asked and answered.  Finally, he points:

"This one Mamma... make me this one, can you?  Please?  I like it the BEST!"  Ro declares with a chortle and a sweet babyface grin.

And so begins my very first sweater!  I'll be using Spud & Chloë Sweater in Lake and Malabrigo Rios in Azules.  You can see a bit of it just off to the right in the above photo.  The pattern looks like it should be pretty straightforward - The Just Right Sweater.  I'm off to finish dinner and wind some yarn.  :-)

Contemplation and Camaraderie

Awhile back I bought these 3 skeins of Malabrigo Silky Merino in gorgeous Cape Cod Gray... a beautiful neutral color I hoped to add to my wardrobe. 

The very next day I spotted Annette Petavy's intricate looking but unfussy Violet Points Scarf and knew the two were meant to be together!  I wanted to crochet the scarf with two skeins and make a nice matching pair of fingerless mitts or perhaps a hat with the remaining skein.

After the hustle and bustle of the holidays, kid vacations and house painting died down, I was able to start on the scarf.  The pattern is quick to memorize and really very pretty.  I'm excited about it... but... I've been crocheting this very pretty maybe shawl/maybe scarf for about a week now and I'm stuck in contemplation about it.  At two skeins in, I'm thinking I will use this more as a shawl rather than a scarf.  Unblocked, it is ten inches wide and 37 inches long.  I know it will not get too much wider but I was really hoping for a bit more length.  Ah the joys of yarn substitution.

So, I've been talking with two fellow crocheters on Ravelry about my dilemma and I thought I should mention them.  I have never met either lady, but both have been so sweet to encourage my project and they have been leaving me sweet comments and private PM's about it.  For those of you who do not use Ravelry, it is a free online website to connect with like-minded crafters-- mostly of the crocheting or knitting variety.  Spinners, weavers, dyers and more are also on there. 

The camaraderie I get from these people is quite wonderful to say the least.  I'd say about 1/3 of my followers on this blog are from there!  Supportive, opinionated and loving, these men and women find one another in all sorts of groups, like "Yarn Hoars", "At Home Moms", "Crochet Liberation Front" and more.  If you have a love of Harry Potter or the color green... there's a group of people to share the love with!

Anyway, back to my scarf/shawl... I still am contemplating.  Should I use the 3rd skein to add 9 inches on each side or should I just finish up the borders?  I think I'm going to block it and see where it's at.

To be continued...

January 22, 2011 Update:  I ended up using all three skeins and it is the perfect size!

Mushy gushy post for my hubby



Rob with beanie and banjo

 I have asked my hubby many times if there was anything he would like me to crochet for him... scarf, sweater, hat, anything!  This sweetly easygoing man does not want much.  "Just a beanie would be fine... fitting close to my head.  Can you make that?"

So, I made him one.  I used the Simple Skateboarder Beanie by Chie O'Briant with Noro Kureyon.  He wore it!  He wore it often.  And then what happened?  It wasn't accidentally washed and felted... at least that would still have been in the house... I lost it at Disneyland.  Me, my fault.  :-(  Sad face.

So, when I realized this, I went to my yarn stash to find another hubby worthy yarn.  I wanted a color uniquely him and also warm and soft.  (Noro may be pretty but soft it ain't!)  Enter the gorgeous Madelinetosh Tosh DK yarn in Charcoal.  It's washable for one and hand dyed in small batches for the pretty semi solid look I was wanting.

Since the pattern by Chie was written for a thicker yarn, I had to modify the pattern just slightly (notes in my projects on Ravelry) to compensate.  The end result you see above.  I love it and I think Rob does too.  Now, we just need our winters to be 30 degrees cooler so that I can make him a sweater!

Beginning ripples

This is a dilly of a project... Ro's ripple blanket!  I love the things that Lucy of Attic24 makes and finally decided to make two ripples of my own for Em and Ro.  Each blanket will fit their beds and I am hoping I have enough yarn!!

Fanfare and drumroll please for my "work in progress" photograph!

Yes, that's it... 5 rows!  I am using Biscuits and Jam's super cool random stripe generator for the changing of the colors, crocheting 2 rows of each color.  I have 7 colors of mostly blues for Ro and Em's will be mostly yellows.

This cool weather we are having in So. Cal has given me the urge to make warm bowls of Corn Chowder.  I think I'll change the recipe up a bit as I am often prone to and if it comes out well, I'll post my modified version in the coming days.

Also coming up, I have a few new crafts for kids and adults alike.  A glass tile pendant and a set of magnets made from children's artwork.

More soon...

Crafting for the holidays

Please don't shoot me or send mental hate darts my way when reading the title... I've actually been holiday crafting for the past month or so whenever I have a spare moment.  I usually don't post completed items so that my family members are surprised, but I'm quite chuffed with this project.

Pattern and Yarn Info:  This is a free pattern called the Elise Shawl by Evan Plevinski.  The yarn is Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in the Lichen colorway.  Can you say yummy?  I LOVE this yarn!



Since I have set the ambitious goal of (current known queued items) 2 sweaters, 2 afghans, 2 shawls, wee sewn project bags, 2 hat/cowl sets and some handmade stamps and necklaces, I have to keep up the pace!  Handmade holidays are a labor of love and completely worth it for me personally.

Is anyone else crafting yet?

On the hook

Just a quick update on a beautiful scarf/cowl giftie I have been working on.  The pattern is called Seduction from Chicken Betty (a.k.a. Sara @WEBS Yarnstore) and is easy to memorize.  Well... it was easy once I had the 10 minutes it took to concentrate on memorizing the pattern (as in, being a mommy means 10 minutes uninterrupted = a miracle), the project has been able to move along swiftly!

This yarn is so scrumptious!  I am using Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend in white that I bought from the one and only decent yarn shop within 15 miles of my house!  I haven't decided on the trim color yet, so you'll have to be surprised by that when I show off the final product.

Edited to add:  DONE!!

Happy Crocheting everyone!

Crafting and Crocheting

I know I haven't been posting much, but a lot of blogs are in the works and nearly done! The end of the school year and preparations for summer activities have kept the CelticMommy family rather busy!

First, I bring you a few quick photos and, tomorrow morning, a recipe for some tasty turkey meatloaf. But tonight, pretty pictures! The boys have been having fun crafting. I swear, customizing shirts with freezer paper stencils never gets old! Here are Em and Ro's latest creations. This summer, we plan to cover a few other shirts with fabric cut-outs. I'll make a quick tutorial for that soon.

On the crocheting front, I've finished a bunch of hats and mitts for Stitches from the Heart.

Combined with my fellow knitters and crocheters, these items are being taken to Stitches in Santa Monica on Thursday and will hopefully adorn a preemie or newborn child's head soon after! There are oodles of free knitted and crocheted patterns out there if you would like to donate some stitches from your heart.

Favorite free hat pattern #1.

Favorite free hat pattern #2.

Favorite free mitts pattern.

Last photo of the day is a new bathmat for Em and Ro's bathroom. I used the crumpled griddle stitch pattern for the center from The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches and a simple SC border. By crocheting with two strands of cotton, the bathmat went super quick and it is plush enough to soak up the water. Oh, and it's machine washable! BONUS!

Tomorrow's blog with be about turkey meatloaf. Yummy! 'Nite all!

The Window Bag

Woo Hoo!!  The bag I first started working on on our Sequoia trip last year is finally done! 

The pattern was fast and easy and perfect for the many hours drive up and back to Sequoia.  Felting came and went lickety split... but, I got stuck on finding the right material for the blanket stitching that goes around the handles and the windows (those cute circles)! 

Then, I kept hedging on actually sewing in the fabric... this pretty pretty stuff from Superbuzzy that I couldn't bring myself to cut into.

This past week, I was preparing for another bag project and realized this UFO needed to be finished.  About 1/2 an hour later, it was done!  Yay!!!

I have already started and finished another project out of this book that I need to blog about, but here is the info on this one.

Pattern Info:  The Window Bag by Julie Armstrong Holetz in the book Uncommon Crochet
Yarn Info:  Cascade 220 in Irelande, available at The Loopy Ewe

Finished & Continuing Projects

My sweet neighbor had her 2nd baby six weeks early and I was not done with the baby's blanket that I intended to give her... aack! But his 100th day celebration (a Korean tradition) is coming soon and I cannot wait for her to see the blankie.

It is a single crocheted blanket, 2 1/2 feet wide and 3 1/2 feet long. I finished the edges with two wrap-around rows of single crochet to give it a little border.

I kept a journal of my thoughts and memories of when and where I worked on it to go along with it as a gift for her... so she will know it began in January at my in-laws... just when she found out she was having a boy. And it was completed shortly after Michael was born while I was sitting with my boys in the back yard. I hope she knows how much fun and love I put into it for her and for her sweet wee one.

Here's a pic of Michael at 6 weeks (so around when he would have been born) old. The hands he is holding belong to his 4'10" grandma to give you an idea of size. He is a super healthy and chubby swetheart now who loves to just lay on your chest for hours-- I love holding him!







The second yarn project I have been working on are these cotton washcloths for a bridal shower. They are half double crocheted, back loop stitched with a single crochet border at the top and bottom. 2 down, 6 to go! The next two will be double crocheted in a linen green color.