As promised (belatedly)

Here is the throw that I made for one of my greatest friends ever. She has always been an amazing woman and I love her dearly. I wanted to make something to match her bright, happy personality. Something that she and her beautiful family can snuggle under on the couch. It ended up being larger than a standard sized throw, but well worth the effort, time and love that went into it.  Here it is:

This was stretched out across most of my mother-in-law’s living room floor. It could probably even be used on a twin bed for a child/small teen. I’m 5’3 and it was almost perfect for me to sleep under. lol

It was done entirely in double crochet…

Except for the border, I decided to go with a single crochet.

I alternated the colors, until I got to the middle and I decided to reverse it. I wasn’t entirely sure that I liked it until I laid it out and seen it finished.

I chose all neon, “happy” colors that matches RH’s Blacklight variegated yarn, except for the purple. I decided on purple instead of black because I liked the way it looked more.

This was definitely a labor of love and thanks for such a great person who has seen me through the worst and best times in my life. She’s always been there to listen and help me with good advice. Thank you Tracy, for just being you! 🙂

On the subject of Christmas…

I finally finished two afghans I was working on simultaneously. I can’t post pictures of them yet, because they’re gifts and I don’t want to ruin the surprise. Look for a later post for them, though.

Currently I’m working like a mad woman on my first ever attempt at a crochet graph scarf pattern for my dad as a Christmas present.

It’s slow going since Tuesday I got a new tattoo (lucky number 7).

This beauty is in honor of my mom, who passed away due to Lung Cancer exactly 9 years ago on Tuesday. (12-16-05) It’s still healing and dark, but should lighten up to the more desired gray I was going for.

This is the drawing of it.

Obviously, having a fresh tattoo on my dominant arm, I didn’t dare attempt to crochet on Tuesday at all. I tried a little bit on Wednesday until I couldn’t stand the sensation anymore. Today,  Thursday, I did get more finished on the scarf.

When it’s finished, I have another afghan to finish up for the husband to use in his truck when he is on the road and one for my youngest niece. His should be fast since it’s just a basic granny stripe and hers is in the Jackson Square pattern, with a few differences. Instead of four colors, I’m using five, so one color will be a different pattern than the others that I’m going to do in a ribbed stitch, and instead of making each individual square only 8 inches, I upped them to 12 inches each so that the finished afghan will be 60″ wide and 72″ long minus the edging, instead of 48″ × 48″ as the pattern calls for. I want her to be able to use it for a few years and she’s already almost as tall as my 5’3″! lol When I finish hers, it will be a birthday present for her at the end of March, when she will sadly be turning 11. She’s grown up too fast on us!

When those are done, I will finally make an afghan for myself. Still haven’t figured out what pattern to do mine in. I haven’t made a ripple afghan yet, so I thought about trying my hand at that.

I have too many ideas for things to make and time keeps slipping away from me. So back to the scarf because I really think that my dad will love it and I want to get it to him before Christmas. He’s as much of a Wildcats fan as I am!! 😉

UK Santa Hat is Finito! :-)

I finally did finish the UK Santa hat, the same night I last posted as a matter of fact, but time got away from me and I forgot to post the finished product.

I’m definitely not crazy about the pom pom, but the last one I made was in elementary school X number of years ago…lol I trimmed it some more though, but failed to capture a picture of the improved version. >.<

It was a labor of love and finally something that I made for me in the midst of going crazy trying to finish up the other things that I was making, too. Christmas is a crazy and busy time for any crafter though, I reckon.

Crochet Santa Hat

After the fire we suffered in July, I was left with virtually nothing to wear, about 99% of my clothes were scorched and burned, so I’ve slowly been rebuilding a wardrobe. My old winter coat was barely recognizable and all that was left were sleeves, collar and part of the upper back. So my husband helped me search for a new coat, something that could keep me warm because I’m hot natured and never do well in cold weather. He found the perfect one for me on the L.L. Bean website, (found a great coupon code online that took off almost half and had free shipping!) the ‘Winter Warmer Coat’ in black, the long one that falls just above the knee, not the short one that falls to the hip. Honestly, just because I mainly can’t stand having a cold butt, is why I chose the longer one. I found gloves that I love to go with it in red. They’re the convertible ones that have a little flap to go over the fingerless tips to make them mittens. I decided to make an ear warmer to match the gloves, I just haven’t gotten to it yet. lol

First, I wanted to make a crocheted Santa hat. So I looked for a pattern I liked and found one on the Red Heart site, pattern by Edie Eckman. I made some changes, because I wanted my own UK-colored hat. So I’m just using white for the brim and pom pom, royal blue for the hat, both super saver. The rest of the pattern is being done as written. 

I’ve only gotten half of it finished,  but I’ve tried what I have finished on and it will be perfectly warm for me.

You work the brim first in single crochet in back loops only to create the ridges, the rest is done in double crochet. Easy, simple and works up quickly. I would have it done already if I had more time to devote to it. Hopefully I will have it finished before bed tonight. 🙂