catching up

I have never been very good at keeping a diary – and it took me several tries to figure this out – so why I thought it would be realistic for me to post at least weekly is beyond me.  And the fact that I don’t have internet at home doesn’t help either.  Anyway, excuses aside I am past due for an update on projects I’ve finished recently.


#1 Crochet Block blanketOkay, so this one is a prime example of how badly I either procrastinate or get in over my head with a project. I started this blanket when I was a junior in college working with a pattern from a skein of Lion’s Brand think and chunky yarn. I didn’t have the hook size required on the pattern so I used a worsted weight and the only size hook I had at the time (G/6 – 4.25 mm). It is a single crochet stitch worked in 9 strips alternating colors: 5 with pattern (A,B,C,B,A,C,B,C), and 4 with pattern (A,C,B,C,A,B,C,B) repeating the pattern once (with the yarn I had and the small hook, each block was 23 single crochet x 12 rows)When you have all the strips complete, sew them together and using color A, single crochet a border on each side equal to the width of your strips and a border around the entire edge.

Why this one took me over 5 years to finish is beyond me. I tend to take twice as long on items I’m making for myself over those I make for other people, which isn’t a bad thing, but then everything I want for me really starts to pile up!

#2 Crochet cable test squaresI pulled these from an afghan pattern in the Dec ’06 issue of Crochet Today. I saw this and wanted to learn how to cable since it was something I thought only knitting was capable of. The one on the left is a 3-post cable and the other is lattice cables. There were several other cable blocks in the pattern, but I did these two since it was only to work through the tutorial.

#3 my swing bag
The weekend before my trip to New York I decided I really wanted to make a bag like my cousin’s for myself. The night before I left for New York, I stayed up until 2 am to finish it. I know I didn’t start sewing until around 9 pm once I was done cleaning and packing, but it was one of those things I kept saying “Why am I doing this again?”. However, I was rarely without it the whole two weeks and am still using it almost daily. And I love it.

#4 Second set of J’s placemats
Over Labor Day weekend I visited friends in Sacramento, one of which was waiting on her placemats and napkins that I promised almost a year ago! They were more or less finished in construction and only needed the interfacing and topstitching. I figured it would be a little ridiculous if I went up there empty handed so I finally finished the last two steps and was able to deliver them completed. The only caveat is that I owe J one more napkin – which I finished last week. The fabric I bought was one yard, but only 36” wide (careful when buying on e-bay!) so I had to piece the last one together a little creatively since I didn’t have enough fabric to match the print. It worked out (I think). She loves both sets so far, and I am going to assume she won’t mind the odd napkin too much.

I feel like I can fully check these off my “list” especially since I’ve added several more projects that I want to work on. Right now (in addition to fixing the button down shirt) I’m trying to put together a couple of quilts and a bag for the kids of long-time friends I got in touch with again while in New York. I’ll post on those soon (hopefully).