another block and something else

I finished another block from Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet Blocks a few days ago and haven't made another since. This is "Kingcup," and I love that it is 3-D. I'm going to make a point to try some of the other 3-D blocks next. I didn't have any problems with this one and it worked out to be of normal size.

Also, I made this pincushion for a swap:

While I didn't take pictures of the process, I have outlined the steps I took to make it on my Ravelry project page. Now I want to make one for myself!

I still haven't taken pictures of what I made this weekend, but I can't wait to show you! Let's just say that it involves granny squares.

new years resolution

So what if it is February? It just sunk in just how many exclamation marks I use in my every day communication. This ends now! (<---you can't tell, but I just removed a few from right there)

first nine blocks

Most of my Christmas presents this year were books, and among them was 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton. I love most of the blocks in this book (with the exception of the majority of those that are not worked in the round--they just seem boring to me!), and I've decided to make a new afghan out of random blocks worked up in mostly my extra scraps of yarn. The downside of the patterns in this book is that everyone seems to have trouble getting the different squares to come out the same size. Most are within 1/4" of one another, but a few of mine are at least 1" bigger than the more typical ones. My plan is to even out the size before joining them all together by adding an extra row to the smaller blocks. We'll see how that works out! Oh, and the other downside to this book is that there really are not 200 different blocks because for some reason toward the back of the book, patterns begin to be shown in three alternate colorways, and the book actually counts these as additional blocks. I just don't get why craft books have to be misleading like this. Don't act like the same pattern in a slightly different size or color is a totally new one!

While reading up on this book, I discovered this flickr group where people are posting their finished blocks and then this Ravelry group for the book. It is exciting to see the awesome color combinations everyone is coming up with. I need to write down these corrections in my book! No wonder the "Peach Rose" block (second from the top on the left in the mosaic above) seemed to not really work the way it should have.

I'm new to Ravelry, and I have zero friends on there. Would you like to be my friend? :)

Due to prolonged winter-sickness around my house, I haven't gotten around to contacting any of the people who have offered to test the octopus pattern, but I will within the next few days, promise!

recipe cards

Last year at the annual library book sale, I picked up a small cookbook called "Festive Dessert Cookery" that was published in 1967. I was instantly drawn to the awesomely simple pink and orange illustrations throughout the book. So when a fellow swap-bot user contacted me to swap recipes, I knew I wanted to make some recipe cards with illustrations from the book. I love the way the turned out (and the recipes I used!), so I am including them here for you to download if you'd like. Print on cardstock, and you'll have 3" x 5" recipe cards in no time.

Download a PDF with six recipes and six blank cards for you to print out here. Recipes include my favorite peanut butter cookies, hot fudge cake, sandies (pecan shortbread-like cookies), pumpkin pecan pie squares, peanut butter balls, and cream cheese frosting. If it prints out funny, please let me know, as I currently have an empty color cartridge in my printer!

What is your favorite recipe? These peanut butter cookies are my absolute favorite!

octopus crochet

I really am working on a pattern for that cupcake, for those who have asked, but since I'm pretty new to crochet, I'm having a little trouble, not with the super cute top part, but with the seemingly simpler bottom half! So instead of finishing it, out of frustration, I made these instead. And I do have a followable pattern for them! Would any crocheters be interested in testing it out to see if it works for you?! :)

and the winners are...

Amy and Iris!! :) I'll be contacting you later today for where to send your prize!

envelopes

I've made lots of neat envelopes over the last year. Here are some of them! Notice a theme?

I love the way it looks like this guy is looking at the address!

This and the one below are embroidery floss on paper. All are from children's books about dinosaurs. :)

new yarn

I am struggling with writing crochet patterns. It's probably particularly hard because I have only really followed a few patterns before myself! Maybe I'm in over my head here!

I'm loving this Loops & Threads Yarn Gang yarn that Michael's has now. It comes in a variety of bright colors. I can't find anything on their website about it at all though!

privacy AND light!

privacy AND light!
Originally uploaded by Adaiha

Using the vintage shelf liner (not the sticky Contact kind, but the kind with the translucent white back) that I seem to find by the roll all the time at the thrift store, I have finally found a semi-permanent renter's solution for these three windows on my front door. You can see my entire living room through these windows, and that is something that I'm just not comfortable with, especially after our house was robbed last year! Before coming up with this, we had been taping colorful pieces of paper in the windows, but it just didn't look nice, no matter how hard I tried.

It suddenly dawned on me that this shelf liner would do the trick. it is pretty thin, and lets light through, but it is impossible to actually see through. I used the printed side facing in and the white side out, and from the outside of the house, you can still see the pattern, however more faintly. The windows themselves even feel warmer, so who knows? Maybe it has insulating properties, too! All I had to do was cut the pieces to size--I used my papercutter and made them a super tiny bit bigger than the windows--and then used double-sided tape around the edges to adhere to the inside of the window. Using ran my fingernail around the sides to get a clean-looking edge and to kind of seal it in. I love the way it looks!

crochet brooch giveaway

***winners have already been chosen! sorry!***

I made what seems like a million of these this weekend since the crazy snow kept us from leaving the house. The flowers and the bird are all designed from the book Crochet Adorned by Linda Permann, one the cutest books ever! The rainbow is motif #137 in Beyond the Square by Edie Eckman (which was one of my Christmas presents!). The cupcakes I made up myself for a friend for Christmas. Since I have an abundance now, the only logical thing to do is to give a couple of them away to you! Leave a comment by Monday, January 4th, telling me your favorite color (make sure I have enough info to contact you!), and you could be one of two winners!

snow on christmas day

snow on christmas day
Originally uploaded by Adaiha

Merry Christmas! I hope your day is great. We're stuck indoors unless we go by foot because of the massive (for Oklahoma!) snowfall yesterday. This is what Western Avenue looked like this morning.