I like it when crafters post pictures of where they do their crafting.  Normally my spot is downstairs in the big comfy chair, but for the last month or so this has been my crafty spot.

My view from the crafty spot

Yep, I've been crocheting on my bed.

It's been pretty chilly outside and the upstairs is warmer then the main floor.  The Husband got a bunch of Xbox games at Christmas and has been playing them.  So while he's doing that I turn on the space heater, settle in with some TV (when I took that picture I was watching Ice Road Truckers, now I'm re-watching Supernatural), and get down to some serious yo-yoing.  Everything I've got fits in to that little basket.  It holds my yo-yo's (I store them in a Juice Carafe, it makes them look pretty), my little balls waiting to be made into yo-yo's, my nail clippers, my hook, and the joining yarn.  I've usually got a book on the bed too and take reading breaks here and there.  Since I've made so many squares, I have had to add another basket to hold all the completed squares.  It's nice being accomplished!


Sometimes, this little guy joins me and lays exactly where all my stuff is.  I don't mind though.  He's pretty adorable.

Bailey, The Dog

Just some snaps of stuff I've made but never blogged about.

2 Dishcloths made out of the Crazy Pattern!

Close Up of One of the Dishcloths

A Mini Bag -- Which was supposed to be a Market Bag -- Dunno what happened to it.

Fingerless Gloves & Scarf in the same style -- Made For Andrew's Teacher I guess his teacher wasn't entirely sure what the fingerless gloves were when she opened the gift.  One of the boys in the class exclaimed, "They're Leg Warmers!"  lol

Close Up of the Scarf details.

I know what y'all are thinking.  I really do.  I'd be thinking the same thing.

I know you're thinking, "How can this girl have any more scraps?  All she ever does is de-stash and make things from leftovers."  To be honest, I'm starting to wonder the same thing.  Where does it all come from?  I know a lot of it comes from other people.  My grandma, aunts, and all their little Senior Citizen friends have donated their leftover yarn to me over the years.  Some of it came from actual projects I have done.  Some of it mated with each other and made new yarn.  Honestly.  Girl Guides honour.

Years ago, I started to make Yo-Yo's with the purpose of making an afghan out of them.  I made hundreds of them and then lost interest in the project.  I seem to remember not wanting to join them up because I didn't like the joining stitch.  They sat there for years until just after Christmas when I found a new way of joining the yo-yo's on Ravelry (Oh Ravelry, how I love thee).  Basically, instead of joining all the yo-yo's together one after the other, you make them into 4 x 4 blocks.  Like this:


I love the idea of making the yo-yo's into 4 X 4 blocks with a nice border instead of just monotonously joining them together one after the other...

I had to edit the pattern quite a bit because it calls for yo-yo's with a 15 stitch circle...but mine only have 12.  The first couple of blocks I made are a little wonky...but I've got everything under control now.

I love watching the stack of my squares grow.  I pile them up and move them around and lay them out flat all in a row and then pile them back up again. They all look so lovely.  I've played with colour combinations (like all red yo-yo's), done them in colour rows, made patterns, and enjoyed the pure randomness of the yo-yo's as well.

The only downside to this project is all the ends that need weaving in.  There is a lot of stopping and starting in each square.  I am definitely not looking forward to that.  I wonder if Andrew is old enough to learn how to weave ends in?

This Christmas I made these little Mario/Nintendo figures for Andrew out of Perler Beads.  My kid loves all things Mario-related.  Luigi, Bowser, Mario, Yoshi.  Retro Nintendo and the New stuff.  He loves it all.  Surprisingly there is not very much licensed stuff for All Things Mario.  We found a DS case, some little plastic figurines, he got a T-Shirt with Mario on it.  That was about it.

Anyways, because I enjoy making gifts at Christmas time and because I know how much Andrew loves Mario and because of the scarcity of all things Mario I decided to purchase Pearler Beads and go to town making little Mario related figures.  I also decided at the last minute to use the Pearler Beads to make the letters of his name to hang in his room.  What was I thinking?  That was an exercise in wanting to pull my hair out.  (I do have big plans to take pictures of these little things because they are so beyond adorable...until then you'll just have to imagine them).

Now, I have about 15,000 (okay, maybe 10,000) of these beads left over.  All different colours.  Pink, Red, Maroon, Light Blue, Dark Blue, Light Green, Lighter Green, Clear, Sparkly ones, oranges, browns.  Of course it seems like there's not enough white or blacks one to make exactly what want or for outlining.  They are all sitting in a pot on my china cabinet right now.

I need to figure out what to do with all of them.  I do want to make a few more little figurines for Andrew.  I definitely want to make a Fire Flower, Yoshi, and some coins.  But that will only use about 100 beads.  I'll still have 9,900 to use up.  I could make key chain sprites out of them.  They would be good to make Christmas Tree Decorations with (but Christmas like 11 months away...it's hard to think of Christmas in January).  Maybe fridge magnets?  Maybe window hanging things (you know...those things you hang in windows so birds don't fly into them...what the heck are they called?)?  Maybe coasters?   Maybe something for the kids at church?  Maybe make something to sell at church to fundraise?

The hardest part is finding or making a pattern to follow.  The possibilities are definitely endless with these Pearler Beads.

So, this year I want to make the most BEAUTIFUL and most PERFECT and most COMFY and most WONDERFUL bedspread for our bed.  I want it to last forever and to look good forever.  I want it to be a labour of love that everyone loves to wrap themselves up in.  I want it to be cherished for generations.  I want it to be super warm and never rip or tear or come apart.

Tall order, eh?

This is what I want to make.  It's called a Babette Blanket and I think that they are the most beautiful, original, perfect, comfy, wonderful blanket that you could ever make.  I am just worried about 1.) sewing/joining it all together and 2.) blocking/gauge/making sure all the squares are the right size. 
(Babette Blanket Photostream blatantly stolen from the Flicker Babette Blanket Group)

I can watch the photostream of the Babette Blanket all day long.  I am just absolutely in love with this blanket, but like I said above both sewing together/joining and gauge/blocking in crochet are not my strong suits.  I'd hate to pick a project that I will just end up hating.  So, I continue to look for a different, more friendly pattern...and I continue to just watch the photostream.


I am also quite fond of Ripples.  I grew up watching my Mom and Grandma make Ripples. 
(Ripple Photostream blatantly stolen from Flickr Group)

They remind me of being a little kid at Grandma's and making forts with the ripple afghans.   I remember my Mom counting and glaring at the pattern book trying to figure out how to make the ripple. She was never a strong crocheter and the ripple always was wonky.  Invariably she would unravel it and send it to Grandma's for her to make. :p

I love all the possible colours you could use and how bright and cheerful they are.  I also like the repetitiveness of the pattern and how you can customize it to fit any size or space or personality.  I do think every home needs a ripple afghan.  But is it THE BEDSPREAD?  I"m not sure.

I've also thought about doing a sampler or doing a traditional granny square or some kind of non-traditional square (or circle or octagon).  It's even crossed my mind to do another Box Stitch Blanket.  They are gorgeous and simple to make.  I could lose myself in another Box Stitch.  It would be neat to play with colour patterns too.

It's a big decision and I certainly don't want to rush into anything.  Any suggestions?

I made these for Christmas as well.  They took a while to get the hang of the pattern, but once you've got it it's easy peasy.  The key is to realize that you are really working 2 separate yarns and stitches...not trying to work 2 separate yarns into the same stitch.  I just used some cotton I had on hand.  The contrast is lovely (and needed in this pattern).  My first attempt was a beige with dark beige.  It was impossible to keep track of what I was doing.

Spiral Dishcloth

Around and Around We Go!

I made these two flower hot pads for my mother for Christmas.  I like how they look.  I think they look wonderful.  Bright and Cheery.

But - there are 2 big problems with them.

1.  You'll notice it's more of that awful awful awful acrylic pink that I seem to have a never ending horrible supply of.  Blech.  It's true.  There was tons of it.  Both pink and blue.  There's still more.  I'm sick of it.  Sick of the bad acrylic that is rough and thick and fake feeling.  I think I'm going to let the BAD PINK ACRYLIC CRAPPY YARN (and the blue stuff too) have a rest and just sit in my stash for now.

2.  I think I discovered what 'killing acrylic' is.  Once you attach all the pieces you're supposed to iron the hot pad so the middle petals lay flat.  Well...you can't tell from the pictures but the BAD PINK ACRYLIC CRAPPY YARN all kind of fused together and started to look almost dirty?  I was so not impressed.  NOT IMPRESSED.  Also the because it all started fuse together it now has that initial iron in it's memory (if that makes sense) -- even though some of the petals were not perfect.  I tried to fix it...but it didn't work.  What a way to end a project.  I"m glad I only made 2 of them to start.  The variegated yarn is cotton and it ironed quite well.  I was pleased with that.

Super Close Up Of Hotpad

Phew. Glad I got all that out of my system. I feel a little better now. Sort Of.


I don't even know if I want to put these on Ravelry cause they turned out so icky (see, see that one inside petal that is not LAYING NICELY FLAT?  Gah!).

• I want to move more into purchasing 'green' products.  -- The goal being to either move 1 new 'green' product into our usage (ie. shampoo, soap, clothing) or to move 1 new 'green' activity into our lives (ie. bussing, reusing something, whatever, not using something that is not green).
• I also want to begin purchasing Fair Trade Products -- The goal being to move 1 new Fair Trade Product into our usage (ie. coffee, soap, make up, whatever).

These are both easy to track with a sidebar and fairly self explanatory.

• Complete the Leadership Development Module this spring/summer and register for an appropriate number of MDIV courses for the fall/winter -- Self Explanatory and something that I am eager to start!
• Read the New Testament in 2011 - Definitely going to do this again.  Self explanatory and easily trackable with a side bar.

All that's left to talk about is the Money Matters stuff.  & I'm not sure what all I want to say about that stuff yet.  More thinking to do.

It's feeling nice to be reflecting and musing about stuff and things again.  Hah.  Stuff and Things.  I'm so descriptive.

I stumbled across this Crochet Flower Hot Pad on Ravelry.  I still had some of the Bad Acrylic Yarn left (okay, I'll be honest there was still a lot of the Bad Acrylic Yarn left -- I swear the stuff must be multiplying when I'm not looking because I feel like I've made thousands of projects with it already).

The pattern is easy enough to do once you figure out how to fold the darn thing.  I do have to admit though that mine definitely don't look as nice as the ones posted in the photo section on Ravelry.  I think mostly because a) I didn't use 2 or more colours and b) because my stitches were too tight and left gaps.  All the pretty ones have no gaps and lie so nice and flat.

I have been crafting like a crazy person for the last few weeks in preparation for Christmas. I have so much to share with everyone in Blogland.

I've made:

• a scarf & wrist warmers (aka fingerless gloves)
• countless potholders (& by countless I mean 5)
• all these little perler bead creations made to look like Mario characters
• Most of Andrew's name out of these perler beads (only the W left)
• about 4 dishcloths
• a few market/grocery bags - 1 looks awesome and the other 2 not so much
• and I'm in the process of making a scarf for Andrew (& hopefully I will have enough time to make him a pair of mitts and a toque as well).

If I have time (Hah!) I also want to make these baskets using old Christmas cards and a scarf for my young cousin.  Times a wasting!

I've been a busy busy busy busy bee these last few weeks.  So much has been going on and I've been madly crafting for Christmas.  Before I post about all the deets of the last few weeks, just a teaser post.

I finished the box stitich scrapghan for my Mom a few weeks back.  I think it looks divine.  I hope my mom likes it.  I sure like it.

In the end I could have made it a few more rows. I still have scrap yarn leftover. But it's hard to estimate how much you will need when you're in the thick of things.  Looking at it as a finished object, I wish I had had more blues and purples and not so heavy on the pinks and yellows.
I already want to make another one.  But, on the next one I make I want to play with colour and have an actual colour pattern that i follow.

It's from this patten that I found on Ravelry.

I think I did not so bad on the costume. I made the hat and the overalls; the sweater is his.  We went to Boo At The Zoo on Saturday so it was our Pre-Halloween trial with the costume.  It was all great, except the overalls are about 8 sizes too big (even with pants on underneath) and the fleece straps stretched quite a bit (& quite quickly too).  I cut a big wide belt and slapped it on and tied it as tight as it would go.  I rolled the pants legs and did a horrible horrible hemming job.  With those fixes in place we headed out to the zoo. 

Overall the costume held up well through the evening.  the hemming job gave out close to the end, but the belt held him up.  He was definitely warm and definitely more stylish then the store bought Mario's and Luigi's.

There's the Kindergarten Halloween Party on Thursday and Trick Or Treating on Sunday, so I plan on doing a much better hemming job (I don't want to cut the material because hopefully he'll wear it next year too--or is that wishful thinking?) and maybe sewing the belt on?  We also need white gloves.  Forgot about the white gloves.  I'm not sure what to do with the stretchy straps though.

So, would I make another costume?  I don't know.  It was a lot of work and it wasn't any cheaper then a store bought one.  (although I have scads of leftover green felt and blue fleece--probably enough to make a super hero cape for Christmas) 

Super Mega Close Up!

The Before

 I went through my stash and pulled out all the little & medium balls of leftover yarn and put them in my basket.  Immediately I realized 2 things:  A)  A lot of my little bits of yarn are not even from things I have made, but rather leftovers that others have given me and B)  I need to do something with all these odds n ends.

The Basket is overflowing.  I also have a75% completed Hexagon Baby Sweater Disaster to unravel and an unused Dog Sweater to unravel.  The Basket has yellows, reds, beiges, black, and white.  There's not too many blues and greens, which I am a little worried about, but I am hoping that it will resolve itself...or that I will find some more yarn in those colors.
My Mom is moving to an apartment in November, so I decided that I should make her a lap blanket for her new place using the Box Stitch (which I am in LOVE with).  I figure it will be a good way to use up all these little bits of yarn, even the ones that only wrap around my fingers a couple times.

This is the beginning...
The During

This is it today.  I've started decreasing.  I plan on doing a fairly wide border.  I think it's looking very pretty.  I love all the colours together.  I think having a rainbow in a blanket is something everyone needs.

Add caption

The basket is also looking emptier, which is nice.  I love destashing and knowing that I am making something cute and fun out of leftovers.

Super Mega Close UP!!!!

I've got 2 metres of bright blue fleece, 1 metre of bright green soft felt, 2 internet tutorials, and a somewhat shaky plan to make this as Andrew's Halloween Costume...

Andrew loves all things Mario and cannot stop talking about going as Luigi for Halloween.  Lets see if I can do this...

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this hot pad.  I found the pattern at Ravelry and blogged about my first attempt.

I'd say my second attempt was more successful, although I cannot figure out how to make the square squiggle pattern that the pattern describes.  Instead I just do my own thing.

I made these slippers for Andrew for Christmas using this pattern. The yarn is out of my stash.  It's a thick and utilitarian yarn--perfect for slippers.  I'm sure someone gave it to me because they didn't like it.

I've used this pattern before (read about it here) and I love it.  It's full of knobbly goodness.  I wore that pair I made for myself until the soles wore out (mostly from using not sturdy enough yarn).  I also made a pair for my aunt last Christmas (or maybe the Christmas before?) using nice thick yarn like this kind and she is still wearing them and seems to like them.  So, I hope that Andrew likes them too.

Andrew loves it when I make things for him and he has been asking for slippers for years now.  Every time he sees me making  a pair he asks for his own.  & now finally, after like 3 years, he'll have his own pair.

I made this as a square to be part of a patchghan on a forum i particpate in.  It's really supposed to be a hot pad, but I thought that it would be neat to make it as a patch for the ghan.

I used super thick yarn (more of that 'bad' yarn) and it turned out...interesting.  I could not figure out the squiggle pattern for the life of me...so I just kind of did whatever.  I think it turned out neat.

I've already made another one with more appropriate thread and with a better 'squiggle' pattern and it looks smashing.

And it's only just finally started to look like something...

I estimate a completion date of March 12, 2014.

I made these 3 hats for someone I know. I think they turned out adorable.

I found the patterns on ravelry. When you wear this one the part with the chains looks like a butterfly. It's hard to see until it's on someone.

Another beanie! I had to actually think of gauge while I was making these hats.  Gauge is usually something I never worry about when crocheting so these hats were quite challenging for me.  There was a lot of unravelling. 

I am absolutely loving this cabled hat pattern.  Too bad it doesn't photograph very well. :(

I am certainly gearing up for Christmas early this year! :P

I worked up this dishcloth the other night. It's called the "Diamond Dishcloth" and works up crocheting in back loops only.  I'm not sure if it will become an all time favorite, but it was fun to try it out.

Hey if you're only ravelry and want to be my friend you can find me there as dinah.  I'd love to have more ravelry friends.  & if you're not on ravelry, NOW is the time to JOIN!  it is heaven, absolute heaven for crocheters and knitters.

 I made this crazy dishcloth the other day using this pattern.  It has a lovely step by step picture tutorial to follow, which is great cause otherwise I never would have figured it out.

It did get a little confusing the further along I got.  I kept getting turned around and lost.  I frogged this back to the basic form quite a few times over the night.

Overall, I enjoyed this pattern.  The craziness of the pattern didn't show up all that well with the variegated cotton.  I want to make another one using a solid colour so that the blocks definitely stand out.