Sunday, August 9, 2009

Tres Tres Enchante

I have continued to crochet like a madwoman!

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I finished the red Puff Stitch Beret! 


The pattern can be found here.  I'm really happy with how it came out!  Since I used a sport weight yarn and not a DK weight and went up a hook size, I had to do some modifications so that the hat brim wasn't way too big.  In case anyone else wants to give this hat a try, here are the pattern changes that I made.




  • Round 17: hdc 3, hdc 2 in next st* around, join

  • Round 18: hdc 1, hdc 2 in next st* around, join

  • Round 19: sc in each st around, join

  • Round 20: sc 1, sc 2 in next st* around, join


I want to make another one of these closer to winter, maybe in navy blue.  I've been watching too much Mary Tyler Moore, apparently, because whenever I put the beret on I have an overwhelming urge to throw it in the air.

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I've been coveting a pair of crocheted Mary Jane slippers for a while, and I couldn't find a pattern for exactly what I was looking for on Ravelry, so last week I  looked on Etsy.  I bought a perfect pattern from wpooh87's Etsy shop, and made a pair in a few hours. 



I'm thrilled with them, and they're soooo comfy.  I might go down one hook size from the H recommended in the pattern, though, just for a slightly denser fabric and tighter fit, more like a sock.  But they're really fast to crochet, easy, and the seller emailed me the pattern PDF just a few hours after I bought it.  There was only one seam, too, which was great.


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I spent my day today working on sewing some things for my dorm room, which I will be moving into in eleven days.  Eleven days!  How is this possible?!  I'll be leaving on Saturday to go to Cape May, New Jersey, and then going to school straight from there.  So, I'll probably wait until I'm moved in to blog with pictures of the dorm-wares, so that they can be seen in their full dorm-y glory, along with the wall decals that I bought from Etsy.


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Enjoy the last of summer!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Crafty Like a Fox

I think I have made more stuff this summer than ever before.  My schedule right now consists of waking up at 8, getting my room in order (making my bed, clearing off my craft tables, etc.) and eating breakfast, then sewing from 9-5 with a half-hour break for lunch around 1.  Then I do fashion journaling from 5-8, eat dinner, and do whatever I want from about 8:45 to 11:30, then I go to bed.  And what do I choose to do with my exactly two hours and forty-five minutes of free time?  I make stuff.  Usually, I crochet.


I recently finished two of these grocery bags, to use when I go back to school.  The pattern is from The Adventures of Cassie, a really neat blog.  I found the pattern through Ravelry.  I know it doesn't look that big, but after I'd finished my first bag, I tested it out, and put in two cans of spaghettios, two cans of cat food, a can of baby corn, a box of trash bags, and a cannister of oatmeal, and the bag wasn't nearly full.  The pattern was easy to follow, too.  I want to make another before I go back to school, and that should give me plenty of room to carry everything.  Yay!


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I also made a little turtle for my brother, from Ana Paula Rimoli's book, Amigurumi Two:  Crocheted Toys for Me and You and Baby Too!  I'm so happy with how it came out.  I gave it to my brother today and he really liked it. 



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And, currently, (during my two hours and forty-five minutes of free time per day while watching Mary Tyler Moore on Hulu) I am working on a red beret with a bow.  The pattern is by CreativeYarn, the same person who wrote the pattern for the three-strand headbands.  Her patterns are so cute, I want to make as many of them as I can.  I read in the comments to the pattern that some people have had problems with their berets coming out too big, but I wanted mine to be a little roomier than the one she shows, and I have kind of a big head and do my best to have big hair, I decided to go up one hook size, to an H.  It looks, so far, like it will be just the right size and have just the right amount of floppiness.




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I also recently finished a Halloween costume I was commissioned to make,  but I'm not going to post any pictures of that until the client says it's alright, because I don't know if he wants to keep it a surprise until Halloween.  Either way.. suffice it to say that while sewing glitter dot fabric was irritating enough to make me crazy, the result is soooo gorgeous.... I'm thrilled with how it turned out, and I hope my client likes it just as much as I do.


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Lastly, a family friend was cleaning out some closets, and I ended up with three very neat things.


A long ivory lace skirt, which I'm not going to alter at all.  However, I need to fiure out what I'm going to wear under it, because as it is now it's very sheer.



A long, green and beige plaid jumper dress.  I'm going to shorten this quite a bit, and take the button tabs off the front, so that it's a cute dress to wear over tights.



Third, a jumpsuit that ha a zipper up the front for about a foot, then has two strange flaps that would appear to cross over in the front, but which apparently have no way of staying closed.  This is the more ambitious redesign. I'm going to take out the crotch seam of the pants and turn the bottom into a skirt, then add buttons along the side of the flap in the middle so that they stay closed.


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I need to make a thrift store run for crafting material for my dorm room... I need to find some pretty vintage plates and glasses.


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Until next time!