Opps...Stitch 'N Bitch = "Inappropriate"?!

I had a little time at work today, so I decided to start adding features and stuff to this blog. As I was adding some links to the sidebar, I tried to go to one of them to be sure I had the address correct. According to the Warner Brother's Computer Network, Stitch 'n Bitch is "inappropriate"!

Here is what I got when I tried to go to that page -

My "frappr" map...

Add yourself to my "Frappr" Map! I've seen this on a bunch of other people's blogs, and thought it would be fun to start one of my own.

"Seraphina"

I know I haven't posted much lately, but a lot of the things I have been working on are Christmas presents, and I don't want to spoil the surprise, but I promise, after the holidays I will get some pics up of the stuff I have made!

Earlier this fall it was often very cold in our area at work. I decided I needed some sort of wrap, and found a pattern for the "Seraphina Shawl". One of the women at my Stitch 'n Bitch has made lots of these, and at first, I was very intimidated by the pattern, but very quickly caught on to it. I am always surprised at how quickly even the (to me) most confusing pattern turns into something I can not only figure out, but understand and actually create something cool from!

So, here are the pictures of my "Work Seraphina". I am also making one of these in a gorgeous blue/green wool-ease for my Grandmother for Christmas, I will try to get pictures up of that soon.

Housewarming gifts...

Here are pictures of some washcloths I made for a friend's housewarming party. I actually made three, and thought I had pics of all three, but I am missing any visual proof of the 'granny square' one. I know I *thought* about taking pics and but then got busy getting ready to go to the party, and just never got around to it.

These are made with Lily "Sugar 'n Cream" 100% cotton thread...

Hip to be Square Pt. 2

For some reason I couldn't post all the pictures in one post...so here are the completed project pictures of the baby blanket...




Shadow gives his seal of approval...




So does Justin...although, he didn't know it!

Hip to be Square

Where does the time go? Dang, just realized how long it's been since I posted anything!














Today's post is all about squares....180 of them! My first college roomie, Ena, had a baby in July, and when I heard about it, I had recently started crocheting, so I decided that making a baby blanket would be a great baby gift. In the second class I took, we used the pattern for a baby blanket made of granny squares as a 'sample', it seemed very simple and I thought "Hey it only took me a few minutes to make each of these, how long can it take to make the whole blanket?!" The answer....2 months! I started this at the end of June and finally sent it off to Ena and David when David was about 2 weeks old.

So, here are some pictures of this work as it was in progress and finished....

This is what happens when you don't pay attention to what you are doing - it gets sewn together sideways!

I finally got it straightened out and all the rows put together..now time for the border!

The Very Second (and third....and fourth...) Thing I Crocheted...

As I have mentioned previously, back in June I took some crochet classes at the Michael's in Burbank... This is a picture of the 'sample' pieces I made for those classes -

The three squares on the left will appear in another project I am currently working on, but in different yarn, and lots and lots more of them! They are from a pattern that was used in the second class I took "How to read a written pattern and make a Granny Square". It's a really cute baby afghan and I have several friends who have had or are having babies this year, so I am making it for one of them. More about that later!

After the classes, I picked a relatively easy pattern from one of the books I had as a 'starter' project. I picked a scarf. Yes, that's right, I live in LA and I crocheted a SCARF. As many of my co-workers reminded me "You don't need a scarf in LA", to which I replied "But it's the easiest looking pattern." So anyway, here is the scarf I crocheted --










After I felt confident enough to try something more 'advanced' I found this pattern for a really cute purse...not sure if I would ever use it, but I thought it was really cute! Here are some pics... some mid-project, some after completion-

The Very First Thing I Crocheted...

These are pictures of the baby blanket I crocheted in college. This was created as part of my characters 'business' on stage during the fall of 1994. I was in the play "The Rimer's Of Eldritch". The square got so large that my director made me rip out a bunch of it and re-do it, to keep it from overtaking the scenes! Also, he told me I couldn't use the yellow onstage, cause it was too bright. During this show all of the actors were onstage the entire show, much of the time in darkness, as other areas of the stage were where the action was going on. I got to the point where I could actually crochet in the dark! The woman who my character did most of her scenes with (our characters were two middle aged women sitting on the porch doing our crocheting/knitting) had a friend show her how to knit a little bit, but by the end of each show she had a lapful of knotted yarn! I remember a couple times my ball of yarn rolled off the back of the platform our 'porch' was on (none of the sets were 'realistic', they were more abstract, so our porch just looked like a platform 3 feet off the ground and the rest of the set was made up of connected platforms of varying sizes and heights, ours was the back platform on one side, so there was nothing behind it to keep the yarn from rolling!)

So, after the play was over, I had this fairly large square. I didn't just want to rip it out or throw it in the back of a closet! Luckily, my older brother and his wife were pregnant, and it was mid-December. So....instant Christmas present!!! When sadie was born May 5, 1995, I went to visit them and was very happy to see that they had kept and were even USING the blanket! Here is Sadie Jane at about 2-3 weeks old when I went to visit over Memorial Day weekend ...

Welcome!

Greetings! And welcome to my 'crochet' blog...

For those of you who don't know, I recently started crocheting. This is something I always thought would be kind of fun to learn, and only in the last few months have I really had the time and money to take up a hobby, and so far I am really enjoying it.

My grandmother taught me a couple of the basics when I was young, but beyond that I hadn't crocheted since one time in college when I was in a play and my character had to have a 'prop' that was her signature. So, one of my mom's friends showed me how to make a very basic Granny Square. That square grew so large during the run of the play, that I decided to call it a baby blanket and gave it to my older brother and sister-in-law, who were expecting a baby, as a Christmas present. I will try to post some picutres of it soon.

Of course, I had completely forgotten how to make a Granny Square by the time I decided to really learn crochet, but thanks to a wonderful instructor at the local Michael's named Victoria, I am now a Granny Square expert! (as evidenced by the 180 granny squares I am making to turn into an afghan to give to a friend!) And I hope to continue to learn more about crochet and to move beyond squares to make lots of really cool items!

A lot of my friends have said that I should post pictures and updates on what I have been working on with my new hobby...and I didn't want to clutter my 'regular' blog with this stuff. Plus, some of the projects I am working on are presents for people who read my 'regular' blog and I don't want to ruin the surprise!

Also, most of the things I am making these days are things I will give as presents (I don't always know WHO it will be for when I am making it, but I figure most of the stuff I make will eventually be given away...cause I like making stuff like hats and scarves, but don't need things like that in LA!) So, if you you're someone I typically give presents to for Christmas, birthdays or any other special occasion, and you see something you love or hate (either the pattern, or yarn or colors), let me know your opinion, 'cause it you may end up getting it as a gift and I wouldn't want to give you something you didn't like!

Thanks for visiting!