Finished Object Friday

It has been two weeks since I posted on Friday, and I have both a knitted and a crocheted piece to show you.

The knitted piece is a shawl done in straigth garter stitch, with a two stripes of  stockinette stitch, just because I got bored with all the K rows!  I love the variegated yarn colors of white, navy blue and maroon.  I think it is Red Heart yarn.  I don't know for sure, because I used yarn from a top I had made myself quite a while ago.

Knitted Shawl

The crocheted piece is a seat cover that I made for my office chair at school.  I came back from summer vacation to find that someone (probably a summer worker) had stepped on the seat cushion of my chair and made tiny gauges that grew every time I sat in it.  I decided to make a granny square to cover those marks. It is made of some nylon/wool yarn that should hold up pretty well.

That's it for me this week.  Please see the links on my "Sharing" page to see where I am linking today.
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Wednesday WIP

Two of the three skeins of this yarn have been knitted for a shawl, plus a few more rows since this picture was taken.  I like how the pattern keeps coming out, even if it doesn't look like trees anymore.  ;)

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WIP Update

Prayer Shawl/Lapghan

So, I have been making this for two weeks now, with more progress lately than before.  I have changed patterns, needles and frogged and started over at least twice. But now I am through a whole ball of yarn,  I am sticking with this.  It is rows and rows of garter stitch with a stripe of stocking stitch near the end of the current ball of yarn. I like the trees and shadows that I see coming out in the first section.  Do you see it?  Now that I have stuck with this pattern for so many rows, I think I will finish it much faster than I started.

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Easy Upcycled Jean Purse

I made this quite a while ago, but I have been getting a lot of compliments on it recently, so I thought I would blog about it.

The purses that I had seen at craft fairs usually were made out of jeans that had been cut off above the crotch area and then lined.  Somehow, I got the inspiration to make mine from a jean skort that my daughter no longer wore.  It already had the inside lined with knit shorts, so that made it even easier.

Here is what I did:

I started with a size 7/8 skort. I sewed each leg of the inside shorts together with a blanket stitch, and then hand-gathered and whip-stitched the bottom of the skirt.  For the ties, I used some 1" lace that I had on hand.  I chained the laces with a crochet hook until it was the length I wanted, and then fastened them to the belt loops, one handle to the two belt loops in front, and one to the two belt loops in back.  Finally, I used another length of lace for the "belt" by putting in through the loops around and then tying a big bow in front.

I would love to see pictures from anyone who tries this.


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Scrap Yarn Dog Blanket

When I saw a video tutorial yesterday for a Lazy Wave Crochet Afghan from The Crochet Crowd. I decided to use scrap yarn and make a blankie for our dog, Pippi.  I used variegated scraps and some matching scraps to create the piece, following Michael's pattern.  It's not perfect, but I don't think Pippi will complain. ;0p  Besides, it is reusable, washable, and nicer than the old newspapers she used to put in her crate when we had to leave the house. ;)

My Daughter Can be Crafty, Too

My daughter's name is Melody.  She is twelve and is in 7th grade.  Art was her "specials" class last semester, and one of her class projects was paper beads and beads from polymer clay.  She made it into a necklace using some elastic.

She was cleaning out her backpack the other day, to get ready for school, and pulled out the necklace.  I really liked it.  She said she didn't want it, and pulled out a bag of extra beads, and handed them and the necklace to me.  I added a couple more of the beads using the extra length of elastic that she didn't use, and promptly took a picture of myself wearing it.  Though you might not be able to tell, it is so colorful, it will go with a lot of things.

Shell Bracelet

Inspired by some lovely pieces of jewelry by African women in the H.O.W.? project, I made a bracelet of shells  that I crocheted together.  The shells were in a collection of wooden beads and shells I got a few years ago, and have the tops of them removed to expose the swirling interior.  The bracelet is comfortable on my wrist, and is wide enough to slip over my hand.

Crochet Flip Flop Redo

Granny Triangle Flip Flop DIY

After I saw Scotti's crochet Granny Triangle Flip Flops, I was interested in redoing some flip flops that my son had broken earlier this summer.  Of course, I wasn't going to do anything fancy for a guy, but I used her idea to start.

I used two strands of acrylic worsted weight yarn, in black and royal blue, and attached the yarn with a slip stitch to one side, through the hole.  Then I chained a length equal to the size of the former straps, in this case, a chain of 36.  Next, I attached the yarn with another slip stitch to the other side, and did single crochets up through the first 17 chains, 3 sc in the middle chain, and then single crocheted each stitch to the other end and fastened it off.   To attach the loop that was crocheted to the top of the flip flop, I cut two strands of yarn about 4 inches long, threaded them through the bottom of the three middle sc's and tied the two sides together with half-square knots, making a  base for the part that goes between the toes.  Finally, I threaded all four strands of yarn though the hole at the top, and made a double knot, tucking in the edges as Scotti did.  I liked how they turned out.  They were comfortable, and I couldn't feel the knots through the sole.  I had to take a picture of them on my feet, so that you could see the straps better.  The pretty flowers are on my toenails,  not my son's! : )

Update:  The slip stitches I made on the sides wore through really fast.  So, I made knots in the ends after I poked them through.  I may have to use some superglue to hold them, since I don't have a hot glue gun.  I will just have to make sure they are completly dry before my son wears them again.

An Easy Crocheted Skinny Scarf

Rhonda, at the Dollar Store Crafts blog, made a really cute scarf that she called "The World's Easiest Crochet Scarf" .   The scarf is made with left-over yarn, and all you need to know is how to do the chain stitch.  She showed a scarf she had made using 15 strands of  yarn chains, and one using 24 strands of yarn chains.  She also commented about  being excited to wear them in the fall.

Well, I didn't want to wait 'til fall!  I have seen many patterns for skinny scarves in crochet magazines, and decided I would use less strands and be able to wear it now, to add a little color to a plain tank top.  I used worsted weight yarn in a variegated blues and pinks, a variegated pink, a maroon, and a turquoise, a light weight yarn in turquoise, and chains of variegated pink, dark pink and dark turquoise size 10 crochet thread and a maroon fun fur.  I made chains that were about 9 ft long, and tied them all together every eight inches using an overhand knot.  It was fun and easy, and I am very happy with how it turned out.

Plastic Hat and Purse

As I have said, I like to repurpose things, and I like things that are free.  This project served both of those purposes.  I save all of the plastic bags from shopping and make "plarn," a yarn of sorts from cutting the bag into strips.  The printing on the bag gives it a little splash of color, and colored bags give a little stripe amongst the white.  Now I have waterproof gear for the beach, and can keep the sun out of my eyes.

Star Baby Afghan

I heard that our local mission needed baby blankets for the layette sets they send to the local hospitals.  They just donated about 15 sets last week, and were in need of more blankets.  I had several small scraps of pretty yarn, and started on a pentagon shape.  Eventually, I decided to make it into a star shape.  It is just the right size for a cover for a newborn, or to use in a baby carrier.  I was pleased with the combinations of colors.

"Nested" Photos

I had some jars left over from a cappuccino mix gift set at Christmas, and had seen the jars repurposed for pictures on C.R.A.F.T. blog's Glass Jar Round Up. These were a perfect size for the photo's I wanted to use.  Now, I can have my family with me all day at work. ;)

No-Sew Repurposed T-shirt Tote

Yesterday on Twitter, I got a tweet from Heather Mann @dollarcraft about a pattern for a No-Sew t-shirt tote.  I was very enthused about making one, since I have a LOT of extra t-shirts that could be used for other things.  When I finally got home last night for good, I took a shirt that used to be my daughter's and made one.

It even has a pocket in front, if I choose to use it, and is a perfect size for my latest crochet project.