Category Archives: crochet

the girl’s got style!

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Believe it or not, I do buy fabric that has already been cut up and sewn into stuff … such as shirts, dresses, and jeans. I LOVE jeans and would wear them every day if I could, especially if they were as CUTE as these embroidered jeans Annika is showing off here (at right).

I actually bought these jeans at The Children’s Place years ago, when Annika was just a baby. They were too adorable to pass up. (and a great deal on the price, too!) They’ve got little flowers embroidered down the legs in pink, green, and metallic thread. I can’t believe she’s already wearing them!

Although you won’t find Annika’s jeans in stores or online today, check out these adorable embellished skinny jeans in white. With metallic embroidery, appliqu

és, rhinestones, and sequins, what more could a girl wish for? Except maybe that The Children’s Place would make them in a size 18 or 20. Then I might have a chance of fitting in them too!

And speaking of fitting, the clothes at The Children’s Place have those marvelous adjustable waistbands, which make for a great fit all the time. Adjustable waistbands for kids’ clothing … that is just about the best thing invented since sliced bread.

The cute hat did come as a ball of yarn, but I did not crochet it. A very good friend of mine from Korea made it for me.

yarn-mania

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I like yarn for basically the same reasons that I like fabric and beads: the fabulous colors and textures. Recently I’ve been busy with my yarn stash in an effort to make it all fit into one giant plastic tub.

First is a crocheted scarf that I started New Year’s Day 2007 (click here for archived post). Crocheting with novelty yarn is NOT much fun at all. I finished it off with an extra long fringe and called it a day.

Second is a chunky black knitted scarf. I wanted to see how long it would get if I used up the entire skein. Answer: 123 inches. You don’t get to see this one though because the photo shows nothing but a big black blob.

Third is what I call a scrappy scarf. This is where the resemblance to quilt-making really kicks in. Take all the yummy yarns in your stash, cut them up into little pieces and then tie them together to make a new ball of yarn for your knitting pleasure. (anyone ever been accused of cutting up a perfectly good piece of fabric just to sew it back together again?) I added only enough scrappy pieces for a few rows at a time because it tended to tangle.
Most yarns in a skein unwrap quite nicely. This (100% cotton) is the first time that I actually had to bother to wind it into a ball. Made me wonder why I’m so enamored with black fabric, black yarn, and etc. Oh yeah … because the bright colors look so awesome next to it; because black goes with everything. Reminds me, I think I’m completely out of black yarn now.
And here is the finished scarf!
I knitted most of the last scarf while waiting at the doctor’s office. As a carry-around project knitting seems to work better than quilting for me since there are no tiny pieces or sharp needles to lose. Now that the days are getting warmer I’m thinking of knitted or crocheted flower supplies to keep with me in my purse.
Although I used up over 4 skeins of yarn in my scarf-making frenzy, I’m guessing that I will still need another plastic bin. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It will just give me room for more yarn! =(^_^)=

wip wednesday #8

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Not too much in the way of quilting these days. I’ve been preoccupied with several days of migraine and preparing class materials mostly. I’m up to 25 inches on my scarf (see WIP Wednesday #7) and have a new sketch for my January 12x12x12 project. I charted it out on my computer in Illustrator for sashiko. I’m not going to show the drawing here, but rather reveal it in stages as I stitch it. This is my first venture into sashiko.

I’ve discovered why migraines and art don’t mix for me. My creativity and art flow from my emotions—joy, sadness, anxiety, etc. When I have a headache I lose touch with all my emotions and exist in some kind of blank emotionless state. Monday was the start of the judging at Road to California, but I didn’t care in the least. Tuesday after I recovered from my headache, the nervousness hit full force, but at least my creativity returned. ;-)

It’s not an auspicious beginning of the year to pass the deadline for the first monthly challenge and have not a stitch to show for it. I’ve made some decisions about it that should expediate the coming months though: I’m going to do three sets of four seasonal quilts for the year. The first set will include winter, spring, summer, and autumn sashiko-style quilts. Another will use fusible appliqué, and I’m not sure about the third yet. I’ll probably decide in May, the third month for spring. I can also use my sketches from WIP Wednesday #7 in the coming months. So in a way, I’m kind of ahead for February.

happy quilting!

adventures of a quilting diva

wip wednesday #7

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On New Year’s Day I started a scarf. I’ve finished 17 1/2 inches out of 60. The bulky yarn crochets fairly quickly. I think I’ll finish it before the winter is over!
I’ve never used this type of yarn (Bernat Bling Bling) before. What’s interesting is that the scarf looks identical to the ball of yarn. You can’t really see what you’re doing. That’s both good and bad! Good in that you can’t see mistakes, bad in that you can’t really see where to place the stitches so I often come out with more or less stitches than the 17 you’re supposed to have in a row. I have to count them as I stitch because it’s hard to count after the row is completed. (I would rather rip the row out and start again than try to count the stitches!)

When I first started I made a row with too many stitches that wouldn’t come out. The baubles knotted it up, so Scooby got a fashionable accessory. Now I make my stitches a bit looser and haven’t had a problem removing errant rows.

Finally here are some sketches that I made for the January 12x12x12 Portfolio challenge. While I do like them, I’ll probably file them away for another time, and simplify for this month’s project. I think I’ll continue experimenting with the technique I used in Goodnight, Moon. It would be nice to start the year off right by actually meeting my first deadline (which BTW is January 15. Thank you Sande for the extra 3 days!)

adventures of a quilting diva