WIPW: Week 27

Hello everyone!

I have not posted in the last few weeks since I have not had much time in my schedule to work on my latest WIPs until this week. So thankfully....I have a few WIPs and FOs to share.















4th FO for 2011:
CAROUSEL HAT (SPORTY VARIETY)

I mentioned in my last blog post that my cousin Kims bday was Jan 18th, and that I had decided to make her a Bonita Hat. I frogged the 1st attempt at the hat due to a sizing error, and started again on the hat. I however decided half-way through that the hat style would just not be in her taste. Plus, I wanted to challenge myself and try another hat pattern out. I decided to keep the same color scheme (hotpink and white bands towards the band of the hat.) I found a new pattern on yes...Ravelry (thank the gods that it exists!) for a carousel type beanie by Sami Jo Fitzgerald. You can find the pattern here. I have a pic of the WIP, the FO, and a pic of my cuz proudly sporting her new beanie!

Carousel Beanie WIP

Carousel Hat (Sporty version) FO

Kim & her new birthday hat

Last week I mentioned a few future projects that I planned on starting. Here is the progress on those:

 6TH FO FOR 2011 (previously Future WIP #2:)
FILMSTRIP BEANIE

My brothers bday is coming up in March. He is a photographer/filmmaker. He has been requesting a film strip inspired beanie from me ever since I started crocheting. I decided to take a spin on the aforementioned Carousel Hat from this blog post. I think that it turned out OK, however I am not 100% pleased with how it came out. I may be tweaking this one a bit in the next few weeks (since I have until March.) Here is how it looks now:

Filmstrip Beanie

7th WIP for 2011:
SOCKS/HAT

7th WIP FOR 2011:

I started on the socks for my Dad today. This is my 1st venture into the world of crochet socks, and I must say I am a wee bit intimidated. I found a free pattern for some socks through a link on Ravelry for Mrs D Crochets that sound pretty straight-forward. The pattern is called Toasted Almond Crunch socks, and you can find the pattern here. The pattern calls for using:
Two 1.76 oz. skeins Red Heart Heart & Sole (color shown: Toasted Almond, thus the name)...
However, I changed up the color to Red Heart, Heart & Sole Blackjack, as I already had it in my stash.
Here is the progress so far:

Socks!

FUTURE WIP#1: 

My Father's bday was at the end of January. I had plans to make him a lush hat out of some beautiful Pima Cotton I have my eyes on at the LYS. I did not have time to start the hat for his bday (so now I am aiming for Fathers Day, or just an extra special surprise for being an awesome Dad. I still have my eyes on that Pima Cotton from the LYS.

Thanks again all for reading! Stay warm wherever you may be, and happy crafting :)

WIPW: Week 24

Well...it has been a while since my last blog post (which was the week before xmas!) I took a much needed break from the crochet world, as I felt I was overworking myself to finish soooo many WIPs in the weeks leading up to xmas. I tell you , I crocheted down to the wire, i.e., xmas eve! I have not stopped crocheting by any means, but I have been fair to myself, by not imposing too many deadlines that are stressful! That being said, I have a few WIPs and FOs to share with you all this week :)

1st FO for 2011:
BUTTERFLY HAT

Well...I can't believe that it is a new DECADE! 2011...wow! There are quite a few bdays in my family in January (including mine ;) and that being said, a few gifts that just had to be made. The 1st of the projects I started on and finished within a day to get them ready for my Sis-In-Law's bday, which was on January 8th.

Her fav color is HOT PINK, so it was easy to choose a color scheme. I used Red Heart Shimmer in Hot Pink #1715.














The yarn is 97% acrylic and 3% metallic polyester.

Now, deciding on what to make her was a bit tricky. She loves accessories, and has been trying out some new short hair stylings. I immediately thought that she would look adorable in a 30s flapper/cloche style hat. I researched the MANY, MANY patterns that are available on Ravelry, and finally decided on Olivia's Butterfly by Valerie Whitten. The little butterfly detail would be adorable! I read over the pattern and realized that the hat was made for a child, so I had to tinker with the pattern a tiny bit to make it large enough for an adult size. It wasn't too difficult, as I just added 2 more rounds of increase to the pattern. For the finishing touches I added a pink crystal bead to the center of the butterfly detail, to add a bit more bling to the hat.

Here is a pic of it:

...and I was right....

It does look adorable on her.

My 2nd FO for 2011 came about the same night that I finished the butterfly hat. My Mother loved it so much, that I just had to whip up one for her. I received a red/black ombre hand-dyed wool yarn for Xmas, and figured it would be perfect for her. To add a little bling to my Mothers version of the hat, she requested I add random red sequins throughout the hat. I really enjoyed the effect.

Here it is:

Mothers Butterfly Cloche

3rd FO for 2011:

GIRLIE BOT

I decided to make a 2nd gift for my Sis-In-Law, something a little bit fun, that she could keep on her desk at work. Naturally I decided to make her an Amigurumi. There is a funny story behind the Ami that I created for her. For Xmas, she and my brother, picked out an adorable Amigurumi book on Crocheted Robots. It is called Crobots, and is one I have been wanting for a while now.

Before I got around to opening the package, I opened a package from my Mother that included, what else, the Crobots book. My Sis-In-Laws face nearly sunk to the ground. I mean of all the books on Amigurumi in the world, and they had both bought the same one. I thought it would be a nice tribute to make her one of the Crobots from the book.

It was easy to pick which one...

The Girlie Bot!!!

It was a ton o fun to add all the sequins, and seed beeds as embellishments on this little cutie!!! Again, I used pink/hot pink as the color pallette.

Here is the FO:

'Girlie' Bot

'Girlie' Bot side view

4th WIP for 2011:

BONITA HAT

My cousin Kims bday was Jan 18th, so I decided to make another Bonita Hat. I am just in love with the simple, but intricate styling of this hat. I decided to make her a sporty version of the hat. I had to frog the 1st attempt, due to a sizing error, so I am starting over. But I plan to alternate bands of hot pink/white throught the middle part of the pattern. I showed her a sneak peak of the hat for her bday when we went out to lunch together. I think she will like it.

5th FO for 2011:/

XMAS GIFT #8: (WIP)

CROCHET RING BRACELET

I am so glad I finally finished this WIP! I blogged about it back in December here. I have been working on getting it finished since October! A while back I made a ring bracelet for my Mother. My Aunt Joann really admired it when she saw the one I made for my Mom, that I had decided to make one for her for her Bday. That was waaaaay back in October. (YIKES!!!) I just got so wrapped up in the XMAS frenzy, that it got pushed further, and further back. Well, I am happy to say that it is finished, finally! I can't wait to get it to her.

Here is a pic of hers:

Crochet Ring Bracelet

I am pretty excited about a few upcoming WIPs I have planned.

Future WIP #1:
HAT/SOCKS

My Father's bday is at the end of the month and I plan to make him a lush hat out of some beautiful Pima Cotton I have my eyes on at the LYS. If I have time I also plan to make him a pair of socks to go along with the hat. He is newly retired so it would be a nice jesture to make him some comfy socks to lounge around the house in.

Future WIP #2:

FILMSTRIP BEANIE

My brothers bday is coming up in March. He is a photographer/filmmaker. He has been requesting a film strip inspired beanie from me ever since I started crocheting. I have not written up a pattern for a beanie hat yet, so this will be a challenge for me. I have some rough sketches done of how I want the beanie to look, and I think it will be awesome, if I can figure out the measurements/technicalities. Hopefully I will have something on this WIP started soon.

Happy New Year to all, and Happy Crafting!!!

Thanks for Reading :)

WIPW: Week 18

Man....I was reaaaaalllllly hoping I would have more XMAS gifts finished to show this week, but alas...I only finished two, and not my Luigi :( Now it is crunch time. It is only a few weeks until XMAS, and I still have 4 gifts to complete!!! Argh! That means I have to finish two this week, and start/finishtwo next week! I am sure I can do it! Now on to the good stuff!

XMAS GIFT #6: (WIP...cont)
LUIGI


Even though I did not complete the Luigi project I have been working on, I did make further progress. Here are a few pictures, and some side notes of the work I did complete this week.











THE SIDEBURNS:

'Luigi' sideburns

  



 
 
 
 
 
 



THE HAT:

'Luigi' Hat

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  


 
 
THE HAT LOGO:

'Luigi' Hat Logo

 
 
The original pattern called for cutting the 'L' out of green felt. I still have not gotten completely comfortable with cutting small pieces of felt, so I opted for using 3D puffy paint to create the 'L' on the circle for the hat logo.
 
 
 
 
 



 
THE HAIR:

'Luigi' Hair

The hair piece is to be attached to the back of the head at the base of the hat, so it appears that the hair is peeking out from the bottom of the hat.









THE HEAD WITH FACIAL DETAILS:

'Luigi' head with facial details

Once again, the pattern called for cutting small pieces of felt for the eye embellishments. I did cut the white ovals out of felt, but then used 3D paint to add the eye details on top of the white of the eye. I think it turned out just as well.











THE HEAD WITH EARS, HAT, AND SIDEBURNS ATTACHED:

'Luigi' Head complete

Now I just need to assemble the head, body, legs, and arms, and then...."It's a L-U-I-G-I!!!"

XMAS GIFT #9: (FO)
SNOWMAN















I am proud to say that I did finish my Snowman this past week. I think he turned out adorable!

THE BODY:

Snowman body

THE HEAD WITH FACIAL DETAILS:

Snowman with facial details

THE HAT:

Snowman Hat

THE ARMS (2):

Snowman Arms

THE SCARF:

Snowman Scarf

THE SCARF POMS:


Snowman Scarf 'poms'

....and now for the FO!

Snowman!

....
And now for a list of my upcoming projects!:

XMAS GIFT #10:














I plan on making a little baby doll for my cousin Katrina. She just turned 2 years old and she just loves taking care of her babies. If I have time I plan on making a 2nd Hello Kitty purse to go with the baby doll.

XMAS GIFT #11:













I plan on making a set of xmas ornaments for one of my grandmother Nana. She really enjoyed the dove ornamenent I made for her for her bday, so I figured I would make her a few more. Maybe it can be a yearly ritual to make a new ornament each year! That might be fun. I am thinking I  might make her a Snowman ornament (using the snowman head from my FO in this blog.) and an angel ornament for sure!

XMAS GIFT #12:

This is a gift that I have had on my to do list for a while now. I have a good friend, Robert, who was an Eastern Orthodox priest. He wears a skull cap daily. It is similar to a Yarmulke of the jewish faith, but it a bit larger, yet smaller than a beanie hat. I have a bit longer to make this project since christmas is after the 1st of January in his faith.

XMAS GIFT #13:

I can't talk about this one on my blog, since it is super duper secret....tee hee....and just in case a certain someone is reading ;)


Thanks for reading! Now....back to crocheting!!!