Go beyond the granny square

You can call me a scrapbook novice. It’s a craft I enjoy doing but just on occasion - usually when it involves other scrappers. It’s fun to visit and to get something done that you enjoy. While gathering my supplies for the pages I wanted to create, I thought about a crochet project that didn’t turn out quite like I had planned.

My first attempt to make a teapot bookmark resembled a watering can more than a teapot. While it didn’t work out well for a teapot, it would make a great addition to my scrap page about gardening.

So from now on, those small crochet projects that don’t turn out just right may have a new found purpose on a scrapbook page.

I’ve been taking an online class at Crochetville that teaches new stitches using the single crochet.  It’s been very interesting to see some of the patterns you can create using the single crochet. Here is the knit stitch that favors the knith stitch in knitting.

Since I’m not a knitter - and not sure I will ever catch on to it - it’s nice to know a technique that I can achieve the knitted look with crochet.

Look for the book The Savvy Single Crochet from Annie’s Attic if you want to learn these stitches that use the single crochet or look for the class at Crochetville.org.

Hard to believe the July is already here. But at least now I can stop thinking about how hot it is for June. At least July I expect extremely hot weather.  It’s weather like this that makes me wish all my crochet projects were with cotton yarn.I’m about 90% done with the angel baby blanket. I hope to wrap it up either tonight or tomorrow. Then I will be working on a dress for my little girl. It’s my first attempt to crochet apparel. Hopefully it will go well since it is a small project(half crochet/half sewing).I also plan to start some Christmas items this month but first I need to definitely decide what I want to give.  So my monthly crochet projects aren’t laid out quite yet but if I can get this blanket finished soon then I can start planning more projects.

Last week my daughter wanted a red flower. Red is by far her favorite color. We looked in the yard but didn’t find any wild red flowers. I didn’t think we would but she did settle for a couple of yellow Lazy Susans.

Last night while browsing Crochetville, I ran across a pattern for a yarn flower . It looked really cute and simple, so I found some yellow and red yarn to make my flower. It took about 10 minutes to whip this flower up.

It would have taken less time if on round 2 I hadn’t tried using round one. Once I finally had my ‘ah ha’ moment, the rest of the flower went pretty easily. I’d like to make several more to decorate in her room but just not sure how I would use them just yet. She is really into flowers right now, so I could make them in her favorite colors. If nothing else, she would enjoy playing with them.

It feels so good to be finished with this one.  My daughter wants to keep it and so do I. But we will send it as part of the swap by the end of the week.

The edge is just more double crochet with three double crochets, two chains, and three more double crochets in the corner. Now if I can just get the rest of the extra stuff ready to send the package, then I’ll be really happy.

It’s been a very rainy Memorial Day weekend. There’s less than one week left in May and I still have a few crochet goals to finish.

I have finished everything for my swap, so that is good. I need to finish the angel baby blanket and haven’t even thought about my laptop bag.  Yesterday I finished the last crochet item for my swap and feel really good about it. The toddler wanted to keep it but we must send it as it is the main item in the swap. Sometimes I think she thinks I only crochet items that are meant for her.

This week I should be able to finish the baby blanket. Then I might hold off on my laptop purse while I work on some ideas already formulating for June.

This weekend we are at Mobicon in Mobile, Alabama. It’s been a lot of fun. I always bring crochet with me and find when I see some clothing or other items, I naturally think how can you do that in crochet? This weekend I have spotted quite a few crocheted items for sale as well as on patrons at the con.

Around the con, I saw two people with crocheted beanies. One had crocheted mouse ears and was adorable. The other bean had rhinestones in it that made it very shiny. I also saw a guy toting around a crocheted shoulder bag perfect for carrying books, cards, or anything con-related.

My favorite crocheted item was a zombie amigurumi and it was for sale. For just $5,  I couldn’t pass it up.

I didn’t get much crocheting done. Maybe a few rows on the bat afghan which means I have a lot to do this week. Luckily the cooler weather is putting me in a very afghan crocheting mood.

Since I started crocheting, I have avoided thread crochet since I thought there would be no way that I could do it. But this past weekend I decided to give it a try since I wanted to make a few bookmarks to include in some greeting cards.

I found a cute pattern for a teapot bookmark and thought that would be perfect for my Mom who collects teapots. Here is my first attempt. I didn’t add stitches like I should so it looks more like a watering can than a teapot.

I did three more of these that actually looked like teapots.

Working with thread wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The steel hooks really make it easy to work with thread. I find my only real problem is with the slip stitch since it’s hard to hold the stitch tight and slip off the loop to complete the stitch.

Right now I’m working on another bookmark project. It’s a Gothic cross that is going to need a lot of starch to look like the picture. But seriously, it is working up pretty fast and might be a good pattern to make up several small gifts. The teapots are cute but as you can see from the first picture, they have a lot of threads to work into the piece. Sometimes that can take just as long as crocheting the project.

Finally I’ve had an evening of crochet during television. Monday was just blah all the way around and Tuesday wasn’t much better. Wednesday is ‘Lost’ and there is no crochet during ‘Lost.’ I have to use every brain cell to try to keep up with the time travel and various plots. So tonight was a more casual night of TV with ‘Survivor’ and ‘The Office.’ I finally was able to make some progress on some of my ongoing projects.

I will post more on those updates tomorrow but I’m just so glad to get some more rows done. I was afraid I had lost interest in completing it. That wouldn’t be good since everything I’m working on are gifts.  This weekend I should have everything complete except the baby blanket. Then it will be time to start a new round of projects including Scooby Doo, the girl’s dress, and a knitting needle holder.

There are several crochet projects that I hope to finish in May. A baby blanket, a lapghan, and some cupcake purses are my current projects that will hopefully be finished in two weeks. I also have a few other crochet project I want to get done.

There are two more projects I need to do for my The Office swap.  I’m going to crochet a knitting needle holder and a small coin bag. I also plan on starting and finishing a little toddler dress that is half crochet/half material. One more project is to make me a laptop bag/purse since I can’t find exactly what I’m looking for. I will just have to make it.

If I can get these projects done this month then I will be very glad.