Favorite Yarns

As I was wandering around the interwebs tonight I started to wonder what my favorite crocheters favorite yarns were. I know a couple, but thought it would be neat to know more. Well, I figured I should share my favorites with you just in case you're wondering the same thing.

First, I love Vanna's Choice for the price and the softness. I do wish these yards were offered in brighter more fun colors, but the muted shades have their appeal too.

Just found this one, Loops and Threads -  Impeccable. This one is just like Vanna's Choice, but it's a Michaels exclusive. The best part about this yarn is at times you can get it for $2 a skein and the solid color skeins are 4.5 oz or 268 yards! That's a nice size!

Another new one for me was the Red Heart Soft. I really, really dislike (ok maybe even hate) the regular Red Heart yarn. So I was skeptical about trying another Red Heart product. But the color won me over and I caved. I bought a skein of Teal and I really like it. It has a subtle sheen to it, but it's not so much so that it looks odd against other non-sheeny yarns. I LOVE the no dye lot aspect of this, seeing as I hardly even use a pattern and just buy yarn as I go. Would love a better selection of colors though.

Loops and Threads also makes a thick yard called Charisma. It is SO soft and works up beautifully. I made a hat and a neck warmer with it for the winter. It's so snuggly against my skin.

I also use cotton yarn for my kitchen stuff as well as bags. I like the cotton because it doesn't stretch like the Acrylic does. I use Sugar n Cream usually but I found a Bernat cotton that I really like as well.

I'm thinking about heading over to Hobby Lobby this week (it's pretty far) and grabbing some of their I Love This Yarn - acrylic for an afghan for K's room. My Mom used it for a blanket for a friend of mine and seemed to like it, so I'm gonna give it a go.

I'll post more as I discover different ones. Don't expect me to be trying any Yak or Alpaca or such, it's just not in the budget right now. :(

Kanzashi Flower

OK I admit it, I'm a sucker. I'm a sucker for anything cute and crafty. If I think I can make it, I WILL try. Again I was browsing Pinterest (that place is down right dangerous I tell you, dangerous!) and I can across these adorable little fabric flowers. I immediately saw the possibilities, cards, scrapbook pages, hair do dads, you name it!!! So of course I just HAD to try it.

I always have fabric lying around, and since I just started making the felt owls, I had some thread and needles, so I knew I was in business. Here's a link to the YouTube video I learned from. Kanzashi Flower Tutorial

I didn't hot glue mine, I stitched everything in place, but I do think that if I would have searched out the hot glue gun and stuff, that would have been the easier route. But who am I to take the easy way LOL.

I plan on making these in all kinds of colors and sizes. I can just see a cute Spring display with these on the tops of little green sticks stuck into a little vase, or maybe hanging from some bare branches in the hallway. Sooooo many ideas, so little time LOL

Tea Wreath

So I was wandering around Pinterest and I came across this idea for a Tea Wreath. Well I knew I had a house warming party to go to today, so I figured this would make a wonderful gift.

I traced a dinner plate on to a piece of thin cardboard (it was a mailing envelope) and used a smaller dish for the middle circle.

Then I cut that out and covered it with scrapbook paper. I folded the extra paper around the edges and glued them down, this made a nice clean edge. I added a ribbon to the back as a hanger.

After that I cut another circle out of cardstock so the back looks clean too.

Next comes the fun part... I found a bunch of different scrapbook papers that matched my background paper and cut strips from them and then cut those the size of the clothespins. I used my Xyron to add adhesive to the strips, then adhered them to the clothes pins.

I used red liner tape to adhere the clothes pins to the wreath. Then I gathered 16 types of tea bags and clipped them onto the clothes pins.

The whole project from start to finish probably took about an hour. The hardest part for me was locating my red liner tape ;)

Now when my friend has people over she can display different kinds of tea for them to choose from. I plan on making one for myself too.

I happen to have a DCWV stack that matches my kitchen perfectly, so I'm going to use that for mine. I also saw that Michael's has some really pretty patterned clothes pins in their Dollar spot right now, those would eliminate a step and be very pretty too!

 

Kitchen Crochet

I bought this cotton yarn a couple years ago because it matches the colors in my kitchen perfectly. So far I have made 2 potholders, a handle cozy for my cast iron skillet and today I made a hot pad. I used the same flower pattern that Lucy used over at Attic 24, but I only made mine 9 rounds. I will make this again with soft yarn for a pillow just like she made. It's SO cute! So anyway, here are some pictures of the various kitchen things :) I still have plenty of yarn left over, so you know there will be more to come!

Here's the pattern for the flower. Remember, it's in UK terminology, so change the tr's to dc's if you're in the US.
There's no pattern for the handle cozy. I just kinda made it. I started with a magic circle and went round from there. I love having this for my cast iron skillet, I don't have to worry about accidentally grabbing the handle and burning myself anymore.

And lastly my potholder. Again no pattern, just chained as big as I wanted it across and then made some front post dc in every other dc. This gives it a nice ribbed design, but it also gives the pot holder some grip too. I did that until it was roughly square, then dc the rest of the way. I then doubled it over and did a sc border all the way around.

It's all pretty easy and everything matches :) That makes me happy. Now if they would only add orange to the yarn I'd be thrilled!!!

Colorful Ripple Afghan

This is project 2 of 2012....


My first ripple afghan ever! I have tried many times before to make one of these, but something never worked out and I got discouraged, so of course I quit. I probably ripped out 100's of yards of yarn trying to get one these babies made. I finally found a pattern that made sense to me.

If you like to crochet, and you love color, you MUST check out Attic 24! This blog is a crafters paradise. I LOVE visiting here, there are so many wonderful ideas, and pictures and her house is to die for! I can't say enough about it! Anyway, her pattern is written in UK terminology, so you'll have to convert it to US. But that's easy, her tr stitch is our dc. That's all!

So here's the pattern: Neat Ripple Pattern

And here's mine about 1/3 done.


Choosing the colors for this was extremely random. I have another afghan that I have been working on for the last few years and I decided that I needed more yarn for that one. It's a Granny Square afghan and I basically had been using up scraps from various projects I have done. Well I needed a wider variety of colors, so I went shopping. These are the colors I chose, but when I got home, I decided I should make something with them and use the scraps for the Granny Square one and not the skeins, thus the ripple afghan began.

Adorable Felt Owls

So here is the part 1 of the 3 part project I was talking about earlier.

I saw this adorable Felt Owl Ornament pattern and had to make them for myself. These will be part of my Valentines decor. I resized the pattern and made 3 different sized owls. I will make each belly different, because they all need their own personalities of course. The belly was something new for me, I have never really tried embroidery before, so it was a little bit of trial and error before I got it ok. I know with some practice I will be able to do a nicer job, but I like him just the same.



This little guy is the middle sized one and my first try at anything like this. I have to say, I really like the end result. I can't wait to finish the rest and see them all on the bookshelf in the hallway!

New Year, New Blog

So here we are, a new year and that means new adventures. Adventures in crafting for me! So far this year I have finished one project (well a 1/3 of the whole) and am 1/2 finished with the second. I love to create, and I like trying new ideas. Hopefully I will be able to share my creations with you all in blogland.