Year of Projects 2: Update 18

Project Percentage Complete: 49%

Overall Percentage Complete: 69%

Number of Project Items: 98
Number of Added Items: 69
Total Items: 167

Total Completed Project Items: 48
Total Completed Items: 110

Ombre in Real Life

I am not sure how all of you are, but I can say that sometimes - the beauty of crochet and knitting and yarn seep into my every day life.

I wanted to share this photo with you (and pardon the grainy nature - it was taken on my crappeh cell phone).

Crocheting My Life Back: Update 2

The Statistics
Current Weight: 295
Weekly Loss/Total Loss: -2/-5

Squares Allowed: 5
Squares Completed: 0

FO Friday

I did it, I finally have an FO Friday post to.. well... post.

YIPPIE!

As you all know from my earlier posts this week I finished the crochet wrap I was making for my youngest daughter ... unfortunately, I HATE IT - it is so stiff.

Year of Projects 2: Update 17

Project Percentage Complete: 49%

Overall Percentage Complete: 36%

Number of Project Items: 98
Number of Added Items: 68
Total Items: 166

Total Completed Project Items: 48
Total Completed Items: 60

WIP Wednesday

Its that time again - WIP Wednesday.

I did end up finishing the crochet wrap that was originally started for my youngest daughter, Squirt (which was too big for her AND Rabbit... making it default to yours truly). I'm not liking it. I don't know if its the yarn choice or what, but the finished project is really stiff. Now - keep in mind that as I was working on it, the resulting fabric seemed to flow fairly nicely - it wasn't until I put it on that I realized just how stiff it really was.

BUT this post isn't about finished objects gone bad, its about my works in progress, or WIPs.

Not my norm...

I think everyone who has read my blog for any length of time knows that I strongly encourage people to step out of their comfort zone - try something new. I personally like to try something at least daily (even little things count) - but when crafting, I think you should take this plunge every few months.

I admit - I'm inspired and awe-struck by much of the work that the ladies and gent of my knitting group produce. I have some some SERIOUSLY amazing pieces created from tiny little baby clothes to fantastic afghans - the lace work is no exception.

Crocheting My Life Back: Update 1

The Statistics
Current Weight: 297
Weekly Loss/Total Loss: -3/-3

Squares Allowed: 3
Squares Completed: 0

Cooking on Pinterest

I admit, I like to delve into Pinterest a little. I don't spend 500 hours a week looking and searching and pinning - but I do end up looking at pins near the end and sometimes, I pin items I really like looking at or may enjoy.

Honestly, up until this last week, I hadn't really entertained the idea of actually going back and making things.

I don't know what did it, but for some reason, I was making chicken noodle soup and it was going to take a little longer... and I thought "oh, why not?" and went straight to my food board.

WIP Wednesday: Juggling Projects

Oh what a wonderful day - its WIP Wednesday!

It really feels like I haven't made tons of progress on any of my projects and honestly, I've had a hankerin' to cast on some socks.

What is wrong with me?

Regardless of what is wrong with me, I've really been juggling some projects as of late - some of them I think I should have finished weeks ago and others surprise me on just how much progress I've really made.

Credit where credit is due

(c) Crochet with Cris - drawn by my brother

I wanted to step back a moment and really give some credit I hadn't given before... which is kinda surprising.

The credit: to my brother.

My brother is an AMAZING artist. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've posted some of his artwork on my blog before when we both entered a local art show (here, not where he lives *laughs*).

Well, on request, quite a few months ago - my brother created me some images. The image is a ball of yarn with some knitting needles in it, a ball of yarn with a crochet needle in it, and then a ball of yarn with both items. Hmmm there may be just a ball of yarn in there too... somewhere. I asked him to draw them up and he had them done pretty much the same night.

And then he provided me with the image that all I need to do is drag it to photoshop and add the right words - he made my life SO much easier.

You will see these bits of art on my blog. I'm using them with titles of my blog series  and I also featured one on a bag I made at Zazzle called "So Happy Together" - ya know, since I knit AND crochet.

I used his images for my iYarny buttons and banners used both on this site AND on Ravelry.

Its really nice to have simply because I have the original and I can tag them in whatever way I like.

So really, this is just me taking that moment to really THANK my brother for his artwork. I love all of the images.

He's a superstar in my book (always has been... even WITH the "twinkie deals" he never followed through on when I was little LOL).

Crocheting My Life Back... The Beginning

This 'series' is going to be about me and getting my life back.

How?

Let me explain.

I'm not a small woman. I am well over 100 pounds overweight, although because I'm also very large-framed, I would say that me being as big as I am isn't like a small-framed woman being 100 pounds overweight. I am still relatively active and healthy - which is a blessing in and of itself. I have a family that loves me and a job that does not seem to discriminate against me because of my weight.

Eureka!

Those of you have read my blog for a while: do you remember my posting a picture of several books and some granny squares I got from my brother - things he had stored in his garage from my grandmother? No?

Here, let me remind you...

there... THOSE granny squares.

"Crochet Saved My Life" - get your free kindle copy!

You have no idea how excited I got this morning when sat down for my "morning blog read" before work and saw that Kathryn of Crochet Concupiscence had posted that I had a chance to get a copy of her newest book, Crochet Saved My Life, for free on Kindle.

Welllllll, Lucky me, folks! I own a kindle!

Learning Something New

I have blogged multiple times about how important I feel it is to challenge yourself or adventure into new waters - to learn something new. I like to learn something new, even if its a piece of information, every day. With something like crochet, one should be willing to adventure off into something new at least once a year - to be able to practice it and get comfortable with a new technique or style.... or tool.

I have been eyeballing cro-tatting for a while now and that is definitely going to happen once I can find the right hook. Obviously, I could find them online easily but I figured I'd just piddle around local for a while until I couldn't take it anymore. IE, around April.

But today, as I was reading the blogs I subscribe to in Reader, I saw a post on the Crochet Spot Blog - the sharp crochet hook.

Keeping it Simple (and cheap)

some acrylics I bought a year or so ago

If there is one thing that my yarn group has done is opened my eyes to all the wonderful types and variations of yarn and yarn color. I have learned new styles and had my eyes opened to new patterns. I think it was my yarn group that was the real inspiration behind my actual "like" of knitting.

What I also learned is that with new wonderful types and variations of yarn and yarn colors comes the need for budgeting - some people are able to spend 15$ for a ball of yarn and buy 8 for a project.

I am not one of those people.

Year of Projects 2: Update 16

Project Percentage Complete: 48%

Overall Percentage Complete: 36%

Number of Project Items: 98
Number of Added Items: 67
Total Items: 165

Total Completed Project Items: 47
Total Completed Items: 60

FO Friday

*stretches arms*

Ahhhhh it feels good to be posting an FO Friday today. Now, I've finished LOTS of items, which you can see with my Year of Projects posts; however, I haven't done an FO Friday post in an awful long time.

All I Want for Christmas...

I figured it was time to share my yarn related Christmas presents with you - I was very excited and I've had plenty of time to play with them too (yay).

This year I decided to be very blunt about what I wanted. The first thing I did is decide I needed a swift and a ball winder. I consulted with the experts (read as: my friends from yarn group) and got the low-down on the best items for a lowest cost that would work wonderfully.

An Interpretation of my Crochet Nightmare

So in the spirit of my never leaving something alone - I decided to find a general interpretation of my dream that I posted about earlier today. I found a few spots online that had dream dictionaries - so I thought I'd throw in some of the key elements of the dream to find out what these dictionaries *think* my dream meant.

Please keep in mind I do not really believe my dreams offer any insight to my life. I have some pretty vivid dreams and to me, they are more like watching movies than anything else.

A Crochet Nightmare

The title may be one you think I've used to be trendy and draw your eye in. Sadly - its really just that... I had a crochet "nightmare" last night. No, I did not wake up in a cold sweat with eyes wide open, gasping for breath (as you'd see in any top notch thriller). I did wake up a bit frustrated and curious why I would have this type of a dream.

My New Swift from The Knit Store on Etsy ... A Review

(c) TheKnitStore on Etsy

This blog post is to serve as my review of my new swift, purchased by my mother as a Christmas present to me.

The item was purchased from TheKnitStore on Etsy.

The reason I have decided to do a review on my blog is because I cannot write feedback for TheKnitStore because my mother is the one who actually purchased the swift.