henrietta

There is certain vibrant charge to the air when spring seems to be nearing.  

A newness.  A deep, strengthening sigh.  A feeling of ahhhhhh....

I love that feeling.  And walking through the house with the sun's warmth through the windows, I start to visualize all that spring entails.

For starters, what's certainly needed are spring-like potholders. 

More specifically -- ones that will help usher in spring with their cuteness & quaintness.

From here:

....the perfect spring-like potholder.

This is Henrietta.

She was sooooooo easy & quick to crochet & I used my g hook & Lily Sugar 'n Cream yarn.

Now.

Hopefully spring does indeed arrive soon (and that nasty weatherman has got it all wrong with his forecast of 8 in. of snow by Wednesday morning.....)

a treasure in tatting

This pillowcase is a treasure that I recently found at the thrift store.  Minus the edging.

(btw--when I see items like this with $.25 price tag attached it is such a bittersweet feeling --- sweet because it is now in my possession, but bitter because the time & love that must have gone into embroidering this pillowcase...well, it is a shame that it ended up tossed in a bargain bin at the local thrift store.)

And since I have been practicing with this tatted 'swatch' of edging

that I found in this book from Annie's Attic:

I knew this edging would look so splendid on the pillowcase. 

In pink!

So I tatted & tatted & tatted inches and inches of pink edging for this pillow; attached it by hand-sewing it with needle & thread right to the very edge of the pillowcase.

Such a lovely treasure.

for a friend

For a friend.

Believing the impossible.

And pushing me in a good sense.

The pattern is one of the those single sheets that grace the aisles at the yarn store -- and for

the life of me,

I can not find it to give appropriate credit to the designer....

~
I used my g hook 

this yarn 

& the flower comes from this book.

And lastly, hand sewed fabric for the lining.

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."

- Anais Nin

a change of heart

Wanting to immerse myself in pinks, reds & whites I tried thinking of simple but pretty things to make for  Valentine's Day.

Initially, I found a beautiful heart in this book:

Motif # 124 --- a gorgeous heart, but a bit too big for this project.  It just seemed to overpower the felt instead of enhancing the look I was going for.

So, back to my stack of books and I found exactly what I was looking for in here:

The perfect heart --- and it truly is my most favorite pattern for a crocheted heart that I have stitched.

Here is how it all went together:

1)Using 2 pieces of 4 x 4 inch felt                                                               2)marking tiny dots with a pencil

3)stitched a simple buttonhole stitch w/ embroidery floss                              4)and before closing, stuffed it with polyfill

5)single crochet the first row                                           6)and chain 3 -- skipping a single crochet for row 2 to create a simple edging

7) and lastly -- adhering the heart in the center

...a perfect change of heart.

 

ten thousand

I recently read that if you really want to be good at something, you need to practice 10,000 hours.

This got me thinking.

10,000 hours.  Really?  So 10 years of practicing 3 hours a day --- I can become a master in my subject.

This was huge to me because I am so prone to quit something if I don't grasp it right away with the 'aww-I'm-no-good-at-this-mentality'.  Dumb, I know.

So I began to approach this whole knit-a-sock-saga that has been going on for.ever. in a whole different light.

Who cares if I don't become Master Knitter within minutes of picking up a DPNs?  Why the pressure for pete's sake?  This may take years -- not minutes...

...good grief, why was I beating myself up about this?

So it's back to my delicious Felici yarn from my darling (you can do this, Dawn!) friend, Andi and I approached these socks with a whole different attitude.

Relaxed (for a change) I absolutely fell in love with the feel of these as they formed in my hands.  Boy, oh, boy -----> soft, soft, SOFT.  This was the feeling that I was craving and it was right there...in my lap.

Okay.  I realize it's just one sock so far.  But there is a fire deep within that has been lit & the welling up that I feel is proof to my husband/kids that I do need a nice padded room has been ignited and if you hear hootin' & hollerin' that's just me ----> on fire with the knowledge that I can truly knit socks. 

And knit socks I shall do.

a bunny & a 'bad' dog

For every Valentine's Day, I crochet each of 3 kids some sort of amigurumi.  It's a tradition that my son demands I keep.  (And for a soon-to-be-13-yr.old-ALL-boy...I'm tickled pink about that.)

So I started pouring through my books & magazines, looking for some sort of cute amigurumi to make for them.

And I found this darling bunny -- she has her own blog that chronicles all of her adventures! -- how cute is that?! 

The pattern is from here:

Inside Crochet March 2010 Issue 15

I struggled & scratched my head a bit with this pattern, because this magazine hails from the UK and the crochet terms are British English instead of American English.  A little tough at first when they print dc and it actually means sc, but after awhile I whizzing through it with no problem.

I used Caron Simply Soft in Grey Heather with a size G hook.

She's so floppy and adorable that I must keep her away from a certain four-legged creature that goes by the name of Bear.......

...because he, lovable golden retriever that he is...

(ahem)

...thought he would be of assistance and help with the taking down of our Christmas tree.  Never mind that in taking the ornaments off of the tree, he  proceeded to eat them!!...

Argggh.

Bear looking all apologetic.

Yup. 

It worked.

Apology accepted.

Christmas clothespin angels

Christmas is almost here.

And when something as simple as a clothespin can become a Christmas angel...

...well, it must be made.

The pattern for these adorable angels is from here:

And I just love how easy these were to crochet and to keep it even simpler, I opted not to add the halo or wings.

Size 10 crochet thread & my size 7 hook -- along with clothespins (of course) and you have the makings for so many cute Christmas angel ornaments.

...oh. This?

Our son's ornaments.

Ninja style.  Or Tron style --- so he informs me.  Not exactly the darling & whimsical that I was going after...

But when I was trying to come up with the different color combinations for the frilly dresses...well, I felt as if I were designing originals for these tiny, wooden angels.

So perfect as we celebrate this season of angels proclaiming glad tidings of great JOY.