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.