Crochet Ripple Part 2

Hmmm, well my anticipated and much hoped for progress on my Crochet Ripple lap blanket didn't exactly go to plan.  Back in March, I shared my progress (which I was so proud of) that got stuck when I fell into the realisation of no more wool.  After much googling, eBaying and internet searching, I have decided to start again!

So this is where I'm at.  I've started again and after watching so many other ripple blankets come to life with the rainbow colours.  I've decided to try too!!

 

 

 This time I headed to the local Lincraft Store (10 minute drive, unlike the Spotlight drive which takes up to an hour).  And looked for a snuggly wool, that was 100% wool, and Australian!

And I think I've made a few lovely colour selections.  In fact, and as always my 'luck', the wool at Lincraft is on a huge sale, so I'm going to head back tomorrow and stock up on colours.  So I NEVER start a project to find I've not got enough wool!  And besides, it's going to keep me company on my trip to Melbourne!!

And in case you're wondering.  This lovely blanket featuring soft blue, pear green and a lovely brown colour is my stalled project.  Click on this link for the blog post to find out all about it!!  And this time I plan on finishing my rainbow Attic24 ripple crochet blanket. Maybe in time for Canberra winter!!

Crochet - Ripple

It's no secret I love to craft. It's no secret I have many unfinished projects. It's also no secret I have a craft supply ahem stash. Maybe a big stash nice collection.   So when I decided to join in on the Ripple-along hosted by One Crafty Mumma, I thought hurrah.  This was the chance to do some crochet, serious crochet!

I learned to crochet back in the far-gone days of May 2010, when the thought of making baby blankets, baby clothes and washers was going to be more than my dream.  Don't get me wrong, I have done lots of crochet.  Just nothing big or in time for baby Jessica to wear.  So the Ripple along was a great opportunity to make the Attic24 Ripple rug that I love!

So now it's the end of Week 3.  Hmm with only a few rows to show.  Not because I don't want to.  Because I'm stuck!  I was hoping to blog weekly my progress, but I've almost come to a grinding halt!  Noooooooooooooooo!!!

I've almost run out of wool.  When I started, I thought, that won't be a problem.  I had bought them from Spotlight.  It was a Paton's brand.  I'll get some more.  No.  Nope.  Nil.  Nada.  My local (not so local really, 45 min drive) no longer had them.  So I'm at a cross road.  What do I do now?

 

 

So I've got my labels (thank goodness I saved them).  I'm now on eBay and online web-stores trying to get the best deals for the closest match in dye runs and colour lots.

So anyway that's my story of my Crochet Ripple-along.  I'm down but not out.  Just running behind (not entirely a new experience for me!!).  So fingers crossed I get the balls of wool I need so I can keep crocheting!!

 And for those wondering why this blog post isn't about stamping and papercraft (as per regular programming), the moral of my story is - never stop adding to your stash.  You can NEVER have enough!!!!

A Baby Bundle

A friend of mine (who I happen to work with too which is cool) had a baby girl a couple of weeks ago.  We've often been on maternity leave at the same time, as we both have 8 year old boys and we both have 3 1/2 year olds.  But this time I returned to work from maternity leave just as she was on maternity leave.  I should also say she has four versus my three, but we both love kids so that's ok!

Anyway, while surfing blogland I saw a card made with the cute Baby Bundle stamp set that I've only used once or twice (shock horror).  So here's my version in pink!

I stamped the pram on a a piece of Subtles (Pink Pirouette) DSP and then used my Blender pen for lots of colouring in!!

And if you're wondering, I also made a little crochet hat for baby Ellie.  Using Bamboo cotton yarn, it's oh so soft!

To make my card, I used:

Stamps: Baby Bundle
Inks: Pink Pirouette, Blushing Bride, Pixie Pink & Pear Pizzazz, Jet Black StazOn
Papers: Whisper White & Regal Rose CS, Subtles DSP
Other: Circle & Scallop Eyelet Border Punches, blender pen & a little pearl for bling!

So go on over and visit the Stamping with Paula website.  Lots of great ideas, especially cards for kids!

Design with Twine!!

It's love heart theme around my house .... so for our Monthly Craft Night, I wanted a project I could make fairly easily without too much concentration (LOL) and still be able to chat a mile a minute, as it was AGES since our last craft night and catch up!!  Where did the last month go I wonder!  We think we might rename our nights to the Friday Night Widows Club as our men folk are (1) Fairly used to us girls getting together on Friday nights and (2) the men folk being home alone (or with babysitting duties as in my case!!).

So I pulled out some Divine Twine (doesn't the name just make you want to smile), a crochet hook and a pattern of sorts and these are what I came up with:

 

Of course, I had to make a whole bunch of them!!

 

They're so cute and as cute as their names .... Pink Sorbet, Caribbean and Lilac.

 

These little hearts are just the right size to use as embellishments for cards, scrap pages and gift tags.  Hmmm, now that has me thinking!!

I also made a much bigger red & white heart ... just in time for Valentine's Day!

The pattern for this heart can be found at the Royal Sisters Blog.  I don't have a pattern for the little ones, I couldn't get a pattern to suit so just adapted and changed, unraveled and started over too many times to remember!!  I then found through FB that the Wee Memories have a challenge going - Challenge #38 Design with Twine, so I've linked up and participated!!

 

Editor's Note: I've found a few good tutorials for crocheting hearts!!  Over at Skip to My Lou and Planet June.  Much better to use tutorials from experts!!

Editor's Note No. 2: I just wanted to share that I made it to the Honorable Mentions List for this challenge.  This is so exciting ... I'm doing a little happy dance as I type!! 

Learning to Crochet

Just popping in to say hi after a few days of absence :0).

My boys (the big ones and the little ones) took me to Sydney for a Mother's Day weekend.  We had a fantastic time showing the boys everything from the trains and ferries (very important for a 2 year old boy), to the Sydney Aquarium, Dinosaur Museum and the awesome Harbour Bridge (for the almost-7 year old).

A highlight for me, was my WH giving me Saturday morning to myself to join a Learn to Crochet class through the Craft Room, run by Notebook Magazine.  After wanting to learn crochet for a number of years, I grabbed at this special opportunity and now I can say, I can crochet!!

That's me in the yellow top studiously taking notes on how to try some new stitches.  You can see my little granny square sitting on top of the brown ball of wall.  I'm so impressed I did it.  Corrie our wonderful teacher is in the middle showing us the next step!

These are the colours I got to play with in my crochet kit.  They were so soft and went together absolutely beautifully.

This is certainly not my granny square, it was a demo piece shown by Corrie.  But it's the colour combo I plan on using if we have a little girl!  We find out this Friday!

For more info, visit the Craft Room at the Notebook Magazine (click on this link).  I so hope they come to Canberra to do some classes here!