It's not a Birkin Bag, but it's all handmade, by ME!

If you are a fan of the Gilmore Girls, you will understand the title of this entry. I had this bag hanging around unfinished for a while, so I dug it out of my WIP stash and finished it. The weather is just right for it's use. I love it. I would have liked it just a little bigger, but I think I will reduce the size of my wallet instead! Made with Lion's Thick and Quick and Big Lots brown fun fur.

Off to Mississippi

This is my first knitted project and it's off to Mississippi along with 11 crocheted facecloths and bars of soap. Check out this site. There is a lot of mail, but it is a great group of stitchers both knitters and crocheters. Many cloths have been sent to shelters. This is just my own little contribution.

This girl learned to purl

If I could learn to teach kids to learn to knit from this book, I could certainly teach myself the purl stitch. I learned the knit stitch years ago and could not for the life of me figure out how to purl. The sentence that I did not read during my first attempts was "WITH THE YARN IN THE FRONT". I kept ending up with twenty three stitches instead of twenty. I had holes, I FINALLY figured out while working with some varigated yarn how to make sure I was picking up the first stitch and then realized that it was only able to do it with the yarn in the front. So now my rule is yarn in front with the purl and in the back with the knit.

1. Learning to Purl. Uneven stitches and all, the yarn is in the front and I am getting the ribbing pattern.
   
2. The pattern I was trying said purl one row, knit one row, but I only read the purl part. Reading the directions is VERY important when learning from a book. I guess I was a perfect candidate for this book - large print, lots of pictures and geared toward the beginner.
   
3. This is the correct way that pattern was to be worked. I think this is called a stockinette stitch.
4. I once heard my sister(who thinks knitting is easy and crocheting is too complicated to learn) say, knit one purl two, while she was working on a project, so I tried it, but I was working on an odd number of stitches. I will try it again on another practice piece.

* dropped stitch holes, to be expected when you first practice.

Now on to Lesson 5: Increasing & Decreasing.

Piggies

These little piggies are cell phone holders. I saw them on two different blogs and thought I would try to copy them. Apparently they are in the Stitch and Bitch Nation book as an IPod holder. I made one out of Red Heart Baby Clouds and the other is out of LionBrand Velvet Spun. The example I saw can be found here
They are so cute. The buttons I found at Joanne's Fabric store along with the giant snap for the closure. I am going to make another for a birthday present. They really make up quick.

Grannies

Granny squares made out of Janlynn Floss. The top row is done in solids and the bottom two rows are done in ombre. The pattern is from an Annie's Attic: The Ultimate Book of Miniature Doilies. When put together they make a lovely coaster. Now to join them.

The Knifty Knitter

I purchased this Knifty Knitter and wondered what I could make with it. It took me awhile to figure out the 4 peg knitting tool and thought that if I could figure out the small one, I could work with the big ones.
Here is what I did with the blue loom. I ended up with a baby hat made out of pink Red Heart Baby Clouds.
My next attempt was with a skein of wool I had purchased with the intention of felting. I doubled it and used the blue loom again. I crocheted a bottom and attached it to the the knitted tube. I crocheted around the top and added the loop. The red flower was made with some other wool I bught to make a purse. It reminds me of an eyeglass holder that someone gave me with a key ring on it. I am not sure how I am going to use this, but I am very happy with the results.

This is a hat I made with the Knifty Knitter. I got the pattern from The Loom Knitting Designs site.

Flowers

I made these flowers using #10 cotton thread, #3 microfiber thread, curling ribbon and embroidery floss. I haven't found a use for them yet, but there are now part of a collection that is growing.

Another hat

Here is another hat I made with Caron's One Pound skein. This one is being modeled by my youngest son Jake. Unfortunatly he had to cut his long hair when school started. This hat looked better on him when his hair was long..

This is what I did with my August YOTMC selection

This was August's selection. The only other yarn I added to the eyeglass case was some varigated cotton at the bottom. I am so excited for September's yarn to arrive. Check out this site if you are interested. Yarn of the Month Club

And we will call this Denzie's Hat

This is Denzale’s hat. I found a bucket hat pattern and one of my boy’s cloth bucket hats and came up with this. Denzie picked the colors when I was in Arizona. I used the spike stitch as described at http://www.crochetme.com/Aug_Sept_2005/patt_spike_clutch.html
I used the Mission Falls 1824 cotton yarn I bought in Arizona. I really like the way it came out. I hope it fits!

Ribbon bag 3

This purse is also made of ribbon, also some raffia and a little fun fur ($2 @ Big Lots). The button was an oldie from my collection. The handle I made with some wire I had and beads from my collection. It's a little hard to see since I like to photograph these projects with a background. I guess I am always reminded of the photography class I took. I got lower marks on some projects because "the background could have been better." Now, am I going over board???

Another ribbon bag

Here is another ribbon bag. This one is a eyeglass case. I am hooked on making these. I don't think there are enough friends to give these to. I still need to line this since some of the ribbon is a little corse, especially the curling ribbon I used. I really like the results.. What do you think????

My $1 phone clutch

Made from ribbon I got at Joanne's for 50 cents a roll. The green is from a ribbon I saved from a bouquet from a friend. This soft ribbon was easy to crochet with an N hook.

Found this really TRUE statement

My trip to AZ - The stash increases

I drove to Mesa, Arizona on Tuesday morning to pick up my youngest son who had been staying with his cousin and her family for a couple of weeks. The drive from Long Beach was easy and we left early enough to avoid traffic. Before I left I googled LYS's in Mesa and found The Fiber Factory. I then goggled directions from my niece's house to the shop. What a great find. Their selection was so fun to browse through. I had a very tough time selecting what I wanted, because I wanted everything. I ended up with the following:
1. Mission Falls 1824 cotton yarn in black and gold for a hat for my nephew;
2. Cotton yarn from Southwest Trading Company called Beyond in red and white, just because it had such a cool texture;
3. Three skeins of Cascade Yarn's 100% wool in maroon, grey and gold to make a felted purse;
4. One skein of Sirdar's Curly Wurly in a blue variegated;
5. A wool winder by Royal. I broke down and bought it because it was about the same price as I had seen them online and I could carry this one back to California with me. The funny thing is, I couldn't wait to try it and pulled it out while I was sitting in my car during my nephew's football practice. I actually hooked it up to the steering wheel and wound away! What a cool device. I am going to be so busy winding. Again, something to keep me from actually getting my crocheting done;
6. Two books. A book called Fun and Funky Crochet by Sophie Britten.. It has some pretty nice patterns. I especially like the purses and hats. I plan to get some done before Christmas. The other is a little leisure Art's project book. I was drawn to it because of the teddy bear on the cover but I also like the Rice Roll and will be a nice gift.
7. Two hooks. One Brittany G, since I use the G hook so much in so many projects and a Skace size "A". I just wanted to get the feel of each of these hooks. Uh oh... am I now going down the path of HAS???

I, of course, spent more than I thought I would when I walked into this heaven. I couldn't help myself. I saw so many of the things I had been admiring in my online browsing. A few of these things I had actually put into a shopping cart, but ended up closing my web browser because the store didn't take PayPal and I would have to go and hunt down my purse and credit card. PayPal can be so dangerous in the hands of someone with my addictions!

The store personel were just as awesome as the store itself. I had my 6 year nephew with me and they had a basket of toys which kept him busy as I browsed around and admired what I knew I could not afford. The clerk that helped me directed me to the wool she used for her felted purse and actually went and got it to show it to me. They offered more knitting classes than crochet, but their hook selection rivaled the knitting needles and their selection of crochet books was the best I have ever seen in one store. I would highly recommend stopping by if you are in the area. It is in a lovely section of Mesa, and is surrounded by some other very cute shops. It is now monsoon season in Arizona, so it was raining pretty heavily while we were in the shop, and along with having my nephew with me, I didn't get to venture into the other stores. Next visit...I go alone!

Then I was off to the local Walmart to purchase snacks for the return trip. Of course I had to look at their yarn selection and low and behold what did I find... cones of Peaches and Cream in new colors, Dalmatian and Black Cherry of course, both went into the cart along with a purse handle that was under $4.

Where will all this new acquisition go??? Well, that is a topic for another day.

Another purse..it was supposed to be a pillow cover

Yes, this was supposed to be a pillow cover. I almost had it done and reevaluated it and realized I could turn it into an envelope purse. I will add more pictures as I progress. I still need to figure out how I want to do the handle. I have a few to choose from, but it is always a good reason to go to the LYS and look for more. I also thought of the handle

My Summer Purse

This is a pattern from Annie's Scrap Crochet Club called "Desert Sunset". I used worsted weight cotton, which I now love to crochet with. It does not fuzz up and is so easy to work with. My son's GF wants one, so she asked him to ask me...girls are funny.

More ornaments

Gingerbread man can be found here.

button button who's got the button

Additions to my button collection.  The baseballs remind me of my son. The flowers were actually hair rubber bands I found at  Big  Lots and took them apart. The Ladybug is from a package of 12. The face is my favorite. I used it to make my name tag. Isn't she cute!

My CPOEX Group

This is just a few of the ornaments I have received from my Ornament Exchange. I am the coordinator of this great group of crocheters. We have done a round robin twice and two 1 to 1 exchanges. I love getting my "puffy" in the mail and can't wait to see the goodie inside. In August we will do a flower exchange, kind of mix it up a little. If you are interested in joining this group, you must be a member of Crochet Partners. Check out the link above or the CPOEX tag on the right of this page.

My Own Little World

Shimmering Summersgirl

Fooling around in JASC. Fun, fun, fun.
Click above and try it for 30 days free.

My YAS

To reveal my hidden secret stash

1. The empty soda bottle to make a yarn holder
2. Yarn and pattern to make a sweater
3. The baby afghan for my niece.. her son is about to turn 4*
5. Yarn for my Cats Afghan (that I must get back to)
6. Baptism afghan for same niece as above*
7. Blue varigated afghan that is not yet complete (only about 9 yrs)
8. Green varigated afghan that I am short 1 skein to complete
9. New Lily Elite cotton yarn that I bought for $1/skein. I loved it so much I ordered more!
10. My Big Lots Fun Fur purchase
??? I don't know what are in these boxes. They were the first box purchases and then realized that I needed clear ones, so it's always a surprise to open them. I think they are mostly Red Heart.

The other unlabeled boxes are other projects, leftover skeins and single skeins.

*I figure these will one day become grandchildren gifts

Great Gift Idea 1949

My PAS has lead me to find Vintage Patterns like the one below.  http://vintageknits.com

is a great place to look.  I have found some very cool

things.  I am especially attracted to this purse.  It calls

for size 5 cotton thread (J&P Coats or Clark's O.N.T> Pearl

Cotton with a #3 steel hook.

Eyeglass case with Big Lots Fun Fur

Isn't this a cute monkey purse? I made it for my niece. The pattern is one of Aunt Annie's Scrap patterns.

Teacher Gifts

These were the teacher gifts for my son's 7th gr teachers. 

I  only got 3 done, so the lucky ones got one, the others just

got nice plants.  They were fun and easy to make .  The pattern

is at Hugg'em Collectable site.  I added my own ruffle around the top and used varigated cotton yarn (Sugar & Cream).

Newest Idea

Ben Franklin Crafts & Frames / Crafting Ideas - Fun Fur Purse
What a fun purse to try to make. I have both yarns. The $2.00 Fun Fur I got at Big Lots and some Lion Brand Thick and Quick that is left over from another project. They will make great gifts. Just enought room for a cell phone and small wallet.

My reading glasses cord - Click here to see more views

Using #3 thread

Cats Afghan

Cats Afghan, originally uploaded by Summersgirl.

My WIP...boy do I need to get back to this.

Second Ornament Exchange

I made these for my second ornament exchange. All artwork can be found at http://www.pccrafter.com/pchugclub/
The crochet designs are my own - playing around.

Ornament Exchange
Originally uploaded by Summersgirl.

Backs
Originally uploaded by Summersgirl.

I Love Priscilla Hewitt's Designs

This is a closeup of the Hook Caddy


Posted by Hello

I gave this to my mom for Mother's Day 2005


Posted by Hello
Look for more to come. I am currently working on the Pineapple Angel and the Aluminum Hook Case (a belated 2nd Mother's day gift). I will also post some pictures of my 15 Minute Glasses Cases, as soon as I get some photos.

Baseball Afghan WIP

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My five little snowmen for my Ornament Exchange 

THINGS I LOVE

I love my family, reading, crochet, PSP, sewing, surfing the net, watching tv, gardening, my kitty, my girlfriends and lots of other things.

My family = My wonderful musician husband who misses professional hockey, my three teen sons who love punk music and skating boarding.

Currently reading = "The Last Juror" - John Grisham

Crochet = WIP's - Cat Afghan, Baseball Afghan, Christmas ornaments, plus lots and lots of UFO's

PSP = I love working in PSP and working on various tutorials

Sewing = Haven't done it in awhile, miss it and plan to get back.

Surfing the net = lots and lots of pattern sites, Crochet Partners , JPF, Crochetville

Favorite TV shows = Law and Order, Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, The Dog Whisper, One Life to Live,

Gardening = My spring flowers are looking great and my tomato plants re getting huge! I have planted a lot of Morning Glories and Moonflowers that I can't wait to flower.

My Kitty = Alison, who loves to be scratched.

My Girlfriends = Who save my life every week by listening to me gripe about my wonderful life!