Junie Moon: crochet

Showing posts with label crochet. Show all posts

Friday, May 10, 2013

Summer Starfish Crochet

I shared my knitted sand dollar washcloths, now I’ll share another sea creation—crocheted starfish.

The pattern is a free offering from Coats & Clark.

While I’m not as comfortable crocheting as I am with my knitting, making the starfish is fun and surprisingly quick.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Now that I’m officially considered a senior, my opportunities to give baby gifts have diminished. My peers are past the baby-making years and my own babies are done with family building. In a way, it’s somewhat like my reaching towards the end time in life and being cut off from the beginning of life—a demarcation which makes me feel odd.

So, I was excited when one of my friends had the blessing of welcoming her first grandchild in the world—a little girl named Savannah.

Using an idea from my friend Sara at Unwind the Yarn Shop in Fort Walton Beach, FL, I cast on 150 stitches using U.S. size 6 needles and knitted one ball of yarn for 26 rows (13 ridges) before switching to the next color. This is simply knitting of every row.

After finishing the last color, the color scheme was reversed. The yarn is Rowan Handknit Cotton. The first set of blocks color order (in parentheses are the number of skeins I purchased for the entire blanket):

Slick (3)
Mist (2)
Shell (2)
Celery (2)
Ecru (3)

Second set of blocks:

Ecru
Celery
Shell
Mist
Slick

Blanket done, I started thinking about creative ways to embellish it. I crocheted a simple scallop edging in Ecru around the blanket. After the edging was done, the blanket was washed and blocked.

Next, I decided to add the baby’s monogram in the center of the middle section (the wider Ecru-colored portion).

The monogram was made by braiding the Slick (hot pink) color of yarn and forming the three letters which I’ve hand-stitched to the blanket.

Here is Savannah’s completed blanket.

The blanket was carefully packaged in a pretty box and shipped off to Atlanta in time for the baby shower.

I loved making this gift and feel it connects me back to the beginning of the life cycle—nature’s own creative project.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Catching Happy Dreams

Dreams are illustrations...from the book your soul is writing about you. ~Marsha Norman

A few months ago I participated in You Go Girl’s On the Edge Pillowcase Crochet-Along, a project I really loved. I decided to try it again using dream catchers as my theme for a gift for my friend Cindy who’s moving across country.

Source: Wikipedia

Dream catchers are netted hoops embellished with special objects and hung over the bed to catch dreams. In Ojibwa (Chippewa) culture, a dream catcher allows only good dreams to filter through. Bad dreams stay in the net and disappear in the light of day while the good dreams pass through and slide down the feathers to the sleeper (Wikipedia).

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

Cindy loves everything about the southwest and to remind her of this beautiful part of the country, I made a set of crochet-edged pillowcases for her. The dream catcher fabric design emphasizes my wish she have only happy dreams in her new home.

Turquoise-colored crochet yarn was used to edge the pillowcases. The color coordinates perfectly with the fabric and adds symbolic meaning to my gift. The color turquoise symbolizes the lines of communication between the heart and the spoken word. And isn’t that really what we need to do to capture our dreams and make them a reality?

I hope Cindy enjoys happy dreams in her new home and these pillowcases serve as a reminder of an area of the U.S. she loves and that I’m thinking of her.

Dreams are nature's answering service—don’t forget to pick up your messages once in a while. ~Sarah Crestinn

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Climbing Stash Mountain

The snows have melted on Stash Mountain and I’m ready for a springtime hike to enjoy the flowers.

Okay, there really wasn’t any winter snow on the huge amount of craft stash I own, but it feels as though my UFO good intentions have grown to mountainous proportions.

Something must be done or archaeologists will be digging up my old bones 500 years from now and wondering what the hell I was doing.

Just in time to rescue me from myself is the April is Stash Bust effort. Go here for more information and the prizes involved if you submit (not required) a winning project. They’ll also be offering tutorials specifically targeting stash busting.

Along with catching up on some scrapbooking, making more crochet-edged pillowcases, trying out the pile of new recipes I’ve collected, and numerous other activities, the following are a few of my UFO projects I plan to finish in April.

Knitting and sewing—I’m my own craft and fabric store; if you need something, I probably have it.

Cross-stitch and other embroidery projects galore could keep me occupied for years.

More knitting (I have a huge Rubbermaid bin chockfull of yarn, patterns, and books)

Flowers to enjoy—well, this one isn’t a stash project, but I’ll have to emerge from all my enthusiastic endeavors to just enjoy life.

Can I make it up and over Stash Mountain? I’ll report my progress at the end of April.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Resting My Weary Head

A beautifully made bed with fresh line-dried sheets and comfy pillows is my reward at the end of the day.

When I joined Cassie’s month-long On the Edge Pillowcase Crochet Along at the You Go Girl blog, I was somewhat apprehensive about the crochet assignment for the final week. But I’ve wanted to learn to crochet for some time now and felt this would be the perfect project with which to begin.

The sewing of the pillowcases and the blanket stitch embroidery along the edges were easily accomplished. My first effort at crocheting one of my four pillowcases was pretty slow and terribly messy. After viewing Anna's (Thimbleanna) finished beauties, I removed my offending crochet work and tried again.

My crocheted edges are not perfect, but I think they’re great for my first venture into this technique. I’m so appreciative of the way Cassie planned this whole Crochet Along venture, each week was a pleasant delight and I did indeed learn something new—you can’t go wrong with that.

O bed! O bed! delicious bed!

That heaven upon earth to the weary head.
~Thomas Hood, Miss Kilmansegg - Her Dream

Monday, March 15, 2010

Project Readiness: On the Edge

We’re beginning Week 3 of the On the Edge project hosted by Cassie at the You Go Girl blog.

Cassie’s instructions for Week One were to gather supplies. She rated that assignment as Difficulty Level: 1 Dove Chocolate. You just have to love a project rated via the number of chocolates you need.

Instead of making one set of pillowcases, I’ve opted to make two so enough fabrics were found at Jo-Ann’s to help me meet my goal. Both prints work pretty well together, one is sand dollars and the other a large print that actually emulates a bit of the sand dollar design.

First thing I do after purchasing fabric is wash it all and hang it on the clothesline. Seeing my next project blowing in the breeze makes me happy.

Source: Pantone

Turquoise is Pantone’s color of the year—works out nicely for me.

Week 2 (last week) was to Construct a Posh Pillowcase, Difficulty Level: 2 1/2 chocolates. Here are my four finished pillowcases with the crochet yarn I’ll use for each set. Cassie’s pillowcase tutorial was easy to follow.

While waiting for Week 3 to start, I bought a crochet book and have been watching YouTube videos and practicing since I don’t know how to crochet at all.

To keep everything together, I assembled a kit using an Amy Butler scrapbook tote. Today begins Week 3 of the On the Edge project and I’m excited about moving forward.