Blogging – Page 2 – Something by Vera

FO Friday: 150 Lemons for CYC

This year, I pledged to make 50 lemons for the Craft Yarn Council Lemon Drive. You can read more about it and find out how you can contribute here. I ended up having so much fun making them that I made over 150 lemons! So many, they can’t even fit in the photo!

I was lucky enough to receive free supplies from Yarnspirations and Fairfield. I also lucked out on a local resale page and scored free bags of filling! The most I spent was on shipping!

This drive is being held in preparation for a Mega Lemon Drop in January. I initially came across this event because of National Stress Awareness month every April. The lemon pattern is written by Twinkie Chan for this event.

I hope all these lemons have brightened your day!

FO Friday: Chained Wreath Ornament

Blogging, Crochet, FO Friday, Look What I Made!

Here’s a quick FO. I’m also posting it earlier than originally planned because they are almost gone! It took longer to attach the ribbons and magnet than it was to make the actual wreath.

I used a 5.0 mm hook, but any size will do. There’s no gauge. Just keep making a chain until you get about 5 feet. Mine came out to about 3×3 inches.

I made a bunch of these, so they are my shop’s “free gift with purchase” until December 20 or until they are gone! Just want the ornament? You can also order them!

Pattern/Idea from: Tangled Happy
Hook: 5.0 mm Soft Touch crochet hook from Clover USA
Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver in Green Tones.
Order yours here.

FO Friday: Doctor Who Throw

Blogging, Crochet, FO Friday, Look What I Made!

This time I tried my hand at C2C!

I started this project November of last year! It took me nearly a year to make because of all the ends to weave in and all the color changes!

The plan was originally to make 12 squares, or at least enough to cover one adult. But all the ends made it quite a task if you don’t work them in right away.

This was definitely fun to work. But next time, I’ll need to do my best to not put the project down.

Hook: 4.5 mm Soft Touch crochet hook from Clover USA
Yarn: various worsted weight yarns by Red Heart Yarn and Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice
Pattern: Two Hearts Crochet
Order yours here.

FO Friday: Shoreline Afghan

Blogging, FO Friday

Here’s another gift! I love finding these cool blanket patterns, but I have more blankets than I could use in a lifetime.

For this project, I decided to use yarn I already had in my stash. It’s a mix of brands, but they seem to have come together very nicely!

This gift is not meant to be given until Christmas, but I thought I’d get a good start since my favorites I’ve made can take as long as 2-3 months. A day or two into the project, I realized I’m nearly halfway done! This is also when I found how to do a join-as-you-go technique for hexagons, and I just had to go into overdrive out of excitement!

I used less yarn than I thought I would per hexie, so I think this would make a good scrap yarn project! But let’s save that for another time!

Hook: 5.5 mm Furls Odyssey crochet hook from Furls Crochet.
Known yarn used:
- Red Heart Super Saver in Aran, Medium Thyme, Charcoal
- Red Heart With Love in Black
- Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice in Seaspray Mist, Beige
Personalize and order yours here.

FO Friday: Reusable Water Balloons

Blogging, FO Friday

This week’s FO are reusable water balloons from Left in Knots! I tried them first as is with a 9.0 mm hook but came out too big for a child, so I omitted a row and switched to an 8.0 mm hook. But after trying them in action, I decided to put that row back with the 8.00 hook. And they came out great!

Once they’re made, all you really need for your fight is a bucket of water! They absorb about half a cup of water each, so you can cause the same amount of damage as traditional water balloons.

The best thing about this is the clean up! They are machine washable and dryable, and leave no trash on the battlefield.

Yarn: Bernat Blanket
Hook: 8.0 mm crochet hook from Clover USA
Pattern: Left in Knots
Order yours here

FO Friday: Summer Mosaic Afghan

Blogging, FO Friday

This afghan has been completed for a while. But since this was given as a gift, I did not want to risk ruining the surprise by posting too early!

This project had some ups and downs, and some learning experiences. First lesson was when using multiple colors for squares (in this case, hexagons), work by color sections and not one square at a time. Doing so helps break the monotony and makes you feel it is a quick project.

Another lesson is to not put projects down to hibernate for too long. For me, this gives me an excuse to postpone and get lazier and lazier to finish the project. My inner procrastinator comes out too much.

But overall, this turned out to be a great throw!

Pattern by: Julie Yeager
Yarn: Red Heart With Love in Aran; Red Heart Super Saver in Cherry Red, Hot Red; Vanna’s Choice in Scarlet, Brick
Hook: 5.5 mm and 6.00 mm Soft Touch crochet hook from Clover USA

Yarn Haul

Blogging, Haul

One thing that sucks about being in Hawaii, is the availability of yarn. It can get expensive and/or hard to get. Hobby Lobby for example excludes Hawaii and Alaska in “Free Shipping” promos and even regular rate shipping!

So when deals like what Red Heart had came along, I had to jump on it! This was, if I remember correctly, 20% off your total purchase plus free shipping on orders $50 and above.

This is a brand I use very frequently and had some new colors, so why not? I ordered a few colors I use regularly, some colors that are rarely available locally, and some just because.

It took nearly a month for 9 pounds of yarn to get here, but it’s arrival still made my day!

Now who wouldn’t like to come home to a box full of squishy goodness?!!

Shop Update

Blogging, Crochet

The ending of summer was quite busy for me. Family reunion, birthdays, larger waves of orders.

One thing that came out of this chaos was a few new colors! So check out my most popular item made with 100% cotton, this water bottle holder.

These materials are also great for market bags!

Finished Object Friday: Granny Square Sweater

Blogging, FO Friday

Last year’s Black Friday, I had a good haul of this Heartland yarn by Lion Brand. This has been my on-the-go project because it’s just a big ol’ granny square!

I just made a granny square as wide as my arm span. Then slip stitched together the side into itself to form the sleeve. A single crochet edge around the openings. And there you have it!