Adventures in Crocheting a Purse

I found the cutest pattern a few weeks ago on Pinterest (if you have not been to Pinterest yet, check it out...... awesome!)  The pattern can be found on Ravelry (another awesome site).  Anyways, I usually just stick with afghans and hats, easy to make and not hard to screw up.  The first thing I thought of when I saw this purse was my older sister.  She got me turned on to purses and this is just something I could see her using.  The main body of the purse turned out great (well it is a little smaller than the pattern called for.....whoops).  It was when I decided to add the handles that it didn't turn out too well.  I'm not sure if I underestimated the size of the handles I would need (I don't think so), but I think I needed to make the purse bigger in general and possibly rework the opening and handles.  Also I didn't realize that I put one of the handles on backwards until I got it all sewed on :(  I think this will be a chalk it up to experience piece.  I have a few of those!

Crafting......yes I still do that!

Well, since we have officially moved into the new house, I have been slowly getting my craft room back in working condition.  And it's about time.  I was going through some serious withdrawls!  I have been able to get back to stamping and crocheting.  A friend of mine on facebook decided to get a group of people together to do a card swap, so I am actively stamping for that.  I just finished the two cards that will go out in the mail this week for the ladies.  I had alot of fun making these.  If anyone wants directions let me know!

I have also been spending some time with a hook in my hand.  Actually quite a bit!  Eric asked me if I would make a thank you afghan for the gentleman he stay's with out in Mekoryuk when he goes Musk Ox hunting.  Since widlife in general is in all of the Native's blood, we decided to go with something I've never done before.  Behold a walrus on an iceberg!  This is the "before".  I use this type of graph as a pattern and work from there.  I was a little skeptical of the design at first because I had a hard time finding a piece of clipart that would work and capture the being of the walrus.  Most of my afghans are for kids/babies so I can usually just go with something cute and baby-like.  Not this one.  I don't think a 6o-something guy would appreciate or use something like that. Anyways, I was thinking I had at least 3 weeks to work on it, but nope!  Eric decides that he is going to go out a week earlier than planned, so I have been hooking my butt off trying to get this bad-boy done.  And finally it has come to an end.  I'm really excited in how this turned out.  I'm hoping that the gift is well receive, which I'm sure it will be.  Turns out he was more than appreciative.  He immediately went and put the afghan on his bed!

Next up was a baby afghan (yay!).  I love doing these because they are so much fun.  A friend of mine asked me to make a blanket for a fellow co-worker of hers who just recently had a baby girl.  They live in Nome, so wildlife is once again people (they work for the Alaska Division of Fish and Game).  I originally found a clipart drawing of a penguin, moose, bear and fish totem pole, but I knew that wouldn't work considering penguins DO NOT live up here.  I decided to rework it a little and get rid of the penguin.  Design turned out great, but I was informed that they REALLY wanted a Musk Ox in the design.  I had fun re-creating the design by hand drawing (okay, light table coping) of the Musk Ox and the bear and fish from the totem pole.  Here is what I came up with!

Has It Really Been 1.5 Months?

As the title states: Has it really be 1.5 months since I last posted?  I guess it has.  It's so easy to forget about this little blog site with Facebook around, but I do have some big news....
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just kidding!  But I got your attention, didn't I?

Okay, all kidding aside, I have been busy doing a little crafting.  My latest crochet project turned out great (at least I think so).  Check it out!

I have also done a little card making.  The first one was a thank you for Eric's dad and the second one was a birthday card for Eric's mom.

 

New afghan

Well - for those of you that are on Facebook, you probably have already seen this picture but I still wanted to post it here since I seem to be lacking in the posts lately. I finally finished another afghan. This is for a lady I work with. She just had a little granddaughter a few months ago and ask if I would make her one. I wanted something easy and something I could make with year I had already had on hand. Here is what I came up with.

Another Crochet Project

Well, I finished another afghan about 2 weeks ago and am finally getting around to posting a picture of it. I am now almost finished with the afghans that I needed to make. I have one left and this has been the toughest one yet to come up with some type of design. It's for my new little nephew. My sister has not been very helpful coming up with a design. So sis, since I know you will be reading this, got any ideas for me?????

The Flying Moose

Well, I have finally finished the Moose afghan. I think it turned out pretty good. Hopefully the recipients will think so too. It's for one of Eric's buddies. Him and his wife are both moose biologists and the guy does a little flying. They had a little girl about a month ago. It will be sent to Kenai to them provided that Mt. Redoubt doesn't decide to throw-up any more ash.

This Saturday is the Ducks Unlimited banquet. I have been told that my afghan will be going on the live auction. I'm so excited. I'll keep you posted on how much money it brings in.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do for my sister who's expecting her 3rd boy here in a few weeks. She's given me some vague ideas, but I haven't been able to come up with anything yet. In the meantime, I was asked if I would make a blanket (for profit ;) ) for a lady at one of the agencies in town. The baby is a year old and the parts are really big into basketball. This is what I came up with for her.

1 Afghan Down, 2 to Go

So I think I have finished the afghan for the Ducks Unlimited banquet. I haven't backed it yet, but I don't know if I'm going to. It's going to be really hard to find material to match the burgundy that I used. I'm excited about how it turned out.
Next I'll start working on the moose in the plane afghan. The third one will have to be a suprise until it gets mailed to my newest little nephew when he's born. Since my sister reads this blog, I can't let her see it this way. Also, she really hasn't given my any good ideas on what she's doing in the little guys room. I may just do something I think is cute and suprise her.

What are you working on????

I am currently back in "crochet" mode. Here is a glimpse of what I am working on. This is for the local Ducks Unlimited banquet. I'm going to donate it to the live auction hopefully. Every year they have a couple of ladies that make a quilt. The quilts always go for quite a bit, but honestly I don't think they are that great. (Sorry if any of the makers are readying this and I hurt their feelings!) I am still working on the border, which I don't have on this picture. I'm thinking I'm going to do a few rows of gray and a few of black.Here is what I'll be working on as soon as I get done with the above project. This on is for one of Eric's buddies. John and his wife both work at the Moose Research station and I guess John is also a pilot. They are expecting next month and I have been told that they are pretty sure it is a girl. I hope so because the airplane is going to be PINK! I can't wait to get started on this one.

Finished Sweater (almost)

Well, since it's been extrememly cold out (we haven't been about -10 in about 10 days) I decided I needed to do some crocheting! I got my box of yarn in the mail on Wednesday and finished the sweater last night. Okay, it's almost finished. I don't have any buttons for it yet, but I'm hoping to find some in Anchorage next week. I made it in a size medium, but I think it's too big. I'm going to make another in a different color, but in a small. The first one shows the neck down and the second shows the neck up but with no buttons.
I'm really liking this pattern and I think I'm going to enjoy making it again. I love how it's crocheted, but doesn't look crocheted. What do you all think??????

Happy New Year

I know New Year's was a few days ago, but nothing really exciting has been happening here. We are enjoying th new year with extrememly cold temperatures. Right now as I type, it is -27 with wind chills around -57. It's been cold like this for the past few days. There hasn't been any more good news on Skyler, the kid that was shot I guess they have tried a few times to take him off life support, but his lungs keep on filling up with fluid.

I've been enjoying my time off, doing pretty much nothing! You would think now would be the perfect time to get a few things done, but it's been so relaxing NOT doing anything. I do the typical Cinderella duties (cooking, laundry, cleaning) but that's about it. I need to take a few tips from Cinderella on how to do the deep cleaning :) I've also been doing a little crocheting. I'm working on a sweater from one of my latest Crochet Today magazines. I'm just waiting for more yarn to come in the mail so I can finish it.

I'm using close to the same color. It's an intermediate pattern, but I don't think it's too difficult. Once I get it done, I'll make sure I post some pics.

Trip to Minnesota

Well, it was a short 3 weeks down in the lower 48 but it was packed full of fun. This is the post on the Minnesota portion of the trip (I'll do a separate post for SD and ND). I spent the first 5 days in MN with my sister and her family. The day after I got there, we went and say my grandma and got to go on a pontoon ride with a few other of the elders. Here's a picture of Raquel, the boys and grandma on the swing down by the lake where grandma lives. We had alot of shopping to do. I needed to make up for a whole years worth of shopping. I had a lot of fun between shopping and playing with my nephews. Caden (who's 5) had a soccer game while I was visiting. He scored 3 goals. He's much more into soccer this year. Last year when I visited, all he wanted to do was to lay on the grass and relax. This year, he's really into it. Here's Caden warming up.

And this is how Colton entertains himself while Caden is playing soccer!Colton also had a joint birthday party with his cousin Gracie (Doug's sisters girl). Raquel and Doug got out the slip and slide and pool for the kids. Caden knows how to do the slip and slide, but Colton would run down the slip and slide and then "plop" down in the pool at the end.

Here's a picture of the birthday boy and girl with their cakes. Gracie couldn't wait to dive into her cake!

I also got my hair cut when I was in Minnesota. I went to my sister's hairstylist. She just happens to be from North Dakota and spent her summers in Edgeley (where Eric is from). Her grandpa was actually in the ambulance when Eric was born! Here's a picture of the new style.

We also had the opportunity to visit with a couple of my aunts and we went to eat at a drive-thru. We had alot of fun and the weather was perfect. Okay, maybe it was a little hot and humid, but we had shade so it wasn't too bad. Here's a few pictures of Caden and Colton.

Before signing off of this post I'll leave with a picture of the afghan that I did for Colton over 2 years ago. I never got a picture of it before I gave it to him and Raquel kept on "forgetting" to take a picture for me.
I'll update soon with a post on the visit to SD and ND!

Blanket for Brady and other stuff

Well, now that I have the official word that Alethea has gotten the gift for Brady, I can post a picture for the rest of you to see. I originally had a different design in mind, but I wasn't feeling it. I searched around for a long time to find the perfect design and I findally found it. Now, here it is for your viewing pleasure.

And here is the card I made.

There were a couple of ladies at work that had birthdays yesterday, so I made them the following cards. I just love this background stamp.

crafts

Well, here is the latest version of my crafts. The first few pictures will be of the cards I made at our latest Stampin Up group meeting. The last picture will be of my latest afghan that I made for a co-worker of Eric's.



Here is the blanket along with the card i made for the co-worker.

Being Crafty

Well, I have done quite a few crafts over the past couple of weeks and thought I would show you all some pictures. And I saved the best for last, so make sure you read all the way down.

The first ones are from my stamping group. We use all Stampin' Up supplies.Here is a little something I did for the people at work as an Easter treat. These were pretty fun to make. I even was asked to make some for a graduation present.And finally I've been working on an afghan for a work associate of Eric's. Him and his wife had a little boy 2 weeks ago. He's a wildlife biologist for the state office. I think it turned out adorable.

Finally some crochet!

Here's a blanket I finished last month, but I didn't want to post any pictures until the recipient received it. Little Ian Maples received it last week and so here it is. The is probably one of my most favorite afghans. I am currently working on a cartoon moose for one of the guys in the State Fish & Game Office who's wife had a little boy last week. In the works for future projects are an airplane blanket of some sort for one of the pilots that works with Eric. Isaac and his wife are expecting a boy in June. I have ladybug ghan to make for little Iris Maples. Sarah and Jon recently got back from Guatalamala with Iris. Then a blanket for Alethea and Corey's little one - oh wait, she reads this so I can't go into detail on that one. Sorry Leath, you are going to have to wait just like everyone else :)

I'm not only making blankets though, this semester I am also teaching an introductory crochet class. I have 7 adults and 1 kid in the class. Most of them had no experience with crochet. Some of them are moving along fast, others are still working on the main chain and turning. I have classes on Tuesday evenings. We were suppose to start last week, but unfortunately I had got a cold and almost lost my voice. This made it impossible to teach class, so we start this week and will go for the next 3 weeks. 4 classes total. I can't believe how fast the time flew by in class.

I was planning on finishing the moose blanket last night, but the kitties had other ideas. Chubbs kept trying to sit in my lap, but I would slowly nudge him off. Skeeter on the other hand is not a lap kitty, so when she climbed in my lap and curled up I had to let her stay. Chubbs is currently in my lap trying to help me type. He loves to be in the middle of things. Well, this is getting hard to type with one hand so I'll gone for now and type more later.

It's a bird, it's a plane, well, it's a crocheted plane!

Well, I finally had an opportunity to make another graph afghan. I had alot of fun doing this one and it didn't take very long to do it either. Here it is:
This was made for a co-worker of Eric who is a pilot with the Fish and Wildlife Service. Him and his wife had a little girl about a month ago. I think it turned out pretty good and I love how the colors turned out. I was a little skeptical when I got the yarn in the mail but it worked out.

I spent some time this past weekend working on the invitations, with the help of the Itty Bitty Kitty. I got all of the inserts printed and cut and a majority of them assembled. You should have seen Skeeter (also known as Itty, Bitty Kitty) watching the printer. She was so amazed at the paper going in one end and coming out the other. Here's a picture of her watching.
Well, it's 9:50 pm and lighter then light outside. I do believe the official sunset tonigh is 11:58 pm. We are almost to our daylight high point. We will gain roughly another 1/2 hour in the evening and another 1/2 hour in the morning and I think that's it.


I guess I should start getting ready for bed. We try to force ourselves to be in bed by 10:30/11:00 so we still get enough sleep. I usually wake up about 5:30/6:00 because of the light but force myself to stay in bed until the alarm goes off at 6:30. Skeeter usually comes to cuddle me in the morning. She loves to lay on my chest and put her head up by my chin and just look at me. It's really quite cute. I'll have to try to get a picture sometime. ~Amy