So I know you have not seen much from me over these winter months and I am sorry about that. Some time in November I developed pain in my middle, ring, and pinky fingers on my dominate hand from 'excess' use aka crocheting a butt load of ami's for the ResoBox event and Christmas gifts.
I have been trying not to do much crochet, and when I do pick up a hook I make sure there is at least a day's break between picking it up again. Right now my hand no longer hurts, but those last three fingers do feel stiff and a little clumsy when holding a hook.
Now all the said, I have been working off and on, on two projects, and fiddling with an idea for a 3rd that I did wind up scrapping. I will start off talking about the scrapped idea. My mom is getting married (!!!!) and I wanted to do something to help with the wedding, I am only good at a few things and my first thought was to make her a beaded shawl, I had already started on it and was about 16 inches unblocked into it (if I blocked it it would open up alot its a Solomon Knot lace) when it was pointed out that the wedding will be in June during one of my states most famous heat waves item so I nixed the project and instead helped her design her wedding invitations because I am also good with photoshop/design.
I made myself a cardigan just free handing it, worked it all in one piece (so I did not have to sew any part of it!!!). No pattern was used but if interest in it is show I can surly write up what I did as it was a simple shell stitch almost like the granny stitch worked into a ribbed band. To avoid sewing I croched the seams of the shoulders shut in such a way that it lead right into working the sleeves.
Besides that I am also working on a 'lantern' or 'ornament' motif blanket. I was inspired by the shawl pattern kit written by
Janie Crow (Jane Crowfoot). My version is not nearly as intricate, as I am not using one of her kits, I am only using 6 colors instead of the 13 color pallet used in her patterns. With my color options I can fit 5 motifs in a row with out doubling up on the last round colors (unless I am not paying attention) so I have a excell sheet all set up with my color combos so I can try and get every combo possible before I start getting repeats. I work 5 motifs then do a join round so I wont have motifs stacked everywhere or getting lost. I am a little dispointed by the purple I choose its not as vibrant as the other colors.
One thing I am really excited about is not crochet related but still crafty ~~ I got a
Cricut for Christmas!! I have already made up 3 tumblers (like the yeti cups) with vinyl images. I cut 4 more vinyls for gifts for Christmas (yes I know I opened my gift early to use it). I just got in some HTV (heat transfer vinyl) and have already started work on making a V-day gift shirt for my husband featuring Darkwing Duck, and a Fairy Tail shirt for me!! I am so excited to make my own designs on shirts, being a plus size gal we don't get many options and this opens up a lot of ideas. I made a special purchase from
The Rhinestone World for their Magic Foil just because of a video showing how to make an
EASY distressed look (at the 20 min mark) for a design that you can do with multiple colors if you so choose.
Here you can see the 4 designs I made for my sis and brother in law. I started with a moogle, then a very simple mage, then a Jack Skellington (a bit of a pain to weed his mouth out), and lastly a more detailed black mage.
Below that are 2 pieces I made for myself. I did a Fairy Tail emblem for my laptop, and I made a ball of yarn with crochet hooks for my phones Otter Bot case.
