National Craft Month Coming to a Close

There's a week left to March, but for me National Craft Month is coming to a close.  Tomorrow we will be heading to the Northwest to visit Tiger Daddy's family.  I will be bringing some crochet projects with me, but as Tiger Daddy is vehemently opposed to me crocheting the car, I don't know how much crafting I'll get to do.  On the flip side, I'll probably get to finish The Wizard's First Rule (Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series Book 1) and at least start the 2nd book. 

This month has been pretty successful considering how sick I was at the beginning of the month.  My goals of the month (revised due to the illness) were pretty low key:
*Complete shamrock keychains for Nana Bear's class - found a cute pattern at Lion's Brand Yarn used Sarahndipities' shamrock bunting pattern and modified to be a fourleaf clover (see my post here with the modifications)
*Finish Dare's blanket
*Finish diaper pouches
*Finish make-up bags
*Blog at least once or twice a week.

Then as the month went on I added:
*Finish Nana Bear's blanket
*Make blanket for Tiger Daddy's grandma
*Make 1st b-day gifts for friend's twins

Of the above the only two goals I didn't meet were finishing the diaper pouches and the birthday gifts.  Also, I had to "fix" my sewing machine - a pin got stuck inside and I had to open it up and find the pin (not really a fix, but I was a little apprehensive about opening up the machine for the first time... I also cleaned it for the first time too) - and worked up enough courage to try the pressure foot to sew the zippers for the make-up bag.  So, I'm growing my crafting skills.

I found a wonderful crochet Easter Egg pattern at Easy Makes Me Happy (click here to see the awesome embellishments she added to her eggs) and hope to finish crochet flower ponytail holders (Crochet flower pattern from Measured By the Heart) for our friends' daughters, who we will be visiting on our trip.  So all in all, National Craft Month has been very crafty for me.  I hope to continue at this pace - I would like to make Easter Eggs for Nana Bear's class and for others and I still need to finish the diaper pouches and the birthday gifts (we missed the party due to scheduling conflict).  Ideally I would like to make some more blankets, some child size, some adult size, and a scarf to sell.  Just need to remind myself not to rush.

Happy Crafting!

More Progress: Shamrock Pattern

So I am slowly but surely working on this month's goals.  Nothing to completely cross off tonight, but progress as been made on two fronts: Nana Bear's blanket and Four Leaf Clover Key chains.

Tiger Daddy took the kids food shopping this evening, giving me unfettered access to the nice clean floor in the kids room.  At the moment, it's the only clean space, large enough for me to lay out the fabric for the blankets.  I am using a double sided, pink ultra cuddly fleece (from Fabric.com) and a make-up, girly pink flannel.  I do have a single-sided rose fleece, but this time I opted for the double-sided since Nana Bear runs cold (as do most women vs. men).  So got the pieces cut and now I just need to pin them together and sew.  Looks like I'll get it done before our trip.

For the key chains, I was going to use the pattern I found on the Lion's Brand Yarn site, but it calls for making the leaves individually and then chaining them together and, well, I just don't like having to fasten off so much.  So I remembered that Sarah at Sarahndipities had a pattern for a shamrock garland, which worked much better for me and my laziness.

The major changes to my pattern was 1) to chain 5 initially instead of 3 because I was having a hard time finding the center of the ring with just a chain 3 (pathetic, yeah?), 2) I wanted four leaf clovers, so I added a leaf, and 3) I lengthened the stem and single crocheted back towards the center and the slipped stitched to the center ring.  I made the stem thicker since I will be attaching the key ring to the end of the stem and wanted it to be stronger.

My Pattern:

Abbreviations:
Chain - Ch                              
Slip stitch -sl
Single crochet -sc
Double crochet - dc
Treble crochet - trc

Ch 5, sl to first ch to form a ring.
1 Leaf: Sl into ring, ch 3, trc, dc,  trc, ch 3, sl into ring *repeat to make as many leaves as you like - shamrocks have 3 leaves, and, of course, the mythical Four Leaf Clovers have 4

Stem: After last leaf is made, chain 10, sc into 3rd ch from hook and into each chain all the way back down the stem, sl to ring. Fasten off and weave in ends.

Thanks Sarahndipities for the pattern to work off of.

Goal Completed: Dare Bear's Blanket

Finally, some real crafting done this month.  Tonight I finished Dare Bear's Flannel and fleece blanket.  Rather simple, but he will like it.

I have been buying different fleece to get an idea of texture and weight.  I used a cuddly, one-sided fleece.  I didn't realize that it was one-sided when I purchased online and was a little disappointed when I received it.  However, upon completion, I see the advantages of one-sided fleece.  Since the blanket is flannel on one side, there is no need for the fleece to be double sided unless  I wanted a much heavier blanket.  The one-sided fleece is much lighter than the super cuddly, double-sided fleece.  It makes this blanket a little more versatile, since now I can use it pretty much year round either on his bed or on trips.

Next blanket will be Nana Bear's flannel/fleece blanket.  Hopefully I will get it done in time for our trip Northwest at the end of the month.  But, next on the to do list will be the shamrock key chains or pins, not sure which yet.  First, I need to turn some out so I can see what would look best.  St. Paddy's Day is just around the corner, so I better hop to it.

For more Creative Spaces, pop over to Kirsty's kootoyoo.

So Much for the Good Intentions

So much for my goals for the month of March.  My ickies went from bad to worse last week and I was ko'd for the week with a triple whammy: virus, strep, pink eye.  Even after a few days of antibiotics, I was still hobbling on Saturday and Sunday.  So crafting was light.  I did start sewing Dare Bear's flannel/fleece blanket, which I hope to finish this week. 

Modified goals for March: complete shamrock keychains for Nana Bear's class - found a cute pattern at Lion's Brand Yarn, finish Dare's blanket, finish diaper pouches and make-up bags, blog at least once or twice a week.