Crochet Chic is in!

I have just a quickie here... The June 2010 Cosmopolitan has Crochet Chic as one of the top 6 trends on the rise right now! Glad to see this epidemic is taking off.

Grandma Projects

Yesterday was my grandma's 100th birthday, so I thought I'd write a blog about her, the one who first introduced me to crocheting, although she never taught me, she pretty much made it as cool as it could be. As a kid I always remember seeing her crochet (and occasionally knit - but I can forgive her on that) evertime I visited her. I was fascinated by her skill and speed, she is much better than I'll ever be. The sweaters she made were awesome, granted if I posted pictures you'd beg to differ... as a result of 80's and 90's fashion. But some items she made are timeless. In fact just the other day my mom gave me a huge bag filled with an afghan and matching pillow that I received from my very first Christmas. I was taken back by the smell of nostalgia as I opened it.... why can't my projects smell like that? I have countless pillowcases, doilies and blankets from her. And while she hasn't crocheted in about 8 years, I still aspire to be at her skill level.

T-Shirts

So, we have come to the conclusion that any semi successful organization needs to have there own T-shirts to make them official. After months of deliberation on what the shirts should look like, how they should be made and who should get them we have made some decisions. Approximately two weeks ago at our HDH meeting our first trial shirts were created. Since we are all about making things on our own we decided to attempt the print out iron on type of logos. Now drum roll please......

Poodle Beer Cover

A few years ago my brother bought his house, and after days of deliberating 'what would be the perfect housewarming gift,' I came across a pattern in a magazine for a little poodle. I'm sure you've all seen a similiar project at your grandma's house where there was a poodle like this covering up the extra roll of toilet paper, but this is the ultimate housewarming gift for a man... a beer cover! I'm proud to say three years after giving him this crocheted project it's still displayed in his kitchen for friends to see, all of which have asked for one. This pattern can be found in the July/August 1997 issue of Hooked On Crochet! As you can see I also created a tiny little green scarf for this dog (just used a dc). This was the perfect touch since he had received this in the winter.

The perfect gift for a man's housewarming.

Vintage Gift

About a year ago a dear friend of mine came over and handed me a wrinkly brown bag with a smile on her face and told me it was a present for me. It wasn't my birthday or any special occasion so I wasn't expecting any gifts. I cautiously looked in the bag not knowing what to expect and found something you can't find in just any store. I reached in the bag and first pulled out "Baby Bootie Boutique Sandals" a crochet kit from Annie's Attic circa 1979. Next I pulled out tennis shoes, then Indean moccasins, cowboy boots and even saddle oxfords. It was a brown bag full of baby bootie crochet kits! No I wasn't expecting or even thinking about having a baby of my own, my friend simply understood my passion for all things crochet. When I found out that my friend was going to be a grandmother, a few months later, I had to put my talent and her present to good use. I decided to make the cowboy booties.

Here are some pictures of the final product. Needless to say my friend was thrilled to see them!

Hide your feminine hygiene products??

I admit, I love to find unique patterns to crochet, but when I stumbled across this dousie, I may have thrown up in my mouth a bit. I mean why would anybody want/need this??? I believe these little crocheted things actually draw more attention to the product at hand.

21 Afghan Patterns

Just came across this link on redheart.com, that has 21 crocheting patterns. It even includes a pattern for a snuggie!

http://www.redheart.com/Libraries/DocumentLibrary/Afghan-Patterns-from-Red-Heart-eBook.pdf